The Lioness and the Black Widow 6

We pulled away from the red-brick building, leaving the disgraced, burned, beaten and brutalized Fallen Angel tied to the toilet, her face in the bowl. Before we left, the twins cleaned out the safe and took a sawed-off shotgun they found hidden under the bar.

When we got back to the house, a black SUV was parked in the drive-way. Four people stood at the front door. Their faces turned to The Duchess’ black Lincoln as we pulled into the driveway. A heavy-set woman with long brown hair came charging toward us as we stepped out the car. She was in her 40’s, wearing a blue blouse and black slacks. She yelled at The Duchess, “Where’s Theresa? Where’s Chris?” A white-haired man in jeans, a black t-shirt and a leather vest followed close behind her.

The woman yelled again, “Where’s Theresa? She was supposed to meet me here an hour ago?”

The Duchess answered, “I don’t know where Theresa is. I haven’t seen her since this morning.” The other two people in the party, two women, joined their friends. The older of the two women had dark hair and looked like a middle-aged Italian man. She wore the same attire as the man. The younger woman wore her raven black hair pulled back in a pony tail. She wore a black blouse and black skirt with black boots.

The aggressive woman in the blue blouse asked, “How come she won’t answer her phone? I can’t reach her or Chris.”

The Duchess replied, “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m just her housemate. When I see her, I’ll tell her you stopped by.”

“BULLSHIT! I want to know where she is right now! There is something going on here and we’re not leaving until we get to the bottom of it.”

The Duchess shrugged her shoulders and shut her car door, “If you say so. Let’s go inside. Maybe I can find a number where she can be reached. She said that she was considering visiting her sister. Have you called her?”

The woman frowned, rolled her eyes and shot The Duchess a look of envious contempt, “No. I don’t have her sister’s number. If I did, you would think that I already would have already called her. Wouldn‘t you?”

The Duchess smiled and looked at each member of the group, “Well, let’s go see if we can find that number.” The four people followed us into house and to a large den. The Duchess said, “You all are welcome to sit down while I go look for the number. I’ll have Clarence start some coffee. Three of the four said, “Thank you,” and sat down. The woman in the blue blouse remained on her feet, “I’m going to go look around. Maybe she left a note.” The woman then barged past The Duchess and stormed out the room. The older man smiled at The Duchess and said, “She’s just worried about Theresa. She means no harm.”
The woman in the vest eyed The Duchess cautiously. The woman looked like she had seen much and didn’t scare easily. I could tell that something about The Duchess scared her. She put her arm around the younger woman with the pony tail and whispered something in her ear. The younger woman nodded her head and silently stared at the floor.

The Duchess asked, “So, does anybody want coffee?”

The older man shook his head. The woman in the vest looked at The Duchess and graciously replied, “We’re fine, but thank you for offering. I appreciate your hospitality.” The Duchess smiled and sat down next to her. I heard the front door open and footsteps coming down the hallway. Antigone and the twins entered the room. I watched the woman in the vest. I saw her chest rise as she took a deep breath. Beads of sweat broke out on her forehead.

The older man stood up, “Well, let me go see if I can find Cecile.”

The Duchess commanded, “No. Sit the fuck back down.”

The man gave The Duchess a look of confused amusement, “Excuse me, I don’t think you…”

The woman in the vest snapped, “JOHN! SIT DOWN!” John stared his friend in the face for a long, awkward moment, then he quietly took his seat. Cecile could be heard upstairs slamming doors, then I heard her footsteps coming down the stairs. Antigone stood by the entrance to the den. One of the twins walked over to the window and closed the curtains. The other twin pulled a pistol from her pants and sat down across from John.

Cecile came back in the room. She looked at Antigone and the twins, then walked to the center of the room and stood in front of The Duchess, “I don’t know what’s going on here. But something is wrong, I can feel it. Either you tell me where my friend is…”

The woman in the vest interjected, “Cecile stop! This lady is just Theresa’s housemate. Maybe she doesn’t know where she is.”

Cecile shook her, “No, this LITTLE GIRL knows exactly where Theresa is.” She looked The Duchess in the eyes and crossed her arms over her breasts, “Now, you are either going to stop playing games and tell me where Theresa is, or your little ass is about to have a problem.” Cecile raised her eyebrows and nodded her head for emphasis.

The woman in the vest turned toward The Duchess, “She doesn’t speak for me or my girl. Cecile, you owe this lady an apology.”

The Duchess leaned back in her seat, “It’s okay. I don’t believe in apologies. What’s done is done.” She looked up at the woman standing above her and asked, “How old are you?”

Cecile hissed, rolled her eyes, tossed her hair over her shoulder and answered, “I’m 43. How old are you 18?”

The Duchess answered, “I’m 26. You know what I’m gonna call you? Ms. Peacock, because that’s what you remind me of.”

Cecile gave The Duchess a look of annoyed confusion. One of the twins asked, “You mean that bitch from Clue?” Antigone laughed, shaking her head as her hand went to her boot. The Duchess replied, “No. I mean the bird. She reminds me of a male peacock, flexing all those feathers to intimidate and impress. The sad thing is, the peacock spends his life thinking he’s been blessed, that all he has to do is stretch out those feathers and all the females will belong to him; and the world will be his oyster to rule over as he sees fit. What the peacock doesn’t find out until the day he’s torn apart and devoured by predators, is that all that beautiful plumage is mark of death. There is no such thing as “King or Queen of the Jungle”. There is always somebody stronger out there who will devour you if they get the opportunity. Male peacocks die young. Because they’re too fucking stupid too realize that very simple and obvious fact of life.”

Antigone rose to her feet and cracked Cecile across the back of the head with a piece of pipe. As Cecile fell to the floor, John tried to rise to his feet. The twin sitting across from him raised her pistol and shot him between the eyes. The lesbian couple remained motionless and silent. The Duchess stood up, “Antigone, go get Roger!”

Cecile wasn’t knocked unconscious. She pushed herself up to her hands and knees, then slowly got to her feet. The Duchess punched her in the mouth, her rings mutilating the woman’s lips. Then she bent down, wrapped her arms around Cecile’s legs, picked her up and body slammed her. Cecile’s head hit the floor so hard, it sounded like a large rock had been dropped from the ceiling.

The young woman with the ponytail screamed, “OH MY GOD!” The woman in the vest quickly covered the younger woman’s mouth, and pulled her head close to her chest. She stared at the entrance to the den, her eyes wide as saucers. Roger stood in the entrance. His appearance made me shudder, the smell made me want to run out the room. He had been scalped and his eyes were torn out. His lips, ears and nose had all been removed. His face looked like a gruesome mask of bone, teeth and dried blood.

The Duchess returned to her seat. She turned to the woman in the vest and asked, “Have you ever seen a zombie eat a live human being?” The woman didn’t respond, she just trembled, clenching the young woman with the ponytail. The Duchess continued, “I haven’t seen it yet either. It’s a first for both of us. Hey, LOOK AT ME!”

The woman in the vest turned her head to look at The Duchess. The Duchess lowered her voice, “You know, you seem like a strong woman, one who is capable of carving out her own destiny…despite the odds, despite the naysayers, despite all those people who tried to discourage you and destroy you. I can see it. You’ve had to suffer all your life just for being yourself. But that suffering made you strong. Now you’re like a mountain, you can’t be moved. Well…you’re almost a mountain. You’ve still got that weakness for love. It makes you feel good to love, guide and protect you’re cherished one right there, doesn‘t it? Here’s the thing though, you’re giving her your strength while she’s giving you her weakness. You KNOW in your heart that this woman is no good, she doesn’t appreciate you and she is incapable of truly respecting you. She’s incapable of respecting you because she doesn’t respect herself and has given up on the notion altogether. Remember that girl in seventh grade. Rachel, with the dark hair and freckles.”

A mask of anguish came over the woman’s face. She asked, “H-how, how do you know…”

“Shhh…I know you. Remember how Rachel betrayed you and set you up to be hurt and humiliated.” A tear fell out of the hardened woman’s eyes and glided down her weathered cheek. The Duchess went on, “You’ve been playing Christ on the Cross for a long time over women like this. You’re like Samson. You keep getting fucked up over some Delilah. You overcame a drug addiction that most don’t recover from. You stood in the gutter with your shirt-sleeves rolled up, slugging it out with the men to prove your place in this world. Through all this shit that is your life, you’ve been victorious over everything, nothing could stop or slow you. Except one thing right? Women like the one you’re holding in your arms right now.”

The woman’s jaw quivered as she fought back the tears. She looked down at the young woman in her arms. The Duchess said, “It’s your moment of truth. Either you walk out of here alone, to go live your life as the mountain you were born to be; or you can die here with your weakness. I’m not gonna keep you from your destiny, but I’m not letting no snitchin’ Suzie walk out of here either. The choice is yours. Your destiny, or your love.”

The young woman looked up at the older one with pleading eyes. The older woman kissed her on the lips and let go of her. Then she got up and walked out the door without looking back. The woman curled up in a ball, put her hands over her face and cried. The Duchess pulled a pistol from the pocket of her Chinchilla and shot the young woman twice in the head. She put her pistol back in her pocket, lit a cigarette, stood up and said, “When we’re done with that loud, arrogant pig of a bitch right there,” she pointed at Cecile, “we’re taking the younger one, Chris and the one on the cross to Lavinia.” The Duchess knelt down beside Cecile’s head and slapped her face, “Wake up sweetheart! You don’t want to sleep through the festivities.”

Cecile opened her eyes to see Roger standing above her. She sat up shrieking. A pool of urine appeared on the floor around her. The Duchess laughed and said, “LOOK! Ms. Peacock pissed herself!” Antigone and the twins all joined her in laughter. Cecile stared up at Roger, frozen in terror. Roger bent down, grabbed her by the shoulders, picked her up and bit into her skull as she kicked her legs screaming.

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