Page 56 of Vicious Savage

When we’re satisfied there is no further danger, we surge forward. “Anyone in the house?” I ask the man with the bleeding knee. He shakes his head, and four of ours enter the house to do a sweep as two more pull the Castillo brothers to their feet. They almost topple over again for how weak they are; malnourished and gaunt, their clothes hanging off them.

“Name?” Cesar asks, stopping at the first.

“Franco.”

“And you?”

“Danielo."

“Enzo.”

“CJ”

Cesar pauses, looks carefully at the man, waiting for elaboration. I thought we’d never hear the name again, but then he whispers his name, the youngest amongst the sons, and closest in birthdate to Luna.

“Coyin Junior.”

57

THE JEKYLL

I’ve been called many things in my lifetime. I can’t say inhumane is one of those things. The first order of the day is for the men to be looked over by a doctor. Although severely dehydrated and malnourished, the doctor tells us they’re fine otherwise and takes his leave.

We’re in the house in the side of the hill where we were only days ago. The house where the Castillo brother’s captor lost his life at the hands of their sister. The men are quiet as they look at us from various positions around the living room, waiting for some sort of introduction. They still don’t know who we are; all they know is they had guns trained at their heads, and now they’re in relative safety. It’s the eldest, Enzo, who finally speaks.

“Who are you? Did Coyin send you?”

“Coyin is dead,” I tell him. A flicker of surprise crosses his face, before he lets out a steady exhale. The men look at each other curiously. Change is here.

“What happened?”

“I killed him,” Attila speaks up. The man is fearless as he faces the sons of the man he killed. He owns his actions. He owns every man’s frailty that besieges him.

Enzo nods slowly, as if agreeing this had to happen. He swallows, a harsh sound filling the room with the difficulty it causes him. He’s swallowing his emotions. His father was not a good man, but he was still his father.

“Who are you?” he asks his father’s killer.

“They call me Attila.”

Enzo nods again. His brothers all lift their eyes to look at Attila.

“Coyin was terrified of you,” Enzo, who has taken up the position of spokesman for the brothers, says. “You were his Bogeyman — he knew you were coming for him.”

“I’ve been hunting him for years,” Attila tells him, folding his arms across his chest as he adds that Coyin did a good job of evading him.

“So if you killed our father, why did you save us?” he asks.

“I saved you because I promised your sister I would.”

* * *

The Castillo brothersare a contradiction of sorts. Where I had been concerned that they would seek vengeance for their father’s death, they’ve done nothing but fall over themselves in gratitude that he is finally gone. They, like Luna, were thrust into a life not of their making. Not of their choice. Given the option, this is not a life anyone would choose for themselves, especially to be someone with a deranged father like Coyin Castillo. Add into the mix the fact that they knew he killed their mother, even though he protested it loudly, and they were glad to finally be rid of him.

Their main concern now was for Luna and her welfare, especially after they learn that she had been the one to pull the trigger on Nestor.

“It’s ironic,” Franco says, as he leans back into his chair at the outdoor setting. “She’s not even his daughter, and yet she’s the one that most resembles him when it comes to being ruthless.”

Attila bristles beside me; I implore him quietly with my eyes to stay calm. The very concept of Luna being anything like Coyin Castillo is ludicrous; anyone pushed to their breaking point is capable of pulling a trigger.

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