Part 25
When the three girls reached the highway a pickup truck stopped and took them home. No one felt much like talking, not even bothering with the boring drill of high school in the morning. Isis couldn't sleep, even though she felt physically exhausted.
She sat on the porch swing, gazing up at the moon and stars with a beer in hand. They were at Alice's house, it was closer than the motel she and Raven were staying in. She sighed, swinging her legs. She was trying to figure out how this whole thing was going to end. Neither she or Raven had been struck by the soulmate thing yet. Truth be told, when Ashael Redfern had been hiding in her backseat she had been dreaded that tell-tail spark would shoot, adding yet another complication to the whole thing.
Hadn't happened. So why was she obsessing over it? She took a few swigs of the beer. Isis felt oddly empty, and found she couldn't quiet say why. By the time Raven came out to join her, she was finishing her fourth beer and was probably drunk.
"How are you going to explain this to Alice's parents?"
Isis waved dismissively. "I'll buy 'em some more." She closed her eyes and leaned back against the wooden bench. Raven snorted and Isis felt her sitting down.
"What are you doing?"
"This whole thing is nuts," she said moodily, opening her eyes. The booze wasn't doing the trick it usually did. Not exactly to give her peace of mind, but she was out of ideas, otherwise.
"You think?" Raven said with a chuckle. "You don't think it's going to have a happy ending, do you?"
Isis felt the dozy effects fading as she stuck her finger in the top of the bottle and began to make annoying popping noises. "I don't know what to think about all of this. There's going to be more deaths before it's all over." She couldn't say much more than that. Her eyes were dropping shut as she rested her head on her sister's shoulder.
Any other assignment would have been dealt with quickly and with as little emotion as possible. After all, that was how being an assassin worked, even one for Circle Daybreak. Maybe it was the fact that the task was involving another set of twins, and the emotional trauma of severing one set or the other.
"The sooner we deal with it and move along the better," Raven said tiredly. "We've both wanted that for quite some time."
"Hard to believe we've only been at this for three days," Isis said with a sigh. "We need to end it all tomorrow."
Raven nodded in agreement. "I doubt that either of them will be willing to negotiate."
"We need a plan. Did you try calling David?"
Raven nodded. "He's dead."
"Crap. Does Alice know?"
"Yeah, she's pretty pissed off."
Isis sighed. Whatever David's plan had been, clearly it hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped. And oddly enough, she wasn't all that surprised. "So what are we going to do with them?" She was tired of being out of ideas, and a major confrontation at school was not something she was particularly looking forward to. Maybe Raven or Alice had an idea left.
"I'm working on it," Raven said finally. "I'm working on it."
* * *
Evangeline couldn't deny the relief she felt that Hunter had agreed to let Zach work for them. She wanted to say to hell with the whole assignment. She was bored of it.
"So what's your idea?" Dusk asked.
Zach was silent, and Evangeline wondered if he really did have an idea, or if it was just something he'd said to make them all feel better.
"If it's kidnapping and negotiation, forget it, we've done that once," Ashael snapped as she turned the car into the twins' driveway.
Evangeline nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and look how that one turned out." She shot a glare at Zach, who caught her eyes and flashed her a smile.
"We'll send one of each of you to take out one of them, along with one of us for backup, was my idea," Zach said as they walked into the dark house. Ashael switched on the light in the kitchen.
"Yeah, we thought of that one already as well," she said tiredly.
Evangeline's eyebrow arched. "Did we?" She had been more distracted with Zach than thinking of dealing with the Blackthorn twins. The original assignment had been deal with Dusk and Zach, and they had done that. Along with David finally being killed as well. That should have been enough.
But now they had this thrown on them. ~Why can we never get a break?~ Evangeline thought. "Fine then. Zach and I will - "
"No," Zach said. "That wasn't what I was thinking."
"We leave you two along, nobody will be killed but the pair of you cause you're madly obsessed with each other," Dusk snorted, making puking gestures.
"Exactly, but they weren't the words I was going to use," Zach said dryly. "Ashael and I will go after Raven, you and Evangeline will go for Isis."
"What about Alice?" Dusk pointed out.
Zach shrugged. "First come first served." His lip curled. "We're all going to be crossing paths at some point tomorrow."
Evangeline had forgotten Raven was supposed to be in her crowd. It was going to be hard not to kill her.
"We have to do this thing tomorrow," Ashael said flatly. "This is *our* territory and they're not going to take it away from us."
Evangeline nodded in agreement along with Dusk and Zach. "One way or another, it all ends tomorrow."
* * *
When the three girls reached the highway a pickup truck stopped and took them home. No one felt much like talking, not even bothering with the boring drill of high school in the morning. Isis couldn't sleep, even though she felt physically exhausted.
She sat on the porch swing, gazing up at the moon and stars with a beer in hand. They were at Alice's house, it was closer than the motel she and Raven were staying in. She sighed, swinging her legs. She was trying to figure out how this whole thing was going to end. Neither she or Raven had been struck by the soulmate thing yet. Truth be told, when Ashael Redfern had been hiding in her backseat she had been dreaded that tell-tail spark would shoot, adding yet another complication to the whole thing.
Hadn't happened. So why was she obsessing over it? She took a few swigs of the beer. Isis felt oddly empty, and found she couldn't quiet say why. By the time Raven came out to join her, she was finishing her fourth beer and was probably drunk.
"How are you going to explain this to Alice's parents?"
Isis waved dismissively. "I'll buy 'em some more." She closed her eyes and leaned back against the wooden bench. Raven snorted and Isis felt her sitting down.
"What are you doing?"
"This whole thing is nuts," she said moodily, opening her eyes. The booze wasn't doing the trick it usually did. Not exactly to give her peace of mind, but she was out of ideas, otherwise.
"You think?" Raven said with a chuckle. "You don't think it's going to have a happy ending, do you?"
Isis felt the dozy effects fading as she stuck her finger in the top of the bottle and began to make annoying popping noises. "I don't know what to think about all of this. There's going to be more deaths before it's all over." She couldn't say much more than that. Her eyes were dropping shut as she rested her head on her sister's shoulder.
Any other assignment would have been dealt with quickly and with as little emotion as possible. After all, that was how being an assassin worked, even one for Circle Daybreak. Maybe it was the fact that the task was involving another set of twins, and the emotional trauma of severing one set or the other.
"The sooner we deal with it and move along the better," Raven said tiredly. "We've both wanted that for quite some time."
"Hard to believe we've only been at this for three days," Isis said with a sigh. "We need to end it all tomorrow."
Raven nodded in agreement. "I doubt that either of them will be willing to negotiate."
"We need a plan. Did you try calling David?"
Raven nodded. "He's dead."
"Crap. Does Alice know?"
"Yeah, she's pretty pissed off."
Isis sighed. Whatever David's plan had been, clearly it hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped. And oddly enough, she wasn't all that surprised. "So what are we going to do with them?" She was tired of being out of ideas, and a major confrontation at school was not something she was particularly looking forward to. Maybe Raven or Alice had an idea left.
"I'm working on it," Raven said finally. "I'm working on it."
* * *
Evangeline couldn't deny the relief she felt that Hunter had agreed to let Zach work for them. She wanted to say to hell with the whole assignment. She was bored of it.
"So what's your idea?" Dusk asked.
Zach was silent, and Evangeline wondered if he really did have an idea, or if it was just something he'd said to make them all feel better.
"If it's kidnapping and negotiation, forget it, we've done that once," Ashael snapped as she turned the car into the twins' driveway.
Evangeline nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and look how that one turned out." She shot a glare at Zach, who caught her eyes and flashed her a smile.
"We'll send one of each of you to take out one of them, along with one of us for backup, was my idea," Zach said as they walked into the dark house. Ashael switched on the light in the kitchen.
"Yeah, we thought of that one already as well," she said tiredly.
Evangeline's eyebrow arched. "Did we?" She had been more distracted with Zach than thinking of dealing with the Blackthorn twins. The original assignment had been deal with Dusk and Zach, and they had done that. Along with David finally being killed as well. That should have been enough.
But now they had this thrown on them. ~Why can we never get a break?~ Evangeline thought. "Fine then. Zach and I will - "
"No," Zach said. "That wasn't what I was thinking."
"We leave you two along, nobody will be killed but the pair of you cause you're madly obsessed with each other," Dusk snorted, making puking gestures.
"Exactly, but they weren't the words I was going to use," Zach said dryly. "Ashael and I will go after Raven, you and Evangeline will go for Isis."
"What about Alice?" Dusk pointed out.
Zach shrugged. "First come first served." His lip curled. "We're all going to be crossing paths at some point tomorrow."
Evangeline had forgotten Raven was supposed to be in her crowd. It was going to be hard not to kill her.
"We have to do this thing tomorrow," Ashael said flatly. "This is *our* territory and they're not going to take it away from us."
Evangeline nodded in agreement along with Dusk and Zach. "One way or another, it all ends tomorrow."
* * *