-CHAPTER SIX-
•Late Night Escapade•

After hours of strange, exhausting classwork, lunch had finally arrived. Lunchtime was the time of day when every person, from every clan or sector, could come together...well almost everyone. They would socialize or simply just go wild; they show off their powers, go for a swim, hangout in the game room, or like the majority of the time, they would fight. 

Every day the cafeteria had a unique theme. Each day a new scenery is displayed on the walls for everyone to see. This time it featured a 3D battle scene; the flames looked as if they were melting everything it touched, and the fighters looked as if they were going to bounce right off of the wall.

James and William sat by the pool, watching the mermaids splash around with other students.

"I heard about what happened today." William said, sounding concerned. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." James said, as he drunk his soda.

A mermaid made a big splash and the water shot at James, soaking his clothes. Nearby students pointed at him and laughed.

"We can go to the dorm if you want," said William.

"That's okay. Just meet me back at the room when you're done."

William felt bad. He wanted to follow him but a group of friends called out his name.

As James was walking away he couldn't help but notice Jennifer; she was holding some type of bag and it looked as if she was hiding from someone. He thought about walking up to her when suddenly he passed by a table of students yelling. There was a loud "BANG" and a tray went flying, nearly hitting him as it shot across the room. He turned in an instant; a girl with glasses and short brown hair was being harassed by a group of guys.

"You think you're smarter than everybody?" A guy yelled.

The girl was calm, collected; she even smiled a little.

"I didn't say I was the smartest, I'm just saying you're too dumb to comprehend what I'm saying."

"This is the girl everyone's so worried about--the legend? I don't see anything special about her. Just a little girl who thinks she's on a brighter path than all of us. You think you're better than us, huh?"

The girl ignored him and continued reading her book.

"Pay attention when I'm talking to you!"

The bully snatched the book from out of her hands and attempted to throw it, but something stopped him. James had his hand open, holding the book with an invisible force.

"Hey! Leave her alone."

The guy and his group all turned around and looked toward him. The skull tattoos on their necks revealed that they were from the Warrior clan.

"You messed with the wrong clan, kid." One of the members said. "Get 'em Tank."

Tank is a buff, pale-faced teen, who believes he is the toughest person in his clan and the academy, because he's the son of the Warrior Council. He might have been born into his popular status, possess muscles that resembled boulders, but at times you would think his brain was the size of a peanut.

"Do we have a problem, loser?" Tank said, as he flexed his abnormal muscles.

"I said leave her alone. No one has to get hurt tonight, just calm down." He put the girl's books back on the table.

"Who's going to make me? You?" He laughed. "Don't try to be a hero; you might just get yourself killed."

James began to approach.

"Don't take another step, pretty boy." Tank snapped his fingers and the two boys went to retrieve the girl.

Just before they grabbed her she snuck a fork into her back pocket; they held her next to Tank. She was still smiling, pushing back the urge to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Tank said, growing irritated.

"You guys have no idea what you've just gotten yourselves into." She grinned at James. "You can go now. We can handle the rest."

James was confused. She gave him a hint, pointing her eyes toward the ceiling. He saw nothing, but he suddenly felt the room beginning to heat up like an oven.

"What did you do, nerd?" Tank said.

She smiled. "It wasn't me."

Without warning, a fireball and a storm of hail rained down from above and struck the two guys holding the girl. They both screamed out in pain; one guy was stabbed multiple times with shards of ice, and the other was set on fire. Suffering from the pain, they released the girl. While Tank stood distracted, searching for the attacker, the girl swiftly took out the fork from her back pocket then dug it deep into his spine. His legs wobbled as he fell to the floor, onto his knees.

"Why can't I move; what did you do to me?"

"You're paralyzed. Lucky for you, it's only temporary."

Tank's gang didn't dare mess with her; taking down their leader single-handedly sent them a clear message that things wouldn't end well for them if they continued to interfere. Overwhelmed with fear, they fled leaving Tank to fend for himself.

"You guys are pathetic!" Tank yelled. He tried his best to move his body but in the end it was all for nothing.

"You should have burned with the rest of that place years ago, you traitor. My father couldn't pull it off all those years ago, but I'm not my father. You better watch your back, princess; next time you see me it won't be pretty."

A voice suddenly echoed from above. "Who said there was going to be a next time?"

A guy dropped from high above, landing safely on top of one of the floating tables. He made his way behind Tank, calmly, rubbing his peach fuzz. His hand turned blue and his palm was filled with a spark of electricity.

"Wrong place at the wrong time, eh, Tank?"

Tank closed his eyes and sighed.

"So, it's really you, Shifter? Where have you been all this time?"

"Where I've been is none of your concern."

"You took a big risk showing yourself again. There are some very "professional" people out looking for you, you know? Maybe you should go back to hiding if you know what's good for you."

"I was never hiding; I've been in plain sight for everyone to see. You should know by now that I'm not afraid of your father's thugs. No matter how many he sends the result will always be the same; I'm pretty sure he's getting tired of hiring new hit-men."

"Mixed breeds aren't allowed out of their sector, you should know since you were the first one to be placed there. Your kind have no choice but to follow the rules at all times; we wouldn't want another accident."

His aggravation resulted in a higher intensity of his electricity.

"Don't ever bring that up again!"

"You're nervous. If I hadn't seen your dirty work with my own eyes, I would take your title of being a cold-blooded killer as a joke. I always wondered why Rose still hung out with you after what you did."

Rose quickly stepped in-between them, her eyes focused on Charles.

"Don't do it, Charles. We're done." Rose said. She grabbed his arm and tried pulling him away. "Don't listen to him. You're not a monster like everyone says you are."

He put down his hand and the electricity slowly went away.

"You're going soft." Tank laughed.

Charles punched him in the mouth without warning. Tank spit up blood onto the floor. The ground began to shake underneath their feet. Not even a second later two troll guards stormed into the cafeteria.

"You have to go!" Rose said to Charles.

"Yes, run and hide, Shifter. Every dog has its day but soon that luck will run out, and when it does, your rabid dog will be put down, Rose. I'll make sure of that."

Charles dug into his pocket and tossed down a smoke bomb, quickly vanishing within the fog.

"Where is he; where's the Shifter?" The trolls yelled.

Everyone went back to eating their food, pretending like nothing had happened. A troll lifted Tank up off the floor and examined his injury.

"Gather up all the injured students and take them to the infirmary."

A mermaid splashed water on the student who had been engulfed in flames, and the troll picked him up off the ground, along with the member with ice shards pierced through his body.

James walked through the group and approached Rose.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for standing up for me, as you can see not many people would've done that."

"No problem. I couldn't just let them treat you like that."

Rose grabbed her books off the table and stuffed them into her book bag, while James decided to help clean up the mess.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow at the opening ceremony."

"Sounds like a plan. " As Rose made her way to the exit, Jennifer came out from hiding and approached her. She purposely bumped into her, knocking all her possessions onto the floor.

"I'm so sorry." Jennifer said.

"It's alright. I guess tonight just isn't my night."

"I hear that."

Rose looked up and studied Jennifer.

"I don't think I've ever seen you around. You must be new."

"Yeah. I transferred over a few days ago."

"Cool. So, what's your story?"

"My story?"

"You know, the reason you decided to join the academy."

"Uh...I guess after years of feeling unimpressed with my life, I figured it was finally time I started over and take a new path."

"I felt the same way before I got here. This place has gone through some pretty crazy changes over the years, but for now, it might just be the only hope for these students to grow and learn how to properly use their powers. We've all seen what power can do to a person and that's why everyone must learn to control their gifts and use them for the right reasons, or inevitably, we will all suffer."

"I know exactly what you mean; I agree."

Jennifer took a sudden interest in all her trinkets laid out on the floor.

"These look pretty cool. Did you make all these?"

"Yeah. I like to invent things in my spare time."

After digging through the supplies a shiny pen caught her eye; there was a bright red button sitting on one end of it.

"What does this button do?"

"Woah, no! Don't touch that." Rose took it from her hands and placed it in the side pocket of her bag.

"I'm sorry. What was that, anyways?"

"It's a pen."

"Obviously," she joked, "What does it do?"

"Well, it sets off an electromagnetic pulse, which, as of now, can only work within a limited range of four meters; its capable of shutting down anything running on electricity."

"Nice. That would really come in handy."

"For what?"

"Oh, um, nothing. Just thinking out loud."

Smoke suddenly came rushing into the cafeteria. While everyone watched his arrival, Jennifer quickly swiped the EMP pen and stuffed it in her pocket; she stuffed the remainder of her possessions into the book bag.

"I think that's all of it; I better be going now. Sorry again for bumping into you."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm glad we finally got to meet. Maybe we'll meet up again before the exams."

"Yeah, maybe. See you around." Jennifer rushed back to her bag and kept herself ducked down behind a pillar, as the smoke continued to rushing in. Crowley revealed himself on top of a table, getting everyone's attention.

"We have a code black. I repeat, code black. (Code black-the code in which everyone is assigned to use in case a mixed breed ever left their sector.) "Everyone return to your dorms until further notice." He spoke out with anger rather than concern. "Lunch is over!"

Everybody began dumping their trays and heading for the exit; the mermaids transformed their sea-legs back to human legs and they joined the crowd. Crowley looked down at James, giving him a dirty look.

"Get out of my sight, boy."

He didn't reply, He simply ignored it and merged with the other groups heading to the dormitory.

Crowley let out a sigh. Then his hand rustled through his shaggy hair.

"The exam hasn't even started yet and hell has already broken loose. The mixed breeds want to take over; I'll see to it that they never make it out to the other side. Their very existence disgusts me. However..." He let out a maniacal laugh. "I'm kind of looking forward come test day; this exam is going to be quite interesting."

Crowley jumped off the table, turning back into smoke. He flew into the ventilation and the cafeteria was left in silence.

After the cafeteria was cleared out; Jennifer came out from hiding. She picked up her duffle bag and quickly made her way to the side door leading outside. She studied the door and noticed the red light fading in and out of its outline. Thanks to her routine job as a lunch assistant, she knew the doors were locked and set with alarms after hours.

She took out the pen and placed her hand right above the red button.

"Please don't shut down the school."

She pressed the button despite how nervous she was; one after the other, all the lights in the room shut off, along with the alarm that had been set on the door. She sighed with relief. To her surprise the alarm was disabled, however, the doors automated-open function was disabled as well.

Reaching towards her hip, she grabbed her dagger and shoved it in-between the crack of the two doors. After popping the door open she struggled as she used all her strength to force it the rest of the way, opening up the path leading to a long corridor.

"The Evolution clan is head of security; for a bunch of geniuses they sure did a poor job."

She stepped into the room and took a little black book from her duffle bag; it was full of names and locations within Veritas. She shuffled through the pages and stopped on a marked page set for the present day's date. Four names were written; each were marked out except for one:

~Jason~

~Sebastian~

~Drakon~

Crow

Edward "Crow" Williams, the final target on my list; he has to know who was in charge of framing me all those years ago. The others refused to rat out their leader, and it left me with only one option-I had to kill them. Unlike the others, Crow will talk and if he doesn't he's going to wish he never met me.

She put away her book and continued walking. She took a look out of the windows; the sun was starting to fade away and the moon was getting ready to take its place. As she traveled further down the long passageway, she couldn't help but notice how quiet everything was. The empty room gave off a bad vibe.

Evolution...it's not often that they make a mistake. There's no way they'd let their security system get beat by just a little EMP; there must be something I'm not seeing.

She remained cautious; summoning clones to aid her, and constantly looking over her shoulder in case she was being followed. Everything seemed fine; no sign of danger in sight, only paranoia. That's what she believed, but that changed in just a matter of seconds.

The clone walking ahead stumbled into an unseen trap and blood was splattered all over the floor.

"What the hell?"

She looked around and found nothing. She ripped a page out of her book and waded it up into a ball. She tossed it forward, and seconds later it suddenly burned into ashes.

Beams of red light came shining out from the cracks in the walls and scanned the room.

A robotic voice spoke out from the intercom.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!"

Jennifer tried using the EMP again, but it had no effect.

"Weapons detected. Possible threat in sight; performing security measures." Suddenly, the floor began shaking underneath their feet.

"Get ready." she said to her clones.

They stood in a skillful stance, waiting for security to arrive. One by one, the tiles began to slide over like a panel, exposing a hole. Within seconds, robots came crawling out from the mysterious pits.

"Intruder alert." As they took position, they made sure to block any and all exits, keeping Jennifer trapped until the academy staff arrived. She could hear an uproar of people coming from behind; she was quickly running out of time.

"I came too far just to get caught now." She took out her daggers and rushed forward; the robots reacted and did the same.

"Intruder alert. You shall not pass!"

The clones and robots clashed and a battle between humans and automatons had begun. The clones fought hard, pummeling through the machines, but the robots fought back even harder. They put in a lot of effort but no matter what they did, the robots held their ground.

As they wasted time fighting, that gave Ronald and the others time to finally arrive. Principal Ronald led the group; Crowley stood at his side. He wore a nightcap and pajamas that said, "World's Greatest Principal", written on the back. Jennifer quickly buried her face within the hood of her hoodie.

"What's going on here!" He yelled.

Jennifer didn't dare respond.

"Bot•1-5-2-5, give me the report on the intruder."

"At once, sir."

Name: Unknown

Sex: Female

Height--

"The important facts, Bot•1-5-2-5."

"Pardon me, sir. The intruder is armed and dangerous. Powers: Ability to create doppelgangers, and blood manipulation."

"Blood manipulation, huh? That's a rare power. I've only seen it from one place; you must come from the Vampire clan. Bot, run a facial scan and compare it to every vampire student's records for a match."

"Yes, sir." beep, boop, beep. "No match found."

"Clever girl but just as foolish. I don't know if you're aware but you have broken multiple academy rules tonight. I don't know what you were hoping to accomplish tonight but your plans end here. I try not to punish too severely; it'll only be worse if you don't come peacefully."

There was no way she was going to give herself up. If she got caught her punishment would be unthinkable; she might never see the light of day again. Her path was blocked in both directions; she wasn't getting out of either door without either being killed or locked away again. An idea popped into her head; It was crazy but what other choice did she have?

"Get rid of the clones, will you? We wouldn't want another incident."

She spoke calmly. "As you wish."

With the snap of her fingers, the clones melted, turning into puddles of blood. She picked up her duffle bag and slowly began to walk towards the crowd. Crowley watched her every step of the way; he soon began to notice who she really was, but for the moment he decided not to rat her out.

As Jennifer continued on her path, the puddle of blood followed her. The blood began to thicken, slowing shaping itself as she thought up an escape plan. She took a glance ahead, and then looked over to her left; the windows were all lined up, as if they were asking to be broken.

She suddenly stopped. She zipped up her duffle bag and put it on her back.

"What are you doing? I thought I made myself clear."

"I understand what you're saying, but to be fair I was never good at following orders."

She threw a dagger towards the window, busting all the glass away; she jumped into a full sprint, jumping over piles of busted-up robots as she fled.

"Get her, now! She must not escape."

In an instant, they conjured up a barrage of lethal attacks; fireballs were sent flying, creatures were summoned, and the persistent robots went running after her. She was under heavy fire. She took control of the blood and created a wall of blood to shield from their attacks; it held but it wouldn't last forever.

Ronald quickly looked over at Crowley.

"What are you waiting for, finish her off."

Crowley hesitated. He didn't want to harm her, but knew he had no other choice. Without a second wasted, he threw out one of his knives towards the ceiling and busted out one of the lights above them. He reached down at his feet and grabbed his shadow; he pulled it a part, creating multiple shadow companions. They moved like they had a mind of their own and rushed off towards Jennifer.

Just before she could take a leap of faith, she was suddenly stopped; she couldn't move her feet or any other part of her body. She spotted the shadows wrapped around her legs, holding her prisoner.

"Nice one, Crowley. Remind me to give you a raise."

"Of course, sir."

They began to approach her. She could feel herself starting to panic, but she knew she had to stay calm if she wanted to get out of the situation alive. She regained her confidence, making sure to keep her mind focused on the main objective. She patiently waited as they approached her.

"I didn't want to do this, dear, but you've left me no choice." Principal Ronald grabbed a dagger from off her hip, and without a second thought he ran it through her right arm. She screamed out in pain. He spotted her vampire-like dagger sitting on her hip and took an interest to it.

"What do we have here; the ruthless Vampiric blade passed down to young assassins. It has a razor-sharp edge and perfectly balanced in weight; this must have been crafted by one of the best bloodsmiths in the Vampire clan. Seeing it as you won't be needing this where you're going, I'll take this off your hands."

"Give it back!"

"I gave you a chance to come peacefully and you spit on my kindness. I'm afraid it's too late for any further negotiations."

Ronald tucked the dagger on the inside of his pajama pants and began to walk away.

"Watch your back, old man. I will be back."

"I guess I'll see you then; let's go everyone. We've got work to do in the morning. Crowley, you stay and get whatever information out of her that you can. After you process her, bring her over to my office. I'd like to have a friendly chat with our little assassin."

"Yes, sir."

Crowley grabbed ahold of her arm and bent down toward her ear.

"If you value your life, I would advise you to make your final move, now. There's only so much I can do."

Jennifer didn't know what he was trying to do, but she didn't question his traitorous act. She could feel her legs coming back to her control. The shadows had completely released her and she quickly sprang into action. She lifted the blood off the ground and shaped the puddle into various types of blades; she sent them flying towards the crowd, purposely trying to hit Principle Ronald.

"Ronald, watch out!" Crowley yelled.

A member of staff quickly reacted, putting up a wall of ice around them; the blades pierced through but they did no harm.

"Hit me, now." Crowley whispered to Jennifer.

She wasn't sure if he was serious or not, but she didn't want to waste any more time. She ripped the dagger from out of her arm then shoved it into his shoulder; he reacted with a kick and she flew backwards through the window. She was in pain, but that was something she was used to. She drifted within the breeze, as she went spiraling down to freedom.

"Should I go after her, sir?"

"No. She's already informed us that she will be returning; we just have to be patient until she decides to show herself again.

Ronald and his staff members were left concerned and empty-handed as Jennifer escaped, leaving the corridor covered in blood and bolts.

After nearly being burned alive, falling to her death, and walking over countless miles through the city of Veritas with a hole in her arm, she had finally arrived at her destination--the Mendoza Mortuary (Morgue).

A family of crows were perched on a metal fence, staring at her as she walked by. The further she went in, the more she noticed them appear. She stood outside the door; there was a sign on it that read: CLOSED.

She saw that the lights were still on and a man was standing in the front room. She ignored the sign and knocked on the door; he responded by ignoring her. She tried again with a little more force, he still didn't answer.

"I'm not in the mood for games, old man."

She kicked in the door and walked inside; she found the owner tidying up the place. He was an older guy who suffered from baldness but he had a mustache that even Tom Selleck would envy.

He raised his broom at her and swung it aggressively.

"Stay back, stay back I say! You are breaking and entering. Leave now or I'll call the police."

"You're not going to call anyone." She showed off her weapons. "Understand."

He was shaken by the sight. "C-can I help you?"

"As a matter of a fact, you can. Thank you for asking. I've been on the look for someone. Do you know two men by the name of Ed and Roger Williams?"

He quickly lowered his broom and went back to cleaning.

"I can't recall anyone by those name. I'm sorry."

She could see that he was purposely avoiding eye contact. She looked around the room and spotted a chalkboard, representing the number of deaths that had occurred in the past month.

"314 deaths? That's strangely high considering how safe Veritas is supposed to be. I'm sure all of those weren't caused by old age and illness alone, am I right?"

"What are you talking about? Most of the deaths that happen around here are from the academy."

"That's partially true. The only deaths that take place there are usually during the exams...which haven't started yet."

"What are you getting at, kid?"

She chuckled. "Oh, nothing. My mouth just goes sometimes. Forget I even said anything, Ramone."

He was surprised to hear his name come out of her mouth.

"How do you know my-"

She gave him a devilish grin. "I've been watching you, Ramone."

He grew worried; she could see the broom shaking in-between the both of his hands. She removed the sadistic grin and began to laugh.

"I'm just busting your balls, man. It's on your name tag."

He was embarrassed. "Oh. Yeah..."

She approached the counter and grabbed the book full of recorded deaths.

"Excuse me. Is there something else you needed help with?"

"A name-two to be exact."

He walked behind the front desk and sat down in his chair as he booted up his computer.

"Alright. When was the time of death?"

"July 4, 1989."

"That's kind of far back; I don't think we still carry records from that long ago."

"Oh, well maybe you might recognize the names: Mary and Joseph Fang."

The man typed the names in then suddenly stopped. He looked up at Jennifer, scared for his life.

"Those names-who are you?"

"Come on. I'm sure you can remember."

She dropped her duffle-bag onto the hard, tiled floor.

"Nothing. Fine. I'll give you a hint. I was once a pretty flower until one day a certain group of people came and paid me a visit; each day they plucked and plucked. And for months they continued plucking until all my petals finally dropped and I was left as nothing but an ugly and useless stem."

The man said nothing. He was too shocked, and even a little confused.

"Let's see if this jogs your memory."

She removed her hood; she pulled out her back-up vampire dagger and placed it on the counter.

"I'm the girl people fear and want to kill, the girl who was framed all those years ago; the girl who was manipulated into doing someone else's dirty work, and now, I'm the girl who's going to kill you and everyone you've ever known."

He began to panic. His fear made him sweat uncontrollably.

"You're not real; you're supposed to be dead! We saw you die."

She picked up her dagger, and without a bit of hesitation she struck downward. The razor edge ripped through his hand with ease; the blade kept his hand stuck in place as it pierced through the wooden desk.

"Ahhh!"

"Does that feel real to you?"

"You snot-nosed brat!"

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to do this the hard way. I tried to be as nice as possible, but you continued to test my patience."

"What do you want from me?" He screamed, repeatedly.

"Like I said earlier, I'm here for Ed and Roger Williams-the Crow brothers."

"But I'm neither one of those guys."

"I'm well aware of that, but I know you were involved-big mistake. Because of the fact that you helped the bastards who ruined my life, I should be tearing you to shreds right now. But...I'm feeling a little gracious today. I'll give you one more chance to tell me where they are or you're going to suffer the same fate as them."

"I haven't seen them at all since that night. Please, let me go."

"Wrong answer, Ramone."

She grabbed another dagger from her hip; as she rose to strike, an unexpected crow came flying in from the window and sat. It didn't move, and it didn't make a sound; it just sat there, awkwardly, staring at her with its yellow eyes.

"Shoo!"

She tried swatting it away but it didn't flinch one bit. Seconds later, another one flew in and joined it.

Ramone took a quick glance at them, and quickly looked away. Jennifer took a closer look at their eyes and noticed each one had a weird symbol embedded in them.

"You bastards!"

She went for her dagger, aggressively ripping it out of Ramone's hand, then attacked the crows. Before she could make contact, the bird let out a horrific screech, so strong that she flew through the window, smacking down onto the concrete sidewalk.

The result of the impact left her struggling to stand. Her legs felt numb, her arms were heavy, and her blood was dripping all over the sidewalk. A sharp pain shot through her body. It left her nervous and in a lot of pain. Slowly looking down at her injury she found a thick piece of glass stuck in her damaged arm, piercing though to the other side.

"Damnit...!"

She took deep breaths continuously.

"Come on, Jennifer, you got this."

She got a grip on the glass and slowly began to take it out.

"Ahhh!"

The attempt at removal only brought her more pain as it was put in motion. As she continued trying to pull it out, the hole began to widen and she lost larger amounts of blood.

Two guys leaped out through the window; there was a crunch as they landed on the shattered glass. She looked up slowly at the two brothers; her face bruised and scarred, and her clothes bloody.

"So, it's really you." Ed said. "We thought you were dead, buddy."

"I'm not your buddy!"

"Sure you are. We have a history; we're old partners, remember."

Roger just stood there with a grin on his face. He didn't speak; not because he didn't want to, but because he wasn't physically able to.

"Partners, really? You set me up and left me to die, asshole!"

"Us? I think you got this whole thing confused."

She reached into her back pocket and took out a wrinkled piece of paper. She balled it up and threw it at him.

"What's this?"

"You dropped it the night of the "accident"...partner."

He opened the note and read it to himself:

Crow Brothers,

Tonight is the night...after all these years we've finally taken out the competition and have crowned ourselves as kings of the business. We did it, and we have the recruit to thank for that...however, business is business and actions have to be brought out for the greater good. We are all aware of how skilled and dangerous our young recruit is; she could turn on us at any moment and before we know it, she could have killed us all with no hesitation. We must get rid of her while we still have our heads. You know what you need to do...tonight is the night.

"I can explain."

"Save it. Lying is useless, I know everything about the plan."

"Is that right?" He chuckled. "So, you know, now what?"

"That depends on how you want this to end."

"So, after all these years you still live the cold-blooded lifestyle."

"If that's what it takes until I kill every last one of you, I will remain the ruthless assassin everyone has branded me as."

"I see. From everything you're saying I'm going to assume that you were the one who took out Drakon and the others?"

"You'd be right. They refused to cooperate, so I had to deal with them."

"And you came here thinking we would willingly tell you everything you wanted to know?"

"That was the plan."

"You make it sound easy. I'm your last hope of finding out anything; Roger is out of the question."

"Then I'll just have to beat it out of you."

He laughed. "Do you really think you can beat us? You're not looking too good."

"Trust me. You're going to look a lot worse than me. That's a promise."

"Is that right?"

He made a screeching sound into the air; the sound acted as a beacon that drew in a large amount of black birds; an army of crows had been assembled.

"I can't believe you were dumb enough to come looking for us. You know what we're capable of."

"Same goes for you. Isn't that why you tried so hard to kill me." The puddles of blood along the sidewalk surrounded her, and rose up, turning into clones. She reached for her dagger that had been buried under glass; she wobbled as she tried standing on her feet.

She grabbed onto the piece of glass sticking out of her arm; she pulled it out gently but tried her best to get it out as quickly as possible. The pain was unbearable, but she endured.

"Your fear is what caused all this, and now it's come back to bite you in the ass."

Without warning, she threw the long shard of glass towards Roger, and suddenly a wall of feathers appeared in front of him, acting as a shield.

"You will not touch him!" Ed said.

He took control of the feathers. They shot off, aiming directly for her, piercing through their defenses with ease, like a knife through butter. One by one it turned most of the clones back into puddles of blood.

Jennifer sliced through a bundle of them single-handedly, but because of her injuries, she had a hard time swinging her weighted dagger.

A feather shot past her face; it sliced through the side of her cheek as it flew by. She took a quick step back and tripped over her own feet, falling onto the rubble-based parking lot. Before she could jump back onto her feet, she found herself trapped inside of a tornado of not-so-soft feathers.

"Kid, come on. It doesn't have to be this way. Surely we can make a deal, something that'll work for both ends."

"Forget your deal. I'm here for one reason, and one reason only-to kill you and your pathetic boss."

"Come on. If you walk away right now and end this suicide mission, you can live a normal life again. Get out of the business while you still can."

"You mean the business you bastards pushed me into pursuing? You didn't just ruin my childhood, I'm a wanted fugitive; you killed off my entire future. You really expect me to just forgive and forget, just like that?"

The tornado began to shrink and the feathers began to close-in.

"I would advise that...if you want to live."

"Do what you want but I'm not the one who's going to die tonight."

"I tried to give you a chance, kid. This is where it finally ends."

He quickly shut his hand and the gap of the tornado had been sealed shut; blood splattered everywhere.

"It's done."

The two brothers began to walk away and the flock of crows began to scurry. Ed took out his phone and dialed; it rung for a few seconds and then someone finally answered.

"It's late, Ed. You know I'm a very busy man; this better be a life or death situation."

"As a matter of fact it is. Remember Drakon and the others? We found out who took them out."

"I assume since you've called me, that you dealt with our little problem then."

"Yes, sir. We won't be having any more problems out of h-"

Suddenly, he was speechless. He removed the phone from his ear and found something that shook his nerves from the inside. He found a dagger sticking out of his hand, piercing through the circuits of his phone.

"Ahhh!"

Ed noticed that it was quiet, too quiet. He turned around quickly; his eyes full of fear. What he saw was something that he had only witnessed in his nightmares. His other half, his foundation...his brother, Roger, stood there, blood running down his shirt as a blade laid in his chest.

"Roger!"

Ed pulled the dagger out of his hand and rushed off towards his injured brother, catching him as he dropped to his knees.

"Stay with me, bro. Stay with me!"

A voice suddenly spoke out to him, like a demonic spirit seeking revenge.

"What's the matter, Ed; see something you didn't like?"

"You...you little bitch! Roger didn't want anything to do with this."

"Ring any bells? My parents had nothing to do with our business, but that didn't stop you from helping have them killed."

"You're dead. You hear me, dead!"

Tears fell from his eyes.

"I've been dead for nine years; you can't kill a ghost."

The blood that had been splattered began to move; it traveled from his arms to his neck then to the ground. The blood dried and acted as shackles as it held him prisoner. He was so depressed that he didn't even try to break free.

"Bad move, Ed, letting your guard down that easy. I thought you would have learned from the last incident."

"How about you enlighten me on the lesson, brat."

"Gladly. If you plan on killing me, you better make sure there's nothing left of me afterwards."

She appeared from the shadows with her hands firmly grasped upon her daggers.

"So, you finally decided to show yourself. Well...come on then, finish me."

"You're not getting off that easy, Ed. We still have some unfinished business."

"You're stupid if you think I'm going to tell you anything after what you've done."

The blood covering his arms formed into spikes and they dug deep.

"Stop protecting this guy; look what he's caused. Roger is dead, Ed. Your boss put me on this path, and I won't stop until I meet him at the end."

He was in a lot of pain but his anger distracted him from the pain.

"Just like you, he's a ghost, the only difference is, he's much better. This may be hard for you to understand, but we've never actually seen him."

She put her dagger to his throat.

"You're full of sh-"

"You can kill me or whatever you plan on doing, but first I think you need to hear this."

She released the spiked blood.

"Talk..."

"Like I was saying, we don't know who our boss is, none of his followers know who he is. He's a ghost...a phantom."

"You're a liar!"

"Use your head kid. Why do you think he wrote letters to us? He doesn't want to be discovered."

"So you've been following blindly this whole time? This guy could be aiming toward world domination or something and you're supporting him. How can you trust him?"

"I don't have to meet the man to know his intentions; his actions so far tell me everything I need to know. He's determined, persistent. He's like the planets-you're not sure of their purpose or exactly how they came to be, but you get the feeling they may be more important than you realize; and one day you might just need them."

Jennifer removed the blade from his neck.

"I know that's not what you were expecting to hear from me, but it's the truth."

"Nine years of waiting for the day I'd face the man who got my parents killed; nine years, and all I've accomplished is kill off a few inexperienced lackeys."

"Plan didn't work out quite like you thought it would, did it? I guess in the end we were both left with nothing. Lucky for you, you get to live another day; Roger had to die for nothing."

"He didn't die for nothing, Ed. You don't know your brother as well as you think you do."

"Oh and you're the expert all of a sudden?"

"You wouldn't know this, because you were always too busy doing you're bosses dirty work, but even after the accident when Roger lost the ability to talk, we still communicated. We had long talks about our lives, the killings...and you."

"Me... what about me?"

She pulled out a sealed envelope with Ed's name written on it.

"I've said enough. Just read this before you bleed out; he wanted me to show you it before your untimely death."

He struggled to open the envelope but he managed; he unfolded the paper and began to read. Jennifer could see his eyes beginning to tear up.

"That poetic bastard. Ed laughed. "Maybe he was right, maybe I was blinded with power. I must have been pretty bad, if my own brother had to put a hit out on me. We were supposed to have each other's back but I failed him. I want to make things right for my brother's sake."

"And there's only one way to do that."

She spun her finger, and he flipped the letter over and looked on the back.

~Become a ghost.

"Very tempting but I don't believe in second chances, kid."

"Neither do I but I did die that day. That innocent little girl you thought you once knew is gone now. I don't know if it was fate or just plain luck, but for some reason I survived, and I've been reborn."

"You always were so dramatic." He used laughter to fight the pain.

"Dramatic, no...generous, occasionally. You can thank your boss for this outcome. I will find him, and put an end to his rein once and for all. I think that's what Roger would want as well."

"You've got guts; I'll give you that. But...you're in for one hell of a surprise, kid."

"He's going to be in for an even bigger one. See you on the other side."

"Good luck..."

And with his final words, his eyes began to slowly close. Jennifer quickly retrieved her gear just before she took her leave. She left him to dwell on his final moments, as he continued to bleed out, lying next to his deceased brother. She entered the morgue and found Ramone hiding underneath his desk.

"Please, please don't kill me." He cried.

She ignored him and grabbed the phone and dialed; she patched up her wounded arm with bandages from her duffle bag while she waited for someone to answer.

"911. What's your emergency?"

"There's been an accident; one murdered, one critically injured. We're at the Mendoza Mortuary; get here as quick as possible."

Before they could ask anything else she hung up the phone.

"I was never here...understand."

"Y-yes. I understand."

She walked out calmly and without a word. She made her way across blood-covered parking lot. She could hear the sirens in the distance and the lights drawing near.

I failed, there's no questioning that. My plans for revenge have been delayed once again and I don't have any new information that could lead me closer to the man who killed my parents. I can feel the hatred within me burning like an open flame, but my innocent side is slowly extinguishing it, telling me I should just let it go, and live while I still can. My conscious is selling me advice but I have no intent on buying any of it.

She could hear the sirens even louder than before. The paramedics and police arrived to the scene; they could tell from the fatal wound that Roger didn't make it. They checked Ed's pulse; his heart was still beating, but it was faint. The paramedics used their gift of healing, but it wasn't enough to ensure his survival. They rushed him into the ambulance on a stretcher then quickly made way to the emergency room.

Every day we are faced with difficult decisions. We all make sacrifices, whether they are good or bad, depends on the perspective. Either way someone isn't walking away with a happy ending. Ed, Roger, myself, and the others have all walked a dreadful path. Friendship and sympathy weren't in the job description; only death, death, and even more death. Roger, I know you must hate me for going back on our arrangement, but even the condemned deserve a second chance.