Hurried sounds of panicked footsteps echoed loudly through the air, as she momentarily looked over her shoulders. The clanking of her brisk heels gradually grew louder as her pace hastened. Her breathe hitched as she glanced behind once more. The trail leading up to her shadow was seemingly occupied by the vast emptiness. Exasperated, she heaved a sigh of relief, her pale face filled with initial regret and dread. She recalled, still disappointed in herself for working till night fell.
"My first and seemingly last time of working late into the depths of night", she dug into her temple, her tone laced with her assertive remark.
With haste, she continued ahead, but soon what greeted her, made the color from her face drain.
"Going somewhere ?", towering over her, a frightening man puffed a smoke. Stunned but slightly suspicious, she looked closely at the man. Her gaze landed on the hawk tattoo on his bare sleeved arm. Suddenly aware of this horrific fact, she trembled as she slowly stepped back. His face contorted into a sinister one as he smirked watching her take to her heels.
"Aghh!"
His grin grew wider, as his hawk brothers restrained the girl. She thrashed around trying to squirm from their firm grasp. The guy bound to her on the left snarled at her, visibly irritated. That didn't stop her from callously digging her teeth into his arm.
"Argh!", he groaned in pain; his nose scrunched up in disgust as his palm collided with her face hard. Her face stung holding back frustrated tears. Her spirit wavered as she plopped to the ground. However, she wasn't about to give it all up here. Mustering all the strength she could, clenching her fist till bright pink, she managed to get up, standing eye to eye to the six of them. Veins constricting, she glared at these heinous criminals that kneeled at the slightest opportunity to take advantage of her.
"Not today", She whispered under her frail breath. Seething with anger, resilient eyes beaming, she took her stand.
Meanwhile, a few blocks away the cousin duo Irene and Aiden walked to the distance where Aiden's car was. Covering a few steps, a blood chilling scream pierced through the cool air.
Alarmed, they shared a look of concern.
"Where did that come from?", with narrowed eyes, she glanced over her shoulders inspecting their surroundings
"Sounded close"
"Like about two blocks from here", Aiden said, he could feel the uneasy tension gradually rising in him. The usual smile dropped into a serious look.
"I have a bad feeling about this"
They shared a brief look of understanding and split up tracing the source of that cry. As Aiden sprinted through the streets, no sooner than two minutes, his face darkened as he pulled into a corner. His gaze instantly landed on the crouched figure, laying lifeless by the feet of the group. On a whim, he dashed by her side ignoring the peering gazes of amusement. Half dressed, bruised, draped in cuts, barely conscious. Surmounted anger rising in him, as he noticed all these details.
"Hey man"
" We can't let you hog the appetizer all by yourself"
No matter how much he tried, he only saw red, deaf to their remarks, he clutched her in his arms lowering his head
"M..r D..ell?", she managed to utter with a weak smile. Stunned, slowly he lifted his head and gently tucked her hair behind
"Heather?!"
At that moment, Irene pulled up to the corner and instantly understood the scene. They immediately turned their heads to Irene's direction as if they had a woman detector.
"Guys, it's our lucky day", one said as he licked his lips with a nasty expression
"You keep that, we'll have this one", another one said. She shot the speaker a death glare, her eyes glazing with irritating rage. Slightly intrigued, he smirked mentally preparing himself to approach Irene. In a flash, Irene was in the circle of the gang cracking her knuckles, as the smirking man doubled over in shock. Though they towered over her by a few inches, her blazing aura lightly whispered a different story. As the slight glint of terror suddenly faded to a relieved triumphant one, unbeknownst to them it was already revealed. From the corner of her eye, she saw it all too well. A painful tug on her hair distracted her from her thoughts. Furious, she whipped out a pocket knife mercilessly inflicting a cut on his cheek, before delivering a flying kick that knocked him out. A few blood droplets fell tracing back to him
"I didn't expect that to put him to sleep. Coward took the easy way out.", she said devoid of emotion, calm enough to wreck one's cool.
Who's ne--
"Revenge is the Lord's, however it would be my job to send you to him", Aiden suddenly spoke in a tone that sent a shiver of dread to everyone there. She sped off to the girl's side, her instincts playing its part. Amidst all this, with any guns or weapons to their name, they were as good as nothing to tame the wild beast unleashed by their stupid actions.
"Damn this!!", One less intimidating cried out, breaking a nearby bottle sending shards in different directions. Others brought out knives and blades, leading up to 6 guys in total. On a whim, Aiden consumed by his fury threw himself into their midst without a further thought. Skillfully managing to handle 6 of them at once, he evaded their attacks one after the other landing his fist on anything it came across. Once again He saw red, a jab sent to one's larynx, he pinned him and forced the knife out of his hand. His scream pierced through the air as he twisted his arm further and further to reach its breaking point. The rest charged at him with their resolute stance. Like an empty wrapper, he was tossed at two charging at him with bullspeed.
Aiden leapt onto a stack of crates nearby grabbing the opportunity to land a devastating kick on one. The pocket blade slid slowly to Aiden feet. He crouched to grab it, swiftly avoiding a fatal stab to his back. He swept one of his feet, slamming to the earth before stabbing his shoulder, pinning him firmly to the ground. He groaned, squirming as an earthworm in agony and anguish. An array of glass shards were hurled at him with two successfully impaling his skin. Stuck in his tracks, as the street light cast a dim glow on his figure, the last two who were not stabbed or pinned to the ground shared a proud look of victory. Backs perilously turned against their opponent, the grim reaper would be quite thrilled to have sealed their fates. One would think they would check on their fatally injured brothers, on the contrary their brains didn't seem to be wired that way. Steadily they staggered limp and tensed bodies of theirs to where Irene and Heather were crouched in a corner. The peering gaze of Irene loomed constantly around the altercation. She watched them slowly make their way towards them. With gritted teeth seething with fury, her expression was far from fazed or intimidated. Heather's startled gaze met with Irene's as she noticed her hand slowly slip through her weak fingers as though it were fine sand. The feeling of unease gnawed at Heather's conscience. It didn't matter to her whether she was hurt, she couldn't bring herself to see that happen to someone else again. Her weak heart weighed heavy with the guilt of having yet another person get hurt in the process of protecting her. As Irene leaned her against a wall, Heather tugged tightly with all her wavering might to Irene's jeans. Anyone could read her gleaming eyes pleading desperately not to confront them. Gently comforting her hand, with a half smile to soothe her, she said
"You might have misunderstood. I'm not going to fight them. It's not my place to"
She held her hand to mouth, eyes not leaving Aiden that hadn't moved an inch from there all while
"If you're gonna do this, at least finish the job first, then wallow in self pity later!!
Irene stood there arms crossed, a smug look of pride plastered on. The guy that Irene had trashed earlier was about to retaliate with a punch to her face.
"Aargh", he cried out loudly falling to his knees. Blood seeping like a water fountain from his left leg. He managed to pop his head up realizing that Irene had not moved at all. A sense of dread washed over him, beads of sweat dripping to the ground as he heard the other guy yelp in grueling pain too followed by a palpable silence of threat. Shrouded in fear, his bleeding leg was the least of his worries as he felt the tension build up
"I wish I could frame this face of fear", She grabbed him roughly by his hair scraping the hair strands in her tightening grip. As he whimpered and begged, Irene smirked and spun him around to face Aiden holding a glass shard with an unreadable demeanor. That was well enough to shake him to the core. He was well aware that unpredictability was frightening. It was the last thing he witnessed before he was knocked down to the cold floor. His sharp fiery gaze towered over his limp body. With a single glance at the sight he created with blood splattered over the street, he let out an exasperated sigh.
The Next Morning
The cool autumn breeze whispered softly, stirring the silver laced curtain. Rays of light glistening, daring to peer through the window, crafting a serene glow on the inside. Gift, one of their maid servants walked through the door that was left ajar. In her hand, placed a stack of butter cookies on a tray embellished with floral motifs. Her gaze travelled to Aiden at the corner of the room, sorting out a few things in preparation of his departure. He seemed to have heard when Gift laid a soft knock on the door, but what really grasped his attention was the sweet mingled with the crisp smell of those freshly baked cookies.
"Why didn't you tell me you had cookies?", Aiden who was previously buried in his phone, raised his gaze. Gift chuckled, shaking her head with sheer amusement. She had barely placed the tray on the side, before a few disappeared right on sight.
"I didn't send those cookies just so you could finish them in a flash", Irene's voice trailed from the door, both unable to decipher how long she had been standing there. Irene gestured and Gift immediately took her leave. She plopped down on the bed violently, her smirk hinting a deliberate act on her part.
"How's Heather?", she asked, her voice tinged with caution not wanting to unleash another disaster. Heck that's why she sent those cookies, her typical form of ingratiation. She observed his every actions keenly, no detail went by unnoticed. Aiden pursed his lips into a smile, grabbing the nearest one
"The Doctor said she is doing better at least. Lately, she has been working hard covering up for me, the least I can do is give her a paid leave with a vacation..."
Irene nodded in response knowing Aiden was capable of keeping his words. He got off his phone, swiftly packing his stuff lying around. Today was the day, he would leave for his mission with Nicole. Irene briefly recalled all the times he was there for her.
"I'm off... Take care of yourself Renei", With that, he walked out the door. Not long after, Irene's cellphone pinged with a notification
Thanks for the calming cookies. Be back soon:)
That was enough to fix a half smile on her face. However, it was time to focus on her own mission. Weaving through the mansion, she treaded carefully into her room as the door clicked locked behind her. The little bulletin board of suspects was mounted once more. She dug through her room emerging with a purple chest box. After solving the seemingly complex puzzle with ease, the loud click was accompanied by a smile. Without hesitation, she opened the box, revealing the weird book previously "borrowed" from the library.
"The Real Paranormal Among us", by Matthias Slyven.
Once again the silver cover with its intricate orange patterns ignited that unsettling feeling. She couldn't believe that every event that led up to this was either to distract or divert her attention from this book. Its eerie aura served as a menacing warning not to reveal Pandora's box.
"I wonder what it holds", Irene muttered under her breath ready to delve into the unknown. As she flipped through the pages, her eyes widened in utter disbelief.
"You've got to be kidding me"
A short while had passed and she refused to believe what was set before her. Staring back at her was a plain blank page, filled with absolutely nothing. She sunk back into her chair, hands digging painfully into her scalp.
"The Real Paranormal Among us equals nothing?"
Perhaps it bears a symbolic meaning. One that disputes the existence of paranoms?. Her thoughts were all over the place, the gears in her mind were working overtime. The book was not placed in the library by coincidence.
"The paranom must have placed it there so I could find it", she said
"Mr. Ryan, Mr. Neil, Those thugs, Dylan Crude, all of these were done with intent.
A strange feeling washed over her as her fingers brushed each book page deliberately.
"These pages don't feel blank as they appear...
"Matthais Slyven, just what did you try to hide?"