Chapter 4

Five years ago

Slowly we developed a strange friendship. Crow didn't like talking, so I did all the talking. All the time. We didn't hang together during lunch, or after classes, but whenever we were together we simply didn't want to get apart. Or at least that was how I felt it. I could tell him everything, from my private thoughts to my love for everything that lived, and Crow would only listen to me. We were fifteen. We should be going out in cheap dates to the movies or holding hands tentatively, but we were young assassins and there wasn't such a thing as flirting in our world. There was only fucking to reproduce, and I supposed it was a pleasure seeking thing, but assassins didn't do love, not even when we were young. I've seen Leah Mortensen and Diego Rayuela making out in the eraser room once. Other young assassins had started experimenting with sex in our school. I would hear their stories from time to time. Whenever I listened to the girls talking about making out with boys or kissing in the eraser room I vividly imagined it was Crow and me kissing. I would imagine the tallest boy in our school, with his black-haired head bend down to reach me and kiss me. I would imagine getting myself lost in his onyx eyes while he touched me softly, using that tenderness that he reserved only for me.

Nobody ever knew we were friends. Crow made sure of it. After we met in that cold, winter night I seek him out, trying to reinstate the fragile beginning of our friendship. It was the following morning after we met in the forest. I've been trying to hide my excitement about having my first friend from everyone to no avail. In our world showing weakness wasn't ever allowed. Caring for someone, showing affection or even just paying too much attention to someone could be interpreted as weakness. I knew this much, but the excitement of seeing Crow had morphed into something new and innocent, an untainted feeling of acceptation that bloomed inside me. He gave me wings. Crow has given me hope. If the best assassin of our generation has touched me with so much tenderness, then I could hope for a better future. A future in which I didn't have to hide from the world. A future in which I could be me, the girl who loved animals and hated to kill without a reason. I could be my own, because Crow had accepted me.

I should have known better.

I found Crow on my way to lunch. He was walking in my direction, passing by the hall while all the girls stopped whatever they were doing to look after him. Even then he imposed respect with every step he took. Boys feared him, girls wanted him, professors moved out of his way. A giant he was, tall and aloof, always dressed in black from head to toe. His black hair was covered in snowflakes, which made me frown. Had he been in the forest again? Walking in the cold? He was only wearing a long coat, no gloves, nor scarves or hats. Crow had to be freezing, but still he didn't show it. Crow passed me without even sparing me a glance and that's when I knew he would never make me a weakness. He would never make me weak by caring for me. A part of me wanted to love him more for caring for me. I've never had someone who cared much if I become an easy target for being their weakness. Another part of me hated him for not caring enough to fight the entire world for me.

An entire week passed by. I lost hope as fast as I've gained it. Crow would never look at me, nor seat close to me in our classes, neither talked to me. I felt dirty and unlovable, unwanted, just like my mother have always called me. And then something happened that changed my views on Crow once again. We had been receiving daily physical tortures for a month now. The logic behind getting tortured was simple. How could we possibly learn to inflict pain if we hadn't experimented it in our own flesh? The professors would torture our bodies however they seemed to please. They will burn us, hit us, cut us, drown us, whip us...the list was infinite. We couldn't ask them to stop, if we did then an extra minute will be added to our individual torturing session. An entire life of violence had prepared me for it. I didn't excel like Crow. He could receive any form of pain and own it. Crow wouldn't flinch like us, he wouldn't scream or whimper. Crow took the pain and hold on to it as if he couldn't feel it the same way we all did. At moments I thought he liked pain just because it made him feel something in the first place, as if whenever he wasn't in pain he couldn't feel anything else. He was ice. Emptiness and void. I wasn't like him, but I never asked them to stop either. There were some of us that have asked the professors to kill them, but I didn't give them that power. My family had done worse things to me, I was used to it.

Until that day. I've been under it for more than two hours and haven't been broken yet. Septimus Connelly was the professor appointed for the job. Septimus main duty on Earth was to torture things, people and animals. He enjoyed torturing us so much that sometimes his madness would slip from his control and show us its ugly face. I could see it in his crystal, blue eyes. Septimus was going to kill me. I was drooling, my head bend over my chest while Septimus laughed, taking another one of my nails. I couldn't fight him; my hands and ankles were tied to a torturing chair. There was a lightbulb hanging right on top of my head and so much pain surrounding me. My classmates didn't dare to speak, but I could feel their eyes on me, waiting, enjoying and admiring the fact I haven't fainted yet. I sincerely couldn't understand why my neurotransmitters haven't sent a signal to my brain and shut me down. I was in so, so much pain.

The slippery sound of my nail breaking loose made me sick. I pushed my head to the side and vomited bile. Septimus laughed, moving until he was right in my face and showing me the bloodied nail he was holding in a plier.

"See? Nothing is more beautiful than your pain Mss. Ivanov," he laughed, pure madness showing in his eyes, "Nothing could be more beautiful, except perhaps a new canvas to practice with."

And right then, when I thought all hopes were lost Crow appeared from behind Septimus and in a fast movement took the plier from his hand and stabbed him twice in his neck with it. There was a collective gasp. We weren't supposed to kill professors, but Crow did it...for me. He never looked at me, he couldn't. He already had done so much for me and couldn't risk making it more personal by showing everyone he cared. I knew that. Crow nodded to no one in particular, but I knew it was for me, to reassure me that everything would be fine and then walked away. I was taken into the infirmary and Crow was taken into solitary confinement, for weeks. Killing a professor was a high crime punished with death, but after the weeks passed and Crow emerged from his confinement he was treated like a King. He was given a silver coin and sent out of school in missions for Second Level assassins. He became worldwide known and started slipping from my fingers more and more.

I knew better than to draw attention on me by seeking him out, but to my surprise he was the one that came to me one night, a couple of months after he killed Septimus. I woke up in the middle of the night, knowing there was another presence in the room. I blinked and there he was. Crow had cut his hair during one of his missions and now looked older. He was even more handsome than what I remembered. For the first time in my life I ogled a boy and felt tempted. Of course, I pushed all those thoughts away and ignored the fact my cheeks were neon red. The important thing was that Crow was there with me. I haven't imagined things. He was my friend.

I moved out of the bed and sat at his side against the wall. Crow looked down at me, following my every move. For a couple of minutes we shared a whole conversation in silence. I looked at the door of my room a couple of times, hoping nobody will come inside and see us. Boys were not allowed at the girl's dorm and I was terribly afraid of what they would do to him if they found Crow inside my room. I started biting my nails, looking anywhere but at him.

"Thanks...for killing Septimus," I said at last. It was weird thanking someone for killing a person, but this was the kind of world we lived in. Crow didn't say a thing. If he accepted my gratitude he was admitting on killing Septimus for me. Silence was Crow's currency. It made him powerful. Untouchable. He blinked, then offered me his hand, palm up. I studied his hand, marveling on the pale scars that covered his fingers and knuckles. Why was he giving me his hand? What was he offering me? A lasting friendship? Something more? I shook my head and looked away from him, not accepting his hand, "We shouldn't be doing this. You have too much to lose."

"Do I?" He asked me and for the first time I saw him smile. It wasn't a full-blown smile, just a hint of it and it was gone faster than what it last. My heart, that stupid thing skipped a bit. I never imagined Crow was able to smile. He was so...unapproachable, distant and broody. But boy he could smile. And now that I'd seen him smile I was starting to lose myself in his mystery. Crow was everything that I couldn't ever have and we both knew it. I rolled my eyes and shrugged as if I hadn't been affected by his arresting smile.

"Everyone knows you will be the next King."

"They are correct," said Crow, still looking at me. I could feel him staring and it made me feel seen. Exposed like those veins that everyone can see in the back of your wrist. It made me feel beautiful. I never thought that another person than myself could make me feel beautiful. My family had only said I was grotesque. They said I was too fragile, my skin too delicate and my hands too small. Not the body of a killer. Their words made me realize I would be the only one that needed to think I was beautiful. And now so did Crow. He just looked at me and made me feel beautiful. I wondered how he could do that?

"I will not be your weakness," I said in a whisper and then I looked at him. His perfect face froze, I felt him choke in a gulp of air while he stared at me. We both stay quiet until he nodded and stood, walking in the direction of the window. He stopped before leaving and looked back over his shoulder.

"You are not my weakness," he said.

"Then what the hell am I to you?" I asked him in anger, in despair. A friend was always a weakness. We both knew that. I needed Crow to stop this between us. Whatever "this" was. I was too weak to do it. I was too desperate for his attention to finish us before we even transformed into something else. That was why I was pushing him into admitting something. Anything. A sliver of hope that could make me see beyond the pretenses and the darkness that surrounded us.

"You are my soul, Cassia Ivanov," he said those six words so easily, as if they meant nothing. If he only knew those six words meant the world to me...if he only knew I would not be able to do anything else but love him from that moment on.

I was stupid you see.

A woman cannot love an animal that pretends to be a man. It can be dangerous. It can leave you without a finger, a broken heart and soulless.

Chapter 5

Present day

Shit. What are you supposed to feed a kid with? Tabasco sauce was good right? I checked the fridge again and caressed the wrinkles probably forming in between my eyebrows. Could somebody remind me again why I've fucked up and rescued a kid I didn't know what to do with? The contents inside of my fridge definitely didn't have the answer to my questions. I've only bought vodka, cranberry juice and iced coffee on my way out of the city. To be fair I've left the city before killing Ortega and my plan had always been to get as drunk as I could after my hit and spend the rest of the week sleeping in my little cottage house in the middle of nowhere. Drinking my emotions away had always sounded as a good plan to me. Anywho, now my plans have changed. Terribly. I had a kid dressed in my pajamas and staring at me from across the dinning table. A freaking kid.

I closed the fridge and ignored the old bottle of tabasco I've left behind during my last visit. Shit, how long had been since I've visited this place? A year? I couldn't remember. I only went back whenever my family was in town and I needed a place to escape. The place was tiny. Only one bedroom and basic, mismatching furniture. My secret hideout. I've bought the cottage on a whim after my first kill, only because the place didn't appear in the maps. I paid in cash, fired the gardeners and took out the address from the USPS service list. I've never paid any bills, never did any electronic transactions or done any business in town to call attention upon the place. It was untraceable. Not even the Manager knew about it. Now only the kid and me knew of this place.

The kid.

She hadn't stop humming since waking up. I just couldn't understand how she had been able to sleep at all. She was with a stranger, a woman she had seen kill her own father in the most animalistic, insanely way possible. And still she looked...happy. I frowned trying to think for the hundredth time what I could possibly do with a girl I didn't want to deal with.

"My name is..." She said to start some conversation and I cursed silently. I hushed the kid before she could keep talking. I didn't want to know her name. I didn't want her in my life and I didn't want her to grow any closer. I was a lone wolf. I didn't do packs. She stared at me curiously, studying me with those big, circular hazel eyes. It felt as if she could see directly inside of me. The experience was frankly unsettling. I reached for my Givenchy purse and took out the keys of my rental car and some twenty bills for gas and breakfast. The closest town to the cottage was called Pond Springs, the typical small town when everyone and their mother knew you were an outsider. It was for the best to pass as lowkey as we could. I turned around and threw a blue hoodie to the kid, she took it right away and put it over my pajamas. I had nothing better to give her for shoes other than my slippers. Overall she looked like one of those normal kids that some mothers take out from their bed directly to eat breakfast in some greasy diner. She didn't even brush her hair after taking a shower. The kid couldn't look more her part even if she tried.

"Come on," I said to her over my shoulder and the kid jumped from her seat, rushing to follow me around. I rolled my eyes to the sky. If my mother could only see me now. She would probably disown me right away. And then she would order my brothers to kill me and bury my body parts around the world. Yeah. She had always been very passional about all her personal vendettas. And trust me, she was even more passional about her failures. So far, I was her only one. Lucky me.

The kid stood quiet at my side while I closed the house and walked to the beat-up truck I've rented from a rental company in Texas. The plate was under the rental company's name back in Houston. I've given the rental company a fake name that matched my fake ID. As I've said, I was untraceable. Well, at least as untraceable as I could go until the end of the week. By then the Venetian Games would have already started and the King and my family would be in Europe. Far, far away from me. Then I would be ready to go back in town and ask the Manager to help me relocate the kid with a good family. I still had no idea how I would be able to take care of the kid for a whole week, but my mind was already too worried about trying to pass inadvertently under the King's radar. I would think about the kid as a pet for now. A very temporary, annoying pet I needed to feed and protect for a week.

"What is your name?" She asked me, while jumping and walking at my side. Why kids couldn't just walk like normal humans? I shook my head while I opened my door and motioned for her to go inside the car. The kid jumped inside the car and buckled herself happily as if she couldn't stop enjoying herself. I ignored her question and got behind the wheel. She ignored my silence and kept on, "Fine, I will try to guess it. It could be our game! The Guessing Names game!"

"I don't play games," I said curtly, but the kid seemed to have swallowed three Red Bulls cans and couldn't stop talking.

"Nancy! No wait Nancys are too skinny, you don't look like a Nancy. What about...Arielle? Yes, Arielle like the mermaid. She is a redhead too! I like that name..." I stopped the car right then and there. I turned around slowly, pointing a finger at her. The kid paled, and I lost it. I just lost it.

"Forget names, you are not that person anymore, you don't belong to any family and you have no past. We don't play games. We don't talk, and we are definitely not friends. If anybody ask you are my niece. You heard me kid? My niece. I will call you Olivia in front of people and you will call me Katy. No aunty, no aunt Katy. Just Katy. Did you understand? Nod if you understand what I'm saying," I said with a no bullshit tone. The kid now properly named Olivia for security measures nodded and I turned around enjoying a full minute of silence since God knew when. The minute hadn't finished when Olivia started talking again.

"Is Katy your real name? You don't look like a Katy to me. Once I had this teacher that was named Katy and she looked like a cat. You don't like a cat. You are more like a panther," I tapped my thumbs against the steering wheel and counted to a hundred in my head. Olivia kept talking, "I do look like an Olivia though. I'm nine years old by the way, in case somebody asks."

Well yeah, that was good to know I supposed. Olivia kept on.

"Can I pick a differently birthday date now? I hate that my birthday is in June. Nobody has birthdays in June. If I had to pick a different birthday date I will pick some random day around Christmas. Christmas is awesome, don't you think?" Asked Olivia, blinking happily and staring at me through the rear mirror.

Christmas was awesome? The fuck I knew. Assassins didn't celebrate holidays. We killed indiscriminately every single day of the year. Including federal holidays and donut day. I shrugged and Olivia frowned. It was the first time I've seen her frowning. Why the hell she was frowning? What I've done wrong? A weird type of anxiety spread over my body like wild fire. I have zero clue what to do with a kid. They were so hard to take care of. I should have started with something smaller. Like a crocodile or something with more personality.

"You do know what Christmas is. Don't you?" It was my turn to frown. Christmas, Christmas, Christmas...it ringed a bell. Something about normal people spending time with families and eating birds, right? Was it a turkey or a vulture? I never knew the difference between those two. Normal people always did that kind of shit. Spending time with the family. I seriously couldn't understand the appeal of such a weird tradition. Olivia looked at me with a mix of surprise and sadness, "You really don't know what Christmas is?"

"I know how to dislocate my own shoulder and pick on lockets," I said proudly, and Olivia's frown turned even bigger.

"How's that better than Christmas?"

"Believe me kid, Christmas is not going to save your ass when you are chained to a chair, surrounded by Russian assassins," I said, and Olivia opened her eyes like saucers. There, I've been wise and given her an advice for life about basic survival. Progress. I was the bomb with kids. Olivia shook her head at me regardless to what I've just said.

"You should try having Christmas with me," she said timidly and this time there was this vulnerability in her small voice that made me look at her through the rear mirror. She looked so tiny and fragile that I had to wonder if she had ever experimented Christmas. For some reason I just knew the both of us hadn't have Christmas ever. Something told me Pedro Ortega hadn't been the kind of father that celebrated family traditions. In fact, he was the kind of rat that I was happy to kill. Just remembering the things he had done to his own daughter made me want to kill him all over again. In an act of momentarily madness I opened my big mouth and worsened my situation a lot more.

"Sure kid, maybe we can have Christmas sometime," I said and then bite my tongue. What the fuck I've just said? It was official, I was crazy. A crazy assassin that have been ignoring her king's commands for over a month. A mad woman who also saved kids that she couldn't take care of and that was just a couple of miles away from a family of insane, crazy Russians that could kill me in a heartbeat. I sighed and turned the radio on. Through the rear mirror I thought I saw Olivia crying, but I ignored her as best I could and looked back to the road, "Now stay quiet for a while, would you? I'm having the mother of headaches."

"I will be quiet Katy," said Olivia with a trembling voice. That weird anxiety washed over me again, but mercifully we were just arriving to Pond Springs and my mind focused on finding a proper place to eat. Easier said than done. Pond Springs was the kind of small town where there was only one diner and one old waitress with the name of Mary. Mary of course was fat and blonde but judging by her strong calves she had been a beauty in her youth who had gotten pregnant right after high school and hadn't been able to leave town. Such a cliché. The diner of course was called Bob's Burgers and it looked thirty years old. I've never eaten in such a cheap place. For a second I debated going inside the car again and looking for another place but Olivia seemed to have something else in mind.

"They have all-you-can eat-pancakes!!" she screamed loud enough to alert the entire block of our presence. I shivered. Assassins didn't do loud. We didn't do screams and we definitely didn't do all-you-can-eat-pancakes. What was that supposed to mean either way? If I could have all I could eat of anything I would pick something juicer and better. Like fillet Mignon or lobsters marinated in lemon sauce. American diet was definitely screwed. I took Olivia's hand and guided her inside the diner. Surprisingly enough the kid let me. She didn't even jumped-walk like she did before, no, this time she behaved properly and smiled up at me as if the sun came out of my ass. I seriously couldn't understand children. They were so odd.

The moment we walked inside the diner the entire world seemed to freeze. Literally. A moment passed while everyone looked at us. Olivia tightened her hold on my hand nervously. That weird anxiety washed over me again and before I even thought about it I was softly caressing her small fist with my thumb. The kid didn't know this, but I could probably kill all the people inside Bob's Burger in approximately a minute. Including the resident nerd in town with the Dungeons & Dragons t-shirt and man tits. The blonde waitress I've baptized with the name Mary came to us with a big smile, while the rest of the guests took turns spying at us over the rim of their menus. Mary smiled again, offering us a set of menus and inviting us to seat whenever we wanted. I picked the closest booth to the exit and sat with my back to the wall. Olivia seemed to understand I had my reasons to occupy all the side of the booth and silently sat in front of me.

I opened the menu and studied it for a second before coming to terms with the fact I wouldn't been having Mignon and lobster anytime soon. I sighed, put the menu down and looked at Olivia.

"What are you ordering?" I asked, before calling fat Mary with a gesture. Olivia lifted her eyebrows to the sky.

"Can I order whatever I want?" She asked with a high pitch squeak that had me rolling my eyes. Was the sky blue? I nodded to the kid about the same time Mary stopped at Olivia's side and smiled down at her. I instantly disliked her. Mary was the kind of woman who thought every kid could be treated equal. Mary thought her problems were bigger because they were her own and that a child couldn't possibly experience the despair and depression she had felt after her school sweetheart cheated on her with the nanny. Wrong. Children were more susceptible to pain. Take Olivia for example. The kid acted tough, but I could see she was bluffing. I could bet she was one comment away from our smiling Mary to lose it.

"What can I get you princess?" Olivia entire demeanor changed in a wink of an eye. She paled and looked down right away. The smile in her eyes evaporated and a sad, hollow expression deepened the frown in her forehead. I twisted the butter knife that had been resting on the table and looked up to Mary. See? This was why I hated conceited, normal people who thought their problems were bigger than Texas.

"Her name is Olivia, no princess, no cupcake and definitely not sweetie. We don't do sweet so save all that sugar to people with diabetes. Olivia, what do you want to eat?" I asked the kid without looking away from a now scared waitress. Oh, I could do so much worse than words fat Mary.

"All-you -can-eat-pancakes!" Exclaimed Olivia happily, smiling brightly as if I was her own personal hero. The kid definitely had it wrong. I was nobody's hero, but I was too hungry and too tired to put her back in place.

"You heard the kid. Bring me black coffee with no sugar and no cream. Just coffee and a ham sandwich," I asked for myself because sincerely I was hungry, and I didn't trust eating anything else. Mary nodded before running away. I smirked at her retreating form and opened the copy of the New York Times I bought at the entrance of the diner. I looked for the classified ads section and started circling the first letters of every single paragraph. Olivia started humming happily while I worked on my task.

"What are you doing?" Asked Olivia while I finished circling the last word of the anagram I've been working on. Sometimes it was extremely easy to find what you were looking for if you looked in the right place. Take for example The New York Times, who would have thought that you could learn a lot about assassins if you codified the ads section?

"I'm playing a game," I said without looking up from the newspaper.

"You said you didn't play games," said Olivia reproachful, making me roll my eyes and look at her over the ads section.

"This is a different kind of game. A king's game," I said as a matter of fact and that seemed to attract her attention. Her hazel eyes sparkled with a certain intention, like curiosity or surprise. I supposed it was nice to see her look happy. I certainly didn't know what I would have done if I've ended with one of those hysterical little kids that couldn't stop crying or screaming at the supermarket's lines. Thank God for the little reprieves.

"Do you know a king?" She asked with that spark on her eyes and blushed cheeks.

"I guess I do," I said looking down at my newspaper.

"Is he handsome?" She asked with a singsong voice.

"No."

"Is he tall?"

"Barely taller than a dwarf."

"Is he nice?"

"As dashing as fungus."

"Does he have a queen?" I tensed, crunching the newspaper while I debated how to answer that question. Luckily for me fat Mary arrived carrying our food. She silently placed our orders in front of us and did an intelligent retreat to the back of the diner. The kid forgot whatever we had been talking about and focused on the four layers of sugar and trans fats in front of her. I looked back to the newspaper and read the classified ads for assassins.

THE KING WANTS CASSIA IVANOV ALIVE. SEVEN DAYS. TEN MILLION.

Oh well, look at that. I was not only wanted, but my worth was ten million dollars and the attention of a king. See mom? I was a real snowflake. Why the fuck the king was doing all this? It wasn't as if I've ever been that famous, or talented at the Venetian Games. I've only been able to survive them...twice, but by no means I was an entertainer like him, or my brothers. Was he seriously doing all this just to mess with me? No, that was too easy. What was his ulterior motive? I frowned, pushing the newspaper down. Obviously, he couldn't want me to be his queen. Everyone knew I was too impetuous, reckless, sometimes crazy and mostly uncontrollable. I was as queenly as the sole of my boots. Someone entered the diner then. Those irritating doorbells ringed until the man at the entrance closed the door after him and surveyed the diner with a smiling face.

"Mason! Where have you been man?" Asked someone by the group of police officers at the back of the diner. Mason took out his cap and waved a hand to the group of men before settling his baby blue eyes on me. I've not been expecting to find such a good-looking guy in a town with the name of Pond Springs. The dude was clearly model material, tall, with wavy sandy hair and caramel light skin tone. The contrast between his skin tone and light eyes was alluring, although very provocative. The man could have never been an assassin. I smirked at my own thoughts and took my cup of coffee before tasting it slowly. I've been poisoned a couple of times and I wouldn't hold it against fat Mary if she tried to kill me with poison masqueraded under the taste of good coffee. But poisoning me with bad coffee? That was unacceptable. I grimaced, pushing the cup away from me. The tall guy named Mason stop by our side on his way to the group of officers and smiled at us, studying Olivia's horrible table manners while she wolfed down her pancakes.

"Nice seeing girls with a good appetite. Are you guys having an all-you-can-eat-pancakes contest?" I blinked unsurprised. Of course there was an all-you-can-eat-pancakes-contest. Cretins, I thought rolling my eyes. Mason's blue eyes focused on me attentively. He squinted, pointing at me with his cap, "Have I've seen you around here before?"

"Maybe," I said shrugging and eyeing my ham sandwich suspiciously. How bad were my chances? I bitted into the bread and almost lost a tooth in the process. For fuck's sake! Now all I wanted to do was go back to the cabin and drink my own weight in vodka and cranberry juice. But I couldn't, now I had a pet... I mean a child-pet to take care of. A human that was probably better than a crocodile...right? I wondered where I could find child clothes and proper food around town. I eyed Mason, who in return eyed me with a calculative air. He was giving me the kind of look a man gave to a woman he wanted to bed. To my surprise I smiled back. It had been a while since the last time I've had sex and my mind was having a breakdown after saving the kid. I stop smiling right away and cleared my throat, focusing in the matter at hand, "We are just passing through, but can you tell me if there is any place around where I can buy my niece some clothes and food?"

"Niece?" Asked Mason looking at Olivia and then back at me with a knowing smile, "There is a Walmart around the corner. I could give you a ride there after you eat."

Was going to Walmart a synonim of sex these days? I looked at the guys waving him over their table and pointed at them. Mason kept looking at me, his eyes exploring every single detail of my face hungrily.

"Those guys are screaming your name."

"Yes, they are," he said with a sly smile, hinting he would pretty much like me screaming his name instead of them. I shook my head at him, my intentions clear.

"We are just passing through."

"That's a shame. Our department is having a barbeque this afternoon and we would love to have you guys."

"Katy can we go? I love barbeques! Please? Please? Please?" Asked Olivia joining her tiny hands in a praying gesture. She looked like a pancake vampire, drooling maple syrup all over her chin. I sighed and cleaned her chin with my napkin. At the gesture Olivia's eyes widened and a big smile appeared on her face. It was kind of breathtaking, even with all the teeth she had missing and the fact I could still see her chewing pancakes. I threw the napkin to a side and shook my head. This was wrong. I shouldn't be making any attachments. Olivia was mine only for a week and then I needed to give her back. She was just like a pair of shoes you returned after a week. No emotions attached. It wouldn't do her any good to get attached to me either. The sooner the kid learned the ways of the world the faster she could adapt to it.

"Good to see you Sheriff!" Said fat Mary on her way to the register and Mason waved a hand at her. Of fuck no! He was the Sheriff? What a clusterfuck. What a way to pass unnoticed Cassia. Mason smiled down at me one last time before walking to the police officers. The same police officers of the department that was throwing the barbeque party. Just perfect.

"I hope I will see you later Katy," said Mason with a lingering look before turning away. I sighed and prayed for this week to be over.

Chapter 6

Four years ago

I was probably the only kid at school who was happy coming back from summer break. Well, happy was a strong word. I guess I was relieved of being away from my family. The moment my mother kicked me out of the car by the entrance of the school building I sighed relieved. I stared at the large, dark building that will house me for the next year. It was good to be back. I seriously thought I wouldn't survive my vacations and would never be able to see this place again. It took me longer than usual to get to the dorms. I was limping, half of my body broken after last night's torture session with my older brother Nikolai. The fucker had been nice enough not to mess with my face. I was a vain creature like that and knew my face was my best asset. So I always asked them not to scar it and the fuckers took pleasure out of scarring me somewhere else.

"Somebody got her ass whipped!" Screamed Galos when he passed me with his court of cum buckets. Galos was the resident bully of our class. The guy was as pretty as a bulldog suffering rabies, with a thick neck, platinum blonde hair and small, blue eyes. The only person he respected was Crow. It was frankly hilarious to see Galos eating his satanic smile whenever Crow stared at him coldly. The girls walking after Galos giggled. I ignored them and kept limping. I was almost at my room when Crow walked into the hall and stopped when he saw me. We haven't seen each other in three months. In that time, he had turned into an imposing man. Tall, over six feet and cordoned in muscles. His black eyes run over me and I felt myself blush. I probably looked like a drown rat. Actually, that has been the theme of my torture night with Nikolai. I'd been tied to the Rack, a medieval torture table that had been made to strain a person's limbs until they dislocated or broke. If I screamed in pain Nikolai would pour water on me so the handcuffs in my hands and ankles created enough friction to cut my skin. The torture had gone on and on until I lost my consciousness.

I swallowed nervously and looked down before opening my bedroom door and slamming it behind me. I wanted to laugh in hysterics. There I was, just a shadow of what I was and in comparison, Crow was pure gold. The differences between him and me were frankly laughable. The door opened behind me and I groaned, cursing under my breath and pointing at the exit.

"Leah I'm not in the mood. Get out," I said moving to my bed. God, all I wanted to do was crawl to it and cover my head until I could forget every little punch, every little scar and burn I've suffered during my break. A shadow crossed by my side and the next thing I knew was that Crow was in front of me, his eyes were eating me up. I blushed again. Seriously, I needed to stop doing that around him. I sighed, looking down. It was hard to hold such a strong stare. Whenever Crow look at me he looked into me. It made me nervous, "You shouldn't be here."

Crow didn't say a thing. He just hugged me. Have I mentioned the man didn't believe in words? Somehow, someway Crow just knew exactly what I needed. I let him give me the best hug I've ever received. He was careful not to exert too much pressure on me but pushed me into his arms and placed my head gently on the crook of his neck. I wasn't tall enough to rest my cheek on his shoulder and the position brought me closer to his neck, and that glorious smell of night and snow he carried around. I breathed him inside of me, taking comfort out of his strength and power.

"I will make them pay," he said softly in my ear. I sighed, looking up and holding that impressive look of his. Crow's eyes were so black that his pupils seemed to have swallowed his irises. His eyes were animalistic, bestial and wild, but I knew better than that. Crow was the most controlled person I've ever met. He never moved, never spoke and never acted out of place. I've seen him cast detailed plans to bring professors down, I've seen him fight his opponent with strategy and not violence. Crow will be our next king not because he excelled at killing, but because he knew the art of spinning tricks and plotting vengeance. Crow focused his eyes on me and moved them back and forward, inspecting every single detail of my face.

"You don't need to make them pay. They will all kill themselves over dinner if Dimitri keeps stealing my mother's olives from her plate," I smirked humorless. Crow caressed my cheek then and I sucked on my breath. A caress. Just one, simple caress that meant the world to me. His calloused thumb touched me carefully, as if he feared his own strength around me. He should, I've seen him kill professor Banes with just that thumb. I shook my head, taking a step back. Crow frowned but let me go. I've never seen him touch anyone else but me. His touch was death's touch, dangerous and lethal. I should fear him. Crow was never attentive to anyone else in public. The closer he ever got to someone was only to kill them, but for some reason he seemed to like me. Over the past year we have grown closer. Not as close as I would have liked, but closer. By now I knew he liked to touch me. Innocent touches, a gentle caress when we passed each other in the halls, a kiss in the cheek when he visited me after midnight. Things haven't progressed much, but I knew I was different to him. There was simply no way for him to deny it. I could see it in his eyes right then. There was silent rage storming in those eyes, the kind of rage that gets colder and deathlier with time and finesse. I sighed, massaging my temples and taking another step back, "You can't do good if you are not good Crow. Let bygones be bygones."

"Let's not," he said contradicting me. A vein pulsed in his forehead and his entire face grew darker, "Sometimes you need to do terrible things to do some good. Your family needs to pay Cassia. I will make sure every single one of them suffers a sevenfold of what you are suffering right now."

"Then you will be just like them!"

"You are wrong," he said taking a step back. His black eyes shadowing his true intentions and growing colder. He sometimes did that. He blocked me out with just a look. Crow closed himself so tightly that I couldn't make me be seen or heard. It was like seeing a man turn into a wall, "I'm much, much worse than them."

"No, I can assure you, you are not," I said to him, but Crow was already on his way to the door. I let him go. There was nothing I could say or do to make things better between us. A whole week passed by without him. Crow had disappeared and not even our professors were brave enough to try tracking him down and bring him back to school. Two more days passed by and then the news surprised us all in the morning of the third day. The sun had just come out when the entire world of assassins was shaken with the news. Crow had killed the old king. He had taken the crown still dripping blood from the fallen king and made it his. He wasn't returning to school. Crow was enjoying a killing spree and traveling the world while he educated his new subjects in the art of following him blindly or dying in agony.

I thought I would never see him again.

Then one night I woke up and found him resting his head against the wall in front of my bed. Crow was dressed all in black. His raven black hair has grown again. The chopped bangs darkened his chiseled cheeks and strong chin, making him look like a fallen angel in repentance. Crow studied me silently when I slowly pushed my legs out of the bed and put my feet on the floor. Nervously I played with the folding of the baggy t-shirt I used to sleep. I was only wearing that and my panties. Crow eyes solely moved over my legs and then focused on my face. The hunger in his bottomless eyes called for my wild side. The air between us tightened making me feel strangely suffocated even if all the windows of the room were open. I widened the collar of my t-shirt and looked away from him.

"So you are a king now, uh? I'm a supposed to bow down and all that shit?" I asked him and Crow smirked, stretching one long leg and resting an arm over his raised knee.

"I didn't become a king to make you bow down Cassia," he said slowly, his black eyes zeroing in my own eyes while he softly smiled. I've only seen him smile one more time and like during that time my heart did cartwheels inside of my chest.

"Why did you become a king then?"

"To not be asked so many questions," he said with a wolfish grin than made me smile.

"I can see the appeal on that."

"You cut your hair," he said tilting his head to a side while checking my hair with a meticulous look. I've only cut it an inch, but the man had X-ray vision.

"I see you haven't cut yours," I said, and he shrugged.

"I don't trust anyone with a pair of scissors around me right now," I frowned and studied him silently. All this time away from him I've only judged him for being an ambitious arrogant man with a black heart who killed kings in his path to conquer the whole world. I knew Crow, and I knew he would stop at nothing until he got everything he wanted. I had no idea what he wanted the most, but something told me he would not end his bloody quest to bring the world to his feet until he got it. My frown deepened when I imagined how lonely and tired he must be feeling right now. I could bet he hadn't sleep in days, maybe even more. Crow trusted me enough to come to me when he needed a respite and that was all I needed to know right then. I rose to my feet and walked to my desk before getting a pair of scissors and then going to him. Crow's eyes never left mines, "What are you doing?"

"You need a haircut and I'm the only person you trust right now," I said to him when he stopped my hand and inspected the scissors in my hand. I sighed, moving the scissor in my hand for his inspection, "Are you happy now?"

Crow let me move closer, his eyes never looking away from my face. I cut his bangs first, caressing his silky locks between my fingers while I cut some layers and took out some length. The only sound between us was the metallic friction of the scissor's blades. In silence I cut the back of his hair and he let me, his head bobbing up and down tiredly.

"Where have you been?" I asked in a whisper. Crow had his eyes closed, his breathing calmed and trusting.

"Around," he said, rubbing his head against my hand. I massaged the base of his neck and Crow groaned like a wild animal. I smiled massaging in little circles his temples while I cut the length of his hair.

"What have you been doing?"

"Killing."

"Doesn't get boring?"

"It's worth it. All of it," he said in a whisper.

"Why? Why are you doing all of this?"

Crow didn't answer. The silence stretched while I finished cutting the sides of his hair. His silky, black hair shined between my fingers, making me sigh. When I was done I moved back and Crow stopped me, his black eyes bloodshot and tired.

"Where are you going?"

"Do you trust me?" I asked in return. Crow nodded once, always a man of few words. I walked back to my bed and retrieved the covers and some pillows. In silence I threw the pillows on the floor and rested my body with my back to him. In our world giving our back to another assassin was a sign of submission. You simply never gave your back to your enemies. I hoped with that gesture of trust Crow will understand I blindly confided in him. A second passed by and then Crow moved under the covers, spooning me against his body and resting his head on top of mine. He sniffed the top of my head, getting used to my smell before his body relaxed completely and his breathing slowed. I fell asleep in his arms, never thinking, not even for just a second that I was between the arms of the strongest man in the whole world. For me he was just Crow and that was the biggest mistake I ever committed.

A king is always a king. Too bad my heart never learned the difference.