Athena
A cool gentle breeze whipped through my hair as I ran down the streets of New York. The sky was just starting to lighten up, a mix of different shades of blue that blessed the morning with some kind of serenity. I needed that serenity, Too much had been happening and somehow they felt too fast and spiraling out of control. I hated losing my footing, my grip on a situation. I hated losing control.
My running shoes hit the sidewalk quickly, cold air sifting through my nose, making it slightly hard to breathe with each step but I didn’t want to stop. Not for a minute. My goal was to achieve a blank slate for a mind. A mind that thought about nothing yet everything all at once.
Ah, shit. I was turning poetic. It had to be the cold air getting to my brain. A wheeze came out from my nose and mouth and I was forced to stop by my oxygen-deprived brain. If I kept running, I might as well dig a grave for myself. There was no way I was dying while Luciano was alive though. That man irritated the crap out of me.
Irritates or Arouses? My mind taunted and I groaned.
The bastard dominated my thoughts lately. Ever since his threats two days ago, I could barely think straight. Luciano doesn’t beat around the bush, does he? He’d promised me the sweetest of all pleasures and the worst of all pain in one full sentence. That was mildly terrifying. Terrifying because despite his promises of pain, all my damn head could think about were his first lines.
…I will take you, Raven. Hard, fast, and rough. I will devour every inch of your silky skin, take in every drop of your sweetness…
I had never so badly wanted to be devoured in my entire life and that pissed the shit out of me. When he had said all that, I didn’t know what to say. Yeah, it was that fucking bad. I always had a response down for him. My comebacks were quick and witty but in that moment, I was torn between going on my damned knees and running the hell away. So I had just stayed in his arms staring at him like he had grown two heads.
Luciano chuckled at my indifference and released me, before walking out of the office and going to that fucking brunch anyway. The idea that after kissing me like that, he went on some stupid date with some Barbie whose father wanted to pawn off on Luciano made me even mad. I had called in sick the day before, afraid that if I saw Luciano again, I’d lose my sense and do either of two things.
One, fuck him and then get tossed aside like a piece of used dirty rag. Two, Kill him because I couldn’t handle the stupid complex feelings he spurred inside me. Oh make no mistake, I would end him. It was my only vital goal. Irrespective of what happened, Lucian was a fiucking dead man walking with me on his tail.
I sighed and drew in another deep breath trying to stabilize myself. I had been running for over thirty minutes, barely stopping. My muscles were fatigued, I was out of breath and I hadn’t seen a single soul pass by6 me in the past fifteen minutes. The street was quiet.
A little too quiet.
I heard a revving sound in the distance and the hairs on my skin rose. Something wasn’t right.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” I swore, taking off running. I had to get the hell out of there!
But it was too late. Two bikes sprung from a corner, driving behind me. They were after me! Perfect fucking timing. It just happened to be when I was fucking drained out. The bikes circled me in no time. The riders were covered in black with a mask on their faces. How very fucking original.
“It’s her,” One of them yelled over the revving of their bikes.
“What do you want?” I demanded, halting my feet and staring at them.
Oh, I wasn’t foolish. I was simply stalling for time so I could gather enough strength to take these bastards on. I couldn’t do much shit, but I sure as heck could cause enough damage.
The men parked their bikes right in the middle of the road and stalked towards me. Welp, I suppose there was no use running now.
“Easy pretty lady,” one of them said in a funny Scottish accent. “We just need to take you away for a while, And you’ll be fine.”
My lips split in a grin. “Oh how very fucking gentlemanly of you,”
His friend, the American one who had yelled ‘It’s her’ like they found some prized possession lunged at me.
I dodged his hands causing him to sway to the side and threw a kick in his back. The Scot grabbed my ponytail. Ignoring the blasting pain in my temples, I winded around his hands and threw three rapid punches in his belly that sent the fool staggering. In my mind’s eye, I could see the American approach. I ducked just in time to dodge a blow to the head and attacked his legs with mine. The Scot approached from my blind spot and struck a blow right on my face, causing me to fall to the ground. My vision doubled from the pain and the right side of my face throbbed like hell!
Yeah, I was pretty much fucked. My arms hurt like hell, my legs were tired and I had barely lasted five minutes.
Get the fuck up, Athena!
One of the men, I couldn’t give a fuck who it was, grabbed my hair and pulled me to my feet using it. I gritted my teeth in pain. I couldn’t see his face behind the mask but I knew he was furious. He tossed a slap across my face and when he went for the second, I slammed my head into his, grabbed his neck in a choke hold causing him to release his hold on me. My hands tightened around his neck.
“Who the hell are you?!” I demanded.
I looked back, just in time to see the damned American run towards me with a pipe. I dodged but not in time. The heavy metal slammed into my shoulder. I howled at the pain, staggering away from them. Ah, shit. A kick landed straight to my belly until I was sprawled to the ground. Every attempt I made to get up was immediately countered by a series of kicks and punches. Realizing I had no way out, I curled into a ball to protect my vital organs trying to think my way through the fucking torture.
Suddenly the kicking stopped. The next I had was a scream and then a snap. I opened my eyes, to see a blurry image of the American man falling to the ground, his eyes wide but his mouth was slack. His neck was oddly bent at a weird angle.
He was dead.
My eyes took in the man that towered over the dead man. Dark hair, an angular jaw, I couldn’t see the look on his face due to my distorted vision but I just knew it would be a sadistic expression. The scot didn’t bother fighting him, he simply ran away like the pansy he was, climbed on his bike, and drove off like his ass was on fire.
I riveted my eyes back to the approaching figure. Luciano. His lips moved but for a while, I couldn’t hear what he said.
“…Raven! Can you hear me?!” His voice reached my ears then. He sounded odd. “I’ll try to carry you now Mia Cara. It’ll hurt like hell, but it’ll get better…”
I wanted to snort at his words but he was right, it would hurt like hell. I held my bent down to pick me up from the floor. Hell was a fucking understatement. My bones screamed, my muscles screamed but I swallowed it all up down my gut, gritting my teeth instead. Only pansies screamed when they were in pain, at least that’s what Frederick told me. The ability to think while in pain was what would help me survive.
“I’m sorry,” Luciano murmured into my hair.
Sorry? I frowned. Why would he be sorry? Unless of course this attack was connected to him. How else would he be present? What was he doing here? There was a fucking missing clue and I was going to find it even if it meant guilt-tripping the man carrying me.
My lips quivered and I buried my face deeper into his chest, willing the tears to come. I thought about the afternoon I had seen my father dead in the living room and sobs soon wracked my body.
“It’s okay Raven,” Luciano whispered. “You’re safe. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”