Devil Days - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Missy Red and Kaleidopy
Last updated: 01/02/2007 02:01:11 AM

Chapter 7

Later that afternoon with the house empty, the boy began his second run of exploring the large house. He started upstairs in Therese's bedroom, finding nothing exciting, he turns his attention to the huge bedroom that Henri occupies when he is home. Looking at several books on the bookshelf, he pulls one down and sits on the carpet to read it.

" Hey, what y' doin' in 'ere?" Henri walks in, grabs the book out of his hands and puts it back in the bookshelf. " I don' like people snoopin' into my affairs."

" I wasn' snoopin', I was readin'!" The boy yells at him. He grins a toothy grin. " Or can' y' tell de difference an' b'sides, I wasn' doin' anythin' wrong."

" Y' look like a stupid jackass when y' grin like dat." Henri glares at him. " Dat's how I know y' be lyin' through your teeth."

" Don' have no idea what y' talkin' 'bout." The boy huffs and crosses his legs.

" Get up, we're goin' downstairs so I can keep my eye on y."

" I ain' goin' anywhere." The boy glares up at him defiantly. " An' y' can' make me move."

" Y' petite picouette!" Henri begins to chuckle as he walks over to the boy. " Y' comin' wit' me or must I carry you?"

" Non!" The boy eyes him carefully. When Henri reaches down to grab him, he rolls away and under the bed. " betcha can' get me now.'"

" Y' want t' play games wit' me?" Henri kneels down, looks under the bed and locates the boy. " Jus' don' say y' were not warned." His lightning fast reflexes catches the boy unprepared. Grabbing the boy by the arm, he yanks him out from under the bed. " Dat de best y' can do?" He holds him up in the air laughing at him. "Therese can do better dan dis."

" I wasn' ready." The boy protests as he is thrown over Henri's shoulder and the two leave the room and go down the stairs. " Dis not fair, Henri, I wasn' ready."

" Y' de one who dared me t' get y', did y' not?" Henri tosses the boy onto the couch before he sits down beside him. " Life isn't fair petite, y' need t' learn dat y' never lay all your cards on de table, never leave y'self out in de open without some sort of backup plan, y' understand what I am tellin' y?"

" Oui!" The boy smiles in acknowledgement before he rolls over on his stomach and tries to pounce on Henri. " Gotcha!"

" Y' haven't been listenin' t' one word I have been sayin'." Henri takes him down over his lap and pins him before the boy could even touch him. " Dere's a pentity for not listenin' an' y' are 'bout t' find out what dat pentity is." He throws the boy back down on the couch, face up and begins to tickle him.

" Stop, stop." The boy giggles uncontrollable. He tries to squirm out of Henri's grasp but is unsuccessful. " Henri!" He manages to scream through his giggles. " I'll listen t' y', I will."

" Too late now." Henri continues to tickle him unmercifully. The boy is gasping for air by the time Henri lets him up. " Y' goin' t' listen t' me de next time I try t' teach y' somethin'?"

The boy breaths heavily as he nods his head. Henri wraps his arm around the boy's head and pulls him back down in his lap. " I can teach y' a lot if y' be willin' t' learn."

" Henri, will y' teach me t' pick locks?"

" Oui, but why y' wanna learn t' do dat?"

" I jus' wanna learn in case somethin' comes up." The boy explains. " Me bein' on de streets y' never know when it's gonna come in handy."

Henri eyes him suspiciously and then shakes his head. " Alright, but under de condition dat y' listen t' every thin' I teach y'. Y' jus' once start goofin' off an' de deal is off, dat clear?"

" Deal!" The boy offers his hand out for Henri to shake, once he does, the boy changes the subject. " M'sieu LeBeau told me de story 'bout de dagger in his study. He say dat it comes from de guild's enemy, is dat true?"

" Papa told y' 'bout de Guilds?" Henri is shocked as the boy nods his head before flashing that big grin of his. " Papa must have somethin' in store for y' if he told y' 'bout de Guilds." He pauses for a second to think. " Y' don' tell nobody 'bout dis, y' hear me?"

" Henri, who believe me?" The boy asks him point blank. " I'm a mutie, nobody believes muties." He lowers his head. " Nobody wants a mutie."

" Hey, y' don' talk like dat." Henri grabs him by the chin and forces him to look into his eyes. " Y' be special t' Tante, Therese, Papa an' me." He shakes his head slowly. " Oui petite, y' can' tell me dat y' don' know I be speakin' de truth."

" It don' matter, dere's been ot'ers who pretend dat dey care an' dey.." The boy's voice trails off for a moment as if remembering things in his past. He quickly smiles back at Henri. " Y' show me how t' pick locks now, huh?"

Henri spent most of the night showing the boy how to unlock several different kinds of padlocks. He had especially asked about the padlocks. Henri didn't ask any questions, just showed the boy how to master the basics. Finally around two in the morning, the boy had hang of it. " Ok, enough for tonight. Y' ready for bed?"

" Oui," The boy gives out a fake yawn. He goes upstairs and turns out the lights in his bedroom and waits for a hour before he was sure the house has settled down enough for him to leave the house. He had secretly watched Tante program the security system, he pushes the code numbers and slips out the front door. He takes off in a dead run, completely unaware that someone was following him from the shadows.

It took him almost three hours to reach the warehouse but the boy managed to get there without anyone noticing him, or so he thought. He quickly picks the lock on the entrance side door and sneaks in. He carefully makes sure that the warehouse is empty before going down to the lower floor. Unlocking the door to where the kidnapped children were, the boy slings the door open. " C'mon, we gettin' out of 'ere."

" I knew you would come back, I just knew it." Jenny runs over to the boy and gives him a hug.

Michael gathers the children and hurries them out the door, glancing down at the boy. " Thought you forgot about us, Shrimp."

" Jus' cause y' t'ink I'm street trash don' mean I don' keep my word."

" Look, I'm sorry I called you that." Michael glances up the stairs before taking the lead. He makes sure everyone is together before he puts his finger to his lips to silence everyone. Whispering to the boy, " Do you want to lead them outside or create a diversion?"

"Diversion, I'm good at dat." The boy grins proudly.

" Yeah, that I do know." Michael replies as he opens the door slightly enough to peak out. He glances out into the dark warehouse. " Ok, the coast is clear, when this door opens, I want everyone to run to the door and do not stop for anything." He opens the door and waves everyone out. " Follow me." He takes off running, opening the side door, he holds it open as the children run out of the warehouse and down the street.

The boy was about to leave the warehouse when three silhouette figures blocking the side door. " Going somewhere, Devil Boy?" Jarod slams the door shut. " This time we ain't risking McCartney's wrath by letting you get away again."

The children now free stop running. Michael makes a quick head count and turns around and realizes one is still missing. Jenny already knew who it was. " Where's the Shrimp?" He looks around frantically trying to find the boy. " Where is he?"

" Dat's what I want t' know as well." A voice comes from behind them. The children turn around to see thirty men dressed in black and wearing black ski masks.

The boy was beginning to panic, in the darkness his weird eyes can see where others cannot. He sees the three coming closer, almost as if they could see him as well. He suddenly rushes for the door but two sets of hands grab him and slam him down on the floor hard. Jarod stands over him grinning. " When you wake up you will be in a whole new country. We don't want your kind here."

The boy slowly gets back to his feet only to have the two other boys grab his arms and hold him in front of Jarod. The boy kicks Jarod in the groin, then manages to bite one of the boys holding him in the arm. With just Wayne holding him, the boy kicks him in the knee cap, now free he runs for the door. Turning around to see where they are, he is suddenly yanked around and a fist connects to his stomach. The force of the blow knocks him into a stack of wooden crates.

" Ya see that ya punks?" McCartney steps out of the shadows and lights his cigar. " He wasn't so hard ta catch, was he!" He walks over and grabs the boy up by his hair and takes him over to the three teens. The boy starts coughing, and desperately trying to catch his breath, tears are streaming down his face as McCartney jerks him harder by the hair and slangs him in front of him.

" Uh R.B.?" Wayne speaks up. " That little freak just let all those kids loose, you're holding the only one left."

" WHAT!" McCartney screams out his outrage. Glaring down at the boy, he yanks his head back causing the boy to cry out in pain. " Ya little devil, yer gonna pay for stealing money outta my pocket. He grabs the boy up by his collar and shakes him as hard as he can. " Stinking mutant freak, yer parents shoulda drowned ya in the Mississippi River when ya were born."

The boy was being choked by the big man's hands around his throat, he glares at McCartney and spits in his face.

" Ahhhaarrggg," The man yells as he hangs onto the boy with one hand and wipes the spit off his face. McCartney points in the direction of a large cage sitting on top of a stack of pallets. He walks over and opens it.

" What y' goin' t' do?" The boy's voice starts trembling with fear.

McCartney slangs the boy into the cage, the boy's body hits the other side with enough force that the cage is knocked off the stack and knocked to the floor upside down. The boy's head hits the concrete floor and is knocked unconscious, blood trickles down the side of his face. " Get on the radio and connect the ship and tell them I got the one he wanted but I want double for him or the deal is off."

" What if they don't agree?" Jarod asks.

" Ya stop asking too many stupid questions, boy and do as I told ya." He yells at the leader of the group.

Jarod turns around and climbs the stair to the office above. He suddenly stops in his tracks as his way is blocked by a figure in black. The teen is startled so badly that he trips and falls down the stairs.

McCartney turns around to find himself surrounded by ten men dressed as the one on the stairs. " Who are ya guys?" He demands. Movement caught his eyes as ten more completely surround the building from the inside. He was becoming a little unglued. " I'd ask ya before, who are ya guys?"

A figure comes forward to stand in from of McCartney, he seems to McCartney to be the leader. " I wan' de boy."

" Boy? what boy?" McCartney lies while staring at the masked man. " Ya mean those three over there?" He points in the direction of the three punks. " Take 'em and get outta here. I gotta contact coming any minute."

" I saw de boy come in 'ere." The man squints his eyes clearing showing his anger with the man he was talking to. He jams his finger into the husky man's chest. " I'm not playin' games wit' y', de sight of y' makes me sick."

" What ya want with th' boy anyway?"

" None of yer business." The leader continues to glares at him. " Y' tell me where de Chile is or I got ways of gettin' it outta ya."One of the men in black whistles for the leader to come to him. " Watch 'em an' don' let 'em move." He orders three of his companions. Walking over to where the man stood waiting on him, he glances down and sees the cage with the boy still inside it. He reaches down and pulls the boy up into his arms and cradles him gently.

" Th' brat is worth a lot of money ta me and ya ain't about ta rob me of that money." McCartney yells. " He is mine and I ain't giving him up, ever." He quickly shuts up when three of the men circle him.

The leader holding the unconscious boy in his arms is dumbfounded. He had to blink twice because he could not believe what he had just heard. " Y' sellin' kids? What kinda monster are y'?"

" Their only mutie brats, nobody wants that trash." McCartney answers as he manages to stick his cigar back in his mouth. " So I sell them ta some contacts that pays a lot of money and doesn't ask any questions."

" How much y' want for dis one?" The leader asks while nodding at the small boy in his arms.

" Ha ha ha," McCartney laughs as he blows smoke from his cigar. " Ya ain't got enough money ta buy that one, those people want him more than anything."

The leader motions with his head to the nearest man beside him. He throws a black rectangular box at McCartney who catches it in the air, but doesn't look at it. " Dat should be more dan plenty for me t' buy dis petite's freedom."

" We'll see about that, Mister." McCartney opens the box and stares down at the object that is in the box. He pulls out the gold dagger and examines it. After studying the stones, " This thing is worth a fortune, ya got a deal and," He looks up and the men are gone. " Hey, where did they go?"

" They just disappeared like the wind." Jarod runs over to his boss, his two friends quickly behind him. " You want us to go find them?"

" No," McCartney holds to dagger up in the moonlight for the punks to see. " As long as I got this, who cares who they are." He starts laughing. " This thing is worth millions. C'mon lets get outta here." Just as they take a few steps the door is kicked in and thirty men dressed in black come bursting in. " Hey ya guys back so soon, sorry ya ain't getting it back." He begins to laugh. " A deal is a deal." He holds the dagger up to show them he means business.

A man emerges from the group in front up him, he turns on a flash light and shines it into McCartney's face. " Don' know what y' blabberin' 'bout, but y' got somethin' of mine dat was stolen thirty years ago." He rips off his mask. " Do y' know who I am?"

" Should I?" McCartney smirks at the man.

" Beaudreux!" The man reveals his name as he walks over to the four, eyeing every single one of them, " and nobody steals from de house of Marius Beaudreux." He yanks the dagger out of McCartney's hand. " Dis dagger has been handed down from generation t' generation, it is de single most important item dat my family has owned. It is sacred t' me an' my guild." He waves over some of his men. " I received an anonymous call tellin' me dat de dagger was 'ere, I see dat de man wasn' lyin'." Marius takes the black box from McCartney and puts the dagger back inside. " I swore an oath dat who ever was found wit' dis dagger in dere procession would pay de price wit' dere lives."

" Look this is obviously a setup and I do not like ta be play fer a patsy." McCartney looks up at the Assassin leader. " Let's join ta gather and find th' ones who did this."

" Don' waste our time wit' dis trash, Father." One of the masked man speaks up. He pulls out a long sword and points it into McCartney's chest. " Y' stole de dagger an' now y' stand 'ere quiverin' like a yellow coward."

" I'll handle dis, Julian. Y' step down." Marius orders his son.

The dock door suddenly flies open and a group of men stand ready with machine guns in hands. " I don't know what is going on and I don't care." One of the new strangers comes into the warehouse, glancing around he spots his contact. " McCartney, I want my cargo."

" Dis is Assassin business, M'sieu." Julian glares over at the strangers. " Y' best be gettin' back on dat ship of yours an' forgettin' what y' seen 'ere or y' goin' t' be joinin' dem."

" Don't threaten me, or I'll put enough bullet holes in you before you can swing that fancy sword or yours." The man responds. " McCartney, where are those kids?"

" Gone!" McCartney smiles back at Marius. He knew his contacts were going to protect him and he turns his full fery on the Assassins. " Ya think ya could stick yer noses in our business and get away with it?" He turns back to the man. " That mutant brat ya wanted so bad freed all those kids."

The man stops dead in his tracks. " You let a kid destroy my operation!" He turns back to the group he had came in with. " Let's get out of here." They slam the dock door shut as McCartney screams for him to come back. Everyone inside the warehouse hears the boat's engine roar to life and leave.

" Y' were sayin'!" Marius raises his eyebrows.

McCartney raises his hands to his chest. " Ya got yer toy back, just let me outta here and you will never hear from me again."

Julian starts laughing maniacaly just as he runs his sword into the belly of McCartney. Removing it out slowly, he turns to the three punks as he wipes the blood off his weapon. " Tie dem up, I got somethin' in store for dem."

The three punks try to run but they were hopefully out numbered. Quickly tied and gagged, they try to scream for help through the gags.

Outside, the children who had been stolen were taken to the police station and their parents were called. Three other children, who are homeless stay with their rescuers. Jean-Luc stands by himself, a worried look on his face as he continues to look for someone. Tante, who had insisted on coming, points out into the darkness. " Jean, look, it's them."

Twelve men come out of the darkness and joins them. The leader is still carrying the boy in his arms. He manages to pull his mask off and still hold the boy in one arm. " Pere, dey hurt de petite. We better get him t' de hospital."

" I will tend to dis chile, myself." Tante walks over and touches the boy's face. " No hospital is goin' to touch him as long as Tante can care for the boy."

Jean-Luc pulls off his long coat and covers the boy with it. " Give de petite t' me, Henri." Once he has the boy in his arms he notices that child is stirring. Before he could call out to the boy, a loud explosion rocks the night sky. Everyone looks to see that it is the warehouse that is in flames.

" Pere, dat be Assassin work!" Henri whispers to his father. " Mebbe it best if we get outta 'ere b'fore de police show up an' start askin' a lot of questions."

" Oui, Henri get de men outta 'ere an' meet back at de house as soon as y' can." Jean-Luc orders his son, he waits until they had gone before he turns to the remaining children. " We gonna find homes for y' children." He nods at Tante, sho quickly takes the boy out of his arms. " Tante, y' turn thief now?"

" We best be gettin' dis chile home." Tante rocks the boy in her arms, who has opened his eyes slightly. He turns his head slightly in the direction of the burning warehouse and then closes his eyes back to slip back into unconsciousness. " You goin' to be jus' fine, Chile. Tante is goin' to make you dat promise."

The group walks down the street, get into several cars and drive off into the night as several fire engines and police cars speed pass them on the road.