Page 2 of Burn Falls
I thought of Mary …
I thought about our baby …
I thought about them living a life without me …
And then I blacked out from the pain as my blood seeped into the ground.
When I came to, I wasn’t sure where I was or how long I’d been knocked out for. I wasn’t dead unless this was the afterlife, so that was something at least.
I was bound to a chair in a small, dark, windowless room. The only light came from wall sconces on either side of a metal door that cast a yellow hue over the room. From what I could tell, my neck had stopped bleeding because there were no pools of it on the ground beside me, but I felt deliriously weak. Tired. Was I even really here? Maybe in my drunken state, I’d dreamed everything. Maybe I was still dreaming.
“Have you heard of Renzo Cavalli?”
I turned my head in the direction of a man’s voice and watched as the same fella who had attacked me walked around to face me head-on. His steps were slow and calculated as though I was his prey.
“No.”
“Capone?”
“Who hasn’t?” I scoffed.
“Then you know exactly what we’re capable of.”
Capone? How was I mixed up with Capone? I struggled against the ropes on my wrist again, only to cause the fibers to burn my flesh. This situation was very, very real.
The door behind him opened, and a man with slicked back, light-brown hair and a light beard, and who wasn’t Capone, walked in carrying Mary’s lifeless body.
“Thank you, Samuel. I’ll take it from here.”
As Samuel left the room, the man took Mary’s body and held her up by the back of her neck in front of me like a prized trophy, her blood dripping onto the white shirt he had rolled up to his elbows. My body stiffened as I watched the blood drip down her body from her neck, and again I tried to break free. This time I wanted to rip this guy to shreds for hurting her and my unborn child.
“Mr. Delano,” the man said my name with disdain. “Tell me, have you heard of vampires?”
I ignored his question, still trying to loosen the ropes. “I’m going to fucking murder you, you cocksucking weasel!”
He pulled Mary’s body back and looked at it, still holding her up by the nape. “Why, because of her?”
“You didn’t need to kill her. She was pregnant with my child! I would have given you all my money.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said dryly, “but it’s not your money I want. I’m Renzo Cavalli, and I own this fucking town.”
I’d never heard of this Renzo Cavalli fella before. Capone was the one who ran Chicago, and he wasn’t him. “Capone runs this town.”
Cavalli chuckled, still holding Mary in his grasp. “And who do you think gives him his orders?”
I blinked, confused. “What?”
Cavalli smirked.He fucking smirked.“I’m going to ask you again. Have you heard of vampires?”
I rolled my grey eyes. “I’ve seenNosferatu,yes.”
With a flick of his arm that looked effortless, he threw Mary’s body against the wall, the sickening sound of her bones crunching as she hit with impact. My eyes widened as I realized his strength was beyond anything I knew humans were capable of. Bile started to rise in the pit of my stomach.
“You think yourself amusing? No one gets to speak to me like that and lives to talk about it. I’m Renzo Cavalli. I own you now.”
“You’ll need to kill me before you’ll ever own me!”
He smirked and then fangs descended as he opened his mouth. “Not true. I won’t kill you. I will turn you. You’ll have no choice except to work for me.”
