Chapter 4

Sing, baby doll, sing for me, or I'll break your jaw.

Kal ‘Vilas’ Inkk had been driving all night and half of the next day with no stopping until she had to pull over to get gas. She wanted to keep moving in case Carter Umbra was hot on her trail. She didn’t see anyone in the rearview mirror, but he had found her once before; he could find her again. She was planning on going west for a bit, heading into New Mexico, maybe hitting Arizona before turning south and heading for the border. She might cross over, heading deeper south, running for South America, but she also might stop in Tomb Stone to see an old lover and hope she was still a skilled shot with a pistol. 

                Ki Lilith would welcome her in, but then it dawned on Kal as she pulled the car over into a campsite. Carter wouldn’t care how good of a shot Ki was; he would still come for Kal with the backing of a powerful crime family. Even if Ki killed Carter, the Tounsavall Family would be forced to send more hitters after her, just as Kal would have stayed with the Circus.

                Everyone at the Circus would die to keep Kal safe. They would fight to the bitter end for her, but that was the problem. They would die for her, and it would get them all killed. The Tounsavall Family would send every gun they had to burn down the Circus. There would be no stopping them, even if Azrael believed he was a Supreme Wizard of the Darkness. He once told her he was the last of the Supreme Wizards in the world. There was only one other he could name, with magic dying slowly.

                She wasn’t sure she believed Azrael as she had never truly seen his power, and she had seen what the fathers of the Tounsavall Family would do to their enemies. She feared what she knew over what she thought might be real.

                Azrael would be upset that she ran away. He might even send people after her, but they wouldn’t find her, and it was for the best. She parked the car near a small body of water, saw there was no one around, and went out for a moment. Her legs were weary from the hours of riding, and for a moment, with the heat of the lone star state beating down on her, she was at peace. She stood in the bright light of the day, letting the heat wash over her, and thought to herself she might end it here.

                There was a pistol on the seat back in the car. She could take it out by putting the barrel to the side of her head and bang. She would be free, truly free of this endless fear that Carter would find her. He would never let her have a life of freedom. He would always chase her, and maybe he would even chase her into the afterlife, but she didn’t think he would do such a thing.

                The thought entered her mind as a hawk flew overhead, and when the shadow passed, the thought went with it. She wasn’t going to kill herself, not for someone like Carter, and she strolled back to the car, but she didn’t get into the driver's seat. She crawled into the backseat, making sure all the windows were down, and closed her eyes for a bit. She needed some rest before she hit the road.

                She could only hope sleep would come to her easily, but the god of dreams was cruel to her at this moment, not letting her mind dream of the sweet times Thomas had made love to her on drunken nights or when they lay under the stars, but instead, to her horror, the dreams fell back to the past. A place she had been before she ran off to join the Circus.

                Kal walked onto the stage at some smoky club back in New York City. All the houselights were low, but when she got to the edge of the stage, a light hit her. She stood there with a mic in front of her and long high heels, letting her stand tall, but she wasn’t wearing a dress, underwear, or anything at all. It was her punishment for smacking Carter for touching her when he was three sheets to the wind.

                She stood there fully naked like the day she was born, with all the men of the family staring at her with lustful gazes. A sea of red dots flared out in the darkness from the many cigarettes of those wicked men. She wanted to cry, but crying would make all those cruel men smile, and Carter would get what he wanted from the punishment.

                She wasn’t going to give him what he wanted, and she grabbed the mic as the band hidden somewhere behind her started to play softly. She started to sing with no lights coming from her body. Carter wanted to see where those lights came from, as did all the fathers of the family. The joke was it came from her c**t, but in truth, it didn’t, and she wasn’t going to let them see it. She sang like she never did before, ending the song with the one light going low and the wicked men clapping softly at her song.

                Carter was outraged that she kept the lights at bay. He roughed her up later in the night, and by the morning, she was running for her life. He vowed a long time ago if she ran from him, he would find her, feed her to the men, and after they were done raping her, put a bullet in her head.

                “A quick…” Bang!

                Kal jumped awake from the loud noise, going for her gun before she looked around to see what had caused it. She found another car near her with a man walking towards the water with a bad limp and a tiny girl with red hair and a calming smile staring at Kal. The girl’s eyes started to beam at the sight of Kal.

                “Howdy?” she asked, waving at Kal, and the young man tipped his nice hat at her. She was already halfway to the car when Kal put the gun down and stepped out of the car. The man hadn’t moved at all keeping his eyes on them, but the tiny girl with bright red hair was standing in front of Kal smiling big. “Are you hungry? We got some extra food in our car.”

                Kal should have said no, but her stomach started to jump at the idea of food. She hadn’t eaten anything before her set last night at the Circus. She should have kept running, but then again, she nodded at her.

                “I would love some,” Kal said.

                “Hot dang,” the lady said, sticking out her hand so Kal could shake it. “The name’s Bonnie, and that’s Clyde over there.”

                The boy waved at her.

                “I saw you sing once,” Bonnie said, grinning, “at the circus.”

                “Yeah?”

                “Oh, yeah,” Bonnie said as they both started to walk back to the outlaw’s car.