"You're my replacement?" Delphi asked when she finally came up to the vault. The woman standing opposite her, guarding the room she wished to enter, was called Maria. Maria had never been quite keen about Delphi. It might have had something to do with the jagged scar that ran from her ear to her chin.
Maria nodded, her hatred of Delphi evident.
Delphi had never been very impressed with Maria. She was a sloppy fighter, and had little to no personality. She was notorious for a one hit knock out, but it was her only party trick.
"What a disappointment." Delphi said as she charged her.
Maria was not much a challenge for Delphi. In fact, she was one of the quickest take downs Delphi had all night. Delphi had her knife up into Maria's ribs. Maria's back was against the wall. Delphi's hand braced Maria's so as to not let her escape.
Maria would not try to escape. She had seen Delphi Kane in action. She knew she was better off to stay here.
"Where are my sisters?" Delphi asked Maria playfully, like a cat talking to a mouse.
Maria looked at Delphi curiously. Then an evil grin covered the woman's face.
"Your sisters are dead." She told Delphi. In response, Delphi shoved the knife further up Maria's ribcage. Maria coughed blood.
John had just caught up. He stood in the doorway. Both women noticed his presence but neither acknowledged it.
When John's wife died, he felt as though he had no one left in the world. It was a lingering weight, something that he endured daily. It still hung on his shoulders, but the heaviness had lightened since he had met Delphi.
He did not wish for her to know that pain. He knew it was coming, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"Aldrich ordered it." Maria continued, the smirk still on her beaten face.
Delphi had been confident that her sisters were very much alive. Pinky-less perhaps, but still alive. Delphi did not know if she could believe Maria or not. As a way to buy time, she quickly withdrew the knife from Maria's abdomen and used it to secure the woman's hand to the wall behind her. Maria howled. Delphi arranged Maria's other hand, and then looked at John. He handed her his knife.
Delphi stepped back to admire her work. The smile was beginning to wane from Maria's face.
"If they were already dead, then why would you be guarding this door?" Delphi wondered aloud.
"Look for yourself, punta." Maria spat.
John watched as Delphi seemed to become someone else entirely.
She had done this often when she was younger, in a second she went from feral beast to frightened child.
So much of who Delphi was relied on controlling the only thing she could, herself.
Delphi was raised to believe that she was never alone so long as she had her sisters. Phoebe, ten years her senior, had taught Delphi understand the power of being underestimated. Phoebe's blonde hair, blue eyes, tan skin, and body of a goddess, had enticed men. They treated her like a thing and she let them, up until the moment she needed something they had. Cleo, four years younger than Delphi, had always been a spitfire. Dark and sarcastic, wild and ornery, Cleo was genuine, and so very alive. Iris, smart and eager, was Delphi's youngest sister. Iris was beautiful in a timeless way, and had the self-confidence to succeed no matter the venture.
Delphi was not beautiful. She knew that. Her sisters knew that. And in a way that only sisters could, they comforted her. But Delphi had always been the one to pull through for them. Phoebe, though the eldest, was not the most responsible. The older she grew the more selfish she became. She thought that after years of caring for her sisters, she had deserved to care only for herself.
That all changed after she had become a mother.
Egan Kane had an interesting childhood, his first months were with his mother and aunts. They lived together, until one day, his aunts left and Charlie moved in.
Charlie, the man he knew as his father, was kind and demure, and loved the boy like his own. He loved Phoebe too, and understood her better than she understood herself.
As agreed upon, Delphi had not seen the boy in months. She imagined he'd be walking by now.
She would not know how to tell him if his mother was dead because of her. She had never thought she would have to.
Delphi twisted the dial quickly. She had been with Aldrich when he has purchased the vault. She was not surprised that he had not changed the code.
She opened the door quickly. John could not see in, but he did not have to see to know what was there.
Maria began to laugh.
Delphi shot her in the head, but her eyes never left the vault.