The Tempest

Chapter 3

Rayna

Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.

I groan as my alarm wakes me from another sleepless night. Same nightmare, different day. Fuck me.

I untangle the sheets wrapped around me and start taking off my panties and cami, which are about the only things I wear to sleep, but if it weren't for my siblings barging into my room whenever they pleased, I'd be sleeping naked. Nothing quite beats the feeling of having the sheets and comforter rub against your naked body in a soft caress as you sleep. I walk into my shower and groan when the steamy water hits my sore skin, causing the tight muscles on my neck and shoulders to loosen.

The fight I had last night took its toll on my body, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. The guy I ended up fighting was twice...my everything—height, muscle, and weight. I swear his muscles had muscles, but considering I was a trained assassin, I was able to hit his weakest points till he dropped, literally. But it didn't mean that the few punches he got in didn't hurt like a bitch this morning, now that the adrenaline has worn off. Luckily he didn't hit my face or anywhere visible that my siblings could see, otherwise they'd be asking a lot of questions to which I could not answer.

For work, my siblings think I'm a world wide club business owner, which is half true. The part I left out was that all the clubs I own have underground fighting rings. Having them know I'm a business owner works in my favor when I need to do my other job that requires a lot more...torture and killing. When I have a target I need to take down, I tell them that I'm going on a work trip that requires me to travel and be away for a few days...and they never question it. Sometimes I do end up traveling to another state or country and other times I stay nearby but in a hotel or in my condo. It all depends on where my target is.

Twenty minutes later I walk out of the shower and stand in front of the mirror. Scars run along all parts of my body, most of them are covered by my tattoos. But when I run my hand along the tattoo of my family's symbol I can still feel the scars underneath it. All these scars are from years of training and missions that involved a lot of gun shooting, knife fighting, fist fights, and more. Everytime I look at my scars, all I see is beauty and strength, whereas others might see ugliness. Every single one of my scars tell a story, showing I've been through something horrific but came out a survivor. It shows just how strong and resilient I am. It also tells people I'm not someone to fuck around with. Although it hasn't stopped people from trying and learning the hard way.

Like the one on my shoulder, a bullet wound from when I took down an entire motorcycle gang. Normally I like MCs and have even rode and partied with a few over the years. But the one I took down had no sense of morals or an honor code to live by. They raped and beat women without care, sold drugs to kids, and bullied shop owners into paying them every month for "protection". So one night, when they were partying and drinking, I slaughtered them all. Of course I didn't come out unscathed but I was the last one standing by the end, which was all that mattered.

I didn't have much choice but to become the person I am today in order to protect my siblings. And I don't think I would've chosen any other path if I were given the chance, because becoming this monster meant that I can protect them. After all, it takes a monster to kill monsters...right? I take one last look at my family's symbol, which rests between my breasts, and walk over to my closet.

My family's symbol is a dagger with roses and vines twisted around the hilt and on the metal is an engraving of our last name with angel wings fanned out on both sides of the dagger, leaving it in the middle. My mother and I came up with the design when I was seven years old and now every single one of my marks bear the same symbol, just without the engraving of our last name. My mother was the only one who remembered her last name whereas my father never had one, so they decided to give themselves a new last name that represented a new beginning for them, Nova.