Keep Me (Broken Heroes 3)

I know I should feel terror, that I should probably run, but I can’t bring myself to move. I’m frozen in place, caught in the crossfire.

I peek up through strawberry-blonde locks and spot Xander’s father on his knees, holding his side. Agony contorts his devilish features. Blood is already soaking through his shirt and spilling out between his fingers like a river flooding over its banks.

A warm hand lands gently against my back, making my head snap to the side. I roll to my back and slash at the hand touching me.

“It’s me. Damon. Are you okay?” Concern catches in his voice.

I shake my head, realizing it’s really Damon kneeling beside me, and not some figment of my imagination. “I think so.” My lips tremble. “Is Xander here?”

I can see the ghosting of a smile on Damon’s lips. “Of course, he’s here. How do you think I got here?”

I grimace. “I didn’t know if he would come for me.”

Gunshots ring out, peppering the air, and Damon and I remain on the ground for another second before someone in the distance yells, “All clear.”

Then he’s grabbing me and hauling me up with him, pulling me away from their father. He drags me with him until I’m on the opposite side of the house, protected from any stray bullets.

“Stay here until Xander or I come to get you,” he demands, before shoving a gun into my hand. “Point and shoot at anyone you don’t know.”

I open my mouth to say something, but he’s gone, disappearing around the corner before I get a chance to. I hold the warm gun in my shaking hands, ready to kill anyone who crosses my path.

Chapter 19

Xander

The metallic smell of blood and gunpowder coats the air. Watching them manhandle Ella the way they did has me unhinged. I kill without thought, bullet after bullet entering man after man’s brain. I don’t think, I simply act. My only thought at that moment is to kill and protect what is mine.

I kill every single bastard here, and then move toward my father, who Damon already shot. I know Ella isn’t far from where my father is right at this moment, on his knees bleeding out. If she wasn’t here to think about, I would make this very slow and painful for him. But I don’t want to draw it out any longer than I have to, not when I have to think about getting her out of here and to a doctor.

I will have to satisfy my need by looking him in the eyes when he takes his last breath. It is good enough to know that I am taking his life and everything he ever worked for with it. Damon comes around the corner and our eyes meet. It’s time to end this shit, once for all.

I walk up to my father, who is already bleeding out on the ground. He is wheezing heavily, trying to get air in his lungs, but the gurgling sound he’s making tells me that all he’s doing is sucking in a whole lot of blood.

“Did you really think you’d get away with taking her from me?” I snarl, smacking him in the back of the head with my gun.

He doesn’t say a word, nor do I want him to. I’m sure he can’t talk around the blood rising in his throat even if he wanted to. His eyes pierce mine. They’re cold, vacant, and even as he’s on his way to dying, he still doesn’t show a shred of remorse or compassion.

“Did you really think this could end any other way? You might’ve faked your death last time, but you won’t get that lucky this time. Today, you’re fucking dying.”

Damon holds his gun in his hands, his finger on the trigger. Even after everything my father did to me, after the way he hurt my Mouse… I’m still giving this to him. He deserves to be the one to end our father.

Damon looks at me. “Let’s do it together, brother.”

No longer are we two little boys facing the abuse of our father. Now we’re two powerful men, making the one man who was supposed to protect us from all the bad in world pay the ultimate price.

I smirk. “Fuck, yeah.”

I position myself next to my brother. Together, we point our guns at our father’s head. Right before the trigger is pulled, I think I see a flicker of emotion in our father’s eyes.

Damon pulls the trigger and then I pull my own. Our father’s head snaps back as the front of his skull is torn apart by the bullets. His body hits the ground a moment later, and I feel like all my fears have vanished.

Finally, we are free. Free from the darkness, the pain, the anger. I savor the moment for a few minutes, just looking at the dead body before us with my brother by my side. Everything around us has gone quiet, all the gunfire ceased, and a peacefulness washes over me. My mind slips back to the present, and I feel the need to go to Mouse. To apologize and beg for her forgiveness.