Woot! I did it! I know its not too long but for only a few hours I think I did okay.

Yassen smiled bitterly, but said nothing.

"And what the hell are you doing, working for that maniac?" Alex asked, still dazed.

"I will explain, but first, you need to come with me." the assassin replied slowly, reaching out his arm to help Alex stand. Alex looked at Yassen's gloved hand, and after a moment, grasped it reluctantly.

The Russian pulled Alex to his feet as though the teenager weighed nothing. He readjusted his grip so he had the young man firmly by his upper arm and led him into the hallway.

As Alex was led through the house, he tried to clear his mind. He just saw a man die. It certainly hadn't been the first time but after so long it felt brand new to him. He'd almost been ra…No. He didn't want to think about that. He felt sick to his stomach. And Yassen was alive. What the hell? He practically held the man as he died. Now he was apparently working for another fucking psychopath. Not to mention he looked almost exactly the same as ever with his close-cropped blonde hair and a stoic expression, except maybe a bit healthier. Nothing made sense to Alex. One thing was for sure, the assassin had a lot of explaining to do.

After what seemed like forever, Yassen stopped at a pair of large solid oak double doors with a electronic lock. He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a key card which he slid through the side of the small machine. It made a shrill beeping noise and Alex heard the doors unlock, then Yassen led Alex into the room and shut the door. The room was large and so elaborately decorated in bright colors that it certainly wasn't helping his queasiness. The walls and ceiling were a foul shade of yellow, which was disrupted by several of those horrible modern color block paintings and a vast bay window on the far wall. There was a king bed that stood in the center of the room with horrible seafoam green sheets and blankets. At the foot of the bed there was a large white chest. Other than the bed and the chest the only other furniture in the room was an ancient rocking chair sitting next to the window.

The assassin led Alex to the chair and sat him down. He retreated to the edge of the window and gazed out of it for a long moment before fixing Alex with a blank stare. Alex took this as his cue to question him.

"How are you alive? Where have you been? Did you hear what happened? Why did you send me to Scorpia? Why are you working for this lunatic?" The questions spilled out of Alex before he had time to control them. He felt a flush of embarrassment as Yassen raised his eyebrow slightly at the barrage of questions.

The assassin closed his eyes and took a deep breath before replying.

"That is a very long story, and unfortunately we don't have the time for all that now."

Alex frowned.

"I thought you said that you'd explain!" Alex complained. He knew he sounded like a child but right now he didn't give a damn. He wanted answers.

"And I will," the older man replied smoothly, "But now is not the time. We have maybe twenty minutes before Schrecklich returns and we have more important things to discuss."

Alex knew that Yassen was right. But still. As soon as he got out of this mess he'd demand to know everything. Yassen owed him that.

"At least explain why you're here." Alex asked desperately.

"My employer sent me here. His son was kidnapped while backpacking with his friends," he explained quickly, "If you were paying attention you might have heard me tell Schrecklich that some prisoners escaped. I arranged for my employers son to break out with some other inmates. They'll never find him now though."

"Then why are you still here?" the younger boy inquired.

"My orders were to free my employers son, first and foremost. Afterwards I was instructed to destroy this entire facility and personally kill Schrecklich." Yassen clarified.

"Why?" Alex asked, "What exactly are they doing with the people?"

Yassen smiled coldly before responding.

"You are aware that Schrecklich operates a cosmetics company?"

Alex nodded.

"Have you ever heard of Elizabeth Bathory?" Yassen questioned.

"The lady who bathed in blo…." Alex stopped short, the reality of the situation dawning on him.

"Yes, Alex, Schrecklich is draining people and mixing their blood in with his products." Yassen remarked grimly.

Alex was in shock. The revelation hit him like a truck.

"So little Alex," Yassen began dryly, "Are you going to help me?"

"What do we have to do?"

Hahaha! Cliffhanger! Oh, as I was writing this some things seemed a little off, but come on, its been like eight months, cut a lady some slack lol. Anywho, R&R :)