For Nevermore Season 1

her. Then what? What assurances do I have that you’ll bring her here? That you’ll return?”
    “None,” Dante said. “Because we won’t. You’ve just proven my point. You can’t keep her safe. The Elders can’t keep her safe. I am the only one. I’ve proven it time and time again. Let me do my job.”
    William stared at him. Dante could feel the man’s gears spinning, weighing Dante’s words. Finally, he said, “Okay. But I’m going with you.”
    “Fine,” Dante said. “Just get this damned jacket off of me.”

    * * * *

CHAPTER TEN

    Noella woke to the sound of banging and Randy shouting.
    “Wakey, wakey, brains go breaky.”
    “Good news, ladies, and gentleman . . . One of you gets to go home. And by home, I mean to your Lord in Heaven above, of course.”
    Oh God, this is it.
    “Eeny, meeny, miney, moe . . ., ” Randy began.
    “Please,” Josie screamed from her door. “Please, Randy. It’s not too late.”
    “Hello? I’m trying to do my thing here,” he said, agitated. “Don’t interrupt me!”
    Noella watched as he began again, banging on each door with every word:
    “Eeny, meeny, miney, moe,
    Catch a tiger by the toe.
    If he hollers, let him go,
    Eeny, meeny, miney, moe.
    And my mother told me to pick the best one,
    and you are . . . it.”
    He stopped on Sam’s door. Josie and Noella both cried out.
    “Hey there, Sammy boy, it’s your lucky day!” Randy opened the door, then told Sam to walk out and stand in the center of the room.
    “No!” Noella screamed.
    “Get on your knees, boy. I want these ladies to watch you beg,” Randy said, waving his gun in Sam’s face.
    “Please,” Sam started begging, “You don’t have to do this. Just let us go, man.”
    “No, I won’t let you go, man ,” Randy said, mocking Sam. “On your knees!”
    Noella banged on her door, screaming, trying to think of anything she could say that might stop Randy in his tracks. Something suddenly came to her. A way to maybe buy a few minutes.
    “I told someone else,” Noella said.
    Randy looked at her door and smiled, “Yeah, right.”
    “Okay, don’t believe me. It’s your life,” Noella said, bluffing. She walked away from the door as if she could care less what Randy did next, then listened, praying the basement wouldn’t echo with another gunshot.
    “Who did you tell?” he asked after a long silence.
    “Nope, I’m not telling. Not unless you let Sam go.”
    “Not gonna happen, honey. Now come say goodbye to your boyfriend.”
    No, please, don’t kill Sam.
    Noella forced herself to the door. Just as she reached the slot, Randy’s eyes met hers and he again instructed Sam to get on his knees.
    Sam surprised both Randy and Noella as he lunged forward, head-butting Randy hard. Everything happened so fast, Noella could barely make out the movements in the dim light.
    Josie screamed. Randy fell back against the stairs, dropping the gun. Sam seized the moment and leaped on top of Randy, despite his hands being bound in cuffs, knees first into Randy’s chest.
    Randy recovered quickly. He thrust his legs out, sending Sam flying backward hard enough to slam the wall with a sickening thud – so loud, Noella was certain that Sam’s head must have cracked.
    Sam slumped to the ground.
    Noella screamed, cursing at Randy as he rubbed the front of his head, momentarily dazed from Sam’s attack. He shook it off as anger flushed his face. He didn’t bother getting the gun. Instead, he started repeatedly kicking Sam’s unconscious body.
    “Stop it! Stop, you bastard!” Noella screamed.
    Randy laughed maniacally as Josie and Noella screamed for him to stop before he killed Sam. He finally did, panting, out of breath. He looked back behind him and found the gun.
    No, no, no, no.
    He retrieved his gun, then turned around, and aimed at Sam as he slowly approached his motionless body.
    Rage, hate, and a million sensations swelled inside Noella. She yelled loud enough to shatter glass, as if her voice alone would knock the door from its hinges, and take Randy with it.
    “Die!!!!” she screamed.
    And then they were gone.

    * * * *

CHAPTER ELEVEN

    Dante and William arrived at the house that served as Noella’s prison. The windows were all dark, except for the blue glow of a television illuminating the curtains of the living room windows.
    “You sure this is it?” William asked.
    Dante was certain the entire trip. He could feel Noella’s soul like a lighthouse calling him to shore from