Dinner on Friday

35. Dante

THE SWIRL

I couldn't walk away from her.

The need for vengeance was great, but my love for Carla and her well-being was a million times greater.

She was my everything.

Bruce sensed my hesitation and came to stand next to me outside of the door. For a moment, none of us spoke. A moment that felt like hours but turned out to be only a couple of seconds.

The decision I had to make weighed heavy on us the longer we stood there.

And then, in a calm, almost cold voice, Bruce uttered the following: "I can get the job done."

I stared at the man I had known since we were teenagers. My mother had taken me with her on her trip to New Orleans in search of new recipes to expand her already vast catalog of cooking experiences. At the time, Bruce was on the brink of getting deployed, and yet he had gone out of his way to help two strangers when their car broke down.

I met his somber gaze in the empty hallway and for the first time, I noticed the blood stains on his cheeks and forehead.

"I'm sure you can, but I could never ask that of you. This is to protect you from whatever feelings I might harbor after the deed is done. Mathias is mine alone to deal with."

A sharp nod was forthcoming. "We should probably find out what he gave to Carla before we off him. Maybe there's an antidote?"

"Yeah, maybe "

And yet none of us moved.

"I'm so fucking angry," I said, "it's like poison in my blood. I want to ransack this whole place and yell bloody murder at the top of my lungs."

Bruce nodded several times as he listened.

"Is that weird?" I asked, not used to the chaos I felt boiling inside of me.

"Not weird. Human." He patted my shoulder. "You know what? I'll do the finding out. You stay here with your wife until the ambulance gets here. Mathias is a coward and is probably long gone."

I turned and went back into the cell where Carla was still hooked to chains.

Fuck, where were the keys? I couldn't see her like that for a moment longer.

The cell was nothing but bright lights and suffocating low ceilings. A small console table stood on the opposite wall and I pounced on the thing like a starving tiger. I opened the small drawer in the center and was greeted by a small clear vial filled with a mesmerizing purple liquid inside.

I lifted it and the liquid inside shimmered in the light, two different hues of purple intermingling with each other but never quite mixing.

Was this the antidote?

Squeezing the small bottle in my hand, I dashed back to Carla. She looked just as peaceful as before, stuck in this loop of unwanted serenity.

Dropping to the floor, I stretched my long legs out before me and then positioned my woman's head on my thighs so she could use them as a pillow.

"Cariño, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I love you so much. Don't give up on us, please, baby, stay alive."

For a moment, I watched the way the light cast shadows on her face before turning my attention to the swirling liquid in my palm.

Should I give it to her?

Sweat broke out on my forehead at the thought. A battle ensued inside of me, ferocious and demanding. Right now, she was in a vegetative state, and giving her anything but the antidote would surely kill her.

A rush of tears nearly blinded me. I gave in to the storm, hugging Carla to my chest, shielding her smaller frame with my large body as bloody tears fell from my eyes.

My shoulders shook. Violently.

"Oh, my love, this is the hardest thing I ever had to do." As I spoke, I rocked us back and forth gently, taking comfort from her while simultaneously comforting her. "I don't know what to do, but I do know that I need you in my life. I love you, Carla. Every version of you."

Mute, stubborn, loving, fierce, overtly curious, protective, I wanted it all.

The vial in my palm gleamed in the light like a magic potion. I closed my eyes and tried to read the energy emanating from the bottle. This was something I had never done before, but somehow inside my head, I heard my mother's voice.

Everything in life is composed of good, bad, and neutral energy. Humans, things, animals, and even nature. A good plant will wilt faster in the presence of evil. It's all in the vibrations we release, microscopic but powerful.

I slowed my breathing down and tried to focus on the vibrations around me.

The hard cold floor beneath my ass: neutral.

The harsh spotlights overhead: bad.

Carla's still, unmoving body: good, but the frequency of the vibrations was overwhelmingly low. She was running out of time.

Before I could study the vibrations coming from the vial, I made a decision.

At that moment I just knew what needed to be done.

I uncapped it and without hesitation, opened Carla's mouth and poured the contents down her throat. She had a hard time swallowing, so I gently massaged the front of her neck until she'd swallowed every drop.

I held my breath, and for a long time, nothing happened.

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh...

Without warning, Carla started convulsing in my arms, causing the chains fastened to her arms and legs to rattle loudly in the practically empty room.

The muscles in her neck tightened like steel cables, every sinew stretched to its limits as the rest of her body turned into a rigid wall. Mini earthquakes shook her over and over. Her eyeballs rolled back to show the whites of her eyes, making her seem haunted. She clenched down hard and I heard the gnashing of teeth as the convulsions took it up another notch.

Each spasm seemed to drag her further from reality to a place of no return. My heart pounded in my chest, a primal fear gripping me in a chokehold.

"Oh shit," I muttered as I looked on helplessly. "What the fuck did I do?"

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