In the Classroom

Chapter Nineteen: Mixing Blood

My hands were put in my pockets casually as I studied Fang. Bruises he had been inflicted with before the battle stood out in the faint lights. The scars on his face stretched in the shadows, making him appear more sinister than before. Fang seemed to move in slow motion as he pulled himself to his feet. He took a furious step towards me. Then, suddenly, he stopped where he stood when I pointed my gun at his head. He paled, the knife falling out of his grip as well. It clattered on the floor, echoing about ten times more than it should have, but the silence was louder that the fallen blade.

"You're right, Fang. I am getting cocky. If I were as cold-blooded as you, I would have put a bullet in your head already," I told him smartly. Fang smirked at me.

"Then get on with it, Piper!" he snapped at me. He stretched his arms out, making the target of his heart so much more vulnerable to my bullets. His twisted grin grew larger. "Do it, Piper! I dare you! Are you so content to have others do what you should do yourself? Are you too afraid to pull the trigger yourself, that when your life is at stake you beg for someone else to take your place?" he asked me. I narrowed my eyes at him. I could see it—Fang wasn't trying to be cruel—he was trying to live. He wanted me to show my weakness so he could go in for the kill. The knife was still at his feet. At the slightest doubt, at the smallest scruple, the thought would show in my actions, and my gun would drop even the tiniest of an inch. Then, he would strike where I hurt the most. Fang chuckled darkly.

"Life's a bitch, ain't it, Piper?" he asked me. "I'm sorry a kid like you had to be pulled into this kind of business," he told me. I heard a couple people draw sharp breath at that remark. Fang laughed at them.

"Kinda defensive about the job, aren't you, bastards?" he asked then crowd. He looked at me sadly.

"You've already been bathed in blood, Piper. There's no going back for you now," he promised me. I knew his words were true, so I simply stared at him coldly. He gave me a smile.

"Just let me go, Piper. I promise that I won't hurt you," he told me. It was my turn to laugh at him.

"It's just like you to pull a stunt like that, Fang. I'm not as gullible as your usual prey," I told him. Fang growled at me.

"We could make it—we could escape this hell hole," he told me. The crowd protested, but Fang shrugged their anger off.

"Our biggest occupational hazard is the blood we have to be willing to spill," he told me slowly. "But we could escape and forget everything. I won't let anyone hurt you, and you won't let other hurt me," he told me.

"You're such a horrible liar. How do you keep your wife from knowing what you do at night? How do you manage to keep her in the dark about all of this when you can't even lie to save your life?" I asked him softly, cocking my gun's hammer. “You're life depends on how well you can lie right now, Fang.” His eyes became pained.

"That's right...I have a wife and three kids...so let me go, Piper, please," he told me. I shook my head at him.

"You know what that means for me, Fang. I have my own life to life, too," I told him. Fang looked at me desperately. "No, Piper...life doesn't mean anything with the kind of guilt you'll have to shoulder from here on out," he told me. I stared at him slowly. I was able to truly see that the man he used to be had died long before I had joined the mafia. He had told me he had joined the mafia at the same time I had, and that was because he wanted to get back at the company who had fired him, and the boss who had stolen his first wife.

"Live, Piper...do what I did and find someone you don't ever want to leave," he whispered to me. I looked on at him. I knew Sam would hate me if he knew what I did. Still, my survival came above anything else, and after that, Sam's. I knew the mafia would kill us both if I deserted them right now. Fang saw my silence and gave me a hopeful, yet pleading smile.

"Mercy, friend?" he asked me weakly. I returned my focus to him. There was no hesitation in my next act.

Blam!!

"Just picking my spot, friend," I told him coldly. The corpse fell to the ground with a painful flop. Fang twitched there where he lay, the blood choking him at the throat. My aim had not failed me and it had impaled him in the heart, yet the bullet had not gone all the way through. He would die, but it would not be soon. In that time my mercy came back. I came towards him slowly, picking up his fallen sword as I went.

Shlunk!!

I cut through Fang's throat quickly, silencing his cries. The moment the sword had pierced his throat, all light in Fang's eyes had left. I reached down to close his eyes respectfully when a slip of paper in his pocket caught my attention. In Fang's messy scrawl was a letter in a white envelope with his wife's name addressed to her. I pulled it out slowly putting it in my own pocket. Thankfully, the blood had not reached the envelope and it stayed white.

"What is that?" asked Keenan softly. I looked up at him coldly.

"Pot," I lied simply. Keenan raised his eyebrow at me.

"That belongs to us—your leaders," ordered Halie, holding out her hand for the envelope. I glared at her.

"I went through hell to please you—I think I deserve a little compensation," I snapped at her. Now that I had proven myself to them once again, no one would question me, not even the bosses.

"We are giving you a pay raise—is that not enough?" asked Halie furiously. I gestured to my ruined shoulder. "A couple extra thousand won't cover my health bills—I don't have any insurance," I told her angrily. She sighed, crossing her arms at me. We battled it out for a moment in silent gazes, exchanging glares that made the entire room drop about twenty degrees in temperature.

"Fine, I will cover your medical bills just this once," she snapped at me. “We can't have such a valuable member of our family dropping dead from battle,” she said, indicating the pool of blood that had begun to gather at my feet. At first I thought it was just from my wound, but it was my blood from my injuries mixing with the blood gushing from Fang's throat. I had completely forgotten about him, lying dead at my feet, his throat sliced open by my hand. For once, I felt sick. At Halie's surprising kindness, protests of unfairness erupted from the crowd, but a glare from Halie cut off the protesters quickly enough. She smiled at me slyly.

"However, we have a few missions for you, Pied Piper," she told me. I sighed, turning my back on her.

"Fine. Now can we go to the hospital before I die from loss of blood?" I told her, walking out. Halie's footsteps followed me. When being followed by Halie, you can feel like you have a sword pointed at your ribcage as your march through the crowd of jealous mafia members. My fingers tightened on the handle of my gun, but I stuffed the weapon into my pocket, knowing none of them can hurt me now.

Tonight, I was invincible. For I had done away with a man who wished for innocence by sacrificing the last bits of my own.