A Promise of Death

Waking.

I woke with a shudder to the sound of the terrified screams from my dream. I glance around, and find myself kept inside a small room. I tense up, fearing I was back in the Lab. I could feel my stab wound aching. Suddenly, the door swung open. "Ah, you're awake," a voice boomed. A man with tattoos down his arm held the door wide open. "Come out, Boss wants to talk."

I flatten my long, black ears, and hiss. "I do not wish to speak with your Boss! Where is Riella?"

"Ah, so that's her name," the man grumbles, looking to the floor as if he remembered something. I narrow my eyes. I feel I have spoken too much.

I shake my head, shuffling into the corner. "I don't want to talk to 'Boss'. Please, just let me see my sister."

"To see your sister, you must speak with Boss." the man says, a commanding tone in his voice. It brought chills down my spine as I remembered the dream I had woken up from.

I slowly get up, my hand reaching for a throwing knife in a secret pocket of my jeans. Nothing was there. I pat my other pocket. Nothing. "Where are my weapons?" I ask, feeling vulnerable.

"We have taken them from you, so we can talk to you without a quarrel."

Shaking my head, I decide to follow him. I can't do anything else, anyways. I follow the man into a hallway. Old shelves were bolted to the walls, with necessary items stacked on them. Boxes of chip bags. Canteens. Money.

Old, broken signs hung from the ceiling. Faded words were plastered across them. Cobwebs laced the floor.

"Here we are," the man rumbles, waving towards a door that read "Manager."

I walk in, to see a man leaning on a rolling chair, his feet propped up on the desk. A fake, plastic crown lay sideways on his skull as he chatted with a woman who seemed to be a guard. He looked up as I entered, setting the crown down, and put on a more serious face.

He had short, brown hair, and dark, intense brown eyes. His skin was a golden-brown color. I noted what seemed to be a sword at his waist. "Sit," he ordered, gesturing to a small chair that sat across from him. I slowly stroll over to the blue, rough chair, and sit down. He smiled at me.

Not a sinister smile, but a sweet, gentle smile. He tilted his head. "Here are your weapons," he mutters, showcasing my knives with his hand. I reach out to grab them, but he pulls them away. "Not so fast. I must speak with your partner as well."

I nod. "Riella," the man with the tattoos says behind me, then walks out. I grit my teeth.

"So, is Riella your girlfriend?" the leader asks, a twinkle in his eye. He leaned forward, hands cupped around his chin.

I bolt upright in shock. "G-girlfriend?" I sputter. "No! She's my sister."

The bandit leader smirks. "You look quite different."

I sigh. "We're adopted siblings." I correct him.

He nods slowly. "So... she's available?" he raises an eyebrow. I immediately growl.

"Back off!" I snarl my fingers gripping the side of the desk. The guard watches me out of the corner of her eye.

The man chuckles and shrugs. "I kid. Anyways, can you tell me where you're from?"

"Why are you so nosy?" I yell, standing up. He stayed calm. "Mind your own business! Why did you kidnap us?! Just let us go!"

I hear my name called through the door, that was cracked open. "Brother!" It was Riella.

"Coming!" I yell back at her, and jump out of my seat, running down the long hallway. I see her, and run faster, skidding to a halt as I meet her.

"Do you have our blade?" she asks, her eyes glinting with anger.

"I can't find it," I tell her, "I think they may have taken it after they drugged us." I look over to the men who surrounded us, surprised by our presence.

A glint of metal catches my eye, and I see Riella gripping a dagger, slipping one into my hand as well. She starts to swing at the men, who stumble backwards. "You guys are pathetic," she snarls, her eyes showing a new emotion. Something Arachne hadn't told us about.

"Let us get this over with," she murmured, a creepy smile crawling onto her face.

"Calm down, Riella," I tell her, grabbing her arm.

"Don't say my name," she growls at me, shrugging my hand off her. She flicks the daggers in her hands, causing them to spin as she watched the men gathering.

"Whoops," I whisper, gritting my teeth.

"Well," she sighs, "too late now, might as well kill them all." She lunges forward, digging her knife into a man's shoulder. He yells out, and the others who had started to crowd us pulled out weapons.

"Will you stop the endless fighting," an exasperated sigh came from down the hall I had ran from.

"Why should we," Riella sneers. "Stop our fighting when we woke in a trap. Just. Like. Before." I spit my words out like poison.

"How do you still have weapons," the man asked, gesturing to the dagger I held limply in my arm, and Riella's daggers clenched in her fists.

"Isn't it normal that an assassin has her weapons in the most unusual of places? Like my wrist guards, or my boots," she says, flicking her hair back with her fingers that still held the dagger. A wild look was in her eye.

"Ah," the leader's brown eyes twinkled, "so that is where they hid." he guffawed, and I took a step back. But it seemed genuine.

I watched through narrowed eyes as the man straightened. I noticed Riella starting to get aggravated.

"Sister," I mutter to her, knowing she was going to do something foolishly stupid.

She tossed her knife to me, and I caught it with one hand. She shifted into her cat form, growling. I placed my hand on her back, keeping her from lunging. She needs to learn to control her emotions. She's such a hothead. Riella snarled at the cowering, frightened, surprised men.

"Let us out," I tell the man with a confronting tone. Riella sits back on her haunches, but she still stared down the man.

Riella looked into my amber eyes, a questioning look in her gaze. "Would you?" I ask her quietly. She shifted back into her human form, crouching.

"Well?" she mutters, "Are we ready to go or not?" her eye was still fixed on the cowering bandits in front of her.

As they started to run, a man walked up, a chuckle escaping his lips. Not him again.

"Well, well, well," he sighs, smiling, "what have we here?" He looked over at me, a glint in his eyes.

"Brother?" my sister whispers to me, tilting her head to look at my face as she spoke.

"Nothing, Riella," I murmur.

"So you're the infamous Riella Red," The man laughs aloud, "I wasn't expecting to meet you so soon, especially with you crouching on the ground like a coward." He sneers, and puts a hand through his dark brown hair, smoothing it.

I look at Riella, and then back to him. I sensed more bandits in the abandoned retail store, and I flattened my ears.