Blood Ties - Session 09

Violet and Daniela rushed into Brother’s Pawn to rescue Benny without hesitation.  The fire grew with supernatural fury as they made their way into the shop.  The flames were already burning Benny as Violet rushed to pull him to safety.  Daniela fought her way through the flames to pull a fire extinguisher off the wall.  The two worked together and cut the bindings that tied Benny to his chair.  Benny snapped to, but he was clearly concussed.  The three made a break for the door as soon as they could.

As they fought back the flames, and made their way back to the door, Josué reappeared with his gun in hand.  The three rushed for the door and just barely slipped out under a hail of gun fire, leaving Josué behind in growing inferno.

Rudy called as they hit they crossed the street; he was alive and heading in their direction.  The three lost no time jumping into Esme’s car.  Traffic was heavy as Violet waited for an opportunity to pull a U-turn.  Josué escaped the building and put a bullet through the rear driver’s side window almost killing Benny in the backseat.  Violet couldn’t wait any longer.  She pulled out into traffic and got rear-ended, they were facing the right direction, and they were headed away from Josué.

 A block down the street a pedestrian stepped off the curb right out into the path of Esme’s speeding car.  Violet tried to swerve to miss the pedestrian and slammed the front end of the car into a parked car in the opposite side of the street.  As the car swerved Daniela saw the pedestrian get clipped by the front bumper and then dissolve into dust.  Josué kept on their trail and was still throwing bullets in their direction.  Violet pushed Esme’s car to move one again.  The car rattled and lurched for another block until they reached Rudy.  The car died for good just as Rudy hopped into the backseat with his brother.

Benny jumped out of the car and took off towards Humboldt Park and Norwegian American Hospital.  Rudy ran after him.  Violet called Rudy to meet her and Daniela on Sawyer Street at the train tracks as soon as he could grab Benny.

Violet lead Daniela down Sawyer towards an abandoned switch-track station she knew of.  The station was located a berm that would give them visual control over any potential assailants.  Daniela trailed behind slightly enough that Violet couldn’t see Frankie materialize in the middle of the street.  Daniela came to a jarring halt.  Frankie caught her and held her head in his hands and whispered a warning to her about Legion.  He told her that Legion would kill her if she got in the middle of his plans for Violet.  Daniela replied asking Frankie “Do you need help?”  Her words echoed with supernatural permanence in the vacant street as if Frankie was pleading for her help.

Daniela caught up to Violet and the two of them jumped the fence and climbed up the berm to the switch-track station.  Daniela explained her encounter with Frankie back in the street. The two began to discuss the possibility that Frankie may be trapped or controlled by Legion.  Before they could make any further sense of the situation Legion cut in spoke to Violet.  Legion told Violet that he was going to kill her, but first he needed her to understand why he wanted to kill her.  Legion tried to explain the events of the fire from 10 years ago.  Legion claimed that Frankie was trying to stop Josué, and that the fire was an accident.  Legion struggled to explain how Frankie accidentally made the fire worse, instead of snuffing it.  As Legion spoke he referred to his time spent in solitary confinement as if he was with Frankie in prison, or perhaps that he was Frankie.

Before Legion could make Violet understand, and ultimately kill her, he left because, as he said, “Somebody is approaching.”  Josué stepped out of the shadows back down by the fence. He wearily climbed the fence.  Violet took her handgun out of her purse and trained it on Josué as he hit the ground on her side of the fence.  She fired a single shot at Josué and grazed him.  The two argued over Josué’s intentions.  Josué said that Legion had told him that if he killed her he would live.  Violet called Legion’s bluff and convinced Josué that it was pointless for him to kill her, Legion planned on killing them both regardless.

Josué lowered his gun, and turned to climb back over the fence.  His last words to Violet were, “I hope you can live with yourself knowing that you are responsible for both of our deaths tonight.”  Just after he spoke, two gun shots rang out, and Josué fell to the ground dead.  A shadowed figure lit a cigarette and stepped out of their hiding place and said, “No Josué, you’re the only one who is going to die tonight.”  It was Rudy.

Blood Ties - Session 8

Esme went to meet with Phil and do some digging on Lucy and Francisco, while Violet and Daniela when to the Archdiocese offices to meet with the local church.  The diocese brought in their Director of the Department of Communications and Public Relations, Colleen Dolan to mediate the meeting and keep the record clear of anything that might further damage the church.  Father Soto seemed reluctant to explain what he knew at first but eventually Bishop Alberto Rojas and him decided against Colleen Dolan’s advice and told the truth.

Father Soto said that Lucy came to her terrified of her angel who attacked her and referred to himself Legion.  Father Soto explained that he had been hiding Lucy for the past 6 days to keep her safe in a location that only he knows of.  When pressed to reveal Lucy’s location, Father Soto wouldn’t give Lucy up, not even under the threat of arrest.  When Violet showed Father Soto the email she received from Lucy pleading for help, Father Soto revealed that the message could not have been from Lucy because Lucy had lost her phone and was in hiding when the message was sent.  While it was disappointing to Daniela that Lucy could not be reached, it was comforting to Violet to know that she was being kept safe. 

After the meeting Violet and Daniela spoke with Esme and Phil on speaker phone and learned a good deal about Francisco:

• Frankie was transferred to Draper Penitentiary because of its Psychiatric ward
• He was diagnosed as delusional, multiple-personality disorder
• He was reportedly very religious, and never violent
• Two of his cellmates committed suicide, which seemed to add to his mental state
• He served 4 of his 10 years in Draper and was released in May

Phil also made some connections between the victims of the recent Familia murders.  Cesar Torres was the leader of Familia at the time of the Mercado Sawyer fire.  According to testimony from the trial, Torres ordered 3 Familia to harass Violet’s father and intimidate him so that he would stop his pro-community campaign.  Josué, Ramon Perez, and Fransciso were all named at the trial; however Francisco was the only one of the three that was convicted.

Violet called to check in with Benny and see if Rudy had come back yet.  Benny answered his phone and told her that Rudy was back and that they should come to Brothers Pawn.  Violet detected something in his voice, something else was going on.  Esme and Phil weren’t finished with their investigation, so Violet and Daniela borrowed her car to drive back to the barrio and check in on Benny.

Just at the two woman walked in the front door of Brothers Pawn Violet’s phone began to vibrate.  Rudy was calling, but before she could speak with him the door closed behind the both of them and Josué stepped out of the back room with a gun in his hand.  Violet was able to keep Rudy on the line without Josué knowing, but they were trapped in the transaction cage.  Josué stepped up to Benny, who was bound and gagged behind the counter and stuck him with the butt of his handgun, drawing blood.

Josué began to explain that he had been working with Legion to find Lucy, but instead he found Violet snooping around at the warehouse the evening before.  Before Josué could explain anything else Legion’s voice spoke from inside the pawn shop.  Josué was visibly shaken by Legion’s appearance.  He begged for Legion to let him go.  Instead Legion yelled “Silence” and burst all but one of the light strips in the shop.  Legion seemed pleased that he had both Violet and Josué in the same place at the same time.  He explained that there was a lot of unsettled history amongst them.

Legion commanded Josué to help him reenact the events of the night of the fire.  Violet pleaded with Legion to stop, and Legion responded by whispering in her ear that “she had no idea what she had done” 10 years ago when she took the stand as a witness in the trial.  Legion ordered Josué to produce a lighter.  Josué refused at first but Legion was too much of a threat to resist.  Josué removed the lighter and flicked it, holding it with a trembling hand in front of his face.

Legion explained that Benny would play the role of Violet’s father since he was already bound and gagged.  Josué and Violet would play themselves, and Legion said that he would play Frankie. As he explained his role, Frankie stepped out of the back hall and under the one remaining pool of light.  Josué immediately put 3 bullets through Frankie’s chest.  Frankie dissolved into dust and collapsed to the floor.

Legion’s resolve was unphased, he commanded Josué to speak the words he said the night of the fire.  Josué threatened Benny as he had Violet’s father that night.  Just as he finished his threat Frankie stepped out of the shadows and extended his arms as if to stop Josué.  He was too slow.  Josué knew what was coming next and threw the lighter as if it were a live grenade.  The lighter exploded inches from his hand in the form of a supernatural fireball.  Josué was thrown back by the explosion and hit a wall.  The fire spread in an instant all over the area around Benny.  Benny struggled in his bindings to get away from the inferno that instantly surrounded him.  As he struggled he upset the chair he was tied to and fell to the burning ground behind the counter.

Daniela picked up Lucy’s rosary as the flames spread, both women have a choice to make, run for their lives or run to Benny’s rescue and certain peril.