Ashes - (Sequel to Dark Flame)

Ch. 8

"Where's Romeo at, Juliet?"

        It has been two weeks since we left England. Right now, me, Essie, Niall, and the kids were all sharing a two bedroom apartment. Niall slept in the living room, while Essie and I shared rooms with our children. It was raining outside, and extremely chilly. I had a sweater on, and a long sleeve shirt, yet I was still chilled to the bone.

        I moved over to sit by the fireplace, and I began to warm my hands up. Everyone was fast asleep, and I was still awake trying to not wake a sleeping Niall on the couch. I pulled my knees up to my chest. Sleepless nights were not uncommon for me now. I have not had a full nights rest since before we left. I was constantly worried....worried that someone from Enrique's gang would have tracked us down and we would all be killed. It has not happened yet, thankfully. 

        I was not exactly sure where we were. I knew we were in a small town in Scotland. Tha was it, Niall refused to tell me anything else. Phone calls to my parents had to be quick, just in case someone was listening in on the phone call. Niall said we could never be too careful.

        I thought about Liam. Where was he? Was he okay? I think he may be the reason for my sleepless nights. Tears began to spill out the corners of my eyes, and I fought the urge to sniffle. I hugged my knees tighter and tighter, and began to rock back and forth. I heard a crackle of thunder, followed by a knock at the door. Niall jumped up immediately and grabbed his gun, ignoring me on the floor. 

        He slowly opened the door and was ready to fire at any given moment. I could not see anyone at the door, I just saw Niall bend over and pick something up. Niall turned and shut and locked the door behind him. He had a large white envelope. 

        "It's for you," he said, handing me the envelope. It had my name written in black ink, in the most beautiful hand writing that I can ever remember. I knew exactly who it was from.

Dearest Juliet and little Leo, 

I know where you are, and you are safe. They will not find you. I have them searching in all the wrong places. I will be watching you, and when the time is right, I will finally be able to be with you. You are both safe with Niall. Please do not leave his sight, not even for a moment. It's a crazy and dangerous world out there, and Niall is your only source of safety for now, especially with one of my closest mates betraying me. You'll find out more about that later, I'm sure.

Well, for now, goodbye my loves. 

L.Px

"What did he say?" Niall asked.

"How do you know it was him?" I wondered.

"He always writes a big 'P' on the back of the envelope," Niall said, pointing at the back of the envelope that I was gripping on to since it was the only part of Liam I had left. 

        "Here, you read it. It's not that personal," I said, handing Niall the letter. 

        He nodded his head while reading it, then stopped and his face became pale, and a confused look washed over his face.

        "Niall?" I asked, waving my hand to try and catch his attention. 

        "Yeah?" he asked, clearly snapping out of thought.

        "You okay?"

        "No, not really," he said, walking towards the door. "I'll be back."

        I heard Niall's footsteps slowly walk out into the dark night. I wondered where he was going, but I knew better than to follow him out. I locked the door immediately, and then carefully, I peeked out the curtian. Niall was on the phone, obviously muttering some unknown curse words and making some quick hand gestures. He was clearly yelling, and I just wanted to know who he was yelling at. He became silent, then looked over towards me. I could feel his piercing blue eyes meet mine. He slowly hung up the phone and then started to walk back into the house. I unlocked the door and hurried off to my bedroom. I heard the door open, and then heard Niall's footsteps get closer and closer. I was hoping he was not going to be mad at me. 

        "Juliet," he started, "I need to have a word." I got up and slowly walked towards the door. I opened it to be greeted by a rain-dampend haired Niall. 

         "I'll tell you who I was on the phone with," he began, "and what Liam meant by 'one of my closest mates betraying me', okay?" I shook my head yes. 

        "Okay, here's what happened, the gang was getting it's name well known for being the 'Good Guys' and Harry didn't like that. At. All. So he decided to join Enrique's new gang, The Triple X's." 

        "The Triple X's?" I asked. 

        "Kill, steal, win. It's  been Enrique's motto for years, and he always called it 'The Triple Threat,' but I think he needed something that sounded a bit more dangerous, like Triple X's." Niall said, running his hand through his hair, which he did when he was worried.

        "Are we safe?" I asked, knowing that the answer could possibly change our lives.

        "Not even close, babe." I heard a strangely sinister, yet familiar voice come from the hallway. Niall and I both turned towards the voice to see a tall, dark figure that when he emerged from the light, was none other than Harry.

        "Speak of the devil," Niall spat, "what the hell do you think you are doing here?" 

        "Sending out a warning to you, little Leo, Essie and her child, and, of course, Juliet," Harry said with a bit of laughter at the end. "Where's Romeo at, Juliet? Oh! That's right! He's a coward and gives up on his gang and family when times get rough, right? Wait, don't answer that. I think you already have the answer, am I right?" he asked, walking towards me, grabbing my arm and lifting up my chin so I would look him in the eyes. "Don't you?" I began to feel a tear run down my face. "Ha! Weak, just like Liam!" he let go of me and threw me to the ground. "Pitiful."

        I sat there for a minute on the floor, wondering why Niall had not killed him yet. I looked over to Niall, who looked more pissed off than ever. He looked down at me, and then back up at Harry. He lunged toward Harry, only for Harry to pull out a gun and point it at him. Niall backed away.

        "Coward," Harry said to Niall. "You guys are lucky I haven't seen the little ones yet, I was supposed to come here and take Leo, but this is a lot more fun."

        "Harry, please stop, man. I thought we were brothers!" Niall shouted.

        "Funny, Niall. Always making me laugh. Brothers? More like I saved your ass everytime we were in trouble. But right now, I could care less if you were saved," Harry laughed to himself, then walked back over to me. "I think the question is," he started, "who do I kill first?" Niall ran to me as Harry began to load the gun. 

        "It's okay, Juliet. We'll be okay," Niall said softly into my ear to try and reassure me. I closed my eyes as I heard the first shot ring out, followed by a second. I expected to feel pain, but I didn't. When I opened my eyes, I found Niall standing over Harry's body, a smoking gun in his hand.

        "I told you that we'd be okay," Niall said, "he's not dead though. I got him in the shoulder and in the leg. We need to leave before he gets up or calls for help." Niall said, taking the gun from Harry and running to wake up Essie. Essie was already awake and had her bags packed, along with the children's bags. It was easy to pack everything up, since we never really unpacked in the first place.

        We all hurried out of the apartment and into Niall's car that he had bought a few days before. Niall made me call for an ambulance for Harry, and then made me throw my phone out the window. 

      "No more phones. I'm not sure how Harry found us, but we can't be safe. We can't trust anyone except eachother. Got it?" Niall asked, and of course, we nodded back as we made our way into the night, searching for a safe place to stay.

AN: i really am so sorry it took me forever to update! i've been extremely busy with my classes and i have had almost no time to write something that wasn't for creative writing or a research paper! anyways, thank you ALL for the lovely comments!! they brighten my day, and trust me, I read every single one of them! they always put a smile on my face. there is going to be a lot of updates soon, now that i have a lot of ideas bubbling up inside my head! thank you for waiting, reading, commenting, and voting!!