Page 48 of Our Vicious Descent
Layla caught her eye nearby. The reaper stood at the front of the crowd and had a small smile on her face.Just focus on me. Those four words from earlier stuck with Elise as she lifted her hands onto the keys.
There were a select few songs Elise had committed to memory. Two of which she had only played for special occasions. She chose one of those songs today. Part of her felt like a fraudulent pianist—picking a song no one knew so they could not call her out when she made a mistake. But at the end of the day, all that mattered was that Josi knew the song. Elise desperately hoped her sister had committed her symphony to memory just as she had. Otherwise, this performance would serve no greater purpose.
Even Elise could not convince herself of that.
She cleared her throat and bowed her head as she spoke, “This song is dedicated to my little sister.”
The moment her fingers hit the keys and she began to play, she felt at home. Commanding the room with just her fingers dancing across the ivory instrument, Elise found more control than she had experienced in ages. She did not need to watch the crowd to know they went silent, their eyes alight with awe and wonder. Music fanned out around her as she produced the opening notes with a sense of shyness that clung to a childlike innocence. The song started out in a joyful tone, inspired by the memories Elise had made withJosi as a young girl. Eventually, her fingers stretched across the keys to reach a higher crescendo. The ascending scale took her through all the years she imagined for her younger sister. Invigorating highs and unexpected, but calm, lows that came along with growing and changing. With each note, Elise laid out a story only she knew. One she had clung to for years, hoping and praying she would never have to turn to music to feel her younger sister’s presence instead of Josi herself. Elise had been forced to imagine Josi trying on her first pair of pointe shoes and taking the stage for the first time as a solo performer while she had been hidden away in France. She had missed out on so much of her baby sister’s life. Now she spent more time grieving that than she did reminiscing about the memories they did have. The only comfort came in believing that another life had them together the whole time. No forceful separation to make them imagine what growing up with a sister would have been like.
Elise still remembered the day her parents had brought Josi home from the hospital, a tiny warm bundle of flushed skin and silken hair. Elise had fallen in love immediately. While holding her, Tobias had placed a gentle kiss on her brow and insisted,You must take care of her.
To Elise that had only meant one thing:You cannot let anything happen to her.
The responsibility had only compounded over the years, the longer Elise spent time away from her. Tears spilled down her cheeks now, hot and unforgiving as she closed out the song. Despite having played for the past couple of minutes, Elise could hardly recall thequality of her performance. All she saw was Josi’s face when she closed her eyes and as the stage lights flashed in her eyes. The crowd erupted into applause, but Elise only heard her sister tearfully begging her not to leave her alone.
I don’t want to be alone.
When it had come down to Elise to make a choice, she had left her sister alone. The one promise she had made to Josi, she had failed to keep.
Elise skipped the bow and moved right off the stage without thanking her audience. Her teachers back in France would have been appalled by such an exit, but life had a funny way of making things that used to be her whole world inconsequential and minute.
She bumped into a man passing her by. As Elise opened her mouth to apologize, several bottles fell from the box weighing him down. He cursed and gathered them, grumbling at the cracks that had formed in a few of the bottles Elise noticed a diamond tattoo on the side of his neck, and she called after him, “Hey. Where did you get those?”
The man ignored her and continued on his way out of the club. Elise hurried after him, vaguely aware of Layla catching up to her. “Elise—”
“Karma,” Elise gasped.
The reaper’s grip loosened on Elise’s arm as she spotted the gangster with the vials. She stopped at the door and nodded to the space outside, where Sterling already stood, gun cocked and aimed at the fleeing man. Before he could shoot, the gangster hopped intoa readied vehicle and sped away.
The roar of another vehicle started up as it approached. Elise glanced over and almost let out a joyful laugh. Jamie sat behind the wheel, his arm beckoning for the three of them to get in. They wasted no time in pulling themselves inside, and the gangster slammed his foot on the accelerator, veering them down the street after the other men.
“I told you—always be ready with a getaway car,” Jamie called over the rush of wind.
Sterling gritted his teeth against a particularly sharp turn around a street corner. “What exactly is the plan now?”
“WE FOLLOW THEM,” Jamie shouted. “I CAN’T HEAR YOU TOO WELL UP HERE.”
Layla rolled her eyes, and Elise felt something bump against her foot as the car rolled over a pothole. Looking down, she found bullets scattered across the car floor. A few guns were even tucked beneath the seat she sat on. Elise pursed her lips and glanced at Layla, who was watching the two men bicker back and forth in the front seat.
“I have the feeling he’s always wanted to do this.”
“DO WHAT?” Jamie bellowed.
“A car chase!” Elise shouted back.
Sterling groaned. “We are not in a car chase!”
“IF I’M SPEEDING AFTER ONE CAR, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL IT THEN? SMART ASS—”
A round of bullets exploded through the roof of the car. Layla ducked, instinctively pulling Elise down with her. The loose bulletson the floor rolled beneath Elise, and she took up a handful of them, then grabbed one of the guns lodged between the seats. A quick look outside showed her another gang’s car gaining on them from behind. She turned to Layla as she loaded the gun and gestured to the window. “Hold me.”
“What?” Layla nearly shrieked.
“Hold me so I don’t fall.” Elise barely gave her time to process her words. She hauled herself off the floor and dragged her body through the open window. Layla’s arms clamped down on her waist so she didn’t topple over the edge, and Elise used that leverage to balance against the wind current and jarring turns Jamie took. The gangsters behind the wheel in the following car shouted in alarm. Their eyes widened, and a few tried to aim for her, but by then Elise was already pulling the trigger. Her single shot hit the front left wheel of the car, and the tire exploded, taking the driver by surprise. The car swerved so hard, it careened off the road and into an unlucky department store. Smoke bloomed from the engine as the store window shattered around the stalled vehicle.
Elise let out a satisfied scoff and allowed Layla to pull her back inside the car.
The reaper looked at her with wide eyes that held equal parts fury and relief. “Don’t ever do something like that again.”
