Chapter 1
I'm in a room, tied to a chair with a blindfold over my eyes. Due to my sight being blocked, my other senses are heightened. From the irritating rubbing around my wrists, it's obvious that I've been tied down with rope. In any other situation I would consider this kinky as hell but right now I should stay serious. I try to slow my breathing so that I can hear what is happening in my surroundings. The steady sound of my own heartbeat drowning out as I focus on sound of dripping water in a puddle on my far right, the smell of rusty metal is intoxicating in this room. The creaking of a vent fan turning to my close left and the squeaking of mice in a corner behind me.
Gross.
I can't hear anyone else's breathing, so I can tell that no one else is in here with me. I rocked the chair back and forth once to test the quality. Based on the way it groans I'm positive that it's old wood. I take in deep breath.
"Damn, this is going to hurt." I whisper to myself.
I lift myself up to the tips of my toes before crashing down on the concrete floor. I groan at the impact of the chair hitting the ground and the wooden pieces breaking against my back. I lay there for one minute or so, catching my breath before untying myself and removing the blindfold from over my eyes, blinking a few times before adjusting to my surroundings.
The room is small with pipes dripping everywhere, no windows or anything. Other than the broken pieces of wood, that used to be a chair, there are no objects. I looked around for an exit. Turning around, I find a huge metal door behind me. Just like the room itself, the door is old and rusty.
I use one of the broken pieces of the chair and toss it near the door. Half a second later, an arrow is shot across the room, into the wall on my left side. The arrow could have went through my head. Typical, a trap that could kill me. This is starting to get seriously boring, I'm tired of this. I throw another piece to make sure that there are no more traps. When nothing happened, I step carefully towards the door, preparing for anything that could happen.
Should I touch it?
I stare at the door handle. For all I know this is another trap, or maybe they just want me to over think and waste escape time, or they could just be waiting behind the door. Before I could let myself get caught up in my own thoughts, I gripped the handle of the door. Here goes nothing. The palm of my hands start to get a little sweaty. For fuck's sake get a grip! I turn the handle.
It's locked.
Of course it is. I roll my eyes, reaching into my hair for some pins and picked the lock. Once I heard a quiet click, I take a deep breath before quickly opening the door, standing behind it just in case someone tries to shoot me. It's a smart yet simple technique.
Once I moved from behind the door I sigh in relief.
"That took you 5 minutes and 23 seconds" Blade stops the timer on his phone, turning it around to show me. He always had that cocky, annoying, smirk on his face that makes me just want to punch him until he loses consciousness. "What took so long, Sylvia?" Papa asks with pinched brows.
"Sorry Papa, the wooden chair put me in time out for a minute or so" I rub my back while saying it. "Then you need to adapt to the feeling because when you get captured they will not wait for your back to feel better before killing you. Do you understand, dear?" He gives me one of his 'do better or else you're going to die' speeches. "Yes, Sir" I gave him an understanding nod.
He pats my head before walking off.
"I'm sorry."
I heard soft a voice beside me. I turn my head and saw Mist, leaning against the wall, her foot braced against it with her arms folded. "Let me guess, you drugged me?" I figured that's the only way I'm here without knowing how I got here. "Yeah. Papa said that it was time for your surprise training session and I was tasked with putting a sleeping drug in your afternoon coffee." Once Papa says you do something, you do it immediately and with no questions. If you don't do it to his standard or at all, then you will be punished in any way he sees fit for the 'crime' you committed.
"Ok then." I rotate my neck, groaning as I hear a few cracks. "Sylvia, wanna spare with me?" She gets in a fighting stance, swaying back and forth, like a game character. "Give a girl a second. Damn!" I stretch my back. Blade laughs and punches me in the side when my arms were in the air, causing me to stumble and wrap my arms around my stomach instinctively. "What the hell was that for, jerk?" I shove his shoulder.
He laughs and says "Tough love baby sister." I glare at him before punching him in his stomach and I wasn't gentle about it either. He coughs aggressively, while holding his stomach, gasping for air. "Tough love big brother." I give him a sickly sweet smile. He sends me a narrowed glare before walking upstairs in the same direction that Papa went in.
Mist is just standing there biting her lip, trying to hold in her laughter. "Shut up." I nudge her arm. "I didn't say anything though." She snickers. "You didn't have to." I wrap my arm around her shoulders as we walk upstairs, leaving one of our many underground training rooms behind.
We go upstairs to the boxing gym.
"Don't beat yourself up. It took me 7 minutes and 15 seconds to get out of there." She twirls my silky raven black hair between her fingers. "Please, if I didn't hurt my back then it would have taken a lot less time." I rolled my eyes. I'm not cocky, I'm just that good. "I'm sure, since Papa spends more time training you than he did the rest of us. I would be disappointed if you were anything short of perfection." She states. "Jealous?" I tease, wiggling my eyebrows at her. "I'm the 2nd eldest. I got just as much of babying as you did. Ok, not as much as you because you're the favourite, but I accept that." She tries to tap my nose but I slap her hand away.
"Yeah, sure. I still do a lot of my training alone. I do my own shooting practices and mission strategy alone. Even my torture scenes—which are so much fun, I might add. Papa hesitated to let me do the torture ones but he was so moved by my passion of making my enemies suffer, he couldn't deny me the power to do so." I rant on when we get to the gym. I slide the door to the left before walking in.
The room is white but all the equipment is either black or red. The room is probably triple the size of most peoples living rooms. On the right is a cage to fight in and on the left side is a ring, with boxing equipment in every corner. I started wrapping my hands while watching Mist do the same. I pull out my messy ponytail and redo it so that it would be neater, walking towards the cage and got in stance and wait for her to throw the first punch.
I'm such a good sister, aren't I?
I watch as she takes a step towards me, her body language already giving her away. She attemps to punch me in the jaw with her right first, because she's left handed and always starts with her left. She was hoping to catch me off guard this time. It's something only someone who fought with her a lot would notice. I duck and jab her in the stomach quickly backing away after. She stumbles for a second before coming for me again.
She looks at my left leg then back at my face in a millisecond. Only the trained eye would notice that slight flicker. She attempts to kick me so I stepped back and then forward again, not wasting time I round house kick her and she falls down on her side. The floor of the cage shaking with the impact of her body hit the floor. She spits blood then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "No shame in tapping out." I chuckle, moving from one leg to the other never staying in the same spot for more than a few seconds as I bounce on my feet. She laughs and shakes her head.
She gets up and runs towards me. She pushes me into the cage fence and knees me in the stomach. Unexpected pain shot through my body and I gasp. Damn, that hurt. My heart speeds up as I head butt her and push her off of me. She stumbles before falling but gets up just as fast. I had one moment of weakness because I was still recovering. In that moment, she gives me her delicious left hook. My head snaps to the side and I taste blood in my mouth. I raise my hand as a sign to pause before spitting the blood in my mouth out.
The cleaners are gonna be pissed, not like they can say anything about it though.
Turn pain into power.
I looked at her and got back in stance. She is going to try to punch my again but this time, I will be ready. She swings her arm when she got close enough to me. I take a deep breath and shift my body to the right before her fist could connect with my face. She accidentally lost balance and fell into the fence because she put to much force into it. I punch her in the rib and she winces, falling to her knees with her left hand over her ribs. I knee her in the head then pin her to the floor on her stomach with her left arm behind her back.
We are both panting and sweating. She groans and when she tries to move, I twist her wrist a bit. She winced and used her right hand to tap the ground twice. I let her go and collapse next to her. "Damn. You didn't hold back." She pants, sitting up holding her wrist. "Did you?" I ask, my chest haves up then down quickly as I try to catch my breath. She shakes her head, laughing quietly. "Good. I'd be pissed if you did." I sit up after regain my strength. She chuckles weakly.
"That punch had my ears ringing." I laugh while rubbing my cheek, still feeling the pain. "I put a lot of effort into that. So yeah, it better." She turns to me smiling. I nudge her shoulder with mine playfully. She winces. "I'm already sore as hell." She groans. "A shower with some Advil will help." I get up with a grunt. She nods and stretches a hand to me to help her up. I grip her hand, pulling her up and then put right arm over my shoulder.
"You really fight like a freaking beast. You had this look in your eyes, after I punched you, it was like... it was like you wanted to kill me."
I look at her with a straight face before bursting out laughing. "That's funny. Why would I kill my favourite sibling?" I snort. She shrugs, "I did drug you this morning so..." We laugh as she struggles to walk.
"Ouch and here I thought us youngest should stick together. How come she's your favourite?"
I looked up to see Winter leaning against the door frame. "You're saying that as if you even talk to me unless Papa is around. Speaking of him, don't you have an appointment with kissing his ass right about now?" I roll my eyes. Mist started snickering and then coughing with a groan.
"Whatever. At least I'm not an attention whore," she replies.
I didn't bother trying to hide my amusement from slipping into my words. "No, no, sweetie, stop. I think you have me confused with yourself. Seriously, I get it, I'd wanna be me, too. And I don't need the attention because I have gotten enough from Papa. Obviously something you can't relate to, but save that for your therapist. I don't really care about your issues or insecurities." I give her one of her own fake smiles.
Winter flinches and glares at me before walking away. "So, not only do you fight like an animal, your words have fists, too?" Mist chuckles before stumbling up the stairs. "She deserved it. I don't hate her or anything but she really pushes my buttons, therefore I deeply loathe her." Of course I don't hate her but she's really looking for a fight.
She always is. I have no idea why, but it feels like she holds a grudge against me. I don't know why.
I will beat her ass if she gets on my last nerve.
I open Mist's door and sit her on her bed. Her room is dark red with a ceiling fan that comes with a remote. Her bed is a king sized bed with curtains around it. Her sheets are plain black with black pillows. Her walls have pictures of her favourite guns and cars in gold frames. On the right is a couch for about four people that she only sits on when she is reading, six feet across from it is a desk with a laptop on it.
On the left side of her room is a walk in closet. Next to the closet, is a door that leads to the bathroom that is white with tiles on it. She has a mirror with a makeup lights installed in it. There is no bath tub in here because she thinks it is a waste of water. That's probably why she spends about half an hour in the shower.
"You have some pills in your cupboard?" I ask. She nods. "Ok then, bye." I walk towards the door. "Thanks." She says from behind me. "Why it's my fault anyway?" I turn my head, look over my shoulder. "You didn't have to help me but you did." She gets up from the bed with a wince. "Well then, when you put it like that, you're very welcome." I blow her a kiss, she rolls her eyes and limps to the bathroom.
I walk out, closing her door behind me as I left. I turn towards my room and bump into my other brother, Lucian. "Why do you look like crap?" He cringes at my appearance. "Sparing, what's your excuse?" I fold my arms. "Hmm. Who won?" He raises a brow at me questioningly, ignoring my previous insult. Dick. "I did." I start to tap my foot on the floor. "Against?" He is interrogating me like I owe him money.
"Against Mist." My voice is flat, why am I even entertaining him? "Now I'm curious. Did you cheat?" I never have before. "No, now bye." I stepped to the right, in attempts to leave. He glides in front of me. "Move." I demand. "Or what?" He smirks menacingly.
I kick his knee and when he falls down on them, I back hand him across the face, causing his head snaps to the right.
He saw it coming. I know he can react faster that that. He let me do it—left himself open on purpose.
Jerk.
He winces, holding his cheek, gently rubbing it. "Or that." I step past him. "Nice, little sis!" I hear him laughing behind me. "Jackass." I say to myself. "Heard that!" He yells. "I don't care because you are!" My voice echoes through the corridors.
I use my fingerprint to unlock and then open my door and my rose air freshener fills my nostrils. I sigh in content at the calming scent and close my door. My room is painted a silver-ish grey with a hint of sparkly features. My bed is a king size with some black with white curtains around it and has black silk sheets and black pillows.
On the wall to the right is a picture of my family when I was 16. We'd just finished a meeting which was also an assassination. We're all bloodied and are standing in front of a burning building. We looked so happy. Yes, it does sound like we're crazy but this is our normal. Majority of the other pictures are of my two dogs.
My eyes flicker to a picture of me around the age of 5. I stare into the blank eyes of my child self and an eerie sensation washes over me. I don't know why, but that is the only photo that makes me uneasy. The only one I avoid staring at for too long.
Her eyes follow me.
A flat screen TV hiked up on the wall in front of my bed, beside my bed about 5 feet away is a couch that turns into a bed rest. Beside that is a black desk with an office chair behind it. The chair is covered with leather but it was still comfy. On my desk is my laptop and some paperwork that I was working on, it was our last mission.
That's not important anymore so I have to take them up soon.
To the left is another door for my two dogs. Yes, my dogs have their own room, though more often than not I have someone walking and playing with them all day so they don't get anxious.
My walk-in closet is a couple metres away which also has a huge mirror inside it. Further along, is my bathroom. Inside my bathroom is black tiled walls with a shower and bathtub.
"Loki! Thor!" I yell, opening the door and they tackle me to the ground instantly. Loki has a black coat that I ensure is as soft as a cloud and very fluffy. His eyes are sapphire blue which gives the illusion that they glow. Let me tell you, it is the creepiest shit when he creeps on my bed at night when there's a storm.
He is the energetic and wild one of the two. Thor has a silvery white coat that is absolutely mesmerising and feels the same as silk. His light grey eyes resembles a storm cloud and they get darker when he's hungry. His personality is the complete opposite of Loki's, he's calm and relaxed. Both are wolf dogs.
I have had them trained to be the most well behaved boys. They will do anything that I command them to, even kill.
"Yes, I missed you too!" I coo as they cover me in kisses. Loki suddenly gets off me and brought his chest to the ground and his butt in the air, wagging his tail. "I'm sorry, I can't play right now." They whine at my response. "But later you will have my undivided attention." I added when I saw how sad they were. I might kill people, but I'm not that cold. They give me a wolffish smile at that.
I scratched under their necks before I walk to the bathroom. I removed my clothes, put them in the basket and step into the shower. The water warms up immediately but I switched it to cold. I enjoy cold showers when I'm sweaty and warm. Water engulfs me in it's cold embrace as it streams down my body, massaging every tense muscle. I let my head fall forward on the wall in front of me, accepting it's chilling embrace.
Training today took a lot out of me and not to mention I was caught off guard which I guess was the point. I'm not going to be ready for every attack, so I must always be ready, even at the break of freaking dawn.
I pick up my shampoo and squeeze a generous amount into my hand. All the grease in my hair has got to go. I rubbed my scalp and combed my fingers through my hair before washing it out. Then the conditioner was applied, adding more than needed. I massaged it into my hair. Absolutely the best feeling ever. Other than another feeling that I know of, which is probably even better than this. I left it for a few seconds before washing it all out.
I sigh, grabbing my watermelon and cherry body wash then pour it all over my loofa. I scrub every nook and cranny of my body, scenting myself with my sweet body wash. Rinsing off once more before turning the shower off, stepping out. I wrapped my towel around my body before getting another to dry my hair.
Moving towards the cupboard to grab lotion and deodorant. Dry skin is not cute people, and B.O is worse. Once I finish applying my cherry scented lotion, I put the deodorant on. If you can't tell, I love cherries and watermelons. I hear soft footsteps coming towards me and I already knew who it was.
My deadly cute doggies sitting there with their tongues to the side and goofy looks on their faces. Looking down, their favourite squeaking ball sitting there in front of them. It is a simple red ball but they love it for some reason. "Aww." I stroll over to them, I bend my knees putting my hands on my knees before asking. "You want it?" I picked it up, waving it in their faces, watching them follow it's every move.
I stand upright cause them leap towards it. I throw it across the room and they chase after it. It lands on the couch. They hop on the couch, fighting over who gets to bring it back to me. I chuckle. "Stay." They lay down, like the good boys I trained them to be. "Good boys." I coo, walking into my closet.
I pick out constricting black jeans with a tight royal blue that faded into navy blue top that stop just below my crotch, cropped black leather jacket and combat boots with a high heel. Lavender lace underwear. I put everything on and then look into the mirror.
My face is a defined heart shape with cheekbones that are not very high but still noticeable. Freckles scattered across my medium brown complexioned nose and cheeks. Naturally arched black eyebrows. My lips are dark pink, almost red. I put on a little eyeliner, drawing a sharp, thin wing and then some mascara. It really makes my sea green eyes pop. I swiped some clear lipgloss on, rubbing my lips together, spreading it around. I put some rings on my finger which brings attention to my nails which are painted completely black with glittery features. My nails are naturally long and filed into an square shape.
I brush my raven black hair that stops below my rib cage when it's down, up into a high ponytail. Most people thinks that it will damage my hair because I put it up so much but it doesn't. I have a good hair care and it's not that tight. I also wear it down as often as I can to reduce any risk of a receding hairline. My hair is soft and shiny, without an overwhelming amount of grease, of course. In a ponytail, it stops over my breast.
In a moment of vanity, my eyes trail over my tattoos.
I have one tattoo on my neck; a rose with a snake wrapped around it, a cobra to be exact. On my right breast is a heart that is in fire. Hot, I know. On my abdomen is an arrow pointing down just below words saying "DANGER! Enter at your own risk!" in fine font. On my fingers are: daggers, an anchor and on my middle finger is the word Death. On my left arm is a skull with roses going around the bottom of it. On my thigh is a dagger going through a heart, dripping with blood and on my upper back I have angel wings.
The top that I'm wearing pushes my breast up, exposing my heart tattoo. Papa allowed my to get them when I was 17 as a reward for my hard training. I might get more later on though.
I got most of them young but I try not regret them. Removing them would be a hassle.
I look myself over once more before turning away from my mirror, walking out of my closet, pleased with my appearance. "You must be so bored, cooped up in here all day. Wanna come outside with me?" I stoop down in front of them. They bark, attempting to lick my face but I stand up fast and walk towards my door. "Well, let's go" I open my door for them. They jump down and ran to me. "Stay close to me." They bark in response. Sometimes, I wonder if they understand English. Maybe they did, animals are getting crazy smart these days. At least, that's what I think.
Their tails swing left to right as they take each step, which is so adorable. We stroll down the corridors. There are a few guards here and there, each has a gun on them."Heyyyy." I wave at Jason, he's our head of security and a great guard, he has dark brown hair with the occasional grey strands, cream skin with light brown eyes. He's about 38 years old. "Hello, Sylvia." He nods with a faint smile.
Did I ever mention how stinky cute dogs look going down the stairs, because they do. I arrive in the kitchen and call out to our chef. "Excuse me?" I stop behind him. He stopped working and turned around. "Yes, Miss Sylvia?" "Can you mix raw steak and chicken together but cut them into medium sized pieces please?" Never forget your manners when speaking to elders, if they deserve it of course. "Large or small portions?" he asked. "Large please, as you can see my dogs are very big" I pointed to them. Nodding before turning away to do what I asked, I leave him to do it.
As I was walking I felt the hair on the back of my neck standing up, alerting me that someone is behind me. Turning quickly, I raised my fist to punch my attacker. Flame takes a step back, raising his hands in surrender. "Don't sneak up on me, you weirdo!" I release a relieved sigh. Loki and Thor sniffed him, eyeing him up and down, watching his every move as if he would try to attack me. Which he wouldn't, for his sake. "How did I sneak up on you?" He smiles 'innocently'. "Shut up you creep." I rolled my eyes.
"I missed you, I haven't seen you in 5 hours." He pouts at me, slouching. "Flame, both you and Lucian spent those 5 hours annoying me. If you aren't an annoying enough individual, Lucian had to be your twin. Seriously, why did you have to be a twin? One of you is bad enough. You're so irritating that I contemplate poisoning you food to escape one of yoy." The words flow
from my mouth like a train.
"You know you love me, sissy." He bats his lashes at me. I give him a blank stare "Are you trying to speed up your death?" He laughs, not taking me seriously. "See you at dinner!" He runs to the stairs. "Take a shower and scrub your nasty ass pits. You smell like a fish with bad hygiene!" I yell.
"You kill me with your insults," Mist laughs.
"Do you feel better?" I asked leaning on the wall behind me. "Yup, the pain killers did it's job." A memory comes to my mind and I snickered. "Like that time when you beat up your ex's new girlfriend because she hurt him, she had to buy painkillers and an ice pack." I try not to laugh at the memory of my sister beating the crap out of someone with her own belt.
She was whipped over him.
"She hurt him. He didn't deserve that or the lies I kept telling him," she admits sadly. Eww, depressing moment. I nudged her shoulder. "Don't do that, you did him and yourself a favour. Love in our work and life is weakness. Family are the only people you can trust." As I said that Lucian came running down the stairs, chasing after Flame who seems to have stolen his favourite gun. "Ok, most of them. Get rid of the rest if you please." I whispered to her.
I actually looked at her properly. She let her beautiful oak brown hair down, which is tightly curled just under her breast. Golden brown complexion. She has the same sea green eyes that we inherited from Papa. Soft heart face with no freckles, lips covered in rose lipstick. Mascara that made her thick lashes even thicker. She has on a cropped black hoodie with short shorts and black laced boots. She only has one tattoo which is a simple quote on her wrist: 'Lover and a Fighter'. She has a couple rings on her fingers and her almond nails painted black with silver tips. Vanilla body wash and spray scented all over her body.
"Oh my gosh, I didn't even realise that you brought them out!" She squeals looking at Loki and Thor. They get excited when she starts talking to them, she literally talks to them like babies and they love it. "Miss, where should I put these?" Chef Underhill asks with two bowls in his hands. "You can put them down right there, thank you." I say. He nods, placing them down. They start salivating and sit down looking up at me. After a few seconds I say "Eat". They attack their food. Mist whispers, "So cute." I laugh softly.
"We have a good 30 minutes before dinner. Wanna walk Loki and Thor?" I wiggle my eyebrows. "Stupid question, of course I do! Let's go!" She claps her hands in excitement. "Ok, when they finish eating we can go." I state. She nods frantically. She really likes them, maybe more than our brothers. In a weird way I can relate. While theses two are cute and obedient, our brothers are annoying and infuriating.
Either way, I would kill for both.
Suddenly, I feel the need for a drink, my throat is like a desert. "I'm a bit thirsty. We can go get a drink first and then we can walk them." She thinks for a second before replying, "Sure, now that you mention it, I want a drink too." She licks her lips. " Ok, let's go." The dogs just finish eating. "Come on boys." We walk slowly towards the lounge room, also open bar.
