Barely Dead

☠ f o u r ☠

☠ f o u r ☠

"No," Adriana sputtered in response. Libitina stared at her without emotion.

"It's pointless. He's not like us. When he says he'll kill us, he really means it," she responded bitterly. Adriana glanced at her through the corner of her eye.

Quietus smirked and chuckled. "Finally, one of you uneducated fucks gets the memo. Do you know who I am, Adriana?"

"No," he answered for her. She ground her teeth in irritation. The sound echoed in Libitina's ear and she flinched silently. She absolutely loathed that sound. "Clearly not because if you had, your brave façade would have already melted away."

"Well then, Mr. Hot-Shot," she snarled. "Who the hell are you?" 

Quietus grinned again at the last sentence. She was finally onto something he could work with.

"Repeat your last sentence again."

"Don't tell me what to do," she spat venomously at him. "And don't play games. Just answer the goddamn question!" Quietus frowned. She didn't want to play his game. 

"I'm the Grim Reaper. And I need you to be my assistant-" 

"Bullshit," she snorted, cutting him off. "The Grim Reaper's a myth. Do you think I'm that stupid?" Quietus' face contorted into a scowl. 

"Do you want evidence?" he growled at her. She rolled her eyes. 

"Sure, Mr. Grim Reaper." Her voice was a mixture of taunting and challenging, Gunner's favorite combination.

He watched her intently. She was a feisty one. He didn't feel like interfering, and clearly Libitina didn't want to barge in either. He shot her a small smirk and she returned it with a glare. He could tell by her eyes she was thinking Gunner was as crazy as Quietus. He nodded at her. Yeah, he was just as insane as his best friend. He smiled to himself before turning his attention back on Adriana and Quietus. After all, the show only just begun.

Quietus pulled up his shirt and grabbed the gun from his holster.

"Here," he said as he tossed it to Libitina. She barely caught it. "Shoot me, right through my brain." Libitina's face lit up instantly, but then logic kicked in viciously. Why would her kidnapper and her father's killer be so delusional as to let her try to kill him? Maybe he was that stupid... Then, her brain kicked into overdrive and she froze in place. The scene in the hospital replayed itself in her mind.

"Who are you?"

"Gunner," the man nodded his head to her. "Handle her." The Gunner guy swiftly grabbed her arm off his chest and made her hold it behind her back after slamming the door shut and jamming a chair in front of it. He didn't hesitate to grab Libitina by the shoulders and press her against the wall.

She struggled and began to scream, but the Gunner person saw it coming. Behind him, the first man crept up and pressed his arms against her neck as she rested on the wall. She struggled, squirmed, and did all she could. She decided to pretend she was unconscious and let her body go limp. The guy released his grip and she dropped on the floor. Hard. She held back her grunt as her loose body fell and instead, waited, watching through her black hair. When both men looked away, she took her opportunity and swiftly got onto her feet.

"Oh, Jonathon," the mysterious man smirked as he leaned over daddy’s bedside. "I'm sorry it has to come to this. Well, not really. This is what you wanted, isn't it?" She wanted to scream he was wrong. She wanted to show something that would prove her dad loved her. But she couldn’t. Because she didn’t even know for herself. As she watched horrified, something in his bones clicked. His skin began to twist into his bones, and a skull replaced his face. He was no longer wearing a black V-neck, no – all he was wearing was a long, black, cascading cloak.