Killing Me Softly

VENICE, ITALY.

The arrow shot through the air with a high velocity, piercing not only through his clenched hands but grazing the side of his face as well. Zepestine dodged it, breaking it over his legs and letting the shreds fall to the ground between them both.

The woman lowered her bow, elevating her green eyes to match his as he inched closer. The italian winds drew in the scent of the pasta that cooked in the building behind them, a stoned Venice resident facing the lake. It's late October, and the sound of his feet against the dry dehiscent leaves are crusty, and Zepestine ran his frail hands through his disconnecting grey beards.

Eva stepped away as he cornered her, heated breathes against her neck whilst muttering something in Italian. She stepped back into him, allowing the coarse surface of his palms envelope her moist skin and he held up the bow to the tree.

"Eva. You were trained for this." He muttered. "One wrong move and you'd be dead by the hands of him. You must know—" He paused, letting his hands to fall to her waist which he slowly arched. He placed his chin upon her shoulders, directing her where she was to take another shot.

"You must know how to kill a wolf" He whispered.

"This is no ordinary arrow, Eva. This is Vanadium" He added, as she slipped her face into the scarf around her nose. The clothes fell across her shoulders, leaving only her eyes unmasked. "Coated with Amanita phalloides, once you take a step back" He drew her close, allowing her take a lungful of air. "You shot out everything around you and keep your eyes just on one thing" His words were slow. "Your prey"

"You must remember, stance, nock, hand placements, anchor, aim—" His thumb hooked the string, allowing him to draw the arrow back. Her index finger grazed the tip of her jaw before he let go.

"Release."

And this time, it pierced through the rock before them, scaring off the pigeons that dared come close. They fluttered their wings, soaring lowly above them and Zepestine backed away. The bow anchored to the grounds as Eva pulled out a cigarette, lighting it between her lips.

"What happened to you, Daniels?"

"Seems like you've lost your touch" She took a puff off the smoke, slowly dissipating it through her lips and Zepestine reached for the snout. "I just got a bunch of things on my mind" She cleared her throat, setting her eyes on the waters before them.

"You better clear your head before your next target"

"One mistake can cost you your life." He gritted through his teeth, crushing the cigarette with the sole of his feet and Eva Daniels chuckled lightly. "Another target?" She echoed and Zep croaked. "There is no job besides this"

"But i have a life" She faked a thick Russian accent and he laughed ridiculously at how naive that thought was. "There is no life outside this" His voice went low, maintaining a stoic gaze with her and Eva cleared his throat.

"Outside the One."

"I'm serious Eva, pull your head back in the game. Our next series of targets are going to require all that you've got" Zepestine said before pulling away. And her eyes darted the bow and the one single arrow that was still on the ground. With a quick reflex, she hefted it in her hands, aiming for his back.

And within a split second, she shot at him.

The arrow froze in the air, and a smirk crept to her lips. Casually, he applauded her, turning around. And he nodded, controlling with his eyes the arrow and it fell between them.

"Who's next?" Eva emotionlessly muttered and he cleared his throat. "I'll tell you over dinner" He looked pointedly to the house and she heaved a deep breath. Zepestine pulled away, leaving her in the center of the woods. Her gaze falls on the silk curtains bristling in the winds and she goes up the hill, trailing behind him.

"Hold up."

-

The stack of documents fell to the table.

It usually was like this, a profile parceled in a postcard envelope with a name and a photo attached to it. Zepestine tossed it over to Eva who gorged the last strand of pasta on the plate before her before pulling out the paper.

"Aiden Keller" She called the name across it and he nodded.

Zepestine was not only a father figure, he was a guardian sent from wherever these postcards came from. The One, they call themselves, and all Eva knew about them was only what he wanted her to know. But growing up, she just didn't care because what she knows won't be able to hurt her.

And after each mission was a wad of cash waiting on her bed, enough papers to seal her lips, and keep her roped. It's been that way for years, even for the next coming years. Her eyes went dark as she looked back at him. "How do you want it done?" She asked and Zepestine smirked coldly.

"Clean."

"Fast, smooth. And faultless, possibly painless. It's your call to make Eva" She looked back at the paper before her. "Before tomorrow." He added and she let her hair fall upon her shoulders. "Before tonight." There was a crack in her voice as she brushed past his shoulders, walking out of the cabin doors.

ROME, ITALY.

Darkness had fallen over the mansion, but the crystal lights illuminated the streets. Eva pulled he sweater over her head as she knocked on the front door. She held the same envelope that told her to kill him, as if she were a postman and that was the first guess of the gateman that opened the door.

The hoodie shielded half her face so he couldn't get a good look. Instead, she just hefted it in his face and when he came close, she hooked her arm around his neck, smashing his jaw into the concrete pavements beside her. There was low groan as he stiffened on the spot and Eva made her way into the compound, closing the gates beside her. Before heading in, she saw the one room that still had its lights on and heaved a deep breath through her lips.

The sound of howling dogs filled her ears as she grasped her pockets for the knife she had. Quietly, she crept through the front doors, making her way past the maidens and eventually the butler, until she stood in that very room with the lights on.

Brushing it slightly open, Eva let her hoodie down as she walked in. And by the corner of the room was a man admiring himself in the mirror. Her brows arched in disgust, her nose picking up his egoistic scent as she inched closer. Perhaps it was when he'd felt her presence that he suddenly jolted—

—turning around with a halfly parted hair and his hands against his drawers. He gasped, pulling out a Gerber knife with a six inch blade. as if knowing who she was and expecting her.

Eva looked down to her barely feasible weapon before tossing it to the ground, now unarmed. The man she assumed was Aiden by his picture first swung at her, close enough that she felt the breeze of its passing. However when he'd missed, she saw a perfect opportunity for a headlock. Aiden was much stronger than she was, and well skilled with the weapon in his hands. They fell to the cold wooden floor and he pulled her blonde hair with nails like that of a wolf.

That especially, angered Eva. She caught a glimpse of his eye slither in the dark and she hit him with her elbows, maneuvering her way on top of him. A slap wasn't enough to restrain him as he swung at her again and this time, she clasped his arm, ducking under it and ramming into his ribs.

Aiden groaned, forcibly admitting to her strength. He was more of everything, an advantage but she had the will. She had the power and just as she was held him to the ground, she racked her head of how to put him to an end. However, with the last strength, he pushed her away from him, trailing over her. But alas her hands grasped the knife she'd thrown to the floor as quickly as she could and she stabbed him in his chest.

He fell on top of her, his weapon grazing past her face and pinning to the ground. Her knife went through, blood suddenly oozing next to her and she got up to her feet, tossing him over with the weapon sprouting from his chest. His eyes went limp, as life departed from them but he wasn't dead.

His muscles still spasmed, he still breathed. She hated when men like him breathed the same air as she did. And for ripping a piece of her hair from her scalp, Eva craved revenge. In that moment, revenge meant using his Gerber knife to slice off his head. His blood splattered in her face as his head detached from his body and rolled towards the door. It wasn't long till it pulled away and a maid walked in, timely enough to catch a smile of Eva's face and her boss's head next to her feet. She let go of the tray in her hands, before fainting to the ground—

—shards of glasses breaking unto the ground. Eva looked up at the mess, knowing one thing, this was was the opposite of what Zepestine wanted—clean, faultless. This was a disaster, but she had gotten the work done. So climbing over him, she dropped the weapon on the wooden counter, next to his comb.

And by the looks of it, there was suit hanging on his closet—perhaps a date he'd never attend now. Slipping the postcard with a check into her pockets, Eva walked out the same doors she walked in and made her way out the same gates, watching the gateman still struggle for his last breath. She entered the black SUV that waited by the roads for her but before pulling, she looked back at the house, recollecting the memorable encounter with Aiden Killer, her forty-eighth kill. It was then he looked at her from the passenger's seat—Zepestine.

And his eyes went down on her blood stained dress and messy face. He pouted slightly and she chuckled. "What did you do?" He asked, fed up with her disobedience and she shrugged her shoulders. "I got the job done" She replied him.

"I took care of it."

MILAN, ITALY.

The red ropes linked each image on the board, each piece of evidence connecting the murders of the past few months, and a uniformed man stood at the front, a cup of coffee in his hands.

Matthew inched closer, pinning the last one on A Frank Gallagher, a real estate merchant that was murdered in Florence last week, his limbs severed like the previous victim, Gerald. He arched his brows, noticing a connection in these killings, one he couldn't quite put a finger on. It was then his door opened to his partner and David held up a file in the air.

Matthew looked around to see a man photographed across the floor in a pool of his ow blood—headless. His police stereo went static as David parted his lips. "Aiden Keller, our latest victim" He brushed past his shoulders to pin him against the wall as well.

"Found dead in his home, not a robbery like we thought because not a single of his Cartier watches stolen, nor any expensive items" He said. "Then what are we looking at?" Matthew's patience grew thin as they locked eyes. "Florence, Rome and Venice. Lake Como, all holding our crime scenes. I don't think we're just looking at one person here" David shrugged his arms.

"An agency?"

"A league." David muttered. "A league of highly skilled assassins" He added and Matthew walked by his side. "Then we need to find something linking all of our victims, asides wealth and stature. And politics, we need a motive" He pulled out his phone but before David walked through the door, he halted.

"And soon. Before our next murder." His voice went low as he dialed an unknown number. It rang about twice before it picked and there was a silence on the other end. "I want to speak to Tobias" He said with intention rooted in his voice. "Tell him it's Matthew." There was a long pause before a husky voice filled the phone and he sat into his chair.

"Tobias."

"Any development?" The voice asked and Matt looked at the decapacited man on the photo before him. "There's been another murder" He slipped his hands into his pockets and the man assumed to be Tobias heaved a deep breath.

"What do you think?" He asked. "Another werewolf?"

He paused, matching with his fingers. He threw his head over his shoulders to check if David was around. "I think so. A beta" He saw the mark on his wrists before the line barred and Matt tossed the phone to the desk, running his hands through his wet hair.

"Fuck." He cussed.

VENICE, ITALY.

The smell of italian notes filled her nose as Eva ran her hands through the bag of cash sitted on her head. She looked to Vespertin by her door and a smirk invaded her lips.

"I'm going shopping tomorrow" She said flatly, in her fake accent again and he drew close with a postcard in his hands. She rolled her eyes as he threw it to her, and her eyes went to it. "Another mission?" She filled her nose with air.

"One that would take everything you've got" He whispered. "I think you're ready. And only if you know the real reason we do the things that we do, only then will you realize it's essence"

"Werewolves" She whispered. "They're dangerous."

"It's more than just the danger. This one—" He pointed to the photo of the man of the card. "This one, will hit closer to home" Her eyes narrowed at his name before her lips echoed it.

"Tobias Blake."

Zepestine sat right next to her, reaching out for her cold palms and they locked eyes. "He's the Alpha of Dark Ravens pack, the last that needs to be executed. It's going to be a lot, and it's going to take a lot of practice and dedication, Eva Daniels" He squeezed her palms. "But i know you'd be able to do it" The winds ran through her hair, swaying them side to side above her shoulders.

"How do you want him dead?" Her eyes grew thin, cold and Zepestine chuckled loudly and incessantly. "I want his head. Bring me his head, Daniels" They shared a moment, inching their foreheads closer till they grazed each other. And like a daughter, he placed his chapped lips to her head.

"Kill Tobias Blake."

To be continued...