Chapter Text
“Come on, Vex!” her twin brother whispered urgently. “We have ten minutes before the maids pass by again.”
“That’s enough time,” she turned, rushing back. This was it. This was the night they were finally escaping the oppressive command of their father, a governor of one state or another. Their father didn’t want them. Never did. He got saddled with his two bastard children when their mother fell ill. So, as to not deal with them, they were sent to a boarding school in London. The twins were very much not appreciative of this. The main thing Vax learned was how to sneak a stink bomb into a teacher’s office while they were grading papers. However, now it was summer, and they were “home” for its duration.
Vax’ildan cursed under his breath as his twin sister Vex’ahlia rushed back off into the house. He waited for a minute. A minute turned into two, which turned into five. Vax hissed under his breath, looking at his watch. The warm night air brushed across the thirteen-year-old’s cheek. He pushed his black hair back out of his face as he was starting to get antsy, waiting for his twin sister. Finally, after nine minutes, Vex came rushing around the corner.
“What was that for?” he growled at her.
“You don’t expect me to leave my jewelry behind, do you? We can sell that shit for good money!” she countered as they started to climb down the rope Vax has set up. Once at the bottom, they crept their way along the edge of the ornate brick house, staying in the shadows so as not to be seen by the grounds keepers. Vax climbed up the stone wall, helping pull Vex up after him when she needed it, which was quite often. Vax was never exceptionally strong, but he could still easily kick his sister’s butt at arm wrestling. The two dropped down the outside of the wall.
They were finally free.
Vex let out a heavy sigh, still trying to catch her breath. “How much money do we have?”
Her brother shrugged. “You’re the one who likes money, Vex. Not me.”
“Oh, shut it, brother,” she stuck her tongue out at him.
He crossed his arms, pouting. “Well, I know I grabbed a couple hundred.”
“A couple hundred?!” Vex blurted. “You know you weren’t supposed to take that much!”
“Quiet down,” he hushed. “And that’s what you said.”
“No, it’s not. I said no more than a hundred.”
Vax shrugged. “Oops.”
She just growled at him. “Let’s get out of here.”
Within a couple hours, the two had set up shop in a back alley of the nearby city. It was nearing two in the morning the next day when they had finally found that little hovel. It was tucked nicely between the back of a large theater and a cluster of stores on the corner. To supplement what they had brought with them, which was meager to say the least, they dug through dumpsters and tore apart wooden pallets, among other things.
“Could you tie this for me?” Vax asked his sister tiredly.
“Tie what?” she looked up at him.
He held up the string hooked onto the tarp and one of the two by fours they scavenged from various dumpsters. “These.”
“Why can’t you?” she questioned.
“Because I don’t feel like it,” he shrugged.
“Excuse me?” Vex’ahlia gave Vax an incredulous look. “You have perfectly capable hands for this.”
Vax stuck his tongue out at her with a vicious smirk. “Just do it before I pass out.”
“I have authority,” Vex crossed her arms. “I am older than you.”
“By, like, twenty minutes!” Vax pouted.
Vex’ahlia stood, giving in and taking the string before tying the tarp up The two then crawled underneath, pulling the make shift bedding up around each other. Vex kissed her brother’s cheek before curling up against her brother’s chest. Vax put his arms around her and pulled the blanket closer before the two fell asleep together for the night.
****
Screaming.
Familiar screaming. Vax’ildan stopped in his tracks, turning away from the dumpster he was about to dig through for food and sellable trinkets. He pulled up his hood to fend off the rain which was starting to fall harder. The twins had been on the streets for about six months and were beginning their first winter on their own. With hopes of finding a warmer place, the two had been slowly been making their way south. When they couldn’t find food or a relatively warm place, they crashed at homeless shelters and bluffed about their age (which they were pretty good at). During this time, both picked up some technique in knife fighting. Vax could have been considered a protégé if knife fighting were actually a thing to be considered one for. The boy pulled out the large knife he kept in the pocket of his jeans and clutched it in his hand. He rushed as quickly as he could towards the all too familiar screaming.
He stopped in his tracks at the sight of some drunken wino pinning his sister to the alley wall trying to take her pants off, her screaming and struggling all the while. It was all Vax could do to not rush up and start stabbing the guy. Of course doing that would be a bad idea; the wino would probably get the upper hand with such an outright attack. The boy, as he was still merely a boy, gripped the knife tightly until his knuckles grew white. Staying as silent as possible, he crept up behind the wino, trying to stay as focused as he could. However, in his focusing to try to stay quiet, he didn’t see the empty can in his way until he had already kicked it. The wino turned away from Vex, focusing instead on the little bastard that interrupted his fun. Half his teeth were rotted and the other half were missing. His flesh was pock-marked and covered in different kinds of blemishes. Vax’ildan gasped in horror, taking a step back.
“What’re ya doin’ here?” the wino hissed. “Ya come to ruin my time?” then he recognized the resemblance between the two, chuckling. “Now son,” he took a step forward. “You can put the knife down. There’s no harm here. I’ll even have fun with ya too, if ya want.”
Vax was about ready to turn tail when his sister growled at the wino, swinging a punch at him and missing. The man glared at her, turning and pinning her against the wall in a choke hold. Seeing this, Vax lunged at the diseased man. His knife sunk into the shoulder of the wino. Letting go of Vex, the man quickly shoved Vax to the ground and knelt over him to start pummeling the boy. He only got in one swing before Vex knocked him off of her brother with a large metal pipe which then flung out of her hands due to inertia. With a growl, Vax got on top of that disgusting man, stabbing him in the gut. The wino’s eyes shot wide open before he let out a guttural scream.
“That’s for my sister, you son of a bitch!” The boy roared, bringing the knife up again. “And so is this!” The knife struck true, cutting open the wino’s throat. Blood rapidly welling up, the wino’s screams died to a disgusting, painful gurgling. “I HOPE YOU ROT FOR ETERNITY IN THE SEVENTH CIRCLE OF HELL!” he punctuated each word with another stab to the dead wino’s body. Vax’s chest heaved with his heavy breathing. He looked over at Vex, who was standing there, staring at her brother in shock.
“Wh-What…” she stammered, staring at the scene in front of her.
“Are you okay?” Vax’ildan asked, standing.
“You just killed someone…” Vex’ahlia was shaking. “You just killed a man.”
“He was trying to hurt you. What was I supposed to do?” he defended himself. However, his own voice shook with shock.
“I’m not saying he didn’t deserve to die, but we could get in trouble. Y-you’re covered in blood!” she took a step back.
Vax looked down at himself. His once blue hoodie was now soaked to look a deep purple. The knife fell from his now trembling hands, clattering to the ground. “Oh shit. Oh shit. What are we going to do?” he looked up at his sister for guidance.
“We need to hide the body,” Vex stated after a few moments.
Vax noded, looking around. His eyes locked on the dumpster that’s in the alley. “There,” he pointed at it.
Vex noded. “That should work.”
It took the two of them a lot of effort and quite a bit of time to finally get the mutilated wino’s body completely under the dumpster. The blood on the ground had already started to wash away. Vax then pulled off his hoodie, tossing it into the dumpster. His t-shirt seemed a bit damp from the blood, but it didn’t show through the black. He picked up his knife and put it in his pocket before he looked up at Vex. “We should find new clothes…”
She noded. “I think there’s a homeless shelter down the street.”
The rain pelted them, starting to come down in what seemed like sheets. Vax held his right arm, groaning in pain every so often. Vex questioned him about being hurt, but his only response was a grunt. The two were soaking wet by the time they had travelled the full mile and a half down the street to the shelter. Vex’s hair had come loose from her braid and turned wavy while Vax’s plastered itself to his forehead and scalp. Both were shaking almost violently with the chills. One of the volunteers almost dropped his mop when he saw the two stumble in. The twins easily lied, saying they were 18 as they were settled in to get a late dinner and a place to rest. In the morning, they each took new clothes, heading back to their things to collect them and move on.