«ʀᴇᴄᴛʀɪx» [ʙᴛs]

CHAPTER 48. PAST

LILITH'S POV

It was just five in the afternoon when Lilith fired the last arrow to hit. She paused to take a good look at each target, each one hit by one of her arrows, she felt prouder than ever when she achived a goal. 

In that case it was breaking her own speed record, if before she shot ten arrows in twelve seconds, now she had managed to reach ten, like Malia, with the only difference that she had done it with a bow and arrow, not with bullets.

Once she recovered the arrows, she did the exercise again. Ten seconds, one per arrow. She lowered her bow and smiled to herself, then shifted her gaze to the quiver and in that moment she realized that she hadn't tried the special arrows yet. She remembered their use thanks to the explanation Jin gave her during their first day of training.

"Let's try this" she said while taking a red arrow, an explosive one. She nocked the arrow and prepared to aim taking a deep breath she tightened the rope. 

"I wouldn't do it if I were you" a voice broke the silent making Lilith jump and turn abruptly. 

Jin was standing by the door glancing at her and then approached, his hands in the pockets of his black jeans. Lilith stayed silent looking at him as he got closer, she couldn't understand if he was acting the 'good guy' part of if he was genuinely good, still, there was something in him that had caught her attention. 

"You haven't try those yet have you?" he asked pointing at the quiver making Lilith follow the directon with her eyes. She then turned to him and shooked her head "N, not yet" she simply replied try to maintain a detached tone. 

"Would you like it?" he asked her turning his torso towards the door as if inviting her to follow him out. In response he got a glint of excitement in Lilith's eyes that glowed blue "really?" she asked exited no longer trying to hide the fact that, yes, she wanted to try them. "Shall we?" Jin handed toward the door waiting patienly for Lilith to take her things and then see her scurry towards the door, eager to go out and try the new arrows. 

Ten minutes later they were outside the mansion, in the backyard where there were already ready some targets in the shape of a man. "Why didn't I notice those before?" she thought taking a scan of the yard,  the same yard that overlooked the woods where they had tried to escape two weeks earlier. 

"Okay so" Jin's voice brought her back to reality "choose a color and well shoot" he simply said pointing at the target. Lilith The first arrow Lilith wanted to try was no longer the red, the green, the tracer one.  She pulled the arrow out of the quiver and nocked it. Taking a deep breath she then tightened the rope, aimed and finally she shoot. A perfect head shot but that was not what impressed Lilith.

As expected from a tracer arrow, once shot, it left behind a very thin trail of green smoke, marking the trajectory of the arrow. "Nice shot" said Jin smiling at her as she responded with a weak smile on her lips "Thanks" suddenly a doubt arose in her mind "are you sure Yoongi won't get mad if i try guns without her supervision?" she asked. 

Jin chuckled lowering his head "I thought you wanted to train independently, and then as long as you are with me there will be no problems" he started gazing at her "after all I'm second in command, Yoongi is only third" he made a face as if to belittle his companion. Lilith couldn't help but smile, this time was a real sincere smile.

Since the blue ones were poisoned she couldn't try it on a target so finally it was time for the red ones. Lilith took one red arrow and nocked it. Again, she took a deep breath and aimed. After a few seconds, she released the string and the arrow went off as if in slow motion. 

The moment the arrow hit the target, it unleashed an explosion powerful enough to ignite an area of about ten meters of area around the target. Anyone nearby would be burned to death. "WHOA! Awsome right?" Jin was enthusiastic but when he turned to Lilith his enthusiasm turned to concern. 

Lilith was kneeling on the grass with her mouth open and staring into the fire, her eyes filled with fear. Jin could feel her heart beating at an alarming rate "OHI! Lilith?" he walked up to her and knelt beside her, her gaze lost in the flames of the fire still burning before them. 

"RUN LILITH...LIVE!"

"WE LOVE YOU PRINCESS"

Two voices echoed in Lilith's mind preventing her from receiving any external sound, she didn't even see Jin next to her more and more worried. The more she looked, the more memories of a dark past resurfaced in Lilith's mind. She was unable to react.

"Lilith? Can you hear me? Look at me!" Jin didn't know what was going on inside her mind and the only thing he could think to do was one. With his red eyes and his fangs showing he roared her name "LILITH!" lowering his voice. 

The moment after that, Lilith blinked and began to gasp as she looked around in confusion, fear in her eyes. "Hei hei, it's okay, it's okay, look at me" Jin's voice came to her gentle and direct, only when her blue eyes met his red ones did she begin to calm down. 

Warm tears started run down her cheeks but she immediately wiped them away with her sleeve. Jin stayed there next to her  waiting for her heart to slow down, "Are you okay?" he asked worried. While sniffing, she nodded with insistence "yeah, yeah I'm...I'm fine" she said with treambling voice as she slowly stood up, Jin followed her movements.

"That is enough for today, I think you should go and rest" he said starting walking toward the backdoor, Lilith behind him nodded and went after him, not before she gazed one last time at the scorched ground behind them.