Baby Does Her Laundry...

[Depraved]

Vera-Ellen laughed again.
"Goddamn, Clem...don't you know your boss's name by now?"
She tossed her golden hair and took a long pull of her beer as Clem struggled with his wriggling guts.
"I mean, that asshole on the bed was going by Sully the last time I cut him!"
She examined her bloody knife with joy. She turned her head, eyes full of surprised alarm, when she heard a voice from the shadows beyond the bed.
"I think the dumb fucker you just gutted is referring to me."

[Depraved]

Flipping the knife in her hand, Vera-Ellen searched the shadows that lay beyond Sully's bloody bed. A slim figure leaned against the doorframe, watching her with interest.
She bared her teeth and snarled out a greeting.
"Well howdy there...asshole!"
She met his gaze with furious indignation. She could barely make him out in the dim light, but it looked like he was smiling.
"I knew I left that fucking door closed."
She stood proud, bloody knife poised. He stepped from the bathroom and into the dim light.
His pale hair was combed back over his ears in a grown-out prison cut. Intense blue eyes twinkled with delight as he took another step closer to her. His smile grew wider as he approached her. Looking down at Sully bleeding on the bed, he laughed a little.
"A little darlin' like you oughta keep her windows locked at night, don't you think?"Vera-Ellen tossed her head again, impatient with his games.
What the fuck do you think you're doing here...Cheever, is it?"
He nodded, then looked past her with alarm.
She struggled furiously as Clem wrapped his hands around her throat. She ground her heel into his instep, and tumbled to the floor with him in a tangle of bloody intestines. She swung out wildly with her knife, and caught him across his face, slicing open one of his bulging eyes. A gush of fluids sprayed across her face, and she recoiled as he used the last of his strength to throttle her.
With her last breath, Vera-Ellen cursed herself, and that Cheever asshole. She'd let herself get distracted! Daddy would be so ashamed of her. She worked her knife back up to strike again, and snarled as she slashed at Clem aimlessly. Her throat burning, she watched the room turn slowly black.

[Depraved]

Choking and spitting, Vera-Ellen swam back up into consciousness. She could feel the heavy weight of Clem's body still lying partway on her, and the slick warmth of his entrails wrapped around her. Sliding around in his vital juices, she stretched and opened her eyes.
She screamed when she saw Clem's face staring down at her, then narrowed her eyes in suspiscion at the slack expression it wore. Noticing the fresh blood running down the forehead, she leaned her head back and laughed out loud.
"Oh, very fucking funny..."
From behind the mask he'd made of Clem's skinned face, Cheever just stared at Vera-Ellen. Taken aback at Vera-Ellen's far from typical response, he just stared as she pushed Clem's corpse off of her and drew herself upright. He made no argument when she took the beer he'd been pouring on her face, and just watched her as she drank it down.
Looking down at the partly flayed Clem's bloodstained remains, she wiped her face with her hand, and laughed again.
"I thought I was a goner there...glad you stepped in"
A hard look crept across her face as she regarded him with suspiscion.
"Now, why exactly did you help me?"

Cheever pushed the mask up over his face, resting it on the top of his head in a mashed pile of twisted features. He shut his eyes and wiped at the blood slicking his face before meeting her gaze with a strange question burning behind deceptively lovely blue eyes.
"Guess I couldn't stand seeing a pretty girl like you get hurt..."
Vera-Ellen stared at him for a moment, incredulous; she laughed again.
"Oh, try another one on me, you fucking joker!"
His jaw dropped as she continued.
"I'd bet you cash money that a fucking joker like you doesn't do favors for anyone."
She smirked at him, then smiled enticingly.
"Unless there was a little something in it for you, of course."
Vera-Ellen sat down on the end of the bureau, and indicated the pile.
"Care to partake?"
She scooped up some of the white powder in in her hand, and held it out to him with an innocent smile. He took a step toward her, and leaned forward. She flung the handful of cocaine into his eyes and tackled him with a howling scream. She wrestled him to the ground as he choked and sputtered, fighting him for possesion of her knife. Blade secure in her hand, she rolled away in a quick movement, leaving him rolling around on the carpet with his hands over his face and hollering.
"Shit! Fuck! Shit! Fuck!"

[Depraved]

Cheever finally stopped spazzing long enough to sit up, wiping at his face.
Sitting on the end of the dresser, Vera-Ellen laughed and laughed.
"You look just like a fucking clown with that shit all over your face!"
She covered the mouth of her beer bottle with her finger, gave it a good shake, then sprayed him with foam.
Growling, he shook his head, then started laughing quietly. She joined in after a moment, but kept her knife poised and her eyes sharp.
When Sully moaned piteously, they both turned their heads to look.
Sully lay on the now filthy mattress, naked and covered in blood.
"What's going on?" he cried weakly, and shuffled his feet against the matress.
Vera-Ellen glared at him impatiently.
"Ain't you dead yet?"
Cheever looked back at her, and considered her carefully.
"So, you did this to him?"
She nodded her head.
"Trust me, fella; I'm not half done with him either."
Cheever watched her as she moved back over to stand by Sully, and watched with rising excitement as he cringed away from her; making small noises deep in his throat, he looked up at Cheever with pleading eyes.
"Jesus Christ, Drifty; get this bitch away from me!"
Sully jerked mightily at his bonds, hands purpled and stiff. He began crying softly, tears loosening the clotted blood in his eyes.
"I'll give you anything, man; fucking anything!"
Cheever grinned at Vera-Ellen.
"And you wonder why I helped you out?"
He gestured grandly at the pleading Sully.
"Well, there's your fucking answer!"

[Depraved]

Cheever reached down, grabbed a good handful of Sully's long, greasy hair, and held his head up at a painful angle. Vera-Ellen began to giggle helplessly, and bent down to plant a wet, smacking kiss on Sully's cheek. He started flailing and kicking his legs, causing fresh blood to soil the mattress further as his wound reopened.
Cheever reached out and pinched the wound shut, staunching the flow of blood.
"Where'd you hide the fucking money, Sully?"
He released his hold for a moment, and watched the rapidly flowing blood seep into the mattress. He pinched it off again, and leaned down to speak again.
"Better tell me quick. I don't suppose you have a lot of time left if I don't help you, and that girlfriend of yours is getting pretty impatient."
Sully shook his head.
"That crazy bitch isn't my girlfriend! She's just some dumb piece of pussy I picked up over on Broadway."
He shut his eyes for a moment and shuddered.
"Fuck, man...watch your back around that little cunt...she's off her fucking rocker."
Laughing, Vera-Ellen brought her blade down to trace the design tattooed onto Sully's shoulder and upper arm.
"A snake, huh?"
A slow gleam built in her eyes as she considered it carefully.
"You know, Cheever; I have always wanted a tattoo..."
Cheever leaned over Sully's body to put a careful hand on Vera-Ellen's knife hand, holding her still for a moment as she watched him with careful eyes.
"Say, girlie; would you mind holding this shut for just a second? I have a few things to ask Sully here before he bleeds to death, and I'm starting to think I might need both hands."
She nodded, and slipped her hand under his to make the switch. As Cheever rooted around in the laundry surrounding the bed for a moment, she took the opportunity to ask him a few things."
"So, Cheever...or is it Drifty?"
He nodded, scanning the floor for something useful.
"Either will do. But Drifty suits me better."

[Depraved]

"Well, all right...Drifty...what exactly are you doing here?"
"Right now, I'm looking for a bandage."
With a small cry of triumph, he pounced upon a pair of dirty fishnet stockings. Waving them aloft, he trotted back to the bed and tied them tightly around the gaping slash. The blood immediately slowed to a trickle. Drifty smiled, and a predatory look came upon his handsome face.
"Now, were you gonna tell me where you put our money?"
He met Vera-Ellen's eyes over Sully's body. They shared a conspiratorial grin.
"Or is this sexy little blonde girl gonna finish what she started?"
Sully looked from Vera-Ellen back to Drifty.
"What money are you talking about, man? I haven't seen you in years."
Drifty shook his head in disappointment.
"Don't tell me you don't remember that last haul we made?"
He whistled as Sully looked confused.
"There must've been close to fifty thousand dollars in that truck...now where the fuck did it go?""Jesus, Driftwood; that was fucking years ago!"
He let loose with an exasperated sigh.
"That money's long gone...spent on hookers, guns and dope."
Vera-Ellen eyed Sully's tattoo again, and made a shallow cut alongside it. Sully started mewling in pain, and continued.
"I have some money here, man...jesus, make her stop!"
Drifty nodded slightly, and Vera-Ellen stopped.
"So, what the fuck? Should I just make a new name up for you?"
Drifty looked at her with slight confusion.
"What the hell are you going on about now?"

She didn't answer, and frowned for a moment as she made another cut.
Sully screamed again, and started begging.
"Goddamnit, man...jesus fucking christ! Make her stop! Make her stop!"
Drifty sighed again, and watched her bleed him.
"I recommend you tell me something I want to hear, Sully...I don't think she wants to stop. And quite frankly, if you don't start yapping on about something good, I may step in and help her."
Vera-Ellen stopped cutting, and looked up from her work with a curse.
"Goddamnit! Why can't I ever get this part right!"

[Depraved]

She threw her hands up in the air, and went back over to the bureau.
"Cheever...Drifty...Driftwood...whatever the fuck your name is...how did you get the skin off of Clem's face in one piece?"
She looked at him with frustrated rage.
"Every time I try, it just comes apart under my knife."
"Fuck! Fine, call me whatever you want!"
He walked over to where she leaned against the bureau, and got himself another beer. He took a long drink, and wiped his face with the back of his hand.
"I don't even know your name."
She pouted at him, and punched lightly on the arm.
"That's cause I haven't told you, silly!"
Sully moaned again, and started babbling.
"Money's in the bathroom...in a box under the sink..."
The two stared at each other for a moment, then began to cavort around the room. Chasing him with her knife in hand, Vera-Ellen made no real effort to cut him.
"You fucker! Tell me your real name!"
He dodged another slash, and ducked low to try a leg sweep. She jumped out of range, giggling madly.
"Not until you tell me yours!"
Sully moaned again.
"The guns...the guns are in a box...check under the couch..."
They both ignored him.
They giggled and hooted for a while, racing around the room after one another, skidding and skating around in the spreading puddle that surrounded what was left of Clem. Vera-Ellen was ecstatic. She hadn't had this much fun in years. Not since she was a kid. She squished back across the sodden carpet, wandering back over to where Sully lay bound on the bed.
"You know, buddy; he isn't looking so good."

[Depraved]

Lying down next to Sully, she snuggled up close. Frowning, she looked up at her Drifty and asked, "Why isn't he waking up?" She stuck her tongue in Sully's ear to try and wake him.
Arching a wicked brow, Drifty walked over to where they lay.
"I don't know...maybe he's all used up."
Putting his fingers to Sully's throat, he felt for a pulse. Smiling, he reassured her.
"Looks like he's got a little juice left in him...let's see if we can wake him up."
He went over to the bureau, picked up the mirror, and carried it over to stand by Sully, careful not to spill the powder that lay heaped on it.
He set the mirror down by Sully's head, and took a step back.
"Careful you don't spill that, girlie...we may end up needing all of it."
Smiling, he reached up under his half-buttoned shirt, and pulled out a wicked looking blade. Vera-Ellen gasped in delight, and pulled herself upright. Mindful of the plate of coke sitting on the bed, she practically danced in in her seat in anticipation. Reaching out her little hands, she all but sang her request.
"Lemme see! Lemme see! Oh, pretty please, won't you let me see?"
He leaned his head back, and seemed to consider her request.
"Now, I don't know..."
She clasped her hands together in front of her, and begged.
"Oh, please won't you let me play with it? I'll be ever so good!"

[Depraved]

With a silly little half smile, he relented. Handing her the knife, he cautioned, "Now don't you go cutting yourself with this, you hear me?"
She giggled and grabbed it, immediately running her finger along the blade.
"Owww!!!"
Sticking her bleeding finger into her pretty little mouth, she eyed the knife with wonder. It was truly a thing of beauty. She turned it this way and that, watching the patterns the light made as it danced along the blade.
"Wow...this is really nice"
She turned it over in her hands, feeling the balanced perfection of its weight. She looked up at him, and pulled her finger from her mouth.
"Now, why on earth would you use my knife when you had an angel like this?"
Laughing, he took the knife from her and replied.
"Baby girl, you have a lot to learn."
He took hold of Sully's limp arm with one hand, pulling the skin tight around the muscle. He dug in carefully with his shiny new knife, carving the meat open with ease. As the blood ran down from the fresh injury, Sully twitched. As Vera-Ellen watched with wide eyes, Drifty held the wound open, scooped up a palmful of cocaine, and packed it into the hole.
Sully twitched again, and groaned.
As the blood seeped up through the snow white powder, Drifty leaned down and snorted up a toot.
"Goddamn! I say, goddamn!"
Vera-Ellen laughed and pointed at him.
He shook his head, and wiped the bloody residue from his face.
"What!"
Vera-Ellen pointed wordlessly, and covered her face with her hand to stifle laughter.
He scrubbed at his nose for a moment, then joined in.
"You had me going there, for a second."

[Depraved]

Vera-Ellen leaned over to take her turn, and was disappointed to find the bleeding stopped. Drifty took Sully's other arm, and cut it open carefully. She was ready with her handful of cocaine, and packed it in almost before he got his knife clear. This time, Sully immediately awoke.
As soon as Sully started shrieking, Vera-Ellen shoved another dirty rag into his mouth. Snuffling like a little piggie, she rooted around his arm and teased him before sniffing up her share from his open wound.
He writhed in horrified pain, and started shaking all over. Sweat ran from every pore as the drugs burned through his system, and he ground his teeth against the gag in agonized rage. Muffled howling issued through the cloth.
Vera-Ellen smoothed his troubled brow with a tender hand, then wiped it on her bloodstained jeans. She rubbed her face with the back of her hand again, and once more shook her head.
"I sure am glad we've got a good supply of gags laying around."
Drifty nodded.
"I don't know how long I could listen to this dumb bastard holler."
They both started to speak, then stopped. Continuing in unison, they spoke as one.
"Maybe we should just cut out his tongue..."