Page 81 of Fighting With Light

31

Liam

Four Months Ago

We’re at Mom’s housein the basement and the room we’re in is starting to smell. A man tried to attack Emerson and we’re interrogating him. Mom is upstairs healing and we didn’t tell Kai about this one. He’s busy with Cordi and Theo. Of all of us, I’m glad he gets to be a dad. He’s a good man, and I’m glad he finally got his head out of his ass and married Cordelia. The circumstances pushed them to it, but it worked out in the end.

I’ve thought about what kind of father I would be, but the thought scares me because I don’t think I would ever be good enough for my kid. I think I’d be too afraid of messing them up because I’m too busy trying to keep them from all the darkness within me. The last thing I would want to do is corrupt an innocent. As for Emerson, I’m not so sure he even wants to hear the wordDaddirected at him.

Our captive peed himself and I wish we got an air filtration system, or air freshener because it’s gross. Emerson beat him up pretty badly, so he is sporting a black eye and broken ankle.

I smile at the man. He thought he had Emerson.

You could hold a gun to Emerson’s head, and he would tell you to do it. My only concern is that one day someone will actually do it. I don’t want to lose my brothers or my family. It’s not just us anymore, our family has grown, and we all have more to lose. It just means we have to fight harder and get a lot more bloody to protect it.

“I swear I was just trying to rob you, man! I won’t do it again ever!” the man yells.

I chuckle behindthe shadow I’m standing in. His head snaps towards me, but I know he can barely see me with his eye and the lighting doesn’t help. I like messing with them this way. It’s the psychological aspect that makes them worry. Man can take a lot of pain, but when you combine it with the mental, then you can get them to sing. The brain is a convincing thing.

“We know that’s not true. So why don’t you just make this easier on all of us? Tell us why you came for Emerson, and anything else you were told, and we will make this quick. I have things to do and wasting my time on you is not one of them.”

The man is silent as he looks up at Emerson, who stands like a breathing statue to the side within eyesight. One can be terrifying when he wants to be, but I know my big brother cares so much, so deeply, that he will be whatever he needs to become to protect our family.

In other words, I think he’s softer than we think he is. He just wears armor so thick and impenetrable most people would never know.

Also, he’s quite terrifying in those underground fights. I go to watch him there as often as I can. I know I should tell him to stop, but my brothers and I are all the same. When someone tells us we can’t, we do.

No was beaten out of our vocabulary.

I have a running tally in my head of which one of us is the most messed up, and I thought I was winning, but tonight One just got another point. He’s pissed, and it’s not just because someone held a gun to his head, he’s been there done that. Something else is going on, but I doubt he will tell any of us unless he has to.

“Fine, have it your way,” I sigh and reach for a large, serrated knife. “I like this one, the teeth are so fine you can saw through bone. It takes some elbow grease, but it can be done.” As I step into the light, his eyes widen. I know I don’t look scary, but looks are deceiving. Sometimes, monsters are beautiful.

My phone dings and I pull it out of my pocket, handing it to One. I ran a background on the guy’s likely fake ID. It had his picture, so I was able to run facial recognition software I developed and apparently, it worked. Emerson takes a step back and scrolls on my screen.

“You know, Ithink I’d like to get a closer look at how this knife goes through bone. Usually, there’s so much blood you can’t see it work, but a finger shouldn’t be that bad.”

The man wiggles in his seat, trying to release himself. Hey, I get it. It’s a body’s natural instinct to fight or fly away.

I lean over the arm of the chair and try to pull a finger out of his fisted hand. “Don’t worry, I can do the middle finger first. That way, you can’t flip us off.”

He struggles more and I chuckle, digging the point of the knife between his fingers. Small cuts start to bleed and the man bursts into tears.

“Please, please don’t do this.”

“Then talk, dumbass,” I mumble and turn around to grab another knife.

He looks at me and the two in my hands.

“Last chance.” I smile.

His body starts shaking violently.

“Man, you’re scared just to lose a finger? Trust me, it will get much worse if you don’t talk. Now, I know this isn’t war per se, and I have to abide by the Geneva Convention, but I have some ideas. So I won’t tell if you don’t.” I grin and shoot him a wink. I lift the knife, planning on driving it through his hand, and then I pause. “Oh wait, I forgot my goggles. Safety first!” I grab a pair of safety goggles and slide them over my eyes.

“Ready? Okay!” I cheer and slam the tip of the knife through the top of his hand. It would take quite a while to bleed out from something like this, but what makes it so painful is the fact that the hand has bones, muscles, tendons, and nerves tightly wound together. So when a knife goes through all of that, ithurts.

The man screams and his voice breaks the sound, turning shrill.