Futuristic Inked In Blood [Closed]

[cleopat]

Tessa just looked at Xander with a raised brow as he told her what he knew. That…wasn’t much information. Just that Evan was collecting information on senators. “Well, if he wants information on certain senators, I could probably tell him stories that the files wouldn’t have.”

Like which married ones were hooking up with their interns, or who still loved to party.

But she gathered that wasn’t the sort of information Evan was looking for.

Tessa, slightly impressed, watched Xander break into the office with nothing more than the flashdrive. She stayed near the door, mindful of any approaching voices or footsteps. “So how long have you known Evan?” she asked, filling the void of silence. If they were to work together, she may as well try and get to know him.

She also didn’t know how long these sorts of missions took.

~~~

Dimitri chuckled at Damia as she considered the race. He could use his own motorcycle and sweep the competition. He hated losing, after all. And most of all, he hated losing a bet.

“So if I lose, I have to be your date?” he repeated, making sure he heard right. There was a slight tone of disbelief, but he chuckled and shook his head. “Alright, deal.” That would be easy enough, even if he didn’t like weddings. Too formal. Though he could tolerate weddings with open bars.

Dimitri hummed as he considered what he wanted from her should he win. “If I win, I’ll tell you what I want then.” Let it be a surprise. More so, let him think about what he could use her for. Or maybe he could just ask for more information from her.

“So, since you’re asking me to be a plus one should I lose, I take it you haven’t dragged anyone else into your life?” he casually wondered. He wanted to learn more about her that he could. Judge her, and see if she would be a threat, or if she really is…just like this. Odd. Interesting.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘Yeah, I don’t think he cares about the scandals.’ From what Xandros could tell, Evan actually cared what they were doing for their jobs. Or really, a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff. He’d want scandal stuff if he needed to blackmail someone into voting a certain way, but he was sure a little hearsay wouldn’t be enough.

He’d want proof for that, too.

Just like he was getting proof from the files that Xandros was rapidly downloading. He didn’t need to log-in for this. An override screen appeared, and he just zipped through the prompts to download the computer onto the drive, like a back-up file. He’d restart the laptop, and everything would be as if he’d never been there. The security was another thing, and as the files started to download, he wondered at that.

His nose wrinkled as he heard Tessa’s question. “Not long. Some months.” He didn’t really want to explain how. “I need to get into the security in this office building. Do you know where that is? I need to erase our presence.”

Since they were both in these ridiculous outfits, and she was identifiable given her, well, notoriety.

~***~

“Mmmm,” Damia hummed the confirmation as he checked the terms of her side of the bet, before making his an ‘IOU’ kind of situation – well, her owing him, of course. He’d just tell her later. Intriguing. Dangerous. Precisely how she liked it, not that she planned to lose.

Then he asked about her personal life and she laughed, “I may not be sane, but I’m not stupid, Prince. Having a steady lover or kids is a mistake in our line of work. Not that I suspect you ever plan to betray Gabby dearest, but there’s still the risk of someone else figuring out our identities and taking revenge for the kind of things we’ve done, or we’re rumored to do.”

Some were lies.

Most were truths. Very uncomfortable truths for the public. ‘Friends are bad enough.’ But everyone needed someone, or else they became a psychopath. The people she worked with knew what she was, and didn’t want to get close to her for that reason. Gina, though? She didn’t know. No one in her social group did.

She intended to keep it that way.

Just as she intended not to know who Prince was.

She’d actually already forgotten his name. Whoops! But there were still things she could ask, “How’d you meet dear Gabby, anyways? How long have you two been a thing?”

 

[cleopat]

Xandros didn’t offer any further explanation for his and Evan’s backstory. Fair enough. They weren’t in the best environment for casual conversation, so Tessa didn’t press on the matter any further. She could always ask Evan later, if she wanted to.

She cocked her head to the side as she thought about his question. Did she know where security was? Not as well as this office. “I think so,” she answered honestly. “It would actually just be a guess, but most security offices are located in generally the same area in every office building.”

She had visited them in the past in other buildings, for various reasons.

“So a body guard with tech skills?” She looked back up and down the hallway, keeping an eye on any unwanted visitors. “Not exactly what I was expecting.”

~~~

Dimitri had to agree with Damia. Having any close to them was a huge mistake in their line of work, in case of a worst case scenario. Loved ones were a weakness. He had no intention of pissing off Gabriel that much, but an enemy? Extremely likely, pretty much expected.

He had a few friends, no one terribly close though. A few people he gambled with, some he met at the bar for a drink. No one he told any deep, personal secrets to.

He snorted at Damia’s questions. “Many years ago, back when Gabriel was still a businessman, I was sent by my IT company to go and fix his computer.” Dimitri shrugged. “Things just clicked for us, and we became fast friends.” And then more, temporarily, as Damia suggested with her second question.

But it wasn’t quite like that. “We were never a thing,” he corrected. “A few years ago, we had a brief engagement as friends with benefits, but we ended that for the good of the cause. Couldn’t allow anything to get in the way of his vision.” A friends with benefits arrangement always had the chance to evolve into something more, something they both knew was possible.

It never happened. They just remained close, and Dimitri was one of the few people Gabriel could fully trust.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘Yeah, they usually are.’ Xandros still didn’t want to spend unnecessary time wandering around if it wasn’t there. Regardless, it had to be found, so he’d have to trust that this building was normal.

With everything downloaded, he pulled the UBS out and restarted the laptop, making it look like it had just updated and done the restart for that reason, before rising from the chair, “That’s the idea,” he said as Tessa noted his appearances were deceptive.

“Lead the way,” he said, “I have what we need, now we just have to be erased from the security.” And not be caught on it leaving, but that wasn’t hard. He’d just send them through a power cycle, make it seem like a breaker snapped. Even if they could guess that wasn’t it, they didn’t have any proof.

That was the idea behind removing the videos, after all.

Even if they knew something was done, they didn’t have the evidence of who did it.

~***~

The Prince’s story was a bad porno that had probably already been written as often as ‘cable guy and milf’ had been written. The fact it was true made her chuckle, even if it hadn’t really started as bad porno plot. She was still going to imagine it because that was more entertaining than the truth.

But the truth was still what she addressed, “That’s a pity,” she said, “you two would have been a cute power couple.” But then again, she knew how difficult it was to be Anything to Gabriel besides a Tool. Gabriel having someone as more than a Tool? Hard to imagine. One just strived to be the favorite tool.

The question was whether Gabriel preferred the hammer or the nail, but Damia was already pretty sure she knew that answer from other scandalous stories she’d heard. “

“But you two were right. The cause is more important,” she couldn’t argue that, “Besides, the tastes don’t mix well. It wouldn’t last.” Gabriel’s honey and habanero didn’t mesh with the Prince’s own flavor profile. Major red flag. Tastes had to blend. She jumped topic to avoid explaining the oddity, “How much further are we? This car is so slow,” complaining seemed the best way to adjust the topic.

 

[cleopat]

Tessa watched as he finished up with the laptop, intrigued by his skills and appearance. So was he really a bodyguard? Could he protect himself and Evan if necessary, on top of his tech savviness?

She began to lead the way to where she believed the security room was, making sure to stay close to Xandros so they could play the role of the happy couple as a cover if need be.

“So are you really a bodyguard?” she couldn’t help but to ask, curiosity winning over. “Is it just a facade for what you can really do, or are you just that talented to be able to do both?”

Tessa twisted and turned down the hallway and down a set of stairs. Security would be on the lowest floor, but depending on the building, it would either be in the inner portion, or near the entrance. She gauged this office building held theirs closer to the inner part of the building, and that’s where she led them to.

~~~

Dimitri scrunched his nose as Damia said their tastes don’t mix well. She didn't make sense at all to him, and he began to wonder about why Gabriel chose her for his Praetorians. She just seemed a bit too crazy for the job. “The tastes…” he mumbled to himself.

Weird girl.

He sighed when she just changed the topic to complain about his driving. “This car can go fast,” he explained slowly, as if she were just a child, “but we can only go so fast in the city as to not draw attention to ourselves.”

Even being who they were, Dimitri preferred not to draw attention to himself.

Soon enough, they arrived at the supposed personal house of Quintus and his sweet wife. He parked a bit away, as to not be seen by anyone. “For the weapons, the ones you’ll want are in the trunk.” Dimitri pressed a button, which opened the compartment inside the trunk. “If you choose a gun, there are also silencers in the back.”

 

[Lucyfer]

“For now,” Alexandros answered. He didn’t enjoy being a bodyguard. He wanted to go back to being a criminal on his own terms, but Evan offered enough protection and was doing enough to try and fight the power, so he was still going along with it. That, and Evan could put an end to him too damn easily, so until he had a way out of this messy arrangement, he was stuck.

“Most people aren’t what they look like,” he said, a bit patronizing since she seemed so surprised a ‘meathead’ bodyguard could also be a technological wizard. He was faced with it a lot, but then again, hunting the rich had shown him people were rarely what they appeared to be.

The kindest, sweetest little charity-donator could be a wretch using slave labor.

The pudgy senator could breath fucking fire and fly.

Tattoos definitely complicated things, and although Alexandros could have been a bodyguard and criminal without them, the tattoos definitely helped. It made him far better at the bodyguard job. The rest, he’d learned on his own. He didn’t want to waste a tattoo on something as stupid as talking to machines.

They reached the lower level, and he meandered along with Tessa until they reached the area he was looking for. He noted, of course, it wasn’t empty, and the security guard approached them, “What are you two doing here at this hour?”

“Some business for Senator Young,” he lied, because this would be remembered, “I was needing some help finding the mailing room.”

“Oh, well it’s just…,” Xandros wasn’t really listening as he stepped closer – as if he were trying to hear better – and then just slammed the security guard’s head into the wall and let him slump to the ground before walking into the room of screens.

Somehow, the guard hadn’t noticed them on the screens earlier. They were very lucky.

~***~

Of course, Damia heard the mumbling. Tasted it. No, she wouldn’t tell him what his voice tasted like. He wouldn’t let himself even try to understand what she’d tried to explain. It was why she didn’t usually show it, but he was the Prince. He needed to know what she could do for the job, just as she knew what he could do.

Just as she knew what Quintus could do.

They arrived at the home of the wife, but a bit aways. At least the Prince was that smart, and Damia was glad to hear about the weapons. She nodded and got out of the car, going to the trunk and indeed, pulling at the compartment to view her options. She found a black handgun that was to her liking, and then pulled a knife to add, as well.

Guns ran out of bullets.

Something told her she didn’t want a gun to deal with someone nearly invisible, anyways.

She did at least add a silencer. “See ya inside,” she knew which house it was, the boring, blue-gray, copy and paste house with the numbers 5221 on it. The driveway wasn’t empty, lights were on, and a cacophony of stimulations told Damia it wasn’t empty even before she hit the doorway.

And she hit the door quite literally, not wasting her time with knocking. Speed was an edge, and she kicked the door in to silence, save the noise from television screens. To the sound of a woman whispering to her kids and a knife pulled from a wooden block in the kitchen, but Damia hadn’t wasted time standing in the doorway or searching the living room.

She walked into the kitchen and aimed the gun at one of the kids. “Put the knife down, Delilah, or I shoot.”

She didn’t need any of them alive. Delilah’s phone was all she really needed, but Quintus was more likely to do what she wanted if he heard the voices of his loved ones.

 

[cleopat]

Tessa frowned a bit at the slight patronizing comment, picking up on its tone through his voice and through her ability. She would know more than others how people aren’t always what they seem. People in her world wear too many costumes and masks on the daily to hide what they truly were.

It was hard for Tessa to fully trust anyone from her world.

The security office was exactly where she thought it would be, and one lone officer watched over the building. You’d think there would be more security during a party like this.

Xandros took charge, and Tessa started to wonder how he was going to get into the cameras before he slammed the guard’s head into the wall. She jumped with a slight gasp at the brazen display, but didn’t dare to comment on his methods. They worked, and the guard was still alive. Just knocked out.

She followed him into the room with the wall of screens. “I honestly can’t see why you need me here. You seem to be doing a great job on your own.”

~~~

Dimitri got out of the vehicle and went around to the trunk, where he chose his own weapon. Similarly to Damia, he decided on a handgun, with a silencer applied to it, and a knife. He didn’t need anything fancy for this job. Not for a simple housewife and her two brats.

Before he forgot, he slipped on his own helmet, disguising his truth. Damia would be the one exception to the rule that no one else knew his face and his connection to the Praetorians.

Dimitri was almost ready to sit back and watch Damia in action as she kicked in the door. It was…kind of hot. But he followed in behind her, gun drawn. He wasn’t even going to wonder how she immediately knew to go into the kitchen instead of looking in the other rooms first. Maybe it was all a part of her mysterious powers.

But there they were, huddled close together in the kitchen. “How fucking sweet.”

The knife trembled in the woman’s hand, and tears streamed down the kids’ faces, but for the most part, they remained quiet. Smart. Delilah did put the knife down, and said with a shaky voice, “What do you want from us?”

“We just want you to make a little phone call for us. You’re going to call dear old Vassili for us, and then hand over the phone.”

 

[Lucyfer]

“I honestly don’t understand it, either,” Alexandros stated. It would have been easy to do this all on his own. He’d find the security eventually, if he bothered to look. No one knew who he was at the party. He hadn’t arrived with Evan, and he chatted with more than enough people to be associated with any of them. It would have been perfect.

As it was, Evan demanded Tessa go along, so there she was.

Would Evan explain? Debatable.

Either way, he began to rewind the videos, and checked the times for their visit, all the way until they approached security.

Then, he deleted that time period from all of the cameras, and put them through a power cycle so they’d be down a bit longer, allowing them to get out, “Come on, let’s get back to the party,” he said as he rose from the officer’s chair, “In the morning you can probably see Evan and ask him any questions you have about this.”

Including why she was there.

Xandros suspected it was so she got a taste of what they really did.

~***~

Fear always changed a voice in the worst ways, in Damia’s opinion. Not that she could hold it against Delilah. Delilah was an innocent in this, and going to die. When the knife was put down, Damia lowered the gun, as the Prince laid out what was desired. “Vassili? Why?”

“You understand who we are. You don’t seem to understand who Vassili was. I’m not sure if he thought ignorance would spare you, but he was among our ranks, and he betrayed us. You can call him, and you, and your kids, will be safe. Or, you can refuse, and I’ll kill you, your kids, and take your phone from you. What do you think Vassili would want, if he kept his secrets to protect you?”

He should have done a better job by moving them away from the house, but not everyone was that smart. Perhaps he didn’t think Gabriel would react as quick as he did. Perhaps he just thought they’d be left out of it.

“Can…can the children go to their rooms?”

“No.”

Delilah hesitated, swallowed, and then reached slowly into a pocket. She pulled out her phone, and dialed. It rang twice. “Hello my sweet Delly, it’s a little early for our call, isn’t it?”

“Vassili…there’s…there’s people here with guns saying you’re one of them…saying you betrayed them. They—”

Her words ended with a bang. Not as loud of one as Damia would have liked, but that’s what silencers were for. The aim was perfect, the power sufficient, to put an end to her life right there as it burned a whole through her head. She wavered on her feet before falling, to the screams of the children.

Damia didn’t care as she walked to where the phone was dropped.

“Hello Vassili, this is Decima. I’ll make this short—”

“You bitch—you wretched bitch—”

“Yes, yes,” she waved it off, shifting her weight. “I have your kids. I’ll kill one in an hour. The other in two hours. I suggest you speed home.”

With that, she clicked the phone off, as one child continued to scream ‘mommy’ and the other just stared on in numb disbelief, not computing what had happened.

Damia tossed the phone to Prince.

Ideally, it wouldn’t be needed again.

 

[cleopat]

Tessa frowned when Xandros admitted he didn’t understand her being there either. That didn’t exactly…make her feel great. Was she just getting in the way of Xandros? She didn’t exactly contribute anything except for knowledge of the locations of certain areas.

Something he could easily find himself.

But she watched as Xandros seemingly effortlessly wiped them from existence on the security footage. Tessa would be recognized before Xander, unfortunately, so she breathed a sigh of relief when he finished with no issues.

“Oh, I’ll have a lot of questions for Evan,” she agreed, falling alongside Xandros once again. “But for now, let’s return as a couple. It’ll seem less suspicious for a couple to come back to the party from some isolated area.” They’ll just appear as some lovestruck young couple who wanted some isolated time to themselves.

Tessa humored the idea for a moment. At least Xandros was pretty to look at.

~~~

Dimitri simply smirked as he watched the scene unfold before him. The wife dutifully calling her traitor of a husband, the bullet being lodged in her head, the cries of the children. All too familiar of a scene, but usually not the family of one in their ranks.

“Hmm, the silencer works quite well,” he commented, pointing his own gun at the kids. He easily caught the phone and placed it in his pocket. “Alright you two, off in that pantry right there,” he said, motioning with his gun to the pantry doors just a few feet away. “And don't make me ask again, or that one hour will be one second.”

The one who wasn’t screaming dragged the other one into the pantry, which Dimitri blocked the doors with a kitchen stool.

“I always hate how messy these situations can get,” he commented looking down at the body and the blood-splattered cabinets behind where she stood. He could still hear the cries of the one child from inside the pantry. “Though I hate getting the children involved. They’re always so loud.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Xandros had no qualms with arriving as a couple with her. In a way, it would remove some suspicion of him to be alongside her. She was well-known and he suspected, generally well-liked. He didn’t know that for certain, but he gathered she was prominent enough.

So, he walked alongside her, of course, out of the building and back towards the party. It did lead to one question.

“Are you sure it won’t be a problem for you to be seen with a relative unknown?” Of course, she could deny anything had gone on other than a chat, but people spoke. Rumors were more damning than truths in plenty of cases.

Evan wouldn’t want her career ruined already.

At least, Xandros didn’t think Evan would want her career ruined that quickly, unless that was the entire reason she was here. Xandros was pretty sure there were other, more effective ways to go about something like that, though.

He also asked, “What brought you to work with Evan in the first place, anyways?” he was new blood. Not on everyone’s list to work with for just that reason.

~***~

Delilah was dead.

His kids were in danger.

Vassili stared at his steering wheel, aware he should move, but finding the mere task of putting his car in reverse to get out of the parking lot an ordeal. He’d managed to change into his praetorian uniform - not out of any love for it, but for the practicality it worked with his powers - but now he was frozen. If he went home, all that was going to greet him was death. His wife’s death. Possibly his kids’ – it wasn’t as if Decima could be trusted – and then his own.

If he left….

‘How can you even consider it?’

It was that kind of thinking that led him to want to leave the Praetorian. He’d told Gabriel, since starting a family, he wanted to retire, move to another position. He hadn’t wanted to stop serving Gabriel, but the man gave him a No. A Never. So, he’d started to look into…options.

He knew it would be found out when he stopped checking in, stopped answering calls, and even changed as much of his information as he could. He still hadn’t expected violence as the first resort. ‘I should have known….’ That was why he wanted to leave.

Now he was too late.

Slowly, very slowly, he moved not to put the car in reverse, but grabbed his phone, logged onto his W1nk account, and set up a livestream.

“Hey, everyone…this is Revenant, signing on for probably the last time. As you can see, I’m one of the Praetorian…or I was. Vassili Kent, also known as Quintus. I was trying to leave. I had a family - I know you’ve all heard my son in the background of some of my streams. I wanted to get into a safer line of work. Gabriel wouldn’t allow it. So much so that he’s decided even my attempt to leave is worth death. My wife….”

His voice caught.

The words were choked.

“Delly…she’s already dead. Decima got there. I’m going home now. This video…will likely be violent, but I’m streaming in the hopes I can unmask her. We don’t know who the others in our ranks are. We’re just titles sent to kill. I hope I’ll…I’ll talk to you all again from the safety of another country, with a controller in my hands, but if not…I hope I can at least reveal one of the monsters.”

He found the strength to start the car then, and drive

He continued to talk, given the livestream, and the pings he got. The attention. Decima’s name drop drew plenty, she had a fucking weird little fanclub in some gaming circles, too. He’d always wondered if they’d ever crossed paths, despite the different genres.

It didn’t matter now, as he pulled up to his own house and got out, setting up the phone to continue recording his front yard.

He didn’t make it inside before Decima was walking around. He didn’t get a word out before she was on him with a knife, but he vanished out of sight as soon as he realized the danger and went intangible, her hand going right through where he was.

He moved away quickly, intending to figure a way close to her again – but she was right there!

“Aww, come on and stop hiding behind that intangibility. I want to see if ghosts bleed red.” She swiped the blade through his head, very clearly knowing where he was.

Vassili felt himself go cold with that knowledge, but he saw another emerge from the house.

Another with flesh not covered up. ‘There.’ He just had to use him to keep Decima off and he’d be able to overcome this. Maybe even get out with his two kids.

First he had to get by her, so he rapidly made himself tangible – but not visible. Too tangible. Her knife struck but didn't pierce, and he grabbed her wrist and flipped her over.

He ignored the temptation to continue.

First to deal with the other, then he could bring them both down.

 

[cleopat]

Tessa shrugged with his question of the two being seen together, a product of a political dynasty and a man of unknown origins and no ties himself. “It won’t be a problem for me, if that’s what you’re asking.” But she knew what he truly meant. She may get a passive aggressive text from her mother, but otherwise, she won’t care. “But no, it shouldn’t be a problem. People may talk, but that’s about it. I can handle people talking about me behind my back.”

Politically, it may even make her seem more relatable to the average person.

She smiled at Xandros’ next question. “Because he seems passionate about helping the people.” That had been one big draw for her to choose him over someone her family suggested, all of whom had been multi-term senators with family legacy.

None of them truly believed in anything, though. Just maintaining power.

“When I reached out to him, he set up a meeting where we had a nice discussion, and he agreed to hire me. My parents aren’t entirely thrilled, and they’ve hinted that some of their friends have been talking about me, but I don’t really care.” She shrugged. “Growing up as the middle child with a rebellious streak, I was used to it.”

“But I like Evan. He seems genuine, a rarity in this world. I just wish the man wasn’t so cryptic sometimes.”

~~~

Dimitri left the house right after Damia. He didn’t get the chance to see Quintus, but he saw Damia fighting something invisible. It had to be him. Quintus could turn into a literal ghost.

And there was something else. He could feel the electrical charge of electricity in the air. There were the normal charges, from televisions, cellphones, cars, and other tech nestled into the neighboring homes, but this one was even closer.

He could see it now. A phone that was angled onto the front lawn. He could feel the vibration waves. Recording?

Well, Dimitri had to stop that.

He reached one hand out to pull the phone towards him, but there was a swift and firm kick to the gut before it could even move. Dimitri didn’t have the same sight that Damia had, so the knife he held swiped at thin air as he attempted to get the invisible man. “Where are you?” he growled, continuing to swipe at the air for him.

 

[Lucyfer]

Xandros wouldn’t press it further if Tessa thought this would be fine. He didn’t have any issue. No one knew him, to talk about him. It was the one benefit of anonymity in this situation, and not being known enough for anyone to recognize him even in this outfit. He’d continue being unknown as he moved around, until he was finally free to leave the damnable party.

The matter of Evan almost made him gag.

Almost.

Evan charmed so many people with that passion of his, even his rivals. Xandros was certain it was genuine, but people didn’t see where it was really placed. In their interest, but…well, Evan hid the ways he went about it, as Tessa was now learning. “Yeah, he’s always going to be cryptic, I can guarantee that. It’s the only way he’s survived being genuine,” it was said with a heavy touch of irony.

Being genuine and cryptic really didn’t go together.

“So you actually want to help people, huh? That’s not just some bullshit line?”

~***~

Damia rolled with the throw and got back to a kneeling position relatively quickly, adjusting herself to figure where Quintus was. She could see his tattoos – they had a gleam to them he couldn’t make invisible, while he was using them. Mostly, however, she was acting on sound and smell, hunting like a bloodhound.

She ‘saw’ him knee Prince, and Prince swipe at air as she got to her feet.

Then she saw a purple-lavender glow as Quintus did not reveal himself, but threw a punch at the Prince’s chest.

No, not a punch, although the energy shot through Prince. ‘He’s tangible enough.’

She didn’t wait for her mind to catch up on what happened as the energy spread through Prince, and as she heard the words, “Kill Decima” pass Quintus’s lips. She jammed her knife deep into his lower back and relished his surprised cry as she cut it upwards towards his shoulder, mangling his arm’s connection to his torso, but otherwise failing to kill him as he went intangible quickly enough.

The blood falling, however, gave another clue to where he was.

 

[cleopat]

Tessa hummed, thinking about how appreciative, or not, she would be of Evan continuing to be cryptic. She could normally read people, even without her tattoo, to an extent. It was part of the business. But Evan…he was an odd one.

At the very least, she didn’t sense any nefarious plots brewing in that mind of his.

Tessa glanced at Xandros with one brow raised. “No, it’s not just some bullshit line. I genuinely wish to help people. I grew up around people in positions of power who took their life for granted and indulged in the taxpayers' money while people starved, and I hated it.” There were a few others in her family who also wanted to help the average citizen rather than try and keep the status quo, and Tessa remembered how they were often mocked behind their backs.

Her world could be so cruel.

“I may have been born into privilege, but it doesn’t mean I only think about myself,” she said with a side smirk.

~~~

Dimitri had no way of stopping Quintus from sending a punch to his chest, skin touching skin. He gasped as he felt a strange energy go through his body, his limbs locked up, and then he knew nothing of his own free will after that.

All his brain could signal to his body was to kill the woman. At that moment, he didn’t even recognize Damia as one of his own.

Dimitri turned towards Damia, and wordlessly, he gripped the handle of his knife tight as he used his speed to swipe at her torso, aiming to stab her where the bleed out would kill her.

A dead Praetorian would be greatly beneficial to him, so Quintus joined in on attacking Decima, sans one arm. As Dimitri made his move, Quintus swung his other arm to land a sharp blow to Decima’s head.

 

[Lucyfer]

Did Xandros really believe Tessa? No, of course not. Every politician was good with a line. It was hard to discern the truth from a lie; he’d never bothered with tattoos that focused on such things. If there were ‘lie detector’ ones. He knew there were all sorts on the black market, with questionable veracity and usefulness.

Some that were simply banned because they were Too Much – whether as a threat to the government, people around them, or the person who had the tattoo. He’d heard rumors of one driving a person off the edge of madness with the sight it gave them, but he wasn’t sure about all that.

He wasn’t sure what could be seen that could be worse than this world to drive a person mad.

“No, I’m sure you think about your family and future progeny’s health,” Xandros said, matching her smirk with his own. Tessa would have time to prove how true the line was, but for now, he’d hold his doubts. “Well, at any rate, looks like we’re back,” the building was in sight, people weren’t really lingering outside, but there were a few.

So, he put his hand back on her back.

“At least tonight was interesting for you.”

~***~

Speed. That was the Prince’s third skill, radiating up from his ankles to send the message to his arms. A bit of a delay – enough of a delay for Damia to catch his wrists with her hands and push away so she could move, only to take a blow to her helmet. She stumbled, but her head wasn’t damaged enough to dismiss the danger.

The Prince would beat her in a foot race. His blows might be strong enough to cut her armor. Definitely where it was weak, at the joints, but she didn’t really care to find out where it wasn’t weak.

Far away, the Prince was likely to use telekinesis, or catch up with her.

Fleeing wasn’t an option – not that it ever was, but fleeing would give Quintus an opening to escape while the Prince was dealing with her. ‘Fuck.’ She didn’t know how to snap him out of it. ‘Well.’ Gabriel would understand. That was just how the job worked. He knew what powers Quintus had, so Damia didn’t hesitate in forsaking the knife for the gun, now that she had no one to protect from stray bullets.

Of course, as she dropped the knife to pull the gun, Quintus aimed a kick at her side, and crushed her arm against her side as her fingers fumbled with the hilt. She still pulled the gun, and whipped it out violently to try and hit him with the butt of it, before taking aim at him – only to know he went intangible.

‘Tch.’ She aimed a shot at the Prince instead, mostly for distraction, before turning to run into the house.

Fuck those kids, then. Maybe they could be a negotiating tool.

 

[cleopat]

Well of course Tessa thought about her family and future progeny’s health. Why couldn’t it all be true, that she wanted their health and safety just as well as everyone else’s? To make sure others got the same opportunities she had?

This was why the average person didn’t trust politicians. Most didn’t want to do the work to make sure everyone had those opportunities. Only their family.

She made no comment on the matter, just let it disappear into the night, much like their visit to the senator’s office.

As they saw people milling about from the party, Tessa stepped a little closer to Xandros, close enough that the cologne he wore wafted into her nostrils. “Tonight was quite interesting indeed,” she agreed. “Is this normally how parties go for you?” Or not just parties, but any assignment from Evan.

She was going to have a chat with him soon.

~~~

Dimitri saw the gun aimed at him, and he was easily able to dodge the shot, not that there was much to dodge from. The shot wouldn’t have hit him anyways with her aim. It did its job in distracting him long enough for Damia to flee into the house.

The name Quintus was far from his mind under the ghost’s spell.

He raced after Damia, feet picking up supernatural speed. He entered the house, just feet behind Damia, and lunged after her, grabbing her around the middle and tackling her down to the floor. He didn’t not hesitate to aim for a hard punch in the sternum, aiming to knock the wind out of her, before drawing his knife back out.

He was uninhibited with trying to stab her wherever he could reach, though largely aiming for the chest and stomach.

 

[Lucyfer]

Xandros snorted at the question, “I haven’t been to enough to have a normal.” She saw him at the appetizer table being terribly disappointed. “I’m not usually forced along, or if I am, I get to stay in Evan’s shadow.”

So, no, this wasn’t usual.

There were other opportune moments to sneak around when senators wouldn’t be in their offices. “I suppose I should let you get back to mingling and making it seem like you were here all night, hm?” he was hoping to escape now that his job was done.

Evan wouldn’t notice, right?

“Unless I need to linger a bit longer to make your cover of having a brief party fling believable enough,” he said it with a bit of an eye roll, but he’d play his role, whatever that was, so he could get out of here easier with no harm to anyone.

He just wanted to go.

~***~

It wasn’t enough.

Damia hadn’t been fast enough to get into the house and get to the pantry, before the Prince was on her. She was tackled, and fighting only got her rolled her onto her back and punched, hard. The breath went out of her, and then the knife was out. The first stab did fuck-all, thankfully. The armor didn’t let it penetrate, nor the second, and although the pressure was a bit and would bruise, Damia could deal with that.

She reached to grab the blade, but in the tussle to claim it, the blade cut open her hand.

The armor at the hands was weaker, and the Prince took advantage of it, plunging the blade right into her palm and pinning it momentarily to the floor. She did cry out, but it seemed to awaken some sense of intelligence in him as he aimed at the point where her elbow was and found the weakness again, cutting deep.

She pulled the gun again, only to have it knocked out of her hand and then kicked some distance away by Quintus.

He wasn’t joining the scuffle now, he was making his way to find his kids, calling their names.

‘No, no, no.’ Damia tried to stretch out, and crawl out, from under the Prince, but he was quick to pin her back down and cut at her reaching arm’s elbow to force her to draw it back in pain. Then seemed to notice the one thing that would truly turn the tide in his favor – the zipper on the front of her body armor.

The only luck Damia had was that he pulled too hard and broke it off. Unfortunately, not before he’d already gotten it part-way down, enough to reveal plenty of flesh to stab from her neck on down to her chest. The first stab was more necessity than lethal, and definitely drew Damia away from trying to reach that gun.

That gun was out of reach with the next stab aimed to be significantly more fatal.

She managed to push his hand so it missed its mark -- though still struck her -- and then held it down there with her bleeding hand as she pulled the gun he had from his side. No hesitation – although she could have blown a hole through his chest, she aimed it up at his mask, and pulled the trigger.

She saw a wisp of him still present.

If this didn’t work, she was dead.

But she’d make sure he followed with a second shot, already turning the hot barrel of the silencer to his chest as her grip on his hand lost its strength.

 

[cleopat]

Tessa did ask Xandros to linger just a few more minutes before telling him he could leave. She knew how these people talked. She knew what they would gossip about more. The rest of the evening went on as expected, as she struck up a few conversations with those she knew, or who were friends of the family.

The next day, she told Evan she wanted to meet in his office.

Tessa left for his office early that next morning with a little of her party makeup still lining her eyes subtly. Her apartment wasn’t that far from his office, so it didn’t take her long to reach it. She knocked on his door, and came inside when prompted.

Evan wasn’t the only one there. The person she could only assume was Xandros, as he was masked last night during their adventures, was there as well. At least it was someone who knew what was going on.

“Evan, I think you know why I’m here.” Tessa wouldn’t beat around the bush. “I want to ask about what exactly was going on last night.”

~~~

The bullet hit his helmet, sending a shockwave through his skull and rattled Dimitri. He loosened the knife before dropping it completely as the hand moved up to his helmet and pressed on it, as if that would stop the room from vibrating.

“Wha-” he started, moving off Damia to sit on the floor. He struggled with his mind between recognizing the woman before him as a threat and realizing that she wasn’t the actual threat.

“Ugh.” Dimitri shook his head, shaking off the remnants of Quintus’ control. He felt nauseated as he regained control of himself, and upon looking around, he did not recall how he got there. Everything was a blank after Quintus had touched him.

Then he saw Damia, in a much worse shape than he remembered. “The fuck happened?” But he recalled Quintus’ file. His powers.

Dimitri had been possessed by a ghost, and he was fucking pissed.



While Decima and Princeps tussled on the ground, Quintus hurried over to the pantry, which he noticed had the kitchen stool angled in front of it to keep the door from being opened. He could only guess his kids were in there.

“Dad!” one nearly exclaimed, before they saw Quintus place one finger over his lips.

“I need you two to do me a huge favor.” They both nodded. “I need you two to go out the backdoor and run. Run as fast and as far as you can, and don’t look back.”

“But what about you? We want to be with you!”

Quintus took both of them into a tight hug before letting them go. “I’ll be right behind you. I promise.” Tears were shed, but the kids managed to escape out the door, and Quintus breathed a sigh of relief.

 

[Lucyfer]

Alexandros was at Evan’s office early the next morning to hand over the USB. He hadn’t handed it over that night. He wasn’t seen by Evan again, though he did make sure to be seen with another group on his way out.

“Thank you,” Evan took it, but didn’t immediately plug it in.

“Am I dismissed?” Alexandros asked.

“No,” he said, “I’m expecting Tessa in a few minutes. You should stay. She’ll have questions.”

“No shit,” Xandros moved a chair alongside the desk so it was facing the door, “you didn’t tell her anything.”

Evan’s smile was that cryptic little thing, but there was no apology. No confession he’d told her nothing. He didn’t need to confess when Xandros knew, and so he continued typing away at an email until there was a knock, and he ushered Tessa in.

Xandros did take a good look at the woman who entered, now out of costume. She wasn’t bad to look at, but she definitely radiated that ‘old money’ energy. A certain entitlement that they couldn’t shake, no matter what they tried. Perhaps it was still his bias from last night, but he felt it.

Felt it as she came to state what she deserved, rather than ask a question.

“Last night there was a masquerade ball, and you took a breather from it in order to gather files from Senator Orzen’s computer. I believe you returned and mingled.”

“That’s not what she’s asking and you know it,” Xandros rolled his eyes, “she wants to know why.”

“Quite simply, Senator Orzen is working on a policy that will take effect if we go to war, and I need the details on this policy. I know the others have already begun the work on what’s been termed Inked.”

~***~

It worked.

The Prince returned to himself, with a headache, no doubt. He got off of her, and Damia forced herself to sit up. The job wasn’t over. They were both still in danger, there was no time to lay around and die. Not if she wanted a nice funeral.

Breathing was hard.

She felt like she was drowning just a little. Just enough to feel sick. She was already shaky, already light-headed, and trying to hold her gun in her dominant hand was impossible. It was still bleeding out. She gave that up for her off-hand.

The world was tinged green and brown.

The world tasted of soil.

Prince’s voice was all pop, no cream. She didn’t really understand what he said as she rose to stand, only to cough up blood at the top and end up on her knees again, gun clattering loudly to the ground.

Adrenaline was still running, at least, but not enough to keep her head from swimming.



Quintus considered running with his children. He considered he should have told them to run to the car. He didn’t need to kill both if he could escape, but he knew he wouldn’t be as safe. His children wouldn’t be as safe, if even one of them survived.

Besides, after the gunshot, it sounded like Decima was still alive. Had she killed the other, then? ‘She’ll be weak enough to deal with.’

He didn’t risk himself being seen, other than the blood that continued to fall. He went back to invisibility, and crept out of the room to see Decima alive, and the Prince alive, but disoriented. He decided to go for the gun he’d kicked away earlier, and at least put a quick end to the one who could see him.

It was a risk – the gun might not go invisible with him.

More than that, he’d have to stay tangible enough to hold onto it, or it’d just slip through his grip.

 

[cleopat]

Tessa huffed when Evan first answered in what she obviously knew. That she was at a masquerade, where she gathered files from Senator Orzen’s computer. That wasn’t helpful in the least, which Xandros fortunately saw and commented on it.

She sat in a chair in front of Evan’s desk. The why didn’t help much either, but it was…something. More than she knew before.

“A policy,” she repeated, crossing her arms over her chest. Well…it was definitely something. “Can you tell me anything about this Inked?” It had to be related to their tattoos, right? What else could Inked be referring to?

“Was there anything of use on the flashdrive?” she asked, not knowing he hadn’t looked at it yet.

~~~

Dimitri’s head still hurt, which he imagined it would for some time. A fucking bullet hit his helmet, after all, but he couldn’t blame Damia in the least.

At least they were lucky it brought him out of Quintus’ spell.

He acknowledged the injured woman near him, and it was enough to make him hesitate just a moment before he swung into action. Quintus first, then he could concern himself with Damia, who was definitely worse for wear.

And it was all because of him.

He swallowed that thought for now. There would be time to ruminate on it later. Dimitri got to his feet and looked around the room for any sign of Quintus. Damn specter.

Blood dripped on the floor from nowhere, and Dimitri could’ve sworn he saw the outline of a gun going in and out of visibility. It was his chance, so he took the risk by lunging and tackling where he thought Quintus stood.

Quintus tipped over as Dimitri managed to snag him by the legs, and both men went down with a loud ‘oof.’

 

[Lucyfer]

Evan shook his head, a little, as answer to both questions, although not the full answer. "I have not yet had the time to look, but I intend to shortly," as he said it, he did plug the drive in, "it will take time but I do know keywords to search and decrypting won't take long." If Orzen even bothered with encrypting.

Few did.

"What I understand of Inked is little, but it's significant." Evan said, "the process will begin with a simple letter, a vote, but it won't be a sincere vote. It's rigged, if we go forward."

Not something anyone wanted to hear.

Something Xandros snorted at. "Aren't they all?"

"I was elected."

"You could have rigged it."

"Regardless. I've gathered they only want the signatures from the populace, but how a signature can be useful eludes me. With the name Inked I suspect it relates to tattoos, but all of those that would use names in handwritten script are…well, very illegal, to say the least. And I have no proof that is the plan. I've just been reading through countless revisions of what would be sent to everyone."

And he didn't like the way the words changed, making it more and more impossible to refuse even by indicating no.

Consent was required, even consent that was through trickery.

~***~

The Prince made the right decision. Down went Quintus, and down went Prince. Damia heard the thuds and breathing. She heard the struggle, but through increasing static.

She couldn't sit on the floor and hope for the best.

It wasn't who she was anyways.

Trembling fingers found the gun she'd dropped. She found strength enough although the taste of soil and fermented gummy worms made her want to give it all up and roll into a ball.

Her vision hadn't improved as she turned her head towards the scuffling, but she could still see the glow of Quintus's tattoos. She still saw The Prince, about to lose as Quintus got his bearings around a gun the Prince couldn't see.

Damia took aim, and blew static through her head when she fired the gun at Quintus. The shot was fatal - neck. Red gushed. She saw that strange, ephemeral passing of life, a sudden spark that vanished, and then Quintus materialized. The magic was gone, as the gun fell from her hands again and she shut her eyes against the static and the green that continued to darken and tarnish everything.

Fermented gummy worms and fertilizer tricked as blood down her lips as the jarring recoil of the shot caused another drowning, coughing fit.

 

[cleopat]

“Well, it would hardly be the first time a senator played around in illegal territory.” Certainly someone in her family had done just that, even if she didn’t know who. It was an unfortunate symptom of playing politics.

She just hoped she wouldn’t fall victim to the delicious temptation of something that was illegal.

“You mention a war…how likely even is this war?” she wondered. Tessa leaned back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other. She knew that relationships were beyond strained…but she had also been naive to not once think about a war.

This Inked…”And where did you first hear about Inked? Surely you just weren’t lucky enough to overhear Senator Orzen talk about it, were you?” Though Evan, the enigma that he was, could have been lucky enough for just that.

~~~

Dimitri didn’t flinch when the shot was fired, nor did he flinch as blood splattered across his face and clothes. He simply let go of Quintus’ body, sat back, and looked down at the corpse. This had been one of his more difficult missions in recent memory, and he wasn’t pleased with that.

He also wasn’t pleased that his assigned partner was injured, and by his hand nonetheless.

“Decima,” he stood up and went over to her, kneeling by her side. “It would be a stupid question for me to ask if you’re okay, wouldn’t he?” He frowned as he took in her injuries, all the blood. “It would also be a stupid question to ask if I did all of this, wouldn’t it?”

It would make him think too hard about what he had done, when it wasn’t his fault.

Dimitri didn’t remove his helmet just yet, paranoid about any cameras lingering about, even if he couldn’t feel them. “Looks like you need a doctor to patch you up.”

 

[Lucyfer]

“The war is all but guaranteed,” Evan stated flatly, “Dictator Gabriel has set his sights on us next, and he’s been manipulating what he can to make sure it happens. The only reason he hasn’t struck first is that he needs to make sure his own people are behind it,” so, little by little, he was finding a way to make their lands look terrible.

Then he’d orchestrate something. Have one of his cities attacked near the border. Have his citizens captured and killed within their country. He would do something. The lie would be bought.

Just as soon as he was sure he had enough backing, and understood his enemy well enough. He didn’t…yet. So Evan still had time to try and stop it, or at least, turn the tide of the war.

“He’s a warmonger set on world domination. We go to war, or we simply give ourselves over, but that’s a problem for later,” Evan said, “Inked is…another matter. More worrisome,” he sighed, “I found out about it from Senator Velrose, not directly. She dropped some paperwork and I was helping her pick it up. One of them was about this project.”

He leaned back in his chair, “I was stupid to ask her about it. I thought it was some novel she was writing,” he should have known better, “she laughed it off, but didn’t answer.”

“So why haven’t you had me steal anything from Velrose? Is she the mastermind?”

“I don’t know who is,” Evan said, “and Velrose is above your paygrade currently,” Evan told Xandros. “Ah. Here we go,” his computer dinged, UBS read, so he plugged in the obvious keyword: ‘Inked’ – and let the results start to come up. “I don’t know who’s involved in everything. I’ve been looking into those close to Velrose, and then close to those I’ve found have this information, but so far just….”

Little.

Little, but now, “Hm.”

“Hm?” Xandros echoed.

“There are…lists of tattoo artists here. Not…well, not legal ones.”

“Maybe I’ll know them,” Xandros immediately got out of his seat to take a look.

~***~

Still too much popping.

Damia focused her gaze on the Prince as he knelt and spoke. Even he was tinging green and brown. Sight…wasn’t that one of the first senses to go? She didn’t know. She hardly knew where one began and another ended. His voice didn’t grate like soil, and yet, everything did. Popping dirt.

How disgusting.

His questions were stupid.

She tried to swallow so she could answer anyways. Tried to ignore the hissing when she breathed that wasn’t coming from her mouth. Only to sputter a cough that was half a sob as other thoughts intruded. Why the hell wasn’t he getting her to a hospital? Why wasn’t he calling for help? Why was he being so damn calm?

Why else ask about a doctor? Because he wasn’t going to get one. Oh no, so sad, not enough time, Gabriel would understand….

The fact his voice was all pop, and decidedly not calm, was lost in the sudden torrent of that terrible thought: he must want her to die. Why not? The Praetorian were competitive, he might have seen her as competition, and now he could blame it on Quintus. It wasn’t even wrong. It was Quintus.

She wiped a hand by her mouth to try and remove the fermented soil, but it dug into her lips, poked her throat, more sensation than taste.

Tried again, “If you’re going to kill me just kill me, don’t gloat. I didn’t want your stupid position, I’ve told Gabe, I don’t want it, I don’t want it.” She didn’t recognize how much nonsense it was, how wrong she was that he wanted her dead or saw her as a threat.

 

[cleopat]

Tessa frowned at everything Evan explained to her. War wasn’t something anyone wanted…but it seemed they had to prepare for it. Was there even anything one person could do to stop the threat of oncoming war?

Maybe Tessa was a pessimist, but she didn’t think so. Not when one pawn in the game was hell bent on taking over every piece of land.

And if Inked was indeed more worrisome…

Tessa glanced at Xandros as he moved to look at the list of tattoo artists on Evan’s computer. She didn’t wonder for too long why he may know some illegal artists. Everyone had their secrets, their darker sides. She knew enough people if one wanted to have a good time.

“Why do you think Inked is more worrisome than war? Is it because of how much you don’t know? Is it because of the illegal tattoos?”

~~~

Dimitri furrowed his brows and tried not to sigh. He didn’t blame her for thinking he would kill her while she was down. He may think the same thing in her shoes, especially after his mind was rattled with injuries inflicted by someone supposedly on the same team.

He ignored her babbling as he wrapped an arm around her and slowly brought her to her feet. “Can you stand or do I need to carry you?” Decima certainly didn’t look like she was in a proper state to walk anywhere.

Sighing, he let one hand support her back while the other arm swept down to wrap around her knees, effectively carrying her. “I already know the answer to that.” She was bleeding everywhere, and he saw earlier how she buckled under her own weight.

He wasn’t going to call for anyone. They would take too long to get there. Instead, he carried her outside and gently placed her in the backseat of his car, so she could stretch out and lay down as needed. “I’m taking you to a hospital. I’m not going to kill you.” He didn’t even know why he added that part. Maybe to comfort her?

Dimitri wasn’t great at comforting.

He sighed and took off, the phone Quintus had recording forgotten on the hood of the dead man’s car.

 

[Lucyfer]

Xandros did know a couple of the names on the list. They weren't really people he thought would work with senators, but then again, no one thought he would, either. Unless he was forced which was pretty much the case.

Evan let his attention be taken by Tessa. "That, and the little I do know. Signatures have always been used in tattoos of control. It used to be done when slavery existed. Slaves would be forced to take on the tattoo of their master's signature and be bound to obey. I don't know what kind of creation Inked is, but it's sometime no one wants to reveal."

"Well, they know some of the right people," Xandros scoffed, "Tyr is big in the BDSM community for that kinda shit."

"And you know him?"

"I have limits. But I know of him." Given all Xandros was opposed to, he didn't exactly like Tyr. Tyr would have helped him with any tattoo, of course, but Xandros didn't care for his specialties. They all seemed to be any tattoo type that was illegal for good fucking reason, but he preached freedom of choice. It was hard to argue with the bastard.

~***~

Rather than give her a mercy killing, the Prince reached out and pulled her to her feet – and asked another question. Okay so this was just more gloa—

The thought cut itself off when balance was taken from her and she was pulled into his arms. ‘Ah….’ Maybe she wasn’t going to die, after all. That was preferable. She didn’t want these to be the last feelings she felt. She always assumed she’d die violently, but she hoped it’d be too fast to realize.

She was given the back seat. In a normal state she’d mock the existence of a backseat and claim that was why the car didn’t go fast enough. Too much extra weight. For right now, she’d enjoy its existence and slouch down into it, the slouch soon turning to a lay.

Perhaps that wasn’t smart. Perhaps this kind of injury required sitting? She didn’t see how either position was going to stop the blood running out of her chest or arms. The Prince said something about not killing her. More cream, but not enough, not really. Still all the pop, before the car started to speed off. She felt the momentum of it, and her mind couldn’t quite wrap itself around all the strange things that brought.

Passing scenery she couldn’t see still carried their smells, their sounds. The changing lights along the roadway still bothered her, but her mind couldn’t keep up to sort it all as it usually would. So, she just let it blend into a dark rainbow that blacked her thoughts of pain out – until it all started to green at the edges, and the armor started to feel comfortably warm.

Until panic pushed it all aside.

The armor!

The armor that should have protected her! She was going to a hospital in armor. People weren’t supposed to know who she was. The hospital would have to take her helmet off, they’d have to get her ID, they’d have to—

Funny how panic could motivate as Damia clawed at her own armor that felt stuck to her flesh. The one benefit of how far down the zipper had been pulled was that it was over the worst of it – shoulder and chest – but it was still made to be a tight fit, and the struggle definitely wasn’t helping her as she tried not to cough more blood through the visor onto the nice car.

Even if she was bleeding on the nice car.

It was a futile endeavor, but the helmet did catch most of it.

And the struggle did pay off in removing the bodysuit. Laying down was some help to that, and then she cast off the helmet and wrapped her hands around her mouth to stay silent and keep the blood from there contained.

Well, really, put more blood on her lips from her hand.

There was no winning, except that Gabriel wouldn’t kill her for revealing who she was to hundreds of hospital people. Unless they could tell by her underwear, which was unlikely, or the tramp stamp speed tattoo. The green still covered the other, and it was unlikely to be washed off.

Her strength didn’t last much beyond that, though. The exertion, the panic, and the injuries, took her into a true oblivion not long afterwards.

The Prince would have a hell of a time explaining.

 

[cleopat]

Tessa frowned. Tattoos of control were very illegal for a reason, and if there was a chance it was becoming a viable threat…She internally shuttered at the thought of having someone’s name tattooed somewhere on her body, cursing her to obey them for the rest of her life.

BDSM community? Well, she certainly didn’t mind some kinky shit…but tattooing someone’s name on your body? Fuck no. That was crossing a line.

And if Xandros knew of this Tyr, Tessa wondered exactly what kind of circles Xandros ran in during his free time.

“So do we need to talk to this Tyr?” she asked. And if they did, hopefully they could meet him…outside of the BDSM community. In a normal setting.

~~~

On the way, Dimitri recognized he was still wearing his helmet. He grabbed it on the edge and removed it, throwing it on the passenger’s seat. Carefully, as to not swerve into another car or some other horrendous accident, he removed the blood splattered jacket as well. He didn’t have another shirt he could change into, but fortunately the jacket had caught most of the blood.

If there were any stains on his shirt, he could pretend they were Decima’s. Or, maybe it wouldn’t be pretending.

“You still alive back there?” No answer. Panicking for a moment, he glanced back to see she had just fallen unconscious. No good, but not the worst alternative.

The drive to the hospital was a quick one with his speed, and he carried Decima into the Emergency Room with haste, screaming about finding the woman like this in an alleyway, most likely mugged or worse.

The doctors immediately took her back, and Dimitri, wracked with his own guilt of how she got to that state to begin with, stayed behind and waited, telling the doctors that he was just a concerned stranger for a woman he found.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, and he didn’t bother to contact Gabe while he waited. He dreaded for what the man would have to say to them.

Something to worry about later.

The doctor eventually came out and gave him a rundown of all the injuries Decima sustained. Punctured lung, sucking chest wound, possible nerve damage in one hand, and obviously, blood loss. Dimitri winced as he heard the list. He certainly did some damage to her.

Well, at least he knew that if she did actually ever tried to kill him for his position, he could protect himself well enough against her.

Dimitri went into her hospital room when the doctor told him she was beginning to stir. Leaning back against the chair, he waited patiently for Decima to come to.