2

Jack

October 19th, 019

I knew she was watching me. I always knew when her eyes were on me.

She never did though. A passing stranger on the street, a ghost in a café, a reflection of a man on an R1 while window shopping. Always glimpsing, never knowing it was me, but me? Fuck, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her.

This assignment was given to me only because Everett, Greyson, and Azrael had been busy. A stroke of luck, most would say.

Me? I would say it was a fucking curse. The beautiful little Princess with a mysterious past that just didn’t quite make sense. It was as intriguing as it was frustrating.

It had taken me two weeks to locate her after getting to Los Angeles, which was humorous in the sense that she wasn’t hiding on purpose, in fact, she was active on social media under a different name for a reason I hadn’t quite figured out yet. She liked to spend money, loved to look good. Put on a show for me, I liked to imagine. The man who hunted her from the shadows.

Now, normally I would hunt my target down, kill them, and that would be the end of it. I wouldn’t look into their past or try and put together a puzzle I didn’t need to finish, but this was different. She was different. The fact that it took me two weeks to find her while already knowing her home city and her name was irritating to say the least.

Malachi said to take my time, and part of me wondered if he didn’t already do his own research on her before handing the envelope to me. Maybe he knew it would intrigue me.

All I knew for sure is that I wanted to know more about her. I wanted to know why she had been so hard to locate, why there was hardly any information on her.

In the two weeks I had been watching her, I found surface level things. Clean driving record, no police reports, a penthouse suite overlooking the city under her name, lots of receipts for expensive brands, an unhealthy amount of take-out orders, and a half-brother that didn’t turn up until a month after her mother’s murder.

That was the only ‘deep’ thing about her. The only thing that made sense. The only thing that didn’t twist my gut. Her mother was murdered, it was the only thing that felt real.

Even with all of this stuff, I hadn’t been able to dig deeper yet because Malachi was also keeping me busy on other things. It wasn’t rare for us to work more than one assignment at once, but this felt almost targeted, and I didn’t like that.

There was something about her. Something about Rae Bennett and her loud yet silent life that had prompted a mysterious stranger to hire us to kill her and I wanted to know why.

Was it the same person who killed her mother? I couldn’t be sure, but I would find out even if it killed me.

I had kept my distance so far, studying, watching, waiting. Tonight was the first time we had made contact and although it wasn’t planned, I wanted to give her something she would never forget.

I tightened my grip in the woman’s hair and jerked her head back violently, feeling her muscles tense at the new position. She whimpered, her ass tightening around my cock enough to nearly pull a groan from my lips.

I bit my tongue to keep it in. It was a primal reaction, moaning, but I wasn’t going to give this woman that satisfaction. It wasn’t her that had my cock hard, it was Rae. Her watching me, that’s what was getting to me.

She groaned, her nails digging into the wall of the club I was in, the music blaring so loud, the walls shook as people streamed in and out of the bathroom, trying to get another hit of their drugs or fix their makeup in the cracked mirror before returning to the dance floor.

The lights flickered above us, the graffitied walls covered in unknown stains and cracked green paint. It smelled of sex and sugar in here, but I didn’t mind, I was too focused on those eyes burning holes into the back of my head to think about anything else.

Did she like what she saw?

Was she going to fuck herself tonight to the images she saw now, pretending it was her that I was slamming my cock into?

Would she imagine me choking her? Tying her up? Slapping her? What did she like in her bedroom? I wanted to know. I wanted to know everything.

I pushed deeper into the woman, leaned over her until I could see the tears streak down her face, cutting trenches into her makeup. “For the rest of your days, you’ll compare me to whatever man you let fuck you,” I told her, slamming into her again, wishing against all sin that it was someone else.

She grunted, squeezing her eyes shut. “He’s n-never—”

“Good,” I replied and shoved her head against the wall. My hand gripped her hip as my eyes fell to where my cock slid in and out of her puckered ass. Fuck, I loved that. I loved watching anything swallow it up to my goddamn balls.

A condom had been necessary this time around though, and I had to admit, she wasn’t the ugliest woman I had ever fucked, but by how relaxed her asshole was, I knew she was lying about what her ex-husband had done to her.

I fucking hated liars.

I pounded into her with every ounce of rage and frustration I had been feeling these last few weeks until my release came. I pulled out and immediately slid the condom off, tossing it to the ground.

Fucking meant nothing to me. I got off, that was the end of it. No emotional connection, just sex. I didn’t need anything more, especially not in this line of work. “If he wants to kill me, tell him to meet me in the alley,” I told her, tucking myself away.

Did I have to fuck her? No, but she had given me eyes on the dance floor, and he wasn’t around. So, I figured I could get my rocks off and piss him off enough to get him here at the same time. Anything to keep me around her tonight.

Rae Bennett.

Beautiful beyond belief. She drank far too much coffee and stayed in her apartment longer than any person I had ever met. This weekend I would take a deeper dive into her life, into why her mother was murdered, so I could understand the reason behind her hit before I put a bullet between her eyes.

We never questioned the targets Malachi gave us. Whoever they were, they had betrayed us in some way, earning them a death sentence, so it was easy. Go out, kill them, come back, get another assignment.

But she was different, and I wanted to know why. I wanted to know everything. Not to mention that the longer I spent here, the longer I would be away from Seattle. I hated the rain, but I also wanted to scratch that itch that had only grown since I arrived in this godforsaken city.

Tonight was the first time she had left her apartment for something other than coffee or shopping since the day I had found her. She decided to come to Various, a well-known club near the beach in L.A. It was her 6th birthday, and she had invited a friend over who lives a few cities over. Viv.

Viv only visited once every month or so, so it was a special occasion for her all around.

Luckily for me, the target of my current assignment happened to have an ex who loved to fuck the men at this specific club.

Why?

I had no idea, I guess everyone had their thing.

“Wait,” the woman called, pushing herself away from the wall. “Number?”

But I had already turned around, my eyes locking with my other current target. The one who was taking up far too much space in my head.

She was leaning back against the wall not feet away, her pupils blown wide, her head tilted back, her siren-shaped amber eyes lined in black watching me carefully.

I’d say those pupils were blown from lust, but I was certain she had taken some drugs before coming here tonight. It made me angry how unaware she was about the danger she was in. No sixth sense, no anything. It was pathetic.

I zipped up my pants and buckled my belt, watching her unflinchingly, wondering what she thought about the mask I was wearing. It was October, so there was no fear of her questioning why I was wearing a mask in a club. It was custom this time of year. The fanatics of LA loved wearing their costumes whenever they got the chance, and during the month of October, all clubs allowed costumes of any shape and size, so long as their cocks and tits were covered, most didn’t care.

I was no Halloween fanatic, but I did like my mask. I wondered if she was this confident when she wasn’t high on drugs. Looking into my eyes like this, nobody could do that. People looked too long, and they saw something dark and unforgiving inside of me. Something I lost a long time ago, it made them uncomfortable, but Rae? “I don’t have a number,” I told the woman.

It had to be the drugs.

Those eyes were fuck-me eyes. Bedroom eyes. The eyes of a seductress. Those eyes were in desperate need of tears.

It wasn’t against any rules, us fucking our targets, we just had to understand that no matter what, we needed to kill them in the end. That had always been fine with me. Always. I had fucked and killed a number of people in my lifetime, it was the only opportunity I had in this line of work, and it worked for me.

But something told me that I’d be in deep shit if I fucked her. No matter how hard my cock throbbed when I watched her, I couldn’t fall victim to those eyes. Death was coming for her soon enough and I’d find someone else to fuck in the meantime.

She lifted a bright pink sucker to her dark red lips, her eyes unwavering.

My own narrowed, hardening as I tracked her tongue, the way her pouty lips wrapped around it slowly.

The mask I was wearing was a full face. A war-torn skull with the eyes shattered out. I painted black around my eyes to aide in the cover, despite the looks I got from Azrael whenever he deigned to show his precious face. Most were scared when they saw me, but not her. She liked the show, or perhaps she was just high as fucking shit, and she had no idea what the fuck she was doing.

She lowered the sucker and slid her tongue over her lips, blinking slowly.

Or maybe she knew exactly what she was doing.

My cock twitched, needing her. Needing to feel her wrapped around me. Needing to feel that tongue, those lips, suck on me the way she was sucking on that sucker.

“Come on, Rae,” Viv giggled, grabbing her hand as she walked by. “Let’s dance.”

Yeah Rae, go dance. Let those needy fucking cocks rub up against your red leather wearing little ass.

I watched her hips swing on her way out the door, her thick, wavy, blonde hair bouncing a bit, the flickering lights reflecting off the different shades of blonde in her hair, some strands so bright, they nearly glowed.

“Hey,” the woman behind me said, falling into me.

I sneered, stepping out of her reach, watching as she stumbled and nearly fell to the ground. “What?” What was with their incessant need to touch me after a good fuck? It was irritating.

“He said he’ll be here in an hour,” she said, phone in hand, showing off my targets name on her screen.

Alex.

An hour?

If some guy fucked the girl in my life, I’d teleport to his house and put a bullet in his goddamn face.

A fucking hour, how fucking pathetic.

I cracked my neck and headed for the door. At least I had time for a drink and a show.

I held the glass in my hand as I watched her from across the club.

It was humid in here, sweat trickling from my brow. I could only imagine how that leather felt on her skin. Her body unable to breathe, the sweat building under her tits, between her legs, the way she desperately wanted to pull it off…

She moved that body of hers as if she knew exactly how beautiful she was. Swinging her thick hips, her tits stuffed into the top of that strapless dress, suffocating. She had thick thighs, the threads of her heels tight where they wrapped around her calves.

Men kept inching their way towards her, sliding their hands over her hips, and she allowed it for a while before she easily slid from their grip and rejoined her friend who was practically fucking men on the dance floor. Nobody was good enough for her. Nobody was worthy to remain in her presence for long.

Or it could have been as simple as the want to deal with them. To go to their house or them to hers, to fuck, get them out the door, clean up.

Part of me, the part of me I was greatly resenting at the moment, hoped it was the former. I loved the confidence in a woman. The earned confidence that came with a beauty like that. Over-confidence was a dick-softener, but this?

I took a drink and turned back to the bar, blatantly ignoring those brave enough to come up and talk to me. I didn’t want any more pussy, at least not the thirsty girls abandoning their dates to come talk to me. I wouldn’t deny their beauty, I just wasn’t interested, besides, I was on the job now. Two jobs.

Malachi had given us a list of rules when we started the Shadow Initiation Program anyway. He had drilled them into our heads during the year we trained. Many might have called it abuse, what he had put us through, but I was grateful for it. Grateful for the blood we shed, for the morals we lost, for the people we killed all in the name of becoming weapons in this world.

He showed us how cruel the world could be and how we must walk across it without giving a shit who we hurt, why, or how. The worst thing you could be in this world was sympathetic. Sympathy had no voice here, no chance at survival, which was why Greyson was put through his own training.

I had been bitter as a kid, knowing that he hadn’t gone through the same training we had, but now? Now I understand that he would have died going through what we had been put through. Beckett had done his best to break my brother of his kind heart in a way that allowed him to keep his kindness but still hold some kind of ruthlessness. 18 years and that boy was still struggling with bits of this game, but he was better than he had been years ago. Far better.

Just not as good as us.

Someone stumbled into my shoulder, pulling me from my thoughts.

I snarled, looking over, the scent of some incredibly expensive, not too sweet perfume instantly filling my nose as Rae leaned over the counter. She smelled of roses.

My snarl eased as she lifted up a hand, showing off her tits to get the bartender’s attention a little quicker.

I stared at those perfect tits for a few seconds before my eyes slowly lifted to her face. Her skin was flushed, sweat sticking her blonde hair to her neck, her forehead.

I straightened, turning towards her, leaning against the counter, staring at her unblinkingly. Fuck, she was gorgeous. Her ass, her tits, her curvy hips. Her thick hair that fell around her in waves, curling slightly at the ends.

She cared so much about her appearance. She put effort into it. Everything about it was meticulous to her. From the Louis Vuitton heels to the Ralph Lauren dress. Even the jewelry she wore was expensive.

Although, I had to admit that it was stupid of her to wear such well-known brands to a place like this. Even so, I appreciated that about a woman. What I couldn’t figure out was if her fearlessness was due to her personality or the drugs and alcohol running through her bloodstream.

I suppose I didn’t care. I wanted to do everything I could to spark that adrenaline into high gear. The best kind of high in the world, adrenaline. There was nothing like it. What would she do if she finally got a taste of it?

I lifted my chin, watching as the bartender slid over two drinks, knowing her well enough to get the drinks without a word.

She turned and slowed, finally catching sight of me watching her. Even in her heels, she was half a foot shorter than I was.

She looked me over, a sly smile on her lips, sucker long since gone. When her eyes finally found mine, she lifted her chin. “Not a chance, Horror Show.”

I shivered, the excitement of pursuit filling my bloodstream. Fuck.

Before she could take another step, I straightened and headed for the door. As I passed her, I leaned in until my nose very nearly grazed her jaw. “We’ll see,” I threatened before heading for the back door.

The hour was nearly up. If Alex wasn’t here yet, I’d just have to visit his house.

I shoved out into the alley and pulled out a cigarette. We had all gotten into the habit over the years. A terrible habit, honestly. Azrael quit three years ago, although from time to time you could still catch him with a lit one in his hand. He never smoked it though, it was just a habit.

Greyson always talked about quitting, but he hadn’t found the will yet.

Everett was off and on again in his process, but me? I didn’t give a fuck. I could smoke if I wanted. Either it would kill me, or a bullet would, either way, I wasn’t dying of old age, not in this life.

I leaned back against the wall and took a long drag, feeling the smoke burn down my throat as I looked up and down the abandoned alley. Alex had made the mistake of crossing one of Malachi’s friends. It was a quick hit, nothing messy. Once done, I’d make a call, get it cleaned, go home, shower, sleep, and get back to work tomorrow morning.

Malachi always had another assignment. It was never-ending in this world. I didn’t mind the work though; it kept my mind busy.

I didn’t hate much in this world, actually. You know, the usual. Traffickers, gamblers, people who thought they could get away with fucking with my family, but I think what I hated most in this world is what the people within it started calling us after Malachi gave the Shadow Initiation Program a name.

It started out as a joke between those who survived it, but now it spread across the world.

Shadows of Sin.

The names of the four boys who first graduated Malachi’s program. His sons.

It was a bullshit name. It made sense in only one aspect; the world knew of our existence, but they had no idea who we were or what we looked like, our names, that we were Malachi’s only sons. No matter who graduated that program, we were the only true family he ever accepted.

Well, I suppose along with our sisters, who went through the same program Greyson had gone through. Only the men were allowed to go through the real program. A rule Malachi had made when the first five girls that went through it after we did, died.

Our rules were simple.

No mercy.

No second chances.

If you’re given an assignment, you see it through, whatever the cost.

If you’re stupid enough to fall in love, you need to be absolutely sure she’s the one because if she ever decides to leave, it’s your job to kill her.

Easy enough. I liked a good fuck as much as the next guy, but we weren’t made to fall in love. Everett, I could see him possibly settling, he liked to act like he would never fall for any girl, but I could see the truth of it from time to time. Greyson would definitely find a girl eventually, but Azrael and I? I loved my job too much to worry about such trivialities.

Azrael especially though. He never showed interest in anyone. Even when he did, the women usually ended up dead or in a mental institution. I don’t know what that man did behind closed doors, and I was completely fine with that. I never wanted to know.

Poor girls.

Greyson was different though, especially in this. He was the last of us to get adopted. He had been 13 at the time, and while he was the second oldest, just under me, Malachi had always considered him the baby.

Because of that, and the soul he carried within him, he had been treated differently, his rules were different. No, we didn’t feel resentment towards him, at least I didn’t all the time. Our respect for him never changed and we didn’t think of him as less, but we could see the difference between him and the rest of us.

He was not like us. He was kind, soft, merciful. We were leashed by no such standards but having him around was a good thing. We were better for it in the long run, as was Malachi.

When our father began his ventures in this world, he never expected it to grow so large so fast. Nearly two decades ago, he made the decision that he needed sons to aid in his Empire. To keep things running smoothly as he couldn’t be everywhere at once, and he couldn’t trust his secrets to the people who worked for him.

So, he devised a program. For several years he worked on it and when it was finally perfected, when others had failed the test, he sought out children who the world had given up on. Who the world had forgotten.

He found us.

The world knew of the Shadows of Sin, they knew we were ruthless and unforgiving, they knew that we had gone through this program, along with countless others, they just didn’t know anything about what happened during the program, only that some people didn’t survive it.

Greyson, just like the three of us, was special, he was just special in a better way than we were. Azrael hated that, resented how coddling Malachi was towards him, but I understood. We each had a part to play, that was Greyson’s.

Azrael questioned him about it. Why even keep him around if he was so weak?

To which Malachi stated, “Every Empire needs a level head. Greyson is yours.”

He wasn’t any weaker than us. He could still hold his own, but if it came down to it, I’d call Everett or Azrael over him if I needed aid.

I checked my watch again, my irritation growing. Late. This guy truly didn’t give a fuck about what’s-her-face, did he? What a piece of shit.

I flicked my cigarette to the ground and shoved away from the wall. His house it was. A little worse to clean up, but I wasn’t the one doing it.

I turned for the mouth of the alley and stopped when I saw this short man storming around the corner, hands clenched into fists, sweat on his brow, receding hairline.

Hmm.

No wonder she gave it to me so easily. He probably broke into a sweat pedaling here on his bicycle, there was no way he had any sort of stamina.

Or good health.

He struck me as the kind who was overly selfish with getting his cock sucked, and while I expected my women to suck my cock whenever I wanted them too, I also craved to make them cum until they were begging me to stop. Until they were on the verge of passing out. Until their bodies couldn’t take anymore.

Was that selfish of me?

I didn’t give a shit.

I lifted my chin, watching as he stormed over to me like a sweaty angry mole rat. Pathetic.

“You fucked my girl?” he snarled, lifting a fist.

Bad form.

“In her ass,” I replied, leaning back to avoid his weak swing. “She came too,” I bragged as I reached for my gun. “Not very great sounding, her moans of pleasure, but Hell, got me off.” I was a man of noise. I liked hearing my women moan. I liked knowing what I was doing to them, that they couldn’t handle it. That they couldn’t hold it back. I liked watching the way their body reacted to mine. When they whimpered and writhed, that’s what did it for me.

However, the last few years it felt like the women were changing. Too much internet, not enough authenticity. They thought that if they watched enough porn, they could learn enough to please the men in their life, but there was a line there. Too much acting, you lose yourself in it. Doesn’t matter what a guy does, if you’re too focused on the acting of it, the theatrics, you can’t get out of your head long enough to enjoy the process.

Because of that, I shifted my focus, sacrificing my own desires for a quick cum and drop.

Alex roared and lunged for me.

Annoyed and tired, I stepped to one side, my focus now on my gun. I needed to screw the silencer on. Can’t have the whole world knowing that I’m a killer.

He stumbled forward and spun around, such rage in his pinched face, it had turned bright red. “I’m going to fucking kill you.”

I nodded, tightening the silencer down. “Good to know.” I held up the gun, pointing it right between his eyes.

His red face paled.

“Tell Satan he should start paying me for all the people he’s gotten out of this deal,” I said before pulling the trigger.

His body stiffened, the back of his head exploding outward, the blood splattering across the already stained and puke-covered alley. The light in his eyes disappeared between one second and the next before his knees gave out and he fell to the ground in a heap, the blood spreading slowly around him.

I unscrewed the silencer and shoved it and the gun away before pulling out my phone. It rang once before Jade answered. “Done?”

“Not much of a mess.”

“Be there in a few.”

I nodded and turned towards the mouth of the alley. “Go…” But my words trailed off when my eyes locked on a familiar pair of amber ones.

I straightened.

It wasn’t often I was taken off-guard, but when I was, I fucking hated it.

“God fucking dammit,” I muttered.

“What?”

“Just do your job,” I snapped and hung up.

Rae was swaying on her feet, her wide eyes on the body behind me. She was so far gone, I doubted she would remember any of this, even so, the rules remained.

Anyone who witnessed the crime had to disappear too. Good thing she was already my target.

I lifted my chin, studying her carefully, wondering what she would do in this inebriated state.

“Rae!”

Without thought, I stepped into the shadows, melting into them, watching her unblinkingly.

She looked towards her friend, who hadn’t stepped into the mouth of the alley yet.

“Come on, cab’s here,” Viv called, slurring her words.

Rae swayed on her feet a little more, and I half wondered if she would collapse. She glanced back towards the alley, searching, her siren eyes glassy, before turning back to her friend and stumbling away.

I watched the street until I saw the yellow cab pull away.

A few seconds passed before I shoved away from the wall. Well, guess you’ve got two death sentences on you now, don’t you, Princess?

Lucky for me, I suppose, just another incentive to keep studying her.

I wasn’t sure how long I would do it, hunt her. Not too long, but I wasn’t ready to stop yet. The way she came into my life was intriguing, a mystery worth solving.