He sent a thought to Emil and turned left after Frank.
When his truck rolled to a stop by Frank’s car, the front door of the house slammed shut. Nobody came out, so he thought there was a chance that they hadn’t noticed him. He got out and walked carefully to the door, listening as hard as he could.
She screamed and cried, telling him to stop. Frank’s voice wasn’t audible, low as it was, but he heard the slap and a thud when she most likely fell over.
“No, no, no, no, Frank don’t—” A slap cut her short.
“Fucking stay still, you bitch!” Makai froze where he stood by the front door. “I’m so fucking glad I got the gun, you know that? Time to end this shit, you fucking whore!”
Loud sobbing carried to Makai, and then, “No, Frank, don’t. The sheriff will—”
“They’re all outta town, Lizzie. Who do you think will save you now, huh? I’ll be long gone when they find your sorry ass!”
Makai carefully turned the door handle and hoped it wouldn’t creak.
“What the fuck?” Frank whirled around and pointed the pistol toward the door.
The layout was open, and Lizzie, bleeding heavily from her lip and nose, lay between the couch and a coffee table. The front door opened directly into the living area, and Makai cursed inside.
“Please,” Lizzie said as she tried to get to her shaky feet. “Help me, he’s gonna—”
“Shut the fuck up, you bitch!” Frank kicked her.
Makai didn’t have time to see where the hit landed, he was too busy looking for something, anything, he could defend himself with.
Frank wasn’t a big guy, maybe five ten, but he had that sort of corded muscle that came from working hard manual labor every day. He wouldn’t go down easily, and there was the fact that he held a gun, too.
“Look, you don’t want to do this,” Makai blurted out, his gaze half on the gun pointed at him, half scanning the environment.
“This has nothing to do with you, faggot!” At least you couldn’t say Frank Matthews was original.
“I get that it doesn’t, but I can’t let you hurt her,” Makai said in what he hoped was a calm tone.
“Let me? You’re not going tolet me?”
Frank moved quickly, like a snake, toward Lizzie who was trying to back away while holding her obviously injured arm.
Makai used the opportunity to grab a heavy-looking vase from a side table. It was heavy, and Makai sent a thought to the universe to give him good aim and lifted it high.
Only a few steps away, Frank lifted his foot to kick Lizzie again, his gun waving at Makai’s approximate direction. He must’ve seen Makai move from the corner of his eye, because he turned quickly, eyes crazy as he took aim.
Makai brought the vase down on Frank’s shoulder as hard as he could. A pain in his arm confused him as he watched Frank fall. His ears were ringing, and—“Oh no!” Lizzie wailed from the floor.
Makai looked at her with confusion. Then he glanced at Frank who had dropped the gun and lay on the floor, unconscious, it seemed. AndthenMakai noticed the blood spreading across his own chest.Shit.Emil was really going to kill him.
