chapter 32: an eye for an eye

Her heart was aching in her chest at the thought that she might soon find her love horribly injured, or even worse—dead.

Her black mustang couldn't go any faster. It dipped between honking cars and through red lights and past stop signs. She was exceeding the speed limit by twice its number.

She had never experienced such an emergency in her life. She felt as if her world was crashing down in front of her, the most important thing in her life in the hands of someone who wanted to quench it. So many thoughts flashed in her mind of what could have been possibly happening to her beloved girl in that very moment. Her face twisted as she felt a lump form in her throat. She had never felt so scared and unsure and helpless in all her years of living. The life of the person she loved most was dangling right in front of her, and she was running full speed at it, unsure if she would make it in time or if that person's life would be cut short. And it would be all because of her. The guilt she felt in her chest from her awareness that it was all her fault that all of this had happened to the innocent girl only made her press the pedal even harder.

The black mustang carried her at lightning speed to the dirtiest part of the city. This part of town was nothing but ghetto car shops, run-down factories, and more importantly, Rick's gang's territory.

She squeezed the steering wheel, not even sure of where exactly she needed to go first. Her uncertainty dissipated as she saw Rick's car parked in front of a small building that looked like some sort of warehouse. She quickly pulled up, her heart picking up speed. Yanking her keys out of the ignition, she hastily opened her armrest to grab her gun.

It wasn't there.

"Shit," she hissed, rummaging through the contents of her armrest before realizing it really was not in there. She must have left it at Ronnie's. She decided that she couldn't waste any time, that she would have to rely on herself as a weapon. The most important thing was getting to August first, and she could figure out the rest later.

She jumped out of her car and slammed the door shut, ignoring the icy, infant January air and her vibrating heart as she jogged towards the door of the warehouse, letting her hand rest on the cold handle.

She froze.

What if when she opened this door, she was face-to-face with August's dead body? What if her love was lying on the floor behind that door, waiting for her in a pool of her own blood?

Willow pursed her lips and clenched all the muscles in her body, bracing herself for whatever may have been behind that cold metal door.

The door hit the inside wall with a loud slam before she could initially register what she saw.

The room was dark and just as cold as the outside, but in the middle a few yards directly in front of her she saw two figures under a dim lightbulb. It was August, tied to a chair with her face in a contorted and fearful expression, and Rick crouched in front of her legs, his hand creeping up her thigh. Rage seared through Willow at the sight of someone else's dirty hands touching her girl in places she is only to be touched by her.

The sound of the door slamming caused August's head to jerk up and her eyes widen at seeing Willow. Rick only turned his head slightly over his shoulder, not bothering to turn all the way as he already knew who it was.

"Get your fucking hand off of her," Willow growled, anger fueling her veins like gasoline.

Rick let his hand slowly slide off August's thigh, causing the shaking August to let out a cry. She felt so relieved to see Willow, like she was a knight in shining armor there to save her princess.

The man took his time in standing up and turning around to face the woman who he had been waiting so long to see face-to-face once again. "You've always had horrible timing." He lifted the large knife he was holding up into the air. "I was just about to put this baby to use."

"If you're talking about sliding it inside your esophagus, then go ahead. Don't let my presence stop you," Willow retorted, her voice reaching the lowest and most threatening tone that August had ever heard it reach.

Rick looked thoughtful for a moment, squinting his eyes towards the ceiling and scratching his beard. "Well, I was going to be sliding something into someone's esophagus, but it was actually going to be my dick inside your pretty girl's mouth."

August shuddered, trying to ignore his words as she focused only on Willow. The woman stood there, her dark black hair ruffed from how much she had probably been nervously running her hands through it. Her cool green eyes looked more stoic than August remembered ever seeing them before, and she could tell that inside her mind, Willow was picturing murdering Rick in millions of different ways. The woman's dark eyes suddenly shifted to hers, and they softened, concern and worry flashing over her face and sadness pursing her lips. August returned her stare, mentally telling her to get her the hell out of there but to be careful while doing it.

Willow shifted her eyes back to Rick, her pupils growing thin again like needles. "I am already going to rip your every limb off your body and make you bleed every inch of your remaining flesh; don't let your words inspire me to find a way somewhat crueler to murder you." She stepped forward, staring at the man who she reached in height with an impenetrable stare. Her self-confidence fueled her anger, and she was ready to throw down with the man and kill him once and for all.

Rick paused as if he was studying Willow like a sculpture behind glass in a museum, like she was a specimen he found most interesting. "Is that so?" he spoke as slow as molasses, letting his tongue click as his eyes shifted to behind Willow.

At the sound of scuffling, Willow sharply turned around to see about seven of Rick's men step out of the shadows of the warehouse, all holding large machine guns that seemed to match their filthy, stern faces. Willow couldn't help but feel fear sink into the pit of her stomach as she watched one particularly buff man slam the door shut, leaving her trapped and outnumbered in the cold warehouse.

Willow inwardly took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down by reminding her that her gang would be there soon. Hopefully, they would see both her and Rick's car parked outside the warehouse and make the right choice to check it out.

The tall woman slowly turned back around, her eyes ever so cool. She raised her chin, looking at Rick from above her nose as she showed no fear or trepidation even though she was aware that she could be killed at any given second.

August's chest heaved as she stared at Willow and the men standing behind her. She never thought she would be in that position nor lay her eyes upon that sight—the sight of her lover standing in the midst of danger, surrounded by it but not at all terrified. Willow's apathy didn't ease her, though. All she cared about was watching every of the seven men's fingers and ensuring none of them pulled any triggers.

"Why are you doing this, Rick?" Willow quietly spoke, her raspy voice coming from the lowest parts of her throat.

Rick threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing in the room and making August cringe. His chuckles fading, he stared at Willow directly in her unwavering eyes. "You killed one of my men," he spoke through his constant smile. "Isn't it only fair that I kill one of yours?"

"She's not one of my men," Willow quickly spoke, stepping closer until she was only a foot away from Rick. She felt his men behind her move around as she neared their leader, but she didn't care. "She doesn't have the tattoo anywhere on her. She's not part of my gang." She stared directly into Rick's cold eyes, and the man had to admit that he still felt intimidation whenever the woman was that close, even though he had her largely outnumbered. "That makes her immediately disqualified," Willow finished, her jaw visibly clenching.

"Oh, but that makes it even better," Rick whispered, leaning closer to her as if he was about to tell her the most important secret ever known to mankind. "Because I know she is your weak spot."

Willow froze, her eyes searching his as she didn't know what to say back.

"You see, Willow," Rick continued, placing his hands behind his back and turning, walking towards August.

The woman's defenses immediately rose as the man walked behind the girl, standing behind her chair and raising his head to make direct eye contact with Willow. "The worst thing you could possibly do is show your enemy a weak spot." He looked down at the girl, bringing his hand around to stroke the back of her curly hair, causing her to shudder. She stared at Willow with pleading eyes, hot tears rolling down her cheeks as she began to fully realize the situation they were in. She watched Willow stare right back at her, her own heart breaking inside of her at the sight of her beloved August tied up and crying. The woman began to breathe heavily, her eyes snapping back to watch Rick's every move as he placed his hand on what was her territory.

"Because once you do, your enemy is going to find that weak spot, and they are going to press." His hand in the girl's hair suddenly yanked her head back, August letting out a cry as the man swiftly brought his hand holding the knife around and pressing it against her neck.

"Stop!" Willow screamed, stepping forward and ready to lunge at him. It alarmed every fiber of her being to see nothing but August's exposed neck, her tender throat at the expense of Rick who pressed the blade so hard that she could see it indent in her lover's neck.

"Slow it, Will," Rick growled menacingly. "One more step and I'll slice her like meat."

Willow halted, his words sending fear up her spine. She tried to think of something to do, some way to get herself and August out of that situation. She always ended up getting herself and others out of situations—it was what made her so fit to be a gang leader. But Willow could not see the light. There was no alternative, no way out, no magic trick to save them from the mess they were in. She knew that something horrible was going to happen, and she knew that it wouldn't be both her and August walking out of that warehouse with their lives. She knew somewhere, deep down in her gut, that it was either going to be one of them or neither of them.

"How?" she whispered, hoping that maybe she could distract him. In her head she had calculated that her gang would be there at any second. She just had to hold off any casualties before they got there. "How did you find her? How did you even know about her?" With those questions, she wasn't just simply buying time. It genuinely puzzled her mind as to how she ended up in that situation. She mentally tracked all her steps, not being able to find the loose thread in her plan.

"Phil," Rick began, his lips creeping into that grin that reminded her of the true Lucifer. "Poor Phillie is dead now, of course," he spoke, tilting his head while he kept the knife at August's throat. "But he told me what went down in that alleyway that October night."

"Phil," Willow hissed, remembering the man that was with them when they murdered one of Rick's men. In that moment she envied Rick for being the one who got to steal the life from that coward of a man. She knew she should have eliminated that risk.

"You thought you could escape me by running off to wherever you went, but my men watched all your gang's locations here in Ithaca until you returned. And you made your dumbest mistake of this whole predicament you got yourself in when you sent one of your men to give this sweet little girl a note in broad fucking daylight at her place of work."

Willow's cheeks burned as she felt a strike of defeat in her chest.

"So the man I sent to spy went into the bathroom where little August here read that note, took the crumpled note from the trashcan, and brought it to me. An unconscious Ronnie and two unconscious women later, and here we are." His smile grew, but to Willow it only looked like he was baring his teeth.

"Your bitch is about to go down for what you did. Tsk tsk." He shook his head that was looking down at the shaking girl. "An eye for an eye, Willow. You know that's the most lived-by rule in gang warfare." He raised his eyes to hers, his smile suddenly gone and the shadow from the lightbulb above him casting a dark shadow over his features. He whispered, "How ever could you be so stupid?"

Willow was at a loss for words. She only stood there, lips quivering and tears running down her cheeks. She hated herself. She hated herself for how stupid she was. She failed her gang as a leader, but most importantly, she failed August. She was supposed to protect her, to keep her safe. All she did was get her in the position she was in at that very moment. All the woman wanted was to go back in time, to never have met August at all. As much as she loved her with all her heart, if she knew that she would be the reason that August's life would be hanging by a thread in the hands of that awful man, she would've just let her get away that night. She would've never kidnapped her from her dorm and dragged her deeper into her shit.

Rick sighed as if impatient, finally releasing August and tossing the knife away, the hard metal hitting the concrete floor and bouncing. He walked around the girl who let out a sigh of relief to stand in front of the crying woman. He smiled in satisfaction, knowing he truly had found her weak spot and pressed.

"So," Rick pressed his lips together as he stood between the two women, looking from the young girl to the dark-haired gang leader whom he had finally broken after all those years. "Without further ado..." He didn't finish his sentence, instead reaching into his belt and pulling out a pistol, immediately raising it to August's head and taking the safety off.

"No!" Willow screamed at the top of her lungs, panic flooding every part of her. She stared between August who squeezed her eyes closed and waited for the bullet, and Rick who held the pistol up to the girl's face, breathing hard as if he was aroused at his position. "Wait!"

The only thing stopping him from blowing the girl's brains out was that he wanted to watch the woman beg. He had waited so many years to finally find a vantage point to Willow who always seemed so invincible and so composed and never one to lose a fight. She always had the upper hand, but now he was the one in the lead. And he wanted to savor every moment, every tear running down the gang leader's face.

"Me," Willow whispered without thinking, without any hesitation whatsoever. She knew that she was down to her last straw, that her candle wick was burning away at her wax. This was the end, and she had a choice that she needed to make. She had to make it right then. "Kill me."

Rick's eyebrow raised, surprised at her words. Willow had always been quite a selfish one, one who held pride in her life and status, one who would never do anything to risk having to end her life as the most powerful gang leader in the state—especially for some girl.

"Kill me instead," she repeated louder, swallowing down her fear. It suddenly vanished as she realized she was making the right choice, that she had found a way to accomplish the most important thing in her entire life—protecting August.

"No, Willow!" August screamed, thrashing in her chair. She began to panic as she watched Rick contemplate, looking between the two as if trying to weigh his options.

Willow ignored her love's pleas. "If you kill me, you will rank as the most powerful gang. You will be the top dog," she spoke, using everything in her to persuade him. "You have always wanted nothing for me but death, Rick. This is your chance." She spoke pleadingly, her eyes shifting to August. Rick didn't know that Willow heard a vehicle pull up outside, that she somehow knew it was her gang's van. She knew that in just a moment they would bust in, and whether Rick killed Willow before they did or not, she trusted that August would at least make it out alive after her gang shot all eight rivals in the room. She knew she could willingly die in peace at knowing that August would be safe.

Rick looked at August, who to him was just some random girl whose only worth to him was leading his enemy there at the warehouse like leading a mouse to a trap. Yes, she was his enemy's weak spot, but why kill her when he could kill the enemy herself? It was true—this was his one and only chance to finally win the war he had spent decades fighting.

A grin spread across his lips as he turned his dark eyes to Willow. "It's funny how the only time I will ever obey any command you give is when it means I get to watch you die."

"No..." August mumbled. "No!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face as she thrashed as hard as she possibly could against the chair.

Between the time that Rick swung his arm from the direction of August to the direction of Willow, the woman's green eyes stared into August's for one last time.

August saw the peace in her eyes, the serenity. The woman's calm eyes told her that everything was going to be okay. Even as Rick's finger on the trigger crooked, she felt some sort of safety in Willow's eyes. A small smile rested on Willow's lips, and those deep pink lips formed a silent "I love you" as Rick's finger pulled, the sound ripping through the air as the bullet ripped through Willow's chest.

August didn't even notice the door bust open and dozens of gunshots fill the room, lighting it up with smoke. Everything else drowned out, and all she focused on was those green eyes that she went from being deathly afraid of to falling in love with disappear behind eyelids as the woman, once standing poised with her tall height and her everlasting composure, faltered and fell to the ground in a heap, her raven hair spreading across the floor and her body bouncing off the concrete before falling completely still.

The girl didn't even notice Cornelia come behind her and break through her ropes with a knife. August was too busy screaming at the top of her lungs, her entire face turning red as her vision blurred from the tears and she only saw the outline of Willow's dead figure on the floor. The gunshots were still going on, muffled, as her screams turned to sobs. As her ropes broke loose, she felt a hand grab her wrist and begin to pull her away. She heard a faint, "We have to go now, August!" but she didn't want to go. She wanted to grab Willow and kiss her back to life, to tell her she loved her back, to shake her until she magically opened her beautiful green eyes again. But she couldn't.

She was being dragged away by two arms under her shoulders, pulling her through the warehouse that still echoed with gunshots and the lights of bullets flying. She felt some buzz right past her, and she wished they would have struck her.

Because as she stared at Willow's body on the floor that slowly became farther and farther away as Cornelia dragged her towards the warehouse door, she wanted nothing more than to be met with death so that she could see Willow again and thank her for doing what she told her she was going to do that day in the cave way back in Utah as August ran her hand through that cold spring water and listened to the woman's words:

Protect her.