Derek P.O.V

Setting the cross-hairs on my target’s head, I relaxed, and let out a small breath as I pulled the trigger of his rifle. The sound of the shot muffled thanks to the new silencer I obtained from the black market. But as quietly and flawlessly as the bullet flew, its accuracy was somewhat lacking, it breezed just past the man’s head, and took off his right ear instead.

Cursing under my breath, I readjusted my aim, but my target had begun running towards the nearest building and into an alleyway. Letting out another slur of anger-fueled curses as I started to pack my stuff quickly. Jumping out of the window and falling onto the roof of the adjacent building, I sprinted across the rooftops of multiple buildings before reaching the place the target had run off too. My failure to eliminate the target within the first shot let me with only one hope of the alley being a dead end. If I didn’t complete this job, my employer would have my head served on a pristine silver platter with an all too cliche apple firmly held within my lifeless jaw. Shaking the disturbing thoughts from my mind, I focused my attention back to the edge of the building that overlooked the alleyway. I turned my gaze down the side of the building, but alas luck had decided to flip me the bird and shove it in my face today as I found the alleyway open, and with no sign of the target. I let out more slur of curses escaped my lips as I jumped down unto the fire escape and then the ground.

There was no point in me wasting time lingering around the should-have-been assassination scene and ran back towards the tall abandoned building where I had set up my base before civilians took notice of me. The one good thing that had come from this was that in this part of town gunshots, murders, beatings, etc. were a common occurrence. So at least, I wouldn’t have to go deep into hiding and avoid policemen investigation affecting me. The only people I’d be avoiding would be my employer’s dumbass goons that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. As I was thinking of this, I turned the corner and bumped into two huge people. ‘You have gotta be shitting me’ was all that ran throughout my mind.

“Hey kid, you know the guy who’s suppose’ta be here? Hitman type’a guy, looks a lot like you,” Goon #1 spoke up, he had an accent that sounded like a cliche ‘New Joisy’ guy on crack. He seemed like the typical dumbass goon.

“No sir, never seen anyone like that” I responded feigning innocence.

“Ok, I guess it not him,” Goon #1 said as he started walking away

Goon #2 slapped him in the back of the head. “Marty you dense piece of shit, that is the hitman!” he exclaimed, spit coming out his mouth as he spoke. This one seemed a bit smarter.

“Oh.” Marty was utterly unfazed by the hard hit to the skull.

Goon #2 rolled his eyes and looked at Derek, “Did’chu get the guy, kid?”

“Uh, yeah, see about that-” I cut myself short and dash through the streets in an attempt to escape. But apparently, the idiots were quicker on their feet than with their brain. Marty practically threw himself as he grabbed hold of my foot, causing me to trip and hit the side of the building and blacking out.

I woke up with a splitting headache, and some rope wrapped around my wrist, a smidgen too much on the tight side, that bound me to a chair.

“Rise and shine kid.” someone said

I looked at the man who had spoken, my employer, Michael. “Almost thought you’d be asleep for good. Hit your head pretty hard on that little fall of yours.” Michael said.

"Look, I get that I screwed up, but if you'll just give me some more time. I just need a day or two, and I'll get this guy," I implored.

"Nonsense m'boy. I hardly give a damn about that rat anymore, and you won't have to worry about that mayor either. I have a new target in mind, think of it as a way to redeem yourself for your recent failure," he smirked villainously down at me.

I glared at him, "You know my policy. What'd they do?"

Michael rolled his eyes. "You and that hogwash policy of yours. I swear if you didn't have that, I could have made you wealthy."

“I told you before that I am not money hungry like you are” I demanded once again. “Now, tell me about the new contract.”

He shrugged, "Your loss m’boy. But believe me, you will find this one to meet your requirements, and if not, well, it's nothing personal,” Michael snickered as he reached into his coat pocket and drew out a pistol, pointing it directly at my head.

“This new contract happens to be for a woman named Emily. You see m’boy this wicked woman has been reportedly killing off the family members of my men. Now, we may be thugs and low lives, but we care for our families dearly, each and every one of us.” Michael said. Some of the goons behind him nodded their heads worriedly while a few others lowered their heads. “And the way she does it,” he wrinkled his nose in disgust and made a shuttering gagging sound.

“Take Edward over here, or Eddy as he would prefer, his little daughter and wife were just killed by this girl last week,” he motioned towards Goon #2 from earlier.

Eddy glanced at the boss worriedly before turning away from them as he continued, “The child’s stomach was cut open, all his blood spilled into a bathtub, and then the mother drowned in her own daughter’s blood! Even we aren’t that gruesome.”

My eyes opened up in surprise before glancing over at Eddy, the man’s body was already uncontrollably shaking as he gripped his hand. I watched Eddy shed a tear that fell to the floor as I turned back to Michael with a look of determination.

“I’ll do it.”

Michael smiled, “Wonderful.” He put the pistol back inside his coat as he spoke, “Now, here’s the tricky part: I need this hit done, dead, and gone in three days.”

“What?!” I gasped, “You know I need at least a week if you want a good clean job. How am I even supposed to find her in such a short amount of time?”

“I understand, truly I do, but her attacks have been quite frequent, almost every other day now. That’s why I must ask this to be done in such a short time, and her next attack should be tonight. I figured you could catch her during the crime and then bam! Send her down to where she belongs." Michael smiled almost as though he enjoyed this, which was probably right actually.

"Any idea where she may strike then?" I asked.

“Our intel seems to imply that we don't have Intel, we're 'Thugs’ here in case you haven't realized. So, because idiots surround me, you'll have to figure that out on your own." About half the goons surrounding him gave Michael a resentful glare while the other half still didn't seem to know what was going on.

I sighed, I hated this man, I did, but he was the only one capable of supplying me with all of my equipment and jobs. “Fine, can I at least get a list of all the guys whose families have been targeted?”

Michael let out an exasperated sigh, as though it would take all of his energy, time, and resources to do this one little task, “I suppose, I could have something written up just for you m’boy.”

“And if it's not too much trouble to ask, would you by any chance have any more information on this woman? Perhaps a photo or some criminal records?” I questioned with a mocking tone.

“That we do, m’boy,” Michael smiled and held his hand over his shoulder. Eddy came up with some papers and handed them over. “General info, photo, height, weight, etc., past criminal records, mostly a few misdemeanors, the works,” he explained and turned the papers over to me. Looking down at them and glancing up at Michael with a raised brow. I motioned to where my hands were still bound behind me to the chair. Michael rolled his eyes, “Oh please, I know as well as you do that you could get out of those ropes with two broken hands.”

I shrugged and moved my hands go to grab the papers, “Never hurts to try.”

Michael rolled his eyes again, “There’s an Evo Lancer outside, all of your equipment is inside along with full clips of ammo for your rifles, full tank of gas, keys in the ignition.”

“Alright, thanks for giving me a difficult contract” I retorted sternly.

Michael waved his hand, “Whatever, just go already. Need I remind you of your approaching deadline?”

“Yeah, yeah” I nodded, though begrudgingly, and made my way out of the large garage to the car.

I sat in the driver seat of the new car and reviewed the documents that were given to me by Michael. Starting with her criminal record and saw that Emily had a few minor felonies. Car theft, break-in, speeding, and such but none of those were severe enough that it escalated to murder, so what made her take that extra step further and want to kill people. Not just any regular people either, this crazy girl decided to start shooting the families members of the biggest gang.

“She has guts I'll give her that,” I thought to myself.

I kept on reviewing the papers until I reached a map with marking of all the places she had gone before. There were red marks with X’s signally where she had gone. Immediately noticing the over simplistic pattern that she was going in, and circle the house of the closest known member that I knew off. Emily was hunting members in order since all the members did not live that far away from each other. The next person lived four blocks away from the previous family which was Ricky. I put the gear into drive and sped out of the parking lot that I was currently residing in and drove down the street of Chicago.

Thirty minutes later I stopped in front of a two-story modern house that could tell as much of itself as a blank canvas could. It just appeared to bland and uninteresting, that made me doubt being in the correct place. All it had going for it was its red walls and symmetrical geometry, and even that made it look like it was just a box meant for humans. Before I went and did something idiotic, I called Micheal to make sure.

After a few rings, I heard his voice “Did not expect to hear from you so soon M’Boy.”

“Michael I just need to verify Ricky address and if his family is there?” I asked

I heard him speaking to someone, which I am assuming is Ricky before he got back on the line.

“Yeah that his address and according to Ricky, his family should be home,” Michael said

“Thanks,” I said hanging up and not letting Micheal ask any more questions.

I looked back at the house and saw how all the lights were turned off. I could only make out a faint outline of objects, but I did catch one of the outline moving. Getting out of the car, I assured myself that nobody was around watching before going up to the front porch of the house and crouched in front of the door. Taking out the lock pick set in my pocket, I went to work on opening the door. After a few clicks of the door handle, I was able to open the door quietly. I reached for the M9A3 handgun that in its holster hidden from view under my black flannel. After taking off the safety, I slowly walked into the house being vigilant of my surrounds. I held the gun in front of me with my finger on the trigger to shoot at first notice as I made my way through the house. When I reached the living, I heard a creak from the upstairs room and decided to go check it out since I was not finding anyone down here. As I turned the corner, I saw a woman with brown hair coming down the stairs and recognized her from one of the pictures in Michael's files. It was Emily, but before I took aim to shoot, she had run up the stairs.

“Damn,” I thought to myself.

I ran up the stairs after her, only to duck back down into the wall of the stairs as bullets flew by hitting the wall. I looked over the ledge and shot back at Emily, hitting empty space she was previously occupying. She went into the room across from where she was in. I carefully followed her, making sure not to let my guard down, as I reached the doorway. When I went into the room, I saw Emily jumping through the window and onto the ground where she proceeded to run towards a car. I moved towards the window and shot at the car that she got into, but she manages to drive off.

“Seriously!” I punched the wall next to the window out of frustration over letting a target escape twice in such a short amount of time. “Well better help the family at least.”

When I turned around a woman, alongside a child, were tied down with dried out blood all over them. A horrid smell was radiating off their body, and they seem dead for a good while now. I walked closer to them and saw their throat were silt open and they bled out. I ran my hand on top of their eyes to close them.

“I'm sorry” I apologized to them for not being fast enough to save them “I better leave, I'm certain someone called the cops after hearing those gunshots.”

Thirty minutes later and I was in front of the door to my apartment ready to go in until I noticed something odd, the paper clip I leave on the door was on the ground meaning someone had been inside. Putting my ear close to the door in an attempt to hear any noise coming from the other side, but I heard nothing coming from behind the door. Not giving up on the idea, I pulled out my handgun out for the second time today, quickly checking the ammo clip to make sure I had rounds.

“This person made the biggest mistake sneaking into my apartment,” I thought.

Walking in slowly, I felt my heart beat faster with every step I took down the hall and towards the kitchen. Reaching the entryway of the kitchen, I heard movement from inside the room and leaned my body to sneak a quick look, but saw nothing. Slightly confused I walked into the room, not finding a single soul around.

“Well, that's rather odd, I swore I heard someone here,” I said before feeling an immense amount of pressure from behind me, but when I turned around, I was met with a fist hitting me in the jaw causing me to blackout.

Slowly lifting up my head I felt an unbearable headache and tried to move my hands towards my head, but couldn't touch them. I opened my eyes and looked down to see myself tied up once again.

"I have to seriously stop waking up like this" I thought to myself.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw a shadow moving, followed by a voice. “Well, it's about time you woke up,” the figure said.

It was a girl's voice, but the pressure she gave out was that of something else. I remember a person file stating that she was different from an average person, then it hit me that this could be Emily.

“That impossible how did she find me?” I thought

I decided to take my chances and ask her, it not like I'm going anywhere. I saw the shadow walking towards me slowly, but with every step, it took towards me the pressure from before reduced.

"Emily?" I asked

"Not as slow as I thought you would be," she said coming out the shadow of the room and into better lighting.

Now that she stood in front of me, I had to admit she looked better in person then she did in her picture. Emily had straight brown hair that was currently tied into a ponytail, which helped bring out the features in her face. She had pale skin that fit nicely and made her hazel eyes pop out more. From where I was seated it appeared like Emily was 5’7” and was wearing a purple shirt with jeans that snug onto her body in the right places, but still loose enough that it did not restrict her movements.

“So care to explain why you have taken me hostage?” I asked calmly.

“Care to say why you shot at me?” Emily replied

"For the same reason why there was a hit place on you,” I told her “plus you should treat the person who’s going to kill you nicely.”

“Can't take you seriously considering the fact you are tied down to the chair" she replied calmly once again.

Something about the way she was responded made me irritated and quite impatient. In all honesty, I just wanted to know how she found me and why she would risk it by coming here of all places. I mean besides the fact that I was hunting her down to put a bullet in her, there shouldn't be a reason why she would know of my existence.

"Okay if you don't tell me nicely, I'll just have to find out a different way," I said attempting to get myself out like I usually do, but something was different. I couldn't break through the rope.

“Wondering why you can't get out?” Emily said out of nowhere. “well that probably because I used enchantment to make the rope physically impossible to get out off.”

Emily started to look at me intently, like expecting me to do something.

“What do you want?” I asked her

“Tell me about Michael. Where is he based? How many people does he have under him? Also how many hits have been placed on me?” She asked me one after another

“Like I'll answer any of that” I snorted at her “You realize that you pissed off the biggest mafia group in Chicago, right?”

Emily didn't say anything and only walked around me, giving me a strange look over.

“You aren't one of them?” She asked

“One of who? A member of his mafia group? No, I am not. Just a simple hitman who gets contracted to take out people who fit my code” I told her this bit of information

“Code?” Emily raised her eyebrow in confusion

I let my head fall forward for a moment before sighing “Yeah, but don't worry about.”

“Well I would have like hearing it, but I guess that won't be happening” Emily shrug “Can you at least tell me where the demons are coming from?”

“Demon?” I exclaimed

“Yeah, everyone in Michaels' mafia is a demon” She waved her hand around as a way to signify that she been through this one to many times

I shook my head to clear my head of what she was saying. This girl was insane if she thought Michael was a demon, let alone everyone in his syndicate. Deciding not to let this crazy situation go any further, a bit of fire came off my fingers and landed on the rope. Allowing me to easily break through the rope and stand up to my feet. Emily reacted quickly and was already on top of me, holding a knife to my neck.

“You are going to cut my throat the same way you did to those people?” I asked smugly

“What are you talking about? I found those people like that, I haven't killed anyone” Emily said confused

“Yeah right.”

I quickly lifted my hand and placed it on her stomach and push her off. Emily’s body hit the cabinets in the kitchen and then fell to the ground. I moved forward and grabbed the knife she had dropped, and placed myself on top of her with the knife to her neck. I went to slice her throat but felt the barrel of a gun on my side.

‘When?’ I thought to myself as I stared down at the smirking girl

“You're an interesting one, unlike the rest of the people I fought you can use magic,” Emily said, “ you attempted to do it quietly, but I noticed that bit of fire coming off you.”

She rolled to her side, throwing me off and gaining some distance before aiming the barrel of her gun at me.

“No need for the gun, I'm not going to hurt you,” I said putting my hands up in the air.

“No kidding, because if you move I will shoot,” she said pointing out the obvious

“I do not know what you are talking about with Michael being a demon,” I told her and thought of a way to turn the situation around, “but I want to know why you attack all those people.”

“what do you mean?” she said with a confused expression.

Emily was caught off guard with the question and lowered her hand slightly, but just enough for me to rush forward and grab her wrist with my left hand, forcing her to aim it to the side. With my right arm, I tried to elbow her torso, but she grabbed my elbow in time. We stayed in this position while our face was inches apart.

“Don't try to act so innocent around me, I know that you have been going around killing off peoples family” I retorted to her earlier question.

“I have no idea of what you’re talking about,” she said “yes I have gone after the people in your so-called ‘mafia,' but all I have done is an exorcism. nothing more, nothing less” She said looking pissed at my accusation.

“Exorcism? What in God's name are you talking about?” I asked

“What I am saying is that I never killed any of those people, I just freed them” Emily responded

“Just like you freed those people in those houses!” I exclaimed

She dropped the ammo clip and then the gun before pulling back hard enough to free herself from my grip. Emily took a few steps back and stopped by the doorway the led to the living room.

“I did not do that, by the time I arrived at the house those people were dead!” Emily raised her voice back at me

“Why the hell should I believe that?” I retorted

“Did you noticed how cold the bodies were and the blood was dried out” She pointed out “If I had done it when you saw me, then everything would have been fresh instead of having it looked like few days had passed by.”

I did not respond as she had mentioned a good point when I was in the room the corpse did smell and I touched them their body was far too cold for the murder to have been done today. If what Emily is saying is true, then it would have been impossible for her to have killed them since the body would still be warm and blood would not be dried.

“If it was not you, then who?” I asked her giving her the benefit of the doubt

“I think it was demons, that’s why I been exercising humans. If you knew about this house, then you must know the other people that I help” Emily said

“You mean killed” I corrected her

“Killed? No, I told you I did not kill anyone.” She said getting angry “look something is not matching up with our information. ”

I looked at her with disbelief at first but then started to think it over because of the few inconsistencies.

“Alright, I am a reasonable person believe it or not. Let go into the other room and see what actually happening and if you are talking nonsense or the truth” I said to her.

Emily nodded her head and backed up towards the living room with me following behind her. She never let down her guard and still held the gun at me, making sure that I did not make any ‘unnecessary’ movement. She ended up sitting down on the couch while I sat by this desk that was there mostly for when I needed to lay out papers during an investigation. We didn’t talk for a few minutes which led to an awkward silence between the two of us until I finally coughed to break it.

“Okay, so what all this about Michael running a crime syndicate made up of demons?” I asked her feeling a bit idiotic for even asking this.

She nodded her head “exactly that, a few months ago I was here meeting a contact, and I started to feel a fluctuation of energy.”

“Fluctuation?” I interrupted

“Yeah, usually energy is consistent throughout an area, but when high-level magic or portals are opened, it tends to dip by a considerable amount.”

“So you think it was caused by Michael opening portals?”

Emily stood up and ran her free hand through hair “Not a first, there is a family of witches and warlock that reside in Chicago. I believe that was it, but when I checked them out, they denied being the reason for the dip in magic energy.”

I stood up from my chair and attempted to get closer to Emily, but she immediately stared me down with the pistol aimed straight at me. Letting out a sigh of air, I went back and leaned against the desk.

“Still does not explain why you thought it was Micheal” I pointed out

Rolling her eyes, she exclaimed “I'm getting there! Anyway, about a month ago I still felt the dip in magic energy, and it was then when I noticed someone always was murder right before. These people being other users who are tasked to go after demons.”

Her eyes landed on me, and I knew why. Recently Michael had increased the amount of contract he gave me, I didn't think much about and thought it was people that owed money.

“Okay, so I might have killed them, but that was because they were corrupted” I defended

Emily let out a groan of frustration “They were not corrupt, those were stories made up by Michael. As you can see, he is very good at bending the truth to his benefit.”

I let my own groan out and thought about what she had been saying. It did make some sense to a degree, Michael is the leader to Chicago largest crime syndicate. While Micheal order contracts on people that seemed to not pay or did not oblige to his every command. I, in turn, justified it with the list of crime they were actually committing behind the scene. I took it as a while to getting rid of people in positions of power, before getting rid of the head himself.

“After checking into the group, I caught one of their member who turned out to be a demon.” Emily interrupted my train of thought “seeing this, I started going after another member and found that every member and their family were all possessed by demons.”

“Alright, I get it,” I said annoyed “Do you have some kind of proof of all this? While your story seems pretty convincing, I still need some proof.”

“Come with me tomorrow, and you’ll see for yourself” Emily stated.

I thought about it for a moment before letting go of a sigh and nodding my head in agreement. Emily smiled at me after seeing that gave a chance to prove her innocence. In all honesty, I was okay with her going after the members themselves just not their family. They were not part of this life and therefore were innocent of the actions taken by their spouse. Looking over at the clock, I saw that it was almost one in the morning. While I was not unusually tired, I still wanted to get some shut-eye.

I nodded my head towards the couch “you can take the couch, I'll sleep on my desk chair.”

Emily looked relentless at first but still sat down, putting her feet up on the table before leaning her head back and closing her eyes with a gun in hand in case I made any movement. I let an inward chuckle before moving over to my desk and basically doing the same. Over the year I became a light sleeper and can quickly wake up from the quietest unwanted sound, so if she moved I would wake up. Looking at her, it seemed as the same was for her as her ear perked up and the grip on the gun tighten when I quietly grabbed the weapon under the desk and held it out of sight in case I found myself needing it.

At some point, I must have fallen asleep keeping watch over Emily since at one point I was watching her and then the next I was standing in the middle of an empty void. There was nothing around me, and while it felt like I was standing on solid ground, there was actually nothing under me. How was I able to tell? Because there was gray mist under me that came up from the ground and would occasionally wrap itself around legs before dispersing. I waved my hand through the fog, but it did not seem disturbed by the movement.

“Where am I,” I thought to myself while walking forward in no specific direction in hopes of reaching something.

After some time of endless walking, I looked down at my feet and noticed that while I was walking the mist under me was actually not moving. The more I focused on the fog, the more I came into terms that I was actually not moving but instead was walking in place. I let out a groan as I did not know where I was, and it seemed obvious now that I was going to reach anywhere.

“You have got to be kidding me, where the hell is this place!” I screamed at no one specific.

At that moment a low rumbling resounded through the void. I looked around and tried to find the source of the noise until my eyes caught something above me. The gray mist grew a light blue hue until it began to get brighter and the fog started to go in a circle. An opening appeared like that of a cyclone and from within the open space descended and ball light. I had to turn and cover my eyes as the light it was emitting was blinding. When I noticed that everything had dimmed down and there wasn't any sign of the mist ever been there, I turned towards the ball of light. What floated there was instead a blue ball of magma, the more I glared, the more I was reminded of a sun. The way fire would shoot out the side and fall back to the surface. The heat it released made it feel like I was standing next to a volcano while lava flowed next to you. But it felt calming instead of the pain you would usually feel from being close to this kind of heat.

“It's the first time you see it isn't it?” I heard a female voice next to me “Your soul.”

I turned next to me and saw the main reason of while I was here. Her red shoulder-length hair fluttering as if wind was hitting it, unnaturally pale skin that was probably soft to the touch. She turned her gaze to me and held a small smile at me while her burgundy red eyes bore straight through me. This was not the first time I met her, but it is the first time she has dragged me here.

“Yeah, it's my first time.”