Part Twenty:
 

Rating: R, for violence
 

Arianna scaled the metal fence easily. She dropped down on the other side. A moment later Gabriel landed in a crouch beside her. They looked around. No one was in sight - for now.

"Let's go," she whispered. They were running, fast and silent. If they were caught, they were dead. The five guys who pursued them were armed and angry.

Arianna hoped they could be back at Darius' before they caught up to them. The lamia had a large supply of weapons and could take on five human guys without breaking a sweat.

Arianna on the other hand… She and Gabriel had been on their way to meet a made vampire with a gun he was willing to sell to them. Gabe, of course, didn't know that the man was a vampire. Arianna had convinced the werewolf who had acted as go-between that Gabriel was her plaything, and she wanted to keep him for a while. The plan seemed to have worked - until they had encountered the gang who now chased after them. The leader had tried to mug them, but they were too quick. Arianna needed the money for the gun, and she knew that once she gave up the cash, she and Gabe would not be let go, as they had been promised.

She rounded a corner and ran into something solid. She stepped back. The leader stood in front of her. She whipped her head around and saw the rest of the gang closing in behind her. Gabriel had stilled and his jaw was
tight. He could fight - very well, actually - but he knew his limits. He was only fourteen, and all of these guys were bigger and older than he was. Not only that, he had Arianna to worry about. He'd only been with her for two weeks, but they had gotten close. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

A tall, thin guy with long dark hair and a leather vest stepped forward and grabbed Arianna's arm. She struggled, but another guy came over and helped keep her immobile. This one had spiky blue hair and impenetrable black eyes. Eyes like Quinn's - almost as evil, but not quite.

"Let her go," Gabriel snarled, as someone took his arms from behind. He lunged when one of Arianna' captors trailed a finger down her cheek.

"Keep still, kid." The leader stepped forward and grabbed Gabriel's shirt collar. "We're not looking for trouble, you see. But you've had your fun, taking us on that merry little chase, and now it's time for us to have a good time. It's only fair. Don't you agree?"

Gabriel stopped fighting. "Just don't touch her," he told the guy, who had messy bleached blond hair.

The blond guy laughed. "Take 'em into the alley, guys," he directed. "We're gonna have a little fun with them, like they had their fun with us."

Blue Hair shoved Arianna into the nearest alleyway. He never lost his grip on her arms. Tall, Dark and Skinny followed them. The two guys holding onto Gabriel went in next, and the leader brought up the rear.

The further they got away from the street, the more panicked Arianna became. She felt like a dog about to be put to sleep - knowing something bad was about to happen, but not sure of exactly what. She thrashed about, trying to
release herself from the Smurf's iron grip. She managed to free one arm and used it to give her captor a black eye. He yelled in anger and smacked her across the face. She heard the sound of a hand hitting flesh and tasted the
metallic flavor of blood before she felt the sharp, stinging pain on her skin. She was knocked to the floor. Her hair fell across her face. She coughed, and blood dripped out of her mouth and onto the filthy concrete floor beneath her. A crack vile lay five inches from her fist, and beyond that was a broken syringe. Her head spun, and through her haze of pain she heard Gabriel shouting.

Arianna managed to sit up. She hated the way her chin was quivering, but she really could not see any way out of this, and she was scared. She saw Gabriel standing in the corner, fists clenched, eyes blazing. Two guys stood in front of him, shoving him back every time he tried to move. The leader shook his head at Blue Hair.

"Really, Sonic, was that necessary?" he admonished. "Now you apologize to her right now."

Sonic knelt in front of her and Arianna couldn't help recoiling in fear. He smiled at her and stroked her hair gently. "I'm sorry," he said soothingly. "But you shouldn't have done that. We really don't want to hurt you, you see. We just don't like your boyfriend. But once he's out of the way, I'm sure we'll find some use for you. Right, Dash?" He grinned at his boss, then turned back to her. His hand traced the planes of her cheek. "So soft…" he whispered. Sonic let his hand trail down her throat and to the neckline of her shirt. He brushed his fingers over the skin just above her collar.

"Don't touch her!" Gabriel shouted. He threw himself towards Sonic, but someone caught him and held him back.

"Stand up." Sonic offered Arianna his hand. She took it and he and helped her to her feet. He took a step back and studied her.

"Well, aren't you a pretty little thing," the skinny guy next to him drawled.

"Oh, we're going to have fun with her," Sonic murmured as he moved closer to her. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and met his gaze head on.

"Go to hell!" Arianna kneed him in the groin and punched his eye. Everyone turned to look at her and Gabriel took advantage of the opportunity. He drove his fist into the stomach of one guy and threw him into the brick wall behind him. He grabbed the lid off of a metal garbage can and slammed it into someone else's face. Someone kicked him in the back and he fell, but Arianna shoved his attacker and helped him up. Dash - the leader, and biggest out of all of them - grabbed Arianna from behind. She threw her head back and heard the crunch of bones breaking. He yelled in pain and dropped her. She saw his hands fly to his nose. Blood seeped out between his fingers. Gabriel was wrestling with a guy on the floor, and another guy jumped into it. Arianna kicked Sonic in the face when he lunged at her, then spun, her heel connecting with the face of the bearded guy who'd kicked Gabriel. She felt pain explode in her leg and saw that Dash had kicked her. Someone else punched her in the mouth and she felt her lip spilt. Another
fist connected with her shoulder blade and she went down. As she fell, she saw a dark figure approaching the alley.

Arianna gasped. She recognized that long blond hair. It was Shiloh! The vampire who was selling her the gun! He was here!

Gabriel threw someone who landed on the floor beside her. She rolled away from him and scrambled to her feet, sprinting to the entrance of the alley. Sonic made a grab at her but she shoved him aside, pulling the large wad of
money out of her pocket as she ran. She hated to leave Gabriel alone back there, but this was their only chance.

She reached Shiloh and shoved the money into his hand. She grabbed the handgun he held out and spun, facing the action deep in the shadows. She fired four shots. Four bodies fell. Another was thrown towards her and she
pulled the trigger once more. Dash's body crumpled to the floor. Blood poured out of the bullet hole placed directly between his eyes. There were identical holes on the head of each of his gang members. Arianna lowered the gun.

Then she remembered Shiloh. She turned quickly to face him. "Tell no one," she hissed.

He shrugged. "Like I care." He handed her two extra clips and an ankle holster and then he walked away, turned the corner, and was gone. Arianna heard Gabriel come up behind her.

"Are we taking their money?" he asked. "They should pay for the bullets that killed them. They weren't cheap, I'm sure."

Arianna sighed tiredly. "No," she told him. "We don't need the money. And we don't want to make it look like they were killed in a mugging, we just want to leave it as self-defense."

Gabriel shrugged. "Whatever." He didn't seem too bothered by the deaths of the five young men.

Arianna, on the other hand, was feeling very depressed. She hadn't taken a life since the day she had met Gabriel. She hadn't even intended on killing these guys. Unfortunately, as soon as the cool metal gun was in her hand, her reflexes took over - reflexes imbedded into her by Quinn's teaching - and she shot to kill. Her perfect aim and lightning-quick reflexes had saved her - and taken five lives.

"Do you know how many babies are born every day all over the world?" Gabriel asked her.

"No."

He put an arm around her. "Well, neither do I, but think about it: For every one of those assholes, a whole bunch of kids have been born in their place. And, with a little good luck, those kids will turn out better than they did."

"But will they turn out better than me?" Arianna wondered aloud.

"What?"

Arianna stepped out from under his arm. "Will they turn out better than me," she repeated. "Just how good of a person am I? What wonderful things do I do for other people? I'm no angel; I'll never be one. What reason was there for me to kill them to prevent my own de-"

"Don't say that!" Gabriel grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Don't ever say anything like that! Look, I don't know the whole story of what  happened to you, but there must be some reason why you're still here today,
so don't ever regret any actions that save your ass. You are a good person. And you know how I know that? Because you haven't kicked me out on my ass yet. You have absolutely no reason to let me stay with you, but you
do. I really don't know why, because if anyone's the bad person here, it's me. You don't know anything about me, Arianna Blaze, but every night that you fall asleep with me in that room you're putting your life in my hands. There is nothing to stop me from killing you, yet you trust me enough not to hurt you. You have some kind of faith in me that I don't even have, and you haven't turned me in to the police yet."

Arianna peered at him curiously. "Why would I do that, Gabriel?"

He released her and laughed bitterly. "Why do you think I'm running away? Who do you think I'm running away from? What do you think I did? Go ahead, guess."

"I want you to tell me."

"I guess it can't hurt to say." Gabriel gestured toward the alleyway. "That. That's what I did."

"You killed five gang members in self-defense?"

Gabriel grinned at her sardonically. "No, I did not kill five gang members in self-defense." He stopped smiling and his eyes took on a far-away look. "I killed a defenseless girl, who had never done anything to me, and who I had absolutely no reason to kill."

Arianna was shocked. She stared at him, speechless. There really was nothing to say to that. Finally, she thought of something that would make all the difference in her reaction.

"Was it on purpose?" she asked.

He glanced at her, startled. "No," he answered. "It was an accident. I really didn't mean to do it, but they didn't believe me."

Arianna took his hand in hers. "Come on, Gabe," she told him. "Let's go home."