Alarm

[holiday_pirner]

The night was cool enough to still be considered nice. Holly had considered cooking dinner, but her fridge was desperately lacking. There was a little convenience market not too far from her flat. The brunette decided to walk instead of drive.

Once she was on the pavement, she adjusted her purse on her shoulder, looking around for any sign of her shadow. He was well-hidden tonight. But he would be around. It was just after 9 PM. A light breeze tousled her hair as she began to walk.

"It's a nice night," Holly said, knowing her voice would drift to reach him, wherever he was. "Too bad I'm all alone." She knew if anyone else were around, they'd think her insane. "I'm sorry I was mean to you the other night."

It was easier to say the words without having to face him. She hated apologizing, not because she didn't mean it, but it meant acknowledging she had made a mistake. And that was something that Holly didn't do well.

Comments

[birthright_npc]

Rhys made a noncommittal noise, almost a grunt, but the apology was a surprise. He hadn't thought Holly had it in her. He'd already smoked his limit that night, so there was no cigarette in his mouth. His coat was black this time, the brown one being at the dry cleaners. He'd left his post because she was on the move. If she could be attacked by a vampire ten feet from her door, anything could happen to her if she went further afield.

"You're lucky I don't get angry."

He said it just loud enough for his voice to carry, his soft-soled shoes covering the distance as he followed at a safe distance. The crossbow was collapsed under his coat, accompanying a Walther PPK, which was in a shoulder holster. The gun was legally registered in his name, part of his occasional work as a corporate bodyguard. The government had offered to pay for his services after he got out of the military, but he preferred the private sector. Better pay, less bureaucracy.

He passed the open mouth of an alley, and metal rattled against metal as a garbage can was turned over. Rhys looked, but it was just a homeless woman, probably looking for food. The shelters must have been full that night. He wasn't self-conscious about ignoring her when she made a move to approach him. He wasn't the charitable type.

There was a man in an ill-fitting jacket approaching from the other side of the street. He looked jittery. The mercenary sized him up, picked up the pace to walk a bit faster. Trouble came in all sizes.

[holiday_pirner]

"Or what?," she asked, smiling. "You'll scold me to death?" There wasn't animosity in her voice. Rhys was like a well-groomed fungus, he was growing on her. "I figure I should say sorry to the guy who saved my life. You know, English manners, and all that."

Holly eyed the figure across the street. Despite his awkward way of walking, he didn't look much different than the hundreds of others that littered the city.

"Do you think they sell Jaffa cakes in America? Probably not, right?"

[birthright_npc]

"I've looked for them. If they have them in the States, they're probably not common in Las Vegas."

A taxi went past, narrowly avoiding the man who was crossing the street. The horn sounded raucously as the driver leaned through her open window, screaming profanities. Rhys was still walking, not slow but not fast either. The breeze freshened, gained strength. Even from this distance, he could smell the guy, a combined stench of body odor and cigarettes. He stank that bad.

"Gimme your purse!"

He grabbed for Holly's pocketbook with one hand, reached into his jacket with the other. Probably a junkie looking for a fix. Rhys started to run. He didn't have to kill this one, just disable him. That meant he could use his hands.

[holiday_pirner]

Holly was shocked, disoriented by the voice and the proximity of the man. She looked to Rhys for what to do, when the attacker's hand on her purse strap tugged her forward. She shrugged it off and it fell to the ground.

The brunette jumped back, out of the man's reach. Her pulse quickened when she witnessed him reaching into his pocket.

[birthright_npc]

The addict pulled out a switchblade from his jacket, scrabbled at the sidewalk trying to pick up the purse with his other hand. Rhys reached into his coat, pulled out the Walther. The matte black gun glinted dully under the streetlamp.

"Holly, run!"

Rhys body-checked the other man, jammed his knee into his stomach. He'd have to shoot the guy if he couldn't make him drop the knife, but it would be best to do it at close range to muffle the shot. The smell was even worse up close, rank and foul.

The junkie turned out to have the desperate, crazy strength of five, and he sunfished under the mercenary's weight, trying to buck him off. Rhys shot him in the thigh. The knife stabbed out wildly.

It was a lucky shot, a product of the close quarters, and the blade went into Rhys' stomach up to the hilt, cutting through soft tissue and muscle. He grunted with surprise and pain, then yelled when his assailant pulled the knife out and stabbed him again, this time where his arm met his body on the right side. This time the junkie left the weapon in.

To Rhys' credit, he got to his feet, the gun lifting, but the shot went wild as Holly's purse was grabbed. Red droplets pattered onto the sidewalk as the wounded mugger fled. The pain was incredible. It wasn't the first time he'd been stabbed, but it hurt like a bastard.

"Too slow..."

[holiday_pirner]

After a stunned moment, she turned and ran in the other direction. Rhys' yell made her turn around when she was halfway down the block. She could see blood, and the way Rhys staggered.

Holly hesitated, unsure of what to do. The attacker was nearly out of sight. The brunette jogged back to him. "Fuck." The sight of the gun made her recoil until she saw the stab wounds. She covered her mouth.

"We need help. I can run to the store and have them call an ambulance." Her voice was shaky. "You have to put pressure on it. A-and..." She tried to remember the basic first aid she had taken in university.

Please don't die.

[birthright_npc]

Shannon.

Rhys staggered backwards, his hands going to the stomach wound, which was rapidly soaking his shirt with blood. He didn't dare pull the knife out of the other wound. That would only make it bleed more. At least the guy hadn't stabbed him on the left side, because dumb luck might have allowed him to find his heart.

Two more steps, and the mercenary was sitting, his back making contact with a brick wall. The gun had fallen from his hand. Sitting made it easier.

"Jesus, this hurts." He said it matter of factly. Even wounded, he could be stoic.

Shannon.

Blood was pooling in his lap beneath the stomach wound. He could feel shock setting in, but his hands didn't release the pressure they were applying. If he died, that meant he'd failed his mission.

[holiday_pirner]

Holly took in a deep breath. She was no good to him panicked. She could panic later, when he was safe and sound in a hospital bed. "I'm going to get help," she told him firmly.

The brunette set off at the fastest run that she could manage, silently cursing herself for smoking and never exercising. What seemed like an endless amount of pavement finally ended, and she tugged the door of the market open. Ding.

"I need you to call the police," Holly told the cashier, breathless. "My friend's been stabbed. He's down that way." She gestured helplessly. The cashier immediately picked up a black phone, dialing numbers. The brunette realized he was talking, had been talking, but she couldn't make out the words. They were only sounds in her ears.

He's all alone. She could wait for the ambulance by his side, keep him awake. Holly exited the store, making her way back to Rhys. When she reached him again, she knelt by his side.

"You have to talk."

[birthright_npc]

Rhys coughed. He could taste blood at the back of his throat. The smell of it was everywhere, hot and coppery. The crotch of his pants had gotten soaked with the stuff while Holly was gone.

"Don't worry, this has happened before." He tried to laugh, but it made his lacerated stomach hurt, so he stopped. His fingers were slick with crimson fluid.

"I should have gone for the head shot. People get killed in this city all the time. No one would have missed him."

His voice was growing faint as blood loss began to take its toll, and he pressed his hands more tightly to the wound so the pain would keep him conscious. He mustn't die, not right in front of her. He was not a failure or a weakling.

"Shannon. Tell...tell Shannon..."

[holiday_pirner]

Her hands covered his, pressing harder in an attempt to stem the blood flow. There was so much blood, too much of it. Where the fuck was the ambulance?

"Who's Shannon?" Holly wondered if she should slap him. She had seen it done in movies, when people were in shock. Rhys definitely seemed in shock. She gently nudged his shoulder instead. "Hey. Wake up."

There was the sound of sirens in the distance. "They're coming, okay? Whatever you want to tell Shannon, you can do it yourself."

The brunette realized she was crying, in a mixture of relief and fear. Colored lights washed over them.

[birthright_npc]

"Tell her I'm sorry."

Red-blue-red-blue, the lights of the wailing ambulance splashed over the bricks and Holly's form where it crouched over Rhys in his sitting position. The blood had spread further. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, mercifully allowing himself to pass out. The corpsmen were here. They could do triage. He was so tired.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to move," one of the paramedics said, gently putting his hand on Holly's shoulder. "This man needs our help."

[holiday_pirner]

Holly pulled back, sitting on the ground as they tended to Rhys. She looked down at her hands; they were soaked in his blood. She blankly watched them put him on a stretcher. This wouldn't have happened to him if he hadn't been hired to watch over Holly.

The brunette shook herself out of her trance when they began loading him into the ambulance. She stood. "I'm coming with him."

[birthright_npc]

"Come on, then," the same paramedic said, holding the door open. They were going to have to get this guy to the E room in a hurry. It was a miracle he hadn't already bled out.

When the door to the ambulance slammed shut, the vehicle's engine roared and tires squealed as the driver pointed it in the direction of the nearest hospital. The police were just beginning to arrive on the scene, more sirens and lights causing people to come out of nearby stores and apartments.

Just another night in Sin City.