Blood Red (4 page)

Vivi Anna

Joe picked up his beer and wandered closer to where Red sat. “We were thinking, what will Red do when The Wolf comes back to town?”

Red flinched and clenched her jaw. She flicked her cigarette butt toward Joe. It bounced off his chest and landed at his feet. He grinned evilly as he crushed it under his filth-encrusted boot.

“Ah, I see that the cold-hearted bitch does have some feelings after all.”

Jack jumped up from his chair, pointing his finger at Joe. “Watch what you say about her!”

Joe laughed. “I’d put a leash on your boy-toy, Red.

He’s bound to get hurt.”

“Do not threaten me, sir. I will have you arrested,”

Jack said, his voice cracking.

Everyone in the bar burst out laughing.

“Sit down,” Red demanded through clenched teeth.

Jack looked around at the laughing crowd. He huffed, then sat down obediently in his chair.

Joe chugged back the rest of his beer. He tossed the glass to Jack, who caught it clumsily fumbled it and dropped it. It shattered into pieces on the floor.

“That’s quite the watchdog you got there, girl. I wonder if he’ll protect you when The Wolf comes a-hunting. I hear he’s coming back to tie up some loose ends. And you, my dear, are a very loose end.”

John and Jimmy got off their stools and stood on either side of Joe. They were all smiling maliciously.

“So what, the three little Pigs are his warm up act?

You come to deliver a stern warning? Surely I’m more of a threat than that.”

6

Blood Red

Joe clenched his fists. “You talk tough, bitch. But you won’t be talking shit when we hand-deliver you to the big bad Wolf.”

“I hear he’s got something special for you. Maybe he’ll finish where he left off with that ugly mug of yours,” John said, eagerly bouncing from foot to foot.

“Tell you what,” she said sniffing the air, “Why don’t you crawl back into the shit pile you crawled out of, and I might let you live.”

“I don’t think so.” Joe spat mucus onto the floor.

“Your funeral.”

“We’ll see,” Joe stammered as he rushed forward.

Red pushed back in her chair. She slid backwards and kicked the table forward. The table flew ahead and hit Joe in the stomach. She twirled her knife around in her hand and flung it through the air.

It landed squarely into John’s forehead, killing him instantly. He fell backward, eyes still wide in shock, and landed with a thud onto the floor.

Joe and Jimmy looked back briefly to see their brother dead. “I’ll kill you, bitch!” Joe grunted as he launched toward Red. Jimmy was right behind him.

Red sprung up from the chair. She jumped high into the air and spun her leg around. She caught Joe sharply in the jaw. He stumbled back from the blow.

Jimmy dodged out of the way from his stumbling brother. He swung his arm, and landed a wild punch into Red’s face. Her lips split open. Ducking his next punch, she came up and landed her own blow to his soft belly.

Jimmy grunted and doubled over. She grabbed the back of his head and pushed him down as her knee 7