Hallows: Duets

Freedom From The Pain

Bad Omens- THE DEATH OF A PEACE OF MIND

Dante:

Anthony opens fire into the crowd as everyone scrambles. When he calls out to Ashley she follows close behind him in a crouch. I watch as she takes out two guys and waves us forward. I crouch down next to her as she flips a table on its side. I stand and fire at the guys coming at us with their own weapons.

"Espinosa, with Daniels," she calls out.

David ducks down and goes after Anthony. Their little argument is still blaring in the back of my head but it's all jumbled with the fear and rage coming from Ashley. Ashley takes lead and I follow. Lily stays behind me as we clear the hunters on the right side of the casino. I glance back at Lily as she searches the top-floor balconies. The two of us fire up at the guys with machine guns up there.

"Asshole," Ash shouts and opens fire at the security guys. She keeps the guy she scared when arrived alive. She hits him in the shoulder. "Stay the f**k down, Hank,"

She fires again, this time going for the guy in the Black Sabbath t-shirt. Lily and I watch her back as we get to the front of the Casino.

"David, what the f**k?" Anthony roars. We all look up to see that David shot the guy in the Black Sabbath t-shirt.

"He was going to shoot her," David shoves him.

"No, he f*****g wasn't," Ashley shouts. She takes my hand and pulls me to her. We press up against the wall just outside the exit and reload our weapons. "You f*****g i***t,"

"Oh, so now I'm a f*****g i***t because I'm doing what you asked me to do,"

"f**k you, David," she shakes her head angrily.

"The birds cleared the parking lot. Get to the car," Tony waves her forward.

"Let's go," she tugs on my arm and we walk out together. She crouches next to the car and opens the door for me. I get in followed by Lily, David, Tony, and then Ashley. She shoves David as soon as the door is shut and James starts driving. "What the f**k is your deal?"

"My deal?" he shouts back just as angrily.

"Why did you do that?" she demands, her voice laced with venom. "Why would you f*****g do that?"

"He was going to shoot you," he tries to keep his voice down.

"I don't need you to f*****g take care of me, David. You shot him in the f*****g face with purpose,"

"Excuse me for trying to keep my girl from getting shot," he growls.

"You don't have a f*****g girlfriend," she says angrily and he sits back his anger completely depleted. "I can't believe you f*****g did that, Espinosa. Anthony wouldn't have let him hurt me. I can't f*****g believe you right now. You were f*****g there. You saw him get f*****g shot, David. I haven't been able to f*****g sleep because of it and you f*****g-" She covers her face and starts to cry.

"Ash," he reaches out and she slaps his hand away from her.

"Don't f*****g touch me," she growls. He looks at the rest of us and sits back to look out the window.

"I'm not going to apologize," he says. "You're not going to change my mind. Maybe it's best this way. Now you know not to come back,"

"Hijo de puta madre," she shouts and goes for him. I grab her around the waist and pull her to me to keep her from hitting him.

"Calm down, baby," I whisper into her ear as she screams profanity after profanity in Spanish. As soon as the car comes to a stop he throws the door open and gets out.

"Take her," I shove her to Anthony. He doesn't hesitate to grab her despite her protests.

I go after him. I grab his arm turning him around. My fist connects with his face and stumbles back. He looks up at me like I'm the one who is in the wrong here.

"We're done," I nod. "This is what you wanted, right? We're f*****g done,"

"I f*****g told you she was going to f*****g ruin us," he shouts.

"She isn't doing anything wrong," I growl. He steps back when my Hallows rush forward. "She hasn't done anything f*****g wrong, David! You made this choice, baby. You're making this f*****g choice. I thought we were on the same page,"

"Yeah, well that sounds like your problem," he stands up. "You're right. We are done here,"

I watch him as he turns away and starts to head into the school. My rage combined with Ash's sweeps through me and I reach out for my essence inside of him. He freezes just before grabbing the handle to the glass door of the entrance to his dorm and clutches his chest. I tear it out of him. As soon as it floods out of his body he cries out.

"Dante," he chokes out looking back at me.

I growl feeling the searing pain through my body as I take what belongs to me out of him and return his essence. I drop to one knee. Ashley's arms come around me before I fall. My ears are ringing loudly as she tries to tell me something with tears sliding down her face. I look up to see David passed out on the floor. I let her help me up and lead me back to the car. It takes her a moment to come back. She slams the door shut.

"Go, James," she cries out. I look out the window to see Avery rush out of the dorms. She has a gun in her hand and fires at us as James pulls away from the curb.

"f**k," Anthony looks over us worriedly.

My body breaks out in a sweat. That's the second time I've ever done that. The first time was when I killed my father. His essence inside of me was what kept me from killing him before and the night I finally did it, I didn't have a choice. But that hadn't hurt as much as this does.

Ashley puts her hands on my face. She's crying and she's trying to say something to me but I can't hear her. Violent images of my father swarm my vision. Anthony pulls her away from me as the Hallows wrap around me. He hands her to Lily as he kneels in front of me. She's frantic and I can't do a single thing for either of us right now.

"Danny," I hear his voice in my head. "Come on, man. Snap out of it. Lily and Ash are in here with us. You can kill them, buddy. Dante," he shakes me.

"I need to get out," I tell him. "Please, please,"

"James stop the car," he calls out.

"Master Dante," James comes around and opens the door for me.

"You f*****g little bastard!" my father shouts at me. His hand comes down on my bare back. "Look at what you've done!" slap. "You've broken it," slap. "You're f*****g useless,"

"Stop!" I scream pushing the pain inside of me out.

For a moment, everything is silent and there's peace. The clicking sound of my reaper comes from the shadows of the building in front of me. The demon crawls out making her way to me. She puts her hand on my head and smiles with tar coming out of her mouth.

"Are you ready?" she asks.

"For what?" I pant.

"Freedom," she grins. "From the pain,"

"Please," I nod.

She comes around me wrapping her filthy hands around my throat. The black mamba slithers out of the shadows where she had been. I reach out for her and she strikes, her fangs piercing my wrist. The coldness of her venom floods my system and everything fades away. The pain, the guilt, the trauma, it all fades into numbness and I feel better. I gasp for air starving for it.

"Dante?" Ashley calls out from behind me. I turn around to see her and Anthony behind me.

"I'm sorry, Ash," I stand up. "I have to go,"

"Okay," she nods. "Will you be back soon?"

"I'll be back," I promise.

"James," she cries looking over at him.

"I've got him, my lady. Don't worry," he bows. She nods.

"Take care of her," I order Anthony. He gives me a nod and pushes her back to the car. Her eyes don't leave mine until the door shuts and Anthony goes to the front of the car. I wait until they drive away.

"Sir?"

"Let's head back to the casino, Jimmy. We'll burn it down after I'm done with them,"

"Of course, sir," he bows. "Lead the way,"