Winter sat on a broken stereo someone left in an alleyway behind the local grocery store.
She kicked out her legs as an attempt to get her energy out, waiting patiently for something to happen.
Cameron was God knows where, though she knew he was nearby. Whether it was behind the corner or on the roof, she couldn’t tell.
He was a really good stalker...
He’d even fooled her for all the months or years he’d been watching her, but she shoved the thought away, knowing that she needed to focus.
She darted her eyes up and down the street, looking for shadows or any type of movement, but ended up finding none...
But that’s when she saw a red light pulse under her shirt, and she looked down curiously, seeing the spot where the ruby on her necklace rested, beating like a heart...
She smiled. It works...
But that’s when she looked back ahead, pretending to focus on the wall but searched the corners of her eyes for movement...
Her heart stopped for a moment when she saw a shadow move into the alley... stepping over to her carefully as if attempting not to spook her...
Though, she knew very well he was sneaking up on her, waiting to get close enough to pounce...
Like a cat and a mouse...
But what this little idiot didn’t know, was that he was the mouse.
He pushed himself to the wall, sliding over to her silently and thinking he was out of her eyesight...
But she still saw him move, and she slowly and quietly slid her hand to the sword that rested in a hilt attached to her pants.
He pounced then, and at light speed, Winter shot up from the stereo, landing silently on the ground like Cam taught her...
You’re as light as you want to be. You’re as light as a feather.
And the assassin stumbled forward as if not expecting that, spinning around to look for her while exhaling a curse, but when his eyes landed on her, he smiled sadistically.
She only narrowed her eyes, getting into the fighting position Cam taught her so many times and glared back.
And when his eyes moved to her sword, they rounded as if he were scared or surprised.
And she took this moment of shock to launch toward him, throwing out her blade to slice his throat, but he moved away suddenly, the sword slashing his stomach instead.
He exhaled a curse, looking slightly panicked when they stopped at a stand-still, and pressed his hand to his gut where blood bloomed from under his shirt.
“This isn’t over,” he growled. “We’ll keep coming. And we won’t stop.”
She half-expected him to vanish with that teleportation spell Kit used, but instead, the wound in his navel ignited like it was fire, and he screamed in agony, Winter watching in horror as his whole body caught flame.
Until all that laid at her feet was a pile of ash... Lightly blowing away in the wind.
She looked to her sword, partially stunned.
But then she heard silent footsteps behind her, and she was about to turn an attack the second assassin, but a sudden boom! echoed through the alley, making her cry out when the gunshot rattled her ears.
She half-expected to feel pain bursting through her skull or any other body part, but when she looked up, the assassin's eyes rolled to the top of his head, dark blood rolling down the back of his neck, and he fell forward, collapsing to the cement.
She looked up to see what attacked him, and there stood Cameron, holding a pistol in his hand that aimed to where the guard was, and he put it down, a half-smile curving his lips.
“You have to watch your back, too, Winter,” he said, sounding slightly disappointed. “I don’t think you’re ready to fight real people yet.”
She shot him a glare, wanting to slap him at his tone.
He stepped to her, pushing his pistol back into his pants.
When he made it to her, he held out his hand, palm-up. “Sword.”
She rolled her eyes, setting the hilt onto his hand.
He closed his hand around it and knelt down, slicing the blade deep into the already-dead assassin's chest.
And he too burned like they lit a match and set him on fire, and turned into ash, as well.
“How does it do that...?” she questioned in awe when Cameron handed her back the sword.
“It’s a special sword belonged to your family,” he uttered, standing now. “It makes anything with demon blood turn to ash, and no,” he said, shooting her a look before she could ask, “you can’t kill me with it. I was an angel before I turned so I don’t count.”
She stuck out her lower lip, feigning disappointment.
He only shook his head, turning away to step out of the alley.
She was about to follow behind him, but her necklace started beating again, and she looked around worriedly, holding her hand to her chest. “Cameron....”
He was beside her suddenly, making her gasp when he caught her arm and shoved her behind him, pointing his gun threateningly to the mouth of the alley.
Winter’s breath caught, heart pounding wildly against her chest when she saw someone familiar leaning against a wall of a store.
She wore a tight, black jacket, hood drawn over her eyes, shielding her expression...
But Winter could still see her painted black lips curled into a razor-sharp smile, slicing her skin like thin knives.
“Who are you?” Cameron demanded, voice lower than Winter had ever heard.
She didn’t respond, her smile only widened.
He clicked off the safety, finger hovering over the trigger. “Answer me before I blow your brains out.”
She only giggled, the sound of a child echoing off the alley walls when a little of her teeth showed from her smile.
And then she vanished.
Winter went cold, spinning around and searching the alley for movement or shadows...
But she heard Cameron curse under his breath, and she shot her gaze to where the girl sat, seeing ten assassins lined behind where the mysterious girl stood...
Crap...
An ambush...
She pulled out her knife from her belt, holding the hilt tightly in her hand while her palms dampened from sweat.
“Cameron...?” she whispered.
“Don’t worry,” he assured her, “I got you.”
“You can’t fight all of them,” she said. “That’s impossible. Even for you.”
“You don’t know me that well yet,” was all he said.
And he still held the gun firmly, aiming directly to the assassins who were slowly creeping up on them.
When I count to three, Cam whispered to her mind, run. Understand?
Yes... she responded back.
One...
She gripped her dagger harder.
Two...
She held onto his hand tightly.
“Three.”
She broke free of him and sprinted straight toward the mouth of the alley behind them, knowing Cameron would follow.
The walls from the stores rushed by her like blurs, but she wasn’t going nearly as fast as Cam could...
She almost made it to the end, but five more assassins slid out from the sides of the stores, blocking her exit.
She came up short against one, almost bumping into his chest but managed to keep her balance...
But he already caught her wrist, reeling her toward another one with enough force to break her arm.
You’re as light as you want to be, Cameron told her before. If your body’s stiff, your fighting’s stiff.
So she bent her knees, drawing one up and shoving it an assassin's chest, using force to knock him as well as the other shoving her backwards.
When his grip loosened, she spun on one foot like a ballerina, slicing both of their chests at light speed and hopped away from the others.
She landed on the ground a couple feet away from where she was before, staring down the remaining three guards who looked slightly terrified, the ashes from the two she slashed already drifting away in the wind.
“You wanna dance?” she said, smiling now. “Let’s dance.”
Two came barreling toward her at light speed from opposite directions, rage and terror burning in their eyes, but she stood there until they were close enough, noting that one was coming faster than the other.
You ought to train these guys better, Dante, she thought.
And she started to the fastest one, making him stumble at her sudden movement, but when he reached out to grab her, she kneeled down and slid along the cement, slashing his leg while he was caught in surprise.
While he burned alive, she kicked him to the other vampire who was still running to her, making his body slam against him so he stumbled as well.
But when the dead guard vanished, she launched toward the stunned one, slicing his neck and didn’t bother a second glance, just went straight to the last one who looked partially scared, standing in place as if he froze in ice.
She didn’t even wince, she just pierced his chest with the dagger, drawing it out while blood splattered everywhere.
She stood there for a moment and she turned to Cameron who clearly had just finished fighting his bunch, staring at her in a sudden shock when he saw the ash swirling around her like she was the eye of a hurricane...
All the guards she fought were vaporized, whereas the ones he killed were on the ground, gunshot wounds scattered across their bodies.
He shook his head, clearing his disbelief.
“They’re not dead,” he stated, staring at the pile of dead bodies. “Just stunned, they don’t have blood to heal, so they’re just stuck there.”
Her previous self would’ve screamed and ran after seeing this sight... Cameron covered in dark blood, hair matted with sweat, and how he held his pistol in his hand that was also stained a hideous red.
“Should we even bother...?” she wondered, staring at her sword as an indication.
“No...” he stated, “they’re pretty weak... I guess Dante thought ‘the more the merrier.’”
Winter couldn’t help but giggle. “You handled them pretty well. Remind me to not get on your bad side.”
“You’ll never be on my bad side, Snowflake,” he assured her, though his gaze was still aimed to the pile of gore. “Not as bad as these guys.” He kicked one as if he were an angry child.
“Cameron...” she said then.
He looked to her then. “Yes?”
“How long have you been watching me...?”
He looked partly stunned at the sudden question, but shook his head as if to clear his mind. “You don’t want to know that answer to that, trust me.”
“I actually do...” she answered. “I’m quite curious....”
“Enough to know almost everything about you,” he said. “Satisfied?”
“No, I want an actual timeline.”
He shot her a look before shaking his head. “You’re going to call me creepy.”
“I have called you creepy before,” she stated, “and you blew it off like I just threw a feather at you.”
“Odd description,” he commented, “but in that case, you were being defensive. In this case, you’re more likely to be honest.”
She looked at him quizzically. “What makes you say that?”
“Because you know me better,” he answered. “And because you’ve already expressed your love for me.”
She felt her cheeks heat, and a small smile formed on his cheek, a dimple surfacing.
“You’re still embarrassed by that?” he questioned.
Yes, because before she met him, she vowed that she’d never have friends let alone relationships ever again.
“High school relationships don’t last that long...” she responded, despite saying this before. “Usually the guys are so needy that the just want a girl for a night. They don’t care when they ditch them....”
“You mean they want sex,” Cam clarified.
“Yes....”
“Why can’t you just say that?” he questioned. “It’s not like you’re cussing. It’s just a word.”
“I know it’s just a word,” she answered.
He was silent for a moment, clearly waiting for her to speak.
“Buuuut?” he pressed.
“I don’t like saying it, alright?”
“Why?”
“I just don’t.”
He looked her over for a moment, watching her cheeks heat. “Do you not like saying it because it’s embarrassing or because you want to feel innocent?”
“I don’t want to feel innocent,” she stated.
“Don’t lie, Winter,” he said, chuckling, though despite the frisky subject, he kept his distance. “No one our age is innocent.”
She kept silent.
He only exhaled a chuckle, staring off into the distance as he scanned the area for threats. “We’d better get outta here before the police come, huh?”
“Yeah...” she responded.
He smiled then. “Did I make you feel uncomfortable?”
“I don’t like your mocking tone,” she said. “And yes, you did.”
No, he didn’t... She had made sex jokes with many people before... though she hadn’t talked to anyone other than her mom and teachers, so it’s been a bit since she joked around with someone... and she wasn’t used to it...
That, and having this specific subject with Cameron made something inside her heat, and she wasn’t sure if she liked it...
Or if she hated it...
“Come on,” Cameron held out his hand, “let’s go, my love.”
My love...
Why did that nickname make her heart flutter...? Why did all his nicknames make her heart flutter...?
Before she could take his hand, she heard loud, patting footsteps as if someone were barreling toward them...
No... wait... the time between each slap of feet didn’t match...
It was two people... at least...
Cameron reeled Winter behind him, pointing his gun threateningly at the mouth of the alley as shadows developed on the cement again...
“The demons should be here!” one of them said, her voice sounding vaguely familiar. “The tracker says so!”
Who did that sound like...? Who was it...?
But two girls ran to the mouth of the alley, eyes searching the area for demons...
But one of the girl’s eyes landed on Winter, and her breath caught.
Winter went cold, tears brimming in her eyes as her stomach surged with madness...
No… no… it couldn’t be…
“Amelia...?” she whispered, voice breaking.
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