"Not good enough!"

I snapped one's throat. I slit the next.

"Not good enough!" his voice boomed through the speakers.

I glared up at the one way mirror, I knew he stood back there watching intensely at my every move. I continued to kill them off. There was too many, 346 to be exact and they just kept coming.

"Not good enough!"

I thought back to before we started training, he had held me by the shoulders and said, "I need you to prove to me that you can amount to me Amara, that is the only way I can be sure you have my back." He had said it so gently. He'd grinned at my enthusiastic nod and wished me good luck, a flirty wink and he was walking down the hall.

"Not good enough!" his voice was not so gentle now.

I shook my head and continued to shoot, stab, slit and crush. I was becoming tired and I didn't know how long I could keep this up.

"Not good enough!"

I faltered at the disapproval I heard in his voice allowing one of the men to slit my throat with his knife, I fell to the ground coughing up blood and grasping my neck tight as if to keep the blood inside.

"That's enough!" Dominic ordered through the speakers, all the men dispersed leaving me on the ground coughing up blood. "Amara," he squatted down next to me pattingmy back gently, "You only killed 208 of them and that's not good enough."

I gasped as I woke realising it was only a dream, more like nightmare but still nothing compared the nightmares I would usually have. The dream held an obvious message, I cared what he thought of me. Worse, I wanted - no - needed his approval. It was killing me. Did he think I was pretty? Was he attracted to me? What did he think about my fashion? Was he okay with the fact that I didn't own a single italian vehicle?

It was almost like I'd never experienced this before... oh wait. I was admitted into a training facility when I was twelve years old and got out at nineteen. I had not once even had a crush before, it was a luxury I couldn't afford.

So this must be what it feels like...

I don't like it.

I couldn't think about anything else, it was like having an annoying song get stuck in your head. A constant jingle. A gorgeous, muscly, tall, italian jingle. Ugh.

I got ready for work like I usually did every morning, but this time it was different. Just like everything else today. I wore tighter slacks than usual, an invisible bra with no top and a suit jacket. My abnormal obsession with shiny louboutins paid off as I slipped on a pointy pair that I thought I'd never get to wear. I had on a pair of dangly earrings and tied my already straight hair into a low ponytail, pulling out a few strands to frame my face.

Dominic had said he would treat me like a queen because that is how the Vitiello men treat their women. He'd followed up by promising to take me to lunch today, I'd nodded smiling because I was actually getting picked up for lunch and I wasn't dining by myself either. So it was a delightful surprise when Dominic had shown up on time and me - having lost track of time - was clueless up until he'd covered my eyes and made me guess who it was. He wasn't so upbeat when I kept guessing Vince.

"So tesoro, how was your morning?" he inquired trying his hardest to make eye contact, this entire car ride his focus had been starting up here but somehow ending up down there, earning him a few good slaps to the face. Though we both knew I secretly liked it.

"Tesoro?"

"Hmm?"

"What does that mean?"

"Sweetheart." he smiled genuinely.

"Oh." came my intelligent reply, I could feel the blood rush quickly to my face.

"Dio donna sei carina." he said cupping my chin and studying my face closely, I had to stop myself from blushing again though judging by my body temperature, I had failed.

"What does that mean?"

"I said you're cute."

"Oh."

The rest of the car ride was mostly me catching his eyes looking at the wrong place and telling him off then him catching me blushing and muttering things in Italian. But it wasn't that long a car ride.

We rode in silence for a good few minutes before a sick feeling came to my stomach, call it instinct or whatever but it was brewing. I looked to Dominic who seemed uneasy, there was something bothering him as well and I bet a million bucks he wasn't used to it just as I wasn't. It was just so rare to feel like this on such a busy road in the middle of New York so we both shrugged it off. Nothing had happened since we had moved to New York and nothing would happen now.

Suddenly a loud bang sounds and confirmation is brutal as one of the windows of the limo crack, obviously having been bulletproof the window didn't completely give way but judging by the damage already caused – it wouldn't last long. I ignore Dominic's foul language as we drop to the ground of the car, he reaches in his jacket and pulls out a gun then holding it out for me to take.

I frown at him for a good few seconds before grabbing the gun and turning the safety switch off, Dominic does the same proceeding with handing me an ammunition belt as well. I also ignore the fact that has three belts strapped to his torso and roll my eyes internally.

The car had gone silent at this point, both of us listening for the footsteps making it clear that the attackers were coming closer and giving perfect range for us to shoot. I was willing to kill them but I was also sure Dominic wouldn't want to deal with the supposed 'consequences' of it later.

"Mr. Vitiello, it would be smart of you to give up and give us the girl right now. We wouldn't want the media to grab a hold of this would we?" a deep voice tempted from outside the door, I frowned even deeper as the door next to me was banged hard causing my ear to pop and my heart to skip a beat. It had been a long time since I was in the field and even back then it wasn't this public, I also hadn't been rusty whereas now I'm not only rusty but I am afraid. Fear was the one emotion I never planned on keeping, but here it was haunting every inch of my being.

I didn't want there to be any blood shed, I didn't want to ruin Dominic's reputation and so I had to give in. F-ck not being told what to do because here and now I needed permission, I couldn't just jeopardise everything and move to another country. I had to do what was expected of me and not what I wanted to, even though I absolutely hated the fact.

I twisted so that I was facing him, "Permission to engage sir?" I joked, though we both knew I was serious. I needed him to be serious, sure and firm.

He rolled his eyes, "Permission granted." I knew he was serious, besides the eye roll he had been sure of himself. The consequences were on him, I hoped he knew that. My dopey ass smile fell as soon as I realised the next step. Bloodshed.

I hated what I was about to do, I hated the fact that Dominic would witness me doing it and I hated the fact that it made me a different person. I prided myself on being someone whom people looked up to, admired and wanted to be associated with. I never wanted to be feared and looked down upon but unfortunately that was the cruel truth I had to face.

A deep breath and it was time. Schwarzer Regen was back and I didn't know if I could conceal her, it had been a long time since I'd fought and even then I had lost control.

This situation was bogus. The entire thing a setup to ruin my career and steal my idea. Honestly Vince couldn't have sunk lower, I'd seen his men before and I'd seen their work. They were skilled operatives and deserved every ounce of respect they received from their familia. That alone pissed me off.

I heard Amara moving around so I turned to face her, she had converted from her crouching postition and now lay with her back on the door facing me. I studied her expression carefully, she wasn't panicking nor was she showing any emotion. She didn't seem scared, worried or upset. She was emotionless.

She pulled a smile that otherwise would've lit up the entire space had it not been fake, "Permission to engage sir?" she mimicked a soldiers voice and I rolled my eyes, though I knew she was being serious.

"Permission granted." I assured her, this was a great opportunity to see what she was capable of and I wasn't about to pass it up.

I watched as the smile disappeared replaced by an emotionless facade like before, she took a deep breath and as she did so her eyes clouded and the tension that was so obvious before evaporated from her body. This must be Schwarzer Regen.

Every agent - whether it be me or anyone else, had a persona - a version of ourselves we become when we fight, it allows us to bottle our guilt, behave differently around our family and assert some kind of self-control. Mine - Cavaliere Oscuro - allowed me to otherwise be a normal person, not just some killing machine or some kind of monster. Dominic Vitiello was me, Cavaliere Oscuro was another person I became when necessary.

My attention was quickly drawn to the door Amara was currently propped up against, her eyes slid to the side letting me know they were coming from my left. I pointed my gun, as soon as I heard the Russian step forward I shot getting him right in his right leg. A loud grunt and the dropping of a gun confirmed my shot was accurate.

Amara flung the door open hitting another guy then she proceeded to shoot him the foot and the shoulder. I figured it was my turn to get serious. I adjusted the grip on my gun and breathed out losing my conscience, my emotions and gaining heightened senses. I slid out of the car completely ignoring the helicopter circling from above, the police cars surrounding the situation and the reporters struggling against their forces.

Amara and I went back to back, we were surrounded by at least twenty guys which honestly wasn't much. They stood ready to shoot and so did we. As soon as a single shot was taken every person began shooting, whether they had an objective or not it didn't matter. We separated and began taking them down, Amara moved with grace as if it was a dance and I couldn't help but watch her. She shot one then twisted the arm of another, shooting over that person at the other coming towards her. She broke the arm of the one she held, dropped him and shot him square through skull moving on as if she dropped some rubbish in the trash and was returning to her seat in the school classroom.

I returned my focus to what I was doing, shooting one guy in the stomach then holding him up as a shield from his teammate who was unloading bullets at me, I shot again through his dead friend getting him right in the neck. I threw the dripping body to the ground and unloaded one more bullet in the other's chest.

As soon as they were all on the ground the job was done, the group had shot a number of police officers during the shoot out who had tried to interfere and they were now being tended to by the paramedics. Amara and I took this as an opportunity to flee the scene, the last thing I needed was the media getting full confirmation of it being us and having footage of me avoiding the questions. Alessandro who had been reading a newspaper trying his hardest not to witness the bloodbath exited the car and followed us to an alternate street which he had called for a different car to take us home.

Home as in my place.