“Sometimes you have to face your own monsters,” Angie said softly.
“You’re going to be very sorry that you hit me,” Hazel said, her voice calm and steely.
Donny laughed like she’d said something amusing. “What are you gonna do? Call the cops? They’ll never believe you.”
“You know, despite the fact that I’m a girl, my parents insisted that I learn to defend myself,” Hazel told him, her voice conversational. “Once I was on my own, I kept up my training, because I knew I had no one but myself to depend on. So no, I don’t need cops. I can take care of my damned self.”
Donny made an angry sound and then there were sounds of a scuffle. A kick. A grunt of pain, his. Then another from Hazel. Something falling over, a table maybe. Then there was a howl of pain followed by a loud thud.
“I can’t believe you kneed me in the nuts,” Donny wheezed.
Ah, Hazel’s signature move.
There was more movement, then he cried out again. “Quit kicking me, bitch!”
We listened as Hazel hit the floor, likely pulled down by Donny, and they continued to struggle until Hazel cried out again.
“You’re going to pay for that,” he gritted while my mate made wheezing noises.
“He’s choking her!” I yelled.
“We’re going in now,” Lois yelled over the comms.
Angie and I continued to listen as Hazel somehow got away from Donny, breathing heavily enough that we could hear it through the mic. Donny was a big guy. I was surprised she’d gotten away from him so easily. Or maybe not. My mate was strong and resourceful and clearly had taken her training in escaping attacks seriously. She could probably work at Sapphic Security with her skills, even if she was a human.
Suddenly Donny laughed evilly.
“You’re pulling a gun on me? Really? Well guess what, my gun is bigger and unlike you, I know how to use this thing.”
A shot rang out, then two more, and then all hell broke loose as the team infiltrated the mansion. Glass broke, agents growled as they let their inner demons take over, furniture crashed to thefloor, and somewhere in the melee, I heard another shot. Then there was a moment of charged silence.
“What the fuck is happening?” I yelled over the comms.
“Hazel, are you okay?” Wanda asked in a calm voice.
I heard my mate’s voice, shaky but alive. “Yeah, but Donny’s going to need an ambulance.”
“The ambulance can’t help him,” Wanda replied. “The dude’s dead.”
Hazel
When I took shooting lessons back when I was in high school, the instructor had stressed over and over again that the only acceptable reason to shoot someone was in self-defense. I’d kept that lesson close to my heart over all the years I’d practiced at the gun range.
Moving to Canada had put a stop to my regular visits to the gun range, but I’d continued to practice my aim in the woods using a BB gun. Whenever I came to the U.S., I’d make a point to visit the local range and practice with the real thing.
Lois had been surprised when I asked her for a gun, but after verifying that I knew what I was doing, she’d loaned me a small revolver and a thigh holster that I’d hidden beneath the stiff fabric of my dress. I’d been betting that Donny would be tooarrogant to search me. In his mind, women were weak. Not a threat.
He knows better now,I thought wryly.Or he would, if he were alive.
I didn’t come here to kill him, but I was ready to do it if I had to. I didn’t draw my gun when he punched me in the face. I didn’t draw it when he dragged me to the floor by the ankle. I didn’t even draw it when he started strangling me. But when I flipped him off me, I saw him reach for his own gun. That’s when I’d made the decision. It was him or me.
In slow motion I saw his finger move towards the trigger. I ducked, and he shot at me, hitting the wall a few inches above my head. When I saw him press the trigger a second time I fired back. It was self-defense.
I should have aimed for center mass. I was firing at close range and he was a big target. But some part of me feared he’d keep coming, especially if I just hit him in the shoulder. So I’d aimed for his forehead, purely out of primal instinct, and sent my bullet right through his head.
He got off a second shot as I hit him, this one going wide as he recoiled from his injury. A third shot rang out as he dropped his gun. Then there was the organized chaos of half a dozen Sapphic Security agents crashing through the house. They’d come to save me, but in the end, I saved myself.
Someday I’d feel good about that, but today was not that day.
