Kita’s eyes slowly open as a searing pain pulses in her head, prompting her to moan in agony. As the blurred vision of Ms Eeve’s home slowly comes into focus, Kita notices the copious amounts of glass, glistening in the flame-coloured sunset fading over the horizon.

“Fuuuck,” Kita mumbles as she touches the centre of her forehead to find no wound.

She briefly tries to stand up when she notices her torso and feet have been strapped to the chair, with both of her hands tied together. The Sound of distant gunfire and yelling trickles through the air as the face of a bald man in a jumpsuit enters her field of view.

"You think you can just come into my store and snoop around?" The bald guy exclaims as he waves his gun in Kita's face. "You stupid fuck,"

"She's been trying to put a stop to the whole exchange," Ms Eeve says as she steps beside him.

"Ch-Chevo," Kita stammers.

The back of a hand promptly collides with Kita's cheek, shocking her and sending a jolt of pain through her face. Fortunately, it's helped her regain consciousness and her vision quickly pulls into focus.

"Chevo ain't here," The bald guy corrects her

"Ah, it's the one with the shitty tattoos," Kita nods before Vlad slaps her across the face again.

"Excuse my aggression," Vlad says, dusting off his hands before putting a cigar in his mouth, "I'm simply helping you wake up,"

"Where's Chevo?" Kita asks as the memory of Dia bleeding on the floor flashes in her mind. "Where's Dia?"

"Dia's dead," Ms Eeve grunts.

"I can save him! Just bring him to me,"

"It's too late for that," Vlad says, "Now shut up,"

"Mmm," grunts Caity from behind Kita. She turns her head to see Caity restrained to a chair with her mouth gagged.

"What the fuck do you want?" Kita snarls at Vlad.

He slowly walks to her chair and leans over before puffing a cloud of smoke into Kita's face. Prompting her to choke as she inhales the thick-scented cigar. He then grabs her chair and spins her around to face Caity.

"I don't have much time for this," Vlad sighs before walking beside Caity.

He pulls out the gun from his holster alongside a lighter and proceeds to reignite his cigar with a few short puffs.

"Where are the kids?" He asks before bringing his weapon to Caity's head.

"Kill her," Kita says without changing a shade.

"Hmm," Chevo grunts before removing the gag from Caity's mouth.

"Kita, I'm sorry," Caity says as she catches her breath.

"Why didn't you kill Reiku?" Kita asks Caity.

"W-what?" Caity stutters.

"You heard me," Kita scoffs, "This is all some game to you? What the fuck do you want?"

"I-" Caity stammers, unable to bring herself to answer.

"Kill her," Kita reiterates.

Vlad raises an eyebrow and takes another huff of his cigar. Patiently watching the interaction as he lowers his gun.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Kita… Please,"

"I'm starting to realize that I'm not the only one who struggles with the truth," Kita responds. "Maybe the old Kita knew this better than I do,”

Caity says nothing and just glares at Kita with tear-filled eyes as she struggles to find the words she's looking for.

"Giving me to Chevo was how you'd repay your debt to him for not killing Reiku," Kita nods, "I get that, but what I don't get is the debt you owe to Reiku,"

"He's the one who…" Caity says, taking a deep, jittery breath. "He's the one who killed Chevo's son… I asked him to…"

Kita shakes her head, and hits the palm of her hand against her forehead three times before exhaling in frustration, "And you pinned it on me,"

"It's not like that Kita, I-"

"How isn't it like that?!" Kita yells, "You're a fucking traitor,"

"No, Kita. It was your idea," Caity tries to reason.

"Of course it was," Kita rolls her eyes, "It's so easy for you to blame me,"

"Fuck you," Caity snaps, "It's not my fault you can't remember! You're the one who decided to go fight the dark one in the middle of our mission,"

"What mission? Killing Reiku?"

"Getting out!" Caity exclaims, "We had a plan to get away from Chevo forever and it was working,"

Kita kisses her teeth and rolls her eyes, not buying Caity's expertly crafted emotional manipulation and lying. It's obvious Caity hasn't been honest this whole time- The thought of it injects a rage through Kita. One that has her contemplating revenge.

"You just fucking left!" Caity says, with a tear falling down her cheek, "You fucking left me to deal with it all by myself,"

"Put the gag back into her mouth," Kita scoffs, "I'm sick of hearing her talk,"

"Don't act like you don't know why I want to leave Chevo and all of this shit behind!" Caity snarls, "You keep asking me what I want but you know exactly what that is, idiot,"

"No. I don't," Kita grunts, "Do enlighten me, Caity. What the fuck do you want?"

"You!" Caity's lip quivers as her tear-glossed eyes stare desperately into Kita's. "All I fucking wanted was to be with you," She drops eyes contact, awkwardly glaring at her feet. "We would always talk about spending eternity together. You had hundreds of souls stored and you said they were for us, so we would never part ways,"

Kita feels her cheeks tingle, and her eyes begin to water as she grits her teeth in frustration- Another memory she can feel, but cannot see.

"She's clearly in love with you," Vlad comments as he raises the gun back to Caity's head, "I'm glad we could establish the stakes before I take her life,"

Vlad orders one of his men to gag Caity with a rag before he turns to Kita again.

"Where's Chevo?" Kita asks.

"He got away," Vlad shrugs, "Which is why I need to know the location of those kids. You don't want Chevo finding them before I do, right?"

"Why shouldn't I kill you and then go save the kids myself?" Kita grins.

Vlad chuckles, and uses his available hand to take the cigar out of his mouth, "The enemy of my enemy, is my friend,"

Kita glances at Caity, shaking her head in annoyance before sighing and admitting, "They're on level zero,"

"Reiku's territory," Vlad smiles, "Not a bad hiding spot,"

"If you lay a finger on them," Kita snarls, "I'll tear you apart,"

Vlad gestures to his crew to head out of the house, "I care not for the threats of the undead, for you have nothing to live for,"

Vlad and his crew exit Ms Eeve's ruined home, leaving Caity and Kita strapped to their seats. With little effort, Kita ignites a flame at the tip of her finger and burns away at the rope restraining her hands and feet. She then closes her eyes, and focuses on the flow of souls throughout her body, trying to take count of how many Chevo made her use.

Fifty-two left.

She glances over at Caity, who is still gagged and in her restraints. Taking a brief moment to consider whether or not to free Caity, her gut inclines her to do so.

"Thanks," Caity mumbles as Kita removes the gag. Shaking her head as she removes the restraints around Caity's hands.

"No, no," Kita scoffs, "You don't get to talk to me until the kids are safe and you tell me the whole story,"

"Well maybe if you'd just listen-"

"The whole story, Caity." Kita raises her voice in frustration, "I'm sick of being in the dark about my own life,"

"Okay," Caity sighs, dropping eye contact. "I'll tell you everything,"