Lilly sat beside her, quiet and not moving, but Grace could see she was like a spring, ready to move in a moment.

Her hand with the dagger trembled as she tried to calm herself.

They would rob or kill me… I need to protect Levi…

Over and over, she told herself everything she was doing for her brother. That smile on his face, those eyes still filled with hope and life. She knew that fire had gone out of her weeks after her parents had died, and yet her brother never stopped believing she could do anything.

Taking a deep breath, she waited inside the door, knowing they would come.

“Stop!” a voice hissed and she immediately recognized it.

Scarlett… that bitch… and that means…

“You think she went in there?” Bones whispered. “Who would be that stupid?”

“She’s a baby, you fool. She doesn’t have the street smarts to know not to go in there. Now quiet and be ready.”

Their words sounded so loud in her ears. Even though her heart was pounding, Grace could hear every sound with fantastic clarity. Their steps through the trash and small puddles of stagnant water told her exactly where they were.

She risked a quick glance at Lilly, who had bared her teeth but remained silent, crouched even lower. Her fur seemed darker in here, almost as if blending in with the shadows both of them were hiding in.

A knife tip appeared as the Bones came in first. His head darted both ways, but when it passed over her for a moment, he continued scanning the room, not noticing her.

It’s darker in here than I realized…

The man slowly slid forward, testing each step as he moved, ensuring the floor didn’t creak too much or feel like it would give in.

As he passed into the building, Scarlett came next. Her red hair, which earned her the nickname she had, shimmered in the light for Grace.

“Slowly,” the woman hissed.

A slight nod of Bones's head acknowledged her command.

Can I leave them and sneak out? How bad would losing stats be if I didn’t kill them?

As she tried to convince herself that not completing this quest she had just been given would be so bad, the words she heard turned her blood into ice.

“I swear when we find her, I’m going to have my way with her, and then I’m going to visit her–”

“Shh..”

Anger roared inside Grace. She had experienced things she would rather forget at that man’s hands, and hearing him say those things, knowing what he might do to her brother, turned the world almost red for a moment.

She felt her face change. Her teeth felt like she might shatter them from how hard she clenched.

Slowly, she moved, coming up behind Scarlett.

Bones stepped forward a little, and a plank creaked. She saw him wince and slowly shift his foot, applying pressure on a different spot on the floor.

Grace moved like a cat, no sound coming as she stalked the woman who had made her life a living hell multiple times in the last few months. Every wrong the woman had done replayed through her mind with each step she took.

She felt something pop inside her soul. A wall she had built, promised she wouldn’t climb, just vanished. Right here was a chance for Grace to do what she needed for herself and her brother.

Living on the street taught one many things most would never imagine needing to know.

Grace had seen more people killed in six months than a person would ever wish to curse on another. Soldiers ran people through, burning houses and laughing as they butchered and had fun before ending a person's life.

She had seen others fight back, slipping behind a guard as they slept while standing watch. Slicing their throat so people could escape and get by the blockades along streets.

At this moment, those memories and the dagger told her precisely what she needed to do.

Her left hand came up and covered Scarlett’s mouth at the same time, the dagger cut so deep it ground against the woman’s spine from the front.

A single grunt came, and Bones held up his hand as he continued to try and find a spot that didn’t creak as he moved forward.

The man hadn’t realized what Grace had just done in the shadows behind him.

Gently setting the woman’s corpse to the ground, Grace moved forward a few steps. She wanted to plunge the dagger into the man’s back over and over. There was a fury inside her that demanded he suffer.

Every time he touched her while searching her for hidden treasure, he breathed on her and made lewd comments replayed in a heartbeat.

Silently, she took a deep breath and then kicked his left leg from the side in a powerful sweep.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The bones shattered at the knee, his leg bending in half as the man yelped, falling face-first to the ground.

His dagger clattered against the wood and bounced a few yards away as Bones cried out in pain, trying to reach for his leg that was bent in half.

He glanced back, seeing the shape of her standing above the corpse of Scarlette, silhouetted by the light of the door they had entered.

“Bi… Bitch… what have yo–”

His words stopped when Grace bent down and thrust her dagger into his other leg, ripping it out as she sliced Bones's hamstring.

“This is for me!” she yelled, grabbing his leg and dragging the man back toward the open door, letting him flop around as he struggled to move.

Bones fought back as best as he could, unable to stop Grace as she overpowered him.

Like a cat with a mouse in its mouth, she pulled him to where she wanted him. Into the light so he could see her as she did what was coming next.

Letting go of the leg she had been holding onto, it fell to the floor with a thud. She moved to where Bones was and rolled him over.

A flash of white caught her eye as he rolled over, a sharpened bone coming at her.

Moving to try and block it, a shadow appeared, clamping down on Bones’s hand with a snarl.

Lilly had moved so fast that she was a blur, catching his left arm as the bone approached Grace.

The dog thrashed, biting down, and Grace heard bones breaking and the screaming of the thug who was about to die.

“Lilly down!” Grace ordered, watching her dog immediately drop the wrist.

A bone clattered from the hand as Lilly let go.

Grace kicked him, sending Bones tumbling to his back.

Not risking another attack, she crushed the man’s right hand under her foot and found herself smiling as she heard the popping and crunching sound under her worn boot.

Grace moved till she was on top of the man, watching him thrash but unable to do anything as his hands and legs were useless.

“Tell me... What were you going to do to me?” Grace demanded.

Even in all that pain, Bones managed to spit in her face. “You’re a no good Grumbderd bitch! You’re the reason we were attacked! You and your kind!”

Unable to stop herself, Grace punched the man in the chest, her fist crushing his ribs and entering the cavity on Bones’s left side.

He howled and coughed, spitting blood as it ran like a river from the wound she had just made.

“Never use that word around me,” Grace growled. That word was a curse for those like her. An ugly name for one of her heritage. Who had crossed the desert and moved to this place. Blamed by many for what had taken place six months ago or any time something terrible happened.

The cries Bones made were getting too loud, even with his difficulty breathing.

Holding her bloody hand over his mouth, Grace leaned over and glared at the man, looking into his blue eyes.

“Just know, when you die, there is a special place for souls like yours.”

She took her dagger and thrust it up under his jaw, watching his eyes roll back as the tip of her blade entered his brain.

He shuddered once and stopped moving.

Sighing, she sat on his chest for a moment before realizing blood was everywhere and stood up.

Her new clothes were covered in it.

Grace glanced at Lilly, who sat there, staring at her.

“Thank you, Lilly. I owe you a treat.”

Looking at the two bodies, Grace obeyed the rules of the street.

Leave nothing valuable behind.

Searching them and stripping off their clothes, she found seventeen copper coins. A fortune for her and most. None of their clothes or weapons were worth keeping. Doing so might draw attention to her being the one who had killed them.

Once done with that task, she moved the barrel she had stored everything in and stripped naked, putting on her old, thread-worn clothes.

“One day… One day, I will not look like a beggar,” she muttered out loud.

A sound like a bell pealed in her head, and the red screen flashed before her.

***

Quest Completed: Keep What is Yours

Reward: For completing this quest without hesitation and delivering death so brutally, choose a stat to increase by two.

* Physical

* Mental

* Spiritual

***

Those words delivering death so brutally pained her. She glanced over at the bodies on the floor and knew she had done just that.

Guilt flooded her as she glanced at her hands, seeing the dried blood she couldn’t wipe off with her new clothes.

What would Levi think if he saw what I did? Would he hate me? Could he still love me?

So many thoughts plagued her that Grace slumped to the ground and started to cry.

A minute passed, and a wet tongue suddenly brushed the side of her face.

Lilly sat there, watching her.

Leaning over, Grace embraced her dog, squeezing her, petting and scratching all over.

“Thank you, Lilly,” she whispered. “Thank you for loving me even if I did that…”

A small bark came, and Lilly sat there, tail wagging as Grace continued to scratch her back.

“Come on, I need to get cleaned up and then hide the rest of these things.”

Looking at the bloody clothes she had just bought, Grace almost threw them into the barrel and stopped. Her mind told her that wasn’t the best choice.

“They could track these back to me…”

Rolling them up as best as she could, Grace hurried out with her armful of packages and evidence, running down the alley toward where she knew she could hide something.

Grace sat on the floor of the building where she had hidden so many things. There was a reason why she knew it was safe. Her dad had built the place within the floor. The only reason she and Levi survived those first few months was because of the money he had hidden in there. Now, it provided her with a safe spot again.

Two daggers and two packages of jerky. Next to it was a pair of new clothes for Levi and her ruined ones.

She sat there, untying the knot and slowly folding the paper back. Twelve pieces of meat were pressed together. These would last her a long time.

She cut strips of one of the twelve by twelve-inch squares, tossing two strips to Lilly, who happily consumed both.

Chewing on one for herself, she collected a few more, placing them inside the undergarment that helped support her breasts, and then tied the package shut again, putting it with the other. Moving the board back into place, she stood up, grabbing a handful of soot and dirt and blew it over the boards.

She took a few steps back and told herself that if she didn’t know where that spot was, she would miss it.

Fishing the half-eaten piece of meat out of her pocket, Grace sighed and tossed it to Lilly. At this moment, she wasn’t hungry.

As she walked back to town, she knew what would appear soon and started to consider the options.

At least I didn’t fail the quest… even if it means I’m becoming a monster…