Irish Lullaby (Book One of A Violent Melody Duet)

Chapter Twenty One

    Fallon loved the color red, the red of the roses, the red of her hair, the red of the blood that now dripped along the walls and floor of the chapel. The moments after Ronan had entered had been the last semblance of calm experienced in this room. He had brought only chaos in his wake, the windows that had been shattered by an unseen force led the way for his men with weapons of their own to pour into the church. She had dropped to the ground when bullets began to fire all around. She watched as her fathers friends were slaughtered, listened to their screams and pleas for mercy that would never be answered.
    There were very few people in this room she would have cared about if they became injured. Her nephew was elsewhere with his nanny, Ava was behind the stage cowering, she caught sight of her throwing her body down and over the side the moment the first shot was made. She wanted to go to her, to crawl across the stage and reach for her sister in law. She was one of the few people to ever show her kindness and she wanted to be with her in this moment, she knew she had to be terrified of what was happening.
    Fallon did go though, she stayed low on the stage, her eyes on Ronan as he approached her family. Henry was trying to flee, choosing to leave his wife behind. It was no surprise to Fallon that in a moment of true threat he would abandon the bride she promised to stand by. Tomas was trying to fire back on others while he made his way to a broken window, wanting to find his own way of escape without even thinking of grabbing his frightful wife.
    Fallon's eyes moved back to where all her sister in laws had been and she froze, Heidi laid there eyes wide, a look of indescribable relief on her face as blood poured out of the bullet wound in her neck. She was gone, Fallon did not need to reach her to know that she had been hit by a bullet and silently perished just as she lived. She did not deserve an end like this, to become an innocent victim of a war between men that she had no part in creating.
    Though Maria deserved a cruel fate like Heidis, deserve to lay dead at the altar of God and pay for all her sins. Fallon would have seen it as divine intervention if she was given that fate but the heavens were not answering today and she watched as Maria managed to escape from the chapel.
    Henry did not end up with such a luck, she turned around just in time to watch a bullet pierce his skull, to see the blood fly out along with the bullet that went clear through. The almost musical sounds of her mothers screams wailed out at the sight of her precious boy being killed instantly, her only sadness was he did not suffer longer.
    She had never imagined her wedding day would be such a wonderful event, never imagined so many dreams she has held tight to her heart and mind for so many years would all come true. Ronan was giving her this, making all the wishes she never dared speak become her reality. She had not enough love in her heart for any of these people to even feel pity for their endings. She wanted to watch them all wither and die, and wanted to relish in their screams and pain as they had done with her for so many years.
    Ronan looked at her, a sick grin on his face. He was enjoying this even more than she was, it seemed. She had never asked what her family had done to cause such evident hatred that it had fed him in years of taunting and harming them all until he reached this moment. He looked away from her when a man from she believed Nicholas's side came at him with no weapon in hand.
It had been a stupid choice, anyone could see Ronan would be a fierce appointment weapon or not and as the man jumped at him she watched Ronan easily grab him and slam him onto the ground. His hand was tight around the man's neck, choking the life out of him. When he was dazed enough Ronan stood to his full height and slammed his foot into the man's face, the boots he wore shinned from the first impact with blood. One slam and she could still see him moving, another and his arms were shaking as if he had begun to have a seizure, and with a third he went completely still.
She had never seen something so violent, such a raw display of rage. Ronan looked at him for another moment before focusing on a pew line where she could not see who hid underneath. She waited with anticipation, practically clawing at her insides, to see who was next. Just as he reached down and grabbed the person, a body stood next to her. She looked up to see David, his own gun in his hand as he fired at people still trying to escape with their lives.
She had barely taken note of anything else in the room but the show Ronan was putting on, had ignored the way people pushed and crawled over others in an attempt to escape. She hadn't seen Donavon or Edward since it began. Tomas she believed had managed to flee from the window early on, she was disappointed with that.
David didn't talk or even look at her as he kept guard over her body, making sure no one came near her. She hadn't even questioned her own safety from where she lay exposed on the floor, hadn't worried about one of Ronan's men aiming their weapons at her, hadn't even realized her gown was beginning to soak up the blood from bodies hear her. All her focus was on the revenge taking place in front of her. All she wanted to see, hear, and know in this moment was she no longer had to fear her own existance being enough to sentence her to torture.
Now that David was over her and the guns being fired were slowing as most of her wedding guests were either dead or had fled she sat up and watched as Ronan spoke to her mother, as she weeped and begged as if she had done anything in her life to earn her forgiveness. Fallon wanted to watch this death more than any other, wanted to see the woman who was willing to sell her own daughter's body and soul for power. Ronan's men around them had started taking the still breathing guests and tying them up, she could see her father struggling as his arms and legs were bound, could see Donavan half conscious and barely aware of the zip ties being placed around him.
She caught no sight of Edward and when she turned to look where Ava had been hiding she saw no one, she hoped he managed to get her out. Edward had never hurt her but he had never protected her either but he had a wife and child he did protect and they needed him. She saw no sign of Donovan's wife, a woman she barely ever saw. She hadn't been a bridesmaid because of prior agreements and Fallon wasn't even sure if she had come to the wedding.
It was probably better if she hadn't given who her family was. It would be safer for Ronan not to anger a powerful mafia family after he has made so many other enemies tonight with the bodies that lay dead around the chapel.
He had killed a lot of important people tonight and there was no doubt families would be wanting justice for those who fell here.
"Fallon." Her name being called broke her out of the thought and she looked to meet those dark eyes, they were sparkling more than she had ever seen them.
"Come here, this is not my life to take." He held his hand out for her, waiting for her to take it, knowing she needed to do this.
She hesitated for a moment, feeling no loss as your family is killed is one thing, but taking the life of one of them, of your own mother was different. Could she truly take that gun and shoot her? Watch the life drain from her eyes, watch her take one more breath and know she had been the cause of it?
Her mind flashes to the night in the library, of the champagne she drank and the events that followed, it flashed to all the time she dressed her like a whore to attract the eyes of men when she was still just a girl, to when she laid in the hospital for months after her brother almost killed her and she had not visited once, of how she would laugh in the face of her childs misery as if it was the only thing that brought her true joy in this world.
She stood, her once white gown sticking to her body as it was now a wet mess of red. She could feel the blood all over her, in her hair, on her face, in her shoes causing them to slip as she walked. She paused for a moment to take the heels off and throw them to the side before continuing her walk across the wet floor.
There was so much blood, so much red, she should have been disgusted in the way it covered such a holy place but it felt right, it made sense that her family's undoing would be here, that her mother who now prayed to a God she never respected or cared for before now would not be welcomed with the gentle hands she hoped for when she met death.
Her mother belonged in the pits of hell, belonged in an eternity of misery and she wanted to be the one to deliver her to that fate.
"мой прекрасный шторм, are you ready to do this?" He takes Fallons hand in his, letting his other trail over her damp cheek. She looked from him to her mother who is still cowering behind the two of them, her face stricken with tears causing the makeup she always has applied
Her mothers eyes met hers, the fear and hope that maybe her child will save, maybe she will turn to Ronan and beg for her life to be spared out of some loyalty to her own blood. She found it silly her mother would even look towards her with hope, with all the things she had done to her. She didn't have to fall into line, didn't have to stay quiet, not when Ronan was here to help free her from the confines of her family.
"I'm ready." She turns back and takes the pistol he had in his hand for her. It weighed more than she thought, the cold metal felt new and welcomed in her hand. This would be the weapon that took her mothers life, in this gun was the bullet she would fire and steal the rest of her years with.
"Fallon, please you are my daughter. You can't kill your own mother, you can't live with that guilt." She begs as Fallon turns to fully face her. She is on her knees, her hands supporting her against the floor.
She is the only one willing to beg for her to be saved, not her husband or her remaining son speaks a word, they don't even try to reach for her as Fallon raises the weapon. She looks at them both, a cold distant look over both their faces. They look so much alike right now, so unyielding for even the life of someone they are supposed to love.
"Do you have anything to say to her?" She asks, giving them a final goodbye. Neither speaks, neither even look at her mother as they shake their heads no. Has anyone in her family ever loved each other?
She turns to look at her husband and son, wanting to see if they truly are refusing to say even a word to her before her end. They still refuse to meet her eyes, not even giving her the decency of a pair of familiar eyes that hold more than just hatred to look at before her end.
    "Neither do I." She levels the weapon, right at the center of her mothers chest. She turns back to look at her daughter once more, to open her mouth and plead again to let her continue living this miserable life she has, but whenever gets the chance.
    The sound of the gun cut off any words she may have hoped to speak, ever again.