Lucky O'Cléirigh

Stopped on the old underpass that runs beneath the Bay Bridge, Brody kills the engine and I sit up in the back of the car, stretching out my stiff, static-charged muscles to peer through the foggy window.. The wind blusters violently outside and several shadowy figures linger around in the darkness, leaning casually against their black SUV's, waiting patiently..

The Detective climbs out of the driver's seat and circles the car to haul me from the back with the grip of an iron vice clamped firmly around my forearm.. "Owh! Brody! Stop!" I whimper in weak protest.. After days with no food and processing the emotionally exhausting knowledge that I am going to be sold into slavery, my resistance is as destroyed as my desire to live..

I have so little hope left in me that there is nothing to do but accept the destiny I am so deserving of.. Some people are just born cursed and I have been damned ever since I could remember.. No amount of masking my feelings or pretending to be somebody I'm not could fend off this inevitable downfall.. If this is God's will.. So be it.. I am resigned to apathy..

Nikolaj can take nothing from me if there is nothing to take.. I will become empty, hollow inside, void of any spirit..

My shoulders slump when I see that Stori is one of the men waiting for me beside one of the cars and I tremble in fear, certain that Nikolaj must be hiding behind those tinted windows..

The Banker takes a prowling step forward, breaking away from his Bratva brothers to collect me, like the proverbial meat I am being sold to the lions.. But before Stori can open his mouth to negotiate his terms for the sale, a heavy set Latina man with a pencil thin moustache and a fancy burgundy suit climbs from the back of one of the SUV parked across the road.. He ambles towards us like a fat toad in a trenchcoat all while looking down his bulbous red nose at me..

"You were not lying, mi amigo! Muy niña hermosa, she is well worth the asking price.." Brody thrusts me forward for inspection, holding onto me by a fistful of my hair as the stocky stranger grabs me by the chin, tilting my head back, his vicious gaze burning into me.. "You are coming home with me, Chica-"

In his empty amethyst eyes I see nothing, not a hint of sympathy or a glimmer of remorse.. This heinous frog of a man is dead inside..

"Why the fuck for iz he here?! We had a fucking deal, Donovan!" Stori snipes, striding forward with a furious scowl to argue as the man in red rolls his eyes with bored disinterest..

"Typical Commie Russky, there is no equal opportunity here.. Money talks in America, and I am flushed.." The toad laughs in a cold and mocking manner as he waves a dismissive hand.. "The girl is mine.."

Stori ignores the man in red, seething through grinding, gritted teeth.. "You would fuck the Bratva out of what iz owed, Donovan? The brotherhood doez not forget-"

"Fuck Kalashnik! Yeh' boss didn'ee even have the courtesy to show up, he sent you, his fuckin' lap dog! The way I see it, he's the one goin' back on his word.." Brody hauls me back to his side, returning his possessive grip to my arm as my eyes flick between the two men who fight over the privilege of my purchase.. "This is an open market, so let the biddin' war begin, gentl'men.."

"Sukin syn!" Stori cusses with a hiss of frustration..

"Hijo de puta!" The toad replies in kind, igniting an enraged rivalry..

Through the cacophony of echoing argumentative shouts that fly back and forth between the two men, my head throbs and my mind thrums.. The only thing that can calm my tumultuous thoughts is the silent prayer I play on repeat in my head as I clench my eyes closed..

Lord protect me!

Heaven help me!

God save me!

-BANG-

My prayers are answered in the form of a thundering crack and a miracle bullet that seems to come from nowhere.. Warm and wet, salty and metallic a scarlet liquid sprays across my face and it takes a few seconds for me to discern that I am soaked in somebody elses blood and nobody is clinging onto me with a death grip anymore.. Brody's hold on my arm is relinquished as he lets out a drawn out miserable groan of suffering and he slumps to his knees beside me, right in the middle of the road..

A desperate hand wraps around my leg and I turn to look down at the writhing heap of injury at my feet as his demeanour shifts from intimidation to imploring.. "L-Lucky- H-Help me.."

He seeks my compassion now, as if I should feel anything other than satisfied to see him suffer.. But I don't.. I feel nothing for Brody.. In fact, I wish he would die faster..

"No.." I stumble backwards while Brody falls face first to the asphalt, the muffled sounds of panic rise all around me as the calls of the Calaveras ring about in outrage.. "Javier, tienes que salir de ahí!"

The oversized man in the wine coloured waist-coat turns and waddles hurriedly back to his car, seeking cover.. Before I get a chance to turn and run, Stori grabs a hold of my arm to shake me from the trickling terror that moves at a slow motion pace all around me..

"Get the fuck off me!" I snap.. "Let me goooo!" My hand fly's out to connect with his chiselled cheekbone in a resounding bitch-slap before he grabs me, subduing me in an emcompasssing bear hug..

-SMACK-

"Sestra, stop!′ He grunts and I squirm beneath his weight as he shouts at me.. "I am not here to hurt you, Kukolka! The Reaper sent me!"

My heart palpitates.. He says that he's not going to hurt me, all the while referencing the grim reaper and the mixture of those two opposing ideas only adds to my mounting terror.. "That doesn't make any sense!" I scream as he squeezes me tighter to keep me from escaping.. "No, no! Let me go!"

-CREEEEEEEECH-

In a burn of rubber and flash of silver, a familiar sleek sporty Porsche screeches over the ridge of the road, drifting to a stop behind Stori's parked car before Konstantin leaps from the driver's side door.. He is followed by Luka and two other men who climb from the back seats with their semi-automatics at the ready..

Determined and dangerous, My Bear barrels across the road towards us at breakneck speed as I struggle to break free from Stori's hold.. "Konstantin!" When The Banker is forced to let go of my arm for all my fighting, I am flung to the ground, landing hard on my hip with a yelp.. "Ow! Fuck! Konstantin!"

I call out to him again but he doesn't seem to hear me.. The bloodlust in his eyes is murderously dark and laser focused on Brody as reaches the sprawling Detective who tries to drag himself away like some pathetic worm.. Konstantin lays a boot into the broken man's ribs before he stoops low and his fist collides with a slack jaw.. Kneeling on Brody's chest to brutally beat the life from him, his bloody knuckles swing violently on repeat, a sickening squelch and a gruesome crunch is all I can hear from my place on the ground a few feet away.. I cower, frozen in horror as I watch Konstantin, lost to his demons, dragging Brody face first across the bitumen over to the roadside..

I wanted this.. I wanted Brody dead so badly that it is as though my ill will had manifested the grim reaper himself.. A sudden surge of guilt washes over me..

This is all my fault.. Everything is my fault.. Konstantin had wanted a better life, he had wanted to be free and I had been the catalyst that would only cause him more pain, pulling him deeper into the life he was never meant to live..

"Yeh' dirty Russkiy-fuck! Yeh' stole her from me- I was just takin' back what's mine!" Brody gurgles from the ground, half conscious, his eyes blackened and swollen shut as blood pools from his lips..

"Yours? She waz never fucking yours!" The Russian spits in a hushed growl.. "Ne priblizhaysya k moyey devushka, grobanaya ty mraz'!"

Brody groans, curling into a feeble, foetal ball.. "He already paid for her.. Carrera.. He'll never stop.. He hates you Commie bastards as much as any American.. You don't belong here, Ivanov.."

"WHAT YOU FUCKING SAY TO ME?!" Konstantin growls as he lays another boot into the Irishman's ribs causing a spluttering bloody cough before reaching down to continue dragging him across the asphalt to the gutter.. "Open you shit-talking mouth and bite this concrete .."

"Fuck you!" Brody spits a tooth and a mouthful of blood aside..

Konstantin pulls out his gun and jams it into the back of Brody's neck.. "You may die az man or az coward, it iz your choice, but you fucking die tonight.. Now bite 'ze fucking curb cunt.."

Stori tries to intervene, making a motion to stop the madness, speaking as a voice of reason that only goes ignored.. "Kostya, Brat, Nyet! You do not have to-"

"SHUT 'ZE FUCK UP, STORI! HE FUCKING DIES!" Konstantin turns the gun on Brody's legs and fires off two rounds causing a blood curdling cry of anguish so chilling that I feel vibrate through my nerves..

-BANG-BANG-

"BIT 'ZE FUCKING CURB OR I SHOOT OFF YOUR LIMP COCK NEXT!"

Whimpering with stuttered sobs of misery and fear Brody begins to beg, realising he has met his maker.. For every sin he has committed, The Russian is resolved to make him repent.. "P-Please.. Please no.."

"AGHH- MOTHERFUCK!" Konstantin lets out a growl of fury as he reaches down again to position Brody, jerking him upward to angle his head over the slope of the gutter..

The black mark this will leave on Konstantin's soul cannot be washed clean and I fear for his spirit.. If this is what he believes he has to do on behalf of my honour, he is wrong.. I don't want to be the cause of more blood on his hands or a bringer of more guilt and pain that he has to carry.. All I ever wanted was to be his sunshine, not another dark cloud over his conscience.. Using the trunk of the car I pull myself upright to my feet with a cry.. "Bear! No! Stop!"

Konstantin turns to me with eyes dark as coal, almost as if he doesn't see me at all.. He doesn't recognise the fear I feel for him because he is so lost in his ruthless rage, overcome by primal instinct and violence that he is like a different man..

"Close your eyes, Malishka.." He growls at me..

I take a wobbling step forward.. "Don't- Don't do it, Bear.. Please.. "

Brody gasps, holding up his hands in surrender.. "Listen to yeh' girlfriend man- please.."

Konstantin takes a regarding half step back, seeming to comply with my request and I can hear Stori breathe a relieved sigh beside me as Brody moans and lays his head down on the curb to rest.. "Oh, fuck man.."

But that relief is short lived..

"I am sorry, Solnyshko.. Forgive me.." Swiftly and without mercy Konstantin lifts his foot to bring it down with so much force that that bone crumples like a brittle ceramic beneath his boot as he stomps into Brody's skull.. The burst of blood that disperses when he obliterates my ex boyfriend's head in half nearly makes me vomit..

I jolt in shock and wince as I grab onto Stori for support, burying my face in his chest to cover my eyes and I try to swallow the sickness in my throat as a sway of nausea overcomes me.. "Oh my god!"

"Bože Moy!" Stori clutches me close, petting my back as I cry, rolling sobs of scared sadness.. "It iz alright, Sestra.. You are alright.. It iz over now.."

"Oh no.. Oh God.." I gag as the grisly scene replays behind my closed eyes, now burnt into my brain for an eternity..

"What 'ze fuck you do 'zat for, Koba?" Stori snarls.. "You scare her!"

"Do not fucking question me, Stori.. Juzt go, get her out of here!" I peek back to see Konstantin standing over the body, his shoulders heaving in rage as he slips his pistol into the back of his belt..

"Come, Sestra.." Stori tries to coax me away, but I don't want to leave My Bear behind..

I can't leave him.. I won't abandon him when he needs me.. And he does need me.. His very soul is at stake.. "Konstantin.. Come with us- Please.." I reach out a hand but as he shifts to face me the Cartel takes his turned back as their cue to advance..

-BANG-BANG-BANG-

Chaos erupts as the Calaveras and the Bratva begin to trade bullets back and forth, lead shredding the air around me as Stori drags me down to the ground.. With an encouraging push he shoves me sideways to crawl around the back of Brody's car for cover before he draws his own piece and disappears into the fray..

Ricochets rocket through the air and something sharp slices through my arm.. "Ahh-owwh! Shit!" I gasp, clutching the flesh wound now throbbing at my bicep..

"ENOUGH!" Konstantin's booming shout rings out demanding a ceasefire and amazingly the shooters obey.. The air turns calm and quiet as the thugs turn to watch.. "THIZ MAN WAZ TRAITOR TO UZ ALL, CARRERA! WHY FOR DO YOU CARE 'ZAT HE IZ DEAD?"

"I had a deal with that man! Who the fuck are you!?" Javier calls back from behind his car door.. "I want to speak to Nika!"

"I am 'ze Pakhan.." Konstantin proclaims coldly.. "We need no war, my friend.. Nikolaj iz dead.."

"BULLSHIT!" Javier bellows as reality starts to seep into my head..

Konstantin did it.. He had overthrown the Bratva leader to supersede his throne..

I always knew that he would because he is nothing if not a man of his word, but somehow I never imagined it would make me feel so much relief.. Nika is dead.. And I will never become his property..

"It iz true!" Stori steps out in support, lowering his pistol to solidify the armistice.. "We follow 'ze Reaper now!"

"I don't give a fuck! I came here for my bride.." Carerra steps out from behind his car door to watch as Konstantin paces the sidewalk by the roadside.. "I'm not leaving without the girl, Russkiy.."

Stori waves a disapproving hand at me to get down when I peek out from behind the car but I am transfixed.. Utterly bewildered by the standoff as it unfolds into mania..

"She belongz to me! Ona moya, idi v zhopu!" Konstantin reaches behind his back for his gun and as he does several shots ring out and in a flash of fire and red a round runs right through him before my eyes..

-BANG-BANG-BANG-

"NO!" I shriek as everything blurs into tunnel vision, all happening in a single instant.. "NO, NO!"

Konstantin staggers backwards with his hand over his chest, a bloom of crimson staining his white shirt beneath his jacket.. Silent as the dead he vanishes into a black abyss, falling from the underpass into the choppy bay waters below as Stori and the other Bratva men howl in fury and begin to return fire on Javier and his men..

With a newfound flood of adrenaline coursing through my veins, I scramble to my feet and fling off my jacket.. I don't care if I die.. I don't care about anything.. My only instinct is to be with the man I love.. In life or in death..

The handrail is icy and slippery beneath my sneakers as I climb over it and the last thing I hear before I leap from the overpass is Stori screaming at me to stop.. But there is no living without Konstantin, if he is dead, then I want to be dead too.. The plummet down feels long but the wintery slice of ice cold water hits me with full force as I sink into the murky depths and it's enough to shock my system into hyperdrive..