Present

I wake up to an acute pain in my lower neck. Sitting up with a groan, I rub the aching spot and roll my neck around as my eyes slowly blink open. The light sounds of cracking bones reach my ears as the tension relieves. I move my head up and down until all that remains is a numb tingling sensation.

With a loud sigh, my vision gradually refocuses as I take in my surroundings. I'm sitting on a black walnut futon with a specific tiger pattern sewed into the seats which looks awfully familiar. I glance around and notice the maroon wallpaper, chestnut grandfather clock with the pendulum swinging ominously, and the very distinctive statue of a phoenix holding a knife in its beak.

"Oh look, the sleeping beauty is finally awake," a recognizable rough woman's voice says behind me. I whip my head around and find my master's apathetic face looking at me. I take a moment to recover from the sudden movement as my head becomes a little dizzy.

"Eve?" I blink. That's when I notice that we are in her office/bedroom. Not again... "What... what happened?"

"I don't know. You tell me what happened." She shrugs as she walks around the couch and stops in front of me. My eyes travel from her shiny black pumps and black trousers to her charcoal square shoulder jacket over a silk white blouse with the top buttons loose, revealing her smooth tan chest. The diamond necklace adorning her neck compliments her attire as the ambient lighting accentuates her luscious raven hair and high cheekbones.

"Did... did you shoot me with a fucking dart? And did you... follow me?" I glare into her cold, gray eyes.

She tilts her head to the side with a smirk. "Language, young lady. And yes. Yes, I did."

"Why?"

"Why? You really think I don't keep my eye on you sometimes when my gut tells me that you're liable to get into trouble again?" She raises her eyebrow. "What I would like to know is why you let that little bitch go. I... I don't understand. Why the fuck did you release her?"

I can't answer. I can't afford to. I mean, what, am I supposed to tell my master that I couldn't kill that K-pop twig because she made me feel... things? Stuff that I haven't felt since... my mother died?

"You had no problem in killing that little girl a while back," Eve continues. "I actually didn't think you would have the guts to do it, but you did. True, that could have been avoided if you were more careful in the spot you picked and the way you handled the assignment. However, you still did what was required back then with zero hesitation."

I glance down and, to my surprise, I notice that I am wearing gray sweatpants and a pink sweater instead of my black cargo pants and tactical jacket. I cringe at the vivid pink color, as it reminds me of something sweet and light.

"What... where are my clothes?"

"You were soaking wet," Eve scoffs. "I wasn't going to let you ruin my couch. Plus, I didn't need you catching a cold on me," she adds.

"Were you the one who...?" Heat creeps up my neck.

"Oh, hush. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen you without your clothes."

"Yeah but you didn't ask for my--"

"You think I need your fucking consent, you ungrateful little bitch?"

She steps closer and lunges at me, slamming both her hands on top of the couch beside my head. The impact of her palms on the leather surface hits my ears like a gunshot. The smell of lemons and roses enter my senses as she brings her face closer to mine until it was mere inches away. She locks her gaze on me, her steel gray eyes as dark and powerful as a raging sea storm.

"No ma'am," I say in a barely noticeable whisper.

"So what I would like to know is..." She darts her eyes from my face down to my chest and back up. "What was different about this girl? A grown woman? I'd imagine you would have zero trouble killing her unless..." She scrutinizes me carefully. "You know her?"

I cautiously choose my next words.

"No." I reply firmly. "I don't know her, ma'am."

She tilts her head once again. "Then why? You know you can tell me anything, right Ava?"

I hesitate. There is no way I can tell her the truth. Unfortunately, I also know that Eve is capable of sniffing out any lie like a bloodhound. If she finds out that I'm lying, she will kill me.

A look of realization spreads over her face. "Oh my god..." She scoffs with a grin as she licks her lips. "You like her, don't you?"

Busted, I think. Wait... woah... my brain thinks I like her? What the hell... It just immediately thought that?

Eve suddenly lets out a maniacal laugh, the sound reverberating throughout the room and off the blood-red walls.

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"You do like her!" She grins, then just as quickly, it vanishes as her eyes are filled with a deadly, icy glare. "What are one of the five rules, Ava?"

I gulp. Eve is not only twenty years my senior, she is powerful. Not just physically, but overall. The energy which radiates from her always causes everyone around to comply with her every wish. She barely has to lift a finger, and everything is done without complaint. She isn't patient with those who take even one tiny step in the wrong direction. I've witnessed her execute several KSD members because of their failure to follow all the rules.

Yet she hands me chances after chances. And as far as I know, everyone doesn't know the real reason why she creates exceptions for me.

"Never allow emotions to cloud your judgment," I reply softly.

She moves her face closer to mine. My breath hitches as her lips brush my earlobe. Hot air from her mouth tickles my skin.

"That's correct. And what did you do?" she whispers into my ear.

"I..."

She swiftly slaps me across the face with the back of her hand, the burning sting creeping in my left cheek as my head flinches to the side. I expected that. I'm already so used to it, that I don't even feel it. I taste the all-too-familiar iron taste in my mouth as I move my tongue around.

"If you were anyone else, you would be gone long ago," Eve says. "But here I am, willing to offer you chances after your tiny screw-ups. And I don't care if your last mistake was six years ago. Do you even realize the damage from your foolish decision?"

I swallow thickly, the copper after-taste of bloodied bile traveling its way down my throat.

"I warned you, didn't I?" she resumes. "I told you that your cockiness would land you in trouble. To never underestimate your target. And what did you do, hm?"

"I'm... sorry, ma'am," I apologize.

She brushes her finger along my cheek. I don't flinch as the pain slightly increases under her touch.

"An apology isn't enough. You have forty-eight hours to kill that girl. That shouldn't be a problem for you. But-" A menacing smile spreads across her face. "- if you don't complete this task, I will feed your fucking corpse to the animals like the rest. Understood?"

I keep my racing thoughts under control as I sharply inhale. I only hope that Eve doesn't notice the turmoil which is brewing inside me. She hates it when I show any type of emotion, unless it's towards her, and her only.

"Yes ma'am," I respond. She nods before leaning forward. Despite her ice-cold demeanor, her lips are pleasantly warm as they land on my own. She keeps them there a good couple seconds as she smirks against my mouth.

"Good girl," she says in a low, rough voice as she brushes away a strand of hair from my face before swiftly withdrawing from me. She walks towards the door, her pumps clicking rhythmically on the stone floor. "Lena has all the necessary supplies ready and is waiting for you in her usual spot."

I take a deep breath when she suddenly turns around to face me with one foot out the door.

"I'm warning you, Ava. If you fuck this up, there will be no more chances. Not even for you."

I keep my eyes on her until she finally exits the room. Once she's gone, I slump back into the softness of the back cushions and frustratingly lean my head back. I deeply inhale the air which still smells like her as I think about how badly I fucked up.

I mean, what the hell is happening to me? I've let my master down. I hate causing disappointment, and I've done everything to avoid it; which I've successfully accomplished for a long time. One of the most important key attributes to being a successful assassin is possessing steel nerves and the ability to complete the assignment without allowing flimsy emotions to stand in the way.

And yet, I let that girl go because I "felt something from her"? What the actual fuck? I'm so fucking pathetic and weak. All I want to do right now is to scream my frustrations out and hear them echo back to me. Instead, I close my eyes, take another deep breath, and reopen them as I slowly exhale. This practice usually calm me down, and it does the trick this time. As always.

I lift my head up from the couch and look around at the familiarity of Eve's bunker office slash bedroom. I actually... miss this place a lot. I haven't managed to be here for longer than an hour or so over the past couple months due to the number of missions.

KSD, which is an acronym for 'Karma's Shadow Daughters', is currently stationed in the Bullion Mountains located in the Mojave Desert near Barstow, California. The original headquarters were in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, but Evelyn Belova had moved to the States when she began receiving a significantly bigger number of clients here. She had turned an abandoned and unrecorded bunker deep in the mountains to today's training headquarters for KSD. She arrived in America with four other young women whom she had trained back in Russia and began recruiting other girls like myself from all around the world.

Girls who had a traumatic childhood experience and were capable of becoming killing machines.

The bunker is roughly 10,000 square feet, stretching deep within the mountains and partially underground. The entrance was a door disguised as a flat rock, making it impossible for anyone to discover it. However, we were nestled so far into the desert, that over the last sixteen years which I've spent training here, there was not a single incident of a person crossing our paths.

Elite assassins like me only come here once or so a week to train or receive missions. Before I turned sixteen years old and was ordained as an assassin, I spent weeks here when my father assumed I was at boarding school. Well, I technically was there, since Evelyn was able to have a double fill in for me while I vigorously trained here in the desert mountains. I began my training at twelve years old when my master discovered me furiously beating up the poor dummy bag at the local boxing gym in Encino. She changed my life that day.

We all live pretty normal lives in the cities: normal housing, raising families who have absolutely no clue what we actually do outside of social life, household, and a dull workplace. Well, aside from, of course, killing men who deserve to experience the bitter and painful taste of Karma.

I take several more deep breaths to calm my body which still feels as if it has been lit on fire. Eve has had that sort of effect on me, ever since that night several years ago. In this very same room.

I stand up from the couch, my balance slightly swaying as the after-effects of the tranquilizer drugs still swim through my body. I shake off the momentarily drowsy feeling as I exit the room. I walk down the dimly lit stone corridor towards Lena's Tortury, which is exactly fifty feet away. It is actually 'Karma's Supply Room', but we all call it 'Lena's Tortury' as a joke since Lena specializes in making/taking care of weapons aside from being an assassin herself.

My footsteps echo loudly through the narrow hallway as I inhale the dry, earthy scent, the smell bringing various memories into my mind. A flaming torch hangs on the walls every ten feet, their ambient light creating a pleasant yet ominous orange glow throughout the narrow tunnel. I lightly trace my fingertips along the smooth bumps on the walls for a few seconds before I finally reach my destination. I open the heavy, stone door to find my friend and fellow assassin Lena hunching over a disassembled gun which lays on the wooden table.

"Hey, Lena," I announce as I enter and close the door behind me.

"Hey, troublemaker," she replies in a slight Australian accent as she lifts her head up and gives me a wide grin. Her chestnut mohawk is of course messy as always, which simply adds style to her perfect facial structure and green eyes which gleam like two emerald gems. Her skin complexion is fair, which contrasts with her black combat uniform.

"Eve says you got everything ready for me?" I point towards the camo backpack which stands beside her on the ground.

"Oh, yeah!" She picks it up and hands it to me. "I hear you're in pretty big trouble with the boss." She cocks up an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I am." I sigh, not bothering to pretend otherwise.

"Be careful, Ava. She ain't gonna give you anymo' chances."

"I know, I know." I strap on the heavy backpack.

"What's the deal, by the way? You and that girl?" She leans back against the table and folds her muscular arms across her chest, waiting for my answer.

I shrug. "Nothing. I just... she escaped, that's all."

Lena squints at me suspiciously. "Mhm. As much as I want to believe you, I can tell when you're lying. You're Evelyn's best assassin. Nobody "just escapes" from you. But listen-" She lifts her hand up to silence me as I open my mouth to retort. "-get the job done, and you'll be back in her good graces. Shouldn't be much trouble, right?"

"Right. Should be easy-peasy," I say lightly. Lena gives me a thumbs up with a lopsided grin and returns to working on the disassembled gun.

I readjust he backpack on my back and turn to exit the room. I want to believe those two last words so badly.

I mean, it should be easy-peasy, right?