Chapter One

As soon as I exited the interstate to Moreland Avenue North, my heart dropped into my stomach. I wasn’t shocked or scared of the familiar environment I grew up in, but I was nervous. Beyond nervous if it was even possible.
It had been six months since I’ve been in Atlanta. I admit. I ran away. I ran away to a safe place, to the house of a woman I’ve known since I was fifteen. I ran to a woman that was like a second mom to me. Things were just getting too much for me to take. The anniversary of my father’s death was coming up in a couple of days. I was seriously injured on the job. On top of that, me and the boyfriend, Marcus, broke up. I was bound for a mental breakdown. After having a huge freak out on Marcus where I cussed his name and lost my voice, I packed my bags and left.
One day was all I had to accomplish the tasks I needed before I ran. There was a trip to the lawyer that held control of my inheritance; he handed over the keys to my father’s house in the city. Since the lawyer was a family friend, he used his connections to get the probate mess taken care of in just a few hours instead of months or longer.
After the lawyer, I called my best friend Fey. I asked her to move in with me and get rid of her crappy apartment; she was excited for a new place and that I also gave her permission to redecorate it however she wanted. I’d spent a total of thirty minutes in the unfamiliar house and knew we would like the bachelor pad just fine. Fey’s excitement didn’t last long though when I told her I’d be leaving for a few months and I wasn’t sure when I’d be back.
There wasn’t much time to explain to her that I needed out of this place. Marcus was leaving anyway for Los Angeles to do whatever he felt like doing since he was newly single and he no longer needed me around. I was no longer needed except at work. But my boss would have to do without. He had plenty of other contracted executioners; he didn’t need me or even care most of the time. I was there to take out the hits on people considered too dangerous to live, even if they were my own kind, or even his.
“Well, here we are Thor.” I told the huffing pit-bull sitting in the passenger seat of my father’s old 1970 Chevelle.
I looked up at the brick house wanting to go inside but my body wouldn’t let me. Getting out meant I was back in the surroundings I recently fled. Getting out of the car meant facing problems I wasn’t sure I could handle. It meant I was facing life, and I didn’t know if I was ready for that.
“Might as well dive in head first. “ I said to Thor after a few minutes. Giving me an excited bark was his only reply. But in his mind it was more like, “Get the hell out of the car, bitch.”
Thor nearly ran me over when I opened my door. He couldn’t wait until I was out of the car before he ran across my lap. His paws hit the pavement and he was off, running from one side of the yard to the next. It wasn’t a big front yard but to him it was a field after spending an hour listening to me scream at idiots on the interstate.
Thor ran around for a few minutes so he could get some energy out of his system. I’d let him out in the backyard when I got into the house but it didn’t matter to him. He was enjoying the dirt and grass under his paws, and the pike of leaves I assumed Fey had racked.
As I looked around the neighborhood, nothing had changed. Well some things had changed. Flowers were no longer in bloom, leaves had turned gold or brown, and the house next door no longer had a “For Sale” sign out front but there was no evidence that someone lived there. “It looks like we have new neighbors Thor.” I muttered to myself as I watched him launch his ninety pound body into a mountain pile of leaves. He was so cute when he wanted to be. He popped his head out of the leaves to show me the full length of his slobbery tongue, globs of saliva and all.
I pulled my bags from the trunk and headed into the house. Things were silent, and redecorated like I knew it would be. Most of the furniture left in the house was my father’s, but now it had a woman’s touch. This townhome used to contain only four colors: wood, black, silver, and white. Now hints of colors were thrown everywhere and I hadn’t even seen the upstairs.
“Fey.” I yelled only to have no reply. Then I noticed the letter on the counter next to her Beta fish, surprising it was still alive. Fey and fish didn’t mix well. She’d killed most while of her past fish just by changing the water.
“I’ll be home in a little bit. I had to run a few errands.” The note read.
Up the steps I went to my bedroom; the master bedroom facing the front of the house. I expected the room to contain my storage boxes I’d placed here right before I left, but there weren’t any. Everything was unpacked and decorated and I didn’t hate it.
Thor found his doggy bed in front of the floor to ceiling windows. He didn’t care that the blinds were down; he pushed them up with his nose and out of the way. He enjoyed being able to stare out at the street and people watch, or bark at them.
I unpacked my gym bag after locating a wicker laundry basket in the bathroom. While I was gone, I only carried two pairs of shoes with me; my tennis shoes and flip-flops, so they went on the floor. Most of my clothes were clean except for my workout clothes. I’d hit a gym this morning before heading here and they needed a nice tumble in the washer and dryer. I didn’t want to prolong my stay while waiting for clothes to dry, that would have made another excuse not to come back to Atlanta.
All I really wanted to do was sleep for days, as if the ride back to Atlanta had exhausted me so bad I was jetlagged. There was no point though; it would be harder to fall asleep later after my job.
Once again I was heading down the steps to the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of water and took my laptop into my living room. As I took a drink, I admired Fey’s decorating skills. I tried to decorate a little but Fey had an eye for color. Flowers and plants were placed everywhere, since she was a witch and I grew up with Lycanthorpes, those had to be a staple in almost every room.
My laptop sang its suttle startup music and I typed in my password. Instantly my toolbar flickered with a message. I clicked the little flag to open up my work email. The message was from Metallic Enterprises, a professional executioner company, owned by the government.
The message opened up with a video inside. As the video message spoke, it listed the words on the bottom of the screen. “Victoria, I’m glad you’re back in Atlanta.” The rough, English voice was the branches owner, Kenneth Devlin. “I was told you would be accepting your first mission back tonight so I thought I would give you the information myself. His name is Doyle, a goyle that has been on the run for about three months. He is the main suspect in over five murdered women’s open cases. We have proof that he has murdered countless women between Georgia and Mississippi. Doyle’s file is included as an attachment in this message. You have until midnight to execute Doyle and report his time of death to the company for transportation. Hope to see you soon, Little One. You have been missed.”
Kenneth personally handing me out reports wasn’t uncommon since he liked to keep contact with all his professionals; he only had about five in his branch. But this report was different, he wanted to tell me that even though I had left the business to become an independent executioner, he wouldn’t let me go. Sometimes he could be so easy to read, or I was getting mixed signals.
“Hey bitch.” Fey said, walking in the door. She sat down a green eco-bag on the island in the kitchen and headed towards me.
I got up, walked around the sofa, and grabbed her for a giant hug. “The house looks amazing and I haven’t even seen all of it yet.”
This five foot two pixie-looking witch, as in an actual witch, with natural bright pink eyes and hair was my best friend since high school. Like the cliché goes, she has been the only person to completely understand me. We’ve been connected with glue since the beginning, she’s more of a sister then a best friend.
“Your energy is telling me you’re nervous.” She said releasing me from the hug but kept a smile on her lips.
“I can’t keep anything from you, can I?” I shrugged it off the best I could.
Fey tilted her head to the left, giving me an unsatisfied look. “Why are you nervous?”
Looking to the floor then up at her, I never could keep a secret, at least not long. “I accepted a job tonight.” I let out a large sign acting like I’d lifted a huge weight but it was only to be dramatic.
“Why did you accept one so soon? You haven’t been here a full day yet.” Fey fallowed me back to the sofa. “I haven’t even seen you for five minutes.”
“I need to get it out of way and just deal with it.” I downloaded the attachment from the email to show my target’s information.
“I see you didn’t work on your avoidance issues while you were at my mothers.” She looked at me. “You never could walk away from something, no matter the outcome.”
“Walking away means failure.” I readjusted how I was sitting to face her. “Oh and on another note, all your mother wanted me to do was wake up at the crack of dawn, spend an hour doing yoga, which I believe is a complete loud of crock since I have no interest in it. But, she did help me control my inner demon, Scarlett, because man that bitch was getting on my damn nerves.”
“Yeah well, my mom doesn’t understand that our form of yoga is dancing like strippers in the privacy of our own home.” She stated, hinting at our loves for pole dancing.
“I plan to dance later. I need to get my gear together for tonight.” I told her while closing my laptop. “What are you doing tonight?”
“Since I have the night off, I plan to get some painting done.” She said walking to the kitchen and starting to unpack her eco-bag. Fey pulled out a new pack of paint brushes, waving them at me. “My other ones are starting to shed their bristles.”
I smiled at her and let her be so she could come up with another master piece to possibly be added to our walls like the rest of the pictures in the house.
Fey and I are similar in almost every way, but one thing we differed from was that she’s the peaceful witch that can heal; I’m the angry demon that kills for money.