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Story Title: The Rose On A Thorn
Chapter Number: Prologue
Chapter Title: Prologue
Author Name: Dev-Ra Alyn
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The humming of a vehicle pulling over to the side of the road became present as droplets of water beat upon him. The sound of thunder rumbling near was upsetting an infant inside. It's cries became more noticable when a lady opened her door and ran to open the door in the back. She had pulled her coat over her head to keep the rain from pouring on her as she swung open the door. She stared with an upset look on her face, then grabbed a tiny hand and smiled softly at the teary eyed baby buckled down in the car seat. The man at the drivers side of the car got out and joined in, staring at the child and smiling a comforting smile. The lady felt tears brimming her eyes.
"Marie, I know this is hard for you. It's hard for me too. But we have to remember that we're doing this for her own protection." He said comfortingly to her with an australian accent. "We'll see her again."
"I hope so. But I just don't want to let go." She sobbed as she brought her lips to the babies forehead, kissing it's velvety-soft skin. She too had an accent like his.
Sitting at the opposite side of the road was another vehicle and a man leaning against his pick-up truck. He was completely soaked but the rain didn't seem to bother him at all. His lips thin and sealed. Eyes we're squinted revealing a little bit of the hazel-brown iris. Hair dark and clinging to his face because of the rain. His skin looked like he could have skin cancer and his clothes was of the average plain grey t-shirt and denim blue jeans.
He began to walk towards the couple and the couple turned around and began to towards him until they were standing in the middle of the road. It was dark, no headlights from a vehicle driving by besides their own that sat off to the side, no stars or moon illuminating from the sky for it was concealed by the storm clouds.
Tired of holding the coat over her head, she let if fall back into place allowing the rain to soak her hair and face. This caused the tears and rain drops to become one as they dripped down her cheeks.
"Take care of her, Ben." She cried over the thunder. "Take care of our little Sharon."
Ben nodded. "You know I will, Marie." He looked over at her husband standing next to her, keeping his composure. "Lucas."
"Ben, my good friend. I hope to see you again." Lucas said.
"Stay strong."
The couple walked to Ben's pick-up truck and began to climb in. Ben began to walk over to the car. He shut the back door, walked around to the drivers side and climbed in the front seat. Peering over to the back seat he saw a cute little baby sitting in a car seat. He smiled at her as he saw the red around her eyes from crying.
"Don't worry, Sharon. Uncle Ben will make sure your safe and you see your parents again." He said softly as she started drooling spit bubbles.
Ben closed the door and cranked the engine, then looked over to see Lucas and Marie had arleady gone. A knock on his window was brought to his attention. He turned to find the upper torso of a man. He had a stern face, a hat with a plastic covering on the top, and a clear covering over his clothes. He looked to be a highway patrolman. Ben hesitantly rolled down the window and the guy leaned down level to Ben.
"Is there a problem, sir?" Ben asked cautiously.
"I was just about to ask if you were having car trouble." He said glancing in the back seat to see the child then started to back up a little. His accent sounded a little off. "Sir, could you step out of the car for a moment please?"
"Look, there is no problem and I'm kind of in a hurry to get to Brisbain." Ben said as he started to roll up the window.
The highway patrolman took out the gun sitting in his holster and began to fire through the glass. Sharon started in crying again as he stuck his head in through the shattered window to see Ben laying on the seat with blood covering his face. He reached in and grabbed his wrist feeling no pulse at all. He looked over to the annoyingly crying baby and raised his weapon ready to fire then lowered it. A sudden change of heart came upon him as he put his gun back in the holster, opened the door and unbuckled Sharon from the car seat. He didn't know what exactly was going on in his mind, all he knew was that he was sparing her life. Something he had never done in his life. He held the baby and looked at her. Tears and rain was overflowing her upset and wrinkled face as she squirmed around in his grip. He walked back to his car, laying her on the passenger seat then drove away.
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Story Title: The Rose On A Thorn
Chapter Number: One
Chapter Title: Job Calls
Author Name: Dev-Ra Alyn
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The place was quiet, as it always was. But she liked it. Not so much as the quiet, but more of the massive amounts of books she had to choose from. She was unlike some personalities that came to this place. She was outgoing, agressive, and outspoken. As the others seemed silent, passive and just plain dull. Her purpose for being there almost everyday was because of her hungering for knowledge. Although she was uncertain of what it was that she was wanting to know. She just felt like a piece of her was missing. So she turns to these books in hopes for the answer and a good read.
She flipped the page of an old turn of the century novel that she had found in the mystery section. It was a thick book with pages turned an orangey color. The cover of the book looked banged up and worn out compared to the others surrounding it, which was what caught her eye. When she had pulled it out, it looked as if it were about to fall apart, but it held up as she began reading the first few pages. She was now half way through the book and sitting on the floor taking up the space in the narrow aisle. Her eyes stayed glued to the pages as she read on about a girl who was kidnapped as a child and seeked out her parents.
-beep beep-
-beep beep-
She grunted at the disturbance and reached in her right pocket. She pulled out a small pager and looked at it.
Ah, a new assignment.
She pushed herself up from the floor and put the pager back in her pocket. Then her thin fingers began to dog-ear the page she was currently on, closed the book and shuved it back into it's little hole. She walked to the end of aisle and started walking across the lobby area. A man sitting at a desk looked up at her from the book in his hand, then went back to reading. She began to walk through a short hall and then pushed open a glass door with the words "Library open from 8am - 7pm during weekdays" and stepped on out. It wasn't all too busy this time of day. Everybody was at their jobs sitting at their desks or flipping burgers. But not her. Those jobs were way to boring and had way too many rules. She liked the job she had. It had very few rules, and she knew which ones she could bend or brake.
She walked the street looking like an average person. But she was far from the average Joe that may roam the streets. She heard the loud sirens of an ambulence up ahead then she watched it zoom by quicker than a minute. Then she saw it pull infront of the emergency room doors of a hospital that she had just walked by. A team of nurses and doctors came rushing out as they pulled out a stretcher with a screaming pregnant woman on it. The job for those men and women were to bring lives into the world, her job was to take them out. She was an assisan. Raised to kill whom ever she was told to kill, and she did this with no complications. It came so naturally to her because of her being trained way before she could even remember. She continued on. Thoughts focussed on her life and Jon. Jon Michaels was her teacher. He was at one time, the Scarlet Rose's top assassin before the accident. The accident is what completely changed Jon's life and hers. An assignment had gone totally wrong for the first time for him and it left him completely paralized from the waist down. Cross, the boss, forced him to retire and she, Jon's student, rose in his place.
A man pushing a shopping cart walked by her wearing raggedy and dirt filled clothes. He reaked with liquor and that foul garbage smell. She stopped walking and looked around. She had walked right into the slums of the city. Homeless people rummaging through the garbage that was tossed in a pile down an alley. Tall and worn down buildings surrounding them. She looked across the street where there was a large building of what looked to be an abondoned factory. She ran across to it and went inside. She knew exactly where she was at... the Scarlet Rose organizations headquarters.