Jesus, I’m looking over this and I’m realizing: this is bleak as fuck. But I’ve had this written out in Word forever, and so I decided to post it before my next orientation starts today. This’ll probably be the last thing I write for a while, cuz classes start Wednesday and I wanna focus on my classes. But for now, enjoy this! This is another writing for @cosmicrealmofkissteria‘s Assassin AU, and I’m... not entirely sure where it takes place. I know it takes places after New Beginnings, but that’s pretty much it. Enjoy!
Beth thought she could escape the family she left behind. She still hasn’t forgotten about them... and they haven’t forgotten about her.
Beth didn’t have many memories of her grandfather that she considered good ones, but there were a few. When he wasn’t running the mob, he was actually a decent grandfather; he played with her, told her stories about World War II and his army friends, even sat down and played with her and her dolls once. Though, that last one was because she had been pretending to be a mafia boss over her dolls, he had bene watching her, and he only came in to play because he said she wasn’t doing it right.
Another memory she had of him was when he played his records. He had a ton of old records from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and would play them all the time. But not in the place you would expect, in his living room. Oh no; he played them in the warehouses, in the background while his hitmen and guards cut up the latest person who crossed him.
His favorite one to play was “Shine On Harvest Moon.” Beth never learned why, but he loved to put on that one, and amidst the screams of the victims, he could even be heard humming along to Ruth Etting’s voice as it played on the old record player.
It was coming to her now as she drove down the road through the Nevada desert. Snow time ain’t no time to stay outdoors and spoon… So shine on, shine on harvest moon, for me and my gal…
The wheels of her car ran over a bump, and she heard a thump from the trunk. Beth winced a bit, but other than that just kept driving. She would have to get way out into the middle of nowhere to do what she had to do…
--
Earlier
Beth unlocked the door of her apartment, then she and Vinnie walked inside, talking jovially. It had been a good shift for both of them at the Luxor, and now they would be relaxing and eating takeout.
Vinnie placed the bag of takeout containers on the kitchen counter. “I’m going to go freshen up a bit, all right?”
“Sure. Don’t be too long, or I’ll eat everything!”
Vinnie laughed as he went down the hall to the bathroom. She heard a door open, then close, and he came back. “Did you wash the towels in the laundry yesterday?”
“Uh, yeah, they should be in my room.”
Vinnie nodded, then turned and disappeared down the hall again, this time turning on the hallway light.
Beth set out plates and silverware on the table, and was about to go to her room to change clothes when she suddenly heard a thump. She froze. There was another thump, then a crash. And all coming from her room.
Beth reached into her purse and pulled out a switchblade knife. She pressed the button and the blade flicked out, and she carefully stepped down the hallway towards her room.
Suddenly, the door banged open, and Vinnie flew into the hallway, landing on his back with a grunt of pain.
“Vinnie!” Beth ran to him and knelt down. There was a bruise forming on his cheek, but other than that he seemed all right. Vinnie groaned as he quickly sat up. “Vinnie, what’s—”
A huge figure came skulking out of Beth’s room, a man in a black suit. Vinnie quickly got to his feet and dragged her behind him. “Who are you?” he demanded of the person. “What do you want?”
The man looked at him, then at Beth behind him, and spoke: “Il tuo sangue,”
Italian. Both of them knew what it meant: Your blood.
The man lunged at Vinnie, wielding a huge carving knife. Vinnie pushed Beth farther away before twisting himself out of the way of the knife.
What happened next… Beth didn’t remember for certain. All she remembered was Vinnie being thrown to the ground, and her running up behind the man and stabbing him in the back with her switchblade. Then he turned and flung his hand, slapping her in the face and sending her sprawling to the ground. Then suddenly Vinnie was there, wrapping a thin wire around the man’s neck with a look of bloodthirsty rage on his face.
She did remember one certain detail: Vinnie hissing, “Come ci si sente a incontrare l’amorevole abbraccio della morte, grande uomo?”
How does it feel to meet death’s loving embrace, big man?
The man’s eyes rolled back in his head, and Vinnie released him. He fell to the ground, and didn’t move.
Vinnie retracted the wire into… somewhere, then rushed over to Beth and helped her sit up. His hand ran over her cheek where she had been struck. “Are you okay?” he murmured.
Beth just stared blankly at the body. The body of the man her cousin had just killed. In the hallway light, she could see his face now… and she knew who it was.
“… can call the police,” Vinnie was saying. “We can tell them he was in your bedroom—”
“No,”
Beth slowly shook her head. Her whole body felt numb. She picked up her switchblade knife and got to her feet. “We… We have to get him to the kitchen,”
Vinnie looked at her, then his eyes widened. “Beth, we can’t—”
“We have to,” Beth cut him off. “You know we have to. If we call the police, they’ll start poking around. They’ll find out about you, and you’ll be in prison before you can say it was self-defense.”
“But… I don’t know how…”
“I do. Just help me get him to the kitchen.”
After helping her drag the man to the kitchen, Vinnie left, presumably to check the damage to the carpet in the hallway. Either that, or because he couldn’t watch.
Beth cleaned off her switchblade under the sink, then put it back into her purse. Then she took up the knife the man had been wielding and another carving knife, and set to work.
“First, you need to cut off any way he can be identified. Tattoos, birthmarks, even little moles. Always check to make sure…”
It was a bit of a rush job, but Beth wasn’t concerned too much about that right now. When she was finished, she stood up and went to the coat closet, where she had another one of her work uniforms wrapped up in a black bag. She took out the costume, careful not to get blood on it, and brought the black bag into the kitchen.
Vinnie came back into the kitchen just as Beth was zipping up the black bag. “Is it done?”
Beth nodded. “It’s done.” She stood up, and lifted the black bag. She tried to make it seem like she was carrying the uniform inside. “Wait here until I get back.”
“Where are you going?”
Beth didn’t reply. She just headed for the door.
“Beth, wait!”
“Stay here,” she only said. Then she opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
Vinnie followed her to the door and watched her go. “Beth, wait!” he shouted desperately. “Come back!”
Beth froze at those words—but only for a moment. Then she kept walking.
--
When Beth was sure she was in the middle of nowhere, she pulled off the road and onto the desert terrain. The car bounced and jostled, but she merely slowed down and kept driving. She stopped when she couldn’t see the road anymore, and got out and went to her trunk. She lifted the black bag over her shoulder, and went behind her car to dump it onto the ground. She went back to her car and pulled out a shovel. As she walked away from her car, her grandfather’s favorite song came to mind again.
The night was mighty dark so you could hardly see… For the moon refused to shine…
She pushed the tip of the shovel into the ground, and began to dig.
She dug, and dug, and dug, trying to ignore the melody playing loudly in her head.
Couple sittin’ underneath the willow tree. For love, they pined…
“Come back!”
--
“Vinnie!” Beth ran after her cousin’s retreating form as fast as her young legs could carry her. She grabbed hold of his wrist and looked up at him pleadingly. “Please don’t go!”
Vinnie looked down at her sorrowfully and bent down on one knee. “I can’t stay, Beth. I have to go.”
“Then… Then I wanna go with you!” Beth insisted.
Vinnie shook his head. “No… It’s too dangerous for you, Beth. You need to stay here.”
Quiet sobs began to escape Beth’s throat as Vinnie drew her into a hug. He held her tightly, stroking her hair. “Goodbye, Bethie,”
He kissed her cheek, then pulled away and stood up. Beth stood there frozen, tears running down her cheeks, as Vinnie went out the door. “Vinnie, please don’t leave!” she pleaded. Vinnie didn’t look back at her. “Please don’t leave me! Come back!”
--
Beth dug until the hole she had created was large enough and deep enough. She set down the shovel, then went over to the black bag. It was very late now, and the sky was dark. Stars dotted the sky above her.
Little maid was kinda ‘fraid of darkness… So she said, “I guess I’ll go…”
She hefted up the bag, and walked back over to the hole. Then she tossed the bag, and the body, into the hole. It landed at the bottom with a satisfying crash.
Beth grabbed her shovel again, wiped sweat off her brow, then got to work filling the hole, tossing dirt and sand over the bag.
The boy began to sigh, looked up at the sky, told the moon his little tale of woe…
--
Beth lurked in the corner of the room as people milled about, drinking and talking. She hated being dragged to Nana’s parties, and was just waiting for the right time where she could go up to Nana and say she was leaving.
Her eyes fell on her grandfather. He certainly painted the picture of a jovial old man; sipping his wine, talking, and laughing. No one would ever suspect who or what he really was.
A man she recognized as his secretary walked up to him, and whispered in his ear. Papa’s smile faded, and he turned to the group of people he’d been chatting with. “Mi scusi,”
Then he left with his secretary.
After a few more minutes, Beth decided to see what they were up to. But as she entered the foyer, she saw that it was too late. Papa was escorting to the door a man in a grey suit, who was followed by…
Beth’s eyes widened.
“You better be willin’ to pull your weight in this deal, Mr. Caringi,” the man said to Papa.
“Of course I will, Mr. Aucoin,” Papa replied. “Have I ever went behind your back before?”
The man shook hands with Papa, then snapped his fingers. “Let’s go,”
He stepped forward, and followed the man out the door.
Papa didn’t even notice her. Instead, he passed her and went back inside the living room. Beth was left alone, staring at the door.
“Vinnie,” she whispered. She walked toward the door, slowly picking up speed. She wrenched the door open and ran out into the cold December air. “Vinnie!”
But she was too late; the car was already pulling away. She chased after it. “Vinnie!” she screamed. “Come back!”
The car seemed to gain speed, almost as if the driver was taunting her. Beth slowed to a stop and fell to her knees as the car turned down a street and disappeared.
“Come back,” she whimpered. “Please don’t leave me…”
--
The hole was filled now, almost as though it had never existed. Beth threw her shovel into the trunk, closed it, then got back into her car.
The sky was still dark as she pulled into a gas station. She got out of her car and went to a payphone, pulling out her coin purse. She inserted enough money, then dialed the right number.
The phone rang for a few moments, then a voice. “Hello?”
“Get me your boss. Now.” Beth ordered, switching into Italian.
There was some rustling, then faint voices, and then another voice. “Do you know what fuckin’ time it is?”
“Such language,” Beth sneered. “If Papa could hear you now… He’d have your head.”
There was a pause, then the voice switched to Italian. “What do you want?”
“I received your message. You know, the one you sent all the way to Las Vegas for me?”
Another pause. “Where is he now?”
“Six feet under somewhere in the Nevada desert. Next time, send me a letter.”
“I only wanted to—”
“I don’t care what you wanted to do. I’m still not coming back. I’m not a scared little child anymore. So leave me the fuck alone. I have a life here, one that I actually enjoy, and I am not going to let you fuck that up. If you ever try a stunt like this again, I’ll send your man back with a message of my own… and you won’t like it.”
“Elizabeth… I’m your family.”
Beth’s grip on the phone tightened until her knuckles were white. “Some family.”
Then she hung up.
--
Oh, shine on, shine on harvest moon, up in the sky…
Beth unlocked the door, then stepped into her apartment. She saw that the kitchen floor had been cleaned of any blood as she closed the door and locked it.
Vinnie was sitting at the kitchen table, nervously chewing his fingernails, and looked up when she entered. “Did you…”
Beth went over and nodded. “Yeah,”
Vinnie nodded. “Okay…”
There was a pause. Then, suddenly, all the emotions Beth should have been feeling that night hit her all at once. Tears glossed over her vision, and she felt them running down her cheeks as she started to cry.
I ain’t had no lovin’ since April, January, June, or July…
Vinnie got up and wrapped his arms around her. Beth wrapped her arms around his torso, and buried her face in his shoulder. “Please don’t leave me,” she choked out.
Gentle hands stroked her hair. “I won’t,”
Beth gripped him tighter. “Promise you won’t,”
“I promise, Bethie,”
The two of them stood there, hugging each other. And it was in the comfort of Vinnie’s arms that Beth remembered the last bit of the old song, and the melody that still haunted her.
Snow time ain’t no time to stay outdoors and spoon… So shine on, shine on harvest moon, for me and my gal.
