Chapter Thirty Six
Ezra Holmes, before he joined the NC

I was seated on my little sister’s bedroom, looking at all the toys she had collected from the fast food meals I kept buying her. Her small desk was completely covered in art supplies-crayons in a jar, papers whereon she doodled, pens and used pencils.

I pick one of her recent drawing up, smiling when I noticed that she has drawn the two of us standing side by side. She was small beside me, she barely met my waist, and I was like four times taller than her, and she was holding onto my hand with her one hand, and her favorite pink teddy with the other. She was smiling happily.

The tick of the wall clock makes me turn toward the wall where it was hanging from and I look at the time: 13:30 pm.

It was time.

I swallow hard, feeling a lump form inside my throat, making it difficult to breathe. I held onto my black duffel bag’s strap, clutching the material tightly in my hand when I got up from the bed.

“Ezzie!” My little sister squeals, running into her little room. I barely had time to return the smile when she throws her little arms around my legs, giving me a hug from below with how small she was. “Don’t tell me you’re leaving again, Ezzie. Please.” She says, looking up at me with her eyes filled with unshed tears. She must’ve noticed the duffel bag in my hands when she ran into her room. It was the only colour that stood out from the rest of her pink and Barbie-themed room.

I duck down, coming face to face with my little sister, setting the duffel bag onto her Barbie rug. “I have to, sweetheart.” I tell her, giving her a small smile. “But I’ll be back before you know it.”

“You always say that, but you stay away for a loong time.” She drawls and for a three year old, she had quite a mouth on her. She reminded me of myself some days. “I don’t want to go with them… They scare me… They’re not nice to me.”

There’s pain at the back of my throat when anguish washes over me.

It was difficult to swallow the bile that rose from my stomach down, but I managed a comforting smile my little sister’s way. “That’s why you have Ursula to protect you.” I tell her, tugging the teddy bear she had clutched in her left hand.

It was the same pink teddy she has drawn in the picture, and the teddy’s name was definitely not Ursula, but at least my little sister laughed. The cute little sound of her laugh made my heart break inside my chest, but I forced out a smile her way.

“Her name is Poppy, Ezzie.”

I pull my little sister up so she could sit on my bent knee. I squeeze her pink cheek, earning a giggle coming from her. “I know her name is Poppy, sweetheart. I was just teasing you.”

She smiles at me, leaning into my hand. “Ezzie, when will you be back?” She asks me, looking at me through her thick eyelashes. “Will you be back soon this time?”

“Uhm, I don’t know, sweetheart.” I tell her, seeing her lip start to quiver. “But I promise I will try to be back soon, okay?”

She nods and tiny tears started to roll down her cheeks. “I don’t want to go with them, Ezzie.”

“I know, sweetheart.” I lean over, kissing her forehead. “But when I come back, we can watch that new Barbie movie you’ve been talking about, huh? What do you say about that?”

She smiles, a real gap-toothed smile and nodded her head a little too fast. “Yes!” She exclaims.

I smile, squeezing her cheek again.

When she giggles again, my heart throbs inside my chest. It felt as if a part of me died when she stood up from my knee. She clutched Poppy tightly in her one hand, looking at me as I got up from the floor, and clutching my duffel bag in my hand.

“Bye, Ezzie.” She says, smiling sadly at me.

“I will try to be back soon, sweetheart. But for now, just listen to what they tell you and try to obey them, okay? Be a good girl for me until I come back. Maybe they’ll give you some ice cream.”

When I left her room, hearing the last words she uttered, I wanted nothing more than to take her with me, but I couldn’t.

“I don’t want you to go, Ezzie.”

Hell, I didn’t want to go either, but I had to.

I need to do this job Winchester has for me before I could get her back.

I step outside the house, seeing one of Winchester’s guards standing on guard by the front door.

He was here to pick my little sister up.

I tap his shoulder, waiting for him to turn around before I spoke. “Get her some ice cream, yeah? Strawberry flavoured. And don’t let that teddy bear out of your sight. She loves it and she can’t sleep without it so unless you want a crying girl all night… keep that bear in your sight, always. Oh,” I lean in, closer to him, “if you touch a hair on that little girl’s head, I’ll make sure to cut yours off and put it on display for everyone to see. You got it?”

I think he got the message very loud and clear because he freezes on his spot and his mouth parted slightly as if he wanted to say something but decided against it.

“I know I’m working for Winchester, but that’s still my little sister and if something happens to her when I’m not here, I will make sure to find you and Winchester and I don’t think the outcome’s going to very pleasant for the both of you, so I suggest you take care of her because if not…” I smile, tugging the collar of his shirt, “… well, I don’t think I have to repeat myself.”

I walk away, looking at my little sister’s sad face through the window of the living room, her pink teddy clutched between her hands.

I wave at her, but she doesn’t wave back.

• • •

I stare at the grassy lawn in front of me through the perimeter fence.

The hedges were cut to perfection and there were a lot of lengthy trees all over, giving the mansion much needed privacy.

I enter the front gate, walking toward the front door on the long driveway that circles the front entry.

There was comfortable lounging furniture on the porch and a lot of throw pillows scattered all over the seats.

I smell the flowers in the garden just beside the set of stairs that led up to the porch and I notice that there was creeping ivy covering the side walls of the mansion.

I pause in front of the double doors of the mansion, inhaling deeply before entering. I only exhaled when I was inside the mansion, looking at the large entryway in front of me.

I look up, seeing a chandelier hanging from the high ceiling above me.

The floorboards creak underneath my feet, but it was well cared for seeing that it was polished and it looked imported.

Fancy. I thought.

I pass the set of stairs to my left but right when I spotted the living room to my right, I feel a gun being pressed against the side of my head.

I tilt my head, seeing my target being the one to hold the gun to my head.

I throw my hands up in surrender.

I don’t want my brains to be splattered against the fancy walls.

And I don’t plan on dying on my very first day, either.

“Who are you?” She asks.

Raya St Claire wasn’t so innocent and fragile like I thought she was.

I look at her in my peripheral vision. “I’m the new—”

“Raya!” Archie, my new boss says, and Raya turn slightly to look at him.  “That’s no way to treat the new recruit.”

Raya’s breath hitches inside her throat.

I don’t think she was too happy with the new development.

“I’m sorry, what?” She asks, pressing the gun against my head even harder.

“We don’t have a new recruit.” Raya’s boyfriend says, looking at Archie in confusion, as did Raya St Claire.

“We do now.” Archie says.