Chapter 1
The girl’s smile was feral. Deadly. Nothing kind about it. She stared. Stared like a lion hunting for prey. She watched the pirate drink with his mates and throw money away like it meant nothing. She watched him chug down glasses of beer as though it was water. Then she saw him leave with a girl he’d picked up. She followed them with stealth no one thought possible. Then she found what she was looking for, the slight movement of his hand, the one she’d waited all night to get. He reached for the knife tucked into his belt, and knowing his mad intentions, she leapt. With his shoulder now dislocated, and his nose badly broken, she finally got the chance to tell the young girl to run. The young girl didn’t move.
“Go! What are you waiting for?”
“You saved me,” she said, her voice shaky. Her eyes hazy, probably because of the shock. “I’m Cora.”
She didn’t look up from the knife she held at the pirate’s throat. His own knife. “Move, and I’ll kill you.” He chuckled, a deep, dark sound. The smell of alcohol filled the air.
“You can’t kill me,” he laughed. With a flick of her wrist, his throat was slit and dripping blood.
“Try me,” she smiled, turning so he slammed into the dirty wall behind them. He groaned when his head started bleeding as well. With a single glance so see if Cora was still there, and she was, the girl realized a second before it was too late that the pirate was planning to attack. “Come on, you thought I was that stupid?” A few seconds later, he was on the ground, dead.
“Oh my God! You killed him!” Cora muttered. “He’s dead.”
“You would be dead too, if it weren’t for me,” the girl said.
"You killed a guy!" she screamed.
"You want to quiet down?" the girl whispered. Cora fell, her hands covering her face, sobbing hysterically. "Shut up!"
"H-he's d-dead," she whispered. "You k-killed h-him, and you don't even feel bad about it?"
The girl scoffed. "Why would I feel bad about it? Listen, he was reaching for a knife so he could kill you. Now, go home, enjoy a bath, get a good night's sleep."
Cora looked up, her face stained with tears, her hair a mess. "You have a cut on your arm," she whispered.
The stranger looked down and saw that she did, in fact, have a bloody gash on her arm. A smile formed on her lips. "I've had worse. Listen, don't ever be stupid enough to let a random guy take you home, alright."
"You have a cut on your arm," she repeated, standing up. "You saved my life, the least I can do is help you. I have some equipment to help at home."
The girl considered it for a hot minute then decided to go with her. "Besides sleeping with sketchy guys, what do you do?"
Cora chuckled weakly, "I, uh, I work at the bar down the road. I take it that wasn't your first time killing someone?"
The girl looked at her with striking brown eyes, then looked back down, clearly not wanting to answer. As they walked, Cora began to study the stranger. Her poised walk, always ready to defense, her hands always clenched, and eyes always darting around. The stranger looked pretty rich, considering the band around her finger and the jewel around her neck. She was probably the prettiest girl she'd every seen, her hair, down to her waist, was the darkest black.
The girl snuck glances at Cora the whole time they were walking. She had golden hair pulled up into a ponytail. Occasionally, the right side of her mouth twitches upward.
"We're here," Cora said, opening her door. The music hit me first, then the dancing. "Sorry, that's my boss, he has parties in here every night."
"Oh," was all the stranger said. Cora walked downstairs after grabbing some medical supplies. Her room was a lot quieter than the chaos going on upstairs.
"Am I going to find out your name?" Cora asked, rubbing the girl's arm with alcohol. She winced, completely ignoring the question. "Okay, then, you're ready to go."
The girl put her tunic back on. "Good luck, Cora."
