ã€ŠThe Descendantsã€‹


 Chapter 1: The hunter or the hunted?

    ¡°What is a girl like you doing here in a place like this? Are you even old enough to be here?¡±

    Katie lifted her head up from the cup of sprite and glanced at the man in front of her. She estimated his age to be something around eighteen. He had a bottle of beer in his hand. A small smirk was on his face.

    The brunette looked around, as if just realizing the surrounding she was in. She was in a bar, and all around her men and women in revealing clothes were dancing their hearts out. Loud music blasted through the air, deafening the audience and making them move even faster.

    ¡°I¡¯m older than I look.¡± She smiled and stirred the plastic straw in her drink. The man casually sat down beside Katie. The warm smile on his face amplified the girl¡¯s trust on him.

    ¡°Really? You certainly look grown up.¡± The man looked at Katie from top to bottom. The girl keenly noticed his eyes paused a few seconds at her cleavage. She merely smiled. She was wearing a red midriff that showed her belly button. Her breasts were pushed against each other by her tight clothes, revealing a pleasant curve.

    Katie took another sip of her drink. The man sat down beside her.

    ¡°Jaison.¡±

    ¡°Oh, this is the part where I introduce myself.¡± Katie rose her eyebrows. ¡°Katie. Eighteen. Financially independent. Open.¡±

    ¡°Open?¡±

    ¡°Open for date, if that¡¯s why you¡¯re here.¡± Katie looked down on herself. ¡°Oh who am I kidding. Of course you¡¯re here to date me.¡±

    ¡°I barely know you.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem to stop you from thinking about me.¡±

    Jaison tapped his head. He suddenly felt the girl¡¯s expression looked so cute under the colorful lighting of the bar. The combination of the alcohol and the ear-destroying music made his face turn red. ¡°Let me buy you a drink.¡± He stood up and walked to the bar and grabbed a beer. When he returned, Katie casually strolling her fingers across her long legs.

    Jaison gulped. She seemed so hot. He wasn¡¯t new to this, but he has never slept with someone as perfect as the girl in front of him. His mind turned as he imagined going to bed with her. Her hair...her legs...her face...everything about her was drawing his desire.

    The way she flirted with him made his back sweat.

    Jaison slowly walked toward Katie, but his mind suddenly went down a darker path. A part of him was confident he could get close to her with his charm and handsomeness, but the other part thought he wasn¡¯t good enough for her. Plus, all jokes aside, she looked like a junior. He put his right hand into his pocket and touched something.

    Jaison sat back down and handed the beer over. Katie took a large drink and emptied half the mug almost immediately.

    ¡°So, are you here for college? UoC?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°University of Charleston? The largest university in the city?¡± A strange light appeared in Jaison¡¯s eyes. ¡°Well, that answers my question. What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m actually here to find a job.¡±

    ¡°Which field?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Katie lowered her hand and suddenly flipped her hair up. Jaison¡¯s eyes followed her. ¡°The type that requires you to be an adult.¡±

    Jaison coughed. ¡°And your parents are ok with that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t give a damn what they think. I¡¯m an adult, remember? I get to decide my own life.¡± Katie shrugged and emptied most of the drink. ¡°I need to go to the washroom.¡± She stood up and walked to the bathroom, leaving the beer with Jaison.

    Left alone to stare at the drink, Jaison¡¯s eyes flickered. He couldn¡¯t help but notice an opportunity to one hundred percent get in bed with that beauty he so much desired. He looked around and noticed there was nobody watching. His right hand went into his pocket while his mind continued to turn.

    It was a fight between logic and desire. Good and evil.

    The girl said she¡¯s here to join the adult industry, and from what she heard her parents wasn¡¯t keeping a tab on her, which means she is likely in the city alone. If he could drug her and have sex with her, what could she do when everything¡¯s all over?

    Call the police on her? He could just say she seduced him. It would be his words against hers. Plus, mostly victims of sexual assault remain quiet about what happened to them. He could likely get away with it in one piece.

    Desire overcame logic and self control. When the man¡¯s hand came out of his pocket, it was holding a small pill. With lightning speed, he dropped the pill into Katie¡¯s beer and watched it dissolve.

    When Katie came back two minutes later, there was nothing suggesting something foul was done.

    ¡°I sure hope you didn¡¯t drug my drink.¡± The girl¡¯s first sentence almost made Jaison wet his pants, but he quickly realized she was just joking. His heart calmed down slightly as she emptied the rest of the mug. Inside, he even smirked a little. He couldn¡¯t wait to see what will happen next.

    The two continued the conversation for ten minutes, and Jaison repeatedly eyed his watch. Finally, Katie groaned. Her head was turning heavier and heavier. Finally, she collapsed on the table in front of her. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Jaison immediately rested his hand on her forehead. ¡°Are you alright? I¡¯m sorry. I thought you could handle the drink.¡± They were still in public. As for now he needed Katie to trust him. If she cried for help, even under the cover of the music, people would still hear it.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Do you have a car? Take me to the Benedict Hotel. I¡¯ve got a room over there. Room 201. The keycard is in my pocket.¡± Katie barely lifted her head. Her words were starting to slur. Once again, as he carried Katie in her arms, Jaison smirked. How dumb does this girl have to be to still doesn¡¯t suspect a thing? He glanced at Katie¡¯s curves and smiled as he felt her soft body.

    The teen carried Katie out of the bar and into the parking lot. Jaison owned a black car, and he put Katie into the back seat. He put the seatbelt on before going to the driver¡¯s seat. He shouldn¡¯t exactly be drinking and driving, but he was sure a single mug of beer wasn¡¯t enough to make him forget how to drive. There¡¯s always the possibility of being stopped by a cop, but Jaison was too dominated by his lower body to use his upper one.

    They got to the Benedict Hotel in ten minutes. Katie was almost asleep. Her hands were subconsciously touching her shirt. ¡°It¡¯s so hot in here.¡± She complained, half asleep.

    Jaison licked his lips and carried Katie into the hotel through a side door. He found the room, found the keycard in Katie¡¯s pocket, and opened the door.

    The first thing Jaison did was lay Katie on the Queen sized bed. When that was done, he finally looked at the sleeping beauty.

    One third of her cleavage was outside her clothes. He smiled lustfully and touched one of her breasts and enjoyed the soft feeling. He was about to take off his clothes when he felt his entire body sweating. His mind turned. There was always time for a shower, and he wanted this to be good. He turned around and walked into the bathroom.

    When he came back again ten minutes later, after a long bath, he was paralyzed to see the bed empty. The mark Katie¡¯s body left on the bed told him he wasn¡¯t delusional, but the girl herself was nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± He walked out. His chest was bare, and a towel covered his lower body, but just as he walked out, he felt a heavy knock in the back of his neck. He immediately collapsed on the ground, his towel falling to the side.

    Behind him, Katie stood there, smiling.

    <hr>

    The situation in the room was completely different. Jaison was tied to a chair. Katie took out two handcuffs from a black bag in the closet and cuffed Jaison¡¯s arms tightly, limiting his every move. Why a teenage girl would carry two pairs of handcuffs in her bag was anyone¡¯s guess.

    As of the moment, the girl has just pulled another chair over and was staring at the naked Jaison with curious eyes. She was still gorgeous, but the man wasn¡¯t tempted.

    He was horrified.

    ¡°What...what are you doing? I was just...I saw you were drunk and I did what you told me to do. I wasn¡¯t doing anything, I swear.¡±

    ¡°Is that why you took a bath and came out naked?¡± Katie glanced at between the man¡¯s legs. ¡°And don¡¯t act so innocent. I know you put something in my beer.¡±

    ¡°But...but you still drank it.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so you did put something in my beer. I knew it was odd for you to be so active but I wasn¡¯t sure. Thanks for telling me the truth.¡±

    Jaison silently cursed himself. The girl didn¡¯t know what he did for sure. At most she had was suspicion, and he just helped her confirm this suspicion. If they were on a court Jaison could just deny every saying it, but right now he was tied to a chair and she wasn¡¯t. There was no telling what she could do to him.

    ¡°As for the drug, did I forget to mention drugs don¡¯t work on me.¡± Katie shrugged with her legs crossed. She seemed to be enjoying this conversation. ¡°I found that out the hard way. Imagine going into surgery when you were six and finding out acesodyne don¡¯t work on you. Not the best way to make the discovery.¡±

    She suddenly tilted her head, as if returning to that piece of memory. ¡°Though I¡¯ve got to say it was quite enjoyable.¡± She rolled her tongue in her mouth, as if just remembering the taste of a delicious treat, but she quickly turned her attention back to Jaison.

    ¡°Now, what should I do with you?¡±She stood up and started circling around Jaison. The man gulped again. Usually he would enjoy such attention from a girl, but not this time. He was naked and he was frightened. All he wanted to do was go home. He was regretting going to the bar. After he gets out of this, he would stay away from bars for a month.

    Okay, maybe a week.

    Even now, he didn¡¯t feel his life was threatened. The most the girl could do was beat him up and turn him to the cops.

    But Jean¡¯s next words made Jaison¡¯s heart froze.

    ¡°Indeed, what should I do with you?¡± Katie reached inside her midriff and pulled out a dagger from somewhere. ¡°I¡¯m feeling like throat slitting.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Jaison started struggling. At first he thought the worst scenario would be being handed over to the cops. Maybe he would be embarrassed and his parents would ground him for a few months, but he would be fine in the end. Worst to worst, his parents could strike a bargain with this girl. His parents were wealthy, and no real harm would be done. A village girl who came here to join the adult industry wouldn¡¯t be so determined to see him punished. In a few weeks, he could be roaming around the bars again, searching for his next bedmate.

    But this was different. Jaison searched Katie¡¯s face for any sign of joking, but while the girl had a smile on her face, Jaison¡¯s heart was as cold as the tip of Mount Everest. Deep inside her heart, he knew the girl wasn¡¯t joking. She wasn¡¯t even slightly hesitant to end his life.

    ¡°What? Do you prefer something else instead? Drowning? Burning? Grenade down your mouth? I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡±

    ¡°You want to kill me? Are you f**king kidding me? Who do you think you are?¡± The teenager was already yelling. All of his politeness was lost in the face of life threatening danger.

    ¡°Well, you did try to drug rape me. If it¡¯s not me and is some other girl instead, you would¡¯ve gotten what you wanted. A girl will lose the most precious thing in her life and you will probably get away with it. Need anything else?¡±

    ¡°If you want to see me punished then turn me over to the police! They will give me the punishment I deserve! You don¡¯t have the right to do anything to me!¡± He saw Katie was unmoved. ¡°Who the hell do you think you are? The Green Arrow? You don¡¯t get to kill people!¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m more of a white canary girl, but that is not the point.¡± She suddenly jumped on the restrained man. Her dagger dug into his arm. Jaison screamed in pain, but it only made Katie more excited. Jaison could feel the girl¡¯s hot breath as she spoke.

    ¡°If you think I am doing this for justice, then you¡¯re wrong. This,¡± She motioned for her revealing suit. ¡°going through all this trouble to seduce you into raping me, it¡¯s just a step to get me more turned on about this. I don¡¯t kill innocent people, not because they¡¯re innocent but because I don¡¯t enjoy it, but killing thugs and crooks like you, it just makes me shake.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a vigilante. I¡¯m a killer, and the only reason you¡¯re my target is because I enjoy this.¡±

    Jaison looked into Katie¡¯s black eyes and realized she was telling the truth. He gulped, burning his brain cell in the millions to think of a way out, but Katie had already heard enough.

    She wiped her hand, and Jaison felt a sharp pain in his neck. He tried to gulp, but he merely coughed. His mind turned dizzy as oxygen could no longer reach his brain. He tried to cover the fracture with his hands, but they were cuffed back. He couldn¡¯t even pretend to protect his life.

    ¡°Please¡­¡± He screeched quietly, but Katie simply took a step back and watched him with her legs spread open. She tilted her head cutely, but all Jaison felt toward her was hatred.

    ¡°You...I curse you...you will die...screaming¡­¡±

    Katie smirked as the man bled out.

    ¡°Thank you. I would really like that.¡±

 Chapter 2: When you come back from the dead...its time to die again

    Giving the body one last glance, Katie stood up and jammed her blade into the body¡¯s heart, just to be sure. Once, a while ago, one of her targets, a serial killer, took a hit to the chest and was still breathing. Katie let her guards down as she thought he was dead, and he made a jump on her. The result was an arm that was almost cut apart.

    Thankfully, it didn¡¯t leave any lasting effect on her, at least not physically, but ever since than Katie made sure to confirm her kill. As much as she enjoyed the thrill of being jumped on and attacked, completely by surprise, she wasn¡¯t ready to die just yet, not when there was so many other things in life to be excited for.

    As the attempt rapist was dealt with, Katie walked into the bathroom and stripped down. Naked, she stared into the mirror for a few minutes, enjoyed what she saw, before stepping into the shower. Everything that she did made her heart beat and her skin wet.

    As hot water ran down her body, Katie closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open. Something didn¡¯t feel right. She smiled as she remembered what was missing. Quietly, she walked out of the shower, went through her clothes, found her dagger, and slit it across her left arm.

    Blood immediately came out in a small, yet beautiful, stream. Katie smiled and walked back into the shower and turned up the heat. As the burning water ran through her open wound and caused a skin tearing pain, she smiled in satisfaction.

    Now everything was perfect.

    The shower took ten minutes. Katie only turned off the water when she felt a bit dizzy. She frowned and looked down, and saw the bottom of the bathtub was already stained red. She touched her forehead and walked out, almost stumbling in the process. She slowly walked out of the bathroom and went through her bag and pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of pants and put them on.

    As all was done, she returned to the bathroom and checked herself over again. Suddenly, she held her left arm out and glanced down. She cut it on purpose before the bath. Now it was smoother than the surface of her phone. She ran her finger through that spot, and she barely felt a scar.

    Ever since she could remember, Katie knew she was special. For one thing, drugs don¡¯t work on her. For another, she heals really quickly. Once, when her parents were still around, she ¡®accidentally¡¯ stabbed herself in the leg. Her parents were out shopping when that happened, but when they came back half an hour later, she was already helping them carry the things they bought.

    To a normal human being, this would just mean they didn¡¯t need to see a doctor for a cold or a cut. To Katie, this meant she could do anything she wanted to herself without fear of dying in the process. She would still need to have nutrient intake to replace the blood she lost, but that was just an insignificant flaw.

    But when Katie looked up at the mirror again, she saw something that wasn¡¯t there a second before.

    It was a familiar figure.

    Katie turned around and found herself staring at a translucent form of Jaison. His eyes were bright red as if the man hasn¡¯t slept for weeks. They stared at Katie, radiating pure hatred. The part of his neck which Jean severed was still open and dripping blood.

    ¡°Wow!¡± The girl¡¯s mouth hung open as if she just saw a priceless jewel. ¡°Are you a ghost?¡±

    ¡°I will break every bone in your body...¡± The ghost said slowly, expecting to see the fear on her face, but what Katie did next was something he didn¡¯t expect to see.

    Katie reached her right arm out and touched the shadowy figure¡¯s face. Her hand went right through. ¡°That¡¯s odd.¡± She rubbed her fingers together. Her head tilted slightly, wondering. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything like this before, and you are not the first guy I killed. You¡¯re not even in the first ten. Why did you turn to a ghost when everyone else didn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard what I said?¡± Jaison stared down on Katie¡¯s pretty face, and for the moment he wanted to pin her down and make her scream and cry and beg for mercy, but he wouldn¡¯t give her mercy. He would torture her for as long as possible before ripping her to shreds.

    It annoyed him to realize there wasn¡¯t a hint of fear on Katie. If anything there was only curiosity.

    No. It pained him.

    ¡°I will rape you and cut you into a thousand pieces. You will be alive and screaming the entire time!¡±

    ¡°That sounds fun.¡± Katie said full heartedly as she stared at the bloody menace. ¡°Unfortunately, I¡¯m not ready to die, at least not yet. Dying is boring, I think, and I have so many things I want to do with life.¡±

    ¡°Well, fuck you.¡± Jaison reached forward and punched Katie in the stomach, and the girl was immediately thrown out of the bathroom. She hit a wooden shelf and shattered it. Splinters of wood went into her back while her intestines complained from the impact of the contact.

    Coughing, Katie wiped her hand on her lips and felt something wet. She looked down on her hand and saw blood. Smiling, she stood back up and reached inside her pocket, taking out the dagger she used to kill Jaison. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    Jaison moved forward. Katie took a swing, but her weapon went through the shadows without touching anything. As the blade left Jaison body, the dead man¡¯s figure solidified once again, and his knee made contact with Katie¡¯s stomach, sending her onto the ground.

    But this beating, as relieving as it was, didn¡¯t put Jaison into a good mood. He was enjoying torturing the girl, but he didn¡¯t sense any negative emotions, like fear, anger, hatred, or dispair, from his victim. Perhaps a human being might be lied to, but after his transformation, Jaison could sense everything from human beings, and all he felt from Katie was satisfaction and even pleasure.

    To an entity like him, it was like eating wood. It pained his mouth and didn¡¯t give him any help.

    Sending another punch into Katie¡¯s chest, Jaison paused briefly. What the hell is wrong with this girl? He knew she was a bit of a masochist, but this was too much. Being a psychopath didn¡¯t derive a person of her fear, and there was no way it could make her turn all the pain and fear into pleasure.

    But the fact remained. The more he beat her, the more pleasure she was radiating.

    Finally, two minutes later, Jaison reached down and grabbed onto the dagger Katie dropped. He knelt down and pushed it into her stomach, piercing her guts.

    Katie screamed, but that scream was immediately turned to a loud moan.

    ¡°Ehhh.¡± Jaison groaned in frustration. He twisted the blade cruelly, and blood, Katie¡¯s blood, formed a puddle on the floor. ¡°I thought you love pain. Enjoy this? Bitch?¡±

    Katie looked up. Her lips painted red. ¡°Hell yeah.¡± Jaison paused for a second, searching his mind for creative ways of torture, but the next second he felt an excruciating pain in the stomach.

    He looked down and saw another dagger in his chest.

    ¡°How¡­¡±

    Katie reached down and pulled out the blade in her stomach. A large wound covered half her stomach, revealing parts of her intestine, but she simply ignored it. The pain was bone chilling, and it was starting to hurt so much it was getting numb, but she fought off the urge to lay down and sleep. There was something much more interesting at hand. Something she enjoyed.

    Interrogation. Not only so, interrogating a ghost. She didn¡¯t have time to enjoy the pain.

    Katie casually pushed the blade into Jaison¡¯s heart. This time it didn¡¯t simply fall off. The ghost screeched as he took a few steps back and hit a wall.

    ¡°How did you come back to life?¡± Katie asked.

    ¡°You think I¡¯ll tell you anything, bitch? I¡¯m already dead. Do your worst. You can¡¯t threaten a dead man.¡±

    ¡°Yes. In that case, let me start first. You can just sit back and wait. Thankfully, you seem to be having a great time.¡± She glanced at the two daggers inside the ghost¡¯s body.

    ¡°I killed you, but for some reason you came back to life. I¡¯m not sure why, but I noticed how you were torturing me. Of course, you might be doing that for fun, but I feel like you are doing this out of instinct as well.¡±

    ¡°Judging from the amount of pain you felt, both physically and mentally, before I killed you, it is reasonable that you became this¡­¡± She threw her hands up, trying to find a noun, but nothing came out. ¡°thing because you were tortured. It¡¯s the hatred and agony that made you what you are. It is also the source of your power. That¡¯s why you are torturing me. You wanted to absorb my negative emotions. Fear to you is like food to human beings. The more you have, the stronger you become.¡±

    Jaison growled. He didn¡¯t want to admit it, but Katie was right. He had a similar assumption and everything she said matched his experience, but he didn¡¯t have the obligation to answer Katie. He simply turned his head over in a resistant feeling.

    The girl smirked and glanced down on her stomach. The wound was healing, but she was really starving. Healing took energy. The mixture of intense pain, bone chilling itch, and unsuppressable hunger ran through her mind. She took out a chocolate bar and rested it on the table next to her. She wanted to let herself hang there for a moment. This was something she has never experienced before, and ten seconds later Katie felt like she should do this much more often. Removing her attention from the pleasure, Katie kept on talking.

    ¡°That brings us to the next question. What exactly are you?¡± Katie tapped her chin. ¡°Well, of course, you are the soul of the dead seeking vengeance on your killer. You want to kill me as brutally as possible. But what exactly are you? A fury? A ghost? Then again you still retain your own conscious and logic...¡±

    Jaison remained quiet.

    ¡°Well, nice talking.¡± Katie shrugged and took out a match from her pocket and lit Jaison on fire.

    The ghost screamed. He tried to move, to fade away, but he was too weak. Ever since he was killed/reborn, he has never ingested any energy. The only reason he had the energy to beat up Katie was because he himself died painfully, and this pain made him stronger, but that energy has ran out. Plus, two blades were inside him.

    Jaison didn¡¯t know the science behind this, but he could feel these alien objects messing with his control of his body. After his transformation, he felt a surge of energy circulating through his body. It allowed him to do things like making himself untouchable by Katie. His newly gained instincts told him he could do so much more, but he was stuck in a painful position. Without new energy intake, his power was like a puddle, and it was constantly being dried up.

    He could only scream as his conscious, his soul, was burned away. In the end, everything about him was turned to ashes.

    When a human being dies, there¡¯s a possibility he could become a ghost and stay in the world of the living. When a ghost dies, well, it¡¯s ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

    Katie watched as the soul was set aflame. Only when Jaison finally perished did she stand up, devour the piece of chocolate bar, and start packing up. She was out of the room in just minutes.

    The fight between her and Jaison created quite the chaos, but thankfully Katie booked a room relatively distant. When she logged it, she also told the front desk she might be doing some wild activities and don¡¯t check the room out if there were some noise. With a slight blush, the young girl at the front desk nodded.

    It was so she could kill her victims without attracting unwanted attention, and now it also made sure a spirit perished without anyone realizing it.

    Carrying her black bag, which made up all of her properties, Katie walked down the stairs and out of the hotel room through the back door. Her ID was at the hotel to make sure something like what she just did wouldn¡¯t happen, but Katie was someone who tortured and killed for fun. If she didn¡¯t have a skill or two with forging IDs, she would be long dead by now.

    Hours after she departed, a hotel maid walked into the room. Seconds later, a scream rang out.

 Chapter 3: Relax Madame. I do this as a hobby.

    The next day.

    Standing in front of another hotel, Katie waved her phone, and a black car stopped beside her.

    Since the events of yesterday, Katie went to and checked into another hotel. It was expensive, but she had at least ten cards, debits and credit, in her pocket, each with a significant amount of money inside. Each of them was linked to a different name and identity so if one of her identity was compromised, she could turn to the other nine.

    Usually, when she had some free time, Katie would either lay back and stick a knife into her leg and twist it every ten minutes or just go out and have some fun, but now she had something much, much more fun.

    Ghosts, or just supernatural beings in general.

    After Katie went into her new place last night, she pulled out her computer and logged in onto a website called ShadowNet. It took her a while, but after entering four completely different passcodes, each twelve digits long, she got in.

    ShadowNet sounded all fancy, and it was, to a degree. It was a website where those who dedicated their lives to relatively shady occupations exchanged information and made deals. This excluded all sorts of criminals, grave robbers, paid assassins, hackers, and men and women who have trouble with the law.

    It was also used as a platform where certain people could go onto when they needed a problem solved. For instance, if someone wanted their wife to have an accident so they could marry their mistress, they could log onto the website and place a bounty. Someone might take the offer, and a few days later the wife might die of a car crash. The customers would wire the money they promised to the website, who would then deliver the money to the problem solver after taking a small cut.

    Something like this was obviously against the law, but Katie discovered the website three years ago when she was thirteen, when she captured an assassin that was on drugs and tortured everything he knew out of him, and now the website was still standing. Katie didn¡¯t know what exactly happened and why the government didn¡¯t do anything, but just like every other user of this website, she decided it didn¡¯t matter.

    In the past she used this site to find some contracts when she needed fast cash. Other times she was just bored, and killing or beating up someone who already had a bounty on his or her head would be hitting two birds with one stone.

    But this time she was searching more than a random contract. This time she was looking for cases that might involve supernatural beings.

    Not everyone on the ShadowNet wanted someone dead, though most of them did. Some users merely wanted information or aid. Some may even desire protection. They included police detectives, government officials, and even the common people who had problems who couldn¡¯t find help from the authorities. As long as they could pay, the customers could usually find someone who would take the job.

    In this case, Katie set her eyes on one case. After a brief communication, she was going to meet the customer now.

    Katie got into the car. The driver was a man in suit and tie. Katie eyed his side, which was packed. The man didn¡¯t say a word, and Katie crossed her legs in boredom. Rolling her tongue in her mouth, she looked down on her hands and decided to dig her long, silver nails into her palms. Just for the fun of it.

    The car stopped in front of a large mansion twenty minutes later. Katie walked out, wiped the blood off her nails, and walked into the house. Another large man at the door showed her the way in.

    Finally, Katie found herself standing in front of a woman in her forties. She looked rich. Her clothes and jewels costed more than everything on Katie. Of course, Katie already knew that. After all, she was willing to pay a seven-digit paycheck to get the job done.

    ¡°Queen of Spades?¡± The woman asked. Queen of Spades was Katie¡¯s avatar on ShadowNet. This was normal among the users of the ShadowNet. While the government couldn¡¯t control or block out the net, it was capable of sending in undercover officers and pose fake missions. ShadowNet once declared it wasn¡¯t responsible if its users were tricked by other users, and it was the responsibility of the individual users to recognize a trap and respond accordingly. Only fools would give their real identities to potential threats.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Katie sat down. ¡°Mrs. Adams. You wanted to discuss this with me alone.¡±

    She knew the woman even before the deal was struck. Jane Adams was the CEO of a multinational corporation, Adams Combine. She was married to Mr. Adam, the senator of the state. She might be one of the richest, and most powerful, persons in the city.

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Mrs. Adams waved her hand, and the waiters and bodyguards left the room. Katie rose her eyebrows. She could never understand these rich guys and their secrets.

    ¡°My daughter, Caroline, is enrolled in Charleston Central High School. She¡¯s a sophomore there.¡± She glanced at Katie. ¡°She¡¯s sixteen, the same age as you.¡±

    Katie rose her eyebrows. ¡°I don¡¯t believe ShadowNet gives the personal information about their users to the public.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re correct, but I¡¯m not just the public.¡± Adams evaded the question. Investigating another person, likely a professional criminal, might be seen as an insult, but she was sure this Queen of Spades wouldn¡¯t stay on this topic for long. The wealthy had their privilege. ¡°Back to the point. I chose you because you are the perfect person, the only person, who can blend in to the school without anyone noticing. You have both the skill and the appearance to complete this mission quietly.¡±

    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± Katie decided to go straight to the point. She wasn¡¯t a fan of words. ¡°The mission briefing you sent me talked about something supernatural.¡±

    ¡°It talked about a cult.¡± Mrs. Adams clarified. ¡°Two days ago, when I was near Caroline, I saw scars on her. Some are on her back. Some are on her chest. I even saw a strange looking cut on her arm. There was no way that cut was an accident. I asked her what happened, but she said it was nothing.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°What makes you think it¡¯s a cult? She might just be enjoying herself.¡± Katie rose her eyebrows. As a fellow masochist, she felt slightly insulted.

    ¡°Perhaps, but that curve on her arm, it was showing something.¡± She took out a piece of paper. On it was a hand drawn picture. Katie took it over. It was a sword.

    ¡°I put down what I saw on her.¡± The mother explained. ¡°Your job is to go undercover to her school, locate the reason behind this, and deal with it. I want to see my daughter sent back to me before I pay you in full. My real daughter, not some maniac who is determined to hurt herself.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± Katie rose her eyebrows at the maniac part. She mentally took some notes. ¡°Just one question. Why don¡¯t you call the cops? This should be enough proof to start an investigation, and even if the proof isn¡¯t there you can launch the investigation anyway. Even if the cops aren¡¯t willing to act, you can afford to hire PIs and even mercenaries. If I¡¯m not mistaken, those men that led me in aren¡¯t bodyguards, unless bodyguards carry grenades and automatic weapons in their belt. A cult doesn¡¯t threaten you.¡±

    Mrs. Adams sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sure you know our influence?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°What you might not know is how many enemies John and I made to get here. There are more than enough people out there that want to find a way to get to us. If what is going on with Caroline gets out...it will be an opportunity. If we hire PIs or involve the government in this, what is going on with Caroline will be all over the news by the following day.¡±

    ¡°Just wait for my news.¡± Katie stood up and started walking out. Mrs. Adams cried behind her.

    ¡°Do this carefully! I don¡¯t want this to go on the news!¡±

    Katie smirked.

    ¡°Relax madame. I do this as a hobby.¡±

    <hr>

    The following day.

    Charleston Central High School.

    Katie walked into a classroom. She wore a black leather jacket that tightly stuck to her body. It perfectly revealed her curves and made her incredibly hot. Her long brown hair was spread out behind her back. Her fingernails were painted black. She had a cold poker face on.

    She wasn¡¯t here to make friends. She was here to infiltrate a potential cult.

    Only a few students were already in. Katie scanned them and found her target. Caroline was a blonde girl with soft expressions. She was gorgeous. To most people, the scars on her body, especially the angry red one on her right arm, were pulling down her overall beauty score, but to Katie, it only made the girl more attractive.

    At this point, a normal undercover agent would be more careful, but not Katie. She was here to find some fun. Sitting back and doing this carefully simply wasn¡¯t her style.

    Katie walked to the group of students.

    ¡°Hey. Call me Katie.¡± She sat down in one of the tables beside them. ¡°Care to fill the new girl up?¡±

    One of the teenagers in the group, a tall man, looked at Katie in impatience. ¡°Go f**k yourself.¡±

    ¡°Done that more times than I can count. It¡¯s fun at first but it gets boring.¡± Katie tilted her head as if she was treating the insult as a serious piece of serious advice. ¡°You guys, on the other hand, seem fun.¡±

    A couple of boys and girls growled. Caroline reached inside her pocket, and Katie saw something sharp. Her smile widened. This was a school. There were resource officers all over the place and anyone that might pose a threat would be treated very seriously. It took a special kind of craziness to bring weapons into a school. Good. Then again, the more mindless these teenagers were, the more likely they were onto something.

    Suddenly, the man that first told Katie to screw with herself shook his head, and the other teenagers rested their arms.

    ¡°There are a ton of students here. Why¡¯d you come to us?¡±

    ¡°Those guys?¡± Katie gestured at the others, who were either on their phones or were reading. ¡°I might just go home and play with myself. You guys, however,¡± Katie leaned closer to the man. ¡°you guys seem to be onto something interesting.¡±

    She immediately sensed the group tense up. The leader spoke as slowly as possible, but Katie could see a drop of sweat on his chin.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°You know. Drugs. Alcohol. Cigar. Sex. What are you guys planning? Are we gonna jump on someone and take his money before breaking his neck?¡±

    ¡°Wow wow. Slow down there.¡± The leader relaxed. The good side was this mysterious girl didn¡¯t seem to know what they were planning. The problem was he didn¡¯t know anything about her. She could be working for the cops. A part of him wanted to deny everything, but he also knew for what they were about to do, they needed all the help they could get. Plus, it could never hurt to have a pretty brunette with him. ¡°Ok, assuming we¡¯re onto something, you¡¯ll need to prove yourself before you can join.¡± He said, pretending to be making a joke. This way, even if the girl was actually a CI and he got arrested, he could always deny being serious about this.

    ¡°Prove myself?¡±

    The man started speaking. Katie could see he was pretending to think, but he was actually saying something in mind. ¡°Find someone, knock him out, and take him to this address.¡± He handed her a note with an address on it. ¡°I want to see him there tonight. Do that, and you can join us.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve got it.¡± Katie casually nodded. She turned around and went back to her seat, but not before blowing Caroline a kiss.

    Caroline Adams froze in her seat with her eyebrows knit.

    ¡°You know her?¡± The man asked curiously.

    ¡°No.¡± Caroline shook her head. ¡°Are we really going to let her in? We know nothing about her. We haven¡¯t even met her a minute ago! This is crazy.¡±

    ¡°Maybe she¡¯s just someone who wanted to make friends and maybe she has alternate intentions, but either way we can use her. If she wants to join us, she¡¯ll do everything she¡¯s told until she achieves what she wants. Remember, we are only steps away from freeing our master. As soon as he is freed, no one will stop us. This girl can¡¯t. The cops can¡¯t. The government can¡¯t. Even the army can¡¯t do a damn thing about him.¡±

    ¡°Our master will become the master of this planet, and as his servants, we shall rule over the world by his side.¡±

    The group nodded.

    <hr>

    As the teacher started speaking, Katie retreated to her seat and mentally blocked out all the distractions. She went through all the information she has gathered.

    These men were amateurs. She could find no other way to describe them. After all, what type of fools would discuss their business in a classroom? Then again, she knew she shouldn¡¯t be surprised. High schoolers weren¡¯t exactly skilled in intelligence and counterintelligence. Hell some of the high schoolers weren¡¯t exactly skilled in common sense either.

    As for the supernatural connection behind this, Katie suspected this group of teenagers was serving some sort of supernatural entity. There was a reason they wanted her to kidnap someone, and testing her wasn¡¯t might not be the only reason. If they wanted to test her, they could just tell her to kill someone and take a picture as proof. There was no need for them to risk themselves by taking the victim alive and have him delivered to them.

    Using her past experience with horror movies and tv shows, Katie came to a conclusion. The supernatural entity needed human sacrifice to either survive or come back to life, and the group was helping him.

    She suddenly smiled. This was going to be fun.

 Chapter 4: Romance? Why not...

    That night.

    Caroline sat in the driver¡¯s seat of a car in boredom. She was sitting in front of an abandoned warehouse. It was the address their leader gave Katie.

    The warehouse was a distance away from the city. No one was around the place, and no one could hear the screams and therefore disrupt what they were going to do next.

    As she watched the cameras installed around the place, Caroline¡¯s mind started turning.

    For her entire life, Caroline has lived under pressure. Her father was a professional politician. Her mother was the CEO of a multinational company. Theoretically, she should be happy, but only those who has never experienced life would say that.

    Instead of being able to do whatever she wanted, Caroline was put under a heavy schedule. From music to public speaking. From schoolwork to extracurricular activities. She was expected to do all of them. If she could get these done, it was normal. If she couldn¡¯t, it was her fault and she would be punished.

    More importantly, her parents have already had something planned for her. A few days ago, she has heard her parents talking in secret. They were considering scheduling for her to marry Carl Harper, a spoiled playboy who just happened to be born into a good family. That wasn¡¯t the problem. Rumor says that this Carl has some rather extreme fetish. Caroline knew she wouldn¡¯t be happy with him.

    Not that her parents cared about what she thought. It would forge an alliance between the two families, and the will of Caroline didn¡¯t matter.

    At first, she had no choice but to obey, but eventually, everything made her angry, and she thought of a way to punish her parents and escape from the reality at the same time.

    The man, Victor, came to her one day and offered something. At first Caroline thought he wanted to sell her drugs, and she didn¡¯t even hesitate to say no. She had many problems and she was desperate for a solution, but drugs was never the solution. However, the man offered something else.

    He offered her a god.

    At first Caroline laughed. When she realized he was serious, she wanted to call the cops or the mental institutions.

    When the man showed the power he was gifted and cut an abandoned school bus into two, she was no longer laughing.

    Ever since then, Caroline worked with Victor. He had the god. She had some cash and a relatively clever mind. In just weeks, the girl did things she couldn¡¯t imagine of doing.

    Lying. Stealing. Robbing. Kidnapping. Torturing.

    Killing.

    Every single day Caroline doubted if she was doing the right thing, but every time she would say yes. It was worth it. She has seen what the god was capable of doing, and when she revives him, she would become the mistress of the planet. She could get everything she wanted.

    No longer did she need to satisfy the desire of her parents. No longer did she need to bury herself in an endless wave of work. No longer did she need to marry someone she barely know. No longer did she need to obey her parents¡¯ orders.

    She could have the world.

    Sometimes power was more addictive than any type of drug. Drug might not be able to turn a girl into a stone cold killer, but power did it in a heartbeat.

    Suddenly, the door of her car was opened and a girl walked in. Caroline turned around with a gun in her hand. One of her people stole it from her dad¡¯s safe. It had a silencer on it.

    ¡°Your safety is on.¡± Katie said quietly.

    Caroline tilted her gun slightly in confusion. She was fairly certain she pressed the safety key. Just as she did that, Katie grabbed onto her wrist and twisted it in an unnatural angle. Caroline yelped, and Katie used the chance to place the weapon into her own hand. She checked it again.

    ¡°Sorry, guess I¡¯m wrong.¡± The brunette smiled. The gun¡¯s safety was actually off.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± The blonde demanded.

    ¡°What do I want? I think the real question is what do you want?¡± Kaite pointed at the cameras. ¡°First you tell me to kidnap someone. Fine. Then you tell me to bring him to this place in the middle of the night. Fine. Don¡¯t know what you want but I¡¯d never say no to some good old kidnapping. But I have been waiting there for ten minutes and nobody came.¡± She flipped the pistol. ¡°I¡¯m getting bored.¡±

    ¡°Careful...careful with that.¡± Caroline bit her lips.

    Katie smirked before resting the pistol between the legs with the dangerous side pointing at between her thighs. She leaned forward at Caroline and saw her flinch. ¡°So, what¡¯s the deal? You want me to kill him or what?¡±

    Caroline took a deep breath and pulled out a wrapped up object from the back seat. She carefully took the wrappings off, revealing a dark dagger.

    ¡°What do you want me to do with it? Stick it into my chest?¡± Katie, one again, talked without using her mind. Where¡¯s the fun in thinking?If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Ehh...no.¡± Caroline choked on her words for a moment before finally remembering what she was going to say. ¡°It¡¯s for you.¡± She handed the blade to Katie. The girl took it over.

    The dagger looked deadly. Katie didn¡¯t know what it was made of, but it was completely black. Not a single reflection came out of it. Two blood grooves covered the sides, making the blade look even more menacing. A black crystal was at the end of the handle of the dagger.

    Katie did what she normally did to test her weapons. She casually moved her fingers toward the tip of the blade, but Caroline immediately stopped her.

    ¡°Wait!¡±

    Katie barely caught her finger. She looked at Caroline, slightly confused.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a deadly weapon and it doesn¡¯t belong to you, at least not yet.¡± She pointed at the camera that showed a man being tied to a chair. ¡°Use it to kill someone first. Only then will you can have a chance to become the master of this weapon.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like some bullshit.¡± Katie casually replied, and the next second Caroline was on top of her. Her eyes were red. A similar dagger was in the blonde¡¯s grip. Katie subconsciously resisted. As a professional killer, she was fairly confident she was stronger than a random high school girl, but she was wrong. At first Caroline budged slightly, but the next second she pushed back with several times the strength.

    Katie yelped as she felt her wrist hurting. The cry of pain seemed to have brought a sense of clarity into the girl¡¯s eyes. There was still some wrath in her eyes, but Katie suddenly stuck out her tongue and licked the tip of Caroline¡¯s nose.

    Caroline backed off, slightly blushing. Her parents didn¡¯t allow her to have a boyfriend. Her knowledge of sex was limited to that of the school health class. There was a reason she was planning on taking over the world.

    Katie sat back up, slightly disappointed. However, she did find the girl¡¯s response interesting. As far as she knew, Caroline was only mixed up with this cult for around two weeks. There was no reason she would be so pissed off at her for insulting whatever faith she believed in.

    Then again, Katie eyed the girl¡¯s dagger, maybe she wasn¡¯t herself.

    Caroline took another deep breathe, recovering from the heavy heartbeat. ¡°Don¡¯t say something like that again. You wanted to join us. Now is your chance.¡± She pointed at the man in the camera. ¡°Stab him first. A friendly reminder, don¡¯t kill him, at least not with the first strike.¡±

    Katie rose her eyebrows and left the car. As she left, Caroline looked at her and gently touched her own nose.

    That felt...good.

    <hr>

    Katie walked into the warehouse. She looked down on the dagger again. Curiosity was in her eyes.

    ¡°What the hell? Who is it? Weasel? Is that you?¡± The restrained man demanded as he heard Katie¡¯s footsteps closing in. His head was covered by a hood, taking away his ability to see the surrounding. ¡°Whoever you are, I¡¯m sure we can strike a deal.¡± He heard the footsteps stop. ¡°I¡¯ve got money. This doesn¡¯t have to be like this. If you release me, we can still be friends. If you do something to me... I have connections. Powerful connections. You and everyone connected to you will be hunted for the rest of your lives.¡±

    Katie shrugged and took off the man¡¯s hood.

    The man was obviously caught by surprise as he saw Katie. He couldn¡¯t help but scan her from top to bottom. She wore a tight leather jacket and a pair of skin-tight leather pants. Her belly button was in the open. Her dark hair was tied into a cute little ponytail.

    If it was another situation the man would have been sending his goons after the girl and try to kidnap her and send her to his room, but under this circumstance, he only wanted to get out alive.

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°James Kamel. You have failed this¡­¡± Katie made it half the way through the standard line before bursting out into laughter. She just couldn¡¯t do it.

    James looked at her, wondering if he was taken captive by someone who belonged to a mental hospital.

    ¡°Anyways¡­¡± Katie finally caught herself after a full minute. ¡°Anyways, where am I at. Oh, right!¡± She exclaimed and gripped tightly to her dagger and started to turn it around in her fingers. James tried to act tough, but he couldn¡¯t keep his eyes away from the weapon.

    ¡°For the past year you have kidnapped over a dozen women and sold them off as sex slaves to rich perverts. Now, as much as I admire your line of work, I¡¯m afraid that makes you a criminal, which means...¡± She jammed the dagger into the man¡¯s leg and twisted. ¡°this is going to be a fun day for you.¡±

    The man screamed. At first Katie didn¡¯t realize anything, but in just seconds she felt a surge of red warm energy entering her arm from the dagger and flowing through her body. She was surprised and pulled the blade out, drawing another sharp scream from the poor man.

    Katie ignored the man and examined her weapon carefully. She realized the red crystal at the end of the handle became slightly redder.

    ¡°Hmm. Interesting.¡± Katie tapped her lips with the sharp end of the dagger. Suddenly, she exerted some more force on the handle, and the dagger cut through her lips. She felt the pain, but she didn¡¯t feel more strength from the crystal.

    It didn¡¯t take Katie long to realize what was going on with this dagger. She didn¡¯t know what it was exactly, but it was extracting the life out of its victims, storing it in its crystal, and feeding it back to its owner. She was starting to understand how Caroline was able to overpower her.

    Unfortunately, this enhancement didn¡¯t seem to be permanent. Katie stuck the dagger into James¡¯ other leg and released it. Without making contact with the dagger, she could feel her power fading away by the seconds.

    In other words, the more she killed, the stronger she could become, but if she lost the dagger, she would be returned to the normal human being she really was.

    Licking her lips, she set her eyes on the half fainted man on the chair...

    Two hours later, Katie walked into Caroline¡¯s car. Her formerly black blade was as red as blood from top to bottom.

    This time Caroline was dodging her eyes. Even if she didn¡¯t hear all the screams from the bug she planted in the warehouse, she knew the more pain the victim of the blade experienced before he died, the more life force could be extracted from him. A stab to the heart was fine. A sequence of torture that lasted two hours could provide twice the sacrifice.

    What frightened her more was the fact that Katie didn¡¯t see a sense of uneasiness on her face. Her hands were still stained in blood, but she was casually wiping it on her leather jacket like it was grease stain.

    Caroline might be willing to commit murder for her own interest, but she wasn¡¯t a maniac, unlike the girl in front of her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Only one third of these blood is mine.¡± Katie casually said, seeing the look on Caroline¡¯s face. ¡°Oh wait. Sorry. I lied. Only half that blood is mine.¡±

    ¡°Well, you have proven to be one of us.¡± The blonde took a few moments to recover before saying slowly. No undercover officer or government agent would kill innocent people so brutally. ¡°Go home now. We will talk more about this tomorrow.¡±

    Katie nodded. ¡°He''s not exactly innocent, but...anyways. What should we do with the body?¡±

    ¡°Burn it.¡±

    ¡°Gladly.¡±

 Chapter 5: Welcome to the party

    Katie walked back to her ¡°home¡±. Mrs.Adams was a rich employer, and she didn¡¯t mind spending some money for business usage. Renting a house was hardly a financial burden.

    As Katie opened the door and walked inside, she felt a surge of sleepiness on her head. She frowned. She had more important things to do than sleep. She took out her dagger and stuck it into her chest and twisted it. The blade barely missed her heart, not that it mattered.

    The mind blowing pain cleansed Katie¡¯s mind of the desire to rest. Satisfied, she pulled the blade out. It put a groan to her lips and a smile to her face. She finally rested the blood soaked weapon on her laps and started examining it.

    When she was back in the warehouse, when the blade fed power into her body, she felt a surge of anger in addition to that power. It was as if someone started a fire in her head. She wanted to destroy everything in front of her. That was the primary reason why the torture only lasted for two hours. Usually, someone as experienced as her could keep the process going for the entire night.

    That discovery made her frown a bit. Being tied to a chair and tased? She enjoyed it. Being stabbed in the chest repeatedly? Casual wakeup call. But being influenced and losing herself and become a zealous killer...there was no excitement in that. She was already a killer, but sneaking around and hunting criminals was a pleasure. Charging around the city stabbing random people was stupid.

    Then again, maybe it wasn¡¯t so bad. Katie was confident of her willpower. As someone who routinely beats the shit out of herself, she wasn¡¯t easily influenced. As long as she could be careful, she could use this dagger without risking her own mind.

    Upon making up that decision, Katie climbed onto her bed. As much as she enjoyed the pain of waking up without sufficient sleep, she had something much more fun to attend to tomorrow.

    With any luck, she could find herself a supernatural target.

    <hr>

    The first half of the next day went by without a fuzz. All Katie received was a notice by Caroline to go to somewhere when school was done. As Katie found her way there, she realized it was a house.

    One of the members opened the door. Katie walked inside and found a dozen other teenagers already inside. She didn¡¯t find the owner of the house, and she didn¡¯t care. Dead or alive, they were irrelevant.

    The house was messy. Food wrappers and emptied bottles, glass and plastic, were all around the floor. Katie didn¡¯t mind that as she sat down next to Caroline.

    The group members were saying something, but they immediately quieted down when they saw the brunette. Caroline sent them the footage from the surveillance camera, and even they were horrified by what they saw. It wasn¡¯t the killing that bothered them. Each of them had a blade of their own and has killed at least a couple people before, but it was the way Katie delivered the kill that haunted them.

    When they struck, it was a series of zealous stabs to the chest. The victim would scream and blood would come out, but that was it. The entire process took half a minute. The way Katie acted...it was as if she was an experienced chef and the man was a dish she was making. She almost made the act of taking away a man¡¯s life look like art.

    ¡°Welcome, my fellow sister.¡±

    Victor was very different from the time when he told Katie to fuck herself. They were in a cult and their god delivered his disciples blades that could gain power by killing. Each and every one of them has taken several lives. They were the very definition of Darwinism. The strongest had the privileges and the respect while the weak had nothing.

    Katie was certainly the stronger ones.

    ¡°Thank you¡­what¡¯s your name again.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Victor.¡±

    ¡°Hello, Victor.¡± Katie quietly replied. ¡°Now that I have proven myself, do you mind telling me what¡¯s going on? Last night was fun, and I can¡¯t wait for more of it.¡±

    Victor felt his back cold from sweat. He did everything for his ambition, but this girl was just doing it for fun...he struggled to hold the fear as he told Katie everything about them.

    Four weeks ago, when he was walking home, Victor came across a long, black sword with a red crystal on its end. He picked it up, thought it was some cosplay item of some rich guy, and wanted to sell it for some cash, but then the impossible happened.

    The blade spoke to him.

    Through the conversation, Victor knew the blade had the name of Kassak. It didn¡¯t know where it came from, or at least that was what it claimed. However, it did show Victor its power.

    With a single tap, Kassak turned a kitchen knife into a dagger that was a complete duplicate to itself. Victor tried the blade on his desk, and it took out a corner of the wooden desk like it was hot butter. He tried a similar thing on a corner of the wall, and the result was similar.

    Just that wasn¡¯t enough to convince him it was a god and serve it with all his mind, but after he, being convinced by Kassak, killed a homeless man with the duplicate blade, Kassak did something to him that made him shake just by thinking of it. The process was hell like, but in the end he was willing to go through this again if he had to.

    The process allowed him to establish a bond with one of the duplicate blades. Before, the wielder of the blade could get feedback from the blade when it was used to kill someone, but the effect was relatively insignificant. However, after the bonding, he could become one with the weapon. The weapon could be summoned to him with the snap of a finger. It could establish a psychic connection with the user, allowing him or her to use it like it was a limb. It could even be swung out and bounce around to knock out enemies like it was Captain America¡¯s shield. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Of course, all of those needed life force and therefore human sacrifices, but that was nothing compared to the power it provided. This was especially so when Victor took out two armed drug dealers by using the blade like a boomerang.

    But Kassak was still restrained. According to itself, most of its power was sealed off. Apparently, at the height of its power, Kassak could slaughter an entire army in just seconds. With it as an ally, even if Victor couldn''t become the king of the planet, he could become much more than a casual sophomore teenager.

    But just like everything else, this power came with a great cost.

    Human sacrifice.

    44 human sacrifice, to be exact.

    Victor and the comrades he managed to recruit worked hard. Throughout the two weeks, the group members have taken out individual targets. Criminals. Homeless people. The clean ups were careful. As far as the group could tell, the authority didn¡¯t notice something was off. But 44 people was completely different. After just the first dozen, there was no doubt the authority would realize something was wrong and start investigating. Plus, these 44 men needed to be different from those used to feed the duplicate blades and needed to be taken out at around the same time.

    Victor knew he had supernatural support, but he doubted he could fool the police. He also doubted a blade could protect himself from a sniper rifle or a rocket launcher. He needed to lay low before the Blade of Kassak was freed.

    This forced him into a dilemma, but perhaps this new girl could change that.

    Unfortunately, there was still another step.

    ¡°We need to build a bond between you and our god. Only then can you utilize the full strength of his creation.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    Caroline pulled up one of her sleeves, revealing an angry red scar. Katie immediately realized it was the picture Mrs. Adams showed her. She was starting to have a grasp on what really happened.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to hurt.¡± The blonde said hauntingly. She could remember that nightmare. She screamed and cried and forgot about all her hope for the future, but the process kept going. When she was done, her body was wet.

    ¡°Great!¡± Somewhat surprising, Katie exclaimed. ¡°Do I get a choice on where I get this? If so, I want to choose my ...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s on your dominant arm.¡± Caroline shut Katie down quickly. She almost forgot how mentally ill the brunette was.

    ¡°Oh. That¡¯s disappointing. Any chance it can make an exception for me?¡±

    Caroline face palmed. She should¡¯ve known.

    Victor retreated to another room and came out with a large sword. It was put inside a black sheath. All the cult members lowered their head in obedience. Their duplicate daggers sung in a sharp rhythm. Katie could feel her duplicate dagger bowing. She had no idea how it was possible for a dagger to bow, but she didn¡¯t care either.

    It was Victor¡¯s god. The blade by the name of Kassak.

    Victor held the blade in the air before letting go, but instead of falling to the ground, the blade floated in the air.

    Katie ignored the rest of the cult members and took off her leather jacket, revealing a tank top. She fearlessly held her right shoulder out.

    ¡°You might want to bite onto something.¡± Caroline advised.

    ¡°Oh trust me. This isn¡¯t my first rodeo. It¡¯s not even the first ten.¡± Katie replied casually. As if insulted by her fearlessness, the Blade of Kassak suddenly struck down and ripped open her skin inch by inch.

    Katie¡¯s arm tensed up from the sudden pain for a brief second, but she immediately relaxed. A satisfied smile found its way onto her face. She layed back on the sofa and let out what Caroline could certainly describe as a moan. She looked like she was really enjoying herself.

    Caroline blushed when Katie took the time to blow her a kiss.

    Kassak seemed to feel even more insulted. She should be screaming, but she was actually flirting? He didn¡¯t say a word, but the steel dug deeper and harder.

    It only made Katie smile even more.

    Finally, two minutes later, the Blade of Kassak backed off in dismal. Katie groaned as well. She drew the duplicate blade from her belt and jammed it into her right thigh. It brought a brief scream to her chin as well as a wave of vibration to her body.

    As that was settled, Katie finally smiled. She twisted the duplicate blade in her leg while turning to Victor, who was looking to the side in awkwardness after realized what just happened.

    ¡°Remind me again. How many people do we need to unseal our master?¡±

    <hr>

    Katie and Caroline found their way to in front of a bar. Two large men in suits were at the door. Their packed sides meant they weren¡¯t just any doorman, and this bar wasn¡¯t just any bar.

    ¡°On the surface this place looks like an ordinary bar, but it is actually the property of a gang. This is also a distance away from the residential areas. No innocent people will come here. Most of the customers are either criminals or whores. There might be some unlucky innocent, but, well, they¡¯re unlucky. That¡¯s all I can say. Last time I counted 48 gang members. There might be more but last time I was here there was a girl with long legs there and I got really drunk and...point is, if we kill everyone inside we should have enough life force to revive our god.¡±

    Caroline checked her blade again. She was in a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

    ¡°Remember, you must use the duplicate blade to deliver the kill.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not stupid.¡± Katie smirked. ¡°Is everyone else in place?¡±

    This was a full scale attack. The followers of Kassak knew it was now or never. The thing with collecting enough energy to summon the Blade of Kassak was that the followers needed to make all the kills at roughly the same time. If they killed individuals, their action would likely go unnoticed in a city this big, but the duplicant blades automatically absorb the energy earned by the kills, and there wouldn¡¯t be much left over after feeding the duplicant blades. If they killed small groups of victims at once, they would have enough leftover, but they would likely be discovered.

    This meant they needed to deliver enough kills in one single strike. Otherwise, they would be discovered and hunted down. Their only way out was if they managed to summon the Blade of Kassar, who should be strong enough to deal with any type of threat. This was why they waited so long and still refused to truly make a move.

    But Katie¡¯s presence changed everything.

    For one thing, she knew there would be dozens of grown men inside the bar. There was a difference between different human beings, and the amount of life force gathered by killing a grown man was completely different to that gathered by killing an infant. Katie provided an opportunity where dozens of grown men would be in one place, and their death could certainly fuel the revival of the god of blades.

    All the followers of Kassak were in place, covering all the exits.

    Caroline took out her phone. It was linked to all the followers. ¡°We are in position at the front door.¡±

    ¡°Back exit one is covered.¡± This was a girl with red hair.

    ¡°Back exit two secured.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re at the side door.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Victor finally declared. ¡°Prepare for action.¡±

    ¡°Three.¡±

    ¡°Two.¡±

    ¡°One.¡±

    ¡°Go!¡±

 Chapter 6: Thats why you dont get too confident...

    Katie and Caroline walked toward the front of the bar. Katie swung her right arm, and her supplicant blade slid down her sleeve and fell into her grip.

    ¡°You know, I¡¯ve always wanted to do this ever since I saw it in Supernatural where all the demons and angels did this, but all I accomplished was cutting my arm open, but now¡­¡± Katie rolled the weapon in her hand before speaking to Caroline. The weapon was like an extension of her arm. ¡°this is cool.¡±

    Caroline smiled, but she suddenly appeared very hesitant. ¡°You know, I¡¯ve been thinking¡­¡±

    As the two talked, they were getting close to the two men. Neither of the guards felt threatened by the two girls, but this changed when one of the men saw the dark weapons the girls were holding.

    ¡°Stay back!¡± The guards reached for their sidearms, but they were too late.

    Katie jumped forward and skillfully ran the weapon across one of the guards¡¯ throat. The man collapsed. His hands went to his neck, trying to keep the blood from flowing out, but it wasn¡¯t enough. Katie casually stood by as he coughed to death.

    Caroline was much more straightforward. She smashed her blade into the second man¡¯s body and twisted it. The guard was twice the size of Caroline, but a wave of strength flowed from the red crystal into Caroline¡¯s arm and helped her pin the man down. The guard groaned as the essence of life was sucked out of his body.

    When Caroline looked up again, her eyes were red from anger. She searched around, desperately wanting another target to kill, another life to take.

    The Blade of Kassak did something to the duplicates he gave to his followers. While giving the users additional strength, these duplicate blades passed the desire to kill into the mind of its wielder. After all, the more blood these blades touched, the stronger Kassar could become.

    With both guards dead, Caroline glanced at Katie with reddened eyes. Katie merely smiled at pointed at the door.

    ¡°As much as I would enjoy a heated moment between us, we have a job.¡±

    Caroline nodded. Her t-shirt was stained red from the blood of her victim, but she didn¡¯t even bother to cover it. The two girls walked into the bar.

    ¡°Sup, hottie?¡± One of the customers of the bar, a bold man with a messy beard, was immediately attracted over. He was a quick thinker, and inside his mind he was already going over how he could get both girls on bed with him, but that lust melted like ice tossed into the sun when he saw the blood on one of the girls.

    Too late. Way too late.

    Caroline let out a short war cry before launching forward. The man raised his hands in an attempt to protect himself, and it worked, to a degree. Instead of taking off the man¡¯s head, the blade took off the man¡¯s arms.

    The man¡¯s scream covered the sound of music. The frenzied crowd looked at the source of the noise, and their heated hearts immediately turned ice cold. Letting out a series of panicked voices, they turned around and ran.

    Katie didn¡¯t pursuit. A slaughter was fun, but it wasn¡¯t as good as a fight. Plus, these people¡¯s fate was sealed. All the exits were covered and they would only be running into the duplicate blades of other followers. Instead, she turned and faced the gang members.

    At least two dozen gang members ran out from inside the bar after hearing the chaos. Some had guns and others had knives and clubs.

    ¡°Waste them!¡±

    ¡°Fuck them up!¡±

    Among the wave of fleeing customers, Katie and Caroline were the only ones standing still. The gang members immediately identified them as enemies and moved forward. However, the look on their face was more of shock and anger than fear. They realized the two girls killed some customer, but they thought they simply did so with the element of surprise. There was no way two slant girls could take down dozens of armed thugs.

    Well, they were wrong.

    Katie held her right hand out, and the mark shined in a red light. Immediately, Katie¡¯s duplicate blade flew out of her sleeve. A shade of red was on its surface. Katie, on purpose, tilted it slightly so it ripped a line of red through the skin of her arm.

    ¡°What the fuck¡­¡± The dark blade traveled like a lightning. Its body barely reflected off any light. The first gang muscle sensed something was wrong, but his question never reached the open.

    The man suddenly froze.

    ¡°What are you waiting for...oh shit!¡± The second hitman saw the first man stop. He frowned and turned the man over, only to see his head fall off.

    Katie¡¯s duplicate blade went through the first man¡¯s neck from the front and came out the other end. Half of the neck was severed, and the man¡¯s head hung there. Blood poured out from the opening and pained the second man¡¯s red.

    The second gang member froze. He wasn¡¯t unfamiliar with violence. He has jumped onto someone who came to the bar and couldn¡¯t pay and broke his arms. He would gladly be called a criminal and see it as a compliment.

    But this time he knew how wrong he was. He might be a criminal, but whoever these girls were, they were monsters.

    As if someone pressed the pause button, all the dozens of hitmen halted their charge.

    They stopped, but Katie didn¡¯t.

    She turned her fingers slightly, and the duplicate blade swung around once again and ran past the neck of two more gangsters. Blade splattered out, painting the dark blade crimson.

    The crystal at the end of the blade grew brighter and brighter.

    ¡°Run!¡± A few gangsters turned and fled. They wouldn¡¯t blink if it was an army of knife carrying gangsters attacking, but this time they were facing a supernatural enemy, and the image of the brunette just holding her hand out and the men were falling like flies broke their spirit.

    But they didn¡¯t make it far. Following a few gunshots, these men collapsed with holes on their heads.

    ¡°Wow.¡± Katie rose her eyebrows as a large man walked out from one of the rooms. Two pistols were in his hands. He looked unfazed. The gang members looked at him in a mixture of fear and admiration.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Fucking cowards. Anyone else want to see if they are faster than my bullets? They are just two women. How many of you can they kill?¡± The man declared, and the gang members turned back to Katie. The man raised his guns at Katie before speaking.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember making you an enemy. Who hired you?¡±

    Katie shrugged and was about to say something clever, but Caroline stopped her. ¡°We¡¯re on a timer.¡± She whispered before turning to the man.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. You and all your men will die right here, right now.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± The man smirked and reached inside his pocket and tossed something on the ground. Katie glanced at it. It was two duplicate blades.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know who you are or what you can do, but you are not invincible. Put a bullet into your brain, and you die. I confirmed that on two amateurs I met on the way out. They were just like you, all cocky and badass, and I killed them both.¡± He cocked his guns. ¡°Now, which one of you want to be the first to go?¡±

    The gang members cheered. Some of them even glanced at the girls¡¯ bodies with looks of desire.

    ¡°Come on, boss. It¡¯ll be a waste to kill them. Break their arms and legs and make them our slaves!¡±

    ¡°Actually¡­¡± Katie stepped in front of Caroline and snapped her finger, and her duplicate blade immediately flew toward the man.

    ¡°Katie!¡± Caroline exclaimed. There was a reason she wasn¡¯t attacking. Her blade might be fast, but there was no way it could stop the man from pulling the triggers and killing both of them. The moment they die, their blades would lose their power. She thought Katie had some brilliant plan when she stepped up. She didn¡¯t expect her to be so...mindless.

    Without running it through her head, Caroline reached out, grabbed onto Katie, and pulled her to the side.

    The man frowned, surprised, but he started exerting pressure on the triggers nonetheless. Kill one, and the other might be more cooperative.

    Following two gunshots, two bullets exited the gun barrels and started flying at Katie. The girl was unfazed as she continued to direct the blade forward, cutting through everything in its way.

    At the last moment, Caroline, who has been on the move a second before the man pulled the trigger, was finally able to make Katie¡¯s head tilt to the side a few centimeters. The two bullets went through where her head was half a second ago. One of them was so close it left a long trail of burn on her face.

    The blade temporarily deviated from its course as Katie lost focus for a second, but it immediately went back to its route and went across the man¡¯s arm. With a slight groan, the man collapsed with two cuts on his wrists. His gun hit the ground and made a loud clunk.

    The gang immediately quieted down. Some of them eyed the door, ready to make a run for it, but it was too late.

    A few short screams came from the doors before immediately dying down. A dozen men and women walked in. The black weapons in their hands identified them as followers of the Blade of Kassar.

    Their crystals had a variety of shininess. Each follower killed at least one person.

    The gang members let out a short cry before trying to run. Some resisted, but they were immediately mowed down. A dozen duplicate blades sailed across the room and pierced everything in their path. The sound of flesh being torn apart by metal made up a BGM of death.

    Katie groaned slightly as she stood up from Caroline¡¯s arms. ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°What was that? You could¡¯ve been killed! What is wrong with you?¡±

    Caroline was struck by disbelief. If Katie was risking her life to save the situation, she would thank the brunette, but Katie didn¡¯t even try to protect herself from the bullets. And now she was blaming her?

    ¡°I heal.¡± Katie swiped her hand, and the duplicate blade flew back to her hand. She wiped the blood on it on the leather jacket on her right arm.

    ¡°Yes. So do I. When I get a papercut. I heal. It¡¯s not exactly the same when I get shot in the face.¡°

    Katie smiled, to Caroline¡¯s anger. ¡±When I say I heal, I mean it.¡± She held up the sleeves on her right leg, and Caroline blushed and turned away. Katie rose her eyebrows and circled to in front of her. Surprisingly, this time she actually meant business.

    Caroline took a deep breath and looked at the brunette¡¯s long legs. Her skin was smooth and beautiful. Caroline subconsciously touched it softly.

    Katie shuddered. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong and I enjoy every second of this, but that¡¯s not what I¡¯m showing you.¡± She tapped a spot along her thigh. There was a light scar there.

    ¡°Is that?¡± Caroline suddenly remembered something. She blushed again, slightly.

    ¡°That spot was a blood hole yesterday. I cut it open right after the bonding for...entertainment purposes. Now it¡¯s healed. That¡¯s what I mean.¡±

    ¡°Ahhh.¡± Caroline took her hand back like it was on fire. ¡°But can you heal from a headshot? Can you heal when you¡¯re dead?¡±

    Katie shrugged. ¡°Never tried it before, though I look forward to finding out the answer. There¡¯s always a first in anything.¡±

    As they spoke, the followers have massacred all the people. Blood formed a stream. The bright red crystals glared under the colorful lighting of the bar.

    Well, almost all the people. Katie knelt down beside the leader of the gang and casually stepped on his crotch. The man screamed as he sat up, only to get stabbed in the chest.

    Victor walked over. The Blade of Kassar was put in a sheath attached to his belt. He turned slightly from the dead body. As a fellow man, he couldn¡¯t imagine how that felt, and he didn¡¯t want to. ¡°We should go. We have more than enough to revive our god. We can do the ritual right here, but we should be more careful.¡±

    Suddenly, the sound of sirens blaring came in from outside the bar. A follower ran to the door and peaked out. He returned a second later.

    ¡°It¡¯s the cops! They¡¯re here!¡±

    ¡°How?¡± Victor demanded loudly.

    ¡°Some of the people must have called the police before we took them out.¡±

    ¡°What do we do?¡± A female follower asked. A hint of fear was in her voice. She has just killed three grown men, but fully armed police officers were not defenseless bar customers or gang hitmen who were only armed with clubs and knives. They could take out hitmen with their magical weapons, but they couldn¡¯t overpower a group of SWAT team trained in combat. Even if their duplicate blades were effective, the SWAT officers could easily gun the cult members down before they die.

    Victor¡¯s jaw hung open. He was a cult leader and he made a deal with the devil, but he was still a sixteen year old boy. He has taken half a dozen lives, yet it didn¡¯t make him a criminal mastermind. Asking him to come up with a decision in such a desperate position in such a short amount of time was way too demanding.

    ¡°Ahhh¡­¡±

    A few followers groaned impatiently. The sound of sirens was growing closer and closer. They didn¡¯t have time to wait for their leader to make up their mind.

    Teenagers weren¡¯t exactly the most patient group of people on the planet. Neither were killers. The two mixed together resulted in a dangerous result.

    ¡°We need to lock the place down and delay the police as long as possible until we can restore Kassar into his full power. How long will the ritual take?¡± Katie suddenly stepped in. All the followers turned their attention from Victor to her.

    ¡°Around an hour.¡± Victor replied.

    ¡°Then we will delay them for an hour.¡±

    ¡°How? We can¡¯t fight the cops. They can pick us off one by one from a distance away.¡±

    ¡°Who said anything about fighting them?¡± Katie smirked. She didn¡¯t care about Victor or the Blade of Kassak, but as fun as the fight between fully trained police officers and a group of teenage cult members with magical blades who have nowhere to run might be, she expected much more. If she wanted to see combat and death she would just to the killing herself. ¡°The police will never try to attack if we have hostages. They¡¯ll wait until more reinforcement.¡±

    ¡°But we don¡¯t have hostages. We killed everyone here.¡± Victor was starting to regret their decisiveness. Slaughtering everyone was fun, but now it became a problem.

    ¡°Yes we do.¡± Katie turned and rested her arms on Caroline. ¡°Here¡¯s what happened. Two girls decided to spend some time in a bar. When a group of cult fanatics barged into the bar and killed everyone, they were able to survive by hiding. Unfortunately, they were eventually caught. Fortunately, before the fanatics can kill them, the police reinforcement came and trapped the fanatics inside the bar. Faced with no way out, the fanatics had no choice but to keep the girls alive as hostages. The police will never ignore two damsels in distress and attack.¡±

    ¡°As long as the cops stay back and try to negotiate, we can buy enough time to revive our god. After that, everything will be fine.¡±

    ¡°But who¡¯s going to be the hostage?¡±

    Katie smiled and took out a segment of rope and glanced at Caroline.

 Chapter 7: This...is...AWESOME!

    Outside the bar, six police cars came to a screeching halt. Twelve police officers jumped off their vehicles and used them as cover to secure the main entrance.

    A woman in plain cloth ran to the leading officer. The man saluted.

    ¡°Detective Kirsten. What is the situation?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard multiple gunshots, as well as screams, from inside the bar.¡± The woman tilted her head, glancing at the officers. Her ponytail swung from behind. ¡°Are all the officers in place?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve got two cars in the back and two in the ally. The place is under lock down. No one gets in or out. SWAT has been notified.¡±

    Kirsten Kirsten reached inside her jacket and drew her sidearm. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The officers reached the door. One of the men took a deep breath and charged through the open door. The rest followed inside.

    ¡°CPD!¡± He shouted. His pistol was raised, ready to fire, but he immediately stopped himself when he saw what was inside. The rest of the officers entered as well, but they did a similar thing to their comrade.

    Inside the bar, two girls were held up by two teenagers. The first teenager has a dagger next to the brunette¡¯s neck. The second had a pistol next to the blonde¡¯s temple. The two girls had tears on their face.

    ¡°Wait! Calm down! You don¡¯t have to do this!¡± Kirsten held her left hand out in a comforting fashion. ¡°Whatever you are dealing with, you can talk to us.¡±

    ¡°Get out!¡± The follower holding Katie demanded loudly. He just needed to buy time. ¡°Get out of this bar now!¡±

    ¡°Drop your weapon!¡± One of the officers retaliated. Kirsten glanced at him and groaned inside. Amateurs. Using demands like these could only piss the hostage holders off.

    Just like she imagined, the teenager holding Katie looked offended. He groaned and slid the dagger along the brunette¡¯s right thigh. The girl screamed.

    ¡°I said get out! The next one will be inside her neck.¡± The follower returned his weapon to Katie¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Fine!¡± Kirsten made a signal to the rest of the officers, and all of them slowly backed out of the bar. As they were gone, Caroline snapped at the man holding Katie.

    ¡°What the hell was that?¡±

    ¡°I actually suggested it.¡± Katie looked down on her thigh and touched the inside of the wound with her index finger. ¡°It¡¯s more realistic. No one working with the hostage takers would agree to be stabbed in a limb and potentially disabled.¡±

    Caroline took a deep breath and evaded the question. ¡°Where is Victor at?¡±

    As they were busy with the role play, Victor has taken all the crystals on their duplicate blades and went to somewhere quiet. It would take both time and energy to restore the Blade of Kassak to its full power.

    ¡°He¡¯s still working.¡±

    ¡°Then we need to keep this play going.¡± Katie forced out a few drops of tears and glanced at the blonde beside her. ¡°God I never thought role play can be so fun. We should do this more when we¡¯re done with this mess.¡±

    Caroline could only do a mental face palm.

    <hr>

    Outside, two carloads of SWAT operatives swarmed over the place. Ballistic shields were standard issue across the board. Every one of them had AR-15 automatic rifles with silencers on in their grip. Tactical goggles and face masks covered any expression by these men from the outside world.

    ¡°At least six suspects inside. They have taken two hostages.¡± Detective Kirsten turned to the leading officer. ¡°Is the hostage negotiator in place?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s stuck in traffic.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Kirsten frowned. ¡°Keep the place surrounded. Have we identified the hostage takers?¡°

    ¡°Surveillance cameras identify them as a group of high school students in Charleston Central High School.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. High schoolers. Any idea why they want to barge into a bar and take hostages?¡±

    ¡°No idea. Mind I ask, sir, how did you realize something was wrong?¡±

    ¡°I have been staking out this bar for days. I¡¯m certain it is the safehouse of a gang. A couple minutes ago I heard gunshots and screams, so I immediately called for reinforcement.¡± Kirsten explained. ¡°I¡¯ve got no idea it would turn out like this. I should¡¯ve went in when I had the chance.¡±

    ¡°Actually, sir, that would be a bad idea.¡± The officer explained. ¡°You said this bar is a safehouse for a gang. Then where is that gang? Someone went into their property and started wrecking things up, and they still sat back and did nothing? If it¡¯s a bar, then where are the customers?¡±

    Kirsten gulped as she realized what the officer meant.

    A group of people strong enough to take out dozens of gang members was more than enough to overpower a single detective.

    <hr>

    Inside a room, Victor silently rested the Blade of Kassak on the ground. He took out all the red crystals he gathered from the followers. They contained the essence of 44 human beings. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Supposedly, they were enough to revive a god.

    Victor acted quietly and efficiently. Although he referred to the Blade of Kassak as a god, he merely treated him as an ally. In fact, none of the followers really thought Kassak was a god. It was a deal. That was it. Kassak gave these teenagers more power than they could ever gain in a normal life. He gave them the power to kill in ways they couldn¡¯t even imagine. On the other hand, Kassak needed the followers to revive him.

    The crystals were put into a circle around the blade. At this point Victor could simply sit back and let the blade do the rest.

    Red energy streamed out of the crystals and entered the blade. As the process continued, the blade turned brighter and brighter. Finally, the Blade floated into the air by itself.

    Victor took a step forward, showing no sign of respect. ¡°We are trapped here by a squad of well armed enemies. We need you to get us out.¡±

    The blade started vibrating.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what I said? We¡¯re trapped here! Enemy forces may charge in anytime. We need you to take them out!¡±

    Victor¡¯s tone was getting annoyed. The situation was desperate, and it wasn¡¯t like he was truly faithful deep down.

    The next second the blade stopped vibrating. Victor frowned, and his eyes widened when the blade accelerated toward him with lightning speed.

    Its tip was ready for blood.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare¡­¡± Victor subconsciously reached out, summoning his blade, but immediately an excruciating wave of pain struck his arm where the follower mark was. It was as if someone just pushed a piece of iron on his skin. He screamed and collapsed.

    The next second the Blade of Kassak gently tapped on his skull. The man¡¯s eyes turned completely red as his mind was transformed. Two minutes later, Victor¡¯s eyes turned normal again, but he was no longer who he used to be. He used to be an independent human being, but now he is no more than a puppet. The Blade of Kassak returned to his sheath.

    Victor¡¯s supplicant blade transformed into a surge of black essence and returned to the Blade of Kassak, making it slightly larger and darker.

    From the moment he met Victor, the Blade of Kassak has never intended on truly working with him. In fact, if he wasn¡¯t gravely wounded and lost most of his power, he would have killed the man and taken his life energy in a heartbeat.

    But he was wounded beyond anything he has experienced before, and he knew there was no way he could save himself. Even if it was possible, it would take decades. Some life energy would be great, but it wasn¡¯t safe enough.

    So when he first met the wondering teenager, he did his best to convince him. In fact, he exhausted almost all of his power to create the first duplicate blade that he gave to Victor. If that failed and the blade didn¡¯t take a single life, Kassak¡¯s only choice would be lying around and hope he could live long enough to be restored to his former glory.

    But that didn¡¯t happen. Under his trick, Victor took a life. It was just a homeless man, but that man¡¯s life force brought the Blade of Kassak back to his feet.

    Things only went better and better. Victor had ambitions, and he didn¡¯t settle with being a teenager with a magical sword. He wanted to be a god.

    The number of followers grew more and more, and more and more lives were taken by the duplicate blades. A small portion of these live energies were passed on to the users and another portion was stored in the blades themselves, but most of these energy was actually returned to the Blade of Kassak himself. His power grew stronger by the days.

    Eventually, inside this bar, his followers has finally found enough sacrificial lambs to revive him.

    He was still not at his full power. If he wanted to become the monster he once was, it would take much more than 44 lives. However, it did give him the power to do a lot more things than he could right now, including killing someone and controlling his body.

    The followers have been useful, but starting from this moment they were doing more harm than good. The duplicate blades they possessed were copies of the Blade of Kassak¡¯s own body. They were created from his very essence. They could directly pass energy to him, but their presence was weakening him as well. He needed to take them back.

    The followers would never agree to this, so they had to go.

    Puppet Victor turned around and walked out of the room. There were still 14 followers on this planet, and all of them needed to die.

    Inside the front of the bar, Katie ran her fingers across Caroline¡¯s legs in boredom. A normal person would be wetting her pants in a situation like this, but Katie was so bored a part of her wanted the police outside to charge inside and shoot her.

    It has been over twenty minutes since the police first came in. They tried asking for what the hostage takers wanted, but they were trying to negotiate with someone who only wanted to stall. The result was obvious.

    ¡°We should get a room when it¡¯s done.¡± Katie suddenly said. The wound on her leg was no more than a scar, and this made her bored. Usually in a situation like this she would just stab herself again, but this wasn¡¯t exactly the right time.

    Caroline coughed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡±

    ¡°I said we should have sex when we¡¯re done. Need me to repeat again?¡±

    Caroline rose her eyebrows. ¡°But you¡¯re a girl.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°So¡­¡± Caroline held her hands out. ¡°so how can we¡­¡±

    Katie smiled. ¡°You really don¡¯t know anything about sex, do you?¡±

    ¡°I know the basics.¡± Caroline rebutted.

    ¡°Well, trust me, there¡¯s so much more than the basics.¡± Katie smiled. This was going to be fun.

    Just when she was about to get into the more detailed information, she heard footsteps from behind. She turned around and found Victor walking up. Caroline turned away. Deep down, she was slightly disappointed.

    ¡°Victor? What are you doing here?¡± One of the followers walked up. Her blade was in her sleeve.

    The next moment the girl screamed and collapsed. Her knees hit the floor, and her throat was just at the height of Victor¡¯s hand.

    Victor reached out and slit her throat.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± A follower grasped in confusion.

    ¡°Take him out! Shoot first, talk later!¡± Caroline declared decisively. All thirteen followers, including Katie, held out their arms. Thirteen duplicate blades were in the air, yearning for blood.

    Facing the forest of swords, Victor tilted his head, and all thirteen followers collapsed in pain. Screams covered the field as the blades fell onto the ground.

    When the Blade of Kassak gave the followers their marks, he installed a backdoor to make sure no follower could ever challenge him. With a single thought, he could send all the followers to their knees.

    Katie bit her lips and tasted something salty. It took every cell in her body to keep herself from screaming like every other follower beside her. Her entire body shook violently and she was struggling to keep standing. Beside her, Caroline clutched to her head like it was on fire. Tears came out of her eyes. She wasn¡¯t crying because she was scared. It just hurt too much.

    Victor smirked and walked to one of the followers on the ground and stabbed him in the chest. That follower has killed half a dozen gang hitmen, but now he was absolutely defenseless.

    Then the second.

    Then the third.

    Finally, when there were only six followers left, Victor reached Katie. Just like all the followers in front of her, she was shaking.

    Victor grabbed onto Katie¡¯s hair with one hand and raised his blade and aimed at the girl¡¯s heart, but the next second the girl¡¯s eyes snapped open.

    Victor, or rather the Blade of Kassak, frowned.

    He didn¡¯t saw pain. Instead, he saw an infinite amount of excitement.

    ¡°That...is...AWESOME!¡±

 Chapter 8: The last one standing

    Katie was better than ever.

    Ever since she was a kid, she knew she was different. While ordinary girls would cry when they twist an ankle or break a bone, she enjoyed it. She could still feel the pain and she would still scream if it got too intense and out of hand, but there was just something about it that seriously made her want to moan. She couldn¡¯t describe it. It wasn¡¯t a sexual feeling. All she knew was she enjoyed being hurt.

    She didn¡¯t know exactly when it started, but she remembered having that feeling ever since she could remember things.

    Ever since then, Katie started doing things she considered fun, whether it was hunting criminals or sleeping with people she didn¡¯t know, but it was getting boring. The pain was getting normal and sex no longer entertained her as much.

    Then she met her first he supernatural being.

    To Katie, this was the new definition of fun.

    And fun was exactly what she thought about this potentially fatal situation.

    Katie suddenly smiled. Every muscle in her body threatened to go on strike. She was already getting numb. Her arm felt like it was put into a furnace. Her heart was pounding like the engine of a race car.

    And she enjoyed it. She enjoyed the feeling of not knowing what was going to happen next. She enjoyed the feeling of adrenaline flowing through her veins. She enjoyed the feeling of the pain in her bones.

    The Blade of Kassak landed, but Katie merely held her left hand out. The weapon slashed down horizontally, but Katie simply tilted her hand slightly so it landed right on her arm.

    The blade made its way through her skin and flesh before being stuck.

    Katie¡¯s face turned redder. Her body shook violently, but it was due to excitement, not fear. In one swift movement, she physically drew her duplicate blade with her right arm and slashed down on Victor¡¯s arm.

    The arm was cut clean through. Blood poured out, but the puppet didn¡¯t scream. After all, it was merely a puppet. Its own self was already gone. Everything that belonged to Victor was stripped away.

    The Blade of Kassak, previously held by the now severed arm, floated into the air by itself. It snapped and darted at Katie.

    Katie bent her legs and lowered her balance. Finally, just as the blade was about to hit her, she jumped to the side at the last moment. Her adrenalin made her feel like a speedster.

    The blade flew past her. It tried to slow down and turn around for another go, but Katie has already turned around, and she had a handgun in her hand.

    It once belonged to the gangster that almost shot Katie in the head. She picked it up and hid it in her clothes when the man died. It was a last resort.

    Katie pulled the trigger. She prefered knives and other, more difficult to handle, weapons, but she knew how to shoot a gun as well.

    The Blade fell back. One of the bullets hit its surface. A wave of red energy covered the blade itself and saved it from the fate of being ripped apart, but the crystal at the end of the blade was obviously dimmer. Deflecting bullets took life energy, and the blade didn¡¯t have any energy to spare.

    Unfortunately, Katie had two guns.

    Outside the bar, detective Kirsten turned slightly as screams and gunshots appeared from the inside. ¡°We need to move now.¡± She demanded.

    ¡°What about the hostages?¡± The SWAT team captain asked.

    ¡°Something¡¯s wrong. The armed thugs seem to be in some sort of trouble. It¡¯s either an internal conflict or something else. I don¡¯t know. Point is, this might be our perfect chance to make a move without threatening the hostages.¡±

    ¡°Copy that.¡± The SWAT captain nodded and pointed at the bar. ¡°Move!¡±

    The SWAT units charged into the bar. Kirsten was not far behind.

    Inside, the Blade of Kassak was in an awkward spot. After emptying the first pistol, Katie would quickly switch to her second pistol and reload the first with her left hand. He tried to find a chance to charge forward, but Katie would always back off vigilantly.

    The blade¡¯s life force was exhausted. The followers only provided him with so much energy, and most of that was used up already. If Katie kept this going for another minute, he would be defenseless and killed. Theoretically she might use up her bullets before that happen, but the Blade wasn¡¯t planning on relying on prayers.

    If he was still at his full power...he could cut the girl into a million pieces in a heartbeat, but at the moment he was merely a fraction of what he used to be.

    He needed to replenish his energy. All the followers that were still alive, except Katie, have passed out on the ground. They were vulnerable, but Katie carefully forced him away from them.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    That was when the SWAT team charged in.

    ¡°Drop your weapon!¡± The first thing the SWAT members saw was Katie and the guns she was holding. They immediately took aim at her. The blade of Kassak was in the shadows, and the officers didn¡¯t see him.

    ¡°Look, I don¡¯t have time for this...¡± Katie said casually as she turned and took aim at the Blade of Kassak, but it just so happened that the blade was lurking next to the SWAT members. When Katie aimed for the blade, the police officers thought she was aiming at them.

    The leading officer didn¡¯t hesitate to fire.

    ¡°Bang!¡±

    ¡°Eh.¡± Katie fell on her knees with a bloody hole that went through her heart. She glanced down on the wound before collapsing. A pool of blood gradually formed beneath her.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Detective Kirsten stared at the captain in disbelief and demanded. ¡°She¡¯s one of the hostages.¡±

    ¡°She was holding a gun. She was about to shoot us.¡±

    ¡°Sir, I don¡¯t think she was aiming at us.¡± One of the SWAT members said quietly. ¡°I think she was pointing his gun at somewhere to the right¡­¡± He suddenly went quiet. A strange sound replaced his words.

    Detective Kirsten turned around and saw the SWAT member that was talking collapse. A trail of blood appeared on his neck.

    Before Kirsten could say or do anything, the rest of the SWAT members started to collapse one by one.

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°We need evac!¡±

    ¡°Who has visual on the enemy...Eh!¡±

    Kirsten looked around desperately. Her pistol was loaded, but she didn¡¯t see a target to shoot. She scanned across the bar, but she couldn¡¯t identify a single shooter. If there wasn¡¯t a shooter, then where did the shots come from?

    Suddenly, she heard a muffled gunshot, and a blade hit the ground just next to her. Kirsten was immediately shaken into reality. All around her, all twelve SWAT officers were dead. The fact that the blade was just next to her meant she was going to be next...until she was saved by a bullet from the side.

    A short distance away, Katie stood up in a puddle of her own blood. The hole on her chest was pretty much gone, yet her face was as pale as a sheet of paper. She needed nutrients to replace the blood she lost, and she wasn¡¯t getting the said nutrients.

    She was holding the AR15 of one of the fallen officers. She saved Kirsten not because she was Katie¡¯s type, although the female officer¡¯s pretty face probably played a large part in the decision, but because she was ready to face the blade again.

    After being shot at once again, the Blade of Kassak turned to Katie and started accelerating. Previously he was forced to take a beating from her, but now the table was changed. He has just taken the life force of twelve grown men, and he had more than enough to deflect a couple bullets. As long as he could get into melee with the girl, well, he was literally a sword. Melee was her strong suit.

    Katie fired her rifle a couple times, but all the bullets were deflected with ease. Shrugging, Katie simply stood there and allowed the Blade of Kassak to go through her body.

    It was messy. The blade pierced her chest and came out the other side, making Katie even paler than before, but the girl got what she wanted. She grabbed onto the handle of the blade with one hand and, with the other hand, reached to behind and pulled out a bag of grenades she was hiding.

    The blade resisted, but Katie held it inside her body.

    She put the bag on the blade and tied a cute knot before yanking the blade out of her body. She tossed it as far away as she could.

    The Blade of Kassak shook violently. He consumed Victor¡¯s conscious and knew everything the teenager knew. He was very aware of the power of the grenades. He turned and twisted and tried to get the bag of death of his body, but Katie was an expert in typing knots...all kinds of knots.

    An explosion consumed the blade.

    Katie took a deep breath and walked forward to where the blade used to be. It took her a full minute to find the blade, or rather what was left of it.

    The Blade of Kassak was in pieces. Its tip was shattered. Its crystal had a series of cracks on it.

    ¡°Ka...Katie.¡± Katie suddenly heard a quiet sound. It didn¡¯t take her long to realize it was the blade talking about her through the mark.

    ¡°That¡¯s my name.¡±

    ¡°Spare me...I promise to serve you. I will give you power...endless power¡­I can make you a god...this...this is nothing compared to my real power!¡±

    Katie tapped her lips, as if seriously considering the offer, but she suddenly stepped on the blade. She could hear a pained curse through the mark.

    ¡°Appealing, but I don¡¯t want to be a god.¡±

    ¡°...what...do¡­.you want?¡±

    Katie smirked and snapped the blade in two. After the grenades, the blade was already exhausted and mortally wounded. Give it some pressure, and it would fall apart like a mirror hit by a hammer.

    She never answered the question.

    With its body destroyed, the Blade of Kassak was gone from the material world.

    Katie stood back up and stretched. After enduring the burning of the mark the entire time and being stabbed and shot multiple times, she had to admit she was exhausted.

    ¡°What...what just happened?¡±

    Katie turned around and found the police officer that survived the onslaught staring blankly at her. What just happened was way beyond what she could comprehend.

    She arrived at the bar ready to deal with a gang war. Now she had twelve dead SWAT team members, a broken magic sword, and a girl who took several shots and one blade to the chest and lived.

    ¡°A couple of teenagers wielding magical blades got into a bar, killed everyone in it, and used them as sacrifices to revive a fallen supernatural being. I have the ability to heal quickly and I enjoy pain. Got it? Good. See ya.¡± Katie snapped her finger, and her supplicant blade hit Kirsten in the back of her neck and knocked her out.

    Katie didn¡¯t kill the female officer.

    For one thing, she was glad how everything turned out. For the other, she was delighted to realize she still had control of her duplicate blade even though she just killed the creator of the blade. She was in a good mood. The wisest thing to do was to eliminate the office so she wouldn¡¯t be hunted down by the cops, but why would she care? The cops could hunt her down all they want. That would be fun. She was in a good mood, and that was the most important thing.

    As the officer was down and Katie was the only one still standing in the bar, she looked around the room. Five followers, including Caroline, were still alive. All the SWAT officers were dead. The female detective was knocked out. Bodies of the gang that owned the bar, and those of a few unfortunate customers, were covering the floor.

    She went to work almost immediately.

 Chapter 9: See ya later

    Caroline groaned and sat up. Her right hand flew to her forehead. Almost subconsciously, she felt her arm on fire.

    She yelped briefly before realizing it was just a hallucination. A part of her mind was still back in the bar when she was attacked by Victor.

    Victor¡­

    Caroline had no idea what happened. As far as she knew, her leader just betrayed all of them.

    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re awake.¡± Katie walked through the door and entered the room. She was holding a cup of water. She quietly passed it to Caroline. ¡°How¡¯re you doing?¡±

    Caroline looked around. ¡°Where am I?¡±

    ¡°My house. Well, at the moment it¡¯s my house. Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s safe.¡±

    ¡°What happened back there...wait, who changed my clothes?¡± Caroline looked down and realized she was in a set pajamas rather than the t-shirt she wore into the bar.

    ¡°I did. Nice bra by the way. Love the color.¡±

    Caroline coughed. Then again she knew she shouldn¡¯t be surprised. If Katie didn¡¯t touch her, that would be creepy. Of course, this explained why her entire lower body was sore. She wisely changed the topic. ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± Katie briefly explained what happened. Of course, she took out some parts that the blonde didn¡¯t need to know.

    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s...impressive.¡± Caroline smiled. ¡°I guess I should thank you. After all, you saved my life. Then again,¡± She lifted the blanket on her and glanced inside briefly. ¡°it seems like you have already collected your reward.¡±

    Katie shrugged and flickered her fingers. ¡°Now what?¡±

    Caroline suddenly frowned and raised her right arm. Her mark was lit up, and the next second her duplicate blade flew into her grip from the table Katie put it on.

    ¡°How can my weapon still work if we just killed its creator. I thought Kassak had a way to disable the power he gave us.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how he did what he did, but I think it¡¯s something that needs to be manually activated. As soon as he died, that trick was turned off.¡± Katie held her arm out and put it next to Caroline¡¯s. The two identical marks flashed simultaneously. ¡°Kassak must be the primary user of this power and we, the followers, are the secondary. He can actively take our power away from us, but when he¡¯s dead that power will be returned to us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s convenient.¡± Caroline tossed the blade into the air and watched as it floated there. She suddenly felt so empty.

    Her entire life has been dictated by someone else. First she was controlled by her parents and was forced to do everything they demanded. Next she was hell bent on being an independent and powerful woman who could rule the world by the side of a god. But now reality struck. She realized her plan of dominating the world was nothing but foolish. Now that she thought about it, perhaps even the Blade of Kassak couldn¡¯t rule the world. If a bag of grenades wounded him so badly Katie could kill him with her bare hands, feet, a single rocket could blast him to pieces. Everything he promised, world domination, was probably just a way to get the followers to risk everything to revive him.

    Plus, Kassak was dead, and Caroline was just a teenage girl with a psychic blade. She might be much more deadly than the ordinary woman, but there wasn¡¯t anything she could really do. If she tried something, like murdering or challenging the government, her life might just be ended by a sniper bullet from a kilometer away. She would never see it coming.

    Katie tilted her head. ¡°Ever thought about going back to your family?¡± After all, she was hired by the girl¡¯s parents to get the girl back to them quietly.

    ¡°Hell no.¡± Caroline smiled sadly. ¡°I can¡¯t stand those two. All they want is to make me a perfect child and marry me off to another powerful family to forge an alliance. They want me to be a canary, beautiful but trapped, bred to entertain.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Katie jumped onto the bed and laid down beside Caroline. She stared into the ceiling as she spoke. ¡°you hate your parents, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Then kill them.¡±

    Caroline coughed again, choked by surprise.

    ¡°If you go home and pretend like you are still the canary you once were, your parents will never suspect anything. And then,¡± Katie licked her duplicate blade and tasted something salty. ¡°if they meet an unfortunate accident, who will be the successor to the empire they built?¡±

    She turned around slightly and ran her weapon down Caroline in a seductive way. Caroline blushed again and twitched slightly, but she didn¡¯t resist.

    ¡°Who will receive all the money Mr. and Mrs. Adams owned? Adams Combine is one of the largest companies in the country, and your mother owns the better part of it. If she, say, gets hit by a car.¡±

    Caroline¡¯s eyes twitched. A look of ambition appeared in her eyes.

    Katie smiled when she saw the look. While the Adams did hire her, she wasn¡¯t exactly the loyal type of girl. The Adams investigated her before they hired her. Now, that was totally reasonable, but Katie didn¡¯t enjoy being spied on, at least not like this. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Plus, Mrs. Adams did call their daughter a maniac when she talked about how Caroline hurt herself. She didn¡¯t realize it, but Katie took it personally.

    Most importantly, Katie was eager to see how things would turn out. Will the daughter slay her parents and become the queen of the Adams empire, or will the parents hold their ground and crush the rebellion? She could feel her blood pumping as soon as she ran that idea through her head.

    Sure, multiple people would probably die in the making of this event, but that only made Katie smile. There was nothing more interesting than a good old family feud.

    <hr>

    Charleston Police Department.

    Detective Kirsten walked into the captain¡¯s office for the mission report. She was surprised to see another man inside. He wore a suit and tie like he was some sort of special government agent.

    ¡°Kirsten. This is Special agent Leon from FBI. He is here for the bar case.¡±

    Kirsten nodded, but she guess she shouldn¡¯t be surprised. Twelve SWAT officers died. The girl that saved her life and knocked her out later fought a way out of the police perimeter. All the officers were sent into the hospital. Surveillance camera showed the girl taking five more others with her on the way out. Their current location was unknown.

    When more police reinforcement arrived and searched the bar, they discovered dozens of bodies. All of them were killed by some sort of sword.

    After she woke up, Kirsten filed a report on everything she saw. She had to admit the flying sword part sounded a bit strange, but she was too exhausted to think about the credibility issue.

    ¡°Detective Kirsten. Can you answer a few questions?¡±

    ¡°I put down everything I knew in my report.¡± Kirsten didn¡¯t want to go back to that event again. The blood of her fellow officers was still red inside her mind.

    ¡°It¡¯s just some details.¡± Agent Leon smiled warmly. ¡°You want to understand what happened back there, don¡¯t you? I can buy you a drink. It wouldn¡¯t take long.¡±

    Kirsten hesitated for a second before finally nodding. For some reason, she felt like her life was completely changed with that nod.

    Twenty minutes later, the two reached a coffee shop outside the police department. Leon bought two cups of coffees and paid for it. He returned to Kirsten and sat down.

    He went straight to the point.

    ¡°What do you know about supernatural forces?¡±

    Kirsten rose her eyebrows, trying to be as calm as possible. ¡°Apart from what I saw in that bar, nothing.¡±

    ¡°Well, supernatural beings exist, and a large portion of them aren¡¯t symbiotic with mankind.¡± He took out a stack of pictures and dropped them on the table. Kirsten slowly went through them.

    The first picture showed a man that hung himself. It appeared to be a suicide.

    ¡°This man was a professional killer. In one of his missions, he killed an innocent man and staged it to look like a suicide.¡± He glanced at Kirsten. ¡°He made it look like the innocent man hung himself.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying¡­¡±

    ¡°There was no defensive wound. Keep in mind that man is a killer, but someone managed to sneak onto him and kill him before he could do anything. Autopsy showed there wasn¡¯t any drug involved, so the man was conscious when he died, and yet he didn¡¯t even attempt to defend himself.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying this killer received karma? That¡­¡±

    ¡°I am saying that man was killed by a vengeful spirit, likely the one that he killed.¡± He pointed at the stack. ¡°The list goes on. For decades, these supernatural beings slaughtered ordinary people like lions hunting down sheep.¡±

    ¡°I belong to a division in the FBI dedicated to preventing that from happening. Some of the victims might be criminals, but most are not, and even the criminals should be punished by law, not ghosts and spirits.¡±

    Kirsten took a deep breath. ¡°Why are you telling me this? Shouldn¡¯t this be some sort of top secret information?¡±

    ¡°This girl.¡± Leon took out another picture. It was that of Katie. ¡°She met you in the bar.¡±

    ¡°Yes. She was the one that took down the magical blade that killed all the officers. It¡¯s all in the report.¡±

    ¡°According to your description, she is also a supernatural being. Rapid healing might just be one of her abilities.¡± Leon tapped the picture. ¡°We need to find her, and you are our best opportunity.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. I don¡¯t know who she is. The first time I met her was the time when she knocked me out.¡±

    ¡°Precisely. Knocked out.¡± Leon said slowly. ¡°First she didn¡¯t do anything when all the SWAT officers did, but then she stepped in when you were under threat. Later, when she was on the way out, she took down seven officers in the perimeter. All of them had at least a limb broken. But you were simply knocked out and woke up a couple minutes later with nothing but a bruise on the back of your neck.¡±

    ¡°Are you suggesting something?¡± Kirsten frowned. She didn¡¯t like where this was going.

    ¡°No. If we suspected you¡¯re a mole of this girl it wouldn¡¯t be me talking to you.¡± Leon kept his smile on. ¡°Nonetheless, you are special, and the girl didn¡¯t hurt you. Plus, you know the way around this city. I will need to stay here for a while, and I¡¯m going to need some help.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a job.¡± Kirsten refused.

    ¡°I will talk to your captain.¡± Leon said confidently, not doubting whether or not the captain would say yes.

    Kirsten bit her lips.

    Both of them thought Katie saved Kirsten because the female officer was special. They never even considered the idea that she was just in a good mood.

    <hr>

    On the other side, Katie slid her sharp nails down Caroline¡¯s bareback.

    After she planted a seed inside Caroline¡¯s head, things got a bit out of control. Both girls had a lot on their mind, and they desperately needed a way to let these stress off. What was a better stress reliever than sex?

    ¡°Are you coming with me?¡± The blonde asked after a while.

    ¡°No. I have something else to attend to.¡± Katie denied. She was intrigued by supernatural beings. If she didn¡¯t have a better choice, she would gladly spend her time with the family and help Caroline set up the ¡®accident¡¯, but she had better things to spend her time on.

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± Caroline turned around and faced Katie. ¡°Just give me your number. I feel like we¡¯re going to be friends, especially after this. Oh who am I kidding? We¡¯re definitely going to be friends.¡± She giggled.

    Katie smiled and pulled away from the girl. She stood up from the bed and walked to a table and grabbed a piece of paper. She put her phone number down and casually slid it along her arm, causing a paper cut. She jammed the paper into the wound before pulling it out. Now that the edge of the paper was stained red from her blood, Katie finally smiled in satisfaction and handed the paper to Caroline. The paper didn¡¯t feel complete in its pure white form.

    ¡°Goodbye, Katie.¡± The blonde stole another glance at Katie¡¯s bare chest.

    ¡°Goodbye.¡± Katie smiled before putting on her clothes and walking out of the house.

 Chapter 10: Line 66

    12:45 PM.

    It was already getting late. A bus was waiting at a station. A young man in his twenties was walking down the streets when he saw the bus.

    ¡°Damn. I never knew there¡¯s a bus this late.¡± Kyle rose his eyebrows but nonetheless walked in. He knew this series of buses bring him much closer to his home, and it wasn¡¯t safe to walk home this late into the night. He could if he had to, but he wouldn¡¯t if he had another choice.

    A dozen men and women were inside the seats. They looked normal, but Kyle felt like there was something wrong with them, but he was too tired to think much of it. He sat down in one of the seats.

    The door was gradually closing when someone approached.

    ¡°Wait!¡±

    The door remained open, and the newcomer walked up onto the bus as well. Kyle¡¯s eyes lit up. It was a brunette who was around his age. She was carrying a backpack. Her hair formed a ponytail behind her head. She looked cute.

    What made his eyes lit up even more was how she sat down beside him.

    The doors closed, and the bus started moving. As the bus moved, the girl turned to Kyle.

    ¡°Hello.¡± She said flirtingly and held her hand out. ¡°I¡¯m Katie.¡±

    Kyle blushed slightly as he shook her hand. He was amazed by how soft it was. ¡°I¡¯m Kyle.¡±

    ¡°So, Kyle, what are you doing up here this late.¡± Katie casually started a conversation as she rested her bag by her leg. ¡°You¡¯re a student, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I am working a job and I had a shift at a store around here. It got pretty late.¡±

    ¡°Then you must be tired.¡± Katie smiled widely. ¡°Let me tell you a story. It should, well, it should ease you up a bit.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm.¡± Kyle was surprised by how talkative Katie was, not that he was complaining. ¡°What story?¡±

    ¡°Well, legend says that once upon a time, a line 66 bus operating late in the night was involved in a terrible accident when its driver failed to see a gasoline truck coming out from the side. The two vehicles hit, and an explosion consumed both cars. Everyone on the bus was literally melted. I heard the first responders that reached the site reported a barbeque smell in the air. Half the first responders threw up.¡±

    Kyle bit his lips. Perhaps it was due to the psychological effect, but he sensed a smell of well-done meat in the air.

    Katie continued her story.

    ¡°The accident was just the beginning. As the story goes, the passengers of the bus went through an immense amount of pain when they died. The pain of literally feeling their skin and flesh barbequed and melted was...interesting. The pain was so bad that even after their death, the souls weren¡¯t freed. They were forever imprisoned in the world of the living, and they grew infinitely jealous of those who still had their lives. Occasionally, they would go across the streets of the city and abduct some unfortunate individuals and torture them to death. These victims will join the dead. It satisfies the sickened desire of those poor souls.¡±

    Kyle suddenly gulped. He looked at a sign inside the bus, which said line 66.

    Sweat came down his back.

    Katie leaned forward and whispered into his ears.

    ¡°I remember the 12:45 line was canceled after the accident.¡±

    Kyle¡¯s neck stiffed. Slowly and shaking, the poor man turned around and glanced at the passengers one by one. He felt something was wrong with them, but he didn¡¯t think much of it. Now he realized what it was. Every single one of the passengers had every inch of their skin covered. No one looked at him when he walked in. Even the body parts that weren¡¯t covered by clothing, like hands and faces, were kept in the dark.

    Now he remembered. After the accident, the mayor of the city went on television and announced the cancellation of this bus line. How could he possibly forget about this?

    But if the bus was canceled, then where is he now?

    Katie tilted her head slightly. All of a sudden, the clock mounted at the top of the ceiling started turning. Instead of the time ¡°12:45¡±, it skipped to ¡°12:52¡±.

    ¡°The accident happened on 12:52,¡± Katie said quietly, but Kyle wasn¡¯t listening. All around him, the passengers have stood up. They were walking toward the two living who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now that they were up, Kyle could see their skin, but he hoped he didn¡¯t. Their skin was heavily burnt and was bright red. Some of the skin was gone, revealing parts of cooked flesh. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    It took all of the man¡¯s strength not to turn and vomit and scream and cry.

    ¡°Wh...what...what should we do? What the fuck is that?¡± Kyle suddenly remembered how calm and omniscient Katie was. ¡°You know how to get us to safety, right?¡±

    To his surprise, and utter disappointment, Katie merely shrugged.

    ¡°Not really. I¡¯ve got something in mind, but I¡¯m pretty sure they won¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°Then why the fuck did you come up here? You could¡¯ve kept me from coming onto this bus!¡± The teenager has lost his politeness.

    ¡°Honestly speaking, I¡¯m still pretty new to this. I just want to, you know, get to know things a bit more. Make some friends, have some fun...¡±

    Kyle wasn¡¯t listening. He was close to pissing himself. The burnt spirits moved closer and closer, and for some reason Kyle didn¡¯t like where this was going. He gulped and ran to the door and kicked it, but it didn¡¯t even budge.

    ¡°Damn it!¡± Kyle subconsciously turned to the driver¡¯s seat, only to find the driver being a body with one third of its head gone. Seeing the brain fluid coming out of the body¡¯s skull, Kyle didn¡¯t need to try to know the driver wouldn¡¯t help him.

    He turned back to Katie. He didn¡¯t know what the hell was wrong with her, but he did know she and him were the only two human beings on the bus. Suddenly, he watched in horror as one of the burnt bodies grabbed onto Katie¡¯s arm. The girl, for some reason, didn¡¯t even resist.

    Immediately, the girl was set aflame. Kyle used all his strength to turn around and go at the door again, ready to do his best to ignore the girl¡¯s scream, which didn¡¯t come.

    It took Kyle a few seconds to realize Katie wasn¡¯t screaming. Confused, he turned back, almost afraid to look, but what he saw made him stare in awe.

    A black blade was in the girl¡¯s right hand, and the girl, still on fire, decapitated the burnt corpse with a single swipe. As soon as the head of the corpse hit the ground, the rest of the body exploded into ashes, which then melted into the floor of the bus, leaving not a single trace of the corpse¡¯s existence.

    ¡°You¡¯re on fire!¡± Kyle shouted. He was impressed by what Katie did, but it was hard to ignore the fact that the girl was literally on fire.

    ¡°Yes. Thank you. I did not notice that.¡± In a seemingly insane, and actually insane, move, Katie, still on flame, took a few seconds to make a joke before taking off her already melting clothing. Some of them were already attached to her skin, but she jerked them off with force, bringing some of her skin down with them. ¡°Roll on the ground!¡± Kyle yelled, and the girl tossed him a smirk before complying.

    When she stood back up again, Katie was naked and heavily burnt. Kyle walked over to her, wanting to help her but not sure if he would do more harm than good. To his surprise, Katie¡¯s skin started to mend.

    In an excruciating process that took a couple of seconds, Katie was already back to the gorgeous brunette, or rather the naked gorgeous brunette.

    ¡°What the hell?

    ¡°If I know the answer, I would tell you, but I don¡¯t.¡± Katie flexed her neck.

    Kyle gulped and turned his attention from the bare girl to the corpses all around them. The image of black bodies was more than enough to put down any desire of the flesh.

    ¡°What do we do?¡±

    All around the corpses were getting restless. The way Katie executed the first corpse took them by surprise and scared them back. These corpses were creatures of pure emotions. They were beasts, but they still had some instinct, including the instinct for survival. However, as time dragged on, the desire to see the living suffer took over again. This time, all the corpses were ready to get into action.

    ¡°We need a way out. How many of these can you take down?¡± The man started to get all tactical. That was wise, but Katie simply didn¡¯t give a damn about tactics.

    Without answering, she reached inside the bag she kept by her and pulled out a string of shrapnel grenades.

    ¡°Why do you have grenades?¡± Kyle asked with a hint of pleasant surprise. A couple of well-placed grenades could certainly change the situation, but that surprise was turned to horror when Katie literally pulled off all the safety pins and dropped the grenades by her feet.

    It was a good idea in terms of doing damage to the corpses, who were closing in on them, but Kyle suspected Katie didn¡¯t remember both her and him were even closer to the grenades than the corpses were. However, a part of him suspected she did remember, but she just didn¡¯t care. After all, he was dealing with a girl who made jokes while being on fire. This was more than just having guts. This was madness.

    Even in this situation, Kyle didn¡¯t forget to grab onto Katie¡¯s arm and try to pull her back away from the grenades and behind cover, but she didn¡¯t budge. ¡°Shit!¡± He cursed as the grenades went off.

    The explosion immediately tossed Kyle back and smashed him into a wall of the bus. The man groaned and clutched onto his head. His mind went blank for a few seconds, but as he stood back up, he suddenly remembered something.

    ¡°Katie!¡± He ran to the girl and was horrified to find her on the ground. Half a dozen pieces of metal went through her body, but most importantly, a pieces of shrapnel went through her forehead. He knew she could regenerate, but how could she heal if she was dead?

    All around him the corpses were standing back up. His heart sank. If she died, then his chances of survival would be next to zero. He wasn¡¯t a fighter. Even if he could find her blade he couldn¡¯t wield it as expertly as she did. He shook her violently.

    A corpse made a swung at him, and Kyle took a step back. Looking down on the pale eyes of the body, Kyle suddenly felt a wave of anger rising from the bottom of his heart. Faced with no retreat, he had no choice but to stand and fight. He reached down and picked up the dark blade Katie dropped and did his best to fend off the corpses.

    He made it ten seconds before one of the corpses knocked the weapon out of his hand. The man moved back in a hurry, only to trip over his feet. As he hit the ground, the corpses gathered around him, ready to turn another innocent soul to a screaming victim.

    Suddenly, the blade on the ground whirred and lifted off into the air, and the next second, following a flash of black light, all the corpses around Kyle collapsed with their head gone.

    The bodies hit the floor and turned to ashes.

    Behind the corpses, Katie stood back up and slowly pulled the piece of shrapnel out of her forehead. The wound closed after the metal left her body. There were still bits of metal all over her body, but she turned the blade around and picked the pieces out one by one. Blood came out of the wounds, but Kyle could only see a look of satisfaction from the girl¡¯s face.

    ¡°You¡¯re...alive¡­¡± The man said in awe as he watched Katie massacre all the spirits with pure efficiency. ¡°Wait, you could¡¯ve done that the entire time?¡± Then why did she use the grenades?

    Katie shrugged.

    ¡°Is that a question?¡±

 Chapter 11: A new mission

    ¡±Arrrr!¡± All the corpses charged at Katie, but they were beheaded one by one. Katie sat down and crossed her bare legs and mentally controlled the blade to finish the job. Of course, she wasn¡¯t completely relaxed. She was still having a conversation with her new found friend.

    ¡°You¡¯re naked.¡± Now that they were no longer in the heat of battle, Kyle noticed the awkward moment. Katie¡¯s clothes have been reduced to ashes when she was set aflame by one of the corpses, and she didn¡¯t really have any backup. He didn¡¯t realize anything when they were about to die, but now...Kyle immediately took off her jacket and handed it to Katie, who respectfully declined.

    She was never a modest type.

    ¡°If you want to know what¡¯s going on, then don¡¯t even ask. I don¡¯t want to explain everything to you. It¡¯s boring.¡± Before Kyle could ask anything, Katie cut him off. There was no fun in inserting a brand new world view into someone. If she had the time to do it she might spend it on dissecting her own arm. Unfortunately, her weapon was occupied for now, and her other daggers were either left in her hotel room or melted along with her clothing.

    Kyle nodded slowly. A distance away, the corpses still charged at Katie and Kyle relentlessly, but they never made it close enough. They were beasts, and their primitive conscious were incapable of recognizing the threat the supplicant blade posed. When the blade struck, it was already too late.

    The driver of the bus walked up from the driver¡¯s seat. Unlike the corpses, he wasn¡¯t completely mindless. At least he could swear.

    ¡°Why do you get to live? Why do you get to live while we have to burn and die? You will die! You will scream and burn, along with your boyfriend!¡± The driver cried as the last corpse disappeared. As he screamed, his brain content was still flowing out.

    Katie smirked as Kyle turned and threw up. ¡°Trust me. If I burn, I will not scream. I will probably moan, but if I do scream, it will be from pleasure. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t want to do that now, so¡­goodbye.¡±

    The supplicant blade flew toward the driver, but the driver wasn¡¯t like the low level puppets. He raised his arms, and a stream of flame came out and knocked the supplicant blade off its course.

    The blade went at the driver again, and was deflected again. Katie suddenly felt her head exploding. She touched her nostril and saw blood. She was using her psychological power to control the blade, and the damage the blade received would be reflected upon her.

    Katie smirked and directed the blade forward again. She was already considering reforging the blade. If getting knocked back could make her head feel like it was being penetrated by a nail, then she couldn¡¯t wait to learn what completely destroying the blade would feel like.

    Once again, the blade was knocked back, but Katie did the same thing again, expecting the same result.

    ...

    Katie¡¯s face was already covered in blood when the driver¡¯s head suddenly exploded. Black energy flowed from the hull of the bus into the driver, mending his wound, but the next second Katie¡¯s supplicant blade went through the driver¡¯s head. The girl tried to stop it, but everything happened so fast. She expected the driver to knock the blade back and the faster the blade was, the more damaged it would be when it was hit back, but things didn¡¯t really go as she expected.

    Behind her, Kyle had a pistol in his hand. It came from Katie¡¯s duffel bag. Luckily, it survived both the fire and the explosion. The man managed to reach it and use it when both the driver and Katie had their attention trained on each other.

    ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± Katie frowned and walked back to Kyle, yanking the gun away from him. She was completely naked, but Kyle was intimidated, especially when her supplicant blade, damaged yet still sharp, returned to her side.

    ¡°What do you mean...I was helping you¡­¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you see I was having fun?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re bleeding! Look into a mirror! It looks serious!¡±

    ¡°I know I¡¯m bleeding! Didn¡¯t I tell you I was having fun...never mind.¡± Katie suddenly realized the pointlessness of arguing with the man. With the spirit dead, the bus was already melting to ashes. Katie grabbed onto her bag and started walking away, leaving Kyle alone. She didn¡¯t bother with receiving thanks or comforting him. She was here for some fun, and despite the interruption, she had some fun. The teenager meant nothing to her.

    The return to her hotel was rather interesting. Apparently, not everyone was comfortable with seeing a fully naked girl walking across the streets at midnight. A couple of thugs even tried to violate her.

    Well, at least they don¡¯t have to worry about getting arrested for sexual assault.

    After walking by a blushing front desk who did her best to act normal and respectful, Katie entered her room. She sat down on the sofa and started running through everything she knew in her head while running her supplicant blade across her chest, curving a bloody yet temporary picture. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    As far as she knew, there were two types of supernatural beings.

    The first were wraiths, or rather vengeance spirits. They usually came from souls that were wrongfully killed. From what she saw from Jaison, these spirits tend to go after their killers first, but sometimes they would go after the innocent as well, which was what the bus did.

    Conventional methods like grenades and guns struggled against these wraiths. Weaker ones like Jaison could be killed by a dagger to the heart, but stronger ones like the bus driver were less easy to take out. Back on the bus that boy Kyle shot the driver in the head, but he was merely grazed. There was no long term effect done.

    Thankfully, there was another way Katie could settle the matter. Apart from conventional methods, there were also supernatural attacks available. Katie¡¯s supplicant blade was one of such examples. Itself being forged by the essence of a supernatural entity, the blade effectively killed both the corpses and the seemingly impervious bus driver. At this point, it was her best weapon.

    Katie classified the second type of supernatural beings simply as those who weren¡¯t spirits. That included the Blade of Kassar and whatever vampire or werewolf or demon she might meet in the future. This type of supernatural entities could be damaged by physical means. After all, she just maimed the Blade of Kassar by a bag of grenades.

    Satisfied, Katie jumped onto her bed and tucked herself under the sheets. Tomorrow would be an even better day.

    <hr>

    The next day, Katie got up, got dressed, and went down to the lounge and grabbed some food. As she put a piece of bread just out of the toaster into her mouth, she logged into ShadowNet. She didn¡¯t really have anything planned, but with any luck that was going to change.

    ¡°Threaten an ex? Intriguing but no thanks. Provide information on a kidnapper? If I¡¯m not the kidnapper then there¡¯s nothing I can do. Protection detail? I¡¯ll probably get bored to death before any threat appears. Hell I might even take out the employer myself. Wait a second.¡± She suddenly glanced at one of the pictures the employer sent. It was a body. The body itself didn¡¯t matter to Katie, but what was interesting was how pale the body was. The man was six feet tall and had packed muscles all over his body, but his skin was white as paper.

    Vampire? Katie rose her eyebrows. Out of all the ways she was hit, she has never experienced being sucked dry, at least not like this.

    She tilted her head, smiled, poured a cup of boiled coffee down her throat, and accepted the mission.

    The employer was a mob boss. Katie didn¡¯t know what his real name was, and she didn¡¯t really care. Caring was boring.

    ¡°ID!¡± Two men in black were at the gate of the manor of the boss. They were obviously packed. Katie took out her phone and flashed her interface at the guards, who immediately backed off. One of the guards said something into the walkie talkie, and a man in his forties walked over. He had a solid look, and even the grey hair on his head couldn¡¯t cover his fierceness.

    ¡°Call me Mr. Hunter. I¡¯m Boss¡¯ butler.¡± The man wasn¡¯t the boss. From what Katie knew the boss was hunted. There was no reason for him to come out of the safety of his safe house and into a potentially risky position. ¡°You must be the Queen of Spades.¡±

    Katie nodded. This mission wasn¡¯t limited to her alone. Anyone with a clearance level above 5 could join. ShadowNet adopted a distinct clearance level that evaluated the individual users based on their successfulness in terms of completing their mission and the comment the employers made. The levels went from 0 to 10. Katie was at level 8. Her mission success rate was 95%. If she actually tried, she might get even higher.

    Boss promised not only a handsome basic payment but also possibly additional reward. This was more than enough to bring a hell lot of guns for hire to the mansion.

    Mr. Hunter led Katie into the mansion. As she moved, she saw dozens of mob members patrolling around. All of them were carrying weapons, and Katie could tell all of these members have blood on their hand. Katie smiled. This was interesting. The boss not only spent a substantial amount of cash on ShadowNet but also fortified his mansion extensively. This meant one thing. The boss knew the attacker held supernatural power, and since he didn¡¯t have supernatural means to counter it, he had no choice but to get as much firepower as possible.

    If it was someone else here, #JeanTurner, she might try to capitalize on that knowledge and find a way to use it to her advantage, but Katie...like she always said, thinking is boring. She was here for the fighting. Trying to use tricks to her advantage would be against the point.

    Katie and Mr. Hunter walked by four SMG wielding men and into a large room. There, at the top seat, sat a large man. The suit he wore seemed to be incapable of holding back his giant form. The black tattoo of a dragon was on the back of his right arm. Two lines of seats were along the hall. Some of them were occupied while others were empty.

    As Katie sat down in one of the seats, Mr. Hunter went to Boss and whispered a name. Boss nodded and glanced at Katie, but the worry in his eyes didn¡¯t lessen.

    For the next ten minutes, more guns for hire kept on walking into the room. As more entered, Katie keenly noticed the amount of guns for hire was much more than the amount of seats.

    This meant the ones who came in late would have to stand while waiting for trouble to arrive. For one thing, this was tiring, and fatigue in the legs could make them more vulnerable when the inevitable attack comes. For another, this would be embarrassing. None of the outlaws would say yes to standing up while others had a chance to sit.

    This led to some small scale conflict. Katie saw a man previously standing punch a seated man in the back of his neck and knock him out and took his seat.

    Boss didn¡¯t even bat an eye. He merely waved his hand, and two mob members walked in and dragged the unconscious man away. If anything, he was glad this happened. If these guns for hire couldn¡¯t even get a seat, then they were obviously not worth his money. How could he trust them to protect his life?

    The boss was desperate for firepower, but someone as experienced as him knew a few idiotic allies might do more harm than good. He might just get them out of here now. He wanted the best of the best.

    At first Katie was gladly observing the fight around her, and when a man walked up to her, her smile grew even wider.

 Chapter 12: If you are in danger, dont hire Katie to protect you

    ¡°Get the fuck out of here, you bitch. This is no place for a girl like you. Your battlefield is on beds.¡±

    ¡°First of all, I would gladly do battle with someone on bed. It¡¯s always fun to sleep with someone who wants to kill you. Trust me. I¡¯m telling from experience.¡± Katie did her typical ramble before suddenly changing her tone. ¡°However, I prefer to stay here for a while, so...no thanks.¡±

    ¡°I ain¡¯t asking, bitch.¡±

    ¡°Well then.¡± Katie¡¯s right hand suddenly moved, and the next second a dagger landed between the man¡¯s legs. ¡°It¡¯s actually not as bad as it may seem.¡± She casually commented, licking her lips.

    The man was confused as of what happened for a brief second before feeling the pain in his crotch. A scream came out of his lips, but the voice was instantly cut off when Katie reached out, grabbed onto the dagger, pulled it out, and ran it across the man¡¯s throat.

    As the man¡¯s body hit the ground, Katie casually licked the tip of the dagger before sitting back down.

    Boss glanced at Katie again. This time he had a little more confidence.

    The fighting paused for a second before continuing, but no one challenged Katie. None of the guns for hire actually used guns because if they did, things would get out of control. A gunfight might kill half the mercenaries before the real enemy even gets here. All of these men used melee.

    Truth to be told, Katie was slightly disappointed, but she did take a particular interest in seeing the fight go all around her.

    One of the man carrying a machine gun on his back knocked a seated man out in one swift punch.

    Another woman expertly dislocated a seated man¡¯s shoulder, causing him to fall off the chair and groan in pain. The woman smirked and kicked the man aside, taking his seat.

    But what really made Katie¡¯s heart beat was a girl with red hair. A man made a jump on the redhead, but all the girl did was flicker her finger, and the man collapsed out of seemingly no reason at all.

    In his seat, Boss suddenly smiled. The more powerful, and mysterious, these men and women were, the safer he would be.

    His smile disappeared when Mr. Hunter heard something from his walkie talkie, walked up to him, and whispered something into his ears.

    ¡°Boss, we lost contact with the perimeter guards.¡±

    Boss frowned. ¡°All of them? Including the snipers?¡± He put two snipers at the entrance.

    ¡°Yes sir, I suspect there might be multiple hostiles. There¡¯s no way one man took care of all the boys out there before they can call for help.¡±

    ¡°Recall all of our men to this location. We can¡¯t afford to let them be picked off one by one.¡± Previously Boss deployed his men all around the entire mansion so the enemy couldn¡¯t sneak in, but it turned out the enemy had no intention of using the element of surprise. If they were pushing through with brute force, Boss needed to move his men to one place as well. Thankfully, he knew the enemy would be after him. All he needed to do is pile as many guns around himself as possible.

    As Mr. Hunter went to deliver the order, Boss stood up. At the seats, the fighting was pretty much done. At least ten men were on the ground. The twenty left were seated. The overall number of mercenaries dropped, but the average quality grew.

    ¡°You know the deal. Keep me alive until tomorrow, and I will make sure you get your check.¡±

    ¡°With all due respect, we are taking a risk just by being here.¡± The man with the machine gun said impatiently. ¡°According to the tradition of our line of work, you should pay us half the money before the job happens and pay us the rest, along with the bonus, after we do the job.¡±

    It was a reasonable tradition. The mercenaries were risking their lives by taking part in this mission. If they fought and bled and took some wounds and the man they were hired to protect still died, do they just return empty-handed? This way the mercenaries were both inspired to get the job done and wouldn¡¯t be in a tough spot if the mission failed.

    There was an entire class of economy behind this line of work. Of course, extremely rarely, the mercenaries might just take the money and run or fail the job on purpose, but if that happens the employer could contact the officials of ShadowNet and put a bounty on that mercenary or simply tell the entire website what he did, thus shutting down their future. No one would hire a mercenary who has had a history of betrayals.

    ¡°Very well.¡± Boss nodded at one of his lieutenants, who started typing on his computer. In half a minute, all of the mercenaries received buzzes in their phones that suggested the transactions were completed.

    With the money in place, it was time to get the job done.

    Suddenly, gunshots rang out from outside the building. The mercenaries frowned and stood up. Mr. Hunter walked back in.

    ¡°Boss, there are multiple hostiles outside the house. They have engaged our guards. Sir...¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re right. They¡¯re not human.¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Before the Boss could say anything, something slammed on the metal security door and formed a human-sized hole on the door. The guns for hire frowned. Whoever tossed the man must be insanely strong.

    But it was too late to back out now. Plus, none of the mercenaries were afraid of taking some risk. If they did, they wouldn¡¯t have chosen this line of work.

    ¡°Let¡¯s waste them.¡± The machine gun carrying guy stood up and readied his weapon and pointed it at the door. Rather than waiting for the mysterious attackers to take care of the guards outside and then engage the mercenaries, the wisest thing to do would be to go out, team up with the remaining guards, and gun down the enemies with superior firepower.

    Boss nodded, and the mercenaries got ready. Katie reached to her side and took out two Glocks.

    The gang member closest to the door typed a password into the controller, and the door was opened. As soon as that happened, the mercenaries poured out. The machine gun guy was the first. Katie was the second.

    The battle outside has evolved into something extremely unconventional. Gang members, criminals and killers, pulled the trigger like their lives depended on it. Somehow Katie saw a scent of fear on the faces of these fearless executioners. Their automatic weapons rang out and formed a music of death, but the death of whom remained to be a question.

    On the other end were twelve or so figures. All of them were in black cloaks. Their skin was covered, but Katie wasn¡¯t disappointed because these attackers were obviously not normal. The speed they moved with was impossible for ordinary human beings, no matter how trained they were. For instance, Katie saw one of the attackers literally dodging a couple of bullets from a gang member and then proceeding to break his neck.

    The guns for hire immediately realized this wasn¡¯t their typical everyday mission. ¡°Fall back and focus fire!¡± The machine gun guy ordered as his gun started blasting. The rapid firing weapon forced the attackers to move around and dodge, pushing them back. The rest of the mercenaries joined the fight as well as they started opening fire.

    They were joined by the guards that survived the previous onslaught.

    Katie pulled the trigger like crazy. The recoil repeatedly blasted on her arms, but she didn¡¯t give a damn. Whatever ache or bruise the recoil caused merely made her more excited. However, Katie questioned the effectiveness of her weapons as she saw a cloaked figure getting shot in the chest, only to keep moving around as nothing happened.

    The mercenaries continued shooting, and the cloaked figures started to lose some ground. Katie frowned as she reloaded. These attackers have lost the element of surprise. They might have some supernatural powers, but as Katie has learned from her experience, superpower didn¡¯t mean bulletproof. There was no way these attackers could possibly hold against this much firepower. If she was in their position...ok she might just charge and get shot repeatedly..but if it was someone logical in their position, they might pull back, regroup, and strike another time. Even someone like Boss couldn¡¯t be surrounded by an army every second of what was left of his life.

    A part of her wanted these vampires to turn and run. Shooting them in the face, as fun as it was, was not as interesting as getting to know better and gradually hurt them and be hurt by them.

    What happened next made her smile.

    One of the vampires stumbled as he was shot in the chest, but he didn¡¯t collapse. Instead, he went back to standing almost immediately and launched himself at the gang member that shot him. The large guard backed off while firing, but the vampire was faster as it jumped onto the guard and ripped him apart. The six feet tall gang member didn¡¯t stand a chance against the smaller cloaked figure. As he died, his killer dug his teeth into the man¡¯s neck briefly before pulling them out. Blood was spilled. A satisfied look appeared on his cloak covered face.

    The machine gun-wielding man was really good. A cloaked figure charged at him, but the man saw the vampire almost instantly and turned his weapon around. The automatic weapon spat fire and ripped the cloaked figure apart.

    Blood covered the floor. Katie rose her eyebrows. These figures might be able to take a few bullets, but they couldn¡¯t stay alive either when their bodies were in pieces.

    Using the moment of distraction, a vampire jumped onto Katie. His arms swung across Katie¡¯s neck, and the girl felt a stinging pain on her skin. For a moment she couldn¡¯t breathe. The vampire on Katie smirked in bloodthirst as she smelled the sweet taste of blood in the air. The girl below him was surely dead, and she was ready to move on to someone else.

    And then Katie reached out and grabbed onto the vampire¡¯s neck. The vampire struggled, to no avail. Katie pushed her pistol onto the vampire¡¯s mouth and pulled the trigger.

    Bang. The vampire collapsed with a bloody hole at the back of his head. At this close of a distance, the bullet went all the way through easily.

    Katie glanced at the blood on the tip of her pistol.

    ¡°Impressive.¡± Behind her, a fellow mercenary, the woman who Katie suspected had telekinesis power, commented. She walked closer to Katie. A vampire launched himself at the woman, only to get knocked back to where he was by an invisible force. ¡°Name¡¯s Lauren.¡±

    ¡°Katie. What¡¯s up?¡± Katie asked as she kicked another vampire in the chest and concluded with three more bullets. The vampire screamed and turned and ran away. Katie didn¡¯t bother finishing the job. Thankfully, Lauren was a more qualified mercenary as she emptied a clip into the vampire¡¯s back.

    ¡°Something¡¯s off,¡± Lauren commented. ¡°I don¡¯t know who these attackers are, but they aren¡¯t invincible. We¡¯re already pushing them back.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Then why are they still attacking? They don¡¯t stand a chance. I guess you can say their commander is unwise, but...¡± But that wasn¡¯t something they could lean on.

    What happened next answered her doubts.

    Suddenly, a surge of crimson energy exploded from the center of the defender lines and swept through almost all the mercenaries and guards, including Lauren and Katie. As soon as the human bodies made contact with the energy wave, they collapsed.

    Streams of red energy were sucked out of human bodies and condensed into rivers of red. In contrast, the victims grew paler and paler by the seconds. Just five seconds later, most of the mercenaries and guards collapsed. Their life was drained.

    The gunfire came to a halt, but the vampires didn¡¯t. They ravaged through the mercenaries like they were made of paper.

    The machine gun-wielding man could no longer raise his weapon. Seeing the situation, he drew his sidearm and tried to put up a last stand, but two vampires ripped him to pieces. The man killed multiple vampires previously, and now he paid the price.

    The stream of red energy flowed into the body of one of the mercenaries. Katie realized the man¡¯s face has turned incredibly pale. The energy intake obviously satisfied the man. Two vampires ran to the man and lowered their head obediently.

    A quick-thinking guard, still on his knees, raised his rifle at the man and pulled the trigger multiple times. The man smirked and suddenly disappeared. The next second he appeared he was already in front of the guard.

    Snap.

    He broke the man¡¯s neck and casually dropped the body onto the ground.

    ¡°Well,¡± Katie coughed. She had to admit she was taken by surprise, not that she was complaining. ¡°can someone tell me what the fuck just happened?¡±

 Chapter 13: A peaceful conclusion...which means the MC is PISSED

    ¡°That was some sort of aura. It sucked the life force out of anyone in the surrounding and fed it to the user, giving him extra mana.¡±

    Lauren was in a better situation than the other mercenaries. Her telekinesis power deflected some of that influence. In comparison, Katie was much weaker. Her body was fine, but she was starving.

    ¡°The attackers must¡¯ve sent one of them in posing as a mercenary, allowing him to get into the perfect position to s¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah yeah whatever.¡± Katie regretted asking the question. She cocked her pistols again and stood up, aiming at the vampire leader. Lauren coughed in surprise. What the hell? Did she really just go out against a dozen supernatural enemies with no backup and just her guns blazing? She went through all the trouble to get close to Katie and explain what happened to her because she felt like she needed an ally to survive through this, but¡­

    The vampire leader¡¯s hands came together, and Katie felt herself being thrown back by a blast of volatile red energy.

    ¡°Fucking idiot.¡± Lauren flattened her hands and laid down behind a killed guard, pretending to be a corpse. Without backup, she didn¡¯t stand a chance against dozens of attackers. All the guards and most of the mercenaries were slaughtered already. She had to wait for a further opportunity.

    Despite pretending to be one of the dead, Lauren had a her power on the ready.

    She has already tossed Katie out of her mind. The girl was no doubt dead now, thanks to her own foolishness.

    Meanwhile, the vampire leader walked up to Lauren¡¯s and Katie¡¯s employer.

    ¡°Jason Loon.¡± He said with a low, vibrating voice. ¡°Two days ago, your men abducted one of us. Where did you take him?¡±

    Lauren frowned. As a mercenary, it was her job not to ask questions about her employer, but this time she was willing to make some adjustments. What was going on here might be closely related to her own interest.

    The mob boss suddenly smiled.

    ¡°I am just a pawn. The people that wanted your friend, they are someone you don¡¯t want to mess with. Unfortunately for you, you don¡¯t seem to have a choice.¡± Suddenly, he glanced at something behind the vampire leader.

    The vampire leader¡¯s form disappeared. Boss tried to move, but several other vampire guards stopped him.

    When the vampire leader reappeared, just ten seconds later, he was holding a man in his arms.

    Mr. Hunter.

    Boss¡¯s expression changed. Just a couple seconds ago he was being cocky because just as the battle began, he sent Mr. Hunter to a sniper position. His butler was a former Special Forces sniper. From what Boss saw, these monsters couldn¡¯t take a bullet to the head and live. If Mr. Hunter could snipe the vampire leader with the element of surprise, the rest of the vampires would be defenseless.

    That hope faded away when the vampire leader snapped Mr. Hunter¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Now, I am going to ask you again. Who do you work for?¡±

    Boss hesitated, and the vampire leader stepped on his left knee. Following a loud, bone-chilling sound, Boss screamed.

    ¡°Unfortunately for you, you have three more limbs.¡±

    ¡°Look,¡± Boss tried to negotiate. ¡°I want to make a deal with you. If I talk, you have to offer me protection...ahhh!¡±

    He screamed as the vampire leader crushed his other knee.

    ¡°Fine!¡± He finally gave up. ¡°I know¡­¡±

    Suddenly, his words were turned to a scream. He laid back on the ground, piercing the mansion with his voice. His agony was obvious. The vampire leader frowned and reached into the man¡¯s body with his own power, trying to do something about it.

    But it was too late. The vampire leader scanned the man several times before coming to the unfortunate conclusion that there was nothing he could do about it.

    ¡°Please¡­¡± Boss made a last desperate cry before exploding.

    Blood and gore replaced the human being.

    The vampire leader took a step back. Blood dripped out of his mouth. The explosion damaged his psychic energy, and it was reflected onto his body.

    ¡°What do we do?¡± One of the cloaked figures walked to their leader and asked.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. This lead is over.¡±

    Lauren took a deep breath of relief and laid back. This might be the best case scenario for her. She was being involved into something she couldn¡¯t handle. She was lucky to be alive. Sure, her mission failed, but she did get the initial payment from boss. All she wanted to do right now was wait until the vampires get out, get herself out of this slaughterhouse, and forget about what happened here and continue with her life.

    Well, things didn¡¯t go like how she planned. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°What¡¯re you doing here?¡± A voice appeared from behind her.

    ¡°Oh..damn it!¡± Lauren tried to suppress a surprised shout. She turned around and saw someone who she thought was dead. Katie. ¡°What the hell? Keep your voice down!¡± As glad as she was that she had one more ally to work with, she didn¡¯t exactly favor having Katie here. She has proved her foolishness for more than once. Even now, when they were supposed to be moving quietly, she was being as loud as ever.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Katie ran her finger through one of the many holes on her jacket. The blast took out a part of her clothing. It also took out a part of her chest, but she didn¡¯t give a damn about any of them. However, she wasn¡¯t too satisfied with how Lauren was hiding from a fight. What¡¯s the point of being here if she didn¡¯t want to fight?

    ¡°Keep quiet god damn it!¡± Once again Lauren shushed. Now she really hoped Katie was dead. ¡°You¡¯re gonna get both of us killed!¡±

    ¡°Really? Well, I¡¯ll be happy to die beside you.¡±

    ¡°Are you seriously flirting with me now?¡± Lauren was already toying with the idea of snapping Katie¡¯s neck with her telekinesis. ¡°Shut the fuck up god damn it! I don¡¯t want to die today. It¡¯s just not a good day to die.¡± She whispered.

    ¡°Then when is a good day to die?¡± Katie asked curiously.

    ¡°To be fair, everyday is a good day to die.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a great point.¡±

    At first Lauren didn¡¯t realize anything, but she soon came to a terrible conclusion.

    The voice that answered Katie belonged to a man, and last time she checked, both her and Katie were women.

    Lauren turned around and found herself staring down at the face of the man who killed Mr. Hunter.

    An invisible shield was formed between her and the vampire leader. Her mind immediately turned to analyze the situation. She could never break out of this by force, and from the looks of it, the vampire leader wasn¡¯t afraid of killing those in his way.

    But the vampire leader didn¡¯t strike. Instead, he started talking.

    ¡°My name is Beinoff. I am the head of the Fu family.¡± He tilted his head at the defensive Lauren. ¡°If I wanted you dead I would¡¯ve killed you by now. Your caution is pointless.¡±

    Lauren didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry. She¡¯s just a dull woman.¡± Beside, Katie smiled. Unlike Lauren, she didn¡¯t even put up anything resembling a defense. ¡°Hello Beinoff. My name is Katie. She¡¯s Lauren, by the way. Beautiful name. Terrible personality.¡± She rolled her tongue on the ¡°r¡±s of the terrible.

    Lauren bit her lips.

    Beinoff glanced at Katie. At first he just saw her as someone lucky enough to survive one of his hits, but now he saw differently. Not everyone could survive that blast, and not everyone would be as chill as Katie was now after a brush with death.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Lauren finally asked. The three of them couldn¡¯t just keep it like this the entire time.

    ¡°We¡¯re not enemies.¡± Beinoff tried to appear as in control as possible. He wasn¡¯t exactly comfortable with talking with Katie, whose actions he couldn¡¯t predict. He was more than happy to turn to someone much more normal. ¡°That man who hired you, Jason Loon, was working for someone else. Someone evil. This someone sent him to abduct a family of mine. I came here to take that family member back, and if that can¡¯t be done, avenge him.¡±

    ¡°Why should I believe anything you say? Ten minutes ago we were still at each other¡¯s throat.¡± Lauren kept her guards up.

    ¡°We also killed a couple of your family members, by the way.¡± Katie interrupted and answered Lauren¡¯s blazing eyes with a sweet smile. ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡±

    ¡°Them?¡± Beinoff glanced at the vampires, who were ravaging through the guards and mercenaries on the ground. ¡°These beasts are just cannon fodder. I can pull up an army in a couple of hours.¡±

    ¡°As for you two...I decided to talk to you two rather than kill you guys because we are essentially on the same side in this war.¡± Beinoff started again. Lauren frowned, wanting to seek a chance to shut down the conversation and flee this field without angering Beinoff, but she never had the chance.

    ¡°War? There¡¯s a war?¡± Katie jumped in again with her interest peaked. ¡°Tell me about it, and it better not be some boring drama with a couple dozen people in total on both sides that is just called a war to sound cool and be clickbait.¡±

    War was good. Peace was boring. Wars are fun.

    Beinoff took a deep breath. He would rather fight an army of mercenaries than talk to Katie, but he had no choice. Both Katie and Lauren could be his allies, and taking them out by force would be stupid.

    Patience is a virtue¡­He whispered to himself.

    ¡°A couple weeks ago, news have gotten around in the supernatural circle that people of all races and all powers are disappearing. I even heard of a phantom mage who got kidnapped. Ever since then the circle has been trying to find the one behind this, but whoever the power is, it¡¯s discreet. It only relied on lower level underlings to carry out their missions. Whenever things got rough, these underlings were silenced. He,¡± He gestured at where Mr. Boss¡¯s body was, ¡°he was the closest we got to, but the mastermind must¡¯ve set up something. He was silenced before he could give me any important information.¡±

    ¡°And you think because someone¡¯s kidnapping supernatural beings and both of us have supernatural powers, we¡¯re on your side?¡± Katie concluded.

    ¡°Wait a second. If he¡¯s with some mysterious organization, then why did he rely on mercenaries to protect himself?¡± Lauren found a problem with Beinoff¡¯s explanation.

    ¡°Whoever the organization is, it made no effort to get its own hands dirty. Those exposed were left to die, if they weren¡¯t executed first.¡±

    ¡°Sounds awesome.¡± Katie was already getting bored. She tilted her head. ¡°Give me the name and address of one of these underlings you know and I¡¯ll go have some fun with him. I can make sure he spills everything he knows and has.¡± She licked her lips.

    ¡°Actually,¡± Beinoff suddenly seemed a bit embarrassed. ¡°we don¡¯t have another name and another address.¡±

    Katie threw her hands up.

    ¡°So all these talking are just BS.¡±

    ¡°I can leave you a link to my ShadowNet account.¡± Beinoff suggested. While Katie didn¡¯t demonstrate much destructive power in the fight, Beinoff could see she had her rapid healing. Adding to that was the fact that Katie obviously seemed insane. Someone who could heal quickly was dangerous. Someone who could heal and wasn¡¯t afraid of pain or danger was deadly.

    Katie nodded. The fact that Beinoff didn¡¯t have anything to give her now didn¡¯t mean it would stay the same in the future. She took out her phone, logged onto the ShadowNet, and entered a passcode Beinoff gave her into the search tab.

    ¡°Fu7?¡± She wondered at Beinoff¡¯s username.

    Beinoff nodded, and Katie added him as a friend.

    ¡°Look, I don¡¯t want to have anything to do with you and your war.¡± Lauren finally had a chance to cut in. She considered fleeing, but if she was caught, which was the most likely, the situation could get a lot worse.

    ¡°Just add me. If you get into trouble in the future, I might be able to help. It can never hurt.¡± Beinoff added.

    Lauren finally agreed. When she looked up, Katie was already gone.

    She was never a fan of talking.

 Chapter 14: Milestone High school

    A dozen police cars stopped in front of the mansion. A black SUV joined them.

    Agent Leon and detective Kirsten walked out of the car. They walked into the mansion. As they moved, both frowned at the sight of the bodies on the ground. They used to be fully armed guards, but they were slaughtered like pigs. The fear on their face was obvious.

    They stopped in front of a pile of solidified blood. Both bit their lips and tried to keep their lunch inside of their body.

    ¡°Jason Loon.¡± An officer behind them tried to keep her eyes on her file. ¡°Suspect for mob activities. Our undercover agents on ShadowNet reported seeing him send out a cry for help.¡±

    While the government couldn¡¯t do much against ShadowNet itself, it was capable of sending officers and agents onto the website and check out the public information, including the missions posted on the public mission board.

    ¡°ShadowNet?¡± Kirsten asked. As a police officer, she didn¡¯t know about the website.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you more about it later.¡± Leon focused on the task at hand. ¡°What I am more curious is what happened to him.¡±

    ¡°If I may, I think he was hit by some sort of explosive.¡± The police officer behind tried her best to provide some help. Leon glanced at her. He didn¡¯t want her here for the sake of discretion.

    He couldn¡¯t really say anything, so he used a more indirect way.

    ¡°Unlikely. From the direction of the flesh, the explosive was placed inside his body.¡±

    The police officer was running to the side and vomiting before he finished. The words themselves wasn¡¯t that bad, but adding the words to the smell and the look, it was torture.

    Now that the unrelated was gone, Leon and Kirsten could talk freely.

    ¡°What do you think? A wraith?¡± Kirsten suggested. ¡°If he¡¯s a mob boss, he must¡¯ve had quite some blood on his hand. If one of them decided to come back and get his revenge...¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Leon had some other ideas. ¡°I don¡¯t know the theory behind this, but research and experiments show that grown, healthy men have a significant amount of resistance against spirits. In most cases, wraiths go after women, the sick, the old, or the children.¡±

    ¡°Even wraiths are sexist?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, I don¡¯t know the science behind this, but I once heard of a theory in China. They say human beings have some sort of qi. When a person is strong, their qi is stronger. These qi can protect them from hostile spirits. When someone gets sick or old or week, this qi disappears. Women by nature have less qi than men.¡± Leon returned to the task at hand. ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯re wraith, but I do have some suspects.¡± He took out his phone and showed it to Kirsten.

    ¡°The attackers took out most of the cameras, but two survived. My tech guys managed to retrieve the data and sent them to me.¡±

    In the video, one of the mercenaries was absorbing the life force from all the mercenaries and guards around him. Men screamed and hit the ground. Hooded figures charged forward and took care of the rest.

    ¡°The Blood Council.¡± Leon tapped his phone again and pulled up the image of a bright red Sigil. ¡°This is a group of supernatural beings who inhibit certain characteristics of vampires. They are divided into different families. According to information, family members had the ability to cast spells and infest other creatures and turn them to his puppets.¡±

    ¡°Were those hooded figures human beings?¡± Kirsten suddenly realized something.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Leon frowned. ¡°But I don¡¯t think there is much we can do. Whoever these Blood Council members are, they¡¯re gone now. We don¡¯t have a way of tracking them down.¡± He sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but there¡¯s nothing we can do. We can try to keep a closer look at the city, but...but there¡¯s nothing we can do about this.¡±

    Kirsten remained silent.

    <hr>

    Katie slammed her duplicate blade into the heard of a screaming wraith. As the wraith hit the ground and vanished into a puff of smoke, she pulled the blade out. The crystal at the end of the weapon was much brighter than before. She turned her wrist. The power the weapon passed on to her was amplified. She felt like she could shatter the stars.

    Crushing those illusions, Katie turned to a woman who was on the ground, paralyzed by fear.

    ¡°Next time you murder your husband, and I¡¯m sure you will, call me. I can even give you a 50% discount. Either that, or a buy one get one free deal.¡±

    Without waiting for an answer, she turned and left the apartment.

    As she walked through the streets, Katie took out her phone and strolled through the ShadowNet app. Her lips formed a pleasant curve when she saw one of the missions.

    Suddenly, as her eyes were trained on her phone, a car came out of the side. It was obviously speeding, and it hit Katie before either her or the driver could react.

    Katie was knocked off her feet.

    At this point, anyone would¡¯ve stopped, but the driver had other thoughts in mind. His eyes turned red when he realized even if he stopped now, he would have hit a girl and potentially killed her. In a split second, instead of hitting the break, he pushed on the acceleration pedal.

    The car bumped over something. The driver gulped before bringing the car down the road, trying his best to get out of this place as quickly as possible. This was a hit and run. If he was caught, he would be spend decades in jail.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    As the car departed, Katie sat back up.

    ¡°Well,¡± She flicked her fingers, and her duplicate blade came out of nowhere and floated in midair. ¡°What the hell was that?¡±

    Milestone High School was located at the rural area of the city. After the school was deserted twenty years ago, no one ever bothered to come here.

    Katie stepped off her newly gained car and took a deep breath. This was going to be interesting.

    Suddenly, she frowned. She heard footsteps from behind.

    Turning around, she saw four flashlights.

    ¡°Hey! Who¡¯s there?¡± A voice asked.

    Katie turned around and saw four teenagers. Two girls and two boys. All of them were holding flashlights. They looked like they were in high school.

    A small smile climbed onto Katie¡¯s face as she realized something very, very interesting.

    ¡°What are you guys doing here this late?¡± It was already ten PM. Katie was here because she wanted some thrill, but why would these four teenagers be here?

    ¡°Us? What are you doing here? You¡¯re no older than us.¡± One of the leading teenagers asked.

    Katie smirked. She loved a boy with some ball. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll go first. I¡¯m a fan of thrills, and I heard there are some fun over here. You?¡±

    The teenagers exchanged a glance, and the two girls smiled. The leader replied.

    ¡°We¡¯re students of Charleston High School. We heard there is something fishy with this school, so we decided to check this place out.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Katie rose her eyebrows. A while ago, she briefly went undercover in the Charleston High School to infiltrate a cult. ¡°Well, it¡¯s fun meeting you guys here, but you should be going.¡±

    ¡°Going? We just came here.¡± The leader said. ¡°We¡¯ll be going through the entire school tonight.¡±

    ¡°What is it? A dare?¡± Katie was being extremely talkative for someone who interrupted the conversation between two supernatural beings multiple times because she was bored. There was a reason for that.

    ¡°It¡¯s none of your business!¡± The other boy complained. ¡°Say what you want, but we¡¯re going in there.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Katie held her hands out. ¡°Mind if I join you?¡±

    The second boy scanned Katie from top to bottom. ¡°Sure. My name¡¯s Duncan. What¡¯s yours?¡±

    ¡°Katie.¡±

    ¡°Brian.¡± This was the first boy.

    ¡°Ashley.¡±

    ¡°Nicci.¡±

    The group of five started walking into the high school. There was a fence around the campus, but it has been a while since it was maintained. The five got by the fence from an opening.

    Entering the high school building, the five walked through the hallway. The walls were filthy. Spider webs could be seen at every corner. Maybe it was because of the psychological effect, but the wind howling through the campus sounded like the scream of wraiths.

    ¡°We should leave.¡± Duncan frowned. ¡°My car is outside. If we leave now we can still make it home by 11.¡±

    ¡°Are you chickening out?¡± Nicci smirked. ¡°I remember someone promising us he is the bravest person we¡¯ll ever know.¡±

    Duncan blushed. ¡°I just feel this is stupid. We should be watching a movie or something.¡±

    ¡°Trust me, this is going to be more interesting than any movie you¡¯ve ever seen.¡± Katie smiled. She casually kicked on a cockrock on the ground and sent it flying through the air. She heard the sound of it hitting the ground and felt a surge of pleasure. It was always fun to watch others suffer.

    The five went through another corner. Suddenly, they frowned.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t we just go past here?¡± Brian saw a room with the label D102. He remembered going past there just a few seconds ago.

    ¡°You must¡¯ve seen it wrong,¡± Duncan complained. He turned to the three girls. ¡°This is dumb. If we go home now, I can still buy you guys some food. Why are we wasting time here?¡±

    Suddenly, Nicci turned around.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Ashley?¡±

    The rest of the group turned around and found they were one woman down. Three of them were confused. The last was impressed.

    ¡°Ashley!¡± All three high schoolers yelled. Their voice echoed through the halls.

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother with it. She¡¯s gone.¡± Katie commented casually.

    ¡°What do you mean she¡¯s gone?¡± Duncan turned around and demanded. ¡°What do you know about this? She¡¯s probably just lost or something...¡±

    Katie¡¯s mouth was shut.

    Duncan groaned and wanted to say something mean, but Brian held him back. ¡°Something¡¯s wrong. We need to leave now.¡±

    ¡°But Ashley¡­¡±

    ¡°We can call the police after we get out. There¡¯s something wrong here. I don¡¯t...I don¡¯t feel good.¡± Nicci added. Her words was the last straw. Brian knew leaving was the best idea. Duncan wanted to leave the entire time. With all members having the same idea, the three turned around, ready to leave. Katie followed quietly, silently swinging her blade behind her back with her mind.

    At the beginning the four were walking, but their footsteps grew faster and faster. Eventually, they started running. Katie followed their pace with absolute ease.

    They ran and ran, but the hallway seemed endless. Again and again they ran past the same classroom, and every time Brian would stop and leave a mark at the door.

    After a while, the group was dragged out. Brian and Duncan were in front. Nicci was slightly behind.

    Katie went side by side with Nicci.

    ¡°Watch your footstep.¡± She silently hinted.

    ¡°Why?¡± Nicci asked before suddenly disappearing. Katie didn¡¯t seem surprised at all. She merely continued.

    Ten more minutes passed. Neither Brian nor Duncan stopped. Neither of them even turned around to check out the two girls. It was as if they forgot about the girls.

    Katie wasn¡¯t surprised. She already knew what happened.

    Duncan started to fall behind.

    Katie ran beside him.

    ¡°That¡¯s gotta hurt.¡±

    Duncan faded away.

    Brian ran and ran. Adrenalin was pumped through her body again and again. Eventually, He could no longer handle it. His knee collapsed and hit the ground. His breath was heavy.

    Katie stopped beside him. She was breathing heavily as well. It was only the duplicate blade in her grip that kept her from collapsing. Of course, there was also the fact that she pretty much couldn¡¯t die.

    ¡°That¡¯s a fun way to die.¡±

    She commented before Brian disappeared.

    Out of all five people in the group, Katie was the only one left. Anyone with common sense would think she would be next, but she wasn¡¯t quite bothered.

    Glancing down on her watch, she saw the time was 10:05. She looked around.

    She was still in front of her car.

    ¡°What...what happened?¡±

    She turned around and found all four teenagers standing in front of her, just like they did about half an hour ago.

    ¡°What the hell just happened?¡±

 Chapter 15: Discipline

    Katie didn¡¯t respond. Instead, she took out her phone and logged into ShadowNet.

    She opened the mission briefing.

    She came here because a father put up a mission on ShadowNet. $100,000 to anyone who can find his son.

    Duncan Fox.

    That wasn¡¯t the problem.

    The problem was the time stamp of the mission.

    It was from three weeks ago.

    ¡°When did you come here?¡± She asked, barely able to cover a smile.

    ¡°What do you mean? What the fuck do you mean?¡± Duncan repeated zealously.

    The other three were calmer.

    ¡°We came here a couple of hours ago. What¡¯s wrong?¡± Brian asked. Suddenly, he tapped his forehead. Something felt off. ¡°Wait...I don¡¯t...¡±

    ¡°You came here three weeks ago.¡± Katie said, flipping her phone in her hand. ¡°What happened next?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°We...we entered the school...you weren¡¯t here¡­¡± Brian whispered. Katie could barely hear him. Slowly but steadily, his memory was returning to him. ¡°I...of course! How could I forget that? We got to room D200!¡±

    ¡°And then what?¡± Katie said slowly. Her voice was like the whisper of a demon, beautiful yet deadly.

    ¡°Then...then Ashley...oh my god!¡± Brian glanced at Ashley.

    ¡°I...I fell.¡± Ashley suddenly felt something warm on her forehead. She reached out and touched it, feeling something wet. She looked down on her hand and saw blood.

    All the memory returned to her. She tripped and fell and cracked her skull on some sort of nail. She was killed instantly.

    Katie smiled. The moment she saw the four teenagers, she noticed they weren¡¯t quite right, at least not by the standards of a normal human being. She considered four teenagers with fatal injuries leisure, but not everyone would agree with her.

    Ever since then, she was excited to see how things would turn out.

    ¡°Of course! Ashley fell and died. We...we were horrified. We ran!¡± Another part of Brian¡¯s memory came back to him.

    ¡°I...I remember falling. I must¡¯ve stepped on something...¡± Nicci was in a similar situation.

    Katie glanced at the two fractured legs of the girl, or rather the spirit. ¡°The school¡¯s floor was outdated. Some of them were too weak to handle your weight. When you walked over them, they cracked and you fell, to your death, apparently.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand! How did I die?¡± Duncan seemed to have recovered a little as he tried to recover his memory, but at the heat of the moment he couldn¡¯t sort through all those memories easily.

    Katie glanced at him. His neck was twisted in an unnatural angle.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but I think you slammed into a wall. Either that or you fell off the stairs and broke your neck.¡± She turned to the last member.

    Brian¡¯s face was purple. He was breathing heavily. As the first person to recover his memory, Brian realized what happened completely.

    ¡°I died from exhaustion, didn¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡±From the looks of it, you had a stroke or something. CVD history?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Brian smiled weakly and sat down on the ground. Spirits didn¡¯t really need to be afraid of dirt. ¡°What went on back there? I remember going into the building with you.¡±

    ¡°It was some sort of hallucination.¡± Katie tilted her head. ¡°None of you realized you¡¯re dead. Maybe it¡¯s something about the brain blocking out truths too tragic for the body to handle. Maybe it¡¯s some sort of supernatural bullshit. I don¡¯t know and I don¡¯t care, but you forgot your death. You were simply stuck reliving this event again and again for the past three weeks. When I came here, your supernatural hallucination involved me. Fascinating!¡±

    ¡°Now what?¡± Nicci frowned. So all four of them were dead. Now what? Do they just keep living like this or do they rise to heaven or fall to hell or what?

    ¡°Why! Why?!¡± Beside her, Duncan repeated loudly. His head was lowered.

    ¡°Why what?¡± Katie questioned, trying to recover from the excitement of the reveal. She expected something good, but four dead people who didn¡¯t realize they were dead? That was awesome!

    Suddenly, Duncan looked up. His face, tilted due to the strange angle of the neck, was red from rage. His eyes were filled with blood.

    ¡°Why do you get to live and we have to die?¡±

    Hearing the wrathful demand, Katie suddenly smiled.

    ¡°Cause I¡¯m not a dumbass who went to an abandoned high school ten PM in the night and got himself killed by accident? I mean...what sort of idiot gets killed by stairs?¡±

    ¡°Ahhh!¡± Duncan screamed. All his pain and fear and anger were transformed into pure negative energy, giving him the power he needed to strike. Acting based on pure anger, he leaped forward at Katie. His arm reaching out, ready to rip the girl apart. If he had to die, then why should she live?

    His effort was cut short when a blade came out of nowhere and severed his arm. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡°Hands to yourself, bro.¡± Katie commented casually as she controlled the blade to circulate around her. She could easily behead Duncan and end his second life with a single strike, but she didn¡¯t. Where¡¯s the fun in that?

    Duncan fell back and screamed. While he no longer had a physical body, the duplicate blade was enough to damage his spirit form.

    The wraith screamed for two more seconds. Suddenly, Duncan reached out and grabbed onto Ashley, who was shocked by the turn of event.

    Under Katie¡¯s curious eyes, and under the paralyzed eyes of Ashley and Brian, Duncan ripped Ashley¡¯s spirit form apart and started stuffing the pieces into his mouth.

    Katie could''ve stopped him, but she didn¡¯t.

    Duncan ate quickly. Before long, Ashley¡¯s scream disappeared, and what was left of her entered Duncan¡¯s body, making him stronger, larger, and faster.

    Brian and Nicci fell back in horror.

    Duncan¡¯s eyes turned even redder. His severed arm grew back. He stared at Katie with nothing but fury.

    ¡°You will die¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow. Wraiths can consume other spirits for food? That¡¯s impressive.¡± The girl cut the wraiths off. ¡°Now, when I tortured the last wraith I met I didn¡¯t have the equipment. This time, however¡­¡± She reached out and grabbed onto her blade before turning to Duncan.

    ¡°Have you heard of death by a thousand cuts?¡±

    <hr>

    Twenty minutes later.

    Duncan collapsed. His entire body was covered by cuts. Not a single piece of full skin could be seen on him.

    ¡°So,¡± Katie licked her blade and was slightly disappointed to taste no blood. Spirits didn¡¯t have blood. ¡°that was fun, but all good things come to an end.¡±

    Duncan tried to get up but couldn¡¯t. He raged and fought and charged for the better part of the twenty minutes, but it was useless. As crazy as the girl sounded, she was an impossible foe. She literally couldn¡¯t be defeated, and her blade was a product of magic. As far as Duncan could see, whatever weapon she was using struck like a lightning, too fast to be seen and too deadly to be ignored.

    He landed countless blows on her, enough strikes that could kill a grown man ten times, but it only turned her on.

    His energy was exhausted healing himself. That was how he lasted twenty minutes. But now he was out of power. Even the boost he got after consuming Ashley was used up. If he could get more energy, he might stand a chance, but the girl would never give him the opportunity...right?

    No one in their right mind would feed a fallen enemy and help him get up again.

    Which was why Katie did exactly that.

    The duplicate blade struck out again. Only this time it wasn¡¯t at Duncan. It was at Nicci and Brian.

    Both collapsed with disbelief in their eyes. Katie didn¡¯t kill them. She merely severed their legs and rendered them immobile.

    Turning back to Duncan, she smiled warmly.

    ¡°I hope you still have some appetite because I don¡¯t know if I can force feed spirits into other spirits. I can try, though.¡± She tossed her weapon up and down and smiled when it formed a cut on her fingertip.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Brian demanded, trying to hold back a scream.

    ¡°Having some fun. Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± Katie smiled widely before grabbing onto Brian and tossing him in front of Duncan. ¡°Bon appetit.¡±

    Duncan was obviously taken by surprise, but he wasn¡¯t going to give up a large meal just because it was offered by his enemy. He reached out and tore Brian apart before ingesting him. Both were spirits, but Duncan was a wraith, violent and deadly, and Brian was simply a spirit, wounded and frightened.

    Just a minute later, Duncan stood back again with fury in his eyes.

    This time he will really make this bitch pay...

    Ten minutes later, he collapsed again. The new consumption of energy didn¡¯t return him to his prime, and when he was dissected once again, he fell much quicker.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Katie noticed that as well as she turned to Nicci. ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry for what happened to you, but then again, I don¡¯t give a damn.¡±

    ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± Nicci said as she desperately looked around, trying to find a way out. ¡°He¡¯s going to kill you!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m hoping for.¡± Katie shut the spirit up with a dagger to the heart before throwing her to Duncan. The wraith glanced at her before biting down on Nicci. The girl screamed and struggled, but there was no result. Before long, the girl was consumed.

    Duncan regained some strength. He stood up and stared at Katie. Just when she thought he was going to fight, and just when a smile crawled onto her face, Duncan turned and ran.

    ¡°What the hell? You¡¯re a wraith, god damn it! Show some courage.¡± Katie screamed and ran after him.

    Duncan fled without even looking back. Sure, he was a wraith, but that girl was a demon. All the hatred he had was turned to fear by all the torture he just went through. The feeling of being cut open piece by piece for more than half an hour was enough to break him. Despite being killed, he still had his former memories and thoughts, and he was never a brave person.

    Katie groaned in frustration. The wraith¡¯s nature allowed him to get past obstacles like trees and rocks with ease while she had to dodge. She could choose not to dodge, but as comforting as a cut on her leg felt, it was slowing her down.

    Her duplicate blade returned to her body, and she gripped onto the handle, channeling the power the blade absorbed to flow through her.

    Katie used her supplicant blade to maim two spirits already. She killed neither, but Katie was happy to discover even if she merely wounded the spirits, the blades took a piece of the spirit¡¯s energy and stored them inside the crystal at the end of the weapon. Now, it was used to strengthen her.

    Red energy lit up her veins on her arm and then her body. She groaned and ran even faster. Larger obstacles, like trees, she had to dodge. Smaller obstacles, like rocks, she merely smashed her way through. With enough strength to back her up, the pain only made her much faster.

    The two made their way onto a highway. Duncan was getting slower and slower. The energy he received by consuming Nicci was getting burnt up. His fear of Katie forced him to extract every inch of energy within him to make himself faster, but it wasn¡¯t enough.

    Finally, he got slow enough for Katie to behead him with a single slash from the duplicate blade.

    Seeing the wraith fade away, Katie glanced at her blade, which has flown back to her after delivering the kill. The crystal, as well as the energy it fed into Katie, felt slightly stronger.

    Rubbing her index finger on the blade, Katie suddenly felt the urge to hold on the blade forever. In fact, she wanted to charge into a city and kill everyone in her way. The blood...the screams...the death...it would be a feast.

    ¡°You would like that, won¡¯t you?¡± She whispered.

    The blade resonated and passed a pleasant feeling into her.

    Katie nodded before suddenly sending the blade against a rock a meter away. The blade resisted slightly out of self-preservation, but Katie¡¯s will was too strong and the resistance crumbled.

    The blade smashed into the rock, leaving a deep mark. As it retreated, Katie could see a scratch on the blade¡¯s surface.

    A trail of red blood flowed down her nostril.

    The duplicate blade was damaged, and since Katie and the duplicate blade were connected, that damage was reflected onto Katie.

    The blade vibrated, begging, pleaing.

    Katie smirked before smashing it again. And again. And again.

    When she finally released the blade, the weapon was battered. Its tip was dull. Its crystal was darker than before the fight.

    Katie wiped off the blood on her face with her sleeve. ¡°I am the master, not you. Do you understand?¡± She put the blade next to her mouth and whispered. ¡°Try to influence me again, and I will snap you in half. Seeing what knocking you around did to me, I look forward to see what will happen if I completely break you.¡±

    The blade shook in submission.

    Katie finally smiled and returned it back into her sleeve.

    She was a maniac, but she would never allow herself be turned into a mindless killer.

    After all, where¡¯s the fun in that?

 Chapter 16: Casual kidnapping

    A black SUV stopped in front of a large mansion.

    Detective Kirsten and special agent Leon walked out. They quickly made their way past several lines of officers and into the mansion. Inside, a woman was waiting. She was seated on a chair. She obviously tried to keep up a straight face, but her reddened eyes and the dots of tears on her face suggested she wasn¡¯t that successful at doing such.

    Leon and Kirsten sat down in front of the woman.

    ¡°Ms. Jones. I know these are difficult times, but I assure you, the Masonville Police Department will do everything in its power to retrieve your daughter.¡±

    Jane Jones was a dear friend to the powerful Adams family. For years, she assisted Mrs. Adams in working with the Adams Corporation. There were whispers that she was involved in the illegal activities the Adams family was involved in as well, but there was never any evidence. Launching investigations on someone as powerful as the Adams was no easy matter. The city¡¯s police department didn''t lay a finger on them.

    Theoretically, the family of someone like this should be as safe and sound as ever. Unfortunately, neither Jones¡¯ wealth nor her alleged connection to criminal activities was able to keep her daughter from being kidnapped.

    Leon and Kirsten have already visited the crime scene before. It was a slaughter. Four bodyguards in two cars that transported Jane Jones¡¯ daughter, Cathy Jones, were killed. The car with Cathy inside seemed to have been stopped when the two men in the front were riddled with bullets. The car in the front looked like it was attacked by a grenade. The metal shrapnels tore the two bodyguards to pieces.

    There was no sign that Cathy was injured or killed. The attackers likely took her.

    ¡°This is likely a ransom situation.¡± Kirsten explained as she glanced at Jones from top to bottom. ¡°Ms. Jones, can you think of any reason that someone will want to kidnap your daughter?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The mother shook her head.

    Kirsten and Leon exchanged a glance. ¡°Are you sure? If there is something, the sooner you tell us, the sooner we can find your daughter.¡±

    Jones suddenly snapped. ¡°Are you suggesting something, detective?¡± She looked exhausted, but her tone was sharp.

    Leon cut in. His way of approach was smoother. ¡°Detective Kirsten is just covering all the fronts, Mrs. Jones.¡±

    Suddenly, Jones¡¯ phone starting ringing. The woman looked down for a brief moment, wanting to turn it off, but once her eyes landed on the screen, she couldn¡¯t move it away.

    The call came from her daughter¡¯s phone.

    Ms. Jones immediately swiped the screen and answered the call. In front of her, Leon and Kirsten leaned forward as they realized what was happening. Ms. Jones put the call on speaker.

    ¡°Hello, is this Ms. Jane Jones?¡±

    A soft, feminine voice asked politely, but neither Kirsten nor Leon was relieved. In fact, they knew who the voice belonged to.

    The girl that spared Kirsten in that bloody bar. The girl that fled after a dozen SWAT officers were killed. The girl responsible for the death of dozens of gang members. Apparently, she also kidnapped Ms. Jones¡¯ daughter as well.

    The two knew they shouldn¡¯t be that surprised. Just before they came here, the officers inspecting the surveillance camera around the area where the two cars were intercepted reported finding something. The cameras at where the abduction actually happened were taken down beforehand, but one of the cameras recorded a girl holding a gun before it was taken out. The officer sent the picture to all the officers in the department in an effort to identify her. Kirsten also received it and immediately recognized it to be Katie. That was why she and Leon, previously focused on supernatural activities, were sent on this kidnapping mission. The phone call just sealed the deal.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Jones replied with a shaky voice. ¡°Are you the ones who took my daughter?¡±

    ¡°No, no, no!¡± On the other end, Katie suddenly seemed to feel insulted. ¡°¡®I¡¯ am not the ones! ¡®I¡¯ am singular! You should say ¡®are you the one who took my daughter?¡¯. Either that, or ¡®are you one of the people who took my daughter?¡¯. Grammar is important! Geez!¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± Jones finally got sick of Katie¡¯s rambling. ¡°What do you want? Money? Information? Let my daughter go and I can get you a hundred thousand dollars in an hour.¡±

    ¡°Oh...that¡¯s awfully generous of you.¡± Katie giggled. ¡°But as tempting as it is, I don¡¯t want money.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you want?¡±

    ¡°Fun. Duh? Can¡¯t you hear it in my voice? Now, listen very carefully. You can call me Katie, by the way. To make things clear, I do have your daughter. You want proof?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Jones was slightly thrown off by the kidnapper¡¯s joking tone. ¡°Yes. Yes. I want you to prove to me my daughter is alive...¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡± Katie replied with her casual voice. ¡°Hey, you! Give me your gun. Ok...taking aim, bam!¡±

    Jones jerked back as a gunshot. Her heart twitched when she heard a familiar scream. It was almost the same as the one her daughter made when she broke more anxiously. Only this one was much more high pitched. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°What did you do you bitch?¡± She screamed, sitting up from her seat.

    ¡°Just some fun. Well, according to my standards, at least. I don¡¯t know what getting shot in the left calf is according to your standards. Torture?¡±

    Jones¡¯ eyes turned red as she imagined her daughter screaming with a bullet lodged in her leg. Why? Why the hell did she ask for proof? More importantly, why the hell did the kidnapper shoot her hostage? Can¡¯t she just take a picture?

    ¡°You will pay for this.¡± The fury in her voice was obvious to everyone. ¡°You will get caught, and when you are, you will¡­¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t say die.¡±

    ¡°die.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Katie huffed. ¡°good luck making that happen. Speaking of dying, quick question, how long do you think a twelve-year-old girl can go with a bullet in her body without any medical treatment or anesthesia? My personal experience tells me it¡¯s a long time, but, well, I¡¯m sort of special. I¡¯m actually really curious to find out the answer. What do you think will get her first? The loss of blood or the pain?¡±

    She hung up the phone without waiting for another answer.

    Inside the mansion, Jane Jones screamed and smashed her phone on the carpeted ground. She couldn¡¯t believe it. How dare that girl do it? Her daughter was 12! More importantly, she didn''t even say what she wanted! She said she wanted to have fun, but what the hell does that mean? No one just kidnaps people for fun!

    Kirsten took a step up.

    ¡°We will find your daughter, madame. Meanwhile, please stay here and alert us if the kidnapper calls you again.¡±

    Jones didn''t answer as Kirsten and Leon walked out.

    Meanwhile, on the other side, inside an abandoned warehouse, Jean put the phone on the table and glanced at the bullet wound on her left leg.

    ¡°What the hell did you do?¡±

    Katie turned around and faced several men with tattoos on their arms. They belonged to a motorcycle gang. Hell¡¯s Angels. Cheesy name. Mindless thugs.

    A couple of days ago, when Katie first decided to go along with this kidnapping, she went to the bar that was also the staging point for Hell¡¯s Angels. She outrighted demanded to see their leader. After five broken arms and half a dozen cracked ribs, she found who she was looking for.

    She was able to strike a deal with them and plan this kidnapping. They would split the ransom after this was all done. Katie specifically went to this gang because they had no knowledge of Jones¡¯ connection with the Adams family. Only they would be foolish enough to side with her.

    The one speaking was their leader. Katie forgot, or was too lazy to remember, his real name, so she just called him Baldy.

    ¡°This?¡± Having heard the question, she looked down on the bullet wound and then at the girl tied up at a corner of the warehouse. ¡°Oh geez, I¡¯m not a monster! Am I really the kind of girl that would shoot a child? Ok. Fine. I am. But am I really the kind of girl that would shoot a child for no reason at all. Once again, I am. I¡¯m sorry. You were saying?¡±

    ¡°Why didn''t you tell them about the ransom?¡± Baldy repeated with anger in his voice. When he saw the target had four bodyguards as protection, he was already a little hesitant, but that girl Katie didn''t give him a chance to regret his decision. She immediately jumped out with guns blazing and managed to toss a shrapnel grenade into the second car. Seeing it was too late to back out, Baldy and his gang just went for it.

    His dissent came to a peak when Katie failed to mention the ransom. He was taking all this risk for money. Without that factor, he didn''t want to spend one more second with this maniac.

    ¡°Oh...right.¡± Katie rolled the words in her mouth slowly. There was no way she was going to admit she completely forgot about the ransom at the heat of the moment. ¡°Well, you see, maybe, perhaps,¡± She tried her best to come up with a proper reason, and she finally found one. ¡°look, if we just outright tell them we want cash, they might try to tell the cops or something. Then we can¡¯t get the money. But if we play sound mind games and make them think the hostage is dying, they will get desperate, and when we finally state our demand, they wouldn¡¯t try anything stupid. See? It¡¯s all part of the plan.¡±

    Baldy glanced at Katie before taking a step back. ¡°You better be telling the truth.¡± He threatened and tapped the pistol in his belt. ¡°Or else.¡±

    Katie tilted her head curiously.

    ¡°Speaking of or else, do you like KFC or McDonald?¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°Theo the Resourceful. One of the top arms dealers in the city. As long as you have the money, he¡¯ll sell you anything...including a shrapnel grenade, which happened to be used to kill two of the four bodyguards that girl had.¡±

    Leon and Kirsten watched as a dozen fully armed police officers charged into a factory that was labeled as to where the arms dealers resided in. Seconds later, a voice called out.

    ¡°All clear!¡±

    The two walked into the factory and were slightly disappointed to find that the arms dealer was no more than a corpse. His throat was ripped out. A puddle of blood formed beneath him. The factory was ravaged through, as if the killer was looking for something. It obviously wasn¡¯t money, because half a dozen pieces of firearms were laying all around the tables, untouched. If the killer was here for money, he would¡¯ve taken the weapons. They must be worth some cash.

    ¡°Search the area.¡± Kirsten ordered, and the officers immediately went to action.

    ¡°What do you think about this?¡± Meanwhile, Kirsten turned to Leon. ¡°Why? That girl, Katie, was last seen massacring a bar full of gang members. And now she¡¯s kidnapping the daughter of a businesswoman? What¡¯s the connection?¡±

    ¡°You tell me. You¡¯re my expert on her.¡± Leon knelt down beside the corpse and put on a pair of gloves before examining the wound. It was not a clean cut. The killer took his time.

    ¡°I barely have any information on her.¡± Kirsten threw her hands up. ¡°She¡¯s not even going after profit. There wasn¡¯t any loss of property in that bar, and she didn''t even ask for a ransom. But why? Everyone has a purpose!¡±

    ¡°Move your mind out of the normal world.¡± Leon stood back up. ¡°I once met a wizard who killed people because he said they would die a terrible death within the day anyway, and his way was more peaceful. As far as we know, that girl might be able to consume the soul of her victims.¡± He looked around the room and knelt back down again. This time he was tapping the floor.

    Kirsten remained quiet for a few seconds. ¡°That doesn¡¯t help us find her.¡±

    ¡°But this might.¡± Leon paused. He tapped a piece of floor again before looking up and gesturing for the other officers to come over. The officers did and started breaking through the good. Within a couple of minutes, the officers broke the ground and discovered a hidden storage space.

    Leon reached inside and pulled out a notebook.

    ¡°Businessmen, even if their business is illegal, keep their deals on paper. It is basic accounting, but it¡¯s essential for business. Theo must¡¯ve kept the name of whoever purchased that grenade. The killer was here to find that and failed.¡±

    ¡°And now we have it.¡±

 Chapter 17: Whats the point?

    Inside the factory, Katie dropped a bag of KFC fried chicken on the table and walked to the twelve-year-old girl tied at the corner of the building. As the gang members ate, she knelt down beside the girl and held her hand out.

    ¡°Can I see your hand?¡± She asked kindly.

    Meanwhile, Baldy walked up behind her.

    ¡°When should we ask for the ransom?¡± He demanded. ¡°My boys are getting impatient. The longer we wait, the more likely the cops will find us. I¡¯ve known Theo for twelve years. He¡¯s like a brother to me. He won¡¯t betray me, but if the cops track him down, it will only be a matter of time before they suspect us.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your point?¡±

    ¡°My point is we should call her mother and ask for the money now. The longer we wait the riskier it is.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± Katie smiled before suddenly pulling out her dagger and jamming in onto her thigh. Blood immediately oozed out. The girl screamed and pulled her arm away and ran as far as the chains on her leg allowed. Even Baldy took a step back and turned pale. It was one thing to chop a part off of someone else. It was completely different to do that to yourself.

    Katie¡¯s face turned into a mixture of extreme agony and extreme pleasure as she pushed the dagger down. Eventually, the blade went clean through, bringing a piece of her own flesh down completely.

    ¡°We need to make sure they know we¡¯re not messing around.¡± Jean turned to Baldy and explained. She pulled out a plastic bag and put the flesh in.

    Baldy gulped. That was poor reasoning. He was sure after the whole pretend-to-shoot-the-hostage-but-actually-shoot-yourself thing, the family of that girl knew the kidnappers were serious already. Plus, why not just really take a part off the kidnapped girl? But he remained silent. Now he realized Katie was just looking for a reason to justify her actions.

    He turned around and was about to go to his men and talk about this when Katie¡¯s next words made him froze.

    ¡°By the way, I took down that Theo guy.¡±

    Baldy snapped back and found Katie sitting on the ground with her legs crossed. Her left leg pressed on the wound on her right leg. She tilted her head. A wicked smile was on her face. She almost looked intrigued.

    ¡°What?¡± He asked in disbelief.

    ¡°I killed Theo. Almost took his entire head off, in fact.¡± Katie gestured on her neck with her right hand. ¡°What are you going to do about it?¡±

    Baldy¡¯s head quickly turned to the side as he did his best to suppress his anger. What the hell? Why did she do it? If it was someone else, he would¡¯ve just drawn his weapon and shot him or her in the face, but this one really scared him. She was a maniac, and a special one. He remembered seeing her shoot her own leg just hours ago, and ten minutes ago she was walking around like nothing happened. He had this feeling that if he attacked now, he would be the first to go down.

    ¡°Why?¡± He demanded angrily. ¡°I told you we can trust him! I have bought things from him for eight times! He saved my life once! Why?¡±

    At the same time, the rest of the gang stood up. They sensed something was wrong from Baldy¡¯s screaming.

    ¡°Honestly, for fun.¡±

    Katie¡¯s casual tone was the last straw. Baldy¡¯s rage overwhelmed his caution, and he charged forward and stepped down on Katie¡¯s legs. There was an obvious crack, but Katie just laid back in pleasure as her entire body shook from instinct.

    But she forced a few words out of her teeth nonetheless.

    ¡°Like I said, for fun.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°All clear!¡±

    In the bar the Hell¡¯s Angels gang normally resided in, a group of SWAT officers pressed several large, tattooed men down.

    Kirsten walked to one of them.

    ¡°Where is your leader?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Eric Kus! Where is he?¡± Kirsten reached into her pocket and took out a notebook wrapped in a plastic bag. ¡°We have evidence he is responsible for a crime that involved the death of four people and the kidnapping of a twelve-year-old girl! Where is he?¡±

    The man shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything!¡±

    ¡°A twelve-year-old girl¡¯s life is at risk! Where is she?¡±

    Kirsten pressed on, but the man simply shook his head. The female detective was about to press on when Leon grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back. He stepped forward.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do some math, son, shall we?¡±

    The man rose his eyebrows.

    ¡°That girl¡¯s mother is the most trusted friend to the Adams couple. You know the Adams, right? No? Fine. They are estimated to be worth $3 billion in total. Do you know what that means? Do you think you can get away if your boss gets the ransom? No. The Adams will put a bounty on you, all of you, that¡¯s enough to make your own brothers want to take you down. Do you really want that to happen?¡±

    The man gulped. His courage melted away. Leon smirked deep down. The man knew the police wouldn¡¯t do anything serious to him, but the same couldn¡¯t be said if there were bounty hunters after him.

    Time to press on.

    Leon¡¯s tone changed. ¡°But if you help us find her daughter...what do you think she will repay you with? One million dollars? Two? Ask yourself, is your loyalty to your boss worth over two million dollars?¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    The combination of threats and temptation finally broke him. The man sighed and nodded.

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°Ms. Jones? Ms. Jones? Pick up¡­¡± After snapping a picture of the severed flesh, which she was able to make it look like it belonged to Carly Jones after a careful examination of the girl¡¯s skin, and sending it to Ms Jones, Katie called Ms. Jones. Meanwhile, she dug her fingernail in her healing wound on her thigh in boredom. She put her fingernail into the wound and waited as the wound nearly fully mended around her finger.

    She pulled the finger out when she heard the weak ¡°hello¡± in the phone. Blood splattered out, but Katie merely swung her hand. Her attention was on the phone.

    ¡°Ms. Jones. I believe you are fully aware of the consequences of this matter.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The response was obedient. Ms. Jones was willing to give up her face for the safety of her daughter. ¡°I¡¯m sorry if what I said or did offend you. I...¡±

    ¡°Oh for god¡¯s sake.¡± Katie groaned, cutting Jones off. ¡°I¡¯m just calling to say I changed my mind. I do want money.¡±

    Jones kept her breath of relief as quiet as possible. Someone who had no desire was terrifying. As long as that someone wanted something, all was negotiable. ¡°How much do you want?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know...all of them.¡±

    ¡°All?¡±

    ¡°All.¡± Katie continued. She slowly dipped her blood covered finger into her mouth and licked it. ¡°I want you to take every cent you have and put it into a bag and drop it off at the third corner on 88th street. You have three hours.¡± She said a random address where she had no intention of going to. ¡°Clear?¡±

    Jones nodded. ¡°Clear.¡±

    Katie smiled and ended the call.

    Jones sat there. As the call ended, she was finally able to unleash her anger. She stood up, grabbed onto a cup on the table, and smashed it on the ground. The cup shattered.

    Behind her, a large man walked up.

    The Adams were well aware of the kidnapping. Since the ordinary bodyguards changed nothing but the casualty count, they hired a group of twelve mercenaries to protect Jones. Former Navy SEALs, these mercenaries were certainly not pushovers. The Adams really relied on Jones on a lot of business related affairs. They were willing to spend the money on her.

    The large man was the leader of the mercenaries.

    ¡°Ms. Jones, the MPD just called. They have located the kidnappers. They want you to do everything you can to keep the kidnappers still until they can launch a raid on the kidnappers¡¯ location.¡±

    ¡°A raid?¡± Ms. Jones bit her lips. ¡°Will my daughter get hurt?¡±

    The leader paused. He didn''t know what to say. ¡°The MPD SWAT team is highly trained and extremely experienced¡­¡±

    ¡°But will my daughter get hurt?¡± Ms. Jones repeated.

    The leader was silent.

    Ms. Jones thought about it for a while.

    ¡°Actually, go to where the kidnappers are with your men.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Go to where the kidnappers are with your men and help the MPD take them out. You were Navy SEALs. You are trained in this. You can help get my daughter back safely!¡±

    ¡°But our job is to stay with you¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s an order!¡±

    ¡°Yes sir.¡±

    Jones was by no means stupid. In fact, she was smarter than most people. But even the smartest people have their weaknesses. To Jones, one of her weaknesses was her family. After her husband tragically passed away when their daughter was eight, her daughter was the only family she had left.

    <hr>

    Four cars reached the exterior of the factory, where the MPD was setting up a blockade. Ten mercenaries got out. In the end, due to the insisting of the leader, two mercenaries were still left with Ms. Jones.

    Kirsten and Leon walked up to the leader of the mercenaries, who explained why they were here. As they finished, Kirsten was about to say an objection, but Leon stopped her. Instead, he allowed the mercenaries to replace SWAT as the first line of offense and instead walked to the side with Kirsten.

    ¡°Let them go first. If they fail, Ms. Jones can¡¯t blame it on us. Plus, I mean no disrespect to your fellow officers, but they do have a greater chance of success.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Kirsten didn''t back off.

    ¡°Because I recognize them. Hell Hounds. Former Navy SEALS. Level 5 on the ShadowNet.¡±

    ¡°ShadowNet? They¡¯re mercenaries!¡± Kirsten almost jumped, wanting to arrest the mercenaries. ¡°We can interrogate them for information on ShadowNet...¡±

    Leon simply shook his head. ¡°The matter with ShadowNet is more complicated than what you and I can handle. I know there is an entire task force dedicated to the ShadowNet in the Bureau. That¡¯s not our business.¡± He gestured for the factory. ¡°This is.¡±

    Kirsten wasn¡¯t convinced. Even so, the MPD shouldn¡¯t have to rely on some potentially illegal mercenaries to bring criminals to justice. But the mercenaries were already gone, and all she could do was listen to their movement on the radio channel shared by the mercenaries and the police.

    Meanwhile, the ten mercenaries have already gotten into the factory. They were armed with M4A1 and body armor. As soon as they entered, they quickly scanned the room.

    ¡°Over there!¡±

    One of them whispered into the radio. The team immediately converged on that location.

    ¡°Oh god!¡±

    They were shocked to discover half a dozen gang members with bodies riddled with knife wounds. Some of them were still alive, but they had their mouths gagged. Seeing the mercenaries approaching, the men struggled but couldn¡¯t speak.

    The chains on the side was empty.

    ¡°That¡¯s odd.¡± The mercenary leader whispered.

    ¡°What is it? Report!¡± Kirsten demanded. ¡°Do you see the hostage.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the hostage...¡± The leader said as he stepped forward. He was going to explain how the hostage was gone.

    But what he didn''t know was that there was a thin, translucent rope in front of his leg. As he stepped forward, his leg pushed past the rope and snapped it.

    The next second the entire factory exploded.

    Kirsten subconsciously took a step back as the flames erupted. Leon frowned. Even someone as experienced with this line of work as him was frightened. The SWAT officers gulped. They could feel the sweat on their back. If they were the ones going into the factory rather than the mercenaries...they would be in a million pieces already. They weren¡¯t afraid to take some risks, but none of them was ready to die.

    ¡°Did she¡­¡±

    Facing the burning factory, Kirsten could feel her hands shaking. This was no doubt a setup by that girl. Katie. No one could survive an explosion like that. The mercenaries were gone. The gang members were gone. The hostage was gone. What¡¯s the point? Where¡¯s the motive? Why the hell did that girl just set up this whole kidnapping bullshit just to blow everyone up?

    It was almost the same as last time. Last time, Katie was also the only one that was left standing when the others involved were dead. Who is that girl, and why does everyone around her tend to die?

    Who is she? The grim reaper?

    ¡°We should go back to Ms. Jones and give her the news.¡± Leon brought up the difficult topic. Both of them thought the hostage was dead, thanks to the mercenary¡¯s misleading words. Suddenly, Kirsten phone rang. The detective pulled her phone out and took in a deep breathe when she saw the name of the caller was one Ms. Jones.

    How coincidental.

    She gave Leon a desperate look before taking the call.

    ¡°Ms. Jones.¡±

    ¡°Not quite.¡±

    On the other end, Katie grinned.

    ¡°Hello, Detective Kirsten.¡±

    ¡°How are you doing?¡±

 Chapter 18: Get in, kill the target, and not get out

    An hour ago, Katie stepped off an Uber car in front of Jones¡¯s mansion. She wore a tight leather jacket that completely stuck to her skin. Her high heels tapped on the ground. Her brunette hair was tied into a long ponytail. She held onto a black handbag.

    If there was one word to describe her, it was sexy.

    As the Uber left, she casually walked inside. The police have already left for the factory, leaving the mansion completely open.

    Walking past occasional servants and maids, who looked at Katie suspiciously but did nothing to stop her, Katie made her way toward the house. Only then was she stopped by one of the two mercenaries left behind.

    ¡°Can I help you?¡± The man asked unsuspectingly. He has heard that the kidnapper was a woman, but deep down he didn''t think much about it. How dangerous can a woman be? Sure, she killed four bodyguards, but those bodyguards were nothing compared to him and she probably had help. In the back of his mind, he didn''t think the kidnapper would be crazy enough to walk right into the house of the kidnapped.

    Guess he was wrong.

    Katie tilted her head and smiled before pulling out a USP with a silencer on it and shot the mercenary in the chest.

    ¡°Depends on your definition of help.¡± She glanced at the corpse before walking deeper into the house. As she walked, she kept her gun right next to her thigh. All the servants and maids that came across her turned and fled after seeing her weapon. Katie knew her presence was probably noticed, but she kept the same pace nonetheless. It made her look badass.

    Finally, turning around another corner, before she realized what happened, Katie felt herself being shot repeatedly in the chest. The power of the bullets pushed her back and smashed her against a wall.

    ¡°Aggressive. I like that.¡±

    But the bullets didn''t even delay her. Katie raised her gun and aimed at the mercenary.

    The mercenary wasn¡¯t a coward either. Instead of backing off, he pulled down the trigger to his weapon. Katie did a similar thing. Neither side dodged, and both intended on putting as many bullets into the other side as possible before getting shot.

    Several seconds later, the mercenary collapsed with half a dozen bullets lodged in his body. Katie had twice that amount, but she was still standing. Fighting a war of attrition with someone with the ability to heal almost instantly was a foolish call.

    Blood soaked the black leather, but it wasn¡¯t a problem. If anything, the mixture of red and black made Katie seem hotter. She spent ten seconds to run her fingers across her wounds before proceeding with her task. She had to admit the transition was a difficult one.

    Inside, Ms. Jones knew something was wrong when she heard the gunshots. The second mercenary hid her behind a sofa before taking on Katie. As the mercenary fell dead, the woman was defenseless.

    ¡°Hello there.¡± Katie smirked as she returned her weapon to her belt. Blood flowed down her body.

    ¡°You!¡± Ms. Jones immediately recognized that voice. Rage in her eyes, she charged forward without any thoughts of self-preservation. Katie smirked and punched her in the guts, knocking her over.

    ¡°You know, if you want to hire some mercenaries, hire more than two.¡± Katie looked around the room. After all the noise, if there were more guards in the mansion, they would¡¯ve come over already. ¡°Twenty bodyguards is a challenge. Two? Pfff. Boring.¡±

    To her slight surprise, Ms. Jones smiled.

    ¡°You know what? I did have more men. Right now, these men are at the factory you hid my daughter in.¡± She said an address. ¡°Your pal are probably dead, and any minute now my men will call me and tell me my daughter is safe. You...you are a dead woman walking. I have friends in high places that will make you regret that you were ever born.¡±

    ¡°Well, this dead woman is right in front of you, and she has enough bullets in her gun to make you reach a really uncomfortable death in a couple minutes.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, but you¡¯ll follow me to the graves soon after.¡± Ms. Jones responded without any fear. As long as her daughter was safe, she was willing to die with a smile.

    ¡°Speaking of graves.¡± Katie suddenly tapped her chin as if she remembered something. ¡°I¡¯m sure it will be fun for you, considering you won¡¯t be alone down there.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ms. Jones suddenly felt her heart skip a beat. ¡°What do you mean? Explain, for god¡¯s sake!¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Katie shrugged. ¡°The thing is, when I left the factory, I knew the cops will find there. How? It¡¯s complicated. Basically, I gave them a ton of leads. Point is, when I left the factory, I rigged it with explosives...¡±

    ¡°But you got my daughter out of there first, right? Right?¡±

    Katie shrugged again.

    ¡°I got her out of the chains to make the police think I¡¯ve got a conscious deep down, but did I get her out of the factory out of the blast radius of the explosion? Take a guess.¡±

    ¡°You bitch! Why? She was twelve! Why?¡± Ms. Jones screamed and leaped toward Katie, who knocked her over with another kick. This time, Ms. Jones refused to stay down. She got up again, but this time Katie put a bullet into her stomach. The woman screamed and collapsed.

    Katie rested her pistol on Ms. Jones¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a nice talk, but I¡¯m afraid all good things come to an end.¡±

    She got closer and whispered into Ms. Jones¡¯s ears.

    ¡°By the way, Adams sends her regards.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Just before Katie pulled the trigger, a thousand things went through Ms. Jones¡¯s head. Mrs. Adams sent this girl, but why? The entire time she was the girl¡¯s target. Both the kidnapping of her daughter and the phone call made to provoke her were to keep her from thinking straight. She didn''t know what the deal was with that group of mercenaries that the Adams sent to protect her, but she did know this Katie found a way to use the factory and Carly to distract the police so her real target would be open. When all the security was gone, Katie went for the killing blow.

    It wasn¡¯t a good plan. It wasn¡¯t even a discreet one, but Katie cleverly used cruelty and madness to cover her true intentions. Whether it was executing the bodyguards without a sense of mercy or shooting Carly without batting an eye or severing a piece of flesh from Carly just to prove a point that was already understood, Katie did everything she could to piss Ms. Jones off. She knew how vulnerable Ms. Jones was when it came to her daughter, and she knew how to abuse it.

    A gunshot rang out through the empty mansion. A woman collapsed with a bullet lodged in her forehead.

    Katie returned the pistol back to her belt before picking up Ms. Jones¡¯s phone. She unlocked the phone with the dead woman¡¯s fingerprint and scrolled through the contact list to find one detective Kirsten. She knew Kirsten was the name of the detective she spared from that bar, and now the detective was chasing after her.

    A game of cat and mouse. Awesome.

    Now she just hoped Detective Kirsten wasn¡¯t killed when the factory went up in flames. That would be a boring end to someone who Katie still wanted to play with for a while.

    <hr>

    SWAT officers charged into the mansion. Kirsten was leading the charge. What she saw in the room made her heart accelerate.

    Ms. Jones laid dead in the middle of the room, but she wasn¡¯t the center of the attention.

    Katie stood against a wall, facing the SWAT officers with her arms raised. Her bag and her weapons were placed on a counter six feet away from her. A small scalpel was on the ground, along with several bullet shells.

    The SWAT wasn¡¯t relieved. They have seen what happened to the mercenaries that got into that factory. Who knows what this heartless executioner has in mind this time?

    ¡°Katie?¡± Kirsten demanded.

    Katie smirked. ¡°That¡¯s me. By the way, detective, I want to turn myself in.¡±

    Kirsten couldn¡¯t believe her ears.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I said I want to turn myself in. I surrender. I murdered that poor lady over there and her daughter and I am feeling guilty.¡± Katie wasn¡¯t even bothering to make her talk believably as she had a giant smile on her face. ¡°I need to be punished.¡± She winked at Kirsten.

    ¡°What the hell¡­¡± Kirsten felt her face turning red, not from the flirting, but from anger. How can someone not only be brutal enough to kill both an innocent woman and a child and then joke about it. Does she think it¡¯s funny? She took out a pair of handcuffs and tossed it to Katie, who caught it.

    ¡°Cuff yourself.¡±

    Kirsten didn''t want to put any more officer at risk by sending one to put handcuffs on Katie. She could tell all the SWAT officers and guns didn''t frighten her. Who knows what she will do?

    ¡°Gladly.¡± Katie put the cuffs on herself and made sure to make it as tight as physically possible. The metal constraints dug into her flesh. ¡°There, happy now?¡±

    Kirsten cursed under her breath before walking over to Katie and pushing her on her knees. Katie yelped softly as her knees hit the floor.

    ¡°Katie, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law.¡±

    Ten minutes later, Katie was transported back to the CPD in an armored SWAT vehicle. Six SWAT officers sat in the same car, fully armed and alert. Their weapons were trained on her at all times. There was no doubt if she made one wrong move, she would be riddled with bullets.

    Katie just sat back and relaxed the entire way. The fact that all her wounds have healed made her a little bored, but glancing at the expression of the SWAT officers and sudden jerking forward and seeing them almost pull the trigger made the trip more entertaining.

    Going into the Masonville Police Department, Kirsten and Leon brought Katie into an interrogation room. Katie sat down in one end of the table while the two sat down in the other.

    ¡°Who hired you?¡±

    Kirsten openly demanded. After everything has happened, she realized Katie wasn¡¯t just a random kidnapper out of passion or out of desire for money. The kidnapping was just a mean to an end. Katie¡¯s real target was Ms. Jones.

    But she still had some questions. For one thing, it would be much easier for the girl to sneak into Ms. Jones¡¯s mansion and just kill her than go through all the trouble to kidnap her daughter. For another, she wanted to know who wanted Ms. Jones dead.

    ¡°Is it the Adams couple?¡± She pushed on.

    ¡°Wow wow wow.¡± Katie threw her hands up in her chair. ¡°What makes you think someone hired me? Maybe I¡¯m just doing this for fun¡­¡±

    Kirsten suddenly snapped and slammed her fist on the table.

    ¡°Do you think this is funny? A girl is dead because of you! Twelve former Navy SEALs were killed! I have enough evidence to put you in an electric chair!¡±

    Katie suddenly smiled. Her smile grew wider and wider, and eventually it turned into a laugh. Kirsten watched in fury as the brunette in front of her sent her laughter across the room.

    ¡°Actually, now that you have brought up the topic of electric chairs,¡± Katie finally stopped. ¡°I¡¯ll be very disappointed if you fail to put me in one.¡±

    Suddenly, the door was opened, and four men in black suit walked in.

    ¡°Detective Kirsten,¡± One of them glanced at Kirsten and took out a badge. ¡°FBI. We¡¯re taking your prisoner from here.¡±

    Kirsten didn''t look at the badge. Instead, she snapped at Leon, who has been strangely silent ever since Katie was captured.

    ¡°What¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, detective.¡± Leon¡¯s reply was colder than usual. ¡°But the MPD is not built to deal with people like her. We are.¡±

    ¡°We have talked to your captain.¡± The leading man announced. ¡°We are free to leave with her.¡±

    Kirsten glanced at Katie again. The girl smiled before suddenly leaping forward and grabbing onto Kirsten¡¯s collar. She whispered something into the detective¡¯s ears before two of the men in black walked to behind her and pulled her back. They pulled out two sticks from their belts and jammed them into Katie¡¯s leather-clad back. With a single click, the two sticks sent countless voltage of electricity into Katie¡¯s body.

    Katie screamed as her body twitches uncontrollably. A smell of burnt leather was in the air. The two men held the sticks for five straight seconds before backing off and dragging Katie out of the room.

    Kirsten stood up in shock and anger, but Leon stopped her.

    ¡°Let us deal with her. You have seen what she¡¯s capable of¡­¡±

    ¡°Let you deal with her?¡± Kirsten screamed. ¡°Your people just electrocuted her!¡±

    ¡°It is a necessary step. According to our data, her body can recover from a shock like that in a couple hours. There will be no permanent damage, but she will be effectively contained for the moment.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s prisoner abuse¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s efficiency.¡±

    Kirsten took a deep breath before looking Leon in the eyes.

    ¡°I barely had a full minute to chat with Katie. I didn''t get to know anything about who she is or why she did what she did. How did your pal know we¡¯ve got her this quickly?¡±

    Leon sighed.

    ¡°You told him, didn''t you?¡± Kristen pushed on. She was really getting mad. ¡°And you didn''t even think to talk to me about this? You said we are partners! We are working together!¡±

    Leon was silent as he stopped up.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but it¡¯s for the best...for everyone.¡±

    With that being said, he turned and walked out of the room, leaving Kirsten in the interrogation room, alone and concerned.

 The Descendants: Remastered

    It has been brought to my attention that Katie''s character is a little far fetched, so I decided to do a remake version which goes to the very beginning of everything. It details how Katie transformed from a normal teenager to the monster that she is. It is also a lot darker than this version.

    The first chapters happen in a school. The teacher to Katie''s class jumped off a building, only to return half an hour later. Since then, he started to challenge the students with a game everyday. Pass it, and you''re good for the day. Fail it, and you''ll die in a very creative way. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    But the games aren''t Katie''s only concern. Gradually, she realized something inside her has been woken. Love for blood. Need for pain. Addiction to death and suffering. She struggled to maintain herself between the battle with the undead teacher as well as the beast within.

    Check it out at The Descendants: Remastered</a>