Dance with Death

4

Arabella stood in the horses stalls in Birmingham. She brushed the horse lovingly, whispering sweet gypsy words to them.

After all these years she still worked in the stalls. Tommy of course offered her higher power jobs, but she was no good at talking on the phone or writing things down. She did tag along with Finn often helping him do whatever job Tommys got him doing, but it was prevalent that Arabella did best when working with animals, rather then people. So she stayed right were she belonged, in the open fields, by a horses stall.

It was funny how Arabella was such a shy young girl, with an abusive father, when she first met the Shelbys, and only three years later she stood stern and wise. Being almost a mentor of sorts to the Shelbys at times. She still was a woman of few words, but people seemed to hold on to them longer, now. She was smart, calm, and level headed, leading her to figure out the answer to any problems, long before anyone else could. And so she became a very important aspect to The Shelby Company Limited.

"You keep giving me that look and I'll fall in love with you." Arabella joked at the horse staring at her lovingly. The horse began to nod its head up and down joyfully. Arabella laughed and mimicked the horses trick.
"Yes! What a good boy." Arabella said giving the horse an apple as a treat. She taught the horse the neat trick weeks ago while she was bored, and now he couldn't stop nodding. Arabella was still giggling when Finn walked in.

"How did it go?" Arabella asked. Her smile slowly fade when she saw Finn's distressed face. He had gone on a hunting trip with his brothers. He threw a fit when Tommy said Arabella couldn't come, since they were inseparable, but was forced to go anyways.

Arabella slowly
approached him, but Finn rushed up to her, hugging her. Though he was much bigger then her, he still tried his best to feel small in her arms. He wanted comfort, like how a child would curl up into its mother's arms. A thing he never got to experience.

"Finn what happened?" Arabella softly asked, putting a hand on his cheek and looking up into his eyes.

"My dad died." Finn chocked out.

"Oh no, Finn. I'm so sorry." Arabella tried to comfort him.

"No, don't be sorry. He was a dead beat father. I hardly even knew him." Finn said looking anywhere but Arabella's eyes.

"Well what is it then?" She asked softly searching Finn's eyes for an answer.

"It's stupid, but I feel so guilty. While my brothers were mourning over our fathers death, all I could think about was the poor stag. The one Charlie shot and ripped open. They were mourning over our dead dad and I was think of a fucking stag." Finn said beating himself up. Arabella shifted trying to read his expression.

"No, no, no Finn. That's a good thing love. It's good to have compassion for animals." Arabella quickly said.

"I wouldn't eat it." Finn shook his head. He spoke passionately.
"I told John and Arthur, I was feeling sick, but truth is I couldn't eat it. Because while that poor stag hung in a tree, I looked into it's eyes, and I saw myself. I fucking saw it, Ella. For a moment I was in that tree, hanging dead, and I just....I couldn't do it." Finn said partially feeling shame. He had killed a man before, yet he couldn't bare the thought of killing an animal. He felt guilty over thinking the life of an animal over a persons. Arabella was speechless for a moment.

"Finn, you did the right thing. Your brothers will call you pussy for it, but fuck them. I've killed a man before, and I'll do it 100 more times before, I'll ever kill an animal." Arabella said sternly. Finn froze listening intently.

"I just don't think I can ever eat them again." Finn whispered. Arabella pursed her lips.

"From now on animals are no longer food, for we are animals ourselves." Arabella said looking into Finn's eyes. Finn cracked a smile and nodded.

"Animals are not food." He repeated. He liked the sound of that. He then quickly swooped down, stealing a kiss. Arabella smiled and playfully punched his chest.

It was the next morning John, Arthur and Tommy gathered in their old Birmingham home.

"How was she Tom?" John teasingly asked. He was talking about the Russian girl Tommy spent the night with to get information on.

"Talkative, yea" Tommy answered

"Hmm." Arthur chuckled.

"I was fucking working, alright?" Tommy angrily said, not liking the teasing he was getting from his brothers.

Someone then came down the stairs and they all looked over. It was a sleep deprived Arabella. The small girl wore nothing but an oversized button up that hung off one shoulder and went down just enough to cover her butt. Her hair laid frizzy and large, hanging over her body like a curtain. Her face flushed and eyes slightly squinted as she pointed a silver gun at the Shelby brothers.

"Do you know what fucking time it is?" She dangerously spoke. The brother looked at each other and held their hands up in surrender.
"6:30 am, I think." John slickly said, getting a hidden chuckle from Arthur and Tommy.

Arabella still held the gun at the boys in a half asleep, half awake state. Finn then came rushing down the stairs in a tank top and boxers. He slid down the last flight of stairs.
"Fuck, Ella." Finn said holding the small girl by the shoulders and gently taking the gun out her hand, placing it in is waistband. He brushed the frizzy hair away from her face and held up her chin to meet his eyes.
"You want to go back to bed?" Finn spoke slowly, like he was speaking to a child. Arabella slowly nodded hardly conscious.

"Alright love, let's get you to bed." Finn said and picked Arabella up and put her over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing. He made sure to keep a hand on her bottom to keep her shirt down and to keep her balanced. Finn looked over at his older brothers sheepishly as they snickered amongst themselves.
"Sorry, she's just a bit sleep deprived. She gets aggressive when she's tired." Finn said and walked up the stairs to put her back to bed.

Once Finn had left, the older brother looked at each other, and snorted.

"What the fuck." John laughed.

"That's girls a handful." Arthur said with wide eyes and pouring himself a drink.

"Looks like our little brother Finn's got her handled." Tommy said tapping the ash off his cigarette.

"And stop smoking in the house. It stinks up the fucking carpet!" Arabella muffled voice could be heard shouting from upstairs. The boys chuckled. Finn could be heard trying to hush the girl up, upstairs. Tommy cracked a smile and snuffed out his cigarette.

It was later that night and Finn received a call.
"Tommy's in the hospital."