Hot Danger

Chapter 1

Darra Jones was originally from England and after the completion of her university degree took full advantage of her new found freedom and grasped the opportunity of a new life. The decision to move to the United States of America hadn't been a particularly hard one, moving to the US had been one her life's ambitions. One that she was going to fulfil. Where in the US to settle, however, was. The decision was especially difficult and with so many choices, was the cause of many sleepless nights; the only solution Darra could come up with was simple. She laid out a map, closed her eyes, spun around and let her finger decide her future. The location: Boston, New York to be exact. Months of planning, negotiations and discussions led her to moving into her new apartment complex in the area of East Boston.

Exhausted. That was how I felt at this precise moment in time. Completely and utterly exhausted. Moving house should never be this painful, especially when the house being moved into was in another country and had a whole ocean separating the two.

The box I was carrying had about the same weight as a fast-food lover, muscles straining and my legs about to buckle under the sheer amount I was carrying in my arms, I staggered through the door. Catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror I winced. My face was red and vaguely resembled that of an over ripe tomato, beads of sweat ran down in droplets and my hair was slicked to my forehead. Wearing an oversized men's t-shirt, shorts and trainers I didn't look my best, certainly not as good as I should if someone should walk past and see me.

I didn't consider myself a beauty or even remotely pretty, I thought I was average at best. My hair wasn't a vibrant blonde which waved effortlessly. Nor was it a deep brunette which hung down my back in curls, without a single amount of effort needed. No, I had jet black hair which was razor straight; however it was one of my best features. As a result of my mixed heritage, my mother being Native American and my father Italian, I had subtle highlights of red and brown which were visible only in the sunlight. The result of having a mixed heritage meant that I had a yearlong tan, high cheekbones and unusual moss green eyes.

"Oh God I really need a shower" Staggering through the door I collapsed on the sofa and kicked off my trainers, hitting the front door in the process. Something was wrong. I looked around the open plan apartment and didn't see anything that looked to be out of place, but my gut, however, was telling me that something was going to happen. And it was going to happen soon. I always trusted my instincts, they were the reason I was still alive and had saved my ass more times than I could count. I looked around for something which could be used as a weapon, but unfortunately for me everything was still in storage.

"Shit!" I hissed in anger. "Just my luck. I'm knackered, my feet are killing and I stink like I've been on the receiving end of a skunk. Bloody hell! Ah! My water gun!" I quickly scrambled to the sofa where I remember throwing it in a fit of anger when it decided that it was going to die. Luckily for me though the water gun was a present from my eldest brother, Rian. The gun was fashioned to look like a 9mm and fortunately for me it did look real. Very real indeed.

If these punks thought that they were just going to come into my house and think that I would let them get away with it then they were sorely mistaken. I was Darra Jones and goddammit I wasn't going to let no wannabe punk come into my house and think that they could walk all over me. If I was going to do this, then I was going to do it properly. I might as well have some fun in the process, think of it as a house-warming present. "Now where did I put Aero?" Aero was a present from my mum when I was 6 years old and was a white toy cat, I thought that this would do for what I had in mind.

I sat on the sofa and waited, feeling slightly nervous but quickly dismissed the feeling when I realized that people were in my house. I laid Aero and the gun on my lap and waited for the punks to make their entrance.

I could hear muttering but couldn't really make out what they were saying, but they were definitely men, that much I was sure of. All I could do now was wait and try not to pee myself...or pass out, no, that wouldn't do at all.

The door creaked open and I was right, they were men. Well, more like walking mountains to be honest and it took all the strength in me not to jump put the nearest window. Wait what? I was on the 15th floor and unless I wanted my brains to be bug food I had to hold my nerve and pray that I wouldn't pass out. Lord knows what they would do to me.

"Ah I've been waiting for you, please, please do come in. Make yourselves at home. Oh! No wait, it seems you've already done that" I said in my best evil villain voice. To say that the two men looked shocked would be an understatement, they were looking at me as though I had announced that I came from a galaxy not known to man-kind. The shocked look was a reaction which lasted a mere second and their faces quickly schooled back to neutral.

"Is this little bitch serious? Is she actually doing what I think she's doing Jay?" One of the mountains asked the other

"I think she is Ray, how about we teach her a lesson in manners. Teach her the art of welcoming guests into her home"

Ray? Jay? Just who the hell did these two think they were? Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum? I thought.

"What they fuck did you just say? Jay spluttered

"Whoops, I said that out loud didn't I? Damn mouth" At this point I was shaking and wondering why the hell I hadn't thought of writing a will. Oh wait because I hadn't thought that two mountains were going to do god knows what with me. Why didn't they teach you what do when faced with two fuming mountains in school?

Jay looked stunned "You really are a dumb bitch aren't you? Ha! I think I'm going to have fun with you little one"

At this point I knew that what options I did have to make it out of here alive were severely limited, so I did the only thing that I could think of.

"Put your fucking hands in the air or I will put this bullet through your head so fast your own mother won't be able to recognize you!" My hands holding the gun shook slightly as I aimed at Ray, or was it Jay? But I wasn't going to let that stop me. Ugh! Why does this sort of thing always happen to me?

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum both looked to each other and smirked, the feeling of dread came back even stronger and I knew something was coming. What actually happened though, I wasn't prepared for. In the blink of an eye I was thrown backwards and directly into my chest of drawers. Now feeling like there was a rave going on in my head I tried to open my eyes and saw T-Dee and T-Dum looking down at me with identical sadistic smirks. Bastards! I am going to kill someone, I am going to- That was my last coherent thought before I blacked out dreaming of a 1000 ways to whoop some mountain ass.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Pain. Pain is what I was currently feeling. What the hell happened? I had no idea why my head suddenly felt like a rock group had invaded my head.

"So sleeping beauty awakens does she?" I heard a voice laced thick with amusement, and it all came back to me. The mountains. Me acting like a bond villain. Then me blacking out, damn I was knee deep in crap now.

"Shit!" I moaned not daring to open my eyes "What happened, please tell me this is a dream - or even a hallucination. Yes! That's exactly what this is, hallucinations bought on from heatstroke. God, for a minute then I was worried then that I was attacked by some punks."

"You know, I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with you little one. Oh yes a lot of fun indeed" He chuckled, well I say chuckled; it sounded more like someone dragging their nails down a blackboard.

This was it; I was now completely and utterly screwed.