The Silence That Surrounds: Screams of the Damned

Narrator’s POV:

Sophia raised her eyebrow and noticed Louis walk briskly through the streets, crossing in between alleyways and looking back with caution.

“Who’s after us?” Sophia asked, also looking back.

“Zayn. We just missed him, my spidey-senses were going off like crazy – tends to happen when you know a thing or two about the ones who are after you and of course Harry sent his best bloodhound. Now, if it were Niall, we could possibly bribe him with a few drinks – Zayn? Not so much,” Louis explained, ducking left into the breakoff of a random alley and coming out the other side. “I need to put some things in the car and then we can head to the Demurs. I know the security there, they let me in to drink, the only exception to that is I can’t start fights. It’s a social club and apparently the members are elite; posh prissy pants in other words. Too pretty to get a knock upside the schnoz – snooty bastards.”

Sophia chuckled at his ranting and squeezed his hand.

“Then let’s go to another pub or somewhere quiet and relax until the cost is clear. Just as long as the place isn’t a dive like Sal’s. No offense, I may not be posh – but I have at least some class, Lou.” Sophia said, teasing clearly visible in her tone.

Louis smirked.

“Precisely why I want to show you the upscale. You never got to see London in the here and now. We just can’t start trouble, but there is nothing wrong with teaching you how to pickpocket. In fact – “Louis paused and swung around to face her, his eyes staring deeply into her ocean ones. “Kiss me.”

Sophia’s orbs widened the size of footballs, nearly popping out of her skull.

“What? No bloody way, Casanova. I’m not a whore.” Sophia protested with a deep frown.

Louis shook his head.

“Not – that’s not what I’m getting at, Petal. I need you to get some confidence, approach me and make me believe that I am the only one around that matters. Lesson three, Flower – learning to distract divs without violence. In some cases, there will be a setting where we can’t kick someone in the throat or put a pool stick through their shoulder because they weren’t being nice. Sometimes it takes subtlety and baby? You got the looks, you’re managing on the confidence – but you’re falling short on the flirting.” He explained backing away from her and leaning against the building.

“Alright, your face. Let your eyebrows fall down low, but arch them slightly,” Louis instructed, waiting for her to do as he asked.

She furrowed her eyebrows and then smiled.

“Like this?” She asked, watching Louis hit his hand against his face.

“Yeah luv, if your goal is to make little children cry and grown blokes run away screaming for their lives, that’s perfect. You look like a sexy demented female version of Norman Bates that just got released from the psych ward and is looking for new victims. You’re glaring and smiling, that’s not a good combination for anyone – hell, you’re making little Louis want to run away in fright. Soften you’re face, angel, but do it naturally.” Louis instructed softly, watching her eyebrows fall upright again.

“I don’t understand what you want me to do, Lou. I’m not good at facial expressions, never have been. Father said it was improper to be seductive informally.” Sophia shrugged, noticing a girl running down the street towards them.

Louis’s face seemed to brighten considerably.

He held his arms open as the mystery girl flew into him.

“Emily, bloody hell it’s been awhile.” Louis grunted, the force of the impact knocking him against the wall of one of the buildings he had been by.

Sophia watched in interest, wondering if Louis had a fetish for getting his ass kicked by women.

“Aye, sure as fuck has. What’s the deal, Tomlinson? The green eyed asshole been keeping you busy?” Emily asked with dismay, her eyes flashing dangerously close to annoyance when she made mention of green eyes, which Sophia could only assume she meant Harry.

Louis hugged her back with a soft chuckle.

“Nah, been training the newest edition.” Louis gestured, making Emily turn around.

For the first time, Sophia was able to get a proper look at the girl – though she certainly didn’t appear to be from around London – come to think of it, she sounded quite American.

Her clothes were tattered with rips here and there, wearing a butterfly style shirt that hung about two sizes too big on her and black jean pants with ripped holes. It was very rebellious and common Sophia thought, sizing Emily up in a more thorough way, her eyes roaming over the other girl’s body, noticing that despite her outfit, which fit her perfectly; her height only came to Louis’s chest and her long wavy brown hair looked naturally brushed in a wild air about way and her matching eyes gave the girl a complete look of someone that fit right at home on any street she may be at the time.

“Hey, if you’re going to ogle me spitfire, at least take me to lunch first.” Emily snapped, bringing Sophia out of her deep thoughts.

Louis chuckled.

“Well, you are beautiful,” Louis smirked, sidestepping the brunette and walked back beside Sophia, placing a hand on her back. “This is the Harry’s new girl, Sophia Stone.” He introduced

Sophia put her good hand out for Emily to shake, but the girl simply snorted.

“I don’t do handshakes, too posh for me. Try being a little less uptight, sister.” Emily sassed, making Sophia look as Louis.

Louis rolled his eyes.

“She’s harmless, Soph. Her name’s Emily and clearly as you can tell, she’s from the states. New York to be exact; isn’t that right, little rebel?” Louis poked jokingly.

Emily rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, div parents moved her from their old jobs to this piss hole, told me I’d adjust in no time – that was eight years ago. I have to get my kicks from somewhere though, right? I’m an off branch for the street rats round these parts. Lou and I been dealing in business for years – speakin’ of, Tomlinson, does Harry-little-nuts need any more medical stock for his death cabin in murdered soul alley or is he good? Damien? Anymore Marijuana seeds or pot he needs to get rid of? Meth? Crack? The tortured souls of angels? I just got a fresh batch of that in earlier.”

Sophia noticed her tone turned extremely sarcastic at the last part.

Louis sighed and shook his head.

“I wish you’d stop hating on Harry, bloke’s been losing his mind lately. Come on, we’ll walk and talk. Old woman wart-face doesn’t like us loitering by the looks.” Louis thumbed, noticing an old woman looking out from her shop and giving the young group a gaze of pure hatred.

Sophia snorted, letting Louis guide them towards where Harry’s car was.

“Gee, I wonder why he’s losing his mind? Personally, I think it has to do with a charming bloke named Louis who sees how far he can push Harry until he sits down and cries. I know things aren’t going to end well when we get back.”

Emily cackled, giving them both a look of amusement.

“You two ditched the runt?” Emily asked bluntly, noticing the buildings became few and the cobblestone started to age as they got close to their destination.

“Short version? Damien was going to kill Sophia, Harry butted in and challenged him to a fight to the death with one of his members VS one of ours. Sophia was chosen. Now were out on the town, being chased down by Zayn and I’m teaching her how to use what she has to her advantage. It’s for the fight, but she hasn’t figured it out yet.” Louis shrugged.

“Doesn’t surprise me, she looks rather dull-headed.” Emily chuckled, making Sophia frown.

“Hey, easy there Em. She’s not posh, she can take as good as she gets.” Louis defended, squeezing Sophia’s hand in reassurance.

Emily shrugged.

“Alright, then let spitfire defend herself if I’m hurting her wittle feelings.” She mocked, smiling at the pretty red head with the Goddess-like dress.

“Em? That’s enough.” Louis spoke sternly, his eyes darkening.

Sophia suddenly kicked her leg behind Emily’s knees and made the shorter girl fall to the ground without warning.

Before Louis could blink, Sophia was using her shin to hold the girl to the ground and glaring down at her with a wicked smirk – the very one Louis told her not to use.

“I don’t need words to get my point across.” Sophia responded calmly, feeling herself being picked up from the ground.

“Flower? What did I just say about causing fights? There is a time and place, now is not it. Don’t go picking arguments that are going to get your ass kicked. Em? You alright?” Louis asked, picking the other girl up and setting her back on the sturdy concrete.

Emily brushed herself off, looking at the redhead with a cocky smirk.

“Yeah, your little bird didn’t cause no damage. I like her, she got some fire.” Emily chuckled, slapping Sophia on the back.

Sophia was even more confused, but with Louis’s lady friends, she really shouldn’t be shocked – given the nature of this world she found herself thrown in.

Louis sighed and they began to walk again.

“I’m going to return a few bags to the car and then we’ll go to Demurs,” He addressed Sophia, glancing at Emily. “As for shipment, yeah. Damien is going to need another shipment of cocaine, meth, heroin and crack. He has some people in the higher up’s who need a few kilos. Something worth five-hundred pounds. Divide that up for the four requests. I’ll take about ten pounds of the most potent marijuana you have.”

Emily’s eyes shone. She loved large orders, it made the ones above her very happy – especially if it was placed by Damien Styles himself.

“You got it. What about medical? Pain shots? Sedation? Muscle relaxants? Insulin?” She asked, knowing it had been awhile since Harry needed a medical run. She knew Damien’s guy who worked for a private medical pharmacy and had access to making the required medicines for the gang sectors.

“Yeah, tell him to do about six hundred quantities of everything, except the physical pain pills. Tell him we need about two-thousand.” Louis replied, his footsteps falling at the entrance of where he parked Harry’s car.

“That’s going to cost a pretty penny,” Emily whistled, falling in front of the two gang members. “Medical goes to ass monkeys cabin, where’s Damien’s stuff going? Last time I showed up at his cabin, he rang my ass through the dryer and stomped all over it.”

Louis laughed.

“His goes to the Playhouse. He doesn’t like drugs in his cabin for more than an hour.”

Emily froze, her eyes actually reflecting fear.

“Yeah and my ass speaks French. That isn’t happening, pretty boy.” Emily stated firmly, knowing the last time she dropped by, Sadistic had felt her up and told her what a cute doll she was – and that was the last time she ever stepped foot near the place.

In fact, the only reason she didn’t get turned into a doll, at least in her own mind; was because she kicked Sadistic in the crotch, punched him in the face and took off running out the door. The visual of the kids was enough to scare her away from stopping by there again – that and she was sure is Sadistic saw her again, he’d make her a doll out of revenge for the damage she caused to his family jewels.

Louis calmed her down with a pat to the back.

“Relax, you can bring everything by the cabin and we’ll sort it there and bring it to Damien.” Louis assured, smiling gently as the girl’s persona fell from sassy New Yorker to frightened girl in a dark alley at night.

“Good, because I ain’t fucking going back to Sadistic.” Emily said with finality, the group finally walking into the lot.

Upon entering, Louis frowned in confusion at the large metal block that was in place of where Harry’s car used to be.

“That’s weird, I parked it right here.” Louis gestured, looking around.

“Oh! Lou? There’s a motorcycle street race happening tonight, you and your bird are gonna be there, right? Aurora’s organizing it as we speak and from the sounds, it’s gonna be a great turn out, especially the bidding at low stakes; a thousand pound to bet; unless you want to enter as a driver, then it’s five-hundred fee for the racers.” Emily asked excitedly, noticing Louis furrowed his eyes at the car for a few moments.

“We’ll be there. Enter me as a driver.” Louis murmured, walking up to the block to inspect it further, noticing the crushed wheel inside and the white strip of cloth thrown harshly nearby it.

“Oh no. Harry’s car – this is his Audi. I parked it here, I thought here was a parking area, that’s the parking over there. He’s going to flip a bitch and then he’s going to flip me – straight in bloody half!” Louis panicked when realization started to dawn on him.

Sophia looked at the cube, also walking close to it.

“I think Harry was already here, if he was able to grab the location before his Audi – “Sophia paused, trying to think on how to word the death of a car.

“Went bye-bye, kicked the bucket, got savagely murdered by a compactor? I can go on, but you get the bloody gist. Holy fucking bunny smurfs, Harry is going to beat me unconscious!” Louis panicked.

Emily stood where she was with the biggest smirk Sophia had probably ever seen. In fact, the redhead would go as far as to say that the girl looked downright gleeful.

“You seem to find amusement in Harry’s pain, what did he do to you exactly?” Sophia asked, folding her arms across her chest while also trying to calm Louis down. “Lou, it’s not…it’s not that bad, it could be way worse.”

HOW?! His car was picked up like a prize winning claw game, put in a compactor and crushed into a can made for sardines! This is bad; like, shoot your grandmother in the foot while accidently shoving your great Aunt Sally’s face into the turned on waffle maker type of bad. Harry is going to whip me within an inch of HIS life. Forget mine, I’ll be dead when he stops! Do you know how much he loves this car?!” Louis panicked, kicking the metal block with his foot in anger.

Emily came forward then and hugged Louis from the back, she knew his wild temper sometimes got the best of him and when he began to panic, well, he was good to absolutely no one.

“Louis? Just steal another Audi – or if you’re really worried about it, find a car that surpasses his Audi and give it to him as a replacement.” Emily suggested calmly.

“His father gave him that Audi. It was a limited edition; I don’t think he’ll accept another one or another car.” Louis looked defeated.

“Then apologize and promise not to take his cars out without permission again.” Sophia suggested, making Emily roll her eyes.

“Yes because Harry is reasonable like that. Hunny, the only way Harry is going to forget about that Audi is if you tie him down and zap every single memory of that car from his brain.”

Sophia looked thoughtful for a moment but ended up just shaking her head. It wouldn’t do any good, she was probably never going to see Asher Heart again, though if she did – Harry might like an even rarer car; one where only twenty-five in the world were produced.

“Oh, Lou – I was supposed to pass on a message from Eleanor. She said she saw you today and looked really upset when she left earlier, but she told me that she will be at the races tonight and that you have five minutes to explain yourself. She wouldn’t go into details with me – though, you can find her at her regular spot. She goes there when she wants to be alone.” Emily switched conversations, hoping to bring Louis’s panic down to a simmer.

Louis rubbed his temples tiredly.

“I know where she is, thanks Em. Tell Aura I’ll see her at the races tonight. I’ll make a small side stop and then I’m going to go to Demures and get bladdered, at least then, when Harry beats me I won’t feel it. Come on, Soph.” Louis sighed dejectedly and walked off in the direction of the ex-lover’s secret meeting place.

Sophia waved at Emily and they made their leave towards another side of London they had not yet went.

*

“Harry, he knows I’m tracking him. I don’t know HOW, but Louis knows.” Zayn groaned into the phone before rubbing his hand on his forehead.

“He can track too, Zayn. Listen, we’re heading to the Playhouse, Damien and Sadistic are clearing off all the dolls and starting new next month. Liam and Niall are going to be assisting me. So I’m afraid you’re on your own there in London. I don’t know if this will help, but try to find his old girlfriend, Eleanor Calder. He has a soft spot for her, but find her and you’ll more than likely find Louis. You know that small bridge due East? The one that’s been in disrepair since we were teens?” Harry asked, having a hunch.

“Yeah? You think they would go there though? Louis would want to stay off known paths – be pretty stupid if he went there for a meetup.” Zayn reasoned, turning when he heard a knock on the telephone box, seeing a line of about five people waiting.

He held up a finger and turned around.

“I’m the only one who knows that Louis went to meet Calder there, he’s never spoken about it to you I assume as you sound rather clueless, it was his secret and believe me, mate – he has a lot of them.” Harry trailed off, a small thump sounding from the background.

“I’ll go check it out, you want me to grab the girl if she’s there alone?”

It was quiet on the other line for a moment before Harry spoke again.

“Yeah, take her. If you catch Sophia and Louis before that, get some duct tape and keep them in a private sector until I come get you lot. I got to go, we’re almost at the – “Harry paused, switching to address the backseat. “Niall, will you please stop trying to open the doors!? You’re fine, Christ!” Harry exploded, lowering his voice until it was a deep hum of agitation. “You know your orders, Zayn. I’ll talk to you soon, call me on process.”

With that Harry hung up and Zayn just looked at the phone in a way to suggest Harry just asked him to cure cancer.

“He sure has bloody high expectations.” Zayn finally said, whirling around when another knock sounded, this time more urgent.

He threw open the door and rolled his eyes.

“All yours your highness.” He snapped and walked off in the direction of where Harry told him Louis would likely be – at this point, he wasn’t holding out on hope.

*

“This was your secret place? It’s a dive, Lou.” Sophia noticed the buildings grew into disrepair, most boarded up and others had broken windows from people either looking for shelter from the cold days or a quiet place to get high – as that’s exactly the kind of area this was.

“It’s not much, but this was our spot. We used to meet under that bridge there and I would bring a food hamper and we’d sit and talk for hours.” He pointed to a rundown bridge, decaying concrete below and parts of the brick above had deteriorated so much that it was missing big chunks throughout the small lake type crossing.

“She’s there.” Sophia pointed out when they got a little closer, looking at the lone and hunched figure sitting at the left corner of the underpass and away from where the small bridge was wasting away.

“I see that, now I need to try and clear this whole muddled situation up, before she gives me another black eye.” Louis stated as they made their way in record time towards the young woman who sat there with her arms across her, knees to her chest and a glare the could still freeze the flames of hell.

“El-bear!” Louis called, making Sophia roll her eyes, because that’s exactly what you should yell when said woman looks about ready to turn into a wildebeest and rip something to shred…or someone for that matter.

“Piss off, Tomlinson! You and that boiler are not welcome here!” Eleanor gritted back, her body upright and straight in a matter of seconds. She was getting into a defensive position to kick someone’s ass and Sophia had a feeling whose.

“I come in peace, I wanted to talk to you privately before the races tonight, luv. Please calm down and quit calling Sophia names, hm? She didn’t ask for any of this and if you give me a moment I can explain, but you need to calm down before I can do that.” Louis reasoned calmly as they still ventured forward.

“She’s not fucking welcome here!” Eleanor yelled, making Sophia halt and put her hands up.

“Alright, I’ll stay out here then. I haven’t been to this side of London so I’m a little scared, I just want to be close in case something happens. I won’t go under your bridge I promise. Just let me stand right here and I can let you two talk in peace.” Sophia reasoned, not comfortable at all.

Louis patted Sophia’s back and cautiously approach Eleanor, his hands up in surrender, carefully climbing under the short walkway bridge and sitting to face his old flame.

“I’m not here to do anything, El. I need you to hear my side of everything before you kick my ass again. If the excuse I give doesn’t satisfy you, then you can give me another black eye – I don’t care. I just…I wasn’t lying when I told you earlier that you were all I’ve been thinking of these past few years. It wasn’t my choice to end it, it was the situation that made that decision for me.” Louis explained carefully, letting out a small breath.

Eleanor folded her arms across her chest stubbornly.

“We had sex, next day you were a no show, next after that and the same thing for the month I waited for you to come back. I lingered here a long time, Louis. Just hoping to know what I had done for you to leave!” Eleanor exclaimed, small tears making their way down her face.

The wind cooled the salty water on her face and blew her long brown hair back gently.

Louis could almost feel his heart start to break at the anguish hidden behind her anger and the way her face looked torn between relief and betrayal.

“Damien Styles and Harry Styles – you know of them, yeah?” Louis asked carefully, receiving a nod from Eleanor.

Louis scooted closer to her with vigilance.

“Emily does deals with Damien sometimes and says he’s a right Sadist and Harry is the worst assfucker she has ever met, told me he kills children for laughs and deals in all sorts of stuff that could curl blood cold.”

Louis snorted in amusement, leave it to Emily to over exaggerate. Mostly because Harry didn’t kill children – Louis did. That was the big difference about the leader and the next in charge. Louis did what needed to be done and though Harry got bled dry, he still couldn’t bring himself to put a bullet into an innocent tyke and he knew damn well that it stemmed from Evelynn.

“Harry isn’t that bad, he just yells a lot.” Louis blurted out his thought before his brain caught up with his mouth and waved a bright red flag in front of his preverbal vision. Which was confirmed with Sophia shaking her head and putting her good hand over her face.

“You know Damien and Harry? How long?” Eleanor demanded, her eyes now hardening.

Louis groaned, knowing he’d have to tell her the whole story.

“Think back to when we were teenagers, El. Remember the day we met? I was in that Audi, getting ready to race?” Louis questioned gently, though he smiled at the thought.

Eleanor didn’t, but she nodded and gestured for him to continue.

“Well – I sort of nicked that car from Harry Styles. The reason it stopped in the middle of the race was because Harry turned on a security feature and shut it down, being as we were doing almost the full speed, it slid and we rolled. The car wasn’t too bad, but you came up and made sure I was alright and we went to dinner while Zayn took his bird out. You remember that too, yeah?” He asked, making sure she understood where he was coming from.

“You nicked Harry Styles car? How were you not killed and yes, you took me to a closed restaurant, picked the lock and made dinner for us. You asked me to dance afterward and then we spent the night walking the city aimlessly – where we found this place. I remember, but what does this have to do with anything, Louis?” Eleanor demanded, seeing Louis avoid her eyes then, sighing quietly.

“I need you to wait until the end to explode, alright? I need to tell you everything, because you deserve that,” Louis bargained, glancing at Sophia and gestured her forward with his hand gently.

She hesitated, walking cautiously to them the rest of the way.

“El, this is Sophia. She’s part of Harry’s gang and not by choice. She was the daughter of Daniel Stone, owner of Stone Enterprise, the biggest company in London. He took a loan from Damien Styles and never paid it back when the business got successful. Daniel knew that Damien would collect one way or another, so he offered up Sophia here in exchange.” Louis explained, hearing Eleanor let out a small hiss of breath.

“You know about this? Take her to the cops, let her explain the situation and get him arrested, that’s illegal!” Eleanor cried in disbelief.

Sophia’s eyes went wide and she backed up a few steps, shaking her head about frantically.

“N-no, Damien will kill me if I left and H-Harry would end up being hurt. I can’t do that to him or the others. I had my chance to leave, I didn’t take it so now I have to find another way. It’s not fair for them to die, they didn’t do anything.” Sophia murmured, speaking fast.

Louis calmed her with a quiet ‘shh’ and took over.

“Daniel Stone is dead and the company now belongs to Damien and Master Styles is still staking claim over Stone’s original offer. Sophia was supposed to be an exchange between the two men until Daniel payed Damien back,” Louis gestured about, continuing unaffected. “His pretenses turned out to be false. He handed over Sophia and wrote her off, calling the deal squared.” Louis went on, reaching for Sophia and pulling her a little closer, while his hand traveled down one of her many healing scars.

“As you can see, Damien doesn’t play around. So, please don’t blame Sophia for my disappearance. She’s only been with Harry four months. My exodus came just as sudden to me as it did you. I wanted to come back, but I couldn’t. For your safety and it broke my heart to watch you cry. I came back just so I could see you, even if I couldn’t be near you and I couldn’t be near you because I might not have been upfront with you back then on what I do.” Louis gulped, hurt actually pooling from his own ocean blues.

“D-don’t tell me you work for…” Eleanor’s voice cracked and Sophia felt bad for the two bleeding hearts that sat so close, but couldn’t quite reach each other.

“No – not exactly. I…” Louis scratched his scalp awkwardly. “I’m actually supposed to take over for Harry if he dies or when he eventually ascends to Damien’s position when he does. I was supposed to take over sooner, but Harry spared Sophia’s life and wiped that favor off the table.”

“Harry had three months to get the money from my father and they thought that ransoming me might scare him into paying what he owed, but his plan was to leave me to rot. Harry pulled the favors he had and they spared me. Hostages are only given a three-month window at the cabin.” Sophia interjected, kneeling down carefully next to the couple, careful to only get her knees dirty.

“W-wait, you’re APART of Harry’s gang? H-he’s been known for the most violent crimes and you’re APART of it?! Let me guess, you didn’t have a choice either?” She looked pointedly at Louis, making him scoot back a little.

“I had a choice, luv. I chose this life and before you ask, no, I don’t regret the decision. The only misgiving I have are the rules imposed upon us. The most vital one, the one I broke was falling in love. Eleanor, if I wasn’t with Harry – I’d probably be dead. My life before – it was fight or die. If it weren’t for Harry I wouldn’t be here now and I wouldn’t have met such a breathtaking beauty like you,” Lois uttered to his broken lover, the hurt so vibrant in his voice and the emotion they both felt were spilling out into the wind and getting carried away.

“El, if I had met you outside of my gang, your body would be chained in gold and I would have asked for your hand years ago, but I didn’t, because I knew I could never fully protect you from this life. Hell, I can’t protect anyone. If I could, Sophia would be a lot less fucked up.” Louis wiped the small tear that had just fallen, standing up and turning to face out towards the condemned buildings across the way, his eyes needing some sort of focus.

“He’s not bad, Eleanor. He took me out today, something Harry is very much against. My life before this gang was spent smiling at men to gain accounts for my father and smoking over the investor’s offspring. I never saw London outside my limo and Louis took me out today to train. I have a fight in a month, if I win I can live and if I don’t – I die. He’s trying to show me things that could save my life, please don’t think he’s a monster. Louis is kind, he’s mentioned you so many times and I can tell you that he left to save your life. Harry found out about you two meeting – “Sophia stopped and reached out to touch the lower half of Louis’s back “Lou, please explain. That’s all she wants.”

Sophia tried desperately to help Louis out, explaining why he had left her.

“That’s why I left, because Harry followed me here the last time we met up and cornered me after you left. He told me to end it or he’d have to tell Damien. Damien would have had you abducted and brutally killed in front of me to make a point. Harry knew this and threatened to tell him, because he knew that if he didn’t and it was discovered, it would have gotten us all punished. I stopped because I didn’t want to see anything happen to you like it had to Zayn’s or Liam’s girlfriends. I wanted to see you live by reasoning of, that despite many things, I am not selfish.” Louis trailed off, staring back at Eleanor.

She was crying quietly, pained gasps leaving from her chest.

He approached and knelt back down to her, his muscles tightening themselves as he brought them around her for a comforting hug.

“I should have at least said goodbye and I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry, El. I just needed to explain why I never came back. I should have, especially after the last night. I was wrong.” Louis admitted in regret, closing his eyes to take in the feeling of her touch, the way her delicate fingers wrapped and hooked at the base of his neck felt familiar – inviting.

For a moment Sophia merely watched the two, almost envious that she herself would never have anything special like that and regretful that Louis couldn’t leave to start over.

She furrowed her brows, remembering that the shot he had would dissolve his tracker…

“Would you go with her if you had the chance?” Sophia blurted her question out, breaking the two from their deep thoughts.

Eleanor let her fingers slip from Louis’s neck and his embrace retracted slowly, the hurt in his eyes so dark blue that Eleanor looked away, shaking her head.

“I – it’s too late,” Eleanor murmured, remembering the boy she had fallen for a few years ago when she knew in her heart that Louis wasn’t coming back. “I met someone a few years ago and I think he’s going to ask me to marry him. I saw the ring earlier this morning when I was getting his jacket. It fell out of his pocket.”

Sophia’s face fell, but Louis cracked a small smile.

“I’m glad you moved on, luv. You deserve all the happiness in the world. What’s the lucky bloke’s name?” Louis asked, generally interested.

“Lou? I want to know about you. I want to know what you do. How can you work with Harry Styles? What part do you play in this group? What is her purpose?” Eleanor pointed at Sophia, though frowned when she really got a look at the beautiful redhead. “And why is she beat up? Did you try to stop this? Why can’t you two just leave?” She bombarded the older gent with questions.

Louis shushed her and helped her stand, pulling Sophia from her knees and connecting their hands together.

“First, formal introductions, hm? Eleanor? This is Sophia Stone, the newest edition to our group and Soph? This is Eleanor Calder, my old girlfriend.” He smirked, watching Eleanor continue to scan over the green dressed Goddess.

“It’s a pleasure, Eleanor. Like I said, Louis has spoken quite fondly of you, but I’m happy you are getting your fairytale, it’s all a girl ever wants, right?” Sophia forced a smile.

Eleanor nodded unsure.

“I suppose, but it doesn’t look like you’re too happy. Why can’t you leave? Why isn’t anyone helping you?” Eleanor frowned, not as hostile since she knew Sophia wasn’t the one at fault.

Sophia shrugged airily.

“Louis tried to get me to leave when my friends and their little girl were escaping. He told me the full situation and – “Sophia was cut off by another voice, knowing it wasn’t Louis.

“She’s our little bird in a cage. Long story short? She refused to let us die, how noble of the little slag, right, Soph?” Zayn summed up her reasoning in a nutshell, his figure only ten meters away.

In the fading of the late afternoon, the clouds descended upon the skies and colored them a light gray; which in turn caused the wind to pick up their whisper.

It was silent for a few moments, Louis pushing both of the girls behind him protectively.

“Good tracking skills, bloodhound. Now, sod off. I have too much to do today and cannot be stuffed with you being on our arse the whole time. So here’s the situation mate –“ Louis growled, spitting the last word as a blatant threat. “You’re going to go and sit your ass somewhere, get bladdered and report to Curly that you’re scent was off or I’ll make sure you can’t smell out of that schnoz from now till next Christmas. Understand me, Malik?” He finished, baring his teeth against the other gang member.

Zayn appeared to be unconcerned and brushed him off with an obscene hand gesture, a cocky smirk playing on his face.

“I’m warning you Achmed, get fucking lost!” Louis continued, taking a step forward.

Sophia grabbed Eleanor’s hand and guided her gently back under the bridge.

“Stay here.” Sophia murmured, walking behind Louis and grabbing the handle sticking out of his back pocket and aiming it straight at Zayn.

Zayn got one look at the ‘gun’ Sophia was pointing and burst up in hysterics. It was dangerous how dark and deep his laugh was. It seemed almost evil, if not completely inhuman.

“Oh, darling Flower – I’m going to feel partially bad when I bring you back to Harry in pieces. Put the nerf gun down, it doesn’t scare any – MOTHER FUCKER!” Zayn screamed when the first ball hit him in the crotch.

Louis found himself smirking and walking another step, watching in amusement as Zayn cupped himself but stayed standing.

“You lay a hand on my bird and I will end you. Your order was to bring us back alive, yeah? Well, when we’re good and ready is when you can use the dog whistle and call us, until then? We’re breaking off the lead and roaming the streets, mate. Get fucked.” Louis walked back a step, his arms across his chest and glaring pointedly at the other gang member.

“You know? I’m surprised none of you noticed me coming up here. In fact, I was at least somewhat sure that you would know to always be aware of your surroundings, but love is a funny thing, isn’t it Tomlinson? It makes us so bloody fucking blind to the things right in front of our face.” Zayn scowled, eyeing Eleanor with partial interest, taking another challenging step towards the small group.

Louis glowered right back, his face a contort of anger.

“Right, because you know what love is, right? Because you didn’t let Perrie suffer when you could have granted her a merciful release? That isn’t love, mate. That’s called being a selfish fucking prick.” Louis spat back, the tension beginning to escalate.

Zayn growled, but held himself back.

“Maybe it was selfish, but it was my decision and when you love someone, sometimes you can’t let them go. No matter how much you wish you could. I loved her, just like you love Eleanor. Whether you admit it or not, the eyes don’t lie, man.” He pointed out, admitting to his fault at the same time.

“You always care about your first love, mate. It’s called being human; something I’ve begun to see as of recently,” Louis shrugged, not denying what Zayn said was true. “However, if I found out my girlfriend was turned into something as horrendous as a doll? I wouldn’t hesitate to do what needed to be done. I wouldn’t keep her suffering. That’s the difference between us, Zayn. I do what needs to be done.”

Zayn shifted his weight to his other leg.

“Yeah, which makes you the effective assassin of our little gang, right? You get the job done, don’t you?” Zayn smiled, knowing he just made Louis confess something aloud without even realizing it.

Louis looked to Eleanor with a frown, knowing he had said something he hadn’t meant for her to find out. That was one thing he wasn’t going to tell her, his place inside the gang and now the cat was out of the bag.

“I-is that true, Louis? You kill people?” She asked with thickness laced in her throat, swallowing to clear the sour taste that had gathered in her mouth.

He simply stared at her and let the laconism speak the volumes he couldn’t and in Eleanor’s heart, the silence answered her question.

She gasped quietly, the wind carrying it around them like a whirlwind in the stillness that overcame them. It was like an endless scream that cut through the echoes and deafened the tension to a painful bright winding light.

“Louis? Please, say something.” Eleanor pleaded, coming out from the bridge again and taking his arm gently.

Louis blinked and looked back to Zayn, Sophia still standing unmoving with the nerf gun aimed at Zayn, her face emotionless.

“What do you want me to say, El? That it’s not true?” Louis asked, closing his eyes and trying to save this situation the best he could and that required some honesty. “I can’t tell you that, luv. Zayn’s right.”

Eleanor shook her head in disbelief.

“No. No, it can’t be true. You were a teenager – “She felt tears welling in her eyes.

Louis looked at her with the best steely emotion he could manage.

“Look into my eyes, El and tell me what you see.” Louis demanded, his tone harsh to give her an example of exactly how cold he could be.

That in turn shocked her back into speechlessness.

Zayn’s smirk grew. He wanted Louis to feel the same emptiness his own heart now held and he wanted to do it with a bittersweet memory that neither of them would forget.

“You know we can’t let her go now, right? She just found out who you were and could go to the police. You are aware that if she does, McMichaelson will take the report and tell Damien. Then he’ll find her and boy, can you only imagine how messy that cleanup is going to be? So you get to choose, Lou. You either kill her or we take her to Harry and let him deal with her. Because those are the only two options,” Zayn chuckled, though screamed a second later when Sophia yet again aimed at his jewels and shot. “FUCKING CUNT!” He seethed, losing his footing and falling to his knees.

“Don’t be a twat-cock you insensitive prick. You’re hurting, we get it. Trust me, we’re all feeling loss, but you need to think of the lives you’re ruining. You and Harry, that’s all it is to you two. A bloody fucking game and I am tired of it.” Sophia spoke firmly, watching Zayn’s emotions flash across his face like a slideshow, the expressions saying all they needed to.

Louis looked down, gently shaking his arm from his old lover’s hands.

“At least tell me they were murders or bad people.” Eleanor pleaded, her fingers grazing his shoulders to drawl some sort of comfort from the now ice frozen male.

“I get an order; I follow the instructions. Sometimes I get shit-stains, but other times I don’t. That’s all you need to know and if you value your life, you will not question me further on it.” He warned, though it was laced with plea.

Zayn grit his teeth in anger and pain.

“Sweetheart? His first kill was at twelve. He murdered a six-year-old, what the bloody fuck do you think – “Zayn was cut off again when Sophia popped off the last ball, this time making him duck backwards from being hit.

“Shut up, Malik!” Louis hissed with venom, going to wipe him off the ends of the earth.

Sophia stood in front of the Doncaster man and shook her head.

“He wants this reaction; he wants you to fight him. Be the bigger person, Lou. Settle this with El, she doesn’t know your past.” Sophia gently suggested, looking back at Eleanor.

Louis scratched his head in agitation.

“My past was never supposed to be brought up again, I told him those things in confidence!” Louis seethed, wanting to knock the smirk from Zayn’s face.

“You were a kid, Lou. You did what you had to, to survive.” Sophia reasoned, wrapping her arms around Louis to try and lull him back to a calm state.

It took a moment or two, but Louis returned the embrace and broke apart to face Eleanor with all the courage he could muster.

“My first kill was at age twelve. I ran away from foster care and fell into what many here call a delinquent circle. They held an initiation that required me to commit murder. I found a little boy playing in the park and with the others watching, I walked over and stabbed him in the heart and throat before running off,” Louis blinked at the memory, hating the feeling that overcame him. The mother’s facial details were still fresh in his mind. “His mum, who had been about twelve meters away reading a book, has seen what had happened and ran after us, but we were already gone. The other lads were laughing and congratulating me.”

Eleanor began to pale and Sophia’s hand fell from the nerf gun, holding it to her mouth in shock. She didn’t know Louis’s past had been so dark, especially at a young age. No wonder he didn’t leave, he couldn’t because this was the life he knew.

“Oh, Lou.” El whispered, backing away from him.

“I was taken back to their hangout and met the leader. He was young, around twenty-five or thereabout,” Louis recalled robotically, following Eleanor’s movements carefully with his eyes. “He taught me how to defend myself and my first lesson? Well, it was a crash course. He had the other boys take turns beating me within an inch of my life. I fought back, but still ended up in a coma for a few days. From there it was kill to survive, steal to eat and when I couldn’t nick, I spent rummaging through rubbish bins.”

Sophia looked down as the air went still again for a short moment, hearing movement from Zayn as he got up from the ground.

She turned her eyes back on the cheeky bastard with a harsh glare.

Eleanor backed away towards the bridge and sat down in her spot in mute shock, staring back at her old flame with sympathy and sorrow.

“I met Harry when he was sixteen when I tried nicking his wallet – only for us to come to blows. He beat the living shit out of me and then we went and got drinks later when he saw I had managed to relieve him of his credit card.” Louis chuckled at the memory despite the tense air.

“Glad to see some things never change.” Sophia quipped back in good humor.

Louis let his smile soften.

“I’m not a monster, El. When I met you on my outing the first time, I fell tit over arse. My heart was beating so erratic the first time I asked you to dance; hell – you were the first girl I had ever had a proper dance with and I didn’t tell you my past because I wanted to forget it.” Louis explained, reaching back and bringing out two guns, handing them to Sophia wordlessly.

She pointed them at Zayn to make sure he stayed where he was.

“I found that you being around made that easier and I just wanted it to last as long as it could, but Harry found out where I was going those nights I would escape out my bedroom window and hotwire his car to come here. He gave me the choice to end it right there and then or he would tell Damien and I knew what that monster was capable of; so I stopped.”

“Damien has you kidnapping and murdering people though. He – why do you work for him? Why can’t you just stop?” Eleanor questioned, her mood as hopeless as the sorrow that dripped off from the once beautiful buildings in front of them. It was impossible to go back and too late to repair anything between them, now all that was left were questions.

“Because God didn’t grant me that mercy,” Louis replied bitterly, looking at Zayn. “The same way he didn’t grant much of any to the rest of us.” He seemed to direct his last statement at Zayn.

“This isn’t God’s decision, this was yours and it’s clearly not the work of a fallacy if you believe that our choices are made by a higher power. The problem with belief is, when something bad happens to us, we blame the Gods or God or Buddha or karma, but when something good happens, hey it’s all thanks to the universe. We can’t blame our choices on the Heavens, we got to take responsibility for our mistakes.” Eleanor interjected with stern reasoning.

“I do take responsibility for my short comings. If I didn’t, you would have been dead years ago. I do what I have to do to survive and it’s just not me, El. It’s the whole group, because one person’s decision affects the rest of us, no matter how small.” He looked at Sophia as if trying to point out an example.

“You kill innocent people and you won’t stop and you stand there and tell me that you’re doing it for the greater good? That’s complete fucking bullocks.” Eleanor shook her head and stood to leave. She didn’t want to know anymore.

“If Damien says to kill a two-year-old, I do it. You want to know why? Because if I don’t, he will do it himself and then he will punish the rest of us for insubordination.” Louis snapped, turning to the woman and walking towards her, grasping her arm so their eyes met again.

Eleanor gasped in fright, her other hand going over Louis’s.

“Please, don’t hurt me.” Eleanor pleaded softly, her beautiful orbs meeting his deep ocean ones.

Louis didn’t plan on hurting her and softened his eyes to let her know that.

“You’re the last person I would hurt, El, but I’m going to need you to run and never come back here. This place is dead and I don’t want you to end up the same way.” Louis said, knowing that El would keep the secret between them; even though it really wasn’t much of a mystery, but it was still the fact that Damien could be tipped off.

Eleanor nodded and eyed Zayn with caution.

“I’ll go home.” She agreed.

Zayn’s smile never faltered, although he wasn’t stupid enough to try anything while Sophia was holding two guns on him.

Louis reached his arms to encircle his lost flame and smiled gently at her, knowing this would be the last time they would see one another.

“It was good catching up with you, El – well, once you get passed the kicking my ass part that is.” He smiled cockily to show her there was no hard feelings.

“You deserved it, blue-balls,” Eleanor retorted and hugged him back. “I’ll see you around.” She finished, but the way her sentence trailed off, Louis knew that was only said out of habit.

“Yeah, see you around, El.” Louis agreed, his mouth forming a dimpled smile, hoping that he could still pull off the boyish charm he used to when they were teenagers. He was twenty-five nearly twenty-six years old now and it felt like a long time had passed since he was a teen.

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

“Take care of yourself, Lou. Stay out of trouble.” She waved at Sophia and began to walk the opposite way she came.

Louis’s attention was now on Zayn, eyeing the direction of the disappearing figure to make sure he wouldn’t have a chance to track her.

“Harry ordered me to grab her, so whether you keep me here until midnight, I’ll still come back and find her. She knows who you are, what gang you belong to, what you do and your position – four things that Harry has specifically put in the rules that we are not to reveal. So, either tell the cunt-bag there to put the Goddamn gun down or – “Sophia shot off a bullet next to Zayn, making him drop to the ground in cover.

“I didn’t miss, that was a warning.” Sophia felt the need to let him know in case he went to make another snarky remark.

“Devil with a shotgun.” Zayn chuckled, enjoying that he could provoke her anger. For some reason, it made his day knowing Sophia was easy to antagonize.

“You must really want you family crests blown off,” Louis noted, seeing Sophia was pulling on the trigger to set off another bullet. He couldn’t let her shoot off Zayn’s personal pleasure assistant – no matter how tempting the idea was. “Petal? Give me the gun, luv.”

Louis reached over cautiously and took them from both of her hands at the same time, relieved that she let go.

Instead of leaving her completely defenseless, he returned the guns to his pocket and brought out her knives.

“You’re better at these. Take them, use them – have fun. Just don’t leave any permanent scars, yeah?” Louis smiled, her good hand clasping the knives and sticking one down in between her breasts.

“He doesn’t fight fair with his either.” Sophia muttered, watching Zayn take a step forward.

“I don’t have mine, if I did it would have been embedded into your throat before this bullocks even began. Harry doesn’t think I’m trustworthy with a weapon right now and I hate to think the chap’s right, but I’ll give him credit.” Zayn shrugged, tiring of this idle hunt. He just wanted to follow his orders and go the fuck home.

“Smart bloke.” Sophia retorted, taking a step forward with her knife in hand and raising it in defense. Zayn noticed a weakening in her stance.

“Angel-bug? If you’re going to threaten me with a knife, the least you could do is learn how to hold it properly. For example, you need a firmer grip and you need to make sure it’s at the level of your eyes. That way, when you strike it is more predominant that way.” Zayn instructed, glancing at Louis with a shrug. “If she’s going to knife play with the adults, she should learn how to hold it like one. You and Harry have been coddling her for way too long.”

Louis glared.

“Like you didn’t show her some slack. You’re just pissed she had the guts to do what you couldn’t. Get over it, mate.” Louis told him blatantly, even though he knew what Sophia did was wrong. It was Zayn’s decision, but he was pissing everyone off, including Louis.

Zayn’s eyes sparked fire, his honey dews deepening to a dark maple brown.

“Yeah? Well, I hope you feel that way when I find your bird and slit her throat from ear to ear.” Zayn threatened, making Louis take another threatening step forward.

“Like I said, leave her and Sophia alone.” Louis warned, keeping himself calm. Zayn knew that once one of them lost control, they would do something stupid and attack and that was a surefire way to lose a fight.

“Nah, don’t think I will. I’m having too much fun.” Zayn dismissed coolly.

Louis needed to figure a way to lose him, but he also needed to make sure Eleanor was safe and he couldn’t do both.

“Then I guess it’s time to settle this the old fashion way.” Louis shrugged, taking the guns from his pocket and tossing them away towards the bridge.

He followed up that action by removing his jacket and fancy shirt.

Sophia took them from the oldest gent so they wouldn’t get dirty and raised her brow as Zayn removed his black shirt.

“What are you two going to do?” Sophia asked, moving back to the bridge with Louis’s guidance.

“We are about to kick each other’s asses. If he looks to be winning, do yourself a favor and run left, cut through the alley where one of the rubbish bins are and keep catty-cornering until you get back to the main city. Find shelter there and I will come find you when it’s safe.” Louis instructed, his muscles flexing underneath his bare chest.

Sophia silently sized him up and then glanced at Zayn, seeing that Louis had a more muscular build than Zayn.

Zayn was skinny, but his arms were bigger – which meant more pack behind his punches.

“Yeah.” Sophia agreed and watched Louis approach Zayn until the two were a mere couple of feet from each other.

“Ready to be beat within an inch of your life, Tomlinson? Because I am.” Zayn smirked, cocking his head slightly and eyeing Louis up like prey.

“Ready when you are, skinny.” Louis retorted back with his own callout.

“Oh baby, I was born ready. Let’s go, traitor. Take your best fucking shot!” Zayn challenged and that was all the invitation Louis needed before he jerked his arm back and let the first punch fly.

Notes