Toni came face to face with a woman she'd never seen before. A bit younger, tall, petite, sleek black hair, strikingly pale skin. Whoever this was, she was native to Russia.
"I'll repeat, who are you?!" She began to lose her patience with the stranger, gripping onto her door frame with a covered hand. Toni had been out most of the day but all the moving around made her hotter than normal, so she came to her apartment to cool down, which had fans rigged all throughout it.
Valeriya stood dumb founded, not sure what to say now that she actually saw the assailant so close up. She didn't look like a killer.... Toni was on the shorter side, having dark, wild curls that flowed down past her shoulders. Her dark skin greatly contrasted the people she often came into contact with around Russia, it was very rare for her to find someone that wasn't blindingly pale. This girl was no different from them. Yet, her demeanor caught her off guard.
"Hey... Hey!" Finally, Valeriya would come back into reality, trying to harden her stare on the other woman.
"M-my name is Valeriya..." She began.
"Oh yeah? Valeriya what? What the hell are you doing here?!" The heat she felt made Toni become increasingly impatient and volatile.
"Come on, girl, I'm losing my patience."
"A-aksakov... My name is Valeriya Aksakov."
The look on Toni's face went from annoyed to shocked in a matter of seconds, "get in here!" She hissed, pulling the woman into her apartment roughly by the arm and slamming the door behind her. Valeriya let out a loud shriek as she was pressed back against the door with the barrel of a gun firmly against her jaw.
"Tell me how you found me, now!" Toni demanded, finger hugging the trigger.
"I-I... I followed you here. I was in the house when you killed my family... I was hidden." Even though Valeriya was telling the truth, Toni wasn't convinced. She pressed the barrel against her jaw harder and got close to her face.
"That's impossible... I searched that house up and down. I killed everyone there. You tell me how you found me right fucking now!" Her voice rose along with her body temperature.
"It's true! What I said was true! I was under the floor boards when you killed my mother... You didn't look hard enough." Valeriya dared a taunt.
"Excuse me...?" Toni pulled back for a minute and cocked her pistol before replacing it back to the woman's jaw.
"Okay, you were there. Why are you here? And don't you know it's not smart to egg on someone that has a gun to your face?!" Her voice rose and sweat started to bead from her forehead and neck out of frustration.
"I'm sorry! But why? Why did you do it?! They hadn't done anything to you!" Valeriya countered.
"Wh-... Why?! Why did I do it?!" Toni yelled.
"I had a job to do so I did it! Your parents were bad people, Valeriya." She would finish in a hiss before letting go of the woman and stepping back to set the gun down.
"I can't believe you're here... This could turn out so bad. So fucking bad... If my boss finds out your here he'll have my head. If he finds out your alive... Ugh!" She brought her hands up to rub at her face and then she began to pace the room, running her fingers into her thick curls.
Valeriya watched her in silence for a long series of seconds, peering around the room to notice all the fans rigged up on the wall and plugged into most of the available outlets. She noticed that the apartment was rather cold, even so, Toni was in a tank top and jeans. Not only that, she was sweating. But how? It shouldn't have been possible. It was easily just above fifty degrees in the apartment.
"Uh... Erm... May I ask you something?" Valeriya would speak timidly.
"You want to ask me something?" Toni turned her attention back on the Aksakov girl with a disbelieving look.
"Sure! Why the hell not? What?" She spat.
"Why is that your apartment is so cold and yet you're sweating as if it were the middle of a summer's day? More so, you're wearing gloves, and all these fans..." Valeriya's eyes would travel with her words, looking at each of the fans over again and then looking back to Toni, who seemed to be bothered by the question.
"It's... It's hard for me to get cold. I'm naturally warm. What does it matter to you, anyway? You shouldn't even be alive! Much less here." She countered defensively.
"I see... Well what now? Do you still plan to kill me?" She retorted bluntly.
Toni paused all thought for a moment and simply stared at Valeriya. She didn't quite know how to answer the question, she was frustrated and mentally kicking herself for not catching her at the estate, but she had to admit, she was well hidden.
"No." She said firmly.
"No? But I don't understand... You break into my home, kill my family and our employees, and now here I am! I have escaped you and now I'm here facing you and you're not going to kill me?! Why?" Now it was Valeriya's voice who rose in frustration, she didn't understand Toni's ways. Then again, she was sure she didn't understand most killers.
"I'm not going to kill you because I already got paid for the job. I don't even like killing!" She returned in a yell, "and yet... If my boss finds out you're alive... I was supposed to kill everyone in that house. Yet you're here. Fuck." She growled.
The two remained quiet for a long time, sharing glances every so often.
"I've decided, you're going to stay here." Toni finally spoke up, crossing her arms and staring at Valeriya.
"I-... What? I'm going to stay here?" She asked with a shocked tone.
"Yes, because I can't have you running around and risk you getting both of us caught. If my boss finds out you're still alive, he'll probably have us both killed. You for... Just being here, and me for fucking up my job. So you're going to stay here. Out of sight. Got it?" She commanded sternly.
"Yes... I understand."
"Good. Now, we're going to have some ground rules here. First, you're going to go by Val from now on. If anyone asks you what your last name is, you tell them you don't know. Say that you've been passed through foster homes all your life, alright? Also, lose those fucking clothes. You walk around looking like a CEO around a place like this and you'll get mugged. Dress casual. You'll sleep on the couch for now. I have an extra room but it needs to be cleaned so just... Wait on that. Once it's clean we'll put a bed in there. Do you understand?" Toni was very firm about her rules on Valeriya living with her, as much as she didn't want to resort to having a room mate, she knew she didn't have a choice. The stakes were too high for the woman to be seen out and about.
"Yes, I understand." She finalized their agreement and looked about the apartment again, inspecting it.
Toni's apartment was fairly large, but cluttered. Despite where the building was located, it was a very well kept establishment. All in all the abode had two bedrooms, one large bathroom, a kitchen with an island, a separate dining space, and a living area. About the size of a small house. It would look nice if Toni took the effort to clean it. There were papers, forms, empty beer bottles, clothes, weapons, empty snack bags and boxes, prescription bottles, and many more knick knacks laying about on the tables and floors.
"My my... Have you ever thought of cleaning?"
Toni whipped back around to face Valeriya, "excuse me? Cleaning? I don't normally have time for things like that. Go sit down and don't touch anything, I have to make a call." She sighed and left the other to her own devices, having walked off to what was to assumed to be her bedroom.
Once she was in the privacy of her room Toni's walls crumbled. She began to tremble in her hands and legs, so much so that she needed to sit down. I messed up... I messed up bad... Was the thought that kept pushing through her head. It would take a few attempts, and many deep breaths for her to calm down enough to pick up her phone and dial a familiar number.
"Sentinal...? I made a mistake. A terrible, awful mistake.... Mhm, yeah. No. Remember the Aksakov job I did? Remember how the boss told me to clear out the entire house, no survivors? Yeah. I didn't.... Their daughter, Valeriya. She was hiding under the fucking floor boards! And, and she's here. She found me and confronted me about it. I know the boss can't find out! I had to make her stay here for fuck's sake! I don't know what to do. I don't know how long I can keep her here. I don't even want her here." She ranted into the phone through hisses and shaky breaths.
Sentinal held the phone tightly in his hand and pursed his lips at what his cohort was telling him.
"Hey, Toni... Didn't you say you wanted out of this business? Well... Perhaps this girl is your key. Maybe see if she wants to learn the trade, teach her the ropes... Push it off on her then go free. I mean, come on, it's perfect. She has nothing left, probably doesn't have any worldly skills. Granted, this life isn't for the faint of heart but you can give it a shot. The worst that could happen is she says no. Or... Or, she calls the cops but that's pretty easy to get out of."
Toni went silent for several seconds after hearing what Sentinal had to say about the situation, she considered it. The idea did have it's pros and cons.
"Let me call you back..." And with that, she hung up and entered the room to meet with Valeriya again.
"I have a proposition for you."