Page 25 of Mrs. Victoria Buys A Brothel

C hapter 25

Fire

They were saddled up and riding in moments. Victoria only had the time to grab a pair of boots and buckle the belt and holster over her dress, Sebastian Diaz’s gun secure on her hip.

It only took them ten minutes to reach the town, and yet those minutes seemed to stretch forever. Victoria knew, with all of her heart, that something terrible had happened.

Her fears were soon confirmed. The street was full, people were shouting and running back and forth with pails of water. They were surrounding the brothel. A thick column of black smoke came out of the back.

Victoria jumped off in a desperate cry and ran towards the doors. Inside, the bar was ablaze.

Three steps from the porch, she was suddenly grabbed around the waist and pulled back.

“My girls!” she screamed. “Where are my girls?” She searched for them frantically, but they were not in the crowd. “Let me go! Where are my girls!”

“Victoria, calm down!” yelled Mrs.Jackson in her ear, holding her back with all of her strength. Mrs.Zhao appeared in front of them and grasped Victoria by the shoulders. She had a black eye.

“They took them!” she yelled. “A group of strangers— they took them!”

Victoria froze. Jimmy Reynolds and his gang.

Before she could move, Mrs.Jackson’s broken cry stopped her right in her tracks. “Consuelo’s still inside! She hasn’t come out! We saw the men take Lisette and Siobhan, but Consuelo wasn’t with them!”

Victoria felt nauseous with terror. She escaped from Mrs.Jackson’s grasp and darted to the porch. Many voices called her name, one of them Natane’s. She ignored them all.

She pushed the grocer aside, elbowed the doctor out of her way, and found herself stopped by Paul, who was blocking the door, holding buckets of water.

“Mrs.Victoria, what are you doing, you can’t—”

“Consuelo’s in there!”

He jerked back, surprised, and she seized that moment to dash inside.

She immediately folded in half, coughing her lungs out. The bar was filled with acrid smoke. The kitchen ablaze, the flames spreading to the shelves and the closest tables.

She was grabbed by the waist and pulled to the floor, landing painfully on her knees. Paul crouched over her, tore off his button-up shirt and dunked it in the bucket. He wrapped the red flannel around Victoria’s lower face. While she blinked away the tears, he did the same with his own white undershirt, leaving himself half-naked. She tried to push him back towards the door, but it was like attempting to move a brick wall.

Now that she was inside and coughing no more, she could hear the screams. Loud, terrified howls coming from the second floor.

The fire had not reached the stairs yet. Victoria climbed the steps, crouched in half, her lungs burning.

The muffled shrieks came from Consuelo’s room. Victoria pushed the door open.

She found her girl tied to the bed, spread eagled, hands and feet manacled to the frame. She had been left in only her bloomers, gagged and crying in terror.

The heat was unbearable. The flames had reached Victoria’s bedroom, right under them, and there was smoke filtering through the floor slats.

Victoria made a step forward and felt the wood creak under her feet. Paul barrelled into her, shouting in horror when he saw Consuelo, but Victoria grabbed the doorframe and bodily stopped him from stepping further.

“Stay back!” she screamed through the wet shirt. “The floor is crumbling down!”

Consuelo cried in desperation, frantically yanking at her hands and feet. She screamed Victoria’s name through the gag.

That was enough to propel Victoria. She pulled at the pair of manacles tying Consuelo’s hands to the headboard. They were real, made of solid metal, and there was yet another pair on her ankles.

“Where are the keys?” she yelled.

Consuelo was too terrified to answer. She kept pulling at her hands, breaking the skin.

Victoria looked around frantically. There were dozens of items all over the room, all of Consuelo’s toys aligned on the walls. Surely the keys were there somewhere, or at least a metal file—

Paul marched in, the floor groaning ominously under his weight.

“Go back!” yelled Victoria.

He ignored her and reached the foot of the bed. With his bare hands, he grabbed a bar and the frame, and pulled. It took him two tries to crack the wood and a third one to snap it off. Consuelo’s feet were free.

Without pause, he made a step towards them, and a slat broke under his foot. He stumbled, hit his head on the dresser, and fell on the mattress.

The added weight was too much for the floor. The upper part of the bed went through, leaving the thing half suspended over the flames. Consuelo shrieked hysterically. Victoria grabbed onto her and held with all her strength. The bed shook and sank down some more.

“Paul!” she screamed.

He scrambled up, grasped the headboard and the bed frame, and pulled until he was red in the face. The bed cracked. He roared, and snapped the entire headboard off. The heavy piece of wood fell back on the hole, pulling on Consuelo’s arms. She howled in pain.

Victoria held onto her waist. The headboard sank gradually through the floor, dragging Consuelo with it. Victoria felt her slowly be torn from her grasp. Consuelo screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

Paul lifted the massive headboard back. Victoria, on the other side of the bed, had to stretch awkwardly, her grip on Consuelo failing. Together, they managed to drag her from the mattress to the floor.

Paul, with what remained of his strength, snapped the bar off and freed Consuelo’s arms.

“Come on, pumpkin!” yelled Victoria through the noise. “Up! Come with me!”

Victoria pulled Consuelo after her, forcing her to stand and stumble out the door. Paul left the room right when the floor gave out. The whole bed went through and fell to the flames below in a deafening crash.

They scrambled down the stairs. The ground floor was black with smoke. There were a handful of people inside, pouring water onto the fire, trying to keep it contained to the kitchen. One of them was Natane. The moment she saw Victoria, she grabbed her and pushed her out of the building.

Paul was right after them, carrying Consuelo over his shoulder. He stumbled up to them and gently let Consuelo down before doubling over in a coughing fit. From the brothel door came also Mr. Smith from the general store, Deputy Reynolds, and David.

“Fuck, Mrs.V, are you alright?” he shouted, throwing his empty bucket to someone else.

Victoria had fallen to her knees and was holding Consuelo, both of them shaking. Consuelo was bawling on her shoulder, her voice a single horrified yell that would not stop.

Mrs.Jackson kneeled next to them and covered Consuelo’s nakedness with her shawl, pressing scared kisses on her head. Victoria squeezed her girl. “Pumpkin,” she said, her voice raspy with smoke, “I’m going to leave you with Simone, alright?”

Consuelo shook her head frantically and clung to Victoria.

“They took Lisette and Siobhan,” sobbed Victoria.

That seemed to get through Consuelo’s terror. Shaking, she let go of her grip and was cradled in Mrs.Jackson’s arms.

“I’ll get them back,” promised Victoria, her hand on Consuelo’s cheek.

She stood up on trembling legs, leaning on Natane. Victoria wanted to fall to pieces and cry, but two of her girls were still missing.

“Sheriff Buckley,” she rasped. “Where is the Sheriff?”

“Dead,” sobbed Mrs.Zhao, holding Mei against her chest. “They got him.”

Victoria followed her gaze. There, in the middle of the street, no more than two houses down, was a dark shape lying face down on the dirt. No one had taken the time to move his body, they were all busy trying to contain the flames before they spread to the other buildings.

Victoria felt faint. Natane was holding most of her weight, at this point.

“The Deputy?” she asked, searching around. “Deputy Rogers?”

“He won’t go!” said David, coming towards them, shaking in rage. “He said they’re just a couple of whores! He’s not going, and no one else is!”

“We’ll go,” rasped Victoria, getting her legs back under her. “Darling?” she asked.

“I’ll get the horses,” said Natane, letting her stand on her own. David ran off to the stables.

It left her alone for a handful of moments. It was all like a surreal nightmare. People running around, shouting. Her Consuelo crying hysterically at her feet. Her home, slowly engulfed by the flames.

Natane came back and handed her the reins of Sir Isaac Newton. The mare was nervous with all the commotion. Victoria saddled up and got her under control. Her hand twitching, she checked her belt. Sebastian Díaz’ gun was still in its holster.

David rode up to them on one of his carriage horses, Paul on the other one.

“Where are you going?” shrieked Mrs.Jackson, pulling Consuelo up with her. “David?”

He threw her a guilty look. “…I’m sorry, Ma.”

“No! Don’t you dare— David Jackson, come back here this instant—”

“I love you, Ma.” He snapped the reins and rode off.

Victoria glanced one last time at Consuelo, and followed after him.