Page 45 of Monster in Disguise

The door opens, and Father and the Pakhan come in. They take in the scene before them, and they immediately zero in on Vlad.

"Misha, take your brother out," the Pakhan orders, and a teenage boy comes in to drag Vlad away. Before he can grab him, however, Vlad leans in and whispers something in Misha's ear that has him blanch.

Vlad lets himself out, and I'm left with father and his obvious disappointment.

"What did I tell you, boy?" His eyes blaze with fury.

"I don't want to kill anyone," I say, my voice full of false confidence.

"You don't want to kill anyone?" he asks me, narrowing his eyes. He then opens the door, taking one guard by the collar and making him kneel inside the room.

"You didn't want to kill someone who clearly wronged us. Let's see how you feel about someone who is innocent." He kicks the guard to the floor. He drags me by the hand until I'm in front of the guard and places a gun in my hand.

"Kill him!" he commands. "Don't embarrass me!" He hisses before closing my fingers over the gun and pointing it towards the guard.

"Kill!" He yells in my ear, but all I can do is shake my head.

I don't want this. I never wanted this.

"Kill, or else, your mother might not sleep well tonight, nor will that thing inside of her," he says, and I can feel my skin crawl. Mother is eight months pregnant. Surely he wouldn't... he wouldn't kill his own child.

But then I look at him. He would... he would kill anyone.

He still senses my hesitation, so he continues to describe in great detail what he will do to her.

"And when her stomach is wide open, I'll take that thing out..." I can't hear this anymore.

I squeeze my eyes shut and press the trigger. I'm jerked back by the pistol firing, and I see the bullet hit the target.

More blood.

The floor is becoming soaked in red.

"I knew you had it in you, boy."

Do I?

It seems I do...

Mother is in labor.It's been a few hours since she started, and I can hear her screams now and then. I don't know what's happening, but father didn't want to send her to a hospital. Instead, he brought a doctor to care for her at home. I don't know how much he's doing for her, though, because she doesn't seem fine to me.

I'm worried. Not because of mother, since at this point I couldn't care less if anything happened to her, considering how much of a presence she's had in my life. No, I'm worried for my sibling. I'm worried something will happen to him or her... I hope it's a boy. A girl could never survive in this house, not under father's thumb.

I'm attentively listening for any noises when a screech reverberates through the house. I open the door to my room and dash towards the first floor where mother is resting. The door is closed. I don't go in. Rather, I move closer to the door and press my ear to it, straining to hear what's happening.

"Push!" someone says, and mother curses at him.

There are more noises before I hear a wailing sound. The sound of a newborn.

I'm still plastered to the door when I see father come. He scowls at me but says nothing as he opens the door and heads inside. I follow.

"It's a girl, signor." The doctor turns to face father.

"Useless," I hear him mutter under his breath, and my fists clench at my side.

Poor babe...

"It's the devil's mark! Take it away from me!" Mother pushes away at the bundle of cloth sitting on her chest.

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