Red Lady

Eden

I didn’t flinch as Ashton swiped his hard, metal gun against the teenage boy’s face, causing him to groan and spit out blood on the tile floor. The blonde man then stepped back, leaving Jared glaring at him, then at me.

“Do you have men like this to do all the hard work for you?”

I sighed and signaled Ashton to hit him again, leaning back in the chair as I watched the violence before me. The boy had been testing my patience the moment I tied him in that chai, opening his mouth and throwing threats and insults my way non-stop. Each time he earned a hit, which was why he was bloody, but he just didn’t seem to care enough to stop.

“That big mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble.”

“Please, Jared, keep quiet!” Paige begged, struggling against the bindings that held her in her chair. She, too, had her own wounds, but not near as many as her son. Paige was smart and learned when to shut up. When she had found that threatening that her husband would save her and have me killed didn’t sway me in the slightest, she stopped opening her mouth. That is, unless it was to beg not to hit her son anymore.

“I just want to know what the hell you do. It’s not torturing people, you seem to have men to do that for you. Do you just stand there and just try to look scary? Why are so you dangerous? You haven’t done anything except kidnap us, to our own home.”

As Ashton was about to smack Jared again, I stopped him with a simple hand motion. I stood up slowly and made my way over to the teen, my boots clicking loudly through the tile until I stood right in front of Jared and looked him in the eye. His look was defiant, looks that teenagers always did very well. Seeing that, I gave him a little smile and leaned into him. Behind me, I could hear his mother begging me not to touch her child, but Ashton shut her up in his own way.

“You see, Jared, while my friend over here provides the abuse to the unimportant toys like you, I do the more messy job. Can you possibly guess what that could be?”

I bulled my hand gun out of the thigh holster it had been so snuggly kept and then traced it up his leg until the weapon was pointed directly at his chest.

“I’m the one who kills. I snap necks, I cut throats, I shoot out brains, I poison, and no one ever comes out alive. Now, would you rather have my attention or the attention of my blonde friend over there? It’s an easy choice.”

I stepped back then, seeing the withering look of the teen and smirked as I saw fear leaking into him. I was about to add more to scare him, but Ashton spoke up first.

“Eden, he’s here.”

Ashton had known this because he had an ear piece, with Avian feeding him information from the other side. I did not, but took out the one time use cell phone and called my cousin, who picked up on the first ring.

“There’s no one following him? No body guards of our cop friends?”

”Not one person; I’m a little suspicious, actually, but he did as we told him to. You’ll have to ask him how he did it.”

“Zender is a resourceful man, he can do almost anything if it is absolutely necessary. Has he been patted down?”

“Yes, we’re sending him directly to you now, though he is being escorted. Be careful, Eden.”

“Aren’t I always?” I asked before hanging up. I put the phone away and turned to look at my prisoners.

“You both should be safe very soon. Unless, you know, someone continues to blab at me. I have no patience for either of you anymore. If killing you makes this job easier, I’ll do it.”

Paige whimpered, huddling into herself, and whispered silent words to herself. Knowing hoe victims could act in this kind of situation, she was more than likely praying for her life. Maybe her son’s as well, but I had learned over the years that people were only concerned with themselves.

I heard the doorbell ring loudly throughout the house, signaling that our special guest had been brought safely to the house. I left Ashton to watch Paige and Jared while I went to the door. Before opening it, I leaned over sneakily to check out the window, making sure that it was Zender. I was more than surprised by who had brought him to me, but pushed it away and opened the door for the two visitors. Donavan pushed the man into his home and slammed the door behind him.

“Sit right in that chair, and don’t even think about moving Zender,” I commanded, watching my old teacher do as I said. I let Ashton deal with Paige when she asked her husband for help and turned back to Donavan, who didn’t look at all happy to be here.

“What are you doing here? I thought you said that you were gone?” My voice had been just like he remembered last time, and it made him flinch, but he looked at me with a strong and almost defiant look.

“I know, but Avian contacted me while you and Ashton were on your hunt and made me realize that I’m needed here. I hate what you’re doing, and going after someone’s family is a line I never thought you would cross, but I’m staying here.”

“Go stand by Ashton then,” I said right after, my voice nonchalant, “I have things do to.” I dismissed him and walked away, but I was really happy to see him again, whether he hated being here or not. I needed all the help I could get.

Ignoring Donavan, I turned to and walked to stand in front of Zender and stared him right in the eye. His dark brown orbs were the same as I remembered them as a child. But right now, instead of the harsh looks I used to receive, Zender was looking at me in fear; and I liked it.

“It’s nice to see you again Zender, though our circumstanced aren’t the greatest, are they Paige?”

I heard her pathetic whimper and sniffle and couldn’t help but smirk at the heated look at me from her husband.

“It’s funny, Zender, that you created this simple kind of life after the school close, seeing as you destroyed these kinds of families all the time. And it shocks me that you actually care about them!”

“Things have changed, Eden. I’m a changed man who has forgotten those times.”

My blue eyes flared in anger and I smacked my gun across his face, making him grunt and spit out blood. Ashton hadn’t hit the other two as hard as I had hit Zender and I heard the gasps of his family behind me, but I didn’t care. This bastard deserved more than that.

“How could you forget the horrible things you’ve done? You trained children to kill other people. You put them in that position and killed 18 of them so you could have the ultimate assassins! How can you forget their lives?!”

“Eden, I think you should calm—“

“Be quiet Donavan, this is between me and Zender; you are not included.”

“Leave her be, boy,” Ashton whispered.

Focusing my attention back on Zender, I thrust my gun to his chest painfully and hissed my next words.

“And what you did next was even worse. You created things like me. I was the best, and everyone knew that. You put me through the hardest trials and felt pride when I succeeded. I bet you didn’t see your pride and joy coming after you, did you?”

“I-I thought you would have been happy with the gift we gave you, your family was a mob for Christ’s sake.” I could hear the fear in his voice and I knew he was now realizing I was going to kill him here and now.

I shook my head and closed my eyes for only a moment while I said, “I wanted my own life back.”

When I opened them, there was no emotion in my orbs other than malice. Pure fear was all I saw in his.

“So I’m taking yours instead.”

The shot from the gun echoed louder than anything else had in the house. The blast was followed by screams and crying, but that didn’t bother me anymore. Jared was cursing and Paige was weeping, but I was calm. I watched as the blood that spilled from Zender’s chest, staining the chair he had been sitting in.

“Let’s get out of here. Someone is bound to have hear the shot, and with their screaming the cops will be here in no time.”

The men and I started for the door, but we all stopped whenever Jared started to shout out at us.

“I’ll find you, all of you! I’ll come and kill you all!” He was sobbing as he said this, and I knew the image of his step-father dying before his eyes was the only thing that was replaying through his head. I knew, because I had gone through the same thing for the longest time.

He repeated his threats to us, though none of us really took it as a true warning. Making a decision, I walked back over to him and raised my gun, causing Paige to wail even more. Jared stared at me, brown eyes filled with tears of sadness and anger. That was a brave look, the look men gave when they were faced with their death, but were okay with that.

I threw my gun into the teen boy’s lap—though he was bound and couldn’t use it as a weapon against me—and Jared looked at me in shock.

“Prove to me that you have the guts,” was all I said, turning around and leaving the house along with the two men.