The Last Burden

One

Athena

"Did you get the bananas too? I put them on the list." I spoke through the phone as I paced around my room, holding a small sharp blade in my hand.

"Yep, the pure yellow ones too. Not those hard green ones John always gets." Blake said back as I heard him driving.

I could sense a smirk on his lips as I stared at the dart board that hung just perfectly on my dark blue wall. "Oh yeah, he doesn't know how to grocery shop." I chuckled as I remembered all the times we had him get food for us. He always came back home with the worst, off brand crap you could ever imagine.

"Nope. Not at all. Hey can you tell Mason to send me a text of the payment we made from last week?" Blake asked as I played with my knife.

"Sure thing." I replied as I stared at the silver object. Suddenly I heard a car engine outside our house, causing my ears to perk as I narrowed my eyebrows and neared my window. Blake began spilling some information about a previous business he did with our brothers but I became distracted as I saw five figures quickly exit out of the vehicle.

"Hey Blake... were we expecting any guests coming today?" I asked unsurely as I moved my curtain further away to get a better look.

"No. We weren't. Why is someone there?" He replied sharply before I heard the front door slam open.

Suddenly voices were muffled downstairs as I pressed the phone closer against my ear, wondering who was here. Before I could flip through my brain to figure out who could possibly be visiting, multiple gun shots fired down below.

"Athena! What the hell was that? Were those gun shots?" My brother yelled through the device as my heart raced against my chest.

My eyes widened at the door that was thankfully closed, having no idea what on earth was going on downstairs. But all I knew was that my brothers were down there and I needed to protect them.

"Our brothers are down there! I need to go help!" I spoke up before I heard Blake drive faster.

"No! Athena listen to me right now! You will not go down there or you'll get yourself killed. You need to listen to my directions so I can come get you. I'm just down the hill, you can make it in time I promise." My brother demanded as I walked towards my door but paused.

"But what about them?!" I asked, feeling torn as I realized Blake wasn't going to allow me to go save my family.

"They can handle themselves. How many people do you think came inside?" Blake asked sternly as I racked my brain for answers.

"Umm, five- I think five." I said as I closed my eyes and visualized the image.

"Sh*t, It's the Violet Kings I bet." Blake cursed as I widened my eyes.

The Violet Kings? Our rivalries?

I gasped as my heart skipped a beat, knowing this was anything but good news.

"Athena, you can't go down there or they'll kill you. Do you hear me?" Blake ordered as I nodded my head despite the fact that he couldn't see it.

"They've been after our asses for years, I need to be down there to help them, even if it's something small. They're out numbered if I leave!" I declared as Blake sighed.

"No! Don't even contemplate this right now! It's too dangerous to go down there. They won't show you any mercy Athena, they're out for blood, my blood, your blood. You need to get the hell out of there now! They can handle themselves!" Blake yelled as my heart raced violently against my chest while more gun shots were being fired.