Chapter 7: Stigmata

It was now Saint Patty's and Darina was sitting at her desk, partially brooding and trying to get her homework done. Since the day that Henri had told the brothers about her 'outbursts' as her family liked to call them, Connor and Murphy had backed off, saying that they needed to get to know her again.

To say the least, she was pissed off. It had already been close to seven months and yet they still felt that they needed to keep their distance from her... Fucking hypocrites. If they even knew the true history of their family prayer, they would be thinking differently. She had already tried to explain this to them many times but her pleas for logic had fallen on deaf ears.

And to make matters even worse, she was home alone on the biggest drinking holiday of the year simply because the fucking McManus assholes didn't want to risk her losing her temper. Never mind that they had seen her drunk before and knew that she was actually a nice drunk... Mostly because she was usually too focused on getting laid or getting some sleep to get pissed off at anyone.

All of a sudden, Darina all of a sudden knew that something bad was about to happen. Ever since she had been little, she had been able to feel it when something tragic or life-altering was about to happen to someone that she cared about and she knew that this time wasn't going to be any different.

Then her phone rang. The caller ID showed that Danny was calling and she immediately answered it.

"What's wrong hun?"

"Damn... I don't even need to say anything"

"You already know how this goes. Now spill it and tell me what I can do."

"Well... I kind of saw a mob killing. Or at least that's what I think it was. Someone followed me back to my dorm and I'm pretty sure that they're still waiting outside."

"Don't go anywhere or talk to anyone. And I mean anyone, that you don't know well. I'll be over in fifteen minutes." She then started digging through her dresser drawers, trying to find something, anything that could help her. Then she found what she had been looking for in the back of her closet.

"Yes! I knew that Mitch didn't find it!"

"What are you talking about?"

"What do you think I'm talking about? I found my katana. OW! And it's still sharp"

"What... Why?"

"I'm not taking any chances hun. If they see me going up to your room and then see me leave, I become a potential target. Plus, anyone that threatens my friends is as good as dead, I don't give a fuck who they are."

"Shit... Just don't kill anyone Dar"

"I won't unless they come after me first. I'm not that stupid. I'm going to hang up on you now. Be ready for me to get there in a few minutes."

She then closed her phone and turned it off. If anything was going to go down, she didn't want to be given away by her phone ringing.

After attaching the scabbard to her back and making sure that her katana was easily accessible through her coat, she grabbed her first aid kit and a change of clothes and headed out.

After a few minutes, she was about a block away from Danny's dorm when she noticed someone hiding a few feet away from her.

'Shit..." she thought to herself "These bastards aren't taking any chances. This is going to be a bit harder than I thought"

She was barely able to keep her composure when she noticed that there were three men waiting outside of Danny's window. To only make matters worse, one of them was holding a baseball bat and all of them had guns.

'Fuck. I'm going to have to sneak up on them... Why did this have to happen tonight?'

She then started to walk towards them, trying to avoid attracting attention as she veered towards a clump of bushes where she dropped her backpack. She didn't want to get any blood on it. Luckily for her, she was able to jump towards the men right before they broke the window.

She then cut through them in a splash of blood and a shower of body parts before they even knew what was going on.She had known that her sword was sharp enough to cut through several bamboo trees in one swipe but she had refused to believe before then that it could cut through human flesh and bone like soft butter... She felt like she was going to puke right as Danny opened his window... That wasn't too out of the ordinary, he had to have heard the screams.

"What the fuck! I thought you said you weren't going to kill anyone!"

"That's what I said... Plans change, they were about to break your window open. I need to get out of here before the police come. I can explain the why but I don't think they'll believe any stories I could come up with about the how."

"What if anyone else comes?"

"I'll deal with that if it happens, there's a sentry about a block away, I'll make sure that he follows me."

With that, she ran to grab her things before running back to where she had seen the first mobster and ducking into a thick clump of bushes so she could change out of her blood soaked clothing. The man noticed her right as she was changing her shirt and started to approach her.

"Hey bella, what are you doing half naked in the middle of Harvard?"

"That's my own business figlio ritardato di una femmina"

He jumped at her, throughly insulted only to meet the tip of her sword.

"And that's why I don't date Italians. You assholes never think to take a woman's insults literally"

She then finished dressing and took a garbage bag out of her backpack which she then put her blood soaked clothes in before heading back to her dorm.

When she finally got back, she realized that her katana was still covered in rapidly drying blood. That also meant that the scabbard had a pool of blood in its tip. She took both items to the bathroom and started rinsing the blood off. When she was finally convinced that all of it had been washed off, she put both sword and scabbard back in her closet and grabbed the bag of clothes. She gagged a bit when she opened it but managed to keep herself from throwing up by focusing on finding the bottle of ammonia that she knew she had somewhere. When she made sure that all of the bloodstains had been covered with the ammonia, it finally hit her.

She had just killed four men in cold blood and she still had the murder weapon in her room. There was no way that she was going to throw it out though. Her father had spent well over two thousand dollars on it as her birthday present for her 16th birthday, meaning for it to only be a decorative item, and she had spent almost as much in order to have it returned to it's original sharpness. Plus, it was far too unique of a weapon for it not to be traced back to her even if she did throw it out.

She had no choice. She had to call Connor and Murphy.

She quickly went through the numbers on her phone to find the one she wanted. Darina already knew that the brothers weren't at home. They went out drinking almost every night and Saint Patty's only gave them another reason to go out and get completely trashed. As she hit the call button, she hoped that Doc hadn't been given a reason to kick them out yet.

"ello?"

"Hey Doc. Are Connor and Murphy still there?"

"Aye, we're all here celebratin' our v-v-... the boys won a good fight! Fuck! Ass!"

"Hand the phone to Conn. I need to talk to him about something"

"Hello. Who's this?"

"Thanks Conn, you make a girl feel loved without even trying"

"Hey Dar. What goin' on?"

"I need to to get over to my place as soon as you can... Something happened earlier and I really need your help..."

"The fuck ya do this time?"

"I'll tell you when you get over here. talking about it on the phone isn't a good idea. Can you get over here? I'll pay for the cab if you need me to"

"This is some serious shit, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It's finally sinking in and I think I'm about to have a panic attack"

"Shit, I'll be there in less than twenty minutes"

"Thank you Conn. Are you going to bring Murphy?"

"No fuckin' way. He can barely stand up right now. I'll have Roc take 'im home"

"Ok. See you in a few"

"One more thing before I hang up. No matter what happened, remember tha' I still love ya."

"Thanks"

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When Connor finally got to Darina's dorm room, he quietly used the key that she had given him to open the door to the sharp stench of ammonia mixed with what seemed to be blood. He then noticed that she was curled up on her bed, shaking uncontrollably and sobbing.

"What happened Dar?"

"I can't... I just can't"

He then sat down on the edge of the bed and started stroking her hair.

"Ya can tell me anything Dar. I've been an ass these past few months and I'm sorry for tha'. Please don't shut me out"

"You were right about me Connor... I'm a horrible person. Shit, I only did it to protect Danny but I could have done it differently"

"I need ta know wha' yer talkin' about"

"I killed four men Connor... Danny saw something that he shouldn't have and they were going to kill him. I did it in the worse way I could... There was so much blood"

"Ya did good Dar. Ya protected yer own and ya made sure tha' those bastards will never hurt another innocent"

Darina looked up at him, shocked for a second before she gave him a weak smile.

"Destroy all that is evil"

"So all that which is good may flourish" Connor finished for her.

"You've been having the same dreams?"

"Aye. I think tha' Murph's been havin' 'em too but he never wants ta talk about it. Maybe he thinks it'll jus' pass eventually"

"It'll never pass Connor. We're Shepards and our calling will never die. No matter what may happen to us. And it'll pass on to our children after we're gone. You should know this already"

"How long have ya known?"

"I don't know. I can't even remember a time when I didn't know. All I can say is that I felt that our destinies were being altered when you and Murph left. Maybe that's what pulled me into this"

Connor looked at her sadly and turned away from her.

"Let's talk about this another time Conn. Just grab the sword that's in the back of my closet before you go"

"Aye. We'll talk in the mornin' then"

As he walked out, Darina couldn't help thinking that finally things were happening the way they should. She had been waiting for years for her true calling to be realized and now it was finally happening.

Now her best friends... Her soulmate and his brother were finally with her again.

She felt her heart skip a few beats as she thought about what the future might bring.

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figlio retardato di una femmina: retarded son of a bitch

Author's Note: This is not what I thought it would be. But I do have to admit that I love where this is going now. Be prepared for lots of surprises and let me know what you think