6. Ivy

Chapter 6

Ivy

M y bladder wakes me several hours later and I stumble to the bathroom still half asleep. After relieving myself, I wash my hands and splash some water in my face. Looking at myself in the mirror, I recall everything that happened last night.

The party.

Blair.

The note .

It said the invitation is only good for twenty-four hours. I need to make a decision before it's taken out of my hands.

I throw on a shirt and of shorts then head down to the kitchen for some coffee. When I pass my office, I stop. Might as well get the note now so I can answer as soon as I come to a decision. With the note retrieved from my safe, I resume my walk to the kitchen where I start my fancy coffee machine.

Once I've made the perfect mocha latte, I sit at the island and read the note for the hundredth time.

Please agree to these terms by consuming the invitation.

What the hell does that mean? They want me to eat paper? I hate how vague this note is but surely if I accept, I'll get more information about how the guild works.

My cat, Jade jumps on the counter and sniffs the paper before looking up at me with her expressive emerald eyes. She stares at me like I'm stupid as her tail swishes and hits my arm. After a long moment of silence, she rolls her eyes and turns away from me, smacking me in the face with her fluffy tail.

I rescued Jade a few years ago. My target had her locked up in his lab and was experimenting on her. After he told me everything he did to my poor girl, I ended him painfully and slowly. Her saliva is poisonous thanks to Christopher, so she fits right in here.

"Meow." Jade pushes the paper towards me with her paw.

"You think I should join the guild?" I ask my bossy cat, who responds by headbutting my hand as I absently tap my fingernails on the counter.

"Well, you've never steered me wrong. Let's hope that holds true," I mutter as I fold the paper into a small square. "Here goes nothing." I open my mouth and place the note on my tongue. As soon as I close my mouth it starts to dissolve.

Huh. That's actually pretty good.

I suck on the paper, savoring the flavor until it disappears.

Not a second after I consume the invitation, a black business card appears on the counter between Jade's front paws. She looks at it then flicks her eyes to me as if to say well, are you gonna read it?

Picking up the card, I'm a little surprised to find the name of my first assignment. Though I probably shouldn't be. It seems the guild works fast.

Stanley Shiftlan

50 Million

Drop of blood to accept

Tear card to decline

Stanley Shiftlan. Why does that sound familiar?

"A little help?" I hold my finger out to Jade who happily pricks it with her claw. A bead of blood wells up and I tip my hand, watching as it drips onto the card before it disappears.

I drop my jaw as all the details I need to complete the job rush through my mind.

He calls himself Kingpin. Real name Stanley Shiftlan. Age fifty. Six foot four. Jet black hair with whiskey brown eyes. Will be at Underground tonight at 9 PM.

More and more information fills my head and I have a hard time sorting through it all. Not sure why there's a hit out on him, but it really doesn't matter. They said it would never be an innocent person, only the worst of the worst. The guild wants him dead and I'm the perfect weapon for the job.

As soon as I have the stray thought about why he needs to die, a small voice whispers in my head.

"He's responsible for your parents' deaths."

What?!

No fucking way! I was hoping the guild would be able to help me find more information about my parents and they give me the man responsible for my very first assignment.

I hope they don't mind if I take my time with this one. Stanley and I are going to have a little talk before I end him, in the most painful way possible.

***

The location that was somehow uploaded… downloaded? to my mind is a seedy underground fight club, called Underground. Real clever, I know. I've gone there to blow off steam a time or two, so I know the place well. I should have no problems getting in. All I have to do is say I want to fight. Not very many females will take on anyone.

Heading to my bedroom, I enter the en suite and find the bottle of cream I use so my skin isn't toxic to the touch unless it's prolonged contact. This will buy me a couple of hours. And save a few lives… unless someone is stupid enough to kiss me. My venom is strongest in my saliva. I've yet to find a way to dull the effects. But I only kiss someone when I'm ready to end them. The kiss of death is what Blair likes to call it.

Once I've slathered myself in cream, I head for the walk-in closet and pull out my fighting clothes. I shimmy into my shorts that barely cover my ass, and throw on a black halter style crop top. The neck wraps around my throat and the bottom ends just past my tits while hugging them like a second skin. The outfit is designed for ease of motion as I kick ass, and to attract my prey. Men turn even stupider when they see a sexy, scandalously clad woman. I like to use that to my advantage.

Not wanting to fuck with a wig tonight, I put my natural purple hair in boxer braids and call it a day. Slipping on my ankle boots, I grab my black leather riding gloves, and my leather jacket and go tell Scar the good news.

"Wake up, Scar! I told you you'd get to go on the next mission. Well, tonight's the night," I announce as I run my hand down her gas tank. "This is the most important mission we'll ever have." That gets her attention. Knew she couldn't stay mad at me long. "I've found him, Scar. The asshole who killed my parents. We're going to meet him right now." I still can't fucking believe it. I keep expecting to wake up and this all to have been a dream.

My eager bike roars to life before I can even sit down. Chuckling, I shake my head and put my helmet on before I throw my leg over my seat. The garage door opens and I finally tell her what she's been so impatiently waiting for. "Underground."

As soon as the name is out of my mouth, we're flying down my driveway. Scarlet weaves through traffic, going so fast we're just a blur to the other drivers.

"Damn, Scar. In a hurry?" I laugh into the whipping wind.

In response, she sends me an image of her running over a body in the road.

"You know I'll let you get your shots in," I assure her.

We arrive at the warehouse sooner than planned, but not early enough to beat the asshole here. Damn it. I pull into the parking lot and park by another bike. Too bad it's a hog. It's got a badass paint job that I do admire. It's black with a smoky scorpion that looks like it's about to jump off the bike.

I've seen it before somewhere, but I don't have time to waste trying to remember. The longer I spend pondering some random bike, the longer it's going to take me to seduce Stanley back to my house so we can have a little conversation before I kill him.

Walking to the door I get several people in the line whistling and some cussing me for line jumping. I ignore them all. My head's in the game, nothing matters but my target.

At the door, the bouncer nods me over. "Morgan, good to see you. Joining or watching?" he asks.

I smile half sweet, half sadistically. "What fun is watching, Joey?" He laughs as he motions for me to go in.

It's loud and thankfully no one stops me as I walk through looking for my mark. I can feel everyone's eyes on me though. Looks like the outfit is working. Here's hoping it works on Stanley. Making my way around the room to the VIP area, I bump into something solid. Shit. Where'd the wall come from? Slowly I look up… and up some more.

"Damn you're a big one," I say before I think better of it. He snorts a laugh. Making my lady bits tingle.

His eyes flash with something unnatural. Fuck he's a supe. "Uh, sorry. Have a good night," I mumble. What the fuck was that.

"Right," is all he says before he turns back to watching the cage match.

I follow his line of sight and my heart stutters as I get my first real look at him.

There he is.

The man that killed my parents.

The sight pulls me from my momentary distraction and the hot guy I ran into completely disappears from my mind as I refocus on my reason for being here.

My reason for being the assassin I am today.

Stanley Shiftlan.

As I approach the VIP section, a bulky dickhead in a suit steps in front of me.

"No way. Move along girly. You ain't the boss's type."

Girly? Really. Oh, fuck him. I switch gears and I run my hand up his chest. "Good. I prefer tall and dangerous. Like you." I purr. I run the tip of my tongue across my lip and his eyes follow the motion.

"Oh really? Gimme a taste." He pulls me to him and kisses me. I try to relax but honestly, I want to vomit. He smells…wrong.

There's a sudden growl behind me and I'm ripped out of his arms. I stumble back a step and my hero snarls, "Hands off what's mine!" before he punches the bodyguard. Who honestly was two minutes from death anyway. The guard crumples to the ground.

Two more guys come at us and I see Stanley rushed out by two more guys. "Son of a bitch he's getting away."

The big guy is in hand-to-hand combat with the two guards so I rush to follow Stanley. Course, the shit luck I'm having tonight he's long gone by the time I get outside. "Gods dammit!" I yell.

I feel eyes on me and snap my head to the door of the club. The mountain of a man is coming my way. I pull my keys and hop on my bike. He ain't gonna catch me in whatever he's driving. I tear out of there like my ass is on fire. Both the need to find Stanley, and the need to get away from that man, spurring me to push Scar's limits.