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Bloody Ankles Part 5 (Short Story)

Bloody Ankles Part 5

Drenched in sweat and blood the three killers tried to catch their breath and wipe the blood from their eyes. Even the bloodthirsty Eris was bent over at the waist with her hands on her knees. Her sword and dagger thrown to the side in sheer exhaustion. "Dammit– that's possibly– the worst battle– ever," Eris said with grasping breath.

Usually Abbott always made quick work of leaving the scene of their killings with little evidence, but clearly that couldn't be done now with blood littering the earth. Abbott had sheathed his weapons the moment he realized there was no longer a threat and proceeded to collapse to one knee in order to regain himself.

Paulus ignored them both and opted instead to shake as much blood off of him as possible. How could he go home and pick Bethany up when he was soaked to the bone with god forsaken blood?

Focusing on the blood that stained his face, hair, and hands Paulus desperately tried to block out the sounds of his father and sister's heavy breath. The constant huffing only reminded him of what they had just done. A complete and total slaughter which none of them came out of unscathed.

"Gods, it wasn't supposed to that tedious," Abbott finally stood up and sighed into the now still air.

Paulus' dark eyes latched onto Abbott's form and Paulus could only imagine how many years his adopted father had aged due to the conditions of his nightly profession. He could see exactly what he would become. Eventually he would be just as numb to it all just as Abbott was. A husk.

Paulus buried his head into his now barley shaking hands and snagged his brown locked in his fingers and tugged. The quick jolt of pain reminded him that he wasn't numb just yet. He still had some time.

"Argh-!" Eris screamed filled the night air and in less than a heartbeat Paulus and Abbott were alert and had their weapons at the ready for the new threat that faced them.

A blood-soaked bandit that had a gaping gash on their forehead and right shoulder had grabbed a hold of Eris and held her firmly against his heaving chest. The sharp deadly edge of her discarded dagger was now held at her throat while her sword was pressed to her chest right above her heart. For someone so beaten up they sure knew how to wield a weapon against its rightful owner.

"Hush you girl. You lot murdered my kin, my family. I'll make all of you bastards pay, and I'm going to start with this whore here," the bandit spat at Abbott and Paulus who glowered at the filthy scum.

Eris was possibly the absolute worse one that the bandit could have picked because she was nothing but spitfire. She began to struggle against the bandit with curses on her breath.

"You bastard! Let me go!"

"Quiet! Or I'll slit your throat right now," the bandit hissed as he pressed the blade tighter against her neck causing Eris to gasp for breath.

Abbott without warning or declare charged the man and with a decisive slice of his sword the blade that threatened Eris' life was made to slide across the blood stained battle field. The closeness of the blades caused blood to seep from a wound around her neck, but at least she was alive.

Paulus make quick work of yanking his sister away from the confrontation and threw her behind her. Abbott then slammed his two swords against the now bargainless bandit.

"You threatened my child. I shouldn't do you the justice of a swift death."

Discarding Eris' sword from the man's grasp Abbott slashed his twin swords down until the man's chest and allowed him to fall into the ground with gurgling breath. He wasn't dead yet, but one more blow and that would end it all.

"Luckily for you, I've never been one to make pitiful creatures suffer."

Abbott turned and meet Paulus and Eris eyes for a moment and gave them a nod. This was their kill. A light of pride shinned in Abbott's steel blue eyes for his children for a quick moment before they widened in shock and horror. The discarded bandit behind him had pulled a hidden dagger from his person and shoved it into his back and penetrated Abbott's chest cavity.

"Father!" "Abbott!"

Eris and Paulus rushed to their father and grappled at his falling form and clung to him for dear life. Abbott's bright blood seeped all over himself and his children as he struggled to catch his breath. "Father, no. Please," Eris sobbed into her father's shoulder as his whole massive frame shook in short burst. Paulus clutched the back of the man's head and kept his head level with his; searching the blue eyes that had saved him so many times.

"Abbott, no please. You'll be alright. You're alright. Please just stay awake," Paulus chanted helplessly in hopes his pleas would keep his adopted father alive.

"Paulus... Eris .... ," Abbott said and reached out for his children. Eris lifted her face to her father's and Paulus could see the fresh tears that marred her flesh. Hell, never before had he seen Eris cry. She always tried to be the strongest one, but when it came to her father all bets were off.

With a pained, rueful smile Abbott placed his large hands over his children's heads and patted them gently as if they were still younglings.

"Listen to me... no matter what... I love you all... I only wanted to see you all grow and... be happy. Please... watch over your sisters and mother. I don't... want to go... but it seems I don't have... much of a choice, my children."

With tears in their eyes Paulus and Eris clutched to Abbott's clothes as if they were weeping children and allowed the tears to flow freely. With a small chuckle Abbott wrapped them both in his large arms and gave them a comforting death filled embrace. For moments Paulus and Eris couldn't tell if their sobbing was caused Abbott's body to shift or if he was fighting for only a few more moments of life. But when his arms finally went limp the siblings knew that their father had left them.

With the upmost gentleness he could manage Paulus retracted from the embrace and laid Abbott to the ground and closed his eyes for him. No longer would he see those eyes that had saved him as a child. No longer would Abbott be there to lecture him on the merits of battle. He was alone again.

A tug on his sleeve caused Paulus to look up into the steel blue eyes of his sister and he knew the same pain she held in her eyes reflected his own. Abbott's eyes.

Paulus pulled Eris into a long embrace before pulling back with a new resolve. His eyes went the bandit that was trying to crawl away, but he wouldn't get far. Paulus lifted one of Abbott's discarded swords and looked at Eris as he lifted the twin sword of their father's. Density sealed their fates with a glance as they approached the bandit. Reign Hell on earth. 

The End