Submitted by girl_from_the_crypt t3_10k7oob in nosleep
After confirming that Jeremy was indeed out cold, Aleksei swung him over his shoulder and carried him out into the snow, where he unceremoniously dropped him. Casimir had warned the employees not to approach the house for a while. We didn't want them to get caught up in the fight that was sure to ensue. The three of us waited on the porch, eyes trained on the motionless body of our wayward brother.
The Leshy started smoking a pipe (no idea where he got that from), I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes and Cas was typing away on his phone, lifting his head every five seconds to check on Jem. All of a sudden, he readjusted his grip on the device and slammed it onto the floor. I jumped, and Cas took a step back, staring at the phone with wide eyes.
"What the fuck!" he whisper-shouted. "I… I didn't wanna do this!"
"What?"
"I didn't wanna do this! I just… suddenly… got, like, an impulse, I don't even know—"
"The Bies," I said quietly.
"It's here," Aleksei confirmed, tucking his pipe away. His voice was low and stern, the look in his eyes steely.
"Fuck."
My brother and I spoke at the same time when we realized that Jeremy had moved. His limp body has been pulled up into a sitting position, his legs below him, his head tilted back to gaze heavenward. His eyes had rolled back, leaving only white and sore red. Slowly, he drew himself up, his movements resembling those of a puppet manipulated through unseen strings. I stared at him with bated breath, needing a moment to get a grip on myself as my heart began to race. Jeremy staggered to his feet, looking kind of like a zombie from a movie. His eyes came back down to focus on us, the glare from within them intense, unyielding and absolutely murderous.
"Well, this is… alarming," Cas muttered, suppressing a nervous chuckle. I could tell he was just as stricken with fear as me.
Gritting my teeth, I sucked in a deep breath, bracing myself. "Alright, let's move while he's still dazed! We can't let him get the jump on us. If either of you feel him in your heads, drop all weapons and get as far away from me as possible," I hurriedly instructed, assuming the most commanding tone I could muster.
"Yes, ma'am," Cas replied. He grabbed his cross necklace from the windowsill behind us, hastily looping it around his neck, then reached for his gun.
I checked myself. Cross was there. I had my knife. Go-time.
I lunged at Jeremy's unsteady form, and he thankfully didn't react right away, allowing me to knock him down and sit on his bare belly. The Bies let out a furious howl that sounded all too human through my brother's throat for comfort. I sank the blade into his skin, just deep enough to carve, and hastily jagged it down his chest to form the first couple lines of an upturned pentagram. Unfortunately, I didn't get much further than that. Not-Actually-Jem pushed me off, growling as he threw himself at me and began to tear at my hair, limbs and dress in a frenzy. My grip on the knife was unrelenting, and I swung it at him a few times until he grabbed my arm and pinned it down.
Aleksei descended upon the possessed man like a hawk, grabbing him and dragging him off of me before flinging him to the ground, sending him sprawling into the snow. I jumped to my feet, and, coughing and panting, pounced on him once more. Aleksei held him down for a few seconds as I placed the tip of the knife in the spot where I'd left off. The pentagram was almost finished, there was just one line missing, two dots yet unconnected. That's when I noticed Aleksei was starting to squirm.
"Fuck! No, no, stay with me!" I shouted.
"It's trying to get in!" he yelled back at me, looking more distressed than I'd ever seen him before. His eyes were wide and terrified, his jaw clenched, and he was gripping Jem's arms with a panicked, white-knuckled force.
"I'm almost done! Please, just… stay with me!"
He cried out, a mix of a growl and a scream that reared his head back, but he didn't let go, and I drew the final line, deeper than all the ones before. Blood sprayed out as I yanked back the knife. Aleksei's eyes cleared up immediately, like the sky peeking out from behind bursting clouds. I wasted no time in pulling him to his feet.
"Stand back!" I heard Casimir holler from behind us.
I hastily moved aside, bringing the Leshy along with me. I didn't even have the time to turn and look at my brother before the gunshot rang out. Blood spattered, further tainting the snow, and Jeremy's writhing body fell still.
Casimir was standing a few feet away from us, his gun still raised, his shoulders trembling. It was like he didn't dare lower his arm yet for fear the possessed man would come back to life. There was no chance of that, though. The bullet had entered Jeremy's skull at an odd, sideways angle. I couldn't bear looking at it for long. My whole body was shaking, and I felt compelled to stumble over to Cas and throw my arms around him, almost not caring that he was still holding a weapon. He immediately dropped it, fully embracing me and even pulling me up to my tip-toes to bridge our height difference. He cupped the back of my head and buried his cold face in the crook of my neck, inhaling deeply as I did the very same. His smell calmed me—not his cologne or the scent of my fabric softener he'd obviously used on his sweater, but the fragrance that laid beneath it all.
"Is that Little Brother by Calvin Klein?" I asked with a faltering chuckle.
"What?" he pressed out, snickering slightly in-between sobs. It was only then that I realized he was crying.
"No matter."
"You're weird."
"So are you."
We pulled apart, only for Cas to take a surprised step back, gaze trained on something behind me. "Whoa," he uttered. "Fi. Look."
I turned around only to find that Aleksei, once more in his true form, had grown to easily seven times his size. His antlers branched into the skies as though they were trees of their own, his huffing snout sent forth clouds of warm breath as big as my head and each of his paws was the width of a tree trunk. Without warning, he wrapped a wooden claw around me, picking me up to hold before his eyes. They were shining like twin stars. For a moment, we just stared at each other. It felt like my heart was overflowing.
"How're you feeling?" I asked, a tentative smile tugging on my lips.
His voice rumbled like a thunderclap. "Excellent. You've done right by me, heiress. I'm… grateful."
"I had to," I replied by way of explanation. Daring a glance below, I saw Casimir looking up at us in awe. I kicked my feet a little; it felt like I was flying.
"I did not force your hand," the Leshy argued.
"Of course not. But I still had to. I mean, it's you. You're my home. You're everything."
He gently sat me back down in the snow, then laid down to get on eye level with us. He reminded me strangely of a resting fawn. "I have not felt this good in a long time," he admitted. "What do you intend to do now, Fiona?"
It took me a while to get over his use of my name and the fact that he seemed to be willingly awaiting instructions. Not being out of my mind, I refrained from mentioning it. Standing a little taller, I allowed a smirk to creep up on my face.
"Now I'll make Tom Hayes wish he never crossed my path."
It's moments like this that I'm thankful to have my loyal senior employees. Knowing that Gus was currently making his rounds, I called him and explained that I was about to rely on him regarding an unsavory task that needed instant completion. He didn't even question my reasoning when I asked him to knock out Tom Hayes and bring him to me.
"Smart," Cas commented. "He's not gonna get suspicious of another guard approaching him. Though I don't know if it truly would have made a difference—he seems a bit dense."
"Exactly why he's probably not the one who's been planning for all of this to go down. Maybe the Bies even has something to do with this. I mean, it is a very inconvenient coincidence for all these problems to come up at the same time," I thought aloud before turning to the Leshy. "After I'm done with him…"
"It'll be my turn to exact justice as I see fit," he completed my sentence.
I smiled thinly as he turned to disappear beyond the treeline, his cheerful humming ringing out over the meadow. Casimir cleared his throat. "God, I'm glad," he muttered mistily. "I wish we could sit back and relax for just a minute after this." Looking down at the lifeless body of our brother, he let go of a ragged breath. "I can't believe this."
"I know. That, uh… that was a great shot, though. Just by the by."
He gave me a wan smirk. "Thanks. So… do we keep him lying around here, or…?"
I started. "Right! We need a box! Shit, where do we get—"
"I called my coffin guy earlier. He owes me a favor… He'll be here in an hour or so and drop off something for us."
"You have a coffin guy?"
"I have a guy for everything, sis. Cars, suits, ill-gotten documents, gossip that can be used for defamation… I'm very well-connected, I'll have you know."
We returned inside where we were joined by Gus after just a few minutes. Strong as an ox, that guy. He was carrying Tom Hayes with ease, slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Help me take him down into the basement," I ordered, and Gus grunted, following me down the stairs. In the basement, he dropped the unconscious man on the floor.
"There you go, Boss. Do I wanna ask?"
"I know you do," I replied steadily. "Don't worry, though. I'll tell you all about it sometime."
He looked at me with a tilted head before treating me to a crooked smile. "Sure, Miss Novak."
He turned and went back outside where Cas was waiting to send him off with a coffee. This left me alone with Tom. I took the time to bind his wrists and ankles together using zip ties, then I sat down beside him and started to shake him by the shoulders. Getting him to wake up was rather difficult. At first he didn't respond at all, but he eventually began to stir and moan. When I gave him a final slap across the face, his eyes flew open, darting around in confusion before settling on me. They widened in horror when the veil lifted.
"Shit."
"Yeah, that about sums it up," I replied, nodding in agreement. "Your situational awareness astounds me."
"I-if you hurt me, I'll kill the white rabbit!"
I frowned. "Tom, I already have it back. I'd be taking a huge risk pulling this stunt otherwise, don't you think?"
His lip quivered. "No… no, how'd you…"
"Somebody retrieved it for me. How do you not know the rabbit's gone? Where were you keeping it?"
"I wasn't! H-he was. I just… I didn't have it. He did, all along. I don't even know shit about souls, I just wanted to make some cash!"
"I pay you enough, why betray me?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. It was cash."
"So you're saying somebody hired you?"
He nodded.
"Okay, Tom. How about you just tell me everything."
"I'm not supposed to."
"Tom, I have literally kidnapped you and am holding you prisoner. Whoever hired you can't help you. Your job right now is to convince me not to kill you," I explained slowly, holding his gaze. "And to hurt you less."
"You wouldn't do that!"
"Oh yeah? Just a sec. I think… it's around here somewhere…" I held up a finger, then turned on my heel and started rummaging through the boxes behind us. I had thrown a lot of my old stuff down here, including some things I used to use back when I was with Jacek. These items were of too much sentimental value to throw away, but keeping them in my room wasn't an option anymore as looking at them caused me pain… a different kind than what they were intended for. Whirling back around, I held up two thin, long black objects, one in each hand. "What do you think? Cat o' nine tails or riding crop?"
Hayes' jaw dropped.
"Come on, I'm giving you the choice here," I encouraged him. "Or I've got other stuff, too, if you'd prefer."
He just started screaming.
I sighed deeply. "This isn't getting us anywhere, Tom. Talk. It's as easy as that. I don't wanna have to resort to this. It's no fun if the other person's not into it."
"Fine! Fine, okay! Jesus! You're crazy!"
I smiled, lowering the whips. "I'm listening."
"Okay, so… This guy came up to me one day. Completely outta nowhere. He just showed up at my apartment. And he told me to post a bunch of shit online about the woods, and to set up cameras and upload videos, too… He gave me this weird-ass cage with the rabbit inside. There were a bunch of symbols on it. Some kinda spell to keep that thing from running off. Anyways, he made me keep it at my place to watch and said I should use it as leverage if you ever were to find out."
The words spilled from his lips like water from a broken dam. I kept a close eye on his face. He seemed to be telling the truth.
"Anyways, after you called us in to talk about the cameras, I wrote the note, and then I kinda just didn't know what to do for a couple days… I was getting nervous; I was afraid you'd find out or… or something. I kept second-guessing everything, and then I ended up calling that man. I got him to take back the rabbit and store it elsewhere, cuz I had a feeling you might try to get to it. And that's basically it." He looked up at me with wide eyes, awaiting judgment.
"Who was he?"
"Hm?"
"The man, dumbass! Who was he? Didn't he give you a name?"
"John Smith. Obviously fake, but I didn't care. I just took the money he handed me when he came over."
"What's he look like?"
Tom thought for a moment. "In his late sixties, I'd say. Tall, kinda built. Bit of a bird's nose. Green eyes…" He trailed off. "That's all I got, really."
For a moment, I didn't say anything. Then, I turned around once more to look through some other boxes. I finally produced an old photo album which I leafed through, stopping at a specific picture taken several years ago. I fished it out to hold in front of Tom's face. He craned his head to examine it.
"Could that be him?" I inquired, my throat bone dry.
"Yes! Yes, I-I think so!" Tom nodded eagerly.
"Okay," I said calmly. "Then I guess we're done here." I grabbed Tom and dragged him to his feet, forcing him to half-stagger, half-crawl up the stairs. Behind the basement door, Cas was waiting for us, his laptop at the ready. We took Tom by the arms and carried him over to the couch where we had him sit down. My brother cut his hands free, then shoved his laptop into his arms.
"There. Log into your accounts and delete every single thing you ever posted about us. In fact, delete the accounts, too," he commanded.
Not in the mood for backtalk anymore, Tom went straight to work. Meanwhile, I went back downstairs to tidy up the mess I'd made in the basement, bringing the photo album with me upon my return. It took Tom Hayes an hour to wipe his social media clean of the crap he'd been spouting. When he was done, Cas cut his ankles loose, too, and Tom sighed in relief.
"Can I go now?"
"Hayes, you're responsible for several deaths. It's because of you that the safety of our property and the creatures dwelling within it was compromised," Casimir said slowly, each word rolling off his tongue with grave emphasis.
Understanding once more forced its way into Tom's features. "Wh-what are you gonna do to me?"
"Nothing," I answered plainly, helping him up.
"Am I fired?"
"Oh, no. Just get back to your spot and walk your route."
He eyed me with suspicion, but still moved to walk out the door. I followed, stopping on the porch to look after him as he headed for the edge of the forest. He didn't make it very far. Before he was halfway across the red meadow, a massive shape parted from the trees and gigantic, branch-like claws descended on the now screaming man. He tried to run, but it was useless. The Leshy closed his hand around him, lifting him into the air not unlike he'd done me. There was nothing gentle or careful about it this time, though. The wood-demon threw his head back, opening his mouth before dropping the squirming man down his maw. A crunch of bone, a spatter of blood to color the snow. A cry of pain and panic breaking off abruptly.
That was the last anyone ever saw or heard of Tom Hayes.
I returned into the house with a long, soft sigh. Casimir was waiting for me on the sofa, long limbs stretched out, one hand in his hair. "I took care of the body while you were downstairs," he announced. "But we're gonna have to dig a pretty large hole pretty soon. I don't think Jeanette likes sharing her stable with a coffin. Has Hayes been… dealt with?"
"The High King of the forest has exacted his revenge," I muttered grimly, feeling rather like the narrator of a creepy old fairy tale.
Casimir nodded. "Alright then. I'm dreading to ask, but we both know I have to. So. What did you find out?"
"Tom really was hired by someone."
"Someone we know?"
"Someone who hates me."
"Who?"
I dropped down beside him. "Dad."
mossgoblin t1_j5oznk9 wrote
Fi, no offense but your fams a bit of a disaster