-"Anything you can do, I can do bleeding."-
_______________________________
Wait to play song
They didn't have time to speak before Starr sprinted towards the elevator with everyone else hot on her trail.
They entered the elevator and Starr jabbed a button that leads to the basement floor they went to before. It was the last button on the menu and in dark black instead of the other numbers that were highlighted in gold.
They made it down finally, with each second feeling like a lifetime.
Luca had a grim expression on his face, similar to the face that he wore when someone tried to flirt with his sister, only this time it was worse. How did this happen? How did this indestructible person suddenly become destructible?
She was the King's. She was supposed to be as indestructible as they came.
The brand on her back proved it.
Blade led them to a staircase that leads down, it was another floor.
"This is her private office. Only a few people know about this place," he informed, his voice dangerous and deep.
No one has ever gotten a chance to hit Midnight. This was the first time anything like this had ever happened. He was afraid. Someone he could call a younger sister was severely injured and he didn't know what to do with himself.
They speed-walked down the long dark corridor that was illuminated by red lights. At the end of the hall were 2-way mirrors that were the doors.
Ida stood in front of them, waiting to open them. Wild and depressing thoughts roamed her mind, polluting them with hundreds of possibilities. She wasn't prepared for this. They walked up hesitantly to her.
Ida knocked hesitantly before a response was heard. A feminine 'come in' was heard after a pause. They knew instantly that it was not Midnight who was speaking.
They opened the double doors to be greeted with a gorgeous woman wearing a white lab coat scribbling down in a chart.
Blade got sweaty palms.
The top doctor and general surgeon in the whole world. She is the best of the best. She could save someone that had a bullet to their head and be pronounced dead by every other doctor.
She had lovely middle-eastern features. From her raven hair, full lips, naturally tanned skin, heart-shaped face to her full and thick eyebrows. And her small honey eyes to top it off.
Raine Zahara Salib.
Blade has had a crush on her for the past 10 years and has yet to tell her about his feelings.
She is a kind and caring person. She had that aura that made you feel safe and trust her with anything. She was straightforward and didn't waste time making small talk. That was one of the qualities that made the King recruit her.
"Someone planted an explosive in the car. After it went off a sniper shot at her chest, aiming for the heart. They missed by a few centimeters, hitting the descending aorta. The bullet came out cleanly and went straight through," Dr. Salib informed them as she wrote frantically.
"It was an inside job...we have a mole," Oscar grumbled, saying what everyone else was thinking.
"She moved away just in time if she hadn't...we would be at a morgue instead," she breathed, looking up to analyze them. Luca looked at the black marble tile in anger.
"Where is she?" Starr asked while walking over to Dr. Salib and looking at the charts.
"You just missed her. She walked out a few minutes ago," Dr. Salib frowned. Despite her warnings and advisements of caution, she didn't listen to her.
Luca's head shot up with his eyes narrowing and turning dark. She was crazy.
Insane.
Psychotic.
"Hot," his brain said.
"She walked?!" Blade stormed. God, she was insane in the most stupid way. He knew that she was strong and didn't care about anyone or anything, especially herself, but he didn't think that she would be walking around just after getting shot in the heart.
She should've been in a coma.
"I tried keeping her down with the anesthesia, but she fought through it and left after she got a call," Dr. Salib informed them with her face filling with concern a knowingness.
"A call from who?" Luca spoke up, his voice sounding more menacing than normal. Dr. Salib looked at him and then looked at her tattoo on her fist.
She had been called by the King.
They retreated to the staircase in silence.
For the rest of the night, they waited for her in anticipation. They drove to the arena, in hopes that she would be there by 12. A part of them hoped that she wouldn't show up and not put her in danger but they knew that there wasn't a chance of that happening.
She was shot around noon. Since then she was M.I.A.
They didn't speak to each other, but they didn't leave each other either. It was just an eery silence that spread through each of them.
They managed to keep the ambush a secret. If other gangs found out they would target them at their most vulnerable time. The members would perceive her as weak and incapable especially since she was a woman.
They would find every reason about her being weak because she's a woman and that's why no one had landed a hit on her.
She always knew things before they happened and was on top of her game.
But this time was different.
So they kept it hush.
They were close to giving up hope, until the grandfather clock that stood in the room they were in at the first fight, stroked 12.
Then she walked in.
Instead of her usual leggings and sports bra, she wore an oversized shirt with spandex. But she still looked threatening, even more now since her skin was paler and eyes were darker. There were bruises all over her arms and legs, bright red scratches, and long gashes. She looked as if she climbed out of hell.
He couldn't keep his eyes off of her as she killed one at a time, instead of taking them all on at the same time. Most of them didn't put up a fight as she slowly and carefully snapped their necks with as little movement as possible. Those who did put up a fight were quickly put down. She avoided punching anyone, the movement would tear out her stitches if she tried and Luca was grateful that she had some regard for herself. Instead, she did defensive moves to protect herself and aimed for their necks as fast as she could.
Play song now
About twenty minutes was all it took for her to finish the job, and she was gone again. It took longer than usual since she did go one at a time and went slower than normal.
But Luca wouldn't let her get away. He caught her right as she was about to get into her Porsche. This was the only time her hands weren't bloodstained and it felt foreign to her. The bruises already started healing, and they would only continue to heal.
She liked feeling the pain those bruises gave her.
It gave her some peace of mind and reminded her she was still human, but not humane.
Every second it was like she was being stabbed, a sharp pang would go through her heart but she didn't mind.
Before she could touch the door handle she felt his warm tattooed hands slip around her waist, underneath her shirt that rose up from fighting.
Her heart was so close to stopping beating 12 hours ago, but when his slightly calloused hands made contact with her cold skin, it made it stop beating completely.
It was strange...strange indeed.
He turned her around in a swift movement -careful not to hurt her- and pressed her up against the car door, gently but firmly.
The anesthesia was still in her system, especially since it didn't work on her the first time. Over the years, she learned to build up a tolerance for those kinds of things.
Over the course of ten years, she would inject herself with foreign narcotics and medical drugs to build tolerance so that if anyone injected her with something, she would power through and be able to fight. She essentially tested on herself.
She was still in a daze, but she didn't miss the rage in his stormy eyes. She released a breath at his sterling eyes. They were so addicting.
Now that he could see her closer up, he could see how exhausted she looked. Her eyes drooped with bags and dark circles. Her face was paler than it usually was, and her dark eyes duller than normal. She looked...tired.
So tired.
"Not in the mood," she monotoned as she gripped his hands lazily and attempted to take them off of her.
But he didn't budge.
"What the fuck are you doing?" he fumed with his voice low and full of danger.
"Be careful. It almost sounds like you care," she monotoned. She rolled her eyes but regretted it instantly as a sharp pang shot through her head.
She knew he didn't care.
She wasn't jealous...no she was angry that he acted so obsessed when he only wanted her because of her title and face. She had been used too many times and saw this one coming from a mile away.
This is why her walls were built up so high...she couldn't afford to get hurt again.
People will chew you up and spit you out like trash. It's what humanity did. It's what we are best at.
She saw herself in Luca. Luca saw himself in her. They had too much in common. They were both broken beyond repair, but they put a mask on to hide from the real world. In her heart, she knew that he would be the one to hurt her the most just because she was just like him.
She wasn't capable of being attached and she knew that he would only hurt her like everyone else.
Unknowingly, his grip tightened on her waist, where one of the burn marks from the explosion rested. She clenched her jaw to suppress the discomfort and pain.
"I fucking know you saw the explosive," he snapped. His grip loosened on her small waist and she unclenched her jaw. Both hands rested on her hips, providing support so her legs wouldn't give out from under her because of the drugs.
He was right.
She did see the explosives under her car as she walked up to it. She saw the snipers from the neighboring buildings. She saw all of it.
She let it happen.
She chose not to do anything for one reason and one reason only.
Maybe this time she would stay dead.
Maybe she could take the easy way out and leave this world for good and meet her maker. She knows she is going to hell either way, but it had to be better than this place. She welcomed death with open arms, but why had the universe chosen to save her?
What did she do to deserve to keep living? She didn't deserve it.
The world had been against her from the start and now they denied her the pleasure of death.
"I saw the snipers too," she shrugged as she admitted his accusations. But that didn't ease his mood in the slightest.
"You could've fucking died!" he yelled. She winced away from his voice shouting at her. She didn't like being yelled at.
Luca's jaw ticked. He didn't know why he was so content with protecting her and why he was so attracted to her. He saw it as nothing more than lust, but maybe he was wrong.
He brought her impossibly closer.
"I want to ask my second question," he said, his voice calm and gone of any anger he felt before.
Bipolar much?
"Why?" he asked with a certain vulnerability in his voice that was unrecognizable. She was taken aback but didn't show it. This was the first time anyone had shown the slightest bit of regard for her and she didn't know what to do.
"It's all apart is the plan," she confessed. His eyes returned to their angry gaze.
She didn't want to be bombarded with more questions, so she broke free of his grip and opened the car door, and sped off down the dark alleyway.
She didn't know where she was going. She just kept driving and driving and didn't pay attention to the blurring sight of trees and buildings. All the cars cleared for her and the bystanders looked down in respect, knowing the familiar capital gold K icon.
As fate would have it, she drove to the one place that would kill her for good. Sighing, she turned off the car and stepped out.
He was already waiting for her.
Walking up to him, she kept her head low and flinched as he turned around and looked at her with nothing but malice in his dark eyes.
She flinched.
She met his dark brown eyes and received the scolding of her life. He was glaring at her, hard and unrelenting. His crow's feet were accentuated with the way he narrowed his eyes at her and curled his lips.
She felt like a teenager all over again. The same teenager who had sat in that courtroom and could do nothing but slump in her seat when he glared at her for not telling him the thing that could've saved her from all of this pain.
"Stay away from them. They're no good for you. All of them," he said, voice low and ominous.
Her shoulders sagged as she nodded, not saying a word.
Before she could do anything else, he began walking up to her. His footsteps were heavy and daunting. She looked down and waited for it.
And it came.
Tears rolled down her cheeks. Fresh, raw, tears as he hugged her tight with no intention of loosening his grip. Cradling the back of her head, supporting her weight, and praying to the man above for saving her life.
That was when Midnight finally thought that maybe -just maybe- her life meant more to others than what it meant to her.
~
(A/N): I'm rewriting this and I bet all you re-readers before December 31st, 2021 are confused right now.