Chapter 10

Thomas is only finding more problems in his mad dash to save Vilas.

Thomas opens the door to the car and sees some of the things Vilas had tossed into the back seat and the passenger seat. He leaned into the car, taking a deep breath and tasting Vilas's smell in the air. He had tasted her sweat enough to know what she smelled like a mile away, along with the way her long hair smelled as well. He loved the sweet smell of Vilas; it reminded him of home, like peaches and good cooking, but he could never point out why. It was merely the image that flashed into his mind when she walked by. It was a place he had longed to have in his life again. He missed home, missed truly having a home, but he could never return to his old haunts.

He pulled out of the car, frowning at the empty seat, and before he closed the door to the car, a pistol barked, putting a round right into the window. Thomas didn't flinch at all from the sound, nor did he move as he turned to the door at the back of the house where a woman with a bloody face stood holding the pistol out at him. She was holding her side as she leaned over with agony and a smoking gun, but fear was flashing in her eyes faster than the bullet that raced from one side of the car to the other.

Benjamin was hiding against the wall, as flat against it as he could, but his round belly stuck out like someone had placed a barrel against the house. No one could see him stepping out of the back door until they were fully out, and right now, the woman with the pistol didn't too much care how he was hiding there or how fat the man was, but she cared about the long silver blade against her neck making a little line of red to leak out.

The long silver blade looked odd; it was straight like most throwing knives, light, and easy to wield, but the odd thing about it was the red line running down the middle of the steel. The line was the same hue as blood, and tiny roots flowering out from it like blood veins. There was no other blade in the world, not in sharp, not as light, and not in style; even the hilt was odd. It was a mix of bone white, silver, and blood red.

"Might want to lower the barker, ma'am," Benjamin ordered, "would hate to open up such a sensual neck."

She glanced over at him with her good eye and rolled her jaw.

"Looks like you shot at the wrong person already," Benjamin said, "don't make your day worse."

She slowly started to lower her weapon but did not move too much.

Thomas shut the door to the car, staring at the woman, and then took a deep breath like a bull.

"Who did that to your face, ma'am?" He asked, not yet asking Benjamin to remove the knife.

"Some a*****e," she said, still holding her side.

Thomas nodded, and he walked to the front of the car, glancing back at the window. He frowned at the bullet hole in the glass and then asked, "I'm sure you're a better shot than that. I'm an awful big target for you to miss."

"Like the size of a barn," Benjamin said, "kind of hard to miss."

"Wasn't trying to hit you," she said, keeping an eye on Thomas. "Just wanted to scare you away."

Thomas nodded and said, "Benjamin, if you don't mind."

"Not at all," Benjamin said, taking the blade away with the woman following it as he flipped it in his hand like a pistol, sticking the tip of the knife into his fat belly, but there was no tear of his fat, no blood pouring out, and the blade merely was swallowed by his gut. She gasped with her mouth open wide in pure shock. She looked between Benjamin and Thomas.

Thomas strolled up to her, rolling his jaw at the wounds on her face. Someone did some work against her, and the person didn't hold back at all.

"Did a man with a nasty scar on his face do this?" Thomas asked.

She blinked a few times, having a hard time not looking back at Benjamin's belly. Her mind was racing as it was trying to understand what it saw and if it actually happened.

"Ma'am?" Thomas asked. "Scar?"

"Uh, yeah," she said, nodding with her side burning across her body.

Benjamin dashed forward to help her as she started to lean against the door but instead got a helping hand from Benjamin.

"Why don't we take you inside?" he asked.

"Sure." She didn't protest as they all walked into the kitchen. It was a mess from the fight, and Benjamin helped her to a chair while Thomas took up the whole doorway and stood there. He crossed his mighty arms, staring down at her.

"Vilas showed up," she said, "needing a place to hide. I could see she was scared when Carter came in, beating the s**t out of us."

"Did he take her?" Thomas asked as Benjamin rushed around the place, trying to clean up and get her something to drink.

"Yeah, he took her," she said, shaking her head. "I thought you two might be helping Carter, but now, I know," she reached down, picking up a cigarette and putting it on her lips. Benjamin flicks a match, putting the flames on it. She smiled and winked at him. "Thanks. You guys are from the Circus."

"We are," Thomas said.

"Is she in trouble with you guys?"

"Not in the way she thinks," Thomas said.

"We just want to make sure she is okay," Benjamin said. "We don't want to hurt her at all."

"Damn," she said, breathing hard on the cigarette with smoke pouring out, "I believe you."

"Do you know where they had gone?" Thomas asked.

"Knowing Carter," she said, leaning back, "heading to the Liongrace port."

"Forgive us," Thomas said, "we aren't too sure who this Carter guy is."

She let the smoke roll out of her mouth, looking between them, and shook her head. "You guys have no idea who Kal was with a long time ago."

"Enlighten us," Thomas said. She took a long drag of the smoke, explaining to them Carter Umbra wasn't merely the Tounsavall Family hitter, a war hero, but he ran the gang called the "Blood Coins," the best group of hitmen in the world, and they carried out jobs all over the place. Kal was once Carter's honey until she couldn't handle his cruel nature anymore, and she ran right into the Circus.

"Where is the Liongrace port?" Thomas asked.

"Are you dumb?" She asked. "You want to go to war with the Liongrace company; who are buddy's with Tounsavall?"

"Just tell us where the port is, ma'am," Benjamin said, "don't worry about us."

"Near the center," she said, "I'll give you the address and talk to my man, Anduin J. Tea the 3rd, at the door; he'll help." She shook her head. "Kal got some damn good friends."

"You have no idea," Thomas said with a grin.