Here's the next installment of our Metallum Nocturne story. If you need to catch up on any of the previous episodes, click here.
Episode Forty-Nine
Two blasts in quick succession had Claire throwing up her arms in self-defense. When she opened her eyes again, she saw one of the men who had entered the room holding his shoulder while the security guard in the room was lying on the ground with a hole in his chest and a blank expression. Simon Ivankov, leader of the Terrors, strolled in through the middle, smoking a cigarette. He dropped it on the carpet, grinding it beneath his heel as he surveyed the situation. He had four men with him.
"Is this a fucking party?" asked Simon.
Annette spun on him, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened.
"Do you know who I am?"
Simon chuckled, glancing to his crew incredulously. "Should I?"
"I'm going to be the next mayor of the city," said Annette as her husband tried to pull her away. "I have powerful friends."
Simon approached Annette, squinting as he examined her from up close. Despite the gravity of the situation, Claire could barely pay attention. As soon as the gun battle had happened, Nocturna's voice came front and center in her mind. The Night Mother was demanding that she kill Annette, a compulsion that was more persuasive than she wanted to admit to herself.
"You'll be in a body bag if I say so," said Simon, sneering. "But I do recognize you. Pity for you that you're here right now, because I'm not here for you. I'm here for this thieving bitch."
"I stole nothing from you," said Claire.
"You helped Terrance escape," said Simon, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his inside pocket and tapping out a new one. "The contents of that safe are very important to me. Once he knows we have you, he'll give it up." He leaned forward. "Look at me when I'm talking to you."
Kill them. Kill them all.
Claire looked him right in the eyes. "Fuck you."
Simon broke out laughing. He jabbed his thumb in her direction. "Holy shit, look at the balls on this girl. Fuck me, you must have a death wish. Grab her."
Two sets of hands grabbed her arms. They held her tight and she didn't fight back.
"What are we doing about them?" asked one of his men.
"Are you suggesting we leave witnesses, you knucklehead?"
The first man's chin dropped to his chest. "No."
"Make it quick. I want this little adventure over with." Simon smirked as he shut the door to the private room. "But you know, don't make it loud, we've already had enough noise today."
The Blocks backed away as the man pulled out a long knife. He lazily spun it in his fist.
"You don't understand," said Annette. "I have powerful friends who are expecting me to win. If you kill me they'll be furious."
Claire had no intention of letting Simon take her, but she almost wanted to let the leader of the Terrors kill the Blocks. It would remove a thorny problem, but she couldn't stand by and let them be killed when she knew she could do something about it.
Kill them all.
She yanked her arms free, startling the men with unexpected strength, and took two steps before hitting the thug with her shoulder, driving him against the wall. Claire tried to grab his arm, but he was faster, driving the blade into her ribs. A bright slash of pain sent adrenaline spiking and she jammed her forearm into his jaw. Eyes went into the back of his head as he collapsed.
Claire turned in time to catch a bullet to the gut. The impact threw her backwards, slamming against the wall and knocking the air from her lungs. Before Simon's men could take a second shot, she hit the light switch, dropping them into darkness.
Three more flashes briefly lit up the room as his men fired at the position she was just standing, but Claire had crouched down and snatched up the knife the unconscious man had dropped. Nocturna was screaming in her head to kill Annette in the distraction. It would be a simple thing, but Claire went past the huddled Blocks and caught the first man from behind, shoving the blade into the soft spot at the base of his neck.
The screams fed the chaos as two more shots were fired, one of them catching a fellow Terror. Claire shoved the blade into the gut of the final henchman, trying to ignore Nocturna's giddy glee at the slaughter. The Night Mother was like a drug in her head. Claire caught Simon Ivankov trying to find the handle to escape. A quick slice across the neck had him falling to his knees, clutching his throat.
High on the excitement, with Nocturna's voice encouraging her to kill the Blocks, Claire stumbled into the middle of the room. Annette and her husband were crouched beside the table, huddled together in fear, not knowing what was happening in the darkness. Two quick stabs and it would be over. She could blame their deaths on the chaos of the battle. The first thug had put a healthy cut in her side and blood was running down her hip.
Kill Annette or I'll take you back to Umbra.
The voice was a geas in her head. Claire took a step forward. She let the knife slip out of her fingers.
You'll have to be satisfied with the Terrors, said Claire in her head.
Stumbling to the front, Claire switched on the light. Annette recoiled from the carnage while her husband pulled out his phone to dial the police.
Claire lifted her shirt to find a six-inch slice across her ribs, but the night metal in her skin protected her from more damage. The spot where she'd taken the shot to the gut was already spreading out with purplish bruises. The night metal, it seemed, was better for protecting against bullets than knives. Claire found a chair and collapsed into it while Annette stared at her with a mixture of surprise and concern.
"They're on the way," said Andrew.
"What did you do?" asked Annette with deranged intensity.
"They mostly did it to themselves in the chaos. We're lucky to be alive," said Claire, perfectly aware that her hands were covered in blood.
When the Invictus PD arrived, the first cops in the room took one look at the situation and pulled their guns on Claire.
"Hands up! Hands up!"
She half-laughed at the absurdity of it all and raised her arms, not wanting to get shot again.
"It's okay," said Andrew, waving at the cops. "She saved us. She's not one of them."
The cops seemed confused, but eventually lowered their weapons. Before long, the entire building was overflowing with police officers. The lone Terror she'd knocked out was woken when put in handcuffs. Claire was led outside where an ambulance gave her medical attention, sewing up the slice on her ribs and calling her the luckiest girl in the world. A horde of reporters appeared not long after with cameras flashing, but she was behind the Do Not Cross lines, so they couldn’t bother her.
When the Blocks were led out of the building, the mass of reporters shouted questions about what had happened. There seemed to be confusion why she wasn't in handcuffs until the husband said, "No. She was a victim too. The Terrors tried to kill us, but she saved us when she tackled the guy with the knife."
Annette punched him in the shoulder and dragged him away towards a group of SUVs that appeared further up the sidewalk. They were ushered in and quickly disappeared. Claire found a bench outside the restaurant, and an officer came over for a round of questions. She knew she should wait for her lawyer, but was too tired to be disagreeable. Claire mostly explained what happened in the darkness and chaos, leaving out that she slit Ivankov's throat, deciding that was too gruesome to admit. She left the details fuzzy, blaming the inability to see.
"Couldn't have happened to a better guy," said the officer when she was finished. "The Terrors have been murdering and extorting people for years and we haven't been able to get a break until now. Don't you worry about anything. You did good."
Shortly after, her lawyer appeared, talking his way past the Do Not Cross line until he was standing with her at the back of the ambulance.
"What happened?"
Claire explained what she could in public. Lamar listened quietly while shaking his head the entire time.
"Are you interested in the deal?"
She shook her head, which brought a faint smile from her lawyer.
"I can push for an extension, given the circumstances," he said.
Thinking about the cell phone investigation she nodded, too tired to speak.
"This is going to be all over the news," said Lamar as he checked back to the growing crowd. "Let me give you a ride back to Metallum Nocturne before this gets even more crazy."
