Looking down at the seven johns that had been unfortunate enough to pick today of all days to enter the brothel at this hour, I smiled with an odd sense of glee.Their struggles had caused the barbs of the chicken wire to cut into their wrists and ankles, streaks of blood dripping down their limbs.
One of the guards tried to roll toward me so he could attempt to bite my leg, but I lifted my boot in time and kicked him right in the mouth, sending his teeth flying across the room while blood splattered onto the face of the john lying next to him.
“Luck really wasn’t on any of your sides today, was it?”I said aloud to them, smirking widely.For some reason, I was feeling especially sadistic today.Maybe it was because I was in such a good mood.
“It never is,” a familiar, deep voice agreed near the front doorway.
I glanced up, and a fluttering warmth filled my chest as my gaze connected with the man I owed my very life to.Jason’s steady figure kept me grounded to the world I sought to cleanse with fire.He ensured I never strayed too far into the darkness that constantly threatened my sanity.I owed him everything and doubted I would ever be able to repay him for all he had sacrificed for me.
And standing right next to him with a bloody muzzle, Camaro growled and barked at one of the men lying closest to her.Quite a few of the guards were missing significant parts of their faces because of her.She really had a thing for cheeks and noses lately.
“You ready to finish this?”Jason asked as he pulled out a special Zippo and held it up for me to see.We always left behind the same thing everywhere we went—a pile of ashes and our signature Zippo buried beneath it all.It was a simple lighter, silver chrome, with no distinguishable pattern, inscribed with only one word—justice.
Some people thought what we were doing was wrong in a sense—that we should let the authorities handle things and allow the true justice system to take its course.That we were just vigilantes on a self-righteous power trip, leaving terror in our wake.
But fuck that and fuck them.Iwasjudge, jury, and executioner, and I’ll be damned if anyone tried to undermine my mission with procedural technicalities or judicial corruption.I wasn’t a principled lawyer looking to play by the rules anymore, and I wouldn’t be bound by anyone else’s ethics but my own.And the world was fucking better for it.
“Time to go home,” I agreed with a nod.
Grinning, Jason tossed me the lighter, the weight of it knocking against my palm as I caught it before winking at the men still struggling on the floor.The rest of the team chuckled as they all piled out of the house, their steps causing the wooden stairs of the front porch to creak as I followed them toward the door.
Stopping in the doorway, I turned to face the open room and addressed the screaming bodies trying to somehow roll away in an attempt to escape what was coming for them.
“Do you guys want to know why they call me the fire bitch?”I asked, my voice wicked with unhinged delight.
They all gaped up at me with terror and dismay as I flipped the lid of the lighter and flicked it to life.Satisfaction spread across my lips as I tossed the lighter deep into the house, the screams of the men intensifying as they watched the little flame ignite the kerosene.
Turning away, I walked down the steps to join the rest of my team, the majority of them standing a safe distance from the house as it quickly became engulfed in flames.The cries of the men reached new octaves as their flesh caught fire, floorboards from the second floor already collapsing overtop of them.Some might have found the entire scene deeply disturbing, but it was music to my soul.
“I guess this makes us even now.”
I smirked as I approached one of my newest resources, reaching my hand out to grip hers.“Yes, now we’re even.”
“I didn’t realize you were still this bloodthirsty,” she commented as she shook my hand in kind.
“Oh, I’m always parched,” I replied with a wink.“Thanks for your help on this one.You’re one hell of a bounty hunter.”
Alexa, or better known as the “Alexacutioner”, smirked back at me from behind a short curtain of spiky black hair.
“Any time,” she affirmed.“Just call me whenever you’re feeling inadequate.”
“Ha-ha, will do.Take care of yourself, Alexa.”
“You too.See you around,” she said, then turned to climb onto the back of her dirt bike and sped off down the road.
Finding each other almost a year ago was a total coincidence, just crossing paths between stoplights in Vancouver.It was awkward at first, but then she recognized Jason when he helped her escape from that underground fight prison she was trapped in.And from there, the plotting began again.
Turning away from Alexa’s cloud of dust, I rejoined my team as they watched the house burn to the ground.
“We should have brought s’mores,” Derick snarked, causing a few team members to snort and chuckle.
“I don’t think the kerosene would make a very tasty flavor,” Romero commented.
Ignoring the jokes, I looked away from the fading screams toward the sounds of van doors sliding shut.The last of the women and children we had rescued had been provided immediate medical care and were now on their way to a safe house.There, they would begin the long rehabilitation journey as the recovery team would attempt to reconnect them with their families and provide any additional resources or services they might need.
As much as I hated myself for it, I refrained from interacting with them once they were secure.I saw too much of myself in their defeated eyes, and it was difficult to reconcile the truth of our similarities.Plus, I didn’t think it was a good idea to further traumatize them when I was happily covered in blood and looking deranged as shit.
No.It was best I stayed away from them.For now.