Raven (Assassin #1) | On Hold

Family

"First things first we need to come up with a plan." Rogue said, staring at her two siblings who'd gathered around her just like they always did whenever the five of them undertook a mission together. The sight brought back memories, a sad smile gracing the eldest Deryn's lips as she thought back to a time before the madness of that night. "I'll cover you all from the back like usual. Blaise, you'll protect the two nitwits. Lillian, you can cover my back, right?"

"Who do you think you're talking to, sissy?"

"OK, now onto..." She trailed off, having finally noticed their two missing sisters. One eye twitched, irritation written across her face as she realised they'd already charged on ahead. "Those damned brats..." She hissed, her hands clenching into fists. "WHY CAN'T THEY EVER LISTEN?!" Rogue yelled, charging into the forest after them, a mix of worry and anger eating away at her as she sprinted away from her other two bemused siblings.

"She's so much like mum when she does that..." Lillian mused, staring at Blaise as the brunette stared after their sister. She stretched out her arms, yawning loudly before she was back to her smiling self. "Well, I suppose we'd best catch up with them."

"Tch."

"You love it really."

Blaise stared off to the side. "Why do I keep getting dragged into this family's insanity?"

"Because you love us, even if you're ridiculously shy about it." She said, pinching Blaise's cheek until a set of jade green eyes so much like their mother's glared at the eighteen-year-old pointedly. "Come on." The middle Deryn tugged on her arm, yanking the taller girl behind her with surprising strength as they charged into the forest, completely forgetting about the several sets of eyes staring at them in shock.

Reyna and Ruby were oblivious to the conversation going on behind them, having decided to charge ahead of their siblings. They'd never been ones for stopping and planning, unlike their older sisters. Sometimes it worked to their advantage, but other times not so much.

It just happened to be their luck that it was one of those times.

A fair few so-called Elites were ahead of them, and already fighting against the ones who'd kidnapped their mother. The ones who'd destroyed their happy life in the blink of an eye.

Blades clashed. Sparks flew. Punches collided.

The ground was already stained red, the grass trampled underfoot, squelching slightly thanks to the rain from the night before. A number of people were assembled on the field, far too numerous to count, and they were all battling it out like warriors, rather than the assassins they were. Millicent Deryn could barely be spotted amidst the cacophony, having been dragged over to the stone platform where a gigantic runic sigil had been engraved, yet Ruby's eagle eyes still locked onto her mother's limp form.

"That's a teleportation sigil." The voice of one of the hooded figures reached the pair as they paused just inside the treeline, their eyes narrowed on the black and white cloaks fluttering in the wind. "They want the woman alive... I wonder why..."

"Mum..." Ruby's eyes widened, her feet moving before her sister could stop her, charging into the fray with her two trusty axes.

"We were followed?!"

"I think it's one of the woman's brats." One of the black cloaked figures muttered, staring curiously at the brunette, one brow raised as her hair slipped to one side. "There were five of them, if I remember correctly."

"You know, how much you remember is actually scary."

"He's known as the Grudge King, idiot." Another hooded figure said, sounding rather exasperated by the whole situation. "There's a bit of a hint in his name."

"But anyway... back to everything at hand..." The tallest figure interrupted, the tone of his voice making the rather small group stiffen. "Are we going to tell our dear Generals that the Fae seem to be making their move?"

"They took a human. Big deal."

"Yeah, and that brat of a human is probably going to die in the next few minutes." The speaker shrugged, staring at the temporary brunette. "She's leaving her back wide open... silly mortal..."

Reyna was gone from behind them in a flash, appearing behind the figure creeping up on her sister's exposed back in an instant, slitting their throat in the next. Her sister was reckless. It was a well-known fact.

That was why she rarely got involved in any brawls by herself – always having at least one other member of family to back her up.

They were family. Bound together by the blood flowing through their veins and the blood they spilled together.

So it came as no surprise the Reyna when the sound of a shot rang out, felling the woman behind her, closely followed by an enraged snort. "Nobody hurts my little sisters." Rogue hissed, striding confidently towards the field of chaos and blood.

Hooded figures fought shadowed figures, band of assassins against another band of assassins in the least assassiny fight the sisters had ever seen. They were supposed to work from the shadows – to strike only when the kill was guaranteed, and yet there they were... fighting like soldiers in a war. Fortunately for the Deryns, they'd been drilled through those kinds of fights. They'd trained their socks off under the watchful eyes of their parents, in case anything should've ever happened to them.

So, when the three other siblings emerged from the treeline, they didn't hesitate to charge forwards onto the battleground, each armed with the weapons of their own choice.