Luce and I drive to the storage warehouses behind the Mojave Blade Company factory. He scans his retina at the gate to the industrial warehouse yard and we drive between endless rows of warehouses until we get to warehouse 7A.

I get out of the car first and  walk towards the warehouse. I spot Zacharias standing alone in the middle of the empty warehouse.

Rayne’s former bodyguard is standing behind him, his arm around Zacharias’ midsection and a knife to my brother's throat.

Zacharias breath is unsteady and his eyes glaze over me as he searches for an exit or a weapon. The guard whispers something vulgar into his ear and before the guard can make another demand Zacharias  steps to the right, bringing his attacker’s equilibrium off. He ducks and  throws the guard to the ground. 

The guard manages to kick him in the face as he goes down. I hear more footsteps coming from the darkened corners of the warehouse but instead of running, Zacharias wrestles with the guard for the knife. When he finally pries the knife from the  guard’s hand he breaks into a run for the open door.

He’s inches away from the door, from me, when another guard comes from the left and charges. This one is armed with an actual gun. A double barreled release Barretta. He shoots and Zacharias is able to duck the first bullet but he doesn’t know about the double barrel because his back is turned.

The second bullet hits him in the back of the neck.

A bright green paint stain splatters on his black dress shirt. Rias touches his neck to feel the paint and when he sees the color on his fingertips he throws his fist into a warehouse wall.

“You know better than to turn your back on a weapon,” Luce yells from behind me, now that the drill is over.

Luce storms past Rias and disarms the guard with the double barrel pistol—even though he could have just asked for the dummy gun —and starts shooting the paint pellets at Rias. The paint bullets aren’t deadly but I know they still hurt like a bitch. His dark starched clothing is quickly spotted with bright paint colors.  Rias’ body jerks each time it’s hit with a paint bullet. 

“Look at the bullets, idiot.  Look,” Luce says pulling the trigger. “They shoot at different trajectories, you could have seen that if you didn’t have your back on the fucking weapon. When you run, you run to the side you watch your back--”

“Alright, Luce.” Aunt Minnow says coming from a side door in the warehouse.  She had on her usual--high neck dress that molded to her body and suit jacket--but she’d exchanged her heels to chunky utility boots. I’d give anything to pull off a dress like Aunt Minnow did.

“Disarm me,” Luce orders Rias, still shooting the paint pellets.

I see fury spark in Rias eyes as he launches himself at Luce, grabbing Luce’s forearm to try and disarm him. Luce catches him first and they grapple for a few seconds before Luce forces Rias in a headlock.

“Disarm me,” Luce growls.

Rias counterbalances his weight to throw Luce off like he did with the first guard during the drill but Luce is immovable. Rias switches tactics and  elbows Luce in the face and Luce brings up the gun like he’s going to pistol whip Rias with it. The bullets were fake but the bulk and weight of the gun were real. Rias starts to knee Luce in the groin but Luce anticipates it and uses his advantage  to throw Rias to the ground.

He lands hard on his back.

Luce stands over Rias, one foot on his chest and the gun pointed at his forehead. I see tears in the corners of Rias’s eyes and I suddenly feel bad for him. Sometimes it seemed like Luce survived on Rias’s tears

“Enough!,” Aunt Minnie says. “We--”

“Disarm me,” Luce yells down at Rias. “Don’t you dare fucking cry. Are you being a damn baby because you had to kill your daddy last week ? Is everything too hard, sweet little prince ? Are you so lazy ? Are you a little bitch ?”

Rias rolls himself out from under Luce’s foot and walks away.

Luce grabs him by his collar and pushes him into a wall.

“Stop being weak, baby brother.” Luce growls.

“Luce.” Mother says. “Give it a fucking rest.”

I look up to see Mother standing above us, on the observation catwalk built into the second floor of the warehouse.

Luce gives Mother a withering look, but lets Rias go.

“So, what ? So you go fucking deaf when I say to stop  ?,” Aunt Minnie says.

“You’re not the boss of me, Minnie--”

“Obviously. If I were you’d be fired and---Shit, what the fuck is on your back--,” she says mid-sentence suddenly noticing he is shirtlesss and his back is bleeding from the tattoo.

“A new piece I’m working on--”

“What is it ? Haley’s name ?”

“No,” Luce snaps. “When are you getting inked ? Or are you still afraid of a little needle--"

“I am not afraid,” she retorts. “You don’t know what I have or where.”

“I was at the New Year’s party  last year. Everyone’s knows what you have--”

“You fucking asshole.”

Already bored with their bickering I go through the side door and run up the stairs to stand on the observation balcony with Mother. She wraps me in a hug when she sees me.

 When I was younger is used to really bug me how unlike the other moms my mother was; she always came to school events in disguises and never made friends with other moms; she didn’t use terms of endearment or cook or go shopping  or even know how to do my hair. Her own hair was always a few runs of a razor away from being shaved clean and she existed exclusively in black shorts and white t-shirts.

But now I loved how different she was. It made me feel special and I couldn’t imagine having any other mom.

“Sara, we can’t keep doing this self-defense training,” Aunt Minnie calls up to Mother.  “Rias has too much else to do. We need to just get him a permanent guard.”

“A true leader doesn’t need guards.” Mother responds. “He has to know how to save himself.”

“He clearly can’t do that,” Luce shouts up to Mother.  

“Your brother knows his duty,” Mother says. She  reaches behind her and picks up a lone box cutter sitting on a table.  She hurls it down at where Rias is leaning against a corner support beam catching his breath—he looks so exhausted.

As the blade arcs downward from the observation deck he steps to the side at the last minute and holds his arm out, catching the blade by the hilt before sliding down to sit on the floor.

“Stand up,” Mother tells him.

And he does.

Zacharias had been training his whole life to take over the Shy Cartel. I’d done a midterm project on the history of Sprawl crime families (my teachers had no idea) and I learned there was really no reason the Shy Cartel was dynastic. The Washington family only went back 6 generations in our country and the cartel acted more like a business than a crime family. Anyone with enough experience could run it.

I’d asked Aunt Ivy about why leadership had to be passed down by blood and she said that sometimes tradition wins out.

For most of my childhood Rias was a normal brother who just sometimes went to cartel meetings or special events with his equally harsh and doting father. Everyone thought Rias had time to grow into his role as cartel leader. But once Rayne’s symptoms showed up five years ago, 12-year-old Rias was made to learn everything.

Mother was present for his punishing schedule of trainings and obligations. She was convinced he would change the cartel. She wanted the cartel to support itself without extorting people, maybe even go legit.

“I want a break,” Rias says. He’s standing but still bent at the waist and sholding on to the support beam.

I suddenly remember why I’m even here.

“Your pills,” I say, digging them out of my purse.

 A few weeks ago Rias had started complaining about stomach pain. Most of us thought it was an ulcer, but Alan Gray could never find anything wrong with him. The only thing that helped were these foriegn pain pills Aunt Minnie had gotten from an old contact.

I toss the pills down from the observation deck towards Rias, like Mother had done with the box cutter, but Luce intercepts the bottle while still arguing with Minnow about whether he purposely got a spot of red paint on her.

“He clearly doesn’t need these.” Luce says shaking the bottle. “He doesn’t look like he’s in pain. What a waste of a fucking trip. What a little liar.”

“Don’t call me a liar,” Rias says.

“Give him his pills, Luce,” Mother says. “He’s just working through the pain.”

Luce throws the pill bottle and Rias fumbles it but manages to catch them. One of Rayne’s former guards brings Rias a cup of water and he breaks a pill in half before swallowing it and then lowering himself to the floor with his eyes closed.

Mother puts an arm around me and leans her head close to mine.

“Ivy is hosting some South African politicians on a diplomatic trip tonight. I thought we might all go.”

“Isn’t that just going to be boring business and international relations talk ?”

“Yes,” Mother smiled. “But…the food will be catered and I’m not ordering dinner tonight. Besides people doing business with Ivy and MBC should get used to Rias’ face.”

“Well, I like eating dinner so I guess I’m in,” I agree, smiling.

When Mother and Ivy got together they usually closed down the party  and it would make it easier for me to sneak out to meet Colette for the concert tonight.

“Also, would you mind picking up Rias’ Federation Day suit from Wicked Alterations and Tailoring ? We don't have time today and he needs it for tomorrow.”

“Sure."

“That is why you’re my favorite,” she says kissing my cheek.

Mother takes my hand and we walk down the stairs to the ground floor of the warehouse where Aunt Minnie and Luce were still fighting. On the way down she asks me about my day and I tell her about school and that my friend sent me a song I liked and I might go to a concert one day. Unsurprisingly, she said I’d have to take Luce with me if I was going somewhere with someone she didn’t know.

When we hit the bottom of the stairs she switches from mom mode to cartel mode. She pulls up Rias’s schedule and stands with Aunt Minnow, going over it together while Rias was laid out on the warehouse floor. It was late afternoon and he still had 6 more hours of meetings, training, and tutoring sessions.

“Luce, why don’t you walk Rias to his check up.” Aunt Minnie says. “Then he can rest while Alan’s doing whatever the fuck it is he does and then we can go straight to the finance meeting and still make it back in time for ballistics--”

“I am not walking Rias anywhere. I am not his bodyguard,” Luce interrupts Mom and Aunt Minnie

“You’re not doing anything else today,” Mother says. “Go. Now.”

Luce walks over to where Rias is lying against a support beam and holds out his hand like he is going to pull him off the ground, but Rias stands up first. I tag along because I knew in a mood like this Luce would leave me here without a ride home.

I walk across the warehouse yard, between my older brothers, and towards the MBC factory.

-2-

Alan Gray was a cartel loyalist who had always just kind of been there. 

Especially when things got bad.

He kept multiple black clinics around the city in case they were raided—which they frequently were since he took anyone on as a patient and not all of them were always happy with their results. Rayne always told him he wasn’t the best but atleast he was discreet.

He was an illegal bodyhacker and did mostly critical and cosmetic hackjobs but he was also a certified doctor under several pseudonyms. He’d gone undercover as a medical student so many times that he finally got an actual medical degree.  Twice.

His job for the last few years had been to cure Rayne and I think it secretly ate at him that he couldn’t save Rayne. Some people even thought his experiments made the disease worst.

“Hey, do you want to hear a song ?,” I ask Rias, breaking up the silence as we walk towards the factory.

Rias’ face brightens, like a switch had been turned from weary cartel kingpin to excited teenage boy.

“Sure-”

“Don’t you fucking dare play that song,” Luce grumbles.

“I can play whatever I want,”  I say and start the song anyway..

Alan’s lab in the MBC factory  is small, but efficient. We bypass into the air conditioned factory floor and take the private elevator down to the sub basement where Rias has to scan his face before the door will even open. We walk down a sterile hallway and to the room that was once a morgue.

Alan Gray is standing over a preservation tank tinkering over something. Or possibly someone. I see Sage parked in the corner, dozing in her chair.

“My boy,” Uncle Jean calls from where he was lying on the counter, pouring wine in a medicine cup and downing it.

He hops off the counter to hug Rias, who was his godson, kissing him and messing up his hair.

“And you brought the whole bastard family this time !” Uncle Jean smiles. "How lovely !,"

He kisses the side of my head and hugs me to his chest for a full minute, like we hadn’t seen each other a few days ago. He goes into give Luce a quick hug  too but he’s not quick enough and Luce smacks his arm away.

“What are you doing here, Uncle Jean ?,” Rias asks with a soft smile.

Uncle Jean grins and shakes his head.

“A little upkeep,” he laughs.

Uncle Jean managed to both run a popular escort service and also be it’s main attraction. Rayne had been against it at first because he didn’t believe in selling sex, but it made a ridiculous amounts of money. And it turned out most of the clients just wanted company or attention for a few hours a day.

Or maybe that was just the lie Mother told me.

“Can’t keep it up like you used to, old man ?” Luce glowers and Jean laughs.

“A little help is all in good fun. You should consider it. You’re getting up there too, little brother,” Uncle Jean teases.

“God, you’re all so fucking incompetent,” Luce shoots off. “If Rias weren’t Ma’s kid  and Ma didn’t like you all for some reason you’d all been fired a long time ago.”

“Say that again and next time you need my help to reprogram you, you won’t be able to get it up at all.” Alan shouts to Luce from the other side of the lab as he walks over to us.

Alan Gray was unnervingly handsome. When I was younger I briefly had a crush on him, but he so cold. Alan was a cartel loyalist and he and Aunt Minnie had been together longer than any couple I knew. He practically worshiped at her feet and even after decades together together they acted like the newlyweds I saw in movies.  

“Go change into this and fill this.” Alan says handing Zacharias a hospital gown and a black plastic container.

“I thought you were just taking my blood,” Rias says taking the hospital gown.

“I am…along with 23 other tests and a prostate exam so--”

“What ?,” Rias said, his face flushing red. “Why--You’re not doing that to me.”

“I’ve been told to compare you and Rayne’s test results on everything,” Alan says impatiently. “If I did it to him, I’m doing it to you. Besides I still don’t know what’s causing your stomach pain--”

“It’s fine. I haven’t felt that pain in weeks,” Rias says quickly.

“Really ?,” Luce asks, pouncing at the opportunity. “Then why the fuck did  I come all the way over here with those fucking pills ?”

“I mean,” Rias stammers. “I-- I haven’t had the pain that bad--,”

“Just do as he says,”  Uncle Jean says with a smile. “We have your best interest at heart, sweetheart. You should want to do anything to make sure you stay healthy and alive. I’m sure Alan will make sure everything is as pain free as possi--,”

“No, it’s all going to mostly be painful as fuck.” Alan shrugs and Luce laughs. “Sorry, Minnow said not to give you any anesthesia because you have to go to meetings.”

Luce makes a whipping sound as Rias takes the hospital gown and storms out the lab.  I wait a few minutes before following him out the lab and into the adjacent bathroom. I knock before going in.

“It’s me,” I call.

I go inside and sit on the bench near the row of sinks. He’s locked himself in the stall. I can see his patent leather dress shoes and an increasing pile of black clothing; leather ankle gun holster, dark pants,  jacket, button up shirt, tie, waistcoat, Kevlar shirt, undershirt. 

I hear him take a deep breath and I know he’s covering up a sob.

“Tough day ?,” I ask.

“Tough week,” he scoffs “Tough year.”

“….Did you leave your pills at home on purpose ?,” I ask

“Don’t tell Mother.”

“Have you been lying about the stomach pain too ?,”

“…I thought if I said I was in pain they’d let me go home and rest. I’m so tired, Twyla. I am just so tired,” he says. “It’s like I don’t have any alone time. They want to pretend like I’m the next Rayne but they talk to me in ways they’d only talk about Rayne behind his back.”

“If you want to be alone, I can go,” I say, offering him atleast that much.                                                                                                                          

“It’s okay,” he says. “You’re not like them. Unless you want to talk about maintaining financial equity or hits.”

“Maybe later,” I joke.

He opens the stall and washes his hands before sitting next to me, careful to keep the hospital gown around him. Like Luce and Haley (and now that I think about it just about most everyone I knew), Rias’s body was a mess of tattoos. They only covered his right side and were so dense and intricate that parts of his skin weren’t even visible. They were done in the traditional Japanese style and colored in deep cool hues. All of his ink had been done at Rayne’s command, but he’d left Rias’ left side blank so Rias could do what he wanted to it.

“Can you play that song, again ?,” Rias asks. “The one you told me about ?”

I open the file Colette sent me and start it up. We listen to it twice. Rias closes his eyes and rests his head on my shoulder.

When we walk back into the lab Alan, Luce and Uncle Jean are deep in conversation and stop when they see me. Alan and Uncle Jean give me an everything-is-okay-we-totally-weren’t-talking-about-murder smile while Luce just scowls.

Alan slaps his hand on the table and pulls out a tray of needles.

"I just remembered,” Alan tells Rias. “If you want to make this more fun we can start with the semen sample--,”

“And that’s our cue to go,” Luce says walking out. He motions to me with his hand like I was a dog. “Come, Twyla.”

 

***

 -3-

“That’s mine,” Mother says, holding her hands up in front of her and making a gimme gesture.

Aunt Ivy laughs and walks to the couch, giving Mother the  half empty bottle of New Rose Hotel from the wine display.

“Lush,” Aunt Ivy teases.

Aunt Ivy was still wearing her sequined mini  dress, but had swapped out the 7 inch heels for a pair of teal sheepskin house shoes.

Mother tips the neck of the wine bottle  to her mouth and drinks right out of  Aunt Ivy’s limited edition crystal studded wine bottle.

“Mom!,” I exclaim.

“What ? Oh, did you want some, baby ?,” she asks, wiping her mouth

Terms of endearment. Mom was officially drunk

I shake my head and she laughs.

“I can’t eat or drink another thing,” I say slumping back in the plush armchair. “Everything was delicious.”

Aunt Ivy’s dinner reception for the South Africans has ended an hour ago.  Aunt Ivy and Mother had both been by Rias’s side during the whole thing, introducing him to the different diplomats and MBC business relations. Once Rias had made the rounds Mother let him leave early because he said he wanted to go to bed.

As soon as the last guest had, Mother had unbuttoned her silk blouse, kicked off her boots, laid across Ivy’s couch and started picking at all the leftovers. We’d spent the last hour recapping the party.

“You can go home, Twyla,” Mother tells me. “You don’t have to help clean up--”

“Oh, is that what you’re doing, Sara ?,” Aunt Ivy laughs

“It’s fine. I can stay. I don’t want you to walk home by yourself,” I tell her.

Which was partially true. I also wanted to make sure Mother was in bed before I snuck out to meet Colette at Beverly Hell for the concert tonight.

“I think I can make it to the elevator and up 4 floors,” Mother says. “Or maybe I’ll keep Ivy company tonight since she wouldn’t take the number of that nice man from the embassy.”

“Fuck you,” Aunt Ivy says and then turns to me, her expression bright.. “Hey, you don’t have school tomorrow because of Federation Day, right, Twyla? We could do a girls night sleepover tonight. Just us wicked, evil gingers ? I can order ice cream and tell you all your mother’s dirty secrets.”

“Sorry, I still have my test prep class in the morning.” I remind her. “But I’ll leave you guys to it.”

Mother holds her arms out again and I go over to hug her. She kisses my cheeks.

“Check on your brother,” she says into my ear. and I know she’s talking about Rias. “Call me if he needs anything.”

I nod and leave them as they start giggling about the man from the embassy again.

I board the elevator and scan my retina. The elevator ascends quickly to the penthouse. 

Our building, The Hydra, was 37 stories of invincible glass and steel. The elevator shaft was clear  and I could see the entirety of the small city of Mojave and the desert that went beyond as I ascended. Small points of light shine on the elevator glass as it ascends, showing the guest inside where the constellations were in the sky.

 It was a priceless view. One just about everyone living in the building had paid for with blood or fealty.

 Except me.

When the elevator door swishes open at our penthouse, the living rom is dark. Which meant both of my brothers were in bed.

I run up the spiral staircase and I can hear the poppy upbeat music and soft blinging sounds of a puzzle game coming from Luce’s bedroom. His wide bedroom doors are open and he’s lying in bed on his bare stomach, staring at the back wall behind his bed.

Haley is lying next to him--fully dressed in long pants, a cardigan and a long sleeve shirt advertising Uncle Jean's escort service--his elbow resting on Luce’s lower shoulder blades, just below the still healing tattoo. Haley is staring in the direction opposite Luce,  intensely playing the holographic puzzle game  in front of him--moving cutesy cartoon cupcakes with pink frosting that exploded in sparkly confetti when three or more matching ones where next to each other.

I knew they would both be asleep soon.

On the rare occasion Haley did spend the night here Luce always kept the door open and as far as I could tell all they did was lay in bed together with less than an inch separating them from looking too intimate.

I wasn’t even sure they ever talked to each other.

“Mom’s staying at Aunt Ivy’s,” I call into Luce’s bedroom.

“Of course,” Luce says, annoyed.

I half walk and half skip past his bedroom and into mine to send a message to Colette.

Twyla: Mom is staying with her friend 2nite. Getting dressed. Will be there soon !

Pola Negri:  Fabulous, darling (;

My room was the smallest one in the loft but it had the biggest closet which seemed like a fair trade.  Aunt Minnie’s shopping problem  kept my closet stocked. I go through Aunt Minnie’s newest bag of cast offs until I finally settle on a beige chiffon mini dress with tiny inlaid gold foil stars.

I model the outfit in the mirror to figure out how to accessorize it and then decided to carefully twist my hair into a crown. I slip on some false eyelashes and smear some chrome gold face paint on my right cheek and officially call it done.

I’m halfway down the hall when I remember my promise to Mother to check on Zacharias. I turn back around and stand in front of Rias’s door. I move my hand over the lock and the automatic doors defrosts and silently slide gently open.

Rias is asleep  in his large, ominous looking bed. The only changes to the sparse room are his weapons that are now by his nightstand. He even sleeps like he’s all business; lying on his back with his hands resting neatly on his chest, his head laying just slightly to the right on his pillow.

I get a wicked idea.

I walk inside and slide the bedroom door closed behind me. I  jump into his bed and  he bolts up immediately and motions for the lights to go on. He goes for his weapon, but when he sees it’s me he pauses. He frowns taking in my outfit

"Twyla don't scare me like that, I could have--"

“Do you want to go to a party ?,” I ask him.

He frowns more, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He  brings up a holograph of his schedule and  I dismiss it away.

“No one is throwing a party tonight--,” he says.

“It’s not that kind of  party,” I say. “It’s not a cartel or MBC party,”

“Than what kind of party is it ?,”

“A for fun kind of party.”

“For fun ?,” he says suspiciously.

“My friend invited me,” I say. “It’s actually more like a rave. That band I played you earlier is performing.”

He sits up more and I hop off the bed.

“What friend ?”

“You don’t know her, but she's cool.” I tell him

I watch the calculations behind his dark eyes and I know when he’s made his decision.

“Makeover time,” I whisper.

Rias had muscle from all his trainings, but he was still slim. We have to look through Aunt Minnie’s cast off bag and my closet until we find a shirt he can wear that covers most of his cartel ink. The final decision is  dark pants and a pink long sleeve shirt with a high collar,  I use makeup to cover up the few bits of ink that peeked out around his arm. I can’t remember the last time I’d seen Rias in anything other than black or gray. The color complements the tawny tones in his skin.

To finish the look I use a spray on dye to add a streak of sliver glitter through his dark hair and some liner to his eyes.

When I open his bedroom door so we can leave I can still hear Haley’s puzzle game but I can also hear Luce snoring softly. I grab Rias’s hand and we sneak past Luce’s bedroom and out the door.

I’m usually anonymous in Mojave,  so my biggest hurdle was always just getting out of the loft.  But Rias has to put on a hat and shades so no one recognizes us as we race to the train station. When our train arrives, we’re the only ones in our car and I can breathe for the first time.

“Do you do this often ?,” he asks me.

“Not as much as you’d like to think,” I say. Most of my sneaking out was to meet Colette and we mostly binge ate and talked.

“Do you even know the train routes?,” he asks looking at the train map displaying on the train car window.

“Yeah, not all of us get chauffeured everywhere,” I remind him and he nods his head, slightly embarrassed.

We ride into the Sprawl and our train grows crowded with late night party goers. I slip out of Rias’s eyesight long enough to send a quick message to Colette. 

Twyla: Heads up, bringing brother. Keep your bike out of sight.

We switch trains until we arrive at the edge of the West Strip, there are less lights and people but I see a crowd congregating at one of the abandoned resorts that was starting to be reclaimed by nature. The base of the music inside was so loud I could feel it in my chest from out here. Beverly Hell didn’t have signs but we were definitely in the right place.

I scan the crowd near the club, looking for Colette.

“Are we going to go inside?,” Rias asks, gesturing to the growing line.

“We have to find my friend first,” I tell him. “Let’s wait over here.”

We walk away from the crowd and into an alley by the club. I look into my Syndicate and see Colette hasn’t respond to my message from earlier. I scan the crowd for her one more time and I send her another message.

Twyla: Are you pissed because I brought him ? He won’t know who you are.

Just as I press send I hear the rumble of a motorcycle in the distance.

Fuck.

Colette owned three other motorcycles besides her blue Covalcatti  motorcycle and I hope she’d taken one of those. But before I can turn around and see I catch Rias’s body language change. He presses his foot down on the pneumatic device of his ankle holster and his silver and black revolver flies up and into his waiting hand.

He starts firing at the blue Covalcatti motorcycle coming towards us.

Shit.