Spirit of Vengeance

I stood in my sister’s bedroom, rage flushing my cheeks and my system. It was bad enough Shadow and I were criminals, but Lilly dating one was just out of hand in my eyes. She was my sister and I loved her millions, but I couldn’t let her date a bomb expert.

After reading the file Zane left me, I had discovered the reason why I heard the name before; they were a notorious gang of criminals, a gang my father often used to talk about, many of the officers did.

There are a smart group of criminals Zoë, cunning, fast and mysterious, my father used to say to me. I smiled at the thought of how my father used to tell me and my sister stories about the gang when he arrived home from work and how I used to dream that one day I would meet this notorious gang. Well I guess I did, just not in the way I imagined.

When I had met Shadow the leader of ‘The Hounds’ he wasn’t quite what I expected. I always thought of the leader as this ruthless older man, built like a brick wall. Shadow . . . well Shadow was not even close.

From the other side of the door, I heard my sister climb the stair and a moment later she entered the room. At first she didn’t notice me as she was too distracted by her phone, but when she finally did; her phone fell from her hand and crashed to floor. A scream of terror escaped her lips.

I covered my ears, my mind rattling from the vibrations. With only having three senses, each one was heighten by the missing two. In the corner of my eye, I watched as my image flickered between the me of now and the me of the past, as I struggled to keep my concentration.

Slowly her screaming died down and just as I thought she had nothing left, she made a run for her bedroom door. It took me a moment to realize what she was doing, as I struggled to refocus myself. In a quick movement I had reached the door before her, blocking her exit.

Lilly skidded to a halt, terror glistening in her eyes mixed with surprise at my sudden appearance. She glanced behind her to double check she wasn’t hallucinating. When she realized she wasn’t, tears began to pour like waterfalls and she collapsed to the floor, her face in her hands.

“Pl-please I beg of you, d-d-don’t hurt me. I’ll do an-anything you wish, just p-please don’t hurt me,” she begged, hiccupping her words.

Whatever anger I had burning inside had now dimmed down to nothing. The sight of her crying like this broke my heart. I didn’t mean to scare her.

“Lilly I don’t want to hurt you,” I said crouching down beside her.

My hand reached out towards her shoulder in habit of mine. She flinched and I quickly retrieved my hand.

“H-how do you know my name?” she asked, her fear filled teary eyes staring at me.

I sighed. “I know I may not look it, but it’s me, your sister Zoë.”

“My-my sisters d-dead. She died six months ago today and there’s no-no bringing her back.” She began to sob harder.

Her words stung me slightly, at the reminder that six months today I was murdered, and the fact it was our birthday made it a thousand times harder to deal with today. A frustrated sigh escaped my lips. How could I convince her I was who I said I was?

“Remember when it was our sixteenth birthday and we went bowling with dad, Rose and Donna. That was the funniest day off our lives, because dad slipped when he went to bowl the ball and yet still managed to get a strike. You laughed so hard that the strawberry milkshake you were drinking came out of your nose, which made you laugh even harder. All you could smell for a whole week was strawberry milkshake,” I said, hoping my knowledge will make her believe me.

Lilly’s crying began to ease and she whipped back her tears. A hopeful smile crept onto her lips.

“I told you to -”

“You told me I should place a bit of your peppermint mint lip balm under my nose to drown out the smell,” she said interrupting softly, staring down at her hands.

“So you did and after two days, the smell of strawberries was gone and you swore you’d never drink strawberry milkshake again after that incident. That lasted about a week before you started drinking strawberry milkshakes again,” I finished.

Lilly stayed quite a moment, staring down at her hands twitching in her lap. Finally she glanced up, her expression blank, her hopeful smile gone.

“Just because you know a stupid little fact, doesn’t mean you are who you say you are. For all I know you could have got that information from Donna and Rose. My sister’s dead and she isn’t coming back, it’s impossible and plus you look nothing like she did.”

I sighed, she was right, I could have got my information from Donna and Rose. I needed something more, something only we knew to prove myself to her. Lilly wasn’t a fool, being the smartest of the family.

“Hush little sister don’t you cry, momma is going to be just fine,” I sung softly. “So let’s sing her a song to say goodbye, momma is going to be just fine.”

I inhaled a sharp breath in attempt to keep my tears at bay at the thought of the moment we heard the news that our mother didn’t survive the crash, the moment my sister burst into tears and I somehow couldn’t, but instead began to sing while my sister sobbed into my arms.

Lilly’s eyes drifted back to her hands, tears forming in her eyes. A look of recognition drifted over her, but it soon faded.

Just as I was about to give up, “Show me your wrist,” she asked.

As a response I did, revealing my birthmark and before I knew it, we were embraced in an extreme bear hug.

“Oh my god, it really is you!” she sobbed onto my shoulder. “But why do you look so different and why are you so cold?” she continued, pulling away a second later and hugging her arms close to her chest, her hands gliding up and down her arms to warm herself back up.

“Because I’m . . .” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Dead,” I continued. “I guess I don’t really need a warm temperature. I’ve never really thought about it.” I frowned a little wanting to know myself now. “For my looks, well this is so nobody could recognise me. I can’t go walking around now looking like me, can I now?”

“I guess not, but doesn’t that bother you being that cold? I mean if that was me I’d wear tones of clothing just to keep myself warm, and yet you sit her in camo gear like you don’t care.”

I shook my head and laughed softly. “I have no sense of feeling.”

“Wow, that must be hard to deal with, but yet somehow awesome at the same time.”

“I guess you can say that, but when you have no sense of taste either, it can be annoying. Doughnuts just don’t taste the same anymore,” I laughed.

“You have no sense of taste?” she giggled, now starting to find this highly amusing. “Wow now that is just bad luck sis.”

I punched her in the shoulder lightly. “That’s so mean, laughing at me like that.” I grinned.

“I know, I know, but I just can’t believe you are here, or how for that matter. I mean it’s scary but amazing at the same time.”

“Well I’ll be right here, and no amount of yelling from Zane will -”

“Who’s Zane,” she interrupted, moving herself into a more comfortable position on the floor.

“A complete jackass,” I said blankly, my mood shifting slightly. "And yet at times he can be pretty sweet." I glanced down at the necklace resting in the hollow of my neck. A slight smiled crept onto my lips at Zane's effort into buying me such a beautiful necklace, though when I first saw it, I was overcome with the over whelming urge to throw it back at him and tell him I didn’t need his trash, but the beauty of it got the better of me.

On the silver thin chain dangled a matching silver angel, which in its praying hands grasped a jewel representing my birthstone, the Topaz, for my November birth in a stunning heart shape.

Though he really was, hands down, no doubt, an utter jerk and the worse possible person to know ever, sometimes he could actually be the nicest of people I'd ever know, besides my already family and friends.

Lilly pointed to the necklace. "Did he buy you that? Because the way you’re looking at it he did."

I nodded. "Yeah, for my birthday, after threating me about five minutes before," I explained.

"It's such beautiful necklace." She reached her hand out towards it and I unclasped it to allow her a better look.

Her eyes flickered up from the necklace a moment to ask, "Why did he threaten you?"

My head drooped a little in shame of what I had become to him. "Personal reasons," I mummered.

Her eyes flickered up once more, but this time her eyes showed worry. She hand back the necklace and I placed it back in its position around my neck, with the snap of the clasp.

“Whatever it was, it looks like he scared a bit. Every time you mention his name, you flinch a few seconds later and a sense of fear burns in your eyes. It lasts only a few seconds, but a few seconds is enough for me to know it was something terrible.”

Carefully Lilly place her hand on my shoulder and squeezed softly, her sign of telling me whatever it was, she was here for me and always will be. The look of worry in her eyes was too intense and I quickly looked away. How could I tell my sister that I was owned by him and was being used as what he once called ‘a play toy?’

“Look, I didn’t come here today to discuss me and Zane’s problems,” I said changing the subject, now looking her straight in the eye. “I came here to discuss the matter of your boyfriend and your safety.”

Lilly’s hand dropped from my shoulder and it was her turn to look away.

“You do know your boyfriend Donny is a bomb expert right?” I asked.

She swallowed and sighed, before nodding her head, afraid to look me in the eye.

“Look, it’s none of my business or anything, but I’m worried for your safety. I’ve met this gang he is a part of and I have to say they are not people I’d hang around with or even -”

I quickly fell quite at the sound of footsteps manoeuvring around the house below, before several began to make their way upstairs.

“Why-why did you go quite all of a sudden?” Lilly asked worryingly, this time looking up to meet my gaze.

“Hide,” I said sharply, but quietly as I shot to a silent standing, pulling her up with me.

“What? Why?” she asked.

“Shh, just trust me and hide in the wardrobe, you’ll be safe in there,” I said ushering her in as I drew out the pistol tucked into the waist band of my pants.

“But wh-. Oh my god is that a gun?” she shrieked.

“Shh,” I hissed sharper now. They were growing near. Whoever they were that was. “Stay down and stay quiet,” I ordered before closing the doors of the wardrobe.

Quickly I move behind the door, just as the door handle twisted slowly around.

I watched as the door swung open and a figure dressed in black, with black, tinted with dark blue. With the size and build of the figure it was obvious he was male. He was holding a semi-automatic SIG pro pistol like my own. He was somehow familiar, but without taking any chances, I moved from out from behind the door, closing it behind me.

“Hands up, drop the weapon and kick it to the other side of the room,” I growled, placing the barrel of the gun to the back of the guy’s head.

He did as he was told. For about five seconds that is.

The figures hand reached backwards and took a hold of my gun hand, sending a swarm of feeling through my body and pain as he twisted my arm around my back in a quick movement, removing the gun from my grasp and flinging it to the other side of the room.

Using my free hand I went to reach across my body for the blade tucked into the waist band to the opposite side, only to be caught in the act as he wrapped his hand around my waist, trapping my hand in its place and just for good measures entwining his fingers with mine.

I rolled my eyes as a growl of anger escaped my lips and I began to struggle against him.

“Well, well, why isn’t it little miss V,” Shadow said coyly as he rested his chin on my shoulder.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I demanded. “And can you let go off me while you’re at it?”

“I could ask you the same thing?” he answered with a question, his lips brushing my ear.

I could feel his breath warm on my neck and it sent shivers down my spine. His hold on me was intoxicating and I couldn’t help but inhale the scent of him deeply. The warmth of his body against mine was somehow soothing as he made me feel human again.

I was about to speak when a figure appeared at the door. It was Blaze and his gun was pointed towards me. At the sight of me his face twisted in confusion, but his gun was still trained on me.

“Look what who I found,” Shadow teased, his grip still firmly wrapped around me.

“What is she doing here?” Blaze asked as he finally lowered his weapon.

From behind him several footsteps came charging upstairs, until several more people appeared at the door.

“Talking to me, that’s what,” Lilly answered as she stepped out of the wardrobe.

“Lilly, what the hell are you doing in the wardrobe?” Blaze questioned as he pulled her into a hug, letting out a sigh of relief while doing so.

“We thought you were intruders and well she hid me in there to protect me from harm’s way,” she explained as she stepped out of his grasp.

“Well I didn’t expect that from you Vengeance. I thought you assassinate, not protect?” Shadow grinned.

“I assassinate to protect you jack ass. Now get the hell off me!” I demanded with a growl.

“If you wish,” Shadow whispered into my ear, before slowly letting go.

I rolled my eyes as I stepped away from Shadow, my sense of feeling fading until it was nothing once more.

“You do what?” Lilly screeched, her eyes diverting to me.

“Look what I do is none of your business Lilly. I’m trying to protect you from what happened to your sister. Do you really recon Zoe would want you to die the same faith as her?” I yelled a anger began to overcome over me. “Those men hurt her and justice needs to be done!”

“By turning into this! A murder, just like those men!” Lilly yelled back tears brimming in her eyes.

“We’ll leave you girls to it. We’ll be downstairs if you need us” Blaze said awkwardly turning to go downstairs.

Shadow stood his ground a moment, steadily watching me, before her followed behind at the call of his name.

“Tyler.”

“Coming,” he responded as he closed the door.

Once the room was empty, Lilly let out a frustrated cry of pain and annoyance. She turned away and headed for the window. She stopped and placed her hands on its ledge, sighing as she said, “Leave me alone. I need time to wrap my head around what you have become.”

I open my mouth to speak, but instead I closed it and headed to the door.

“Mothers doing well,” I said solemnly as I opened the door my back to her. “She misses you and dad very much. If you need me, just shout out my name and I’ll come as soon as I can.”

“Tell mother I miss her too. Now please, close the door,” she replied just as solemnly.

As I closed the door, I could hear my sister begin to sob on the other side. I let out a sigh and began to make my way downstairs.

At the bottom, Shadow was stood in the open door way, his hands buried in his jean pockets. At the sound of my footsteps coming downstairs, he turned to face me.

“Are you okay?” he asked as I made the final step.

“Fuck off, this was your entire fault,” I growled as I pushed passed him out the door.

“And I’m sorry,” he said as he trailed behind me.

“A bit too late Shadow, Tyler, whatever the hell your name is, you should have thought about what would happen if you opened that mouth of yours.”

I felt a jolt of heat rip through me as he grabbed my wrist and spun me to face him.

“Look I can see no amount of apologising can make you forgive me for what I said. I didn’t know. All I know about you is that your best friend Zoe was murdered and you’re obviously like a sister to this girl and will do anything to protect her, god damn it I don’t even know your real name. So I ask of you, let me make it up to you. Let me take you out tonight if you’ll let me, please,” he begged.

The rage that was burning up inside of me was slowly being extinguished. I stood silently steadily watching him, my facial just as blank as his.
“Fine,” I said a minute later.

All of a sudden another one of his notorious grins appeared on his face and he finally let go of my wrist, just as Zane pulled up on my motorcycle.

“Where shall we meet, yours or mine?” he asked.

“Yours would be a better idea, I mainly live in motels at the moment due to traveling a lot,” I replied ignoring Zane’s verbal abuse from behind.

“Still got my card and number?” he questioned.

“Yes, I have,” I smiled.

“I’ll see you at nine,” he grinned.

“Nine it is.”

“Before you leave, can I ask who is that?” he asked gesturing to Zane still shouting verbal abuse at me.

“That would be my friend Zane,” I grunted.

“He seems like an -”

“Ass whole,” I finished.

“Yeah.”

“He is but tragically I’m stuck with him.”

“I feel sorry for you,” he laughed.

“Yeah, so do I,” I laughed back.

“Well good luck with him. I guess I’ll see you tonight.”

“Till Tonight,” I smiled.

“Don’t forget to dress up nicely,” he grinned.