Bring Her Home

Brian

As the day quickly warps into the night, the five men known as Avenged Sevenfold come out to play with the darkness, black clothing being donned as soon as the sun begins to set and the grease of war paint being spread across our faces as though we’re masking ourselves for the first time.

Whenever we go out for a kill an uneasy aura sets itself between the five of us, minds completely focused on the task at hand. We’re heading back to the graveyard where we found Athena, and where obviously, Bianca’s older sister Violet was killed by whoever it was that cornered her there, yet I’m unfocused, almost bouncing on the soles of my feet as I fidget.

Matt’s checking over weapons and the others are pulling on the last of their camouflage gear, and the women we hold so dear stood in the archway to the living room, their eyes full of familiar fear and worry. Bianca stands with them for the first time, though she has no clue that I hold her as close as Jimmy and Vee, and as the only two men who haven’t got beaus waiting for them in the realms of our household, Matt and Johnny disappear outside to get the van started, itching to get up and kill some fuckers.

As Jimmy and Vee lock lips and start to eat each other’s faces off a little unattractively, I walk over to Bianca and interlock our hands again, feeling a warmth radiate off of her body as she offers me a small smile.

“You’re not expecting me to get that physical are you? Because I think I’d demand a pay rise if I was…” she smirks and I chuckle, taking another step closer to her as I try to block out the noises that the two couples on either side of us are making.

I can’t say a thing to her, my tongue is tied and my palms are sweating, brain disconnecting from my larynx. I can’t say that I love her because she’ll run away terrified, and I can’t bark her around with some order because she’s not as low as the other slaves are. She is my equal now.

“You’ll be careful, won’t you? Athena needs a father figure- and I can’t have you disappearing on my ass all of a sudden. Otherwise I’ll be employing Jimmy and little Athena will be a raging alcoholic by aged six” Bianca requests and I laugh again, glancing over at my gangly limbed friend whose swapped frantic carnal tonsil tennis for slightly sweeter, more tender kisses with the woman opposite him.

When I catch his eye, he winks and nods towards Bianca in my arms, almost the silent signal that I should be following their example.

“I’ll be as careful as I can be, if only to make sure I come back to you and Athena, OK? Don’t you worry about me- I’ll do the worrying for you,” I promise her as I edge ever closer, hearing Jimmy and Zacky call my name as they leave Vee and Alex behind, their other halves waving goodbye to them as they disappear through the front door of our home. Once they’re gone, I turn back to Bianca and without thinking, lean down and kiss her.

I know it sounds horribly cliché, but it feels like fireworks are going off inside of my stomach, electricity bursting through my veins like I’ve just blown a fuse between my internal organs. It’s soft and sweet, our lips melting together like they were made to be together, chapped skin against warm plump swells of skin, her purple lipstick tasting almost like heaven on the edge of my tongue. Her hands find themselves on my waist and my hands cup her soft skin, the fingertips of my hands just able to touch the silky smooth complexion of the girl in front of me.

“Brian, get your skinny ass out here- we’re leaving!” Zacky calls from the van and we break apart abruptly, eyes connecting slightly breathlessly as I let myself smile, sure that I’ve confused the both of us even more.

“I’ll be safe, I promise. We’ll talk when I come back” I assure her, pressing one last kiss to her forehead before I run out of the house as fast as I can, barely hearing her whisper a final goodbye to me as I jump into the van, grabbing the nearest bandana and black ski hat before the doors are slammed and locked, the engine kicking into life as we roar off into the night, ready to face the kill.

As I wrap the bandana around my mouth, which still tastes like Bianca strangely, and place the black hat over my unruly hair, Jimmy hands me the black paint for my skin and I place two identical black lines underneath my dark eyes, the Synyster Gates side of me starting to rear its ugly head and make its arrival.

It’s almost like being a product of the infamous Jekyll and Hyde effect; one moment I am Brian Haner, the man who looks after a child with a girl he’s secretly in love with but doesn’t have the balls to tell her how he feels and the next, I am Synyster Gates, feared assassin with zero mercy and zero patience for the victims that get sent to me on the black and white cards.

The van is silent for a moment, Matt poised at the steering wheel as he takes the familiar route to the graveyard, until Zacky finally breaks the uncomfortable tension, pulling down his skull ridden bandana to shoot me one of his infamous smirks.

“So how was sucking face with ‘she’s not my girlfriend’ Bianca?” he asks cockily and I groan, letting my head fall backwards against the metal interior of the van. So much for trying to keep those stolen kisses a secret from my friends; they’re going to give me shit for it for sure.

“Fuck off Zack, I’m confused. The last thing I need are your ballsy comments convincing me any differently than how I’m supposed to think”

“Well I think it’s a good thing- you’re obviously smitten with her, and I bet you she feels the same way. How’s that for ballsy?”

For a moment, I sit contemplating his comment for a moment, wondering if Bianca really was feeling the same way as me. We’ve kissed a few times, and I’ve always been the one to initiate it, but that’s really because I can’t keep my lips to myself and to be honest, Bianca does things to me that just aren’t natural- they’re almost animalistic.

Before I get a chance to respond however, the engine cuts out and Matt turns around in the driver’s seat, hazel eyes narrowed to the point where we know the anger is steadily overtaking him, the thrill of killing surging through his body.

“Alright Vengeance, you’re up. Who are we looking for and why do we want them?” Matt says softly, his voice like thunder bolts rushing through the dark clouds above us. We crowd around Vengeance, who lays out two pictures of our victims, their eyes hidden from view by masks.

“These are the closest pictures I could get, but we know that their traitors to our allegiance, they’ve been sharing out secrets to the enemy force, walking beyond enemy lines. Names are unclear currently but all we need to do is take them down before Bullet stick their heads in. They’ve been after them for months- a quick job and we’re out of here” Zacky orders and with a quick reshuffling, the five of us are primed and ready to move.

Jimmy, who has already disappeared into the dark depths of The Rev, counts out to three on his fingertips without even saying a word to any of us and throws open the large doors, each of us jumping out and sprinting to the nearest safe spot, unseen by whoever it is that we’re catching tonight.

I duck behind a tree and yank my gun out of my back pocket, dark eyes scanning the nearby area to see if the enemy are following me, or if they’re even here nearer to me. Suddenly, I feel an arm around my throat and I’m yanked up to my feet, throat being closed off by the roughness of another person.

With ease, I throw him off of me and punch him in the stomach, wrestling him to the ground and using my knee to keep him in place, the bone dangerously close to disappearing into his groin and causing him more pain than I intended. He struggles desperately under my death grip, my hands slipping the gun next to his temple as the bright flash of the moonlight against a dog tag that hangs around his throat with great precision. I smirk and stroke my finger against the trigger, my mouth twisting into a sadistic smile.

“Got any last words, punk?” I murmur, edging ever closer to the terrified man, who yanks off the tag from around his neck and throws it at my chest, his eyes narrowing in disgust as he clenches his eyes shut waiting for the worst to be over.

“Yeah…tell Bianca that her mother’s favourite child wants his neice back” the voice chuckles and in horror, I realise who the man beneath me is. I tug at the mask around his face and spot the scruff of an attempted beard beneath his lips, the nose piercing and the cold blue eyes that stare up at me, daring me to shoot him.

Matt Tuck waits for the right moment, catching me off guard as I stare down at the dog tag in my hands and overpowers me, flipping us over so I’m on the ground at his mercy, my eyes widening in horror. He grabs my gun that’s skidded across the concrete and aims it at my stomach, chuckling as he hears the sound of my friends yelling voices, trying to find me.

“This will only hurt a lot” he mutters and pulls the trigger, a white hot blinding pain filling my stomach as I let out a less than manly scream at the feeling of a bullet pulsing through my skin. He drops the gun and runs, disappearing through the trees as quick as a wolf and before my eyes close, I see the figures of the other three members of Bullet swarming through the trees.

“Man down- MAN DOWN!” Jimmy screams as he bursts through the trees, collapsing down next to me and yanking down his disguise to check what the damage is. I’m surrounded by my brothers in arms, the brothers I’ve so willingly taken a bullet for.

“Brian? Brian please…don’t give up, you can do this. We need to get him back, he’s been shot…” Jimmy pleads with me, gripping my hands as The Rev slowly disappears from him, my old friends terrified expression swimming in and out of focus.

“Jimmy…he knows. Matt Tuck knows about Athena…and he wants her back” I whisper hoarsely before the darkness overtakes me and I slip into the deep and looming realms of unconsciousness.

Notes