Under The Blade {Sequel to 'In Time'}

Chapter 9; Masquerade

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"I am an assassin."

Four words that all in one moment shocked you still and confused you, your (eye colour) glance almost instantly shifting in Jacob's direction with a questionable fear.

Why?

"She doesn't know, does she Jacob?" Jack chuckled darkly, as Jacob's solid glare was somewhat weakened- making the serial killer laugh.

He paced closer to you both, twirling the blade quickly in his hands in a toying manner.

"My my, he's been keeping a lot from you then." Jack taunted, "Dishonest to the end, isn't that right?" He leered close to you, your eyes unable to look at him through the confusion and fear that racked through you.

Jack cocked his head at Jacob, each step filled with a taunting and powerful demeanour.

"How about you tell her Jacob? Tell her about how you brought me into this fucking brotherhood! Tried to force your broken life onto me! Take me away from my mother- watch her die in front of me!"

Jacob faltered, and you neither had liked the display of watching this murderer getting more and more irate, his form physically trembling with each blood curdling angry curse and shout.

"Jack-" Jacob tried to say, sending you a quick glance that told you to stay well back, as Jacob himself was being cornered slowly by the masked killer.

"No! I've done my twenty years of listening to your bullshit!" He roared, raising his knife as Jacob's back hit the table. "It's time someone silenced you for good!"

There was no way in God's earth you could've stood by and watched Jacob be slaughtered- you'd rather put yourself forward as the victim.

Head rushing with the speed of your thoughts, you rushed quickly to grab your a heavy book from beside you on a small table, grunting loudly as you threw the object with force at Jack, who yelped loudly as the weight and shock forced him to the floor, Jacob slipping quickly out of the way.

"Whore-!" Jack screamed as he pulled himself up. "No one gets in the way of me- especially a good for nothing slut like you!" He snapped, grabbing your throat too quickly for Jacob to react.

"I've slaughtered plenty more like you before- you won't be the last either!" He proclaimed, as the tight clench of his fingers around your throat like a vice stopped the air, making you choke out.

"No Jack!" Jacob screamed loudly, running full force into Jack's side so that he fell to the floor with a profound thud, and you gasped and spluttered for breath.

"(Name!) Go!" Jacob tried to shout, barely even given time to pull himself up before Jack started throwing in the punches, hitting Jacob hard and relentlessly, pummelling him.

What was worse to see was the fact Jacob wasn't fighting back, he was doing all he could to do that. Instead he raised his arms to block each attack, Jack growling loudly in frustration.

"Jacob!" You screamed, unable to move yourself as Jack quickly kicked behind Jacob's leg, sending him reeling backwards and slamming into the hard wood floor with the breath knocked from his body.

"I've wanted to kill you for so long-" Jack started, as you flurried into a panic, what else could you do?

Frightened and afraid, your eyes scanned across to the pistol that lay on the table. Swallowing hard, you went and grabbed it quickly, readying the gun with the trademark click that had everyone silenced, and you pointed the gun to the back of Jack's head, and he turned menacingly slowly.

"Now, now," he chuckled, "let's not do anything silly."

"Get out." You should, trying to sound at least a little bit convincing as your arms trembled and you tried to steady the gun, not wanting to shoot if you were being honest with yourself but if it had to be done then it had to be done- you just needed Jacob to be safe.

Jacob looked frightfully between yourself and Jack, and he could see that you were ready to shoot if need be.

"(Name)," he started, raising his hand slightly to you in hoping to calm you, "just take a breath."

"He's going to kill you, you idiot!" You snapped, "you want me to stand by and watch!"

It hurt you so much to see that Jacob clearly, underneath, could do nothing but protect Jack- clearly he'd taken on a fatherly role to him when he had trained him up as a boy.

The silence that ensued was crushing to say the least, and with shaking hands you began to slowly lower the pistol on Jacob's words to do so, feeling a level of futility.

No matter how much Jacob still clearly cared to protect Jack- Jack didn't feel the same way.

"Now you're going to pay for letting my mother die!" Jack hissed finally, almost quieter, hoping you wouldn't hear the bitter whispers.

But you heard all too well.

"No!" The scream wrenched from your throat; and like he'd finally had enough of your noise, Jack lashed around quickly, and connected the blunt, handle end of the knife with your skull, knocking you out cleanly into unconsciousness.

---

Like a hand pulling at your collar and dragging you to the surface of consciousness, your weakened body awoke in the cold, clear and pale white sunlight that bled bleakly into the empty apartment; and for a moment you were deeply confused.

You were cast out on the cold wood floor, no real recollection of how you got there... Until you registered the aching palpitation in your head, and then the image came flooding back.

Jack had Jacob pinned down like his prey, ready to strike- before you had been knocked out of the picture.

Your heart wrenched to think of what could've happened- Jack clearly had Jacob... And for all you'd known, he could've killed him.

Something inside you snapped, reducing you to at first, slow, but shallow breathed tears, as you shook at the thought of losing him- the only man you'd ever really loved. You wished you'd taken more time to patch things up, to work on maybe the possibility of there being another relationship for your both- rather than focusing yourself centrally on the lust of it all, and the minutes of passion which usually burned out into strained communication come morning.

Then, the tears had gotten deeper, more guttural- and your heart and lungs physically aches from the sobs of air you inhaled sharply, curling up again on the floor.

Your mind had began to torture you with images from when you were young- a happy young girl of 19 who was so in love with this rugged gang leader, of whom she'd do anything for. The feeling of being adored, of being wanted... Just being loved.

You had to find Jacob.

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A/N: Sorry this is shorter than usual- but just letting you all know in advance before you try to kill me- Jacob is not dead!!!

I'll try to make the next chapter slightly longer or of an average length, but from here I think we'll see more of the reader grow in her own independence as she'll sort of take on the role that Evie did- as well as hunting down the clues to her daughter too :) thanks all for being so patient with me on this :D xxx