Mission Accepted

{Chapter Eight}

*3rd Person's P.O.V.*

Murmurs started flowing through the crowd when the man finished his sentence, everyone surprised and troubled. Raiya looked worriedly at Jared, who wore a frown as he turned to her.

"Crap," Jared sighed, covering his face with his hands.

"You can say that again," Raiya mumbled.

There's another secret society, the counterpart of H.O.U.S.E. If H.O.U.S.E. was formed to protect the world, this society was formed to rule it with an iron fist. Its name is never mentioned in the quarters of any H.O.U.S.E. agent for it brings too many bad memories.

Raiya's had a few encounters with them when she was about 12 or 13. None of them ended well. The last time they met, she nearly got burned alive. It's a good thing that Jared was her partner in that mission or else she'd be six feet under until now.

Jared encountered them too, and one time was when he was a kid. He was barely 3 when they barged into the house, guns raised and aimed at his family. He lost an uncle and aunt that night. He hasn't fully recovered yet. Who would be when you witnessed the brutal murder of your favorite relatives?

Raiya glanced at her mother who wore a mask of steel with the barest of cracks. She knew her mother well enough to know that this is taking a toll on her by the way she's slightly clenching her jaw. She's heard of stories of her mother back when she was still part of their society, but rarely from her own mouth, so she doesn't know which stories were true. But what she did know was her mother was a completely different person, a ruthless, unmerciful murderer molded into becoming an even more ruthless assassin.

Everything and everyone in that society was trained to instill fear to everyone around them.

One of the things Raiya's afraid of becoming.

The room quickly became silent when a woman wearing a golden cloak stood up. Olivia Anderson, only descendant of the founder of H.O.U.S.E., became Head of the whole society at the young age of 18, just five years ago. Her parents died at the hands of that society when she was 7. Both her parents had no siblings and her grandparents died before she was born, so she was raised by the society, training and studying each day. She didn't have any friends nor did she want one. She was and still is a distant person from what Raiya can tell, and is hard to please. But she knew what she was doing, she always does her best to get what she wants and her heart is in the right place. At least, that's what her father tells her. Her father adored Olivia like she was one of his own daughters, which confused Raiya since, from what she knows, Richard's never personally met her. She would've met her, too, if that were to happen. What she did know was that Olivia was the best in all the society and although she might be cold, she wasn't heartless.

"As Agent Smith has said, they have come back, and I'm afraid they've gotten bigger and stronger. We must stay alert for they could be anyone in this town. I fear that they're planning something big, something that would greatly affect our society and so I advise all of you to be extra careful of who you associate yourself with. We do not know who we can trust."

The room became silent once more, everyone too afraid to speak. Richard shook his head before standing up. He strode towards Olivia, his head held high even when his face was covered by his cloak.

"If I may speak with you and some leaders privately?" He gestured to the meeting room.

Raiya held in baited breath as she watched the icy brunette stand up from her seat and head towards her father. She was about to stand up too, to stop her father from doing something idiotic, when Jared placed an arm around her. He shook his head at her and nudged his head to her mother. Elisse's attention was on her, a stern look on her face.

"Don't," she ordered. "Your father knows what he's doing."

Raiya slumped back in her seat, watching helplessly as her father and the 23 year old entered the meeting room with a couple of council leaders, including Jared's parents. There was a pull in her gut that told her something was wrong, very much so that she felt a stampede of wild animals in her stomach.

The crowd waited in silence until they all came back out, Richard now wearing a charcoal black cloak.

Raiya was surprised when he stood up on the podium. He spoke in a loud, commanding voice, the one he uses in the house when things get chaotic.

"Hello, brethren and sisters. I am Richard Michaels and I have proposed an idea to the council. I believe that they are planning our downfall and so I proposed of having a defense team, a team that will be scoping our enemies. In the few minutes we discussed, we have decided of accepting volunteers instead of hand-picking and so I ask those who want to volunteer, please stand up."

Olivia stood beside Richard, showing that she volunteered. Then, a few rows behind the Michaels family, a woman and her son stood up, both wearing midnight blue colored cloaks. Then a burly man stood up from their left, his cloak the only light shade of orange in the crowd. Jared and Raiya glanced at each other and nodded before rising from their seats simultaneously.

Elisse looked at them with pride, standing up with the rest of the Michaels, including Erin. Jared's parents stood up as well his sister. A few more people of varying ages and families stood up. They were too many to count but still far less than the whole population of the Society. But they were enough.

Now all they needed to do was to start training and planning. Raiya puffed out her chest, although her stomach wasn't feeling any better. The stampede was still there, and now she knew why.

This meant war.

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A/N:

Hey, fellow readers!

Sorry for not updating so long! I've been busy since exams are almost here and every teacher is just trying to cram everything into one week. It's hell week! Hah! My life is great!

Anyways, hope ya'll enjoyed this! I'm sorry for any errors or mistakes. My fault.

Until the next time I update! Hope ya'll have a wonderful day! 👍🏽

~R