I then whirl around to the other assassins, who quickly stumble to their feet. The girl with the long blond braid still leans against the wall unconscious, dark blood dripping down from her temple.

"Look," I say in French, holding out my hands as they stalk towards me. " I don't want to hurt you. You're obviously very young and new to this life, but speaking from experience, it's not one you want to be forced into. You always have the choice to make the right or wrong decision, and if you let me, I can give you safety and a new life in exchange for what you know of the Serpent's Circle."

"A choice?" the grey-eyed assassin rages in French, pointing to the blond girl on his right. "Safety? Do you really think we'll trust you after what you did to our comrade? You've shown just how ruthless you are by kicking her in the head, and not showing her any mercy."

The boy spits at my feet and slams his fist angrily onto his hand. "You American scum are all the same." he jeers, before he lowers his hands to his sides and snaps at his companions. "Knives out, il est temps que nous donnions une leçon à cette chienne!"

The three boys flick their wrists down, knives sliding down from their sleeves into each of their hands. Their eyes then flick down to the gun clutched in my hand as I take a step backward.

"Are you going to shot us with that? Or are you above that, American?" the grey eyed boy snaps, before leaping toward me with his knives raised.

I try to slap both of his hands away as they bare down on me, but one slashes through the sleeve of my turtleneck and into my flesh. I scowl at the sting of the metal, stepping back. But the boy flicks his knife up to my face and drags the blade down the depth of my cheek with a nasty grin.

I cry out and stumble back, reaching up to press my fingers to the wound, as the stench of metal burns my nose.

"Fight back!" he spits, as the other two assassins circle us and angle themselves behind me, out of my vision.

"Don't make me do this," I growl in warning but the boy merely rolls his eyes and presses the blade of his knife to my throat.

"You had no problem fighting us earlier, what has changed?" he snarls, pressing the blade deeper until I feel a drop of blood trickle down my throat. The assassins behind me grab my arms again, this time angling their bodies away so I won't be able to back-kick them, one of them snatching the gun from my hand.

"You're really not going to fight, huh?" the boy whispers, his dark eyes narrowing as he leans forward until our noses touch.

"When I fight, I fight to kill." I rasp, flinching when my throat digs deeper into the blade.

"Ah, but that's not true," the boy growls, pointing to the man unconscious behind us. "If you did fight to kill, you would've killed him. Yet there he is, somehow still alive."

I grit my teeth and clench my fists, as the fingers of the assassins dig into the skin of my wrists. "Why are you trying to capture me?" I snap, the blade of the knife now burning through my skin.

"How do you know we aren't trying to kill you?" the boy asks, loosening the pressure of his knife when he sees the amount of blood it draws from my throat.

"I'm not stupid. When your leader first attacked me, he tried to knock me out. When you four attacked me, you fought without knives, not to mention the fact that you just loosened the pressure of your blade on my throat in fear of killing me."

The boy snorts, then fully draws the blade away from my neck and wipes it on his sleeve. "You're observant, I'll give you that, but I think it's time to cut our little chat short-"

He jerks knife up, just as I had raised the butt of the gun up before I was going to knock their leader out. I grit my teeth and look away.

Am I really willing to be captured just to spare these boys' lives?

My heart clenches as I close my eyes and ready myself for what's to come, when a familiar voice cries out over the loud sound of the pop music below.

"Harper? What the-"

We all look over to see a young woman in a black dress standing on the staircase, a hand raised to her lips as she stares at us in shock.

Shit, Amber you have the worst timing. I snarl in my head, sucking in a heavy breath before I slam the back of my head into the assassin behind me's. When he stumbles back and releases me, I grab the wrist of the other assassin holding me and jerk him forward into the grey-eyed boy. They both crash to the floor as I whirl towards Amber.

"How the fuck are you supposed to fight in a dress?" I snap at Ames, bending down to wrench the knives from the hands of the boy I head-butted. I toss her one of the knives and grab the boy with the grey eyes before he can rise, grabbing his wrists and twisting them behind his back as I twist to slam him against a bookshelf behind us.

"I didn't expect you to get yourself into more trouble!" Ames snaps back, kicking off her nude heels and grabbing the other boy, slamming the hilt of the knife in her hand down onto the back of his head, before darting over to the other boy and doing the same.

Once every assassin in the room is unconscious except for the grey-eyed boy, I glance back at Ames, still pressing the boy into the bookshelf as he struggles against me.

"Call for backup, and tie them all up." I order, turning my attention back to the boy. He attempts to draw his leg up to kick at me, but I quickly drive it into the bookcase.

"And what am I supposed to tie them up with?" Amber cries.

"I don't know, but you need to figure it out fast." I sigh, focusing back on the boy before me.

"Now, tell me why you're after me," I mutter into his ear, quiet enough so Amber doesn't hear.

"You're not that smart if you really think I'm going to tell you," the boy growls, trying to wrench his wrists out of my hands. I can't help but roll my eyes as I grab both of his wrists in one hand and take a step back to draw them painfully up, before slamming his face back into the bookcase with a grunt.

"Either you can tell me now, or you can tell the Raven Sector agents who are a little more... bloodthirsty than I am. Your choice." I warn, digging my fingernails into the skin of his wrists.

He growls, but stays silent.

Panic writhers in the pit of my stomach, as I shake my head and spin him away from the bookcase, pushing him onto the floor and slamming the heel of my boot onto his chest.

"I hope you're this quiet when it comes to them," I mutter, pressing my foot into his chest until his hands snake up and wrap around my ankle, trying to tug it off.

Let's hope that he doesn't squeal before I can pass Harks' damn evaluation.

"Okay Harp, Agent Parks and Tauren are on their way, along with Superior Harks." Amber calls, and I look over to see she has tied up the assassins with a roll of duct tape, god knows where she found it.

"Good work Ames, here's another one for you to add to your pile." I grab the grey-eyed boy by the front of his black suit and toss him towards Amber. "I'm going to wait out in the front for Harks."

***

The cool Paris breeze blows my hair across my face as a sleek black car pulls up to the curb beside me. The doors pop open as Harks emerges from the driver's seat, while Agents Parks and Tauren slide out of the back seat.

"You could've just walked, you know." I drawl, as Harks strides up to me and crosses his arms.

"Cut the attitude Medley, now tell me what the hell happened here?" he snaps, but doesn't allow me to answer as he turns to Agents Tauren and Parks and points to the club, which is still bustling with people. "I want those people cleared out, and the perps immediately brought to this spot... understood?"

"Yes sir." They mechanically say, though Agent Parks' eyes glare into mine as she spins on her heel and the two walk into the club.

"So, you going to tell me what happened or not?" Harks asks impatiently, his dark eyes anxiously darting between the red slashes on my cheek and throat.

There's something off about him tonight... he's more prickly than usual. I run a hand through my hair as the wind continues to slap against my cheek, causing a trail of blood the streak across my chin. Something feels very wrong here.

"Agent Allard was feeling unwell during our training session today, so we decided to cut our training short-" I watch Harks' eyes narrow slightly as if he caught my lie, but force myself to continue on.

"Then Amber invited me to join her at the club so we could take the night off. I went upstairs to go to the bathroom, and five assassins attacked me. We then engaged in combat, I was able to incapacitate them all, and here we are."

"You fought all of them? At once?" Harks asks, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Yes, though four of them seem to be newly-trained teenagers," I admit, as Harks quickly uncrosses his arms and takes a concerned step forward.

"Teenagers? Are you certain?" he asks, his dark blue eyes darting to the club as Agent Tauren begins to round up the civilians and direct them out of the building.

"Yes sir, four teenagers total, and one adult leader."

Harks lets out an unsettled breath and rakes a hand through his short hair. "Par Dieu! First Allard and now this?" he mutters under his breath, as he glares at the nightclub beside us.

"Wait, what do you mean about Allard-" my next words are cut off as I see Agent Parks race down the staircase towards us, barreling through the open glass door.

"Harks, they're gone!" she gasps, as Harks head whips towards her.

"What do you mean they're gone?" he snaps, as we both quickly stride over to her.

"A-Agent Talle was knocked unconscious, and there was no one left in the room but her!" Agent Parks pants, trying to catch her breath.

Harks stands there in shock, but I quickly push past the two of them and dart towards the stairs, taking them two steps at a time. I lurch to a halt as I see Amber collapsed on the floor, a bruise forming on the underside of her jaw.

I drop down onto the floor beside her and set her head into my lap. "Ames, Ames wake up!" I urge, gently shaking her.

Amber stays silent, and I'm worried that she won't wake up, but she finally draws in a breath as her eyes flutter open.

She squints at me and presses a hand to her jaw, before lurching upward. "Shit, shit!" she curses, as I place a hand on her shoulder to settle her.

"It's okay Ames, just tell me what happened," I say gently, as Harks and Agent Parks barrel up the stairs.

"I-I was tying up the assassin you gave me, when he took out a knife and clocked me in the jaw. I guess he got me good enough to knock me out cold." Amber shakes her head ashamedly, as I rub soothing circles on her back.

"It's okay Ames, it wasn't your fault." I comfort, as Harks steps forward and observes the scene, his eyes narrowing on the bloodstain from where I slammed the young girl's head into the wall earlier.

"Well, I guess there's not much we can do now." he finally says, turning to Agent Parks. "Parks, scout the perimeter and see if there are any shady figures lurking on the premises. I'm going to get Agents Talle and Medley back to the sector."

He looks back down at us, taking in the bruise forming on Amber's jaw, and the angry red slashes across my neck and cheek. "It seems we've all had a rough night."

A/N-

Hello again!!

I have some big news for you all, Book 1 of Rogue in Paris is going to be completed soon, so I can start shaping it up for the Wattys, as well as begin writing Book 2!

 There should be around 10-11 chapters left to update... and let's just say, things are going to get a lot more chaotic in the next chapters... more than they already have lol.

Thank you to those of you who have stuck around and stood by me during this process! I hope you've been enjoying the process as much as I have, and if you're one of the ghost readers who read but don't comment, don't be shy and leave a little hello! I'd love to get to know you :)

Lots of Love,

                         Syd

P.S- Also wish me luck this week because I have to study for two big AP tests and finish my book, the pressure is on 😅