{Emily}

It was rather unfortunate that I got a text from Anna on the car ride back from the project site. That's because I made the mistake of looking at it in front of Toby and now he thinks someone's threatening me. Even though that's the truth I'd rather not have anyone else get involved with this situation. It's not like he could do much about this anyway.

'I have some good news and some bad news…' Anna's text read.

I texted back. 'What is it?'

'Dominic has finally picked up your trail! He might be sending some of his goons after you soon!' Anna texted.

'Are you kidding me!' I texted. 'Now what do we do?'

'Well try to stay calm for now and be careful when you go into work okay?' Anna texted.

'Okay so what's the good news?' I texted.

'Oh, Harry finally proposed to me! Yay!' Anna texted.

'Well that's awesome! We should celebrate that but…' I texted.

'Yes I know which is why I was thinking that Harry and I could come over to your apartment and celebrate there. What do you think?' Anna texted.

'Alright that sounds like a good idea.' I texted. 'I'll see you soon. I'm on my way home.'

As I got home I thought it was sweet that Toby escorted me to the door just to make sure I got into my apartment safely. I really didn't want him to get involved with me because of how dangerous things are now. If Dominic's looking for me Toby could wind up dead because my powers won't be enough to protect him. When I walked in the door of my apartment Red came up to me barking and wagging his tail. I bent down and picked him up, cuddled him for a bit and scratched him behind the ear. "You're a good boy aren't you red?"

"Hey Emily!" Anna said, "Would you mind putting Red down so I can hug you too?"

I chuckled because Anna seems to be jealous of Red. Mostly because I've bonded with him more than I've bonded with her. It makes sense because I have a hard time trusting people. I put Red down and hugged Anna. On one hand I was excited for her and Harry but the other hand I was feeling paranoid because Dominic is now looking for me.

"I think it's rather sweet that your boss Mr. Anakin walked you to the door to make you get into your apartment safe," Anna said after the hug.

I narrowed my eyes. "Don't start with me, Mr. Anakin has already suspected that someone's threatening me because he overheard our conversation. There's no way I could tell him about this! I doubt he would even believe me and I might get fired because of being considered a crazy woman!"

"I don't know he might believe you," Anna said.

I snorted. "Uh-huh yeah sure he would. Oh boss, I just want to tell you that I escaped from a cult called A-Circle five years ago and the cult leader's name is Dominic and he wants to capture me and kill me and boil my body down to the skeleton. After he boils my body down to its skeleton he'll hang it on his front door to make an example out of me! Yup, that's a very believable story indeed! Oh by the way A-Circle is made up of a bunch of Assassins that just so happen to have some very strange and unexplained powers because of a government experiment."

"Okay if you tell him you could probably leave the part out about being a government experiment," Anna said. "Although even if you leave that part out one might see you as a crazy woman!"

"Yeah and I'm actually the weakest in the bunch," I growled. "About the only powers I have are being able to dodge bullets faster than the speed of light and inhuman strength. And I can catch bullets and use them to reload my gun. I can also change the size of my gun."

"Honestly," Anna said, "I think being able to do that is awesome! I wish I could do that!"

"Yeah it's not all it's cracked up to be," I said.

"Alright it's getting late and thankfully it's Friday so after you get off work you can chill out and finish a chapter for your new book!" Anna said, "By the way, I love the book you just released!"

I smiled. "Thanks! I'm glad you like it."

"Yeah, why don't you print more copies of your books? You could make more money that way!" Anna said.

I shook my head. "Nope, that's not happening anytime soon. Because that could up the chances of someone discovering the writer of the book and that put me in the spotlight! If that happens it would give Dominic an easy way to find me."

Anna stomped her left foot on the ground and growled, "That stupid cult! I wish someone would find them and shut them down for good!"

"Yeah that's not going to happen anytime soon," I said.

She sighed, "Alright, well I guess it's time for me to go. Have a good evening."

Anna gave me another hug, gathered her things and left.

***

{Toby}

I got home and I felt on edge after discovering that my Assistant Emily was being threatened by someone. So I called my best friend Jason and told him what I found out and he came over to talk.

"So you're telling me that someone's threatening to hang Emily's skeleton on their front door?" Jason said after he took a seat on the couch in the living room next to me.

I nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying. The question is who is threatening her and why?"

"The other question or questions are, does she want your help? Can she go to the police about this? Even if she does want your help, can you help her?" Jason said, "I'm going to assume the answer to all of those questions is no."

"If that's the case what should I do?" I asked, "Because I know I'm going to be on edge until I figure out what's going on."

Jason looked up at the ceiling with a thoughtful look. "Hmmm, well why don't you do what you do best when you're curious about someone?"

I shook my head. "Nope, that's not happening. The last time I did that…"

Jason laughed, "Yeah I know because the girl turned out to be crazy and she was stalking you while you were stalking her! I say you two were made for each other! Why didn't you go for her?"

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"Because I realized that was creepy after I got a taste of my own medicine so to speak," I said.

Jason laughed even harder when I said that.

"That's not funny!" I snapped.

"Yes it is!" Jason said after he composed himself. "I mean seriously, isn't it always a good thing for you to have a common interest with your girlfriend?"

"From what I found out that we really didn't have much in common other than stalking each other. That's not funny Jason! Stop laughing!" I said.

Jason practically fell off the couch because he was laughing too hard. Once again he composed himself but it looked like he was going to start laughing again at any moment.

"Yeah know what, fine I'll 'follow her' at least until I can figure out who's threatening her and after that I won't do it anymore," I said.

He raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh sure. Just make sure you don't become obsessed with her like you've done in the past at least."

I gave a nervous laugh, "Riiiight sure, I can do that."

"Yeah right," said Jason, "Because that look on your face says otherwise."

"Alright then," I said. Then the gears in my head started to run. It looks like I'm going to wind up 'following' Emily around at least until I figure out who's threatening her and try to help her.

***

{Emily}

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Anna asked. We were standing at the makeshift gun range I that I made in an abandoned warehouse down the street from my apartment. Of course I have the area where the gun range is blocked off so no one can get hurt while I'm practicing.

The gun range that I have set up is not a normal one of course. Instead of just standing and firing a gun at a nonmoving target, I had over a hundred hanging up on the walls of the gun range pointing at me. I was the target and I was going to be a moving target. Now that I've found out that Dominic is on my trail I needed to brush up on my fighting skills if I was going to fight his goons off.

Anna was standing behind the bulletproof glass that I set up for her so she wouldn't get hurt and she was holding a red button in her hand that would set off the guns at any time.

I nodded. "Oh yeah I'm sure. Now press the button!"

Anna pressed the button and every single gun went off and I moved with lighting speed dodging every bullet. I spun around and took out my gun and caught as many bullets as I could and loaded them into the gun's magazine and put the magazine back into the gun. I took the gun and fired at every single gun that was hanging up the walls. Each bullet hit the target and every gun fell off the wall when they were hit.

I was getting ready to put my gun away when I noticed my right hand was bleeding. Oh fuck! I hate it when a stray bullet hits me like that! Well, at least it was only one stray bullet this time. I've had worse.

"Seriously? Again?" Anna said when she came up to me and saw the blood.

I looked down at my hand to see what the damage was and to my surprise there were actually two bullets lodged into my hand and not one like I thought. Anna checked me to see if I got hit anywhere else but everything else seemed fine. She frowned, "Are you sure we shouldn't go to the hospital this time?"

"And what should I tell them after the bullets are taken out and I heal like crazy fast?" I asked.

She paused. "Good point."

"Anyway, let's go home so I take the bullets out and heal from this," I said.

***

When I got home I went to the bathroom and pulled out my first aid kit. I went over to the kitchen counter on the island that I have set up and took a seat on one of the chairs beside it. Unwrapping the bandage as I held my hand on the counter I took the tweezers out and looked at my hand. There were two bullets lodged into it and I counted to three and yanked both of them out.

I forgot Anna was still with me when I let out a small yelp from the pain. Anna flinched when I did that. I looked up at her. "You know you don't have to be here for this right?"

"Yeah I know I just want to make sure you're okay before going home to get things ready to bring over here for the celebration party!" Anna said.

I smiled again because of Anna's overprotectiveness of me. She's almost like the sister I always wanted. "I'm okay Anna. You know I heal very fast and look! The wounds are already healed up!"

I pointed at my hand and sure enough I had already healed and there was no need for stitches or anything else for it. "Now I'm going to go ahead and get ready and you should go and get ready too."

Anna nodded. "Alright then. I would hug you but your hand is bloody so no thanks. I'll see you later!"

Once Anna left I couldn't help but laugh at her reaction to blood sometimes. She can be a little bit squeamish at the site of blood.

I cleaned up the countertop and went to get ready for the celebration party tonight.

***

{Toby}

I started following Emily around on Saturday and I figured I'd start by going to her apartment. Sure enough, she came out of her apartment around noon with her friend Anna. I followed her to an abandoned warehouse and saw her and Anna go into a blocked off area there. I stayed back as much as I could and I panicked when I heard gunshots. I was going to go after her and see if she was okay but heard her friend say, "Seriously? Again? Are you sure we shouldn't go to the hospital this time?"

I heard Emily respond, "And what should I tell them after the bullets are taken out and I heal like crazy fast?"

I blinked when I heard that. What the hell? Heal crazy fast?

I made sure to stay out of sight when I saw Anna and Emily leave the place. I covered my mouth to stifle a gasp when I saw Emily have a bandage wrapped around her hand and it was soaked in blood. As soon as Emily and Ann left I went into the blocked area and gasped when I saw over a hundred different gun's lying on the floor. Each of them had bullet holes in them and there was a puddle of blood on the ground. Okay, is Emily really being threatened here or is she just insane? Hmm….

I took out my handkerchief and wiped up some of the blood with it. I looked around and grabbed a piece of plastic and wrapped the handkerchief in it. When I got back home I contacted one of my friends who works at a lab in town. I told her what happened and she told me to drop the handkerchief off at the lab so she could analyze the blood.

I went over to the lab and handed her the handkerchief and my friend put a sample of the blood on a petri dish and examined it under a microscope.

"That's weird," Maria said.

"What? What's weird?" I asked.

"There seems to be a genetic mutation in the blood sample," Maria said.

"A genetic mutation?" I said.

Maria nodded. "Yup! But I can't confirm it unless I get a direct blood sample from the person whose blood is on your handkerchief. Who's blood is it?"

I bit the inside of my cheek debating about if I should tell her. I made up my mind. "It's my assistant's blood."

"Okay, what's their name?" Maria asked.

"Her name is Emily Key," I answered.

"I see," Maria gave a mischievous smile. "Another love interest of yours?"

I felt my face turn red and Maria beamed. "I can tell by the look on your face that you care about her!"

"Well um you see I just found out she's being threatened by someone," I said. I told Maria exactly what I heard and saw.

Maria's jaw dropped. "Okay either the woman's crazy or the person threatening her can shoot at a bunch of loaded guns at the same time. That's probably why she can't go to the police about this. If that's the case this could be dangerous for you. I think you shouldn't get involved with her."

I shook my head. "No, I'm going to at least figure out who's threatening her."

"And then what?" Maria asked after raising an eyebrow. "Exactly how are you going to help? You might just be getting in the way and whoever's threatening your assistant can come after you. I say don't get involved because you'll literally be dodging a bullet with this one."

At that very moment I made up my mind about what I was going to do. "So you're telling me that I should just let whoever's threatening Emily go and have her get killed because someone failed to help her?"

"Well it depends what you value more," said Maria. "Do you value your life and your company or do you value her? Think about it again, you don't even know anything about her do you?"

I shook my head. "No I don't. Other than the background check I did when I hired her."

"And how long has she been working for you?" Maria said.

I sighed, "Five years."

"So I'm going to ask you again," said Maria. "Do you value your life and your company or a girl that you barely even know?"

Once again it didn't take me long to think about it. "I value everything."

She shrugged. "Okay then don't say I didn't warn you."

I smiled. "Trust me, I won't."

With that, I left the lab and made a resolve that I was going to help Emily out no matter what.