Maria Casella watched as her breath turned to mist in the cold morning air before her. She shivered slightly, trudging towards a small coffee shop on auto pilot. Her eyes were beginning to droop again and she could not risk falling asleep, not when her target was so close. Not when all that mattered was within her grasp. At present Maria was running off of an odd cocktail of caffeine and unadulterated rage.
The rage had fuelled the young woman for the past six months, keeping her on the heels of her prey even as they travelled across the sea and across countless borders. Oh but if only this was as simple as a wolf stalking down a small doe. No, for Maria was hunted by those she was tracking. They needed her and she wanted to find them.
One might think that that meant this whole situation should have been resolved quickly, but they would be wrong. Both parties were neither stupid nor reckless. Maria was out-numbered and they had leverage. They, however, knew that Maria was not to be taken lightly and knew that it would be safer for them if they tired her out and drew her into their headquarters, which they had reached a week ago. Maria knew what they were doing, but she had enough will power to steady herself and plan her next move.
As she waited in line to order herself the strongest coffee they'd give her, she caught her reflection in one of those mirrors stores like to occasionally hang up. She had changed so much in the past six months. Her deeply tanned skin was beginning to take on an unhealthy sheen, which caused the dark circles under eyes to stand out further. She had also lost a considerable amount of weight, not enough to for her to worry… yet. Her hair, which used to be left loose to hang down her back in messy curls, had been placed in a bun and left untouched for three days, meaning that long strands of hair had fallen out here and there. She had been wondering why people had been looking at her with concern written all over their faces. She pulled her long hair out of her bun and put all of it into a ponytail.
Looking moderately better, the young woman ordered herself a coffee and was quickly on her way. If one were to look her way it would seem she was heading towards a certain place, with her purposeful strides and focused expression. Realistically she had no idea where she was going, she was just following her instincts and heading in the direction her body wanted to go.
Maria had a plan. She had to wait until they wanted her to know where they are, but she could not just fall into their trap so easy. She would have to wait until they were on the move. No matter what happened. She shook her head, trying to fight off the symptoms of sleep deprivation she knew she was suffering from. So far she wasn't aware of any hallucinations but her paranoia had sky rocketed, which is note worthy considering she had already been paranoid before her week long wakefulness.
Maria stopped near a large bin, pulling in one last sip of coffee as she scanned the surrounding area, searching for guides and sentinels, a habit that had stuck with her since she was a child. Satisfied that she had identified only two sentinels, neither of which she knew, across the street, she dropped her empty cup into the bin and continued on with her search.
Two hours passed and the streets became more crowded so Maria headed towards the hotel room she had booked a week prior. It was a small and dingy room and it was clear the cleaners were not paid enough to care. Maria had only been in the room for a total of two hours, preferring to wander the streets all day and night.
Her last visit was three days ago, meaning she desperately needed a shower. So, after a quick but thorough scan of the room, she entered into her small bathroom and started a steamy shower. She turned the water up as high as she could stand, the slight burn was very wakeful, and began to lather her body in unscented soap.
It was about fifteen minutes that she felt it. She had to go. Hoping that she wouldn't have to worry about the cold, the short woman sped out of the door, not bothering to search her bag for the jumper she was planning on wearing, though she did pull a small backpack from a hook by the door. She ignored her wet hair, hoping a mad dash across London would be enough to dry it.
She passed through the centre of the large city and kept on forward. She noted in the back of her mind that the direction the pull was coming from was leading her into the broken down area of town, the area most tourists would avoid.
It wasn't long before she had figured out where they would be. She had slowed to a walk as soon as she was within a block of the signal. Her hands trembled with anticipation but she calmed herself, she couldn't lose her self-control.
Just past a long row of tall, rundown buildings, Maria could make out the shape of a warehouse. She steadied her breathing and ducked down a small alleyway. She had to approach from an unexpected angle.
She walked about halfway down the gravel path and turned towards the tall brick fence that cut the miniscule backyard the many inhabitants of a tall brick building shared from the dank alleyway. The fence was three metres tall, a difficult leap for someone who could hardly reach higher than two metres. There wasn't much space to get a run up either but Maria somehow managed to spring the required distance, just.
She huffed as she pulled herself over the fence and swung herself over the fence and onto the cracked pavers that made a dodgy path to a small shed. Maria pulled a face when she realised she had at least ten other fences to scramble over before she came to the house before the warehouse. Containing a groan she set to work, trying not to alarm anyone who may be looking through there window, that was the last thing she needed.
It wasn't long before Maria found herself in the yard across the road from the warehouse. She was disappointed to find that she couldn't see into any of the windows from the yard, she needed to go into the building.
Pulling a bobby pin from her hair and a tension wrench from her waistband she approached the door handle and tested it. As she expected it was locked. She made short work of the cheap thing though and proceeded to bound up the stairs two at a time. She needed to get as high up as possible.
A scowled pulled at her tired features when she realised that there would be no roof access, she'd have to go into one of the tenant's room. When she reached the top floor she turned toward the door that would open into the room opposite the warehouse. Hoping no one was home, Maria tested the handle and found it locked, which she decided was a better sign than if it was unlocked.
Maria was quiet as she entered the apartment. The room she had entered was only small, though it had a kitchen and living room crammed into it. She could hear someone snoring, but it was muffled by the thin walls of the apartment. Maria hoped that they wouldn't wake up until she had left.
Creeping towards the window that was covered by thick grey curtains with a practised silence Maria sat her backpack next to her and pulled a pair of binoculars out of it. She then slowly shifted the curtain to one side ever so slightly and peered through her binoculars into one of the broken windows across from her.
Her fury raised when she saw a slim figure slouched in a wooden chair on the far side of the building, she could just make out the chains used to restrain the limp figure of her partner. The anger bubbled in the pit of her stomach but Maria forced it down, she needed to focus.
She continued to watch. There were four other people in the warehouse but that was not the information she wanted. An hour passed before her hopes of seeing something useful were raised. The bond pulling her to her partner was suddenly dampened, which meant they would be moving soon.
A rain drop splattered onto the window, blurring a part of Maria's view and causing her to glance up at the sky. The clouds were dark and menacing, promising a torrential downpour. Something Maria wasn't looking forward too. A few more drops hit the window pane and Maria continued staring.
A grey van had driven into view and the back doors had swung open. Maria heaved a sigh of relief, now it was time to get moving. Dropping her binoculars into her backpack she turned towards the door she had come through. She was however surprised to see a small woman with frizzy red hair staring at her in horror, she had just opened her bedroom door. Damn it! She thought, cursing herself for not paying enough attention.
"Sorry, I'll be off now." She raced towards the door that led to the stairway and ran as fast as she could down the stairs. She then raced out the front door, not wanting to scale the fences again, and sped across the road and down the alley. She then pulled her phone from her pocket and studied the street map she had brought up during her surveillance.
She knew that the driver had a subconscious pattern when he was picking 'random' streets to turn down. She could predict his next twenty turns fairly accurately, but after that it got a little more difficult.
The road she decided to meet them at was a fair distance away, so she hurried to memorise all of the turns she needed to make and headed off. She could feel her partner's presence fading, which meant they had already left the warehouse. Maria pressed forward, against the rain that was steadily getting heavier and heavier.
She reached the intersection mere moments before the van, thankfully the heavy rain made it hard for the two people sitting in the front to identify the woman who was soaked through to the bone. Maria's number one goal was her mate, so, logically she ignored the two people in the front seat and instead pounced on the back doors, shattering the window pane with her fist.
Adrenaline was coursing through her veins so she hardly felt the impact, all she knew was that her beloved was only a metre away from her, the closest they had been for six months. She swiftly reached down, groping around for the door handle before grasping it between her fingers and reefing it upwards. The door swung pen and the woman made to leap into the vehicle.
The two sentinels who were riding with their captive had been shocked into a momentary silence when the glass, which was extremely tough, had shattered into thousands of tiny pieces. They recovered from their shock as the small, dark skinned woman had dove into the van and lunged at her.
Maria had been prepared for this however and rolled to the right side of the van, allowing the two heavy men to collide with each other. Unfortunately they did not fall out of the back of the vehicle. She looked over her shoulder and kicked the closest one in waist, causing him to shout in pain. She aimed another one at his head but the second sentinel had wrapped his long, solid fingers around her ankle and pulled her towards him as he crawled back to the far right corner of the compartment. Realising the immediate threat she faced of being caught, the woman pulled her other leg back and kicked as hard as she could at the arm that held her. He released her leg and she fell from the back of the vehicle, which had just started to move forward.
"Shit!" She gasped at the sudden impact of the road, but since she was well practiced in landing no serious damage was done. She was on her feet and after the speeding van within moments. Maria was not confident in her ability to chase down a moving vehicle, but she did have confidence in London traffic, which was notoriously bad.
A mad dash down the next footpath was all it took for her to catch up with the van again, but this time they were waiting for her. The two men from the back of the van had climbed out of the vehicle and were now rushing towards her.
This sort of environment was more to Maria's liking. She had a lot more room to manoeuvre, giving her more of a chance against the two men who were much larger than her. Of course they had more room to manoeuvre as well, but Maria felt the playing field was more even anyway.
Maria ducked down as the first man reached her, she made a mental note to watch for his speed. She easily dodged his punch though and aimed a savage kick for the side of his knee, she missed, but did kick him quite hard in the back of the leg, causing him to collapse in pain. The second sentinel wasn't far behind his friend though and Maria was forced to move away from the one lying on the ground before she could properly incapacitate him.
It wasn't long before he was back on his feet and this time the two took their time. One tried to circle around behind her but she anticipated that move and went on the offensive before he could separate too far from his partner. She needed them both in view.
She once again pulled back, now with a clear view of the van and the two sentinels. Maria grit her teeth, grinding them in frustration. The van was beginning to move again and she was stuck here. As the van turned down a side street, Maria made a quick, stupid decision. She went after the van.
The move was unexpected and as she ran past the sentinels they didn't catch her since they were expecting her to attack. Had they thought she'd gone after the van the dash would have been over much quicker than it was.
When Maria reached the side street she was relieved to find the van still stuck in traffic and so she turned her gaze slightly behind her. The two sentinels were close, she wasn't particularly fast and she knew that she'd be caught before she reached the van. She turned forward again and ran for a moment longer before suddenly crouching down on the pavement. She felt a sharp pain in her lower back as the faster Sentinel tripped over her body and then she stood and forced her right shoulder into the following man's diaphragm.
She heard him gasp and she stepped to the side letting him drop. With a quick glance she noted the man she had tripped was grasping the side of his head and staggering towards her. She stepped forward, meaning to knock him unconscious but her attention was suddenly drawn to the van. The bond between her and her mate suddenly flared to life, and with it the knowledge that the girl she loved was in danger. Through the broken window Maria saw a man holding a knife to her Sentinel's throat.
A blind rage drove her forward. Had she not lost control of her emotions, perhaps she would have surrendered, which is what the man in the back of the van had expected. She ignored the staggering sentinel and lunged at the van, she had only been a few metres away, she opened the door swiftly and had the knife away from her sentinel's throat in a flash, throwing it to the side and reaching for the unconscious woman.
In her fury she had forgot the two men behind her and was surprised when something caught her around the waist and dragged her backwards. The dazed man had regained a little bit of his co-ordination and had looped his arms under hers and clasped his hands at the back of her neck. The second man, no longer winded walked forward calmly.
Snarling Maria put her flexibility to use and slipped her arms from the hold. She then turned, using her unexpected freedom, towards the sentinel behind her and launched her head into his groin. He went down groaning and shuddering, unsurprisingly Maria felt no remorse.
She then sprang on the other man, who had paused momentarily in his stride. She put all she could into one punch and knocked him out cold. She then turned and saw the van moving away once again. The doors had been pulled shut and Maria could see that this time they had a lot more speed.
Maria ran after it, delivering a solid kick to the remaining conscious sentinels head as she passed. Usually Maria would have some qualms about kicking somebody who was already on the ground, but in this case she thought the action justified.
She was a mere metre away from the vehicle when she felt, for the second time that day, someone grab her from behind. Had she been in the right mind the woman might have questioned who could possibly be grabbing her now since her two pursuers were now unconscious two streets back, but she was not in the right mind.
She kicked and squirmed, wriggling with all her might as the van pulled away and disappeared from view. The fury she felt was maddening and somehow she managed to pull herself free of the heavy man who had pinned her down. The connection to her Sentinel had disappeared, meaning there was no way she could track her down. She sprung on the man, forcing her mind to memorise his face. She grabbed him by the collar but was quickly pulled back by many other people.
She couldn't move at all, there were too many holding her. It was at that moment, that painful moment that all the pain and sadness of the past six months caught up with her. It hurt too much and she broke down. An inhumane sound forced itself from her lips and she stopped struggling. All of the sentinels surrounding her struggled to contain there instinct to protect the guide and she was gently placed in the back of a cop car and hand cuffed.