For as foul as what Ricky had done might've seemed, he felt like he didn't have a choice. When he had been approached about helping lay the trap, Ricky was against it, but they made an offer he couldn't refuse. They had taken his parents and young nephew hostage. He was given a choice between helping set Kahllah up or watching while his family was butchered. Ricky's parents hadn't said two words to him since he'd come out of the closet and he couldn't have cared less what happened to them, but his nephew was innocent. Reluctantly, Ricky agreed. Now, because of him, Kahllah was dead.

Ricky wiped the tears from his eyes, careful not to smear his makeup. The night was still young and he had a quota to make, or risk the wrath of his pimp. There was no way he could work the strip anymore that night, so he move a few blocks down to one of the quieter streets. There wasn't as much traffic as the strip, and it was mostly worked by outlaws and drug addicts, but it would have to do, at least for the night. A Mercedes came slow coasting down the streets. It was white with tinted windows, and shining like new money. It didn't take long for the misfits who worked that section of Boy's Town to come crawling out of whatever cracks and creva.s.ses they'd been hiding in. They were a homely looking lot compared to Ricky. They were on him like vultures, but that was only because he hadn't seen Ricky.

The man-wh.o.r.e hiked his skirt a bit so that his a.s.s cheeks were visible, and sashayed across the driver's line of vision. As expected, the driver took one look at her and shooed the others away. When the Benz pulled up in front of Ricky, his walk was triumphant, flipping his long blonde weave and rolling his eyes at the other prost.i.tutes. He had snagged the prize.

The driver rolled the pa.s.senger window down. The dome light was out, so Ricky was only able to see flashes of the driver's face in the headlights of the other cars pa.s.sing them. "What's good? What that mouth do?" He called out to Ricky.

"It'll do whatever you want it to for a hundred bucks, sugar," Ricky said, leaning deep into the open pa.s.senger window. In the pale light of a pa.s.sing truck, he was able to see the driver's face clearly for the first time. It only took Ricky a few seconds to realize where he had seen the driver before, but by then it was already too late.

"Can it swallow a bullet?" Ashanti asked, jamming the bulldog in Ricky's mouth and pulling the trigger twice. Ashanti didn't wait for the body to hit the ground before he pulled off. Animal had kept true to his word and made the night worth Ashanti's while. If he wasn't sure before, he was sure then that his big homie was back on deck. Rumor had it that a half hour later, when the police finally arrived to find Ricky's body, smoke was still seeping out of his mouth from the bullets Ashanti put in his throat.

"Man that felt good!" Ashanti boasted, once they were back inside the SUV with Kahllah. They'd abandoned Klein's car a few blocks away. "Animal, that was a slick a.s.s idea you had about rolling on that He-she with Klein's car, but what made you want to kill him?"

"Because it was Ricky who set us up. I saw him talking to the guys who ambushed Kahllah," Animal revealed.

"That's some cold s.h.i.t," Ashanti shook his head in disgust. "Kahllah, I should've bet you some money on all that s.h.i.t you was talking about being able to trust that freak. You're the main one always talking that 'trust no one but your own s.h.i.t'," he did his scary voice imitation. "What you got to say for yourself now?"

"f.u.c.k you, Ashanti!" Kahllah snapped.

"d.a.m.n, who p.i.s.sed in your Cheerios? I was only playing. f.u.c.k is your problem?" Ashanti asked.

"Leave it alone, Ashanti," Animal told him. He knew Ashanti didn't mean any harm, but after what Kahllah had gone through, it was no time for jokes. Animal felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket, and removed it to check the screen. It was the voicemail notification, but he also had fifteen missed calls from Gucci. Something was wrong. He quickly dialed her back and waited while the phone rang. Each time it rang, he felt his heart beat a little faster in his chest. He'd hoped nothing had happened to her or T.J. while he was out committing murders with Kahllah and Ashanti. To his relief, she finally picked up. "What's wrong babe?" he asked, in a concerned tone. Gucci was talking so fast that he almost couldn't understand her. "Wait, slow down. What???" Animal's mouth dropped, as Gucci explained the situation. "Okay, I'll be right there." Animal said and ended the call.

Ashanti looked at his friend and the expression on his face made him uneasy. He wasn't sure what Gucci had said to him on the phone, but whatever it was made him turn white as a ghost. "Everything good?" he asked.

"Nah, everything isn't good. I need to get home, A.S.A.P."

SIX.

FOR A LONG WHILE ALL Animal could do was stare in stunned silence, with his mouth agape. The room felt like it was spinning and his heart was pumping blood to his face and head at such an alarming rate that he felt like he might pa.s.s out. He needed to sit down, but didn't trust his legs to carry him the few feet to the closest chair. It felt like a bad dream and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wake up.

Kahllah was perched on a stool in the kitchen, wearing one of Gucci's bathrobes. Her long black hair was wet, and hanging around her shoulders. The first thing she'd done when they got to the house was take a hot shower to wash off the stink from the men who had touched her, and their blood. For as calm and composed as she was, you'd never know that she'd nearly been raped and had killed several people only a few hours prior. She sipped hot tea from a mug, watching everything and everyone from over the rim.

Ashanti leaned against the refrigerator, drinking a beer with a confused expression on his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but a look from Kahllah silenced him. It was not the time or place for his street corner humor.

T.J. sat on Gucci's lap, with one of his books in his hand. He flipped the pages, and rattled off in gibberish acting like he was reading to his mother. Every so often, Gucci would spare him a smile or loving touch, but her attention was directed elsewhere.

Animal did his best to avoid looking at Gucci. Every time he saw the hurt in her eyes, it cut him like a knife. Thought he wasn't looking at her, he could feel Gucci watching him, her eyes burrowing into him, searching for an explanation. His dark past had seeped into her life and yanked the bottom out, yet again.

In the center of this tense moment was the impossible, Animal's past and future colliding in the middle of his living room. Fire red hair fanned out around her face, while cold gray eyes stared at him, challengingly. Sonja had gained some weight since the last time he'd seen her, but it had been distributed in all the right places . . . b.r.e.a.s.t.s, thighs, hips, everything was looking right. It had been years since he had seen Red Sonja, and had it been up to him he'd have lived the rest of his days without ever having seen her again, but here she was, underdressed and as belligerent as ever. Not only had Sonja popped back into the picture at the worst possible time, she brought some life altering news with her.

A little girl, with auburn hair and almond colored skin sat on the couch, half paying attention to the cartoons playing on the big-screen television. Her dark eyes watched Animal like a hawk, studying him. It must've been just as eerie for her as it was for him, each seeing their face on someone else's body. T.J. climbed from his mother's lap and waddled over to the little girl, attempting to show her something in his book. She spared him a glance then went back to watching Animal. There was a calm to her that was far beyond her few years on earth. Even if it had not been for the little girl's curly hair, and bowed lips, he would've known she was his. From the moment he'd laid eyes on her, their souls connected in a way that only those of Animal's troubled bloodline could've understood.

"How?" was all Animal was able to blurt out.

Sonja rolled her eyes and mock slapped her forehead. "Jesus, do we have to go through this again?"

Animal gave Sonja a look and whatever smart remark she was about to follow up with died in her throat.

"Animal," she began in a much more civilized tone, "I was as shocked as you when I found out I was pregnant with Celeste. You know how we were living out there and it didn't exactly make for the ideal environment to raise a child in. Still, it didn't change the fact that I was about to be a mother and there was nothing that I could do about it besides step to the plate and show our daughter better than we were shown."

Animal looked from the daughter he'd just met to the woman he used to sleep with. Uncertainty and suspicion was etched across his face. "You've kept quiet about her all this time, now you suddenly pop up out of the woodwork with this Maury s.h.i.t. Why didn't you come to me sooner?"

"Because I didn't need you!" Sonja snarled. Picking up on her mother's hostility, Celeste got off the couch and moved to stand beside her, glaring at Animal angrily for having upset her mother. The soft touch of Celeste's hand in hers calmed Sonja and reminded her of why they'd come. "Animal, is there somewhere we can talk?" she cut her eyes at Gucci. "In private."

"Sonja's right. This is something we need to discuss in private and not in front of these kids," Gucci agreed.

"We is French and it's a safe bet that your black a.s.s has never been anywhere near France," Sonja mocked her. "This is between me and my daughter's father. Whatever Animal chooses to share with you after the fact, he's welcome, but this," she motioned at herself, Animal and Celeste, "is not your business."

"Well this," Gucci raised her left hand, flashing the big diamond on her ring finger that Animal had brought her, "makes it my business. Sonja, it's bad enough that you have disrespected my home and my marriage with this foolishness and you think I'm going to further sit by while you go off to whisper more secrets into my husband's ear? You got me totally f.u.c.ked up."

"Gucci-" Animal began, but she cut him off.

"Gucci my a.s.s. I've played the naive girlfriend through a lot of s.h.i.t over the years, Tayshawn, but I'm no longer your girlfriend, I'm your wife. I need total disclosure on this one. You owe me that much."

Animal looked back and forth between Sonja, who was standing there with her arms folded, looking irritated, and Gucci, who had her arms folded, daring him to deny her. He was in a lose-lose situation. "Fine," he relented. "Kahllah," he turned to his sister, "I know you've got some pressing business to attend to and I hate to impose-"

"No, it's okay," Kahllah cut him off. "You guys go and get this sorted out. I'll keep an eye on the kids. It'll give me a chance to spend some time with my niece and nephew," she scooped T.J. in her arms. She was still sore from the beating she'd taken at Klein, but she was good at masking her pain. "Let's go, pretty girl," she extended her hand to Celeste. The child just stared at it as if she was weighing whether to bite Kahllah's fingers off or not. She was definitely Animal's kid.

"It's okay, Celeste. Go with your auntie," Sonja told her. "Maybe you can get her to tell you the story about the Black Lotus."

Kahllah couldn't hide her shock. Her angry eyes went from Sonja to Animal.

"Don't worry, Animal didn't spill the beans. Just know that you aren't the only one good at doing your homework on people, especially when they're family," Sonja gave her a wink. "Your secret is safe with me."

Kahllah wanted to leap across the room and knock every tooth out of Sonja's mouth, but for the sake of the children and helping to keep the peace, she held her composure. She had heard stories about the infamous Red Sonja, and though she hadn't known her for a few minutes, she knew that she couldn't stand her. She would let it go, for now, but if she said something else slick Red Sonja would learn the hard way that Kahllah wasn't as tolerant as Gucci when she jumped in her a.s.s.

Animal felt much better when they were outside on the deck. In the house it felt like the walls were closing in on him. In the open s.p.a.ce, it was easier for him to breathe. Animal slid one of the wooden chairs out from the table so that Gucci could sit, but she just rolled her eyes and instead leaned against the wall, glaring at him.

"Aren't you going to offer to pull my chair out too?" Sonja asked.

Animal kicked the chair and sent it sliding in Red Sonja's direction. She caught it with her foot, spun it around the correct way, and sat down gracefully. Her reflexes were still as sharp as ever. "Who says chivalry is dead?" she crossed one thick leg over the other.

Animal caught himself almost staring. "What's your game Sonja?" he asked in an irritated tone.

Sonja shrugged. "It's no game. Like I told your girlfriend "

"Wife," Gucci corrected her.

"Whatever," Sonja waved her off. "Like I was telling this broad, Celeste is your kid and it's long overdue that you two met."

"So we're just supposed to take your word for it that Celeste is Animal's?" Gucci asked.

Sonja gave Gucci a pitiful look. "You and I both know you're reaching with that one. You've seen her, and they're almost identical twins, but I do understand the mistrusting nature of hood-boogers. Every time you turn around some young b.i.t.c.h is trying to put a baby on a dude that doesn't want to be bothered. I dig it, and respect your suspicions, so I came baring gifts." Sonja dug in her purse and removed an envelope, which she held out to Animal.

"What is that?" Animal asked suspiciously.

"A letter bomb," Sonja joked. "Just open it."

Animal opened the envelope and removed the folded piece of paper inside. He had to read it twice to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. He was speechless.

"And before you ask, yes, it's authentic. You can even check out the clinic that performed the paternity test and you'll find that they're legitimate," Sonja told him. "Knowing you, I knew I'd have to come with more than my words and a pretty face to convince you, so I took the liberty of having the test done before I came to you. I figured this was less trouble, unless you guys would've rather we'd done it on the Maury show?" she cut her eyes at Gucci.

Gucci s.n.a.t.c.hed the paternity test from Animal's hand and read it for herself. "This is bulls.h.i.t," she balled it up and threw it at Sonja. "Where would you even get a sample of Animal's DNA to compare?"

Sonja smirked, as if she had been waiting for the question to be asked. "You must've forgotten that for the two years that you two were apart it was me who warmed Animal's bed and attended to his manly needs. We practically lived together on the compound, so it was easy enough for me to get more than what I needed from the things he left behind when he came running back to you. We can debate this all day, but it still won't change the fact that Celeste is Animal's child, same as T.J."

Animal ran his hands through his hair, grabbing two fists full of his roots and gave them a tug. Him focusing on the pain in his scalp was the only thing that was keeping him from having a meltdown and lashing out. "This is cla.s.sic Red Sonja," he seethed.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Sonja asked.

"It means let's cut the bulls.h.i.t and get down to the reason you're here," Animal spat. "By my count, Celeste should be about three, which means if you were really concerned about me being in her life, you'd have reached out long before now. You ain't hurting for no bread, I doubt that's the angle," he leaned in and looked Sonja in the eyes. "Don't f.u.c.k with my heart or my patience Sonja, cut to the chase and tell me what you want."

"You think you know me, don't you?" Sonja asked in an amused tone.

"Better than you think."

Sonja tapped her manicured fingernails on the table. Animal was staring down at her triumphantly. She hated the fact that she was so transparent when it came to him. His eyes seemed to be able to look directly into her soul. "You're right, there is another reason why I've come," she admitted. Animal opened his mouth to say something, but she silenced him with a raised finger. "Before you say something that might want to make me disrespect your home, hear me out. I know you think that I came here just to be a b.i.t.c.h and complicate our life, but I haven't. When you left me to come back to Gucci, I respected your decision, and I still do. Had it been up to me, you'd have probably never known about Celeste, and I've have continued raising her on my own. Contrary to what you or your bitc . . . lady think, I have no designs on you."

"Then why have you come?" Animal asked.

"To call in a marker," Sonja said. "A life for a life. I gave you your life back when I helped you escape Puerto Rico, and in return I want you to take a life for me."

Animal looked at Sonja as if she had taken leave of her senses. "You must be crazy. You think you can just march in here and send me out to kill like some trained dog? That isn't my life anymore."

Sonja looked down at the blood on his boots. "Isn't it? Animal you can try to convince Gucci and everyone else that you're happy living a square's life, changing diapers and having Sat.u.r.day afternoon barbecues, but I know your heart. The smell of blood makes your d.i.c.k harder than I ever could. Admit it, you miss the life."

Animal was too cool to show it, but Sonja had struck a nerve. For a long time he had been trying to convince himself that he could be content, living quietly with his wife and son, but there was always a part of him that missed the smell of gun smoke and mayhem. It wasn't until he had gone on the mission with Kahllah and Ashanti that he realized how much he missed it. "Sonja, even if there was any validity in what you were saying, what makes you think I would kill for you?"

"Oh, I hold no illusions about what you would or wouldn't do for me. The fact that I laid the world at your feet and you still left made that clear. No, you wouldn't kill for me, but you would kill to protect your daughter, which is what has brought me to your doorstep."

Now she had Animal's attention. "Celeste is just a kid, why would someone be looking to harm her?"

"The man who I have come to ask you to murder, Poppito Suarez . . . my father."

SEVEN.

FOR THE SECOND TIME THAT night, Red Sonja had managed to shock Animal. Of all the names he expected her to pull out of a hat, Poppito wasn't one of them. Poppito Suarez was not only Sonja's father; he was also the leader of a powerful drug cartel based in Old San Juan Puerto Rico. During Animal's time with the mercenary group, Los Negro Muertes, it had been Poppito who employed them. He'd hired K-Dawg and his men to eliminate one of his rivals, a dirty police captain named Herman Cruz, who stood in Poppito's way of being the undisputed ruler of the island and the drug trade. It was Animal who had dealt Cruz the death blow that secured Poppito's position. Poppito wanted to keep Animal on as a general in his new army, and Sonja's future husband, but Animal's heart wasn't with Sonja in Puerto Rico, it was with Gucci in New York. Poppito wasn't a man who took rejection well, so with the help of Red Sonja he fled the island and put that part of his life behind him, or so he'd thought.

"I don't buy it," Animal told her. "Poppito is a cruel b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but he worships the ground you walk on, so I can only imagine how he felt about his first granddaughter. What would make a man who places such high value on family turn on you?"

"The same thing that makes most men act out of character, a woman," Sonja said. "Quite a bit has changed since you left, Animal, including my relationship with my father. When Poppito took over it was supposed to usher in a new age for our people, but all we ended up doing was trading one devil for another. Things were good at first, but it all went sour when my father started seeing that bruja, Lilith," she spat.

Animal's Spanish was rusty, but he knew that bruja meant witch.

"He and Lilith met at a big party he threw for some of our cartel affiliates from Cuba," Sonja continued. "She was the special advisor to their leader, which is a nice way of saying wh.o.r.e. From the moment I laid eyes on her and her children, two sons and an adopted daughter, I knew they would be trouble. My father, however, fell head over heels for Lilith. Not since my mother have I ever seen him look at another woman the way he looked at Lilith. I'll spare you the details, but the short version of the story is, when the Cubans left, Lilith stayed behind with us. It didn't take long at all before that viper started whispering in my father's ear and things began to change. Not long after Lilith and her sons came to stay with us at the compound, my father took ill. Granted, he was getting on in years, but he had always been pretty fit for a man his age. As his health began to fail, he became more and more dependent on Lilith. Lilith became his voice, and even gave her sons positions in the cartel. At Lilith's suggestion, my father made her eldest son, Peter, commander of his personal security team, which didn't sit well with my brother Chris. Chris had always been the captain of my father's personal guard, and to be replaced that way hurt him. My father told him that by having Peter command his guard it would free Chris up to start learning the legal side of the business so that he could one day take over on that end. We all thought it was bulls.h.i.t, but it was father's will. The longer Lilith stayed on the more influence she held over my father. It got to a point where it seemed as if he could no longer make decisions without first consulting her. Some whispered that she had cast a spell on him. At first I laughed it off, but looking back at how thing played out, there may have been some truth to it, if you believe in that sort of thing."

"So how did your father's relationship with this Lilith person lead to Celeste being in harm's way?" Animal asked.

"I'll get to that. When my father announced his plans to marry Lilith, we were all against it. Even his closest advisors advised him against it, but my father could not be swayed. Even as his concubine, Lilith had too much power over my father's affairs and as his wife her power would be solidified. The only thing we had working in our favor was a provision in my father's will that stated upon his death, his power and all his holdings would shift to my brother Chris and me, since my mother was dead."

"But if Lilith became his wife, she would be able to challenge your claim," Animal began piecing things together.

"Precisely," Sonja nodded. "Lilith had already begun planting seeds of distrust in his mind, causing him to remove men who had served him faithfully for years and replace them with soldiers of her choosing. If daddy died after he married Lilith there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the days of Poppito's old regime would be numbered. The straw that broke the camel's back was when my brother Chris was killed."

This shocked and hurt Animal. He and Chris had been friends during his days running with Los Negro Muertes. He was a young and very likeable dude who Animal had taken under his wing. "I'm sorry. How did it happen?"

"They said he was attacked by enemies of my father and murdered at the harbor in Old San Juan, but that's bulls.h.i.t. Our family has controlled that harbor for many years. It was the heart of our empire and no one would have dared attack Chris there. The people loved him in Old San Juan. I suspect Lilith had my brother murdered."

To Animal the theory made sense if everything Sonja was saying was on the level. For as long as he'd known her, Red Sonja had been a lot of things, but a liar wasn't one of them. "Did you tell your father this?"

"Of course I did, but I may as well have been preaching to the choir. My father had his head so far up Lilith's a.s.s that she was quickly able to punch holes in my accusation and spin him in another direction. She had convinced him that it was the work of his enemies and that they were on the cusp of another war for control of Old San Juan. She convinced my father to unite with her a.s.sociates from Cuba to strengthen his empire and crush their opposition. To solidify the union, when Celeste became of age, she was to marry the young son of one of Lilith's a.s.sociates. Needless to say, I told that b.i.t.c.h where she could stick her arranged marriage, which p.i.s.sed her off. She accused me of being disloyal to my father's cause," Sonja laughed. "I gave up my nursing career and put medical school on hold to work for my father and my loyalty was being questioned."

"And what did your father say about all this?" Animal asked.

"Absolutely nothing," the pain in Sonja's voice was clear. "When my father tried to let his fiance try to sell my child . . . his granddaughter, to strangers in the name of power, I knew he was lost to me. I could've stayed and challenged Lilith outright, but I knew if I did there was a good chance I'd have end up dead, like my brother, and there would be no one to stop Lilith from doing whatever she wanted with Celeste. So we ran, and Lilith's people have been hunting us like dogs ever since."

Animal weighed her story. Poppito was a man who wielded an immense amount of power, and if Lilith was now the puppeteer and he the puppet, Sonja and Celeste truly were in grave danger. For as airtight as her story was, there was still something about it that sounded off. "Okay, I can understand why you ran, but how does me killing your father help Celeste? You already said that his wife is controlling things now."

Sonja smiled. "Now here comes the good part. He and Lilith aren't married yet. With the death of Chris and me running off, they had to postpone the wedding. Lilith's power doesn't become absolute until my father says I do, and if he was to meet his end before it becomes official-"

"-by default everything goes to you as his last living heir," Animal finished her sentence for her. Now everything made sense.

Sonja clapped her hands slowly. "Give this man a cookie. Animal, for as much as I love my father, I love our daughter more. I've made my peace with the fact that my father is lost to me, I can live with that. What I can't live with is having Celeste raised like I was, in someone else's image. I won't subject her to that."

"Sonja from the bottom of my heart, I'm so sorry that this is happening to you and your daughter," Gucci said, her voice sincere. "Speaking from experience, I know what it's like to be hunted, but I can't imagine what it's like to have to live that way with a child involved. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

Sonja nodded. "Thank you."