“Uncle Reb, are you okay?” Clayton asked as he walked beside his uncle and frowned at the way the man kept grunting and wincing in pain.  

                “Yeah, kid, I’m just fine.” Reb replied as he positioned himself beside Clayton and Clayton knew he was trying to block his view of the dead bodies in the dining room.

                Clayton coughed as smoke filled his lungs and he could feel the heat from the flames currently burning up the dining room. The smell was strange and almost pleasant which was disgusting considering that scent was bodies burning and smoldering.

                Clayton’s bravery was beginning to fade. He was hungry. He was tired. His head hurt and his ribs ached. His Uncle Bart was dead and Clayton had seen it! He had seen Bear pull the trigger and shoot his uncle in the head.  

                He just wanted to get into a bed, cuddle up to his ma and pa and feel safe and warm again.

                “Yer ma and pa’ll be just fine, Clayton. It shouldn’t take ‘em long and then we’ll be able to get home.”  Reb said comfortingly as they stepped from the house and Clayton took big gulping lung fulls of the fresher air.  Though the smell of blood, gunpowder, smoke and burning flesh was out here as well.

                Clayton’s jaw trembled and he cursed himself. He weren’t no baby! But all he wanted to do was curl up and cry. Fatigue was setting in and he was hurting awfully bad. Clayton didn’t reply to his Uncle Reb, knowing that if he tried to speak just now he would probably end up crying and he wanted Uncle Reb to believe that he was tough.

                A sound to his left had his head whipping around and he cried out with shock when he saw a man covered in blood limping quickly toward him. The man’s face was singed black, his clothes were torn and soaked in crimson red, and his lips were pulled back in a pain filled sneer.

                “Shit, I’m outta bullets!” Reb exclaimed as he tried to grab Clayton and move him out of the way but Clayton stood firm and raised the .38 his pa had given him just as the bloody man raised a gun of his own. The man was close now….. ten feet, nine feet, eight feet…. Clayton’s hands were shaking terribly but it seemed the bloody man was out of bullets well.

                Clayton heard him let out a raspy bellow of rage which was silenced quickly when Clayton squeezed the trigger of that double action revolver and the roar of a bullet deafened them all.

                Clayton had shut his eyes when he’d pulled the trigger and his trembling hand dropped the gun to the ground as he kept his eyes squeezed tight and began to rock back and forth. A tear slipped down his cheek as he prayed he’d killed the man while feeling vomit rise in his throat at the thought.

                Then he felt his uncle Reb’s hand resting on his shoulder. “Good job, Clayton.”

                “Is he dead?” Clayton asked without opening his eyes. He had them shut so tight that it hurt but he didn’t want to see…. He didn’t want to see another dead person ever, not for as long as he lived.

                “Yeah, kid, he’s dead.” Reb replied gently. “Come on now, I’ll get ya out of here.” Clayton nodded and heard Reb pick up the dropped revolver before guiding Clayton back down the yard toward the broken gate and the freedom that lay beyond.

                Clayton decided right then and there that he was tired of being so grown up and smart. First thing he was gonna do when he got home was be a regular kid and chase a chicken.

***

                Joe and Jonah made their way up a grand staircase, both of them on high alert for anything and everything. Jonah was fairly certain that all the guards were dead but that didn’t mean someone else in this house wouldn’t get trigger happy and try to slam a bullet into his or Joe’s back.

                All Jonah knew for sure was that killing Bear and Scarlett, even if they were unarmed and begging for mercy, was going to be the easiest thing he had ever done.

                Jonah didn’t know if nightmares would haunt him later because of all he had seen and done in the last couple of days. He didn’t know how hard it would be to look in the mirror knowing he had taken so many lives. But what he did know was that Scarlett and Bear had dared to lay their hands on what was Jonah’s and that simply wasn’t allowed.

                Jonah had nearly lost his family before he’d even been given a real chance to be part of the family with them and these monsters were going to pay for ever bruise, lump, scratch and haunted expression that Jonah had seen on his son.

                Jonah tensed when he heard footsteps behind a closed door and he nodded at Joe who had heard them too. Jonah took a deep breath and then kicked the door hard, causing the skinny man inside to let out a cry and attempt to hide behind a curtain.

                Jonah raised his brow, was this man honestly hiding behind a curtain while wearing nothing but a white sleeping gown?  He glanced at Joe but she simply appeared amused.

                “I reckon ya should go in there after him.” She urged and Jonah sighed and crossed the floor, his boots thudding against the bright and polished wood.

                “Sir, I got a question for you.” Jonah said and the man let out a squeak from behind the curtain and curled up in a ball at the floor. Jonah rubbed his face and then squeezed his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

                “I’m not going to hurt you,” he insisted and the man reached out a trembling hand and moved the curtain just enough so Jonah could see his face.

                “Wh…What do ya want?” the man asked, his voice trembling and his lip quivering.

                “Do you know where Scarlett and Bear are? Where is her office?” 

                The man looked around Jonah to glance at Joe and then turned his attention back to Jonah. “Up one more floor, big oak door, only room up there on the east side. It’s a big room.”

                “Thanks, sir…. Uh.. You can get back to your cowering now.” The man glared at Jonah but  Jonah  just laughed quietly, turned and walked back out of the room with Joe chuckling beside him.

                “And that, Jonah, is what convinces me that there is a God.”

                “A man in a nightdress cowering like a little school girl behind a curtain?”

                “No.” Joe replied with a roll of those beautiful green/gray eyes. “It’s the fact that even after all we’ve gone through lately, we’re still able to laugh when somethin’ crazy like that happens.” Jonah grinned and Joe nudged him with her shoulder. “I like yer smile.”

                “I only wear this one when I’m with you.” Jonah replied honestly and Joe beamed up at him.

                “Jonah Winchester, I do believe you are the sweetest damned man I’ve ever met.”

                “And Joe Winchester, I do believe that you are the only damned woman who can be wooed with the scent of blood, gunpowder and smoke hanging in the air.”

                Joe nodded. “Yer probably right. Ya got lucky when ya found me. Hell ya practically won the whole damned pot.”

                “I can’t argue with that.” Jonah agreed, kissing her dark hair, which he hated and prayed like hell would be back to red sooner rather than later. “Now let’s go kill those two bastards so we can get on home and I can get Clayton that horse I’ve been promising.”

***

                “Miss Scarlett, you shouldn’t worry so much. He’s only one man and I’ve killed plenty.”  Bear stated with exasperation. Scarlett did not even pause in her panicked pacing as she clutched her derringer tight in her hand.

                “You don’t understand, Bear! Jonah Winchester has a dangerous and deadly side that Harmon and I did not realize was there when we chose to use him to take the fall for us. If we had seen it beforehand than we never would have chosen him!”

                “My bullets will kill a dangerous man just the same as they will a regular one.” Bear assured her and Scarlett snorted with annoyance.

                “You don’t understand! He’ll be hell bent on killing us. Especially if he learns that Joe and that little brat are dead.” 

                Scarlett stopped pacing when she saw the sheepish expression on Bear’s face. “You did kill them both didn’t you?” she whispered cautiously and Bear shook his head as he picked at a frayed string on the front of his shirt.

                “Not exactly, Miss Scarlett.”

                “What does ‘not exactly’ mean?” Scarlett hissed, contemplating pulling her gun and shooting the big man directly in the face. Bears big hand rubbed at the back of his dirty neck.

                “Well I tied ‘em both up and locked ‘em down there real good and tight. They won’t go nowhere.”

                “My specific orders to you were to kill them both and get up here so we could get away together. What part of that was hard for you to understand?!” Scarlett demanded, trying very hard to keep from shrieking in her rage.

                “Don’t be made at me, Miss Scarlett. I’ll kill this Jonah and his one eyed bastard friend and then you and I can take our time with that woman and boy… I know that woman’s the one that killed your husband. I figured you’d want to make her suffer some.”

                Scarlett took a deep breath and counted to three. Bear was right, she did want to see Joe suffer. She wanted to be the one to bring that bitch the pain she deserved.  This could work out. Surely together she and Bear could get rid of Jonah, if the man was even still alive. Perhaps he and Reb had already been mortally wounded or killed.

                A woman could hope, couldn’t she?

                It would seem that she could not because at that exact moment there was a tap on the office door.

                “Scarlett? Bear Bear? Y’all gonna come on out and play with us?” Jonah’s voice came through the thick slab of oak.

                “Or are we gonna have to come on in there and get ya?” Joe chimed in.

                Scarlett felt every ounce of blood drain from her face, her stomach dropped to her feet and her heart began to race. She looked at Bear with shock and the big man shrugged.

                “Don’t worry, Miss Scarlett. I’ll make short work of them.”

                He raised his revolver and quickly emptied it, all six shots slamming through the door. Silence reigned on the other side and Scarlett felt hope filling her. Maybe Bears bullets had done their jobs……

                That thought quickly left when Scarlett heard a sound that made her blood freeze.

                Laughter.

                Joe and Jonah were laughing.

****

                “Bear Bear, that sounded like six shots you just fired. You got any more bullets or did you just blow every one of them through that door?” Jonah asked with a chuckle. Joe smiled at him as they stood side by side against the wall.

                “Judging by the lack o’bullets coming at us now and the way you and the whore have gotten quiet all at once I’m guess yer out of bullets. Ya sure did teach that door a lesson though.”

                Neither Bear nor Scarlett spoke and Joe didn’t hear any movement.

                “How many bullets we got left?” she whispered to Jonah.

                “I got two in the carbine and you got one in that .45.”

                “Is that all?” Joe demanded and Jonah shrugged.

                “I had to shoot a few people to reach you. You know they didn’t exactly roll out the welcome wagon for me, Josephine.”

                “Got any dynamite left?” Joe asked with a grin and Jonah nodded.

                “Yep, one stick but I ain’t using it on them. I want them to suffer a bit more than that.”

                Joe nodded with understanding. She did too.

                “Alright, Joe, we know that Scarlett used to carry that little gut buster with her. It holds two shots so what I’m gonna do is throw the door open and stay out of the way while she wastes those.”

                Joe nodded and then let out a shout when she saw a man round the corner behind Jonah. It was the skinny man in the nightdress and he had a shot gun aimed at Jonah’s gut. Knowing Jonah wouldn’t be able to aim the carbine and fire a shot before the other man pulled the trigger, Joe quickly aimed the .45 and blasted a hole through the attacker’s chest. The sudden pain caused his finger to tighten on the trigger and Joe nearly screamed when the gun blast sounded. She turned, certain she would see Jonah standing there with a shotgun hole through his stomach but instead the spray of shot had hit the wall behind him and he was crouched down low staring at the man with shock.

                Joe let out a sigh of relief as she turned back to the skinny man and saw that his white nightdress had quickly become crimson red.  After letting out a shocked gasp he fell to the ground, the shotgun clattering to the floor.

                “Why in the hell did he do that?” Jonah asked, slowly standing straight again as Scarlett and Bear began murmuring once again in the room, obviously wondering what had just happened. “I could have killed that man while he hid from me and I didn’t… Why would he try to kill me now?”

                “Cuz he’s clearly sufferin’ from idiocy.” Joe replied with a shrug. She tossed the now empty revolver away and grabbed the shotgun, cursing loudly when she realized it was empty. “A bad case of idiocy cuz he came at two of us with a gun that only had one shot!”

                “Well now we’re down to two shots in the carbine so I really hope we’re right about Scarlett just having that gut buster.” Jonah said with a sigh. “Now get back and stay down.” He warned.

                Joe could have told him to quit bossing her around but she didn’t. She knew Jonah was just as ready for this to be over as she was.

                Jonah threw open the office door quickly and then plastered himself against the wall as two shots were fired quickly.

                “Ya missed us again.” Joe stated, cursing this damn dress she was wearing as it slowed her up and caused Jonah to be the first one to step in front of the open door, though she followed close after him.

                She was relieved when no bullets were fired at them and she saw Bear and Scarlett standing against the window on the far side of the room. Their empty guns were lying on the floor in front of them. Scarlett looked scared very nearly to death as she held a dagger in her hand and Bear stood with his hands clenched tightly around a long iron fire poker.

                “So you’re Bear?” Jonah all but growled as he stepped forward. Bear nodded, his bare forearms bulging as he gripped that poker.

                “Yes. And you’re the Jonah Winchester I’ve heard so much about. According to your son you can kill me ten different ways before I even know you’re around.”

                Joe wanted to laugh at the surprised and proud look on Jonah’s face but she didn’t really think that now was the time.

                Before another word could be spoken, Bear charged and Jonah barely managed to get the carbine up and fire a shot before Bear was on him, swinging that poker.

                Joe knew that Jonah’s shot had missed because of Bear’s erratic movements and now the man was dodging Bear’s swings, unable to get the rifle up to fire the last remaining bullet.

                Joe was rushing forward to help him when she caught a flash of satin run out the door and realized Scarlett was getting away. Another shot fired and Bear screamed with rage and pain as the bullet grazed across his thigh and his attacks on Jonah increased in intensity.

                “Go get her!” Jonah yelled as he and Bear became locked in a battle of strength, both of them gripping the poker tight. Joe was torn in two directions. She didn’t want anything to happen to Jonah and yet she knew she couldn’t let Scarlett get away because her family would never be safe if she did.

                “Are you sure you can handle him?” Joe asked, still amazed at the sheer size of Bear. Jonah threw her a glare and was about to say something when Bear grunted and shook Jonah off the poker, throwing the man across the room like a rag doll and causing him to bounce off the wall.

                “Jonah!” Joe yelled angrily.

                “Just go! I’ve got him!” Jonah yelled back and as Bear lunged for her and Joe prepared herself for the attack, Jonah came hurtling toward them like a cannon blast and slammed into Bear, bringing both men to the ground.

                It really was something to watch. Bear, easily seven feet tall with oak tree proportions battling Jonah, six and a half feet tall and long, lithe and leanly muscled. Each of them were fighting with everything they had and neither was losing nor gaining an inch.

                “Go Joe!” Jonah yelled again and Joe knew she had no choice but to listen to him. She ran for the door and hoped she’d find that good for nothing whore before she got away.

***

                “You sure don’t seem like all that much. I believe your boy was making you sound a bit better than you are.” Bear growled as he tossed Jonah aside once again and Jonah bit his tongue to keep from crying out in pain as his wounded side collided with the solid mahogany desk.

                Shit but this was one big bastard! He was trying to collect himself when the poker fell across his back and this time Jonah did cry out as his body went crashing to the floor.

                “This is too easy, Jonah. I’m kinda disappointed.” Bear growled as he stood over Jonah. Jonah was reminded of his uncle towering over him as he’d been a small boy and cowered beneath the man. His uncle had favored a whip as his weapon of choice to teach Jonah his place. Jonah hadn’t ever been able to hit him back with that whip but by God Bear was going to be eating that goddamned poker before this was over.

                “I’d hate to disappoint you, Bear.” Jonah gasped, dragging himself across the floor. As bad as he was hurting already from the ass kicking Bear was dishing out, Jonah knew it was going to be one hundred times worse in the morning. He was getting way too old for this shit.

                “Where you goin’?” Bear asked with a chuckle and his boot connected with Jonah’s ribs. Jonah grunted in pain as sweat covered his brow. “It’s funny…” Bear stated, raising the poker over his head, point down. Jonah knew he was preparing to drive that poker into him. “I kicked your boy just yesterday and he cowered about the same as you are.”

                Jonah saw red and when Bear brought that poker down, Jonah grabbed it in his hands and jerked it forward. Bear’s eyes widened in surprise as he was pulled down and the poker slipped from his unsuspecting hands. Jonah brought up his feet and kicked Bear in the chest, knocking him back just before swinging the poker and catching the man in the ribs solidly with the hard piece of iron.

                Bear fell to the side and then roared as he came toward Jonah again. This time the bottom of Jonah’s boot caught the man hard in the chin and sent his neck snapping back and his body flailing.

                With a growl Jonah got to his feet and stalked toward the man. Bear came at him again and Jonah swung that poker and caught the bastard hard in the arm, spinning his body and cracking bone as Bear bellowed in pain.

                “Did you enjoy hitting my son, you bastard?” Jonah growled and he swung the poker again, this time catching Bear in the side of the knee as the man backed away from him and driving the giant to one knee as he clutched at his shattered leg and screamed.

                “Stop!” Bear yelled, his face pale and his eyes shining. “Just kill me and get it over with.”

                “Oh I’m going to kill you.” Jonah promised and then he swung the poker again and caught Bear’s other leg, shattering his thigh bone.

                “Did you have fun kicking my little boy in the ribs, you son of a bitch? Was it worth it?” Jonah demanded as Bear vomited from pain and then fell onto his back.

                Jonah stood above the sadistic bastard and watched him cowering  there. He was whimpering like a whipped pup as he begged Jonah to kill him, vomit and spit covering dripping off his trembling lips.

                “Did you have fun kicking my wife?” Jonah asked calmly.

                “No…” Bear gasped, trying hard to scoot away, though it was impossible with so many of his bones broken.  Jonah swung the poker again, though this time he was careful to not swing so hard as it cracked across Bear’s head. He wanted the man in pain, not unconscious or dead.

                Blood dripped out of Bear’s mouth as he gasped for breath and Jonah sneered. “Guess you realize now that you’re not nearly as tough as you thought you were don’t you? You’re a coward. You hit children, kick women and shoot helpless men…… You had better hope God forgives better than I do.”

                With that Jonah raised the poker one last time and Bear’s eyes widened just as Jonah brought it down, sinking the sharp tip deep into Bear’s chest and impaling his heart.

                Jonah watched the life leave Bear’s eyes and then he too collapsed on the floor. His body screaming in protest at the effort he’d just put in to paying Bear back. The deep graze on his upper arm was burning like hell and his arm muscles ached and throbbed from swinging the poker with so much force.

                His side was tight and burning as well and he suspected his ribs were bruised, though he didn’t think they were broken.  He sat there, leaned against Scarlett’s desk for several long moments, catching his breath.

                Then all at once, Jonah shoved himself back up on his shaking legs. He had to find Joe, he had to make sure she was okay and then get to his son and get his family home.

***

                Joe’s lung began to burn the instant she went down the staircase to the first floor. The air was thick with smoke and Joe’s eyes filled with wet tears. She saw the flash of purple satin as Scarlett rounded the corner toward the kitchens.  

                Joe was glad that the path Scarlett had chosen would take them around the dining room instead of through it.  She didn’t want to see what was in there. She could smell it all burning and smoldering, though she realized that the fire wasn’t spreading. Jonah had been right when he’d said there was too much stone.

                “Where the devil ya think yer running too, Scarlett? Ya might as well just get on out here and get what’s comin’ to ya.” Joe called out as she too went down the hallway, all her senses on high alert, waiting for a sneak attack.

                The kitchen door closed just as Joe rounded a corner and she headed for it. Joe let out a cough as her lungs protested against the smoke in the air and then she threw open the door and entered the kitchen.

                A woman dressed in servants garbs screamed and ran out the back and Joe was distracted by her movement and didn’t see Scarlett until it was too late to dodge the copper pan that came crashing into her face.

                Joe stumbled backward, tripping over the stupid skirt of the dress she was wearing and falling to the floor. Blood was filling her mouth and she spit a long stream of it into the floor and then rolled quickly to the side when Scarlett came lunging for her with a long butchers knife.

                “I’ll kill you!” Scarlett screeched. Joe grabbed the counter to lift herself up and jumped to the side just quickly enough to keep Scarlett’s knife from sinking into her back, though she wasn’t fast enough to keep it from slicing across her arm just above her elbow.

                Joe threw her leg back, kicking Scarlett in the stomach and causing the woman to double over. Joe didn’t waste any time before turning and grabbing Scarlett’s dark hair in her hands and bringing the woman’s face down into her knee.

Twice.

Hard.

                Scarlett jerked away from her and stumbled back several steps, throwing her dark hair over her shoulder and glaring at Joe, blood pouring from her broken nose. Joe spit out another stream of blood motioned with her hand for Scarlett to come at her.

                “Let’s get this over with, whore. I’m ready to get on home with my husband and son.”

                “You’ll never see them again!” Scarlett exclaimed, though her voice was high pitched and off key thanks to her injured face. “You took my husband from me and I’ll take yours from you.”

                “I’m gonna reunite ya with yer man, Scarlett. That much I can promise. Ya should’ve known better than to lay yer ugly whore hands on my son.”

                Scarlett screamed and charged at Joe. Joe sidestepped her, turned quickly, threw her hand on the back of Scarlett’s head and slammed Scarlett’s face into the stone countertop, before tossing her to the floor.

                Scarlett moaned as Joe walked to her and stood over the top of her. Scarlett tried to raise the knife again but Joe put her boot over the woman’s wrist and stepped down hair, causing Scarlett to whimper in pain and drop the knife.

                “Ya think yer tough but let me tell ya somethin’,” Joe sneered, swiping the blue satin sleeve of her dress over her bloody lip. “Ya ain’t nothin’. I believe I showed ya once, way back when, how a real woman deals with trouble. Well I’m fixin’ to show ya again.”

                “I’m helpless… you’d kill a helpless woman?”

                “Ya ain’t a woman, yer a whore. And ya didn’t bat an eye over killin’ Bart and he was helpless too. Ya didn’t bat an eye over framing Jonah for bank robbin’ and leavin’ him fer dead and full of holes. Ya didn’t bat an eye over kidnapping my son, or covering him in bruises…. Why the hell would I bat an eye over killin’ you?”

                Scarlett tried to speak again but her mouth and nose were so full of blood that she simply coughed instead, spraying the crimson liquid onto Joe’s skirt. Joe bent down and picked up the long knife.

                She pressed the blade just under Scarlett’s breast and against her racing heart. Truthfully Joe was struggling with this. It went against her nature to kill a woman who was already beaten but Joe knew it had to be done… Scarlett was crazy and, if left alive, the woman would find a way to come back after Joe and her family.

                She remembered what Jonah had said yesterday just before killing the guard in the forest and she sighed. “No looking over our shoulders.” 

                Scarlett’s eyes widened as Joe slid the blade between her ribs and deep into her heart.

                Joe left the knife in Scarlett’s chest as she moved away from her fell to the floor. She leaned her back against the cabinets and rested her head against them, trying to fight off the nausea and shakes she was feeling. It was one thing to kill someone in self-defense and another to sink your knife into their heart while they lay helpless beneath you. But it had to be done. There had simply been no other way it could be.

                Jonah. Joe needed Jonah. Was he okay? She got to her feet, spitting another stream of blood and cradling her burning arm against her chest as she ran from the kitchen and back toward the stairs that would lead upstairs.

                “Jonah!” she called.

                “Joe!?” Jonah came racing down the stairs then and Joe let out an animalistic sob that was a mixture of relief, joy and tears as he swept her into his arms and held her tight.

                She threw her good arm around his neck and covered her face with her hand, weeping even while she laughed. Jonah pulled her away and kissed her brow tenderly before looking her over.

                “Are you okay?” he asked, touching her lumped head and cut arm gingerly.

                “I’m fine.” Joe assured him as she took a deep shuddering breath to calm herself and nodded. “I’m tougher than I look.”

                “Toughest person I know.” Jonah agreed.

                “They’re both dead then?” Joe asked, burying her nose in the crook of her arm to combat the smoke and odor.

                “I reckon.” Jonah replied.

                “Ya okay? Did he hurt ya bad?” Joe asked, though even she could see the bruises on his face and the way he was standing a little crooked as if his ribs were hurting on one side.

                “Yeah I ain’t as good as I used to be.”

                Joe laughed lightly. “Well let’s get the hell outta here and hug our son.”

                Jonah nodded, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and guiding her toward the foyer. “Sounds like a damn good plan to me, Josephine.”