The Deadly Nightshade (24 page)

Chapter 44

“So who here is the leader of this fine establishment?” he shouts, staring expectantly at the Sweetbriarans.

“That would be me,” says Reina, taking a step forward, her voice full of fire and her glare scathing.

Roman looks her up and down slowly, grinning. “And what’s your name, ma’am?” he purrs, his voice taking on the same charming tone it possessed during our first encounter.

“Reina Urbina,” she says. “And while we are getting acquainted, just who might you be?”

“Name’s Roman.” Then, taking a sweeping look around at the lines of gray houses, the looming stone walls, and the heavy iron gate that bars his path, he smiles and remarks, “Quite a remarkable fortress ya got here.”

“Sweetbriar is not yours for the taking.”

“Oh, no, no, miss, ya got me all wrong,” he insists. “I got no intention of claimin’ your home as my own—as nice as it is—” He pauses, examining the camp like a dog presented with a fresh piece of meat, practically salivating. “My friends and I, we come to ya peacefully.”

I stifle a laugh. Here this man stands with a gang armed to the teeth with enough guns to massacre this entire town in a matter of minutes, and he claims to come in peace. The two dead men on the ground a few feet in front of him say otherwise.

“Peacefully?” exclaims Reina, pointing toward the murdered guards. “You call
that
peacefully? Those were
my men.
”

As Roman looks upon the two bodies, his face darkens. “Collateral damage. I tried to tell ‘em we didn’t mean any harm, but they wouldn’t listen, threatened to shoot
my
men if we came any closer. I had to protect my people. I’m sure ya would’ve done the same.”

I glance around at the others, whose faces are pale and bloodless as they gaze, terror-stricken, at their dead. Collateral damage, he called them. As if they did not live and breathe, as if they did not have names, families, friends.

“What do you want?” asks Reina flatly.

“Like I said, I just wanna talk. See, I’m here to warn ya. Ya got a pair of murderers within those walls, my dear.” His eyes lock on me and a sinister smile creeps upon his lips. “Those two refugees ya so kindly and generously welcomed into your home, they’re dangerous. Ya see, the two of ‘em ambushed my people, butchered some of my best men completely unprovoked. They took my baby brother’s life, shot him like a dog and left him lyin’ out there in the road. The machete that hangs from the girl’s waist there, that belonged to him. Those two killed
eleven
good men—
my
men—picked  most of ’em clean of their belongings and took what they wanted for themselves. And now we’re here to take ‘em off your hands before they can do the same to your people. Consider it a favor.”

All eyes shift onto Connor and me. A few people stare at the black machete and begin to whisper. He’s trying to paint us as a menace, as killers. I stare at the tips of my swords, wondering what they would look like dyed crimson with his blood.

“Nightshade and Connor are not going anywhere,” says Reina firmly. The threatening growl of her voice is almost powerful enough to raise goose bumps. Her thick red lips curl in a fierce snarl, and suddenly I’m not sure which of the two leaders is more deadly.

Roman laughs a deep, hearty laugh, pressing his hand to his chest and tossing his head back as if Reina has just told the funniest joke he has ever heard. When he is finished, he pretends to wipe a stray tear from his eye. He smiles at her condescendingly, as if she is some meddling child he is being forced to entertain.

“No, ma’am, I don’t think ya understand,” he says, the smirk never leaving his face. “Ya see, my beef ain’t with you or your people, not in the slightest—after all, ya seem like nice, civilized folks, not like the groups of savages we’re used to encounterin’. But those two in their are our enemies, and you know how the sayin’ goes—‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ I like to think the reverse is also true. Now I’d like to be friends, since you all seem like lovely people, but if you ally yourselves with those murderers, you’re gonna make one hell of an enemy. The way I see it, protectin’ ‘em from gettin’ what they deserve makes ya just as bad as they are.

“Now you’ve got two options: ya either let us do what we came here to do, or my friends and I are goin’ to open fire on your camp until there’s not a single man, woman, or child left behind this gate. Now, I’m a patient man, so I’ll give ya until daybreak tomorrow to decide—that’s a rough twelve hours, give or take. I think that’s fair, don’t you? The choice is yours, my dear. We’ll be waitin’ right here.” Still grinning, he takes a few steps back to join the rest of his group, who wait patiently behind him with bloodlust in their eyes.

At first the silence is deafening. Then, the entire town erupts into a chaotic mass of screaming, shouting, crying. Reina takes a step in front of Connor and me, yelling at the Sweetbriarans to quiet down, but for the first time they don’t listen. Suddenly all of Sweetbriar is engulfed in one giant heated argument, and the three of us are standing at its core, unable to do anything but watch helplessly as chaos unfolds around us. Reina waves her arms and stomps her heels, trying anything and everything to get their attention, but they blatantly ignore her.

A hand clamps down on my shoulder and I whirl around to confront its owner, finding myself practically nose to nose with a large, red-faced man. He grabs me by the shoulders, but Connor dislodges him with a forceful shove, the sight of which only seems to anger the Sweetbriarans more. Soon they are swarming us, reaching and grabbing at our clothes and our hair in an effort to restrain us by any means possible. As the rush of the crowd threatens to overwhelm us, I hit one woman over the head with the butt of my katana and thrust my swords out in front of me to drive them back. Recognizing my threat, the Sweetbriarans spread out into a tight circle about a katana’s length away from us, each and every one of them searching for a way to infiltrate the safe zone I have created. In the corner of my eye, I see Sheppard and Nate trying desperately to calm them, but it is futile; this is a frenzy, and these people want blood. I glance at Connor, who holds his knife out in from of him, his wide blue eyes darting back and forth wildly, daring someone to come at us again.

Finally, Reina loses it. As if summoning all the volume she can produce, she takes a deep breath and screams, “
SHUT THE FUCK UP, ALL OF YOU!”
The Sweetbriarans, presumably having never seen their leader as livid as she is now, are stunned into silence. She stares at the petrified throng with wild eyes, her plump lips curled back threateningly, her shiny black curls in disarray, her manicured hands clenched into fists, and her chest heaving. In this moment, she looks and sounds like a rabid animal—had she been foaming at the mouth, half the people here would have collectively shit themselves at the sight of her.  “Town meeting, now!” she yells, pointing in the direction of the assembly hall. Then, gesturing toward two people I recognize as sentries, she shouts, “You two, watch the gate.”

The townspeople look around at each other, then back at their leader, whose piercing eyes dare them to question her again, and begin to shuffle toward the assembly hall with their heads hung low. I keep my swords drawn and my back pressed to Connor’s, watching as they part for us like water in a stream trickling around a boulder. Nate, Sheppard, Sophia, and Claire form a protective circle around us, and the lieutenant nods to indicate that I can sheathe my weapons, which I hesitate to do, but he insists. Knowing it will only frighten the Sweetbriarans more to see me with my swords drawn and ready to execute, I place them back in their sheaths and allow our four bodyguards to escort us to the meeting.

We enter the assembly hall behind the rest of the townspeople, who have already begun to start another uproar. Reina stands at the lectern, glaring over the entire audience, and when she sees us a look of mild relief washes over her face. It is the only expression of welcoming we receive as we walk up to the front, greeted by cold, hateful stares. I guess I can’t blame them. If it weren’t for Connor and me, their beloved home wouldn’t be under siege and they would still be living in ignorant bliss, unaware of what monsters the world outside these walls possesses.

Our party joins Reina on the elevated platform overlooking the crowd. At least up here we are slightly safer from being attacked by our own neighbors, our own friends. And with my hunting group ready to defend us, I feel confident no one will try to do us any harm. I take a look at Connor, who is trembling at the knees, and give him a small reassuring nudge. He manages an uneasy smile, but as he turns back to face the angry Sweetbriarans his face becomes a sickly shade of white.

Reina slams her fist against the lectern, striking it once, twice, three times. It takes a minute or two for the room to quiet down, but eventually the townspeople fall respectfully mute. This is probably the first time in all of Sweetbriar history that she has ever had to strain herself to get their attention.

“Alright, let’s get one thing straight here,” she growls, her voice losing its usual embellishment and her accent revealing itself to be thicker than I could have ever imagined. “
I’m
in charge, which means you all follow
my
orders no matter how much you disagree with them, and you
quiet down when I tell you to.
Is this unclear to anyone, hm?” She stares around the room, daring someone to speak, but no one does. “Alright, now that that’s settled we need to discuss what we’re going to do about the present threat.” Once again, a commotion breaks out, and Reina has to raise her voice to be heard. “Now I understand you’re all afraid for your safety. We’ve never experienced anything like this before—not since we founded Sweetbriar—but I assure you we will find a way to remove these people without any harm coming to a single member of this town.”

“Yeah, I have an idea how we can do that!” cries one woman. “We do what that man said and give Nightshade and Connor up.
They’re
the ones he wants, not us. Why should we risk our lives for them? They’re outsiders!”

The others shout their agreement. As the crowd begins to get riled up again, people pump their fists and yell at Reina, demanding we be handed over to Roman immediately. Spit flies from their mouths and their faces redden with their passionate cries. I look at Reina, who stares with incredulity at her townspeople, her mouth ajar and her eyes wide with fear. Her control is slipping right through her hands, and soon this democratic assembly will become an all out upheaval if something isn’t done to placate the Sweetbriarans.

“They’re killers! Who cares what happens to them?”

“They don’t belong here!”

“It’s our lives or theirs, and I’m not going to die for two outsiders!”

I turn to Reina, expecting her to scream at them again, to reestablish her authority, but she just looks on in vain, her knees trembling behind the lectern. I have the urge to draw my swords, but as soon as I begin to move my hand, Connor grabs it with both of his. Beads of sweat have begun to form on his face, which has changed from the sickly shade of white to an even more sickly shade of green. He looks at me, his blue eyes craving reassurance, but I have absolutely none to give him.

Nate, realizing Reina’s hold is slipping, jumps to our rescue. “Hey, come on, now! Nightshade and Connor are family. They’re as much a part of this community as the rest of us. An hour ago they were your friends, and now you’re just going to give them to a man who will do God knows what with them? We’re not animals—that’s why we left the outside world, to separate us from the savages. We are civilized people, and we don’t take orders from gangs. If we give in, if we turn on each other, if we stoop to their level, then we’re no better than them.”

“Nate’s right,” says Sheppard. “These two are Sweetbriarans just as much as anyone else in this room—how can we condemn them to whatever fate this man has in mind? Besides, he’s made a direct threat against all of us, not just them. We need to start thinking of an alternative solution to this mess. I know you’re all scared and none of you like the idea of a fight, but sometimes violence is the only answer to violence.”

“You’re preaching violence now, Sheppard?” hisses one man. “If Sweetbriar goes to war with these guys, people are going to die on both sides, no matter who wins. People—our people—are going to die, and for what? For two outsiders who lived in our camp and ate our food for a few months?”

The others applaud and voice their agreement, everybody talking over each other in a furious buzz. I want to speak, to defend myself, to explain the actual circumstances that led to Roman’s brother’s death, to warn them that this man cannot be trusted. But I know opening my mouth will only make them angrier, and there’s no telling what will happen if I fan the flames of this fire any more.

Nate opens his mouth to speak again, but Reina gestures for him to stop. Finally she seems to have found herself again. She glowers at the mob beneath her until they fall silent, then turns to look at Connor and me. Her brown eyes are cold, hard, emotionless. They remind me of my own.

“You all know I would do anything and everything to protect Sweetbriar, and to protect the lives of the people who live here,” she says, her voice weighed down with resignation. “Which is why I must agree with you.”