I, ASSASSIN
Chapter One
**Authors Note: This story does not have any links to Magnetic Attraction, Blind Leading the Blind, or Derranged Marriage. This story would most likely take place a some point following the end of X-Men Evolution's last series.
It was a humid sultry hot day and the Summer had barely begun. The air was thick like syrup; it was the kind of air that was scented almost sickly sweet and was incredibly hard to breathe. Remy thought, as he inhaled deeply and tried to exhale that the air seemed to sit in his lungs like thick sticky cotton and settle there. He dangled one leg over the branch of the cypress tree he had been resting upon; his back pressed against the trunk comfortably. He glanced down into the swamp, the water was mossy green, so still that to the untrained eye, it could have almost passed for a meadow of well trimmed grass.
Flies hovered over the water, skimming across the green as if they were figure skating. The long trunk of a bald cypress had fallen, bridging a short path over the shallow waters. As Remy looked carefully he could see the shape of a gator – an eight footer, he reckoned – lurking there upon the trunk, damn near blending into it.
Everything was so silent other than the occasional buzz of a fly that would pass his ear. That was until he heard his name being called.
"Remy!"
He sighed and twisted his body to look around the trunk towards the nearest stretch of land; his brother there, wearing a dirty grey vest – and cargo shorts that were smeared with oil. Henri was tall, broad, and incredibly tanned. He generally looked older than twenty-two, but he'd had his thick usually unkempt brown hair clipped off and left in a buzz cut that almost qualified for shaved completely; the young man's scalp was visible and it shone with the summer sweat. The whole affect made him look like a seventeen year old high school student.
"How you find me?" Remy asked, his drawl was lazy, he gazed down to his brother.
"I follow the smell of cheap cologne and cigarettes, what you think?" Henri smirked. "Come on down."
"What's goin' on?"
"Somethin' big."
"Oh?"
"They holdin' a meetin'."
"Who they?" Remy swung himself down from the branch onto another, across to the nearest tree and walked in perfect balance down across a narrow branch that led to dry land.
"Marius Boudreaux and father."
Remy swept his hand through his messy hair, it was tinged with sweat leaving it limp and flat. His brother glanced towards him, and rolled his eyes.
Henri grunted, "You need that hair cut."
"It's fine. It's just grown out a little."
Grown out was perhaps an understatement. Eleven months ago, his hair had been a neat and stylish crew cut. Now Remy's thick and heavy brown hair hung every which way in a mess that resembled no haircut whatsoever.
"Are you kiddin' me?" laughed Henri as they walked together, cutting through the trees that led towards their home. "You gonna know all about it one day, mon frere, if you leave your hair that way."
"Oh?"
"That was how they catch cousin Jaques you know," Henri explained, "DNA evidence from a single piece of hair he leave behind at the place he stole that Faberge Egg. He got fifteen years for that crap."
"And it only took him three months to escape," Remy pointed out with a smirk. "I could do it in three hours."
"Well," Henri chuckled, he slapped Remy on the back playfully, "let's hope it never get to that, eh?"
The sun was glaring upon the LeBeau house as the brothers approached it, and it seemed to make even the dingy grey painted boards – which had for so long badly been screaming for a coat of white paint - seem almost pristine and bright. Ivy had crawled up one of the wooden pillars holding up the porch roof, and the tendrils had spread so that it dangled over the edges like tenacious fingers reaching back for the ground it had left. The sun reflected just right off the large glass windows making each pane seem like shimmering hot liquid gold. In the plantation house's unmaintained state it was Gothically pretty, it had character
Remy's eyes fell to a petite blonde figure sitting on the porch steps of his house: she was twirling a long sun-kissed curl around her slim tanned finger, at the same time chewing gum lazily, a pink bubble escaped her full lips and softly popped, disappearing back between her perfect white teeth.
"Is that..." Remy trailed off in a quiet whisper, stopping at the line of trees as he stared ahead.
"It is," Henri nodded, looking impressed as he too, admired the blonde from afar. "Bella Donna Boudreaux."
Remy cooed appreciatively of the vision before him.
"Two words," muttered Henri, he leaned near to Remy to make sure he heard and understood them. "Jail. Bait."
As the two young men approached the LeBeau house, Bella Donna stood up to greet them, smiling brightly, eyes so clear the sky envied them. Remy took in the sight of her; she was wearing the uniform for St. Dominics, a prestigious boarding school for Catholic girls. The uniform for St. Dominics was a white shirt with slightly puffed sleeves, a knee-length skirt with pleats that was usually completed with a pair of white knee socks. Bella Donna had perfected the knack of making it look like the outfit straight from a poorly made amateur porn. The shirt had been unbuttoned at the top to reveal the edges of her polka-dot bra, and the bottom of the shirt had been tied up to her ribs to reveal her deeply tanned waist and the glimmer of a jewel dangling from her navel. The skirt had been rolled over several times at the waist so that the skirt was hiked up to barely cover her panties. No socks and a pair of incredibly high stiletto mary jane shoes donned her feet regardless of them being unsuitable for this kind of terrain.
"Belle," said Remy, he gestured to her outfit appreciatively. "I like the debut 'Britney Spears' look you got goin', here. Very retro."
"I do it much better than she did," Belle tossed her gleaming gold locks over her shoulder.
"I tend to agree," Remy decided, eyes roving up and down.
"Look at you, I swear, you got taller. And scruffier," she took the chewing gum in her mouth and tossed it in the nearby trash.
"I know you like that in a man," Remy smirked.
"I'll see you inside," Henri rolled his eyes at Remy as he passed by them both.
The moment Henri had gone into the house and the front door had shut with that rattling thump, Remy hastily backed Bella Donna up to the rail at the side of the porch steps, and pressed his mouth to hers hard; her strawberry bubblegum flavoured tongue met with his and felt as hot as the sun on the back of his neck. After much heated kissing, Bella Donna broke her lips away from his to take a breath, tilting her head back.
"Been a while since we did that, chere," she brushed the back of her index finger across the stubble darkening his jaw. "Must have been...a year or so?"
"Has it been that long since I last saw you?" he breathed hotly.
"I think so," she tugged on his bottom lip with her teeth then drew herself up to him for another kiss; Remy was impressed just how good she had gotten at kissing since she'd been the skinny and gangly fifteen year old he'd probably been too old to be lusting after last February. Now, she was a rather voluptuous – although still notably petite – sixteen and a half and suddenly the almost three years of age between them didn't seem nearly so much of gap.
After their second kiss, Bella Donna sighed contentedly.
"Mmm," he murmured smugly, "now where did you learn to do things like that with your tongue in a Catholic School for Girls?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
She chewed her lip and traced her finger along his mouth; her touch was so incredibly light, it tickled, "you don't wanna know."
His fingers slid across the smooth skin of her exposed lower back to slip beneath the folded top of her skirt and graze against what felt like lace underwear. "Oh, I'm pretty sure I do," he gave a throaty laugh as he leaned close to her neck and planted a kiss just below her ear. "In great-" he planted another kiss, "great-" he placed another kiss, sucking the skin a little before continuing, "detail."
Bella Donna gave a sweet laugh that almost seemed like birdsong, "Well, I-"
The front door opened just then, it was the clattering of the screen door that alerted them. Remy quickly broke away from Bella Donna as Marius Boudreaux left the house, Jean-Luc LeBeau trailing behind him.
Bella Donna straightened up, taking a further step back from Remy in an attempt to seem casual and innocent. Bella Donna's reaction to her father's appearance didn't faze Remy at all. In fact, it had been somewhat expected...it was almost the norm.
It had been two years ago when Remy had first really noticed Bella Donna flourishing into an attractive young woman. Although back then she'd still been slim and shapeless, she was undeniably beautiful and charming and for a time he'd attempted – quite unsuccessfully – to ignore the attraction because of the age difference. Three years might not be much of a gap between two people who perhaps may be in their twenties or thirties, but for teenagers, it was as huge a gap as ten or twenty years. The difference between a girl of fourteen and a young man of seventeen was the massive gap between a child still wide-eyed and innocent and a very adult man who was growing ever more sexually aware of himself and what he wanted out of a woman.
It was fine to admire from afar, he'd decided, but his morals told him to steer clear – and so he had. It had been a struggle, of course, and regardless of chasing college girls and more experienced women, Bella Donna had always been in the back of Remy's mind. He'd tried to convince himself that the only reason that he found the little blonde so delectable was that she was forbidden. Not only was she too young, but she was also the only daughter of the leader of the Assassins Guild.
For months, he had reasoned with himself that perhaps it was only her virginity which made him want her so badly; there was a growing list of many men in the Parish – some young, some somewhat older - who would love to be the first to pop that sweet little cherry, and he was right there on the list with them.
Remy had always hated himself for feeling that way about it, but some feelings and urges just couldn't be ignored. He'd always managed to resist it for the most part...at least, up until last February, when things had begun to change and then the guilt had begun to slip away. It had been February that Bella Donna had been temporarily expelled from St. Dominics, the reason to which had never been revealed to this day. At the time, her father had been away (on what Remy assumed to be an Assassination contract of some kind) and Bella Donna had been under the careless supervision of her eighteen year old brother Julian who spent too much time smoking weed and sleeping around to really be adequately responsible for her.
It had been during this time that Remy had first really been able to interact with her. They'd met in the passing, and soon found themselves hanging around the swamps together, talking, laughing, sharing secrets. Bella Donna had revealed herself to be charming and sophisticated for her age, and unexpectedly much more mature than he had thought and this tipped things into his favour. How could he feel bad about feeling so strongly about a girl who seemed to be very aware of herself and her feelings?
Despite his better judgement and his previous guilt, he let the girl flirt shamelessly with him, and fought his urges strongly. One night, under a vaguely chilly night sky – valentines day actually – she'd made the first move in kissing him for the first time. Admittedly, her kiss had been much more innocent then than now. There'd been a few more kisses that February (at least until Marius returned and their time together had been cut drastically short) but due to her age and Remy's concerns over taking advantage, he had kept himself in check as best he could until she'd went back to school, her father none-the-wiser. It had been the last time he'd ever spent alone with Bella Donna until now. The removal of the temptation of her had made things considerably easier to handle.
"We shall talk further tonight," said Marius to Jean-Luc, which brought Remy back to Earth and away from his memories of last February. "These things must be considered carefully...you must think of your choice wisely."
"Oui, I agree," said Jean-Luc. He threw a glance towards Remy and frowned, "why you look so smug? Where you been?"
Remy opened his mouth to answer but then Henri – who was now leaning lazily against the front door's frame, holding open the screen door – spoke for him, "found him out in the swamp – probably wishin' he was Steve Irwin."
With a snort, Remy retorted, "yeah, sure."
"Come on," Marius urged Bella Donna, noting the look she was giving Remy, "lets go. Jean-Luc, I will see you tonight in The Chamber."
Bella Donna cast Remy an almost apologetic glance over her shoulder as she left with her father without saying goodbye. Jean-Luc shook his head at the dress of the girl as she climbed into the 4x4 she and her father had driven over in. As the car left down the drive and disappeared under the shade of two hundred year old oak trees, Remy wondered if he would see Bella Donna at all again this summer, or if her father would send her off to her aunt in Mississippi like he always did for Spring Breaks and Summer Vacations since her mother had passed years before.
"That girl got no business dressin' like that," Jean-Luc shook his head, "it disgustin', showin' all that skin," he added as he turned to go back inside.
"I think she look good," Remy shrugged.
"You would," Jean-Luc smacked him up the back of the head. "A girl her age got no right to be showin' that much leg."
"So," said Henri, "momma never showed that much leg?"
"Indeed she did not. Your momma had class. That girl ain't got no class, dressin' like that. It ain' natural."
"Looked perfectly natural to me," Remy said wistfully.
"Ain't nothin' natural about a town bike, Remy," Jean-Luc remarked as Remy entered the house and shut the front door behind him.
"Town bike?" asked Remy as he began down the hall towards the kitchen.
Henri spoke up, "oh, you know. Everyone had a ride."
Remy frowned at this, "that girl is untouched."
Henri laughed wildly, "in other words, he's got nowhere near getting' laid," he said triumphantly. He and Jean-Luc high-fived, Remy rolled his eyes at them and sneered.
"It hard to get laid when the girl's daddy got her on a short leash like she a dog," Remy admitted unhappily.
"In his opinion she is," Jean-Luc pointed out, "she a pedigree, and he tryin' to make sure she don't give birth to a runt litter. Marius got no time for mix-breeds in his family. Why you think he sent her off to a boardin' school well out of your reach? You don't think he notice all the looks you give her? He want to make sure you don't go givin' her a bastard."
Remy rolled his eyes at this as he moved over to the fridge and began to search out for a can of soda – anything cold to drink, really. "I got no intentions of makin' babies with her."
"You said that about that Claudette girl too when I told you not to run off with her at that party last spring," said Henri thoughtfully, he pushed Remy aside to grab a beer from the fridge and he popped it, took a sip and then sighed, "and then nine month later she squeezed one out."
"It weren't mine though, were it?" Remy reminded as he took a beer out of the fridge for himself.
"You sure 'bout that?" Henri teased.
"That baby was black," Remy frowned unhappily.
Henri laughed loudly, "had a bigger dick than you, too."
"You could be the pappy, for all we know," Jean-Luc grabbed the beer out of Remy's hand, "we're not sure what kind of blood you come from, son."
"He's right, y' know," Henri pointed out, "you don' know who y' real parents are."
Remy rolled his eyes, he didn't really need reminding of the fact that the LeBeau's weren't his own flesh and blood. He supposed, judging by how old his adoptive father looked and how Henri had inherited his unattractive nose and teeth, that could only be considered a blessing.
"Just 'cause you're white don't necessarily mean you don't got mixed race blood, you know. That baby could be yours."
"Look, the baby ain't mine," Remy assured. All the same, he superstitiously knocked on the wooden door of the nearest food cupboard secretly, just to make sure it wouldn't be true. He'd seen stranger things happen. Genetics were an unpredictable thing, and his own mutation was proof of that.
"Whatever happened to that girl, anyway?" asked Henri in a bored tone as he sat upon the kitchen counter, beer in hand.
"Last I hear, she move t' New Orleans with a man thirty years older than her," Remy replied. "He own a dive bar or somethin'."
"What happen to the kid?"
"Not sure. Her momma got it, I think," Remy shrugged nonchalantly.
"Just don't go getting' yourself into any more shit like that," Jean-Luc warned. "And if you must drop your anchor in a port, make sure it's not in Boudreaux bay."
Rolling his eyes, Remy grabbed the nearest drink he could find in the fridge – a questionable looking Diet Sprite. Who the hell buys Diet Sprite in this house? He pondered. "Like it could ever happen. Marius send her to her aunts every holiday. She's at boardin' school rest of the year. Ain't no chance I'll have a shot anyway," he headed for the door, wanting the conversation to be dropped. He hated admitting that he was incapable of anything, but even he had to admit his chances of bedding the virgin were extremely low.
"I want you two to dress in your Guild robes, tonight," Jean-Luc said, before Remy had even had the chance to leave the room.
"Hmm?" Remy stopped at the threshold, and he leaned there against the door frame, unopened soda dangling from his fingers.
"We're to go to The Chamber tonight. There's to be a meetin'. So be ready for seven 'cause we got to be down there by eight sharp. And it's an official meetin' so be on your best behaviour."
He wasn't sure what the meeting would entail, but the thought left an odd sinking in the pit of his stomach.
End of Chapter One
I realise that people are more interested in seeing a sequel to Derranged Marriage (for some reason, lol), but I felt I needed to take a step back from the serious subjects that story focuses on (considering the events of Magnetic Attraction). Thought it more apt I post something that probably won't contain many (if any) triggers (at least I hope not). Besides, which, I've wanted to get this one on for a while :)
Hope every one enjoys :)