Disclaimer: Don't own them. Not making any money.

A/N: This one is kinda short but I liked where it ended so you'll have to wait to find out what happened! Thanks to everyone who reviewed before! Sorry if I didn't get to responding to you personally.

Hope you like it!
Cyn

Ghost of Darkness
Chapter Two

"We have one free apartment on the 4th floor, do you want to stay there?" Ranger asked as we waited for Tank to arrive. They were only 3 minutes out by now. Stephanie, although surprised and worried, came willingly when Ranger called her asked for her to come here with Tank. He even went so far as to say please. What the hell kind of person is he turning into?

"No. I got a place set up," I responded, not looking at him.

He glanced towards me but didn't say anything.

I hadn't planned on him asking me for help but I had planned to stay and watch how things turned out. Whether she lived or died I really couldn't care less about but the mercenary in me had to know who my competition was. I had an idea of a couple players but hadn't had the chance to look into it yet.

Lester popped his head in the office door glaring at me – fuck you too buddy – before looking at Ranger. "They're on their way up boss."

Ranger nodded and Les disappeared from sight. The world would be a better place if he disappeared from life.

We made our way silently to the elevator. The wait was only a few seconds before it dinged and the doors slid open. Tank was in a corner, arms folded against his massive chest. His face was blank. Bobby, who was in the middle front of the elevator, stepped out to make room for Ranger and I. When he did Stephanie came into view. Her eyes were focused solely on me. Her face was a rapid succession of emotions. Worry, disbelief, distrust and finally anger.

"It was you," was all she said, glaring with everything she had.

Everyone in the room froze at her words. The quiet shuffle of paperwork in the room stopped completely.

Her instincts were better than I originally anticipated.

"Babe?" Ranger moved a hand towards her but she ignored him and stepped right up to me, poking me in the chest.

"It was you," she said again with another poke. Ranger's body tensed. "What were you doing watching me, huh? Are you some kind of perv or did Ranger set it up?" Another poke.

I looked down at her finger, poised and ready to strike again. My voice was calm when I spoke. "Poke me again and you'll lose that finger."

She snorted. "Yeah I believe that one."

My eyes found hers and whatever she saw made her flinch slightly. "Ranger you better teach your woman who she's dealing with before I have to."

"Touch me," she said before Ranger could speak, "and I'll cut your balls off and shove them down your throat."

"Babe," his voice was low with a mixture of humor and disbelief, "let's handle this up on seven."

"I want to know what he was doing watching me," she said undeterred.

"How do you know it was me?" I asked innocently. "I just arrived in town not very long ago."

She shook her head. "It was you," Steph said confidently. "I don't know who you are or why you would do it but it was definitely you."

"How?" I asked, not interested in playing that game anymore.

Her bottom lip was pulled between her teeth unconsciously. "You make me feel the same as I did earlier."

"And what do you feel Miss Plum?" I asked, leaning down closer to her face.

Moments ticked away as she stared at the floor, no longer willing to look at me. "Honestly," she said with a pause. "I'm scared." Her eyes found mine again and I could see everything in her bright eyes. "You scare me and I don't even know you. I don't like being scared."

"No one does." With that I straightened and walked past her into the elevator Tank was holding open. I leaned against the back wall. "You guys coming up or do I have to do this without you?"

Ranger placed his hand on Stephanie's back and led her in. The ride was short and quiet.

Seconds after the doors slid open I was lounging comfortably on the couch. Ranger had taken Steph into the bedroom to explain things in private.

Tank was left out here with me. He was like a dog pissing on his territory. Just plain pathetic. "You fuck with her in any way and the guys and I will find a way to kill you."

The thought made me smile. "You know what will always make me better than you Tanky boy?" When he didn't say anything I continued. "You and everyone here are trained to kill the enemy. Me," I paused for a second, "well I'm just trained to kill."

His face was one of disgust. "I'll keep it that way thanks. I actually like having a soul."

"Oh I have a soul," I said with an odd little smile, "it's just as black as my heart though."

"You have a heart?" Tank laughed. "Never would have guessed that one."

"Leo tried hard to remedy that," I lightly touched the scars hidden by my shirt, "but you know how that ended."

The laughter that was on his face seconds before disappeared. It was replaced by relief and a tiny hit of respect. "Leo was a traitor. He deserved to die slow and painfully."

"Oh he did," I said softly with a smile. "I made damn sure of that. Took me hours to clean up all the blood."

We both fell silent thinking back to a time not so long ago.

"Any last words," I asked while taking a bite out of my half eaten apple.

Leo, known as Leopard for his amazing speed, was hanging from a cement wall deep beneath my home in southern France. His arms were shackled high above his head; his feet were barely able to reach the floor. Blood, old and new, pooled around both our feet. His entire body was covered in lacerations, burn marks, and studded with wooden skewers. Well what was left of his body anyways. I had started with his fingers; taking off inch by inch of each one until his palms were all that were left. Next came his toes. After that I was tempted to skin him alive but that didn't seem good enough. Instead he hung on the wall for weeks. Each day I'd find some new way to torture him. I never repeated something twice. I had to give him blood transfusions when I got carried away a few times. In the end he was nothing but a heap of torn flesh and bones.

Leo was minutes away from dying. There would be no blood transfusion for him this time. After almost two months of being chained to the wall below my house, where I could enjoy the screaming peacefully, I finally decided it was time for him to die.

He struggled to lift his head, exhausted from blood loss and starvation, to look into my eyes. "I'll say . . . hello to . . . Kevin. . . for you," the bastard managed to wheeze out.

I finished eating my apple and tossed the core onto the metal table behind me. I walked closer to him and smiled. "Wrong words Leopard. Worst fucking thing to say. I was just going to slit your throat but now. . . "

In a flash I pulled my Gerber blade from its sheath on my side and slashed his stomach wide open. Blood poured out as he fought to stay conscious. With exact precision I made another deep cut right under his ribs. Slowly, I pulled my right sleeve off. He watched in terror as I traced the newest cut with my bare hand.

"It's been fun." My fingers pushed inside his pathetic body. I savored every second as I pushed my hand up under his ribs, reaching towards his heart. It was hot and heavy in my hand. Its beating was slowing incredibly fast. My fingers curled around it, contracting at its pace for a moment as my eyes found his. "Enjoy hell," I said smiling before I dug my fingers into his heart. Unable to scream anymore, guttural noises made their way out of his throat.

The bedroom door opening brought me out of my thoughts. Ranger had his arm wrapped around Stephanie as they walked towards us. Her eyes were puffy and her nose red. The woman practically had a death grip on the hand around her.

"Why didn't you pull the trigger," was hardly the first thing I expected her to ask when they were in front of me.

I looked at Ranger but his face was perfectly blank. Since he wouldn't help, the truth it was. "He," I moved my head towards Ranger, "owes me now. Doubly since he asked me to help you."

"You're a killer. Why should any of us expect you to actually help?"

At least that was a simple question. "I told Ranger I would."

She snorted and shook her head in disgust. "Like you have morals. You kill people for a living. Excuse me for not believing you'd happily watch a bullet blow my head off."

I couldn't help but stare at her. Since Ranger had told her who I was and what I did, this woman standing in front of me with unnatural fire in her eyes was one of two things. Very stupid for talking to me like this or tired of the drama that is her life and deciding to take it out on me. Either way she had better knock it the fuck off.

"You know," I replied slowly, "If you keep this attitude up I'll make it so you can't talk, got it?" She actually took half a step back into Rangers arms when my dead eyes found hers.

"Ghost," he growled and tightened his grip around the girl.

"To answer your question though," I said ignoring him, "my word is everything to me. Once I give it, that's that. I don't betray people like that." My voice had become as dead as my eyes. "If you don't want me around I'll happily get the fuck away from you but if you want to actually live, I suggest you suck up whatever it is that's making you such a fucking bitch right now because I'm the best honey. You'd already be dead if it wasn't for me. You will be dead if you keep pissing me off."

The fire in her eyes lessened, now just embers slowly burning out. Her lips opened but whatever she was about to say was cut off by Rangers cell ringing.

He looked at the readout before answering. "Make it fast."

Whatever the person on the other end said was not something Ranger wanted to hear. His blank face slammed on as he flipped the phone shut. "Morelli is on the way up."

I grinned wide. And here I thought I missed the show. Turns out I got front row seats.

A/N: Uh-oh. . . Wonder what Morelli has to say? And what exactly went down at his house earlier?