I looked over when movement caught my eye. Mom and Kyle looked a little faint. The boys were walking toward me. I walked up two bleachers and waited with my blades out to hand over to them. I didn’t want them scared that I would hurt one of them.
Sage took the blades and placed them back in my holsters. They all surrounded me talking except for Shayden. After a couple of minutes he spoke up telling the guys to look at the dummy. I was nervous about them seeing it. They didn’t know how I had tortured the guy. They didn’t know what I had done to any of them.
I needed to move. I needed distance from me and them in case they were to tell me how disappointed they were in me for being so violent. I got maybe five more bleacher seats up before Shayden stopped me.
“Rissa! Did you really carve that into his chest?”
I turned to look at him. I tried to swallow but my mouth felt dry. I nodded. I had carved in huge letters ‘not my guys’ into the chest of the dummy as well as the chest of the leader that wanted to kill them. My mouth dropped open when I saw him get down on one knee. He placed his hand over his heart and bowed his head.
“I pledge my allegiance to you. To protect you the way you protected us. I promise to stand by your side and defend you in big or small things and to uphold the order of the black rose.”
Tears flowed down my face. I turned to Dean to try to make him stop but couldn’t get a word out when I heard Lorik saying the exact same things. I turned and looked. Each and every one of the guys was walking up to where Shayden stayed bowed down. One by one they bowed down and began repeating his words.
I fell to my knees and covered my mouth with my hand. I tried to hold back the sobs. They didn’t understand what they were doing. If they did this the chances of them having to kill someone in their own family was higher. That was something I did not want to see come to pass.
I felt someone at my side and looked over. Dean was kneeling beside me. He pulled me into his arms and held me there. He whispered into my ear that he understood my trepidation but there was nothing anyone of us could have done to stop the prophesy. It was meant to come to pass.
I didn’t know what to say to the guys. What could one say after they made that proclamation? I got up and went to each one in the order they came to me and hugged them. Their hugs in return were strong and tight. They each tried to relay to me what I meant to them.
After the hugging and crying on my part, we left the training room to head back over to the main building. Everyone was busy talking to each other when I stopped suddenly. One of the guys bumped into me and went to ask something but I held up a hand. Dean came to stand beside me and noticed where I was staring. The door to the bottom floor was being held open by what appeared to be a small rock.
If I thought it was quiet the day I shot that man in Dean’s house, it was even worse now. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed Braxton. I used code to let him know that if he couldn’t find a way to track down how many there were to get to a safe place. He was in more danger than anyone at the moment.
I motioned for everyone to stay back and ran on my tip toes over to the main building. I used the infrared on my contacts to try to detect body heat but there was nothing near. I chanced a glance. Nothing. I was glad I had my suit on as I crawled up the wall and took a small device off my side. I placed it on the overhang and turned the light on to direct where it would go. I crawled over and did the same to the other side. I had both lasers pointed at the concrete in front of the door.
I turned the lasers off and crawled back down. I took a wallet out of my back pocket and pulled a strip of paper out. I pulled the back off so it would stick to the door and placed it along the inseam. I kicked the rock out of the way and shut the door being as quiet as possible.
If they opened the door the tape on it would cause a spark, shocking whomever giving the devices above them time to begin wrapping a strong string around them. It was fast and it wasn't painless. It would slowly choke the life out of them.
I looked around trying to find something that would reflect the sun up into the window of the middle floor. For the moment the overhang going from the main building to the training room protected us from being located but we needed to get inside the building, fast.
I ran back over to the building and inside. There were mirrors in the girl’s locker room. I told the guys to keep everyone inside until I got this done but of course they began complaining. I knew they wouldn’t let me do this alone. No if I knew them, we would all end up over in the building. I knew also that included Mom, Kyle, Archer, and Dean. As much as I hated to say it, they were probably better off with us anyway.
I wrapped my hand and punched the mirror. I pulled a chunk off the wall big enough to do exactly what I wanted and took off again. I used my shield as I stepped out into the sun. When I looked there was no one watching from the window. These guys really didn’t know what they were doing. I leaned the mirror against the railing and adjusted it. It was perfect. If someone tried to look out the window now, they’d get blinded and we would have enough time to get inside.
I motioned for the guys to come out, and watched as each came out with shields in place protecting those unarmed. They stayed against the chain-link fence out of view of the windows just in case. When they got to me, we placed Mom, Archer, Dean, and Kyle between every other assassin. This would allow our shields to protect them as we made our way into the building.
I still held a small sliver of a piece of the mirror so that I could see around the building to the steps. I ducked down and used the mirror as close to the ground as possible so I could slide it around and check. Behind me on the other side of the brick wall stood someone and he was armed to the teeth. I knew if I didn’t kill him, he would hurt someone or worse.
I slowly moved back in place so he wouldn’t see me and nodded once to let them know. I motioned for Shayden to cover Mom’s eyes. I used the blade I had in my hand, whipping it around the side of the building to decapitate the man standing there. I was glad I had gotten used to the new blades. I had built them so that when I needed to throw them they would retract back to me. Almost like a yo-yo.
I knocked his head out of the way before Mom could see it and motioned for everyone to wait. I checked quickly to see no one else around and grabbed the arms of the man to hide him in the bushes. I was glad when Sage helped. This man was huge. I began taking his weapons and handing them to everyone else. At least now they had a chance.
I used my contacts again to check for body heat. When I found none, I opened the door to allow us to enter. I hid everyone under the stairwell until I could check the stairs above us as well as the hallway to this floor. When I was sure there was no one upstairs watching, I stayed against the wall and crept to the end to glance down the hall.
There was one man. He was walking down the hall, coming my way. Not for long, not if I could help it. I shot across the narrow hallway and hid behind the trophy case that was no longer in use. I heard his footsteps pick up as he ran my way. I grinned to myself. I crouched down so that when he looked I would have the advantage. He would be expecting me still standing. I was right. Before he could aim his gun at me I had my blade slid perfect between his ribs in his heart.
I leaned him up against the trophy case, holding him there so he wouldn’t slide down and give away my location. When I heard someone calling the man’s name, I turned and put my finger to my lips as if I were telling him to shush. I grinned and turned to see Sage grinning but shaking his head.
I had to detach myself from what I was doing. I knew it made me seem cruel to be like that but if I thought about what I was doing I would curl up in a ball and cry. I had to keep telling myself these were murderers.
Sage stepped out in the hallway, seeming unarmed but I knew he tucked his gun in his waistline. The man searching for this guy stopped just a few feet from Sage.
“Where’s the girl?”
“Right here,” I said as I
run out, grabbing Sage in the process. I swung around, wrapped my legs around the guy’s neck and twisted. When I let go, he dropped to the floor dead.
“That was fun,” I told Sage as I kissed him on the cheek and started dragging the other guy over.
I leaned him up against the other.
“Don’t go anywhere you two.”
I turned to see Archer looking at me as if I were crazy. Truthfully, I think I had lost my mind during those two days held at the camp.
We had managed to make it to Dean’s office without any more men nearby. When I checked the main door, there was no one there. The only thing I can think of is that we had killed the ones that were supposed to be posted at those doors.
I went to Dean’s desk and logged into his computer. I began pulling up the cameras and trying to find the source as to why Braxton hadn’t seen them coming in. Someone had hacked it. They were good too. I was having a hard time tracing it down. When I heard a small explosion and looked at the camera for our floor, smoke was coming out of Braxton’s room, I assigned the detail to Lorik and Shay.
I began barking orders. I knew Braydon would try to go but that was the last thing I wanted. I chose Zavier. Braydon’s post was to watch out in the hallway in case anyone was coming our way. Sage’s job was to keep the others safe. Gabe’s was to get medical supplies ready. I didn’t know what I would be dealing with when I got there.
I ran down the hallway and used my suit to levitate myself. Zavier was to stand outside the door for when I opened it. I used my contacts to try to find Braxton through the ceiling tiles as I crawled. The smoke was starting to choke me and I knew if I held my breath much longer I would pass out and not be any use to anyone.
I saw Braxton huddled in a corner and dropped down. I crawled close to the floor and made my way to him. I had just reached him when I felt the kick in my ribs. I slid across the floor and brought out my blade. This guy was a little better than the others. He had more skill and it was easy to tell since I was having a hard time fighting him off.
I had to drop down a couple times to try to get fresh air. It wouldn’t do me much good because every time I stood, he knocked it right back out of me. I’d had enough. I took a couple steps back, twisted my boot and put my arms out. When I began spinning I let my blade go out a little from my body. I knew the moment it hit him. He screamed in pain.
I took that chance and brought the blade around as hard as I could. I felt the blood spray me before I heard part of him hit the floor. I had done to him what I had done to a few others. I cut him in half from right shoulder to left hip.
I scanned the area to make sure no one else was there and ran back to Braxton coughing my head off. My lungs were burning and I knew I didn’t have long before smoke inhalation overcame both of us. We crawled to the door, as soon as I turned the knob Zavier was there pushing the door open and grabbing Braxton.
I crawled out into the floor, laid down and cough up smoke. By the time I was through my throat was raw and my lungs felt like they were on fire. I knew I had to get up. The entire building needed checked. Not only that, I knew the gas they used to do this with. It was mine. From my nova’s.