As Venus arrived at her apartment, she released a breath she didn't even realize she had been holding.

The job she had just completed had been the most dangerous one she had done in a while. She was feeling so many conflicting emotions, but she didn't have time to think about that right now, she had to address the incessant pain in her leg.

Venus now limped over to her bathroom, taking out the necessary supplies she needed from the cabinet. She had wrapped her leg up haphazardly with a piece of cloth while she was on the run; she didn't have any time to stop and really look at the damage. But now as she studied her leg, she realized she had been hit by a bullet.

A sigh of relief escaped from Venus' lips as she realized that the bullet had simply grazed her. The wound wasn't deep, she wouldn't be needing stitches; but it was still significant enough to cause quite a bit of blood loss.

Venus took off the bloodied bandage and tossed it to the side, she poured alcohol over the fresh wound, biting down hard on her lip from the sting. Then she cleaned up the area and wrapped it up, she was going to be fine. She'd probably be out of action for a while, have a limp for a few days but that would be fine. She wasn't going to be getting any new jobs anytime soon.

The Boss had informed Venus beforehand that after she completed this job; she was to stay away for a while. Stay low-key. No doubt that the Feds were all probably trying to find her. Trying to trace the assassination back to her, but Venus knew there was no chance of that happening. As usual, she had covered all her bases; she had tied things up nicely. They weren't going to find her. They never did.

Venus now limped from the bathroom to the kitchen, looking through the medicine cabinet and chewing on a couple of Aspirins to help with the pain. The taste was bitter against her tongue, she almost felt the urge to spit it out but she didn't do that. She was in a considerable amount of pain and needed the medicine to act fast. At least, the pungent taste in her mouth created a distraction from the hammering pain in her leg.

Limping over to her living room, Venus settled down roughly on the couch as she switched on the TV. Just as she had expected, the events of earlier that day was all the news outlets were talking about. The NYU main campus had been shut down for the rest of the week and a video now showed the campus that was occupied by Police and Detectives.

Venus smirked to herself. It was always a pleasure to see her work.

The image of the NYU campus was taken off the screen and now replaced by an image of the Governor's son. Once again, Venus felt a strange feeling go through her. There was a bitter taste at the back of her throat and she knew it wasn't the Aspirin.

The pride that she had been feeling a few moments ago had now completely disappeared. It was replaced with something else. Something that Venus didn't like, a feeling that was not good for her as an Assassin.

Venus couldn't understand why she felt the way she did. Was it because of who The Target had been? But why did she care? The Target was just another rich white boy. He had probably lived the best life he could. There were probably people that lived for decades that had not experienced the luxurious life that he had, so why did she even care?

The longer Venus stared at his picture displayed across the TV screen, the more uncomfortable she felt. Finally, she reached forward, grabbing the remote off the table in front of her and switched off the TV. Venus now swallowed hard, just sitting in the quiet room staring at the empty screen before her.

She felt strange. She knew she should be rejoicing right now. She had successfully carried out a job five times the usual pay rate; this was the most dangerous job there was. Not only that, she had completed it successfully. Being grazed by a bullet was basically a scratch compared to the degree of danger that the job brought with it.

Venus found herself thinking back to the last time she had done such a job. She had not been as lucky.

It was almost five years ago but Venus still remembered the events clearly. She had been sent on a solo mission to take out a rival gang leader at the time. This was the job that had solidified The Boss' position as the most powerful gang leader in the whole of the United States, but the mission was not without costs, on Venus' side anyway.

Venus had snuck into the rival gang's hide-out. In her usual manner, she had planned everything out meticulously. It was supposed to be a quick and quiet job, a quick in and out. The job had been going smoothly; she had managed to take out the rival gang leader, but this was where it had all gone south.

Venus had shot him, straight in the head. He was dead before he even hit the floor. But, she had forgotten to put the silencer on the gun and the sound echoed throughout the hideout.

In bare seconds, Venus had gang members on her tail. Of course, she had made a run for it. That was her only option.

Venus was small, so she was mobile, she had managed to get far, dodging through the gang members. She had even thought that she was going to get away unscathed. But she had thought too soon.

At the very last moment, a gang member had grabbed her from behind. Without missing a beat, he slit the back of her neck. Venus still had her gun in her hand and she turned the muzzle around and shot him.

This was how she managed to break free of his grip and run away, only to collapse a few minutes later in a bush.

The cut was deep, and the blood loss was too much. Venus had genuinely thought that was it for her, those were her last thoughts as she lost consciousness.

However, a passer-by had spotted Venus in the bush and called an ambulance. When Venus had woken up a few hours later in the emergency room, a new kind of panic had overtaken her.

Never go to a hospital. This was amongst the rules for being an Assassin. Going to a hospital was just like turning yourself into the Police. They had your DNA; they had your data; they had everything about you. Venus figured that she was as good as dead, she much rather would have preferred that she was left to die in the bushes.

Of course, Venus turned herself in. She wasn't one to defy The Boss' orders, she would much rather die a quick death than endure a torturous, painful one.

However, instead of killing her like she had expected, The Boss had somehow managed to get all the records on her pulled from the hospital and burnt. It was as if she had never even been there.

Venus wasn't surprised he was able to do this, after all, he was Richard Mascetti. He had influence virtually everywhere. Rather, she was more surprised by the fact that he did this. That he didn't kill her. He never even said anything, never spoke about it again.

Now, seated in her living room, Venus wondered if that was the reason that she remained such a loyal Assassin to The Boss. Although he could have killed her right then and there, he should have killed her. He had not. In a strange way, she now felt that she owed him, that she was forever indebted to him for not killing her, for sparing her life.

So many thoughts were going through Venus' mind. Her thoughts slowly shifted to the mysterious woman of the night before. She wondered why she was even thinking about her again, but picturing the woman's face in her mind brought a strange calm over Venus.

The pain in her leg had subsided and Venus leaned against the couch as her mind seemed to clear up a little.

She wondered if the woman had heard about the events at NYU, she wondered what she thought of it. She wondered what she thought of people like her, people that killed people for a living.

Venus thought back to the night before when the woman had asked her what she did for a living and she had told her. The woman had only found it funny then because she thought Venus was joking. In reality, Venus knew there was no way that the woman would approve if she ever was to find out the truth.

Venus told herself that she didn't care what some stranger thought of her. After all, said stranger was the type of person to order Coca-Cola at a bar, clearly, her opinion did not matter. Nothing and nobody mattered to Venus, yet, the small girl felt a sad feeling come over her as she drifted to sleep.

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Question for readers:
What are your favorite crime shows/ crime book series ?