Hey guys! I am so sorry for the long delay. I have no excuse! I beg you to forgive me and hope with all my heart that you enjoy this chapter!
I raised my head and turned on the flashlight. A young not yet fully grown golden retriever. He was sitting in the street like he was been waiting for me. It was Orion, the pup Jean was currently training.
"Oh no." I muttered.
I looked around and waited, without moving. But nothing happened. I closed back the manhole and walked over to the dog. I petted him on the head and he licked my hands while making happy whimpering sounds. I looked around once more and hesitated before calling out.
"Jean! Are you here? If you are show yourself."
Nothing moved and nothing happened. The street was still empty aside from Orion and I. This was stressing me out.
"Why are you here alone boy? Huh? Where's Jean?" I said. 'Why am I talking to a dog? Hold on. He should react whenever I say Jean's name. Unless...'
Jean was an extremely gifted trainer despite being so young and I'd seen him do wonders. And it's not like Orion would just run away from him to find me. This couldn't be a coincidence. They'd send him here. Even I couldn't figure out how the dog had tracked me here.
"Hold it. If that was the case, then they'd either be here or..."
I looked at the dog's collar. Nothing on the outside but once I flipped it, I saw a very tiny device taped to it. How the hell did Marco get his hands on a tracking device? Maybe it was a fake, to force me to go confess to them. No way in hell was I falling for that. But knowing Marco, there must have been something more. They'd manage to find which way I go when I disappear, but from here on, they couldn't possibly know where I'd gone. They're was a chance that they'd think I was taking the subway. I sighed before standing up and checking my watch. 5:08am. I had time
"Come on, boy. Let's take you back to Jean."
The dog followed me as I started heading towards Jean's house. He lived about 30 minutes away from my house on foot. While walking, I thought of my friends. If they kept nosing around like this, they'll get in trouble. If they actually managed to find the Scouts … I know the chances of letting them live was slim. Very slim.
"Damn it." I let out.
We walked through the empty streets until we reached Jean's house. I walked up the door and knocked. Surprisingly (or not), Jean opened the door. He was fully awakened and looked very nervous.
"Petra? What are you doing out here so early?"
"You tell me. Why are you still fully dressed? And why was your dog waiting for me at the metro station?"
He opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out. It confirmed what I was thinking. I frowned and gave him a death glare.
"Where is he?"
"W-who are you talking about?"
"You really suck at lying Jean." I said before pushing him aside and heading towards his room. As expected, Marco was sitting on the ground his computer on his lap. And as usual, seeing me didn't seem to bother him. I'd planned to lash out at him, but nothing came to mind. I dropped the tracking device and stepped on it. It got crushed. I noticed that this time, Marco wasn't giving me his goofy smile. He looked... worried. I gave him the most serious look I had.
"I guess you found Orion."
"Did you think he'd follow me in the metro? Listen up you guys. I have secrets that I don't want to share with you. So why don't you leave me alone? I'll tell you about it when I feel like it."
"We all know that's not true." Said Jean.
"You want some truth?" I said pissed off. "Fine. If I find you guys spying on me again, I'm calling the cops."
I got up and left, angry and frustrated. Who threatens to call the cops on their friends? Then again I didn't have a choice. I knew I had a risk of losing them if I kept pushing them away like that, but that was far more preferable than see them get killed by the people I worked for. That's when I heard footsteps running behind me. 'Stalker' was the first thing that came to mind. I waited for the person to get closer, before turning around and grabbing their hand before they could grab me. Except that as a fellow reflex, I'd taken out one of my small knives and placed it under their throat.
"Woah there! Relax, it's me!"
"Jean? Don't scare me like that, I could've killed you."
"Yeah, no shit. Why do you have a knife?" He asked completely shocked.
I quickly changed the subject, while quickly putting away my weapon. "What do you want?"
"What do I want? It's 5:30am, idiot! I'm not letting a girl walk home alone. What kind of jerk does that?"
"Oh." I said a little surprised. "Thanks."
Jean walked me home and we didn't talk the entire way. Once in front of my house, I turned to him.
"Thanks for walking me. I'll see you later."
"You know you can't keep lying to us like that."
"I'm keeping things I want to myself that's all. I'll tell you guys about it when it's over."
"Yeah, when will that be?" He asked, sounding angry.
"Not for a while. Good night." I started walking up the outdoor stairs and turned back to him one more time. "I wasn't joking about the cops. Tell that to Marco and the girls."
He nodded and started walking away. I waited for him to completely disappear before I went around the house and climbed back up to my room.
"Come again?"
Levi was sitting at the desk in his office, his feet on the table and putting together a bunch of guns and cleaning knifes.
"We're gonna bully some people around tonight." Said Levi, charging his gun.
"I heard you the first time!" I snapped, annoyed. "Can you clarify?"
"Remember the list of names I gave you? Can you guess what they are?"
"Names of people involved in the Heaven project?" I tried.
"Close." He continued, while putting back together another gun. "They're aliases used before by Jaeger, Dok and Woerman."
"There's over forty of them. They must have been into criminal activities a lot."
"What do you think? They were making monsters with stuff only obtained on the black market."
"And you're telling me this because you're taking me. Who else is coming?"
"Just us. No one else is needed. We're just gonna have a talk with a couple of legal crooks."
"Legal crooks?"
"Plastic surgeons. It's probable that the bastards changed their faces."
"Why do you call them crooks?"
"What do you call people who get paid to deform the faces of criminals and help him hide? These old geezers probably got paid ten times their usual fee for this job."
"You're only now looking into that lead?" I asked.
"Of course not, stupid. Every week we interrogate at least four of them. We're leaving in an hour. You can join the brats for practice until then."
"Can? Are you giving me an option?" I said raising an eyebrow.
"Why, do you have something else in mind?"
I swear I wasn't thinking anything weird. "Well, a cup of coffee and resting would be good for me. I still don't sleep well and I've completely lost my regular rhythm."
"Move out then."
"Huh?"
"Move out of your folks place and they'll stop asking questions about your sleep time."
"I can't. Actually I don't want to."
"Your call, kid."
I made my way to the door and grabbed the handle to open it. But I froze. 'I should tell him. No I have to tell him. If the guys get caught, he'll massacre them before I even have a chance to explain. I have to tell him and beg him to leave them alone.' My hand started trembling. I turned to look at the Captain and took a deep breath. Levi who was going over some papers looked up.
"Something you want to tell me?"
"Actually, yeah. Two things." I was going to say it. I had to. But this is what came out of my mouth. "How's your nose?"
He raised an eyebrow. I swallowed. "Takes more than a little girl's punch to hurt me kid. I barely felt that. What's the second thing?"
'Come on Petra, say it. "Do you want some coffee?" 'Damn it!'
"I don't drink that crap. Tastes like dirty socks."
"Would it kill you to say no thanks?" I muttered while turning back and opening the door.
"I wouldn't say no to a cup of black tea though."
I gave him a surprised look. So he was a tea person. And one more thing to add to my list of 'stuff I didn't know about Levi. "Comin' up, Captain." I don't know why, but I kind of felt relieved. As I walked in the hallway, I rubbed the bite mark with one hand. Ever since last night, it had started itching like crazy. I tried everything, but got no result. And it was starting to burn. That was annoying. I decided to drop by Hanji's lab before bringing the tea. I pushed the door open. As usual the crazy scientist vampire was on her computer going over some files.
"Hello, my dear normal friend. I was just checking Sasha's files. She hasn't had any spasms since you gave your blood. And that is good."
"If she needs more just let me know."
"For now it's fine. It's a kind sacrifice your making for us, artificial leeches."
"You're people like everyone else Hanji."
"Did you want something?"
"Yeah. The bite mark from Levi, it's super itchy, it's driving me nuts. Do you have anything for it?"
She snickered. "Yeah, that can happen on sensitive skin. It's gonna burn more and more. I don't have anything but Levi does."
I frowned. "What are you hiding? Come on spill."
"Just ask him and you'll see."
"No way. You tell me first." The crazy scientist stood up and came closer to me to whisper something in my ear. I blushed a second after I heard her speak.
"No way! No way in hell! You hear me? I'd rather keep the sting, thank you."
"Suit yourself." She said, shrugging her shoulders.
A couple of hours later, Levi and I were back from our job. We'd come back empty handed, or so thought the Scouts' captain. It was true that the none of the name I got from the plastic surgeons's computers matched the aliases of the three heads of the Heaven project. But I'd also downloaded the pictures of the new faces the doctors had given to their patients in the last three years as well as the names they had given. It might come in handy. The thing that was annoying me right now, was the burn of the bite mark. Hanji was right, it was getting more intense and fast. I decided to ignore it and went to download all the new data on the computers. But it was hard to ignore. I was constantly scratching the mark. It started hurting so bad I ended up smacking my fist on the desk.
"Damn it!"
"You okay there Petra?" Said a voice behind me.
"Oh, yeah. Hi Connie."
"You sure? It smells like blood."
"I'm fine. I just scratched a mosquito bite."
"Mosquito bites? In winter? Really? Is that the best you can come up with. Just admit the bite is itching."
"Yeah and it's driving me crazy."
"You should go tell the cap..."
"HELL NO! And if you tell him, I will murder you."
"So Hanji told you? Guess I wouldn't like that to be done to me either. But if it hurts too much..."
"I said no! Forget it."
"All right. I wanted to ask if you wanted to train with us tomorrow instead of the Captain. We won't beat you up as much."
"As much? Gee thanks. But sure, why not?"
He smiled. "Sweet! Can't wait. See ya tomorrow then."
Why was he so happy at the idea of beating me up?
Once back at my house around 5:30am, showered, teeth brushed and in my pajamas, I lay down in my bed. But I was far from asleep. The burn was ten times worse than a couple hours ago. I kept scratching it, my teeth clenched and sweating. I was curled up and all my muscles were tensed up. I was even biting on my pillow's cover. I was this close to crying, when suddenly...
KNOCK. KNOCK.
I sprang up and walked over to my window, I opened the curtains. Levi was standing on the edge of my window. Again. I opened it and he jumped in landing as quietly as a cat.
"I swear, kid, I'm gonna start thinking that you're a complete masochist."
"What?"
"If it hurts why didn't you say so?"
'Damn you Hanji!' "W-what are you talking about?"
He rolled his eyes and pocked the mark. I flinched in pain.
"Hanji's not stupid enough to lie to me. Don't play dumb. Why didn't you ask?"
"Excuse me? I was not asking you to l..." I couldn't even finish my sentence. Just saying it was making my face tomato red.
"So you were just going to wait until it drove you crazy to say something?"
"I was gonna suck it up!"
"Tch. Idiot. Come here."
Levi grabbed my arm and pulled me towards my bed. He sat down on the edge and forced me to sit next to him but with my back facing him. Guess I wasn't getting choice. But at the same time I wanted nothing more than that burn to go away. Thank god, no one was here to see it. My face was tomato red just at the thought. Levi pulled my pajama's shirt away from my neck to uncover the mark. I felt his nose on my skin. And then he placed his free hand in front of my mouth. I grabbed it and pulled it down.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"You need me to describe it to you? Hold still. You scratched it so much the burn has spread on your shoulder."
I stopped resisting and he place his hand back in front of my mouth. I understood why a second later. His tongue trailed over the bite mark and instantly relieved me with a cold sensation. It was so relieving that I would have let out a moan if he hadn't been blocking my mouth. Every time I felt his tongue on my skin, my body would automatically react to the sensation of relief and I couldn't stop myself. It seemed to go on for hours. 'Damn it, hurry it up!' I thought completely ashamed. When he finally pulled away and let go off me, I let out a breath of relief.
"Better?"
"Yeah, thanks. Hey, do me a favor. Don't ever bite me again."
"You scared to die of blood loss or embarrassment?"
"Shut up."
He left without another word. I had one more thing to add to my list of stuff I didn't know about Levi. Sarcasm.
"Dodge. Block. Block. Dodge. Block. Dodge. Block. Dodge. Dodge. Block."
I muttered those words like a chant, as I was trying to avoid Connie's attack. I was back in the training room the following night. Sasha, Connie, Thomas, Mina and Nanaba were taking turns to teach me something. Nanaba had taught me the basics of making bombs and disarming them (which I actually enjoyed). Mina had taken upon herself to teach me shooting with firearms and how to take care of the guns. I had learned a lot of tricks to be stealthy from Thomas. Connie and Sasha had also resumed Levi's training and showed me how to avoid a vampire's attack. And right now, under Sasha's surveillance, Connie was attacking me, wildling style and I was trying to defend myself as best as I could. I surprised myself as he hadn't manage to land a hit on me. 'Looks like Levi's training is paying off.'
"Looks like you've got the basics of defense covered. At least against a strain one's attack. If I were fighting for real it'd be different. But in a fight you gotta learn, to hit as well as defend." He tossed me a wooden knife. "Now you're gonna try to hit me with this."
"Okay."
It got harder. Every time I tried to hit him, he would kick the knife out of my hand. "You can't hit blindly. Wait for an opening." Said Sasha.
"It's hard when you're focused on self defense."
"That's the thing, Petra. Self defense had to be automatic. It's only reflexes. You're attention is suppose to be mostly on the opening. You've got the stamina to wait for it." Added Thomas. "You can do it!"
"Let's go one more time. On three?" Said Connie. I nodded, getting to a fighting stance. 'You've got the reflexes Petra. Focus on the opening.' I thought to myself.
Connie smiled. "1...2..."
BOOM!
Suddenly part of the gym's wall blew up right next to us and cement dust filled the entire room. All of us started coughing and closed out eyes when the dust got in them.
"What the hell..." Said Connie. "Cough...Cough..."
I opened my eyes a little, and saw that the blast had actually cause a big hole in the wall. I saw five, no six shapes stepping out of it.
"Cough! Cough! Are you sure you dosed it correctly?" Said a girl's voice.
"Well, according to my calculation, it's what was needed to get through the wall." Replied a boy's voice.
"That was way too much, you dumbass!" Shouted another masculine voice.
'Oh, no. Please God, tell me this is not what I think it is. Anything but that.' The smoke and the dust then dissipated. Connie, Sasha, Mina, Nanaba, Thomas and I stared with eyes wide opened the newcomers. Four people. Two girls. Two boys. And two dogs. The two groups stared at each other in disbelief. I'd backed up next to the wall, so they didn't notice my presence. And all I could do was stare. My voice and body were frozen. Krista looked at the vampires in black uniforms and got to a fighting stance. Connie took that for a threat. His claws came out as he threw himself on the little blond girl. Little did he expect to receive the karate trained shorty's foot in the face. He rolled on the ground but got back to his feet in seconds, only angrier. He hissed like an angry cat before throwing himself on her again. And this time I knew he wasn't going to miss.
"NO WAIT!" I shouted throwing myself in his way and holding my arms up. Unfortunately for me, I'd taken off my jacket for training. His fangs pierced my arm and I let out a painful grunt and fell on my back.
"PETRA!" All of them yelled at the same time.
"I'm so sorry." Said Connie getting off me.
"You bastard!" Shouted Ymir.
She ran towards him and threw a fast punch towards his face. When quickly jumped back and dodged. Then Ymir took a knife out of her pocket. "I'm gonna gut you like a fish, freak!"
I knew it was just street talk, but my arm was hurting me so much, I couldn't talk yet, too busy clenching my teeth. Sasha ran towards Ymir, but before she could get to her, Jean brought his fingers to his mouth and whistled. Orion threw himself on the girl and grabbed her arm in his mouth. Thomas then attacked Jean and pushed him to the ground with brute force. Marco, who couldn't fight, came to my side.
"You alright? Come on we gotta go." He said as he tried to help me up. I let him help me up before yelling as loud as I could.
"EVERYONE STOP IT! STOP FIGHTING!"
They all stopped and looked at me with weird eyes. "Thomas, let go of him. Jean call back your dogs. Now!"
They seemed super confused but did what I told them. Thomas gave me a weird look. "You know them?"
"These guys are my friends." I answered.
"And who are they?" Asked Ymir, reluctantly putting her knife away and giving Connie a death glare.
I turned to my friends, my face red with anger. However, their faces were full of worry and reproachful. I clench my teeth. I'd intended to shout at them, but instead tears came out of my eyes. "Why couldn't you just stay away?"
They all looked surprised. "Petra, what are you talking about?" Asked Krista.
"These guys are the reason I didn't want you guys to follow me! Do you have any idea what you just did?! Your lives might be over just because of that! WHY COULDN'T YOU GUYS LISTEN TO ME?!"
Jean frowned and approached me. He raised his hand and gave a slap. "Don't give us that crap! Damn it, Petra! If we were the ones in this mess, you wouldn't have hesitated to throw yourself in the fire to come and get us! So don't start!"
"You don't understand..."
"What? These guys are blackmailing you or some shit?" Said Ymir. "Big deal. A little excitement's never hurt anyone."
"You guys...are idiots." I chuckled as tears. "Get out of here quickly."
"Sorry Petra." Said Thomas. The three vampires were standing in front of the hole, blocking the passage. "We can't let them go. They've seen us."
"Tch. Who gives a crap? Besides, we're not leaving without you." Said Jean, giving them a nasty look. "You think freaks like you scare us? What are you guys anyways? The Mafia?"
"No, they're..." I started, but then someone grabbed me from behind and placed they're hand in front of my mouth.
"One more word and I'll have to knock you out, Petra." Said Eld. He was dead serious.
I realized that all the lieutenants were in the room as well as a couple more Scouts, probably alerted by the explosion. They had made a circle around my friends. Orion and the other dog were growling. I got free and placed myself in front of my friends.
"Well, Petra." Said Marco. "Are you gonna tell us who these people are?"
"If I do, I'll only shorten your life span." I said.
"What the hell is going in here?" Said an angry voice.
I looked up. Levi was walking towards us. I felt my body trembling, from head to toes. I didn't feel anything from him, but I knew he could kill them off in a split second. No he couldn't. I wouldn't let him. He couldn't take my friend's lives. If he did, not only would he kill innocent people, he would have them on his conscious as well. I couldn't let him. He got pass the Scouts surrounding my group of friends. They looked terrified as well, probably feeling how strong he was. I suddenly snatched, Eld's gun from his holster and placed myself in front of him. I raised the gun, holding it with two hands and Levi stopped a couple meters away from me. I felt sweat forming on my forehead. I was scared and my breathing got heavy.
"Stay back." I told him.
He resumed his walk towards me, walking slowly but surely. I didn't even have the guts to tell him a second time to stay away. I placed an index on the trigger. Levi stopped very close, when the gun touched his chest. I looked at him in the eyes. He didn't look angry or aggressive. But that wasn't normal for him.
"Don't... Don't hurt them..." I stuttered.
Levi slowly rose his hand and grabbed the gun. "Drop it." He said.
My index shook on the trigger for a long minute. Then it was like my hands lost their strength and I dropped it. I stared at the floor thinking I'd lost. I couldn't save them? I was that useless? Levi tossed the gun back to his lieutenant then grabbed my arm. He observed the bite mark before opening the shoulder pocket of his jacket and took out a small syringe filled with a transparent liquid. He took the cap covering the needle with his mouth and spat it out. He pierced my arm and emptied the liquid in my veins.
"Connie. Did you bite her?"
"It was an accident sir."
"That's not what I care about. If that happens the first priority is to disinfect. That's crucial."
"Yes sir. I'm sorry."
I felt a lot better after the shot. Levi walked passed me and crossed his arms staring at the intruders with a death glare on them. All of them were petrified.
"Now, let's make one thing clear. If you try to run, you're dead. Tell me who you are and how you brats manage to find this place. It better be a damn good explanation if you want to live."
"Hold it, bastard! You tell us first who you are and why you kidnapped Petra."
Next thing he knew, Jean received a punch in the gut and fell on his butt. "Watch your tongue, horse face." This time, the aura surrouding him was dark and full of murder intent. "Here, you answer to me unless you want your head ripped off right now."
CLIFFHANGER! What will Levi do now? Will he let them go or terminate them? Stay tune for chapter 12! ;) PLEASE REVIEW!