Chapter Thirty Three
Raya St Claire

I was actually surprised that Archie didn't demand us going in non-lethally like the last mission we were on. I guess he was just as fed up as us being gentle with the people who clearly want to end us and to have our heads on a platter. But the bastards at the docks, especially Waylon's second in command, need to be taught a damn lesson, and the way we're going to do that is to end every single one of them.

When Archie told Rossi and the twins to stay here in case the people who stuck the note to the target with a pocketknife and who sent a pink teddy as a threat came back, they weren't really impressed, but they wanted to catch the bastards who threatened us, but that was almost a week ago, and no threat was sent to us since.

They were at the mansion while Storm, Archie, Ezra, Bear and I were driving in the back of the van. Archie and Storm were sitting in the front. Bear, Ezra and I were sitting at the back, going through some strategies in case things go south.

One can't really plan for things like this, but going in without a plan wasn't an option, either. It was better to have options than going in their completely oblivious, but like I said, things like these can't really be planned beforehand.

Storm passes a series of shops: as a flower shop, a bakery, a coffee-house, and Geoffrey's Club not long after. I could have sworn I heard Geoffrey's choice of pop music playing when we passed his nightclub, making me want to dance.

Maybe I'll ask the newcomer for a dance when the mission is done.

I look at him, wondering if he remembered our first dance at Geoffrey's a while back, and when I turned my head to look at him, he was already looking at me.

The corners of his lips curve up in a slight smile, but then he looks away again.

He has been acting strange for a while now, and every time he wants to talk to me about whatever he wants to talk to me about, there are always distractions, but I swore that today was the day that I will get him to talk to me. I will find out what's wrong with him and I will force it out of him if I have to.

Weeks ago I would have punched him in the face for being sarcastic with me, but I have realised that I missed it more than I want to let on. I even miss his arrogance.

Once we drove past every single shop one could ever find, we finally come to a stop near what looks like an abandoned museum. We were just outside town, about twenty minutes from Geoffrey's Club, but still outside town nonetheless.

I frown, scanning the building of the museum through the windshield of the SUV.

I look to Archie who noticed the same thing—an abandoned museum.

This can't be right. I thought. It has been abandoned for quite a while now.

"I called Nikolai before the meeting." Archie says, still looking at the museum's broken building a few feet in front of us. "He says that there's an unknown gang hauled up here. It must be the people we're looking for."

I inhale deeply. "Well, there's just one way to find out."

Bear gets out of the van first.

He doesn't take my hand to lift me out of the van like he did before, but what set my mind at ease was the words he whispered under his breath, always and forever.

When all of us were out of the van, stopping on the curb side just across the museum, Storm slowly starts to reverse away to find a place where he can be out of sight for the time being. He chooses to park behind a tree, hiding out of plain sight.

Archie whispers always and forever under his breath too before we started to move forward. Ezra was walking right beside me, and Bear and Archie in front of us.

The smells filling my nostrils were overwhelming, and something you'd definitely expect when visiting a museum: cleaning chemicals, the smell of old furniture, a hint of dust and leather and lastly the papery smell of very ancient books, but a smell you won't normally smell in the air when visiting a museum, was the smell of drugs in the air.

I look to the newcomer and he noticed the same thing.

"Drugs." He mutters, lifting his head into the air as if to smell it again. "Someone's definitely here."

"Yes," I tell him, nodding, "and I hear faint murmurs too. It's coming from inside the museum." I then turn to look at Archie. "I think staying on the rooftops is out of the question seeing that there isn't really much of a rooftop anymore." I tell him, looking at the roof that was broken on the entire left side of the museum—the roof was sort of like a skyline, glass everywhere. Some were scattered on the ground, and the rest of the glass were probably lying in the museum itself.

"Stay clear of the glass." Archie says, scanning the shards lying on the ground. "They're most likely using that as an alarm."

I nod, inhaling deeply when another waft of drugs fills my nostrils.

"Let's go." Archie says, "Take your guns out and keep your eyes open."

We make our way toward the museum, stepping over the glass shards carefully.

Archie was the one to enter first and then it was Bear right behind him.

I still couldn't shake the dread I have been feeling for the last couple of days.

I felt it deep in the pit of my stomach, and something kept telling me that something's going to go wrong tonight, but when I felt Ezra's hand clutching mine, I immediately felt at ease.

Nothing's going to go wrong, Raya, don't think like that.

The hard floor underneath my feet is dirty, covered in mud until you reach the ticket booths that were empty. From there on out, the entire floor of the museum was spotless, except for the shards of window that broke into the museum.

Archie was right: they were going to use that to their advantage.

We better be careful.

"The voices are getting louder." I tell Archie. "They must be in the room a few doors down." I predict. "The smell is getting heavier too."

"Bear, you're with me." Archie says, holding his gun into the air. "Raya and Ezra, you're together."

We nod.

"Move out."

Ezra and I move to the left, Archie and Bear moved to the corridor on the right.

My heart sunk inside my chest. I didn't like parting with the gang, but it was better to part ways in case there's a shootout.

If they start shooting, we can move in and take them by surprise.

The moonlight peeking through the roof gave us enough lighting so that we don't have to use our flashlights, but it won't take very long for the sky to be completely covered in clouds seeing that they were gathering in full speed above us.

I was so on edge about tonight that I actually jumped at the sound weather rumbling in the distance. I shake my head at myself for being so afraid of tonight.

I expected the weather, so I don't know why I was being all jumpy tonight.

"Is everything okay, princess?" Ezra asks, grabbing a hold of my shoulder to calm my nerves. "You're very jumpy tonight."

"I'm fine." I tell him, trying to shake the dread in the pit of my stomach, but to no avail. It still lingered, and the voice inside my head reminded me that everything wasn't going to go as smoothly as it always did in the past.

Something's going to happen tonight. Something bad. Something very, very bad.

"I never liked museums." I admit, feeling goose bumps erupting all over my skin when a cool breeze came through the opening above us. The tapestries, woven cloth with decorative pictorial designs, hanging on the walls moved too. "The mummies in the glass cases and dolls on display really creep the shit out of me."

"Same." He says. "And to make matters worse, I think their eyes are following us when we're walking."

I shudder, feeling another cold breeze washing over me. "Let's go before one of them jumps from the displays an attack—"

"He failed to do his job, so I need you to step in."

I stop in my tracks, feeling my heart pounding inside my ears.

I knew that voice and I knew it so well.

Ezra freezes beside me too but he was focusing on the corridor in front of us while I tried to focus on the man's voice.

It sounded like him.

His voice even brought the awful memories back of my family's murder, so it has to be him.

You're right." He says. "It's just a matter of time before she comes back."

It was him. I recognised that damn voice from anywhere.

I felt rooted to the spot, unable to move forward.

"Princess? Are you okay?" Ezra asks, but even though he stood right beside me, his voice sounded so far away, as if he was standing at the end of the long corridor of the museum. "Princess?"

I tilt my head to the side, looking into the newcomer's eyes filled with concern.

I swallow hard, hearing my heart pounding in my ears even louder than before.

I nod although I was everything but okay.

"It's just a matter of time before she comes back."

I swallow the fear down and replace it with years of built-up anger.

I came back after all and I am ready to take my revenge.

I strode past the newcomer, going straight to where the voices were coming from but I was peeled backward when the newcomer pulled me toward his chest, pulling me all the way until we reached the nearest pillar that held up the rest of the ceiling that was still intact.

"I think they're leaving." He says against my hair, looking at how six to eight figures came out of the room they were in, coming straight toward us.

"No, they're not." I tell the newcomer, pulling my arm out of his grasp. "I will not allow him to get away." I aim my gun at the first guy I saw and I pulled the trigger.

I don't know where I shot him or how many times I shot him, but I just know that he's not going to leave this museum alive.

Even if he takes me down with him, I will make sure that he's dead before I die tonight.

That is a promise.