Enders

Enders (31)

The first thing I focused on was the familiar pair of brown eyes staring back at me. Then it was the perfect lashes, the beautiful face, the red hair. In what felt like slow motion, I was finally able to process who stood before me.

I could only say her name. "Kristie?"

Dex immediately grabbed the chair beside us, spinning it around to reveal who actually sat in it. With it facing toward us, we could now see that it was an unconscious girl we had never seen before, her head falling forward and the messy red wig that had been placed on top of her head falling into her lap, her brunette hair now visible.

A laugh I'd never heard from Kristie before escaped from her throat, Dex and I turning back toward her. She took a step forward as she grinned at us. "I was starting to think you'd never come after me. I thought I was just going to have to come to you."

"What's going on?" I demanded. "What are you doing, Kristie?"

"You're here to fight the leader of Redrum, aren't you?" Kristie smiled, holding her hands out as she gestured to herself. "Well, here I am."

It felt like my head was going to explode. "What are you even talking about?"

"I know what's going on," Dex announced, and all I could do was glance at him, unsure, because I sure as hell had no idea what was going on anymore. He pointed Kristie down as he continued with, "You're Damien Black's daughter."

Kristie once again laughed that laugh I had never heard from her before. "How cute of you to think that Damien Black would have children with anyone else other than Mandy," she smiled, and I felt a chill go down my spine as she said my mother's name. "You two want to fight him so bad, yet you know nothing about him."

My hands clenched into fists at my side. "I don't need to know anything about him to take him down."

Kristie only laughed again, and it was becoming a sound I never wanted to hear again. My entire body felt paralyzed, and if she hadn't always been so dumb and innocent, I would have thought that she was playing some kind of prank. But it was clear that this was no joke.

"If you're not his daughter, then just who are you?" I demanded, growing tired of the back and forth. Something told me I was going to regret asking.

"I'm not Damien Black's daughter," she stated, slowly moving closer with that same creepy smile.

My eyes went wide as she snaked closer, her familiar beautiful features slowly changing as she shifted into someone else. Her brown eyes changed to blue, her red hair shortening into a short brunette buzzcut. Her flawless features changing to reveal wrinkles and age lines as she sprouted from five foot four to over six foot.

"I am Damien Black."

And just like that, nothing would ever be the same again.

Because Kristie was Damien Black.

Kristie... Sweet and innocent Kristie... was Damien Black.

Dex looked as shocked and confused as I felt. At first, this information didn't process. How could that even be possible? The Kristie I had trained with, the Kristie I had become friends with, the Kristie who I'd shared a room with... wasn't real?

And on top of that, she wasn't even a she. She wasn't a teenager, wasn't untrained, and wasn't who we'd been told she was. We'd been lied to the entire time by someone we trusted, never suspecting a thing. Our friend had been our enemy this entire time.

But not just any enemy. She'd been the enemy.

Kristie killed my parents.

Kristie didn't even exist.