Tess
#Bane #SL #Triggers #Violence #FlashBack
[A pinprick through the fabric of time and space. It stretches to oval and elongate. Pulsing waves of energy emit intense shimmers that prickles along my being as I pass through the portal’s threshold.
The new scene is a sharp contrast from the jungles of South America. It opens to reveal the warm tangerine sunset. Golden rays slowly dying beneath the horizon. A desert cityscape. Sun glinted mirrored skyscrapers towering up to the sky.
My heart races at the invisible force of the portal.
The Ducati swerves hard to the right as I dart out from an alleyway heading through sparse traffic. I navigate the streets to the shipping yards.
My speed slows as I approach the shipping cargo container. With a wave of magick I unlock the bolt and lower the wards.
The doors creak open, parting to allow me to ride through.
The fluorescent overhanging lights hum to life with a soft green glow as I dismount my bike, comb through my wind disheveled hair then move to the far corner to remove a hidden panel and punch in the code combination.
The back wall parted to reveal my weaponry cache lining one wall, the other housing clothing and other useful items for whatever could arise.
I kept these bolt containers all over the world for convenience, discreet holding, and moments just like this.
I moved about hastily not wanting to be late to my meeting after checking the time and seeing the hour had grown late.
I change into something a bit more appropriate. Black butter soft leathers fitting over my lower half, a dark muscle shirt, and thigh high kitten heel boots finishing me off. I pull my hair into a tight, high pony, slicking my hands over the ends before lining my eyes with kohl, adding a shade of crimson over my full lips.
I strap sheathed daggers to my thighs and close the back panel after zipping up the duffle. With a spin on my heels I scan for anything else I’ll need, nabbing up a leather jacket to shrug on.
Satisfied I was all set I hung the duffle strap across the valley of my chest before I dematerialized off to the Karisma nightclub.
Particles traveling on the wind. Materializing again.
Kitten heels clack against the asphalt softly as I head to the back entrance.]
“Namaste.”
[I clap my palms together in front of my chest in customary greeting. I give the muscle guarding the back door a soft bow when he halts me.]
“I have an appointment with Samudra.”
[Voice is laced with a deep purr at the sight of his tall, hard frame looming over me.]
“Namaste.”
[He mimics my movements asking my name]
“Nikita” With a playful glint in my honey hazel gaze. It was a name Samu had given long ago.
He repeats it with a husked growl of a whisper into his collar, his stance shifting subtly.
The communication device murmurs back a response before his broad body steps aside to grant me entrance, a strong tattoo decorated forearm and biceps holding the door open for me.]
“Thanks, handsome.”
[I wink slowly, bowing once more before slinking past. I shiver finely at the feel of his eyes roaming over the backside as I climbed the stairway. I gaze back with a dark chuckle before proceeding up the stairway.
The door opens at the top, a familiar face greeting me. Samudra was a long friend and trusted informant. He had helped me many times in the past so I was both thrilled and concerned to see he was in need of assistance. ]
“Namaste, Nikita, come come.”
[He waves his arms in a come here motion after we greet each other customarily, giving a deeper bow out of respect, before walking through the doorway leading into his office.
I nod to the stationary guards around the large luxurious room, my body folding fluidly into a chair, Samudra following suit behind his large mahogany carved desk. Well it certainly looked like my friend was doing well for himself in my absence.]
“Namaste, Samudra. I saw the contract over the line. What seems to be the problem?”
“Thank you for coming. I knew communicating through the appropriate channels would gain your attention and I could use your help.”
[I raise an inquisitive brow, slinking forward in my seat as I await his response. He rubs over his face telling me he needed my help with a private matter.]
“Arihan Malik. A man of no honor that is creating chaos in the underground. He is an elusive shipping merchant that is dealing in human trades.”
[I listen to the information he’s sharing, my eyes momentarily straying from his when the dark two way mirror behind his desk lights up with a spotlight shining on the center stage downstairs.
The exotic dancers strut out exaggeratedly, their graceful movements sleek and full of sex.
The tunnel of light glides on the stage to zero in on the main performer and it’s as if the entire room jerks to attention, stocky men in their seedy suits had their eyes locked on her.
The mysterious woman’s svelte figure was clad in a black jeweled encrusted corset and barely there skirt that swished along with her golden brown locks with each of her movements, her toned calves and thighs were shimmering along with the rest of her bare skin.
She was putting on a show. The whole room looked to be under her thrall. On the edge of their seats, her elegant movements keep everyone spellbound.
I break away from her with a quick flash up to her mesmerizing sea green eyes before sweeping mine across the room.
I hear Samudra clear his throat, and turn my gaze away from the club floor to meet an expression of annoyance playing across his features as he slides me the intel sheets.
I smile sheepishly before scolding myself internally.
‘Get your head back to the job, Vega.’
I clear my throat whispering out hoarsely. My mouth opened then shut when I didn’t know what to say other than an apology.]
“My apologies.”
[I look over the information, my blood starting to boil seeing this must be personal for my friend. Temperature rising with silent rage. The target was into human trafficking, and from the gruesome, sadistic photos included in the report I see the sick fuck liked to trade young children.
I turned sorrowful filled eyes blazing with hatred beneath then moved up to Samu for a moment before continuing with the report.
I knew he could read my thoughts as they careen through my skull.
Memories of him sharing a story long ago about losing his younger siblings while he was a young man himself, scheming the market streets trying to feed them.
They were lured away by whom he never found out, but I knew he was still searching and holding out hope for them. He shifts uncomfortably before speaking again with a cracked voice.] “We’ve been having problems locating the auctions but our luck seemed to change when one of the prospective buyers had a change of heart and shared his location device.”
[He reaches down to the side to slide open the right drawer before delving inside to remove a box, and opening it to show me a small round gadget tainted with smears of blood. I raise a brow before taking the offered piece into my palm.]
“What is it?”
[I lift my gaze from inspecting the black circular piece up to Samu’s face for answers]
“Apparently it will give the coordinates of the auction an hour before the event begins. If you are late then you will be turned away. It’s why we’ve been having trouble with locating the exchanges and Mr. Malik. From the information shared by our informants he flies in from a secret location for the auction, leaving before the end. He’s very paranoid and a sly one.”
[I nod my head in agreement, turning over the device. It was very low tech and I had to wonder why Samudra had contacted me. I didn’t ask many more questions, only questioning if Samu had trusted his intel.
We had assembled a small team. I had changed into tactical gear and combat boots.
Once the equipment started to sound out, with coordinates flashing across the screen I knew it was game time.
Dematerializing away from the Karisma club, my molecules disperse on the warm breeze carrying me to the coordinates on the location device.
The target was being bold with his location choice, using a hotel set out deep in a cove off the coast with only one road in and out. The helipad on the roof would be my guess as to how he would be flying in.
I reform in the dark shadows of the hotel, strapped and armed. Senses fanning out to locate the sentinels around the ground perimeter. I scan the parking lot and see it’s mostly empty save some luxury limos and other high priced toys.
‘How the hell was he able to arrange this location without anyone catching wind?’
I give a shake of my dark locks, getting back to the matter at hand. My objective was taking this sick fucker, Arihan Malik out. I hear the blades of the chopper cutting through the night and know my target must be arriving.
‘Right on time.’
I move stealthily from shadow to shadow, a chilling grin curving my crimson lips as I catch three guards by surprise.
Confusion evident over the first guard’s expression when he aims a gun. My hands move with inhuman speed, blocking and attacking with a flurry of fists.
He coughs and sputters. Spit and blood sprayed out as he slumps to his knees.
The next two suits are taken down when I counter their hits, grappling for their guns. I effectively halt one from alerting the others to the intrusion.
I needed to go. I didn’t want to risk the rest of the guards being alerted. The tactical team would be arriving soon.
Leaving the two guards where their broken bodies fall I continue forward passing through the service entrance as stealth as possible.
The kitchen was empty except for a lone guard at the opposite end blocking the doorway to the dining area. I see his ears twitch, some internal alarm telling him I was near. He twists, the muzzle of his AK-47 aimed in my direction, his hands fumbling with the radio a moment.
I effectively knocked the muzzle away, using the butt of my glock to crush his larynx but not before he was able to hit the call button on his radio.
‘There goes my surprise entrance.’ They would now know there was a threat.
I growl low down at the wheezing guard giving him a swift kick in the ribs before darting off in a flash as the guards in the vicinity come rushing in my direction to check on their comrade.
I duck into the laundry room, trying to summon magick to fade upward and come up empty.
My powers were somehow suppressed inside this building. I curl my fists in frustration, adrenaline pumping as I look around for another way to get to the upper levels and see the laundry chute.
I fold into the small clearance in haste, the booming stampede of guard’s boots resounding closer as I scale up the tight space slowly making progress.
I hear their indistinctive shouts approaching. Reporting that the target had been lost.
I slam through the next floor’s chute door. Taking deep breaths as they found my bolt hole and I narrowly missed the hail of bullets as my boots cleared the duct.
Snapping up to my full height I rush off down the corridor, my heart pounding in my ears as my adrenaline races through my veins. I slip my guns out of their holsters and aim, shooting at the guards coming toward me.
I dispense them quickly, snarling as I see I had more levels to climb. I hit the elevator doors with my fingers, prying at the doors then reaching inside to snap the ascender device to the elevator cable, the other end attaching to my harness belt before it zips me upward in a fast jerk.
I pry the doors as I reach the top, swinging backward before the momentum slams my boots into the guard waiting for me. He stumbles back as my body arcs through the air to land knelt down beside him.
I grip the sides of his head, twisting sharply to snap his neck. I pant out, my breath suddenly coming out in wispy puffs as the temperature starts to drop eerily.
I unhook my line, my brows furrowing as confusion runs through me while I slinked down the hallway, my body stays pressed close to the wall in case any other guards scrambled toward me.
I halt a moment when my hearing picks up tiny cries, my senses registering a small mass of energy in the room behind me and I quicken my pace to the double doors.
I kick the lock open, two more guards barreling forward in attack.
I aim high, shooting two shots simultaneously to their heads.
They slump down to their knees, the small figures of children huddled in a far corner. Another door opens to the back of the room revealing a cluster of well dressed men and women.]
“Any of you swine tries to escape and this door explodes. Got it?”
[I hissed out loudly, my eyes flashing silver before I locked the doors, binding them as I grit my teeth in disgust and plant an explosive device. They could all roast in the flames but I knew they wouldn’t attempt anything with the threat. The world would be a better place anyways without them roaming and preying on small children.
I catch sight of an older woman, tucked in front of the children who were up for bidding and order her gruffly to get them to safety. I peek outside the doors slowly, halting the small group as I keep my eyes sharp, before ushering them toward the elevators. Alarms shrill out. From this height I could see sirens in the distance.
A voice over the pa system alerting guests that this was not a drill and to evacuate to safety.
I send the huddled group down with a heavy sigh before spinning back to the long hallway with a snap.
My head jerks off to the right an emergency door leading to the helipad slamming against a wall, the air growing thicker as I ran down to catch whomever was trying to escape. I change out my clips, reloading just as more armed men jump out and my guns fire out as a blur of bullets fly past me.
I hear the shouts of a strong booming voice thick with a Hindi accent ordering they kill me. I dive behind a small air duct to use as a shield, my nostrils flaring as a putrid scent wafts on the breeze.
Ducking out from behind the duct to fire more rounds at the men with wide eyes as they fall, the bullets ceasing but the forms of a demonic being, being revealed.
‘The fuck is he doing with a Rakshasa?’
My anger roars up at the thought that this bastard had been feeding abducted children to the man eating creature.]
“You won’t get away! I can guarantee that!”
[I snarl out dangerously as I watch him scurry off toward the helicopter bay. The pilot clicks madly at the flight instruments to get it going as Arihan loads into the back of the cabin. I turn back to the demon, its green vertical slit eyes locked on me as its fangs dripped rancid saliva. I feel my magick prickling across my skin in dark tendrils, being outside seeming to help it summon up and feel my darkness rise.
My face transforms to reflect my true nature. Cold darkness. Deadly.
I crack my neck, stalking around the unearthly creature with its huge belly protruding out as he prowls around me ready to lunge.
I drop the spent guns at my feet, my fingers curling at my thighs to unsheath my daggers. I give them a quick twirl, the blades singing as they ready and with a cry out I move into attack mode.
I slice at the air, the rakshasa swiping its poisonous fingernails at me. I grimace, feeling the sting as it cuts through my jacket with a sear across my forearm.
I twist around, tearing the remains of my constricting jacket and slice one of my daggers across the creature’s back.
It bellows out in pain a small smirk of satisfaction leaving me before the shapeshifter shift’s to slither away then transforms again to its original form.
I growl in frustration, my breaths coming out in freezing puffs of air when I hear the whirl of the helicopter blades coming to life.
‘Fuck!’
I tucked into a roll, grabbing a discarded gun and quickly loaded a spare clip. I get off a shot, the bullet ricocheting off the side of the helicopter right as the rakshasa howls and comes hurling at me again.
Dropping onto my back, cupping the glock’s grip with both hands and clicking the trigger continuously as the beast waves the bullets off as if they are nothing.
I cry out hoarsely as its fangs sink down on the tender flesh of my thigh and lips twist in a snarl as I summon dark flames in my palms.
I shove at the creature’s shoulders to rip his fangs from my skin and hear it yowl out in pain. I cough out, blood spurting from my femoral artery as my vision blurs hazy.
What happens next comes in rapid flicks of awareness. My lids slam down tight as a bright indigo illumination explodes across the night sky. I hear those now familiar bellowing howls I’d heard in Brazil, then the gruesome animalistic roars as powerful jaws snaps against each other followed by bloody cries and whining.
I blink my lids faster, trying to drag my shaking body away to the safety of the air duct, leaning against it for support as the poison seeps further into my system. I tilt my head to the right, my vision clearing for a moment to see the copter lifting into the night sky.
I crawl on my stomach for another gun, my head shaking as I try to get a clear shot. I unload the rest of the clip, dropping my head in defeat thinking I’d missed the target right before my body is propelled off the platform from an explosion.
I grasp out for the railing, my body teetering off the edge as flames blazed above. I whimper weakly feeling my grip and consciousness slipping. The flames roar around to consume the helicopter before igniting one of the barrier beams and spreading down the side of the hotel.
As my arms flailed out at my sides I only hoped that the little ones were able to get free.
Plummeting down.
The illumination from the floors of the hotel are flashing one by one. Everything moves too quickly to register.
I black out the chill of the turbulent waters that shock my system, my mouth opening to swallow down deep gulps of water before a jolt of warm soothing energy buzzes straight through my being.
I slipped into an abyss of darkness awakening later washed up on the shore near the hotel. As my consciousness returns, I pull my wrecked body from the damp sands and to my amazement not as broken as I remembered.
Looking down at my arm and thigh the wounds were healing, my skin renewed. I slick my hands over my wet features, turning back to the tall burnt building in complete disbelief at what had occurred there.]