Spirit of Vengeance

“Wake up you stupid little whore,” I heard Zane yell.

My eyes immediately flung open and my body shot up straight. Just as quickly I had Zane pinned to the wall with my body pressed firmly against his, my arm pressured on his neck and the small blade I always kept in my pocket was pressed against his cheek as a warning.

“Ever call me whore again; I will personally make your life a living hell,” I growled.

Zane was undisturbed by my threat and his eyes lit up with menacing amusement, just like his smile. Before I knew it, I was the one pinned to the wall, the knife knocked from my grasp and my hands pinned above my head.

“You forget, I’m the one making your life the living hell,” he murmured, his lips to close for my liking, but when his lips met mine for a brief minute, I couldn’t help but indulge myself in his kiss, instead of shoving him away and throwing another petty threat his way.

When he finally pulled away, his mouth moved to my neck and then up to my ear as he whispered with a slight threat, “I own you Zoë. Never forget that.”

Slowly Zane released me and I slid down the wall. My head dropped to my hands. He was right, he did own me. He had me wrapped around his little finger and whatever he asked me to do I did because without him, I wouldn’t have my equipment or information on my assassinations.

“Anyway I didn’t drag you here from your little date and also your down fall, I dragged you here to show you this,” there was a thud beside me and when I looked it was a folder with ‘The Hounds’ written in black marker in one corner, that’s when I realized where I was and where I wasn’t.

“Wait, how did I get here? Did you kidnap me?” I asked glaring up at him.

“What do you remember?”

I closed my eyes a moment and pinched the bridge of my nose trying to remember.

“I remember arguing with you about me being in danger and meeting you, but we were interrupted by Shadow and then you left leaving me in a foul mood and then that was it.” I paused trying to remember more, that’s when I realized what he had done. “Wait did you use black magic on me again, because the last time I checked, I don’t sleep?”

Black magic was a spirit’s only income of survival on the earth realm. It was the only power we could draw up to be able to survive here until we crossed over. That’s what Zane told me anyway when I first met him and I guess I’ve always stuck to that idea.

“Oh stop whining, it could have been worse, I could have dragged you back to the motel kicking and screaming, but I brought you here the quietest and quickest way possible.”

“By kidnapping me? You do realize Shadow’s going to get suspicious at my sudden disappearance and how my bike is randomly still there,” I fumed. I held my hand out to him in a ‘help me up’ gesture.

With a tug from his hand, I was standing only mere centimetres opposite him, his arm loosely around my waist, a menacing smile playing at his lips. “I prefer the term ‘borrowing,’” he corrected, creating air quotation marks with his free hand at the phrase ‘borrowing’. “Anyway I don’t understand why you complain, I mean it’s not like Shadow’s going to remember your little date last night anyway, it’s like you was never even there.”

My eyes narrowed in warning and anger. “What did you do?” I didn’t really need an answer; I kind of already guessed what he had done and I didn’t like it one bit. The first time I’ve socialised in six months and Zane had ruined it.

“Like I said, saving your ass,” he said smugly tapping the folder gripped in my hand.

I glanced down towards the folder and allowed my eyes to drift back up once more towards Zane, who still had an annoying smug like smile plastered on his face. How much I wanted to slap his smile clean off his face, but it would do know use but only make him a thousand times more agitating. I let out a grunt of anguish and anger instead.

“What’s a folder got do with making Shadow and his crew forget I was ever at their place, kidnapping me and saving my ass?”

He leant forward close to my ear and whispered, “Stop asking stupid questions and read the goddamn folder and you’ll find your answers.”

I rolled my eyes and shoved him away. He tripped backwards and landed on the bed, his legs dangling over the end of it, from his knees down. I smirked in victory, but the smug smile was wiped of my lips, when he propped his self-up on one elbow and patted the bed beside him, a menacing toxic smile playing at his lips.

“Bite me,” I grunted with another eye roll, sitting at the end of the bed besides his legs, since I had no place other to sit in this shabby motel room.

“Come on baby, don’t be like that,” Zane joked as he sat up beside me and began brushing my hair from my shoulder, before kissing my semi bare shoulder above my collarbone, as I opened the file.

“Fuck off, Zane,” I growled batting him away with the folder as he began tugging me backwards.

“You owe me, Zoë. I got this file from my own free will and used up my free time to collect other pieces of information, before you get yourself ratted out and blow your cover. You’re playing a dangerous game here, Zoë.”

“I didn’t ask you to dig up information on Shadow’s crew, so I owe you nothing and I really don’t see why you always sleep with me, I can’t feel anything, because like you said,” I cleared my throat and put on my best Zane voice. “You’ll never feel again until you crossover to the other side,” I resumed back to my normal voice. “Well news flash Zane, I’m not crossing over, not yet,” I seethed.

Zane looked at me blankly a moment, before one of his famous mocking smiles crept on to his lips and his eyes glowed with laughter. In a quick movement, Zane flashed out and cupped my chin with one hand and pulled my face mere centimetres from his. He didn’t let go. I couldn’t move.

Zane’s eyes steadily watched my own, as if was trying to read my thoughts, his mocking smile still perched wide on his face. Though his face showed mocking, his eyes showed fiery rage. I swallowed down the name I was about to call him.

“Now you listen to me,” he finally whispered. “You are mine, Zoë. I own you here.” He gestured to the space around us, referring to the earth realm. “Here you do as I say, when I ask. No questions asked. It’s as simple as that, Zoë. I don’t care if you can’t feel it, I can and I like it. I might not be able to drag you over to the other side yet, but when I do, I’ll drag you all the way there by your hair kicking and screaming.” By time the end of his little speech, his words had become a snarl and the sudden overwhelming urge to cry swallowed me. This was the first time Zane had truly terrified me since we met.

“Do you understand?” he asked a heartbeat later.

I nodded my head slowly, too afraid to speak.

“Good girl,” he said calmly, patting my face softly. I flinched.

Zane let go of my chin and pushed his self-up from the bed, leaving me frozen in place. He placed his hand on my shoulder and ran his other hand through his hair as he said solemnly, “I’ll be back later.”

My eyes followed him towards the room door, but I stayed put, still shaken by what had just happened. I was never really afraid of Zane, when he did silly things to scare me, I’d just laugh in his face, but this . . . this was a whole new side to Zane that I had never saw before.

He was about to open the door, when he stopped, his hand hovering over the handle. “Happy Birthday, Zoë,” he said over his shoulder. “I’ve left you a little something in the dresser draw.”

He left without another word.

I sat there a moment silently staring at my hands in my lap; my fingers twitched uneasily. My eyes momentarily flickered towards the draw wondering what he might have left for me, until I finally had the courage to move from my frozen position and take a look in the dresser draw.

As I pulled open the draw slowly, there were several hard thuds at the door and I quickly shoved it closed, zipping to the door and opening the door just as the owner of the motel was about to slip the key in the door.

“Can I help you?” I asked closing the door behind me, blocking his entry.

The owner of the motel was a burly man in his forties, who stood a few inches taller than me. Snake tattoos wrapped up both of his arms and tattooed on his neck was the word scar. The owner had this weird eerie feeling to him and at all possible times I would try to avoided him and his continues creepy stare at me.

“Yeah you can little missy,” he said gruffly, his eyes staring down at my chest. Creep. “You’re overdue. Cough up or,” he dragged the word ‘or’ for a long moment. I didn’t like the sound of where this ‘or’ was going. His eyes finally caught my own and I swore I heard a slight purr to his tone as he finally finished, “We could come to another arrangement.”

The owner leaned dangerously close to me, one arm resting on the door just behind beside my head. His breath smelt like stale beer and a cautiously turned my head away from the stench, only it wasn’t too easily as the owner had cupped my chin with his free hand and tilted my head back towards him, a sickening unpleasant smile playing at his lips.

“So what will it be?” he questioned, his thumb stroking my bottom lip.

“Get your filthy hands off of me; I’d rather pay up than sleep with you,” I scoffed shoving him away.

“If you say so,” he grunted stepping back. At least he knows where his limit is.

“How much do I owe you?” I asked slipping out my wallet.

“Hundred dollars, but for you honey seventy-five dollars.”

I handed over a fifty dollar bill, two ten dollar bills and five one dollar bills, before slipping my wallet back in my pocket. He counted the money to double check, before shoving it in his front shirt pocket. He gave a silent nod and disappeared down the hall way, not without one last look at my chest.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips and I slipped back into the motel room, my back sliding down the now closed door. That was close. The last time the owner slipped into my motel room to collect money, I wasn’t in and he had discovered all my weaponry. Zane had saved my sorry ass since only he was the only one capable enough for a clean memory swipe, but I changed motels just in case he just so happened to remember. Zane isn’t someone I could trust very well.

At the corner of my eye I spotted the folder Zane had brought me and I quickly retrieved it, plonking myself in the middle of the bed, the folder resting on my crossed legs. I stared down at the folder pondering whether or not to open the folder and see what mystery lies beyond this closed folder about Shadow and ‘The Hounds’ gang. Maybe it will answer the nagging question of where I heard the name before.

Taking a deep unneeded deep breath, I opened the folder and began to read.