three

Chapter 3

'How am I still alive?' Mika wondered.

That question was her only focus. 

'I was supposed to be dead by now. I didn't plan for this. I have no idea what to do past this point.'

Kai turned on the porch lights and entered the apartment building, kicking the front door open with a hefty thud. Lights flickered in the hallway as they climbed the stairs and led her into the most unlikely room.

Numerous display cases boasted relics of the old world in conditions she had up to then only dreamed were possible.

They had everything. 

Mika's eyes scanned the relics, trying to identify them. 

"You have a music player?" she cried, falling to her knees. "What sort of music do you have?"

Kai cocked his head to the side before raising an eyebrow and shrugging. "All types. What do you like?"

A shadow fell over Mika, and she looked up to him looming over her. 

'He's figured me out,' she thought. 'He's going to kill me now.'

He smiled. "You don't have to look so scared."

"I feel like I should be," Mika admitted.

"Oh, because of the arm thing?" he asked. "That was nothing. Milo has healing powers so he will sort it all out at some point. When he can be bothered."

That wasn't the reason why she was scared, but she decided to go with it.

"Milo?" she asked.

"My friend," He nodded. 

"That kid is your friend?" she asked.

"That ain't no kid," Kai said, smirking. "He just looks young. Trust me."

Something in his face scared Mika, though she had no idea what he meant by his words. Whatever he knew about that boy had to be disturbing. 

"Want a drink?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," she said as he moved into the kitchen. 

"You sure are," he muttered under his breath, just loud enough for her to make it out. 

'Was I supposed to hear that?' she wondered but ultimately decided to pretend she hadn't when he returned holding a beer. 

"So what's your story?" he asked.

"I don't know," Mika replied. She felt stupid for saying it but it was the truth.

Kai squinted down at her. "You don't know? You must know why you came here to find me?"

'What do I say?' Mika panicked, wide-eyed as a doe. 

"I'm... I'm here because I wanted to meet you," she said, trying to say whatever he wanted to hear.

His eyebrows furrowed.

"Repeat that," he demanded. 

That was the point at which Mika's blood started to run cold.

Her mouth was too dry to form the words for a second time.

"Do as you're told," he prompted, stepping closer to her. His face was so close to hers. Forcing her. Making her small.

Mika felt herself shrinking as he approached, trying in vain to pull away from his eyes. 

"Erm, well, I wanted to meet you, Erm," she stammered. "I heard so much about you and I wanted to see if it was all true."

He cocked his head to the side. 

Then he slammed her face into the wall.

Her eyes watered and filled with blood. She sat forward, accelerating at a speed she'd never felt before. Then the polished wood flooring tiles rose to meet her face, nose first. 

Blood dripped down her chest as he pulled her head up by the hair. 

"Please..." she managed to mutter.

"Please?" he asked. "Please what? You come here and lie to my face? What did you expect me to do?"

"I'm sorry," was all she could think to say. "I'm sorry. Please don't kill me."

"Why would I kill you?!" he cried. "Who the hell are you?"

Mika sat there in a pool of blood, too disorientated to run, but her eyes must have flitted to the exit.

"It won't do any good to run. You heard how fast I am, right?" he warned as he circled the room. "You are out of options, really. You can run and die. You can explain yourself and die or you can try to fight... and die."

He grinned as he said that last part as though hoping she would try to fight. As if the blood lust took hold of his senses and made him itch to tear her limb from limb.

"I'll prove it," Mika cried, her mind operating purely on autopilot at that point.

"How?" he asked. The tension melted from his form as he awaited her proposal.

"Sleep with me," she offered. "That's what I came for. I'll prove it. You'll see I'm not lying."

His eyes narrowed as if considering it, eyes measuring up her scantly clad body.

After a second he nodded. 

"What do I really have to lose in that situation?" he mused, a sly grin stretching across his lips. "But you aren't going to enjoy it."

Mika's face fell, eyes widened.

'That worked?'

Then she felt his hands in her hair.

He shoved her head back into the wooden floor, into the sticky blood, and yanked off her leather clothing in one firm pull. The leather snapped against her skin, leaving cut marks and spilling more blood.

'I must try not to lose all my blood,' was her only concern as Kai pressed harder on her skull.

Then, 'Doesn't matter if I lose my blood if my skull is caved in.'

"Please... please stop..." she mumbled through pursed lips.

Then heard laughter. 

"I told you you weren't going to enjoy it," he taunted.

'I will,' Mika thought.

"Please fuck me," she begged, arching her back further than humanly possible.

"You really want it, don't you?" he asked, almost confused. "You know it will kill you, right?"

Mika was fully prepared to beg for it, regardless of the consequences, to tell him that it would be worth it, when she heard a blood-curdling shriek.

"What on Earth are you doing?" the robed newcomer asked, sashaying over in disgust.

Mika assumed he was referring to the extremely violent scene before him.

'But boy was I wrong,' she figured out as he began to cry over the blood stains on his freshly polished floor.

"You should really lay down a plastic tarp for these kinds of activities," he commented with a tut, a head shake and a frown. "I even bought you a tarp, remember? You said it was too small."

"Sorry, Vrethie," Kai said. He didn't sound particularly sorry to Mika.

"So what's your story?" Vrethie asked her, acknowledging her presence for the first time.

"She doesn't know," Kai answered for her. "All I know for sure is that she's lying."

"Hmm." Vrethie rubbed his chin. "Well you squished her skull and she's still alive so I can only assume she's a PAVE assassin."

"I'm not an assassin!" Mika cried. "I don't even have a day's training. I'm an office worker. Admin."

"Then why aren't you dead?" Vrethie asked, his face suddenly very close to hers. She stared into those cold blue eyes and lost her train of thought. Even as she tried to backtrack, it was as if the memories were ripped away from her.

'He's trying to read my mind!'

"Please stop!" she cried. "I have a failsafe. You'll wipe my memory completely."

"I can't get a read," he muttered. "That's... certainly odd."

After a second of musing, he turned to Kai.

"If she needs a failsafe like that... we have to kill her now. She's a sleeper agent."