Who Is the Real Monster? Part 2

Xavier stared at his apartment door for what felt like hours, he was kissing the most beautiful woman he had ever met and he also planned to kill her. When he looked into those beautiful eyes of hers and saw how vulnerable she was, he couldn’t do it. The way she was willing to attend to his wounds without a second thought also influenced his decision. She was so soft in his hands, and when he kissed her, he was ready to let her in. He asked her to stay with him for the night and Cassie ran out of his apartment. Did he say this from a place of lust? Yes, and now he was choking on the foot that was in his mouth.

Ever since his last girlfriend died in a drive-by shooting, he vowed to never let anyone else in. There were other women afterward but those were just casual flings. He felt safe with Cassie even though she was originally sent to kill him. He remembered her face contorting into something of anxiety.

Xavier thought of chasing after her, but that would probably scare her even more. That shock turned into rage at himself for being so stupid, for letting his dick lead him. Again. Now she will never want to see him, she will probably run off to hide from him and the organization now. He fell backward onto the couch in frustration, suddenly feeling the urge to sleep.

Xavier rose from his couch with a scream, he looked around to check where he was before calming down. He breathed a sigh when he realized that he was still in his apartment, he had the worst nightmare. Cassie was bleeding on the floor from a gunshot wound. It was that same scene from the other night but a far worse outcome. He was the one who shot her. He never felt so sick in his life, he barely knew this woman but he wanted to protect her from every evil bastard in the world. He needed to move on from her otherwise he would drive himself crazy. Over a stranger. A stranger who ran from him, all because he was horny and lonely.

He went to his room to find clean clothes, he needed to meet his crew later on and there was no point in keeping them waiting. He looked through his phone and found numerous texts and missed calls. By the tone of the texts, it looked like they were angry with him about the other night. He let out a labored sigh and shoved his phone back into his coat pocket. The weather outside was a bit of a chilly day and he kept himself closed off from the world.

He reached the building where the Black Bears would gather for a variety of reasons: Intel on any rivals, cops who busted their operations, updates on the neighborhood, and if any supplies needed to be replenished. It used to be a flour mill until it got abandoned and taken over by the Black Bears. It was a big red-brick building with more than a few floors that made great storage for the supplies and equipment. There were a couple of holes that needed to be filled but otherwise it was inconspicuous enough that not a lot of people would look there. Today, Xavier would most definitely have his head chewed off by his friends for “sleeping with the enemy.” Though the only “sleep” that happened was when he fell asleep after she ran out on him. He looked up to see the disappointed and angry faces of his gang members, he sighed preparing himself for the onslaught of questions.

“What the fuck, Xav,” The palest one shouted.

“Calm down, Rodney. Let me explain,” Xavier raised his hand.

“Explain? What is there to explain,” said red-haired Drew, currently furthest from the group. “You were dancing with an assassin last night! Do you have any idea what she was doing in our streets?!?”

Xavier rubbed the bridge of his nose; he was already feeling overwhelmed and it was just two guys so far with their complaints.

“Were you that desperate that you would fuck someone who would kill you?!?” Bridget, the girlfriend of one of the members, cried out.

“Look, nothing happened,” Xavier countered.

“Nothing happened?!? You shot and killed an assassin,” Rodney blared out. The rest of the group soon followed Rodney with their own protests of Xavier’s poor decision.

“Enough!” Xavier fired back in a tone that would terrify a lion.

The group went silent, looking uncomfortable with Xavier’s sudden burst of anger. Xavier looked at each of the faces before continuing. “I knew that she was an assassin but I had a plan of trapping her and killing her. But…. this one was different from the others.”

“How the hell was she different? She’s an assassin! They will use any means to kill us,” Charlie, a short, dark-haired man, protested.

“She is a clumsy thing, almost too clumsy,” Xavier explained

“So why the hell did they send her if she was so incompetent,” Bridget asked.

Xavier paused to think about that question, it seemed really odd that an organization like this would send someone like Cassie to take out a gang leader. It didn’t make any sense.

“The only explanation that I can come up with is that they wanted to get rid of her.” Xavier said slowly, almost making sure that each member understood him. “She probably knows something we all don’t, or else did something that pissed them off. Now she is most definitely on the run.”

“On the run? Holy shit,” Rodney muttered.

“I really don’t know what to do with her. She ran away from me, I don’t know where she lives or even if she is still at her place anymore,” Xavier said, trepidation creeping into his face.

“Screw her. She ain’t our problem anymore.” Sasha, a tall, blonde woman said, lighting a cigarette.

“Actually, she is our problem.” Xavier corrected.

Sasha scowled through the cigarette smoke and blew it into the air like all the anger she kept inside. “Look, we don’t know what your deal is with her. I couldn’t give a shit what happened to her.”

“If anything happens to her, this could fall on all of our heads. The assassins already work with the police as it is, of course, they don’t think we know this. They will use this as leverage to annihilate our asses; even though they were trying to get rid of her like a sickly dog.” The thought of anyone treating Cassie like this filled him with an unexplained anger. He needed to find her and fast.

“Hey everyone, sorry I am late. I needed to load up all of my equipment.” A tall, lanky man said as he sauntered over to the group.

“Marcus,” Xavier acknowledged.

“So, how are those trackers working for you?” Marcus asked the crowd

“Trackers? No one told me anything about trackers,” Xavier said sternly, wondering why this was kept from him.

Marcus shrunk himself when he realized what had happened, “Well, you see, I was asked by the team to build trackers to keep tabs on all the assassins. They kept coming at us from every angle and we all thought that we could go ahead and show you the results afterward. Sasha told me that you would approve of it.”

Xavier could not blame him; he was sort of the casual computer guy of the gang and was not totally aware of the dynamics. He did vow to keep his mouth shut regarding activities and in exchange, he would help build equipment for their operations.

“Why? I never approved this.” He turned to Sasha with a scowl. He will deal with her insolence later. “Okay, so which assassin did you put these “trackers” on?”

“Not many, a few I have managed to attach a tracker too including this really clumsy girl who didn’t seem excellent at anything.”

“What did she look like?” Xavier said suddenly.

“Long black wavy hair, I do remember her having pretty eyes-”

“Cassie,”

“That’s her name? A little bland,” Marcus said cautiously. “Also, why do you ask?”

“Because he got into a bit of an…entanglement with her last night,” Sasha said with a hint of venom.

“Shut your damn mouth, Sasha,” Bridget shouted.

“What’s going on,” Marcus asked, now perplexed by all the sudden anger.

Xavier sighed, “I met this assassin last night at the club, she looked a little distressed and so I helped her and took her to the café down the street.”

“Why did you take her to the café?”

“Look, I thought at first I could get her if I got her to lower her defenses, okay?”

“Oooooh,” Marcus said, realizing where Xavier was going with the story.

“I got her to dance with me and then there was another assassin at this café, Cassie claimed she had never seen her before but I was still suspicious and when she went to get us, I killed her.”

“In the middle of the café?!?!,”

“Yes, I got shot but not too bad, I took her to my apartment and she bandaged me up. I was going to kill her right there but…I couldn’t do it. She was willing to help me even if I was an asshole to her.”

“So, let me get this straight: You helped an assassin, which by the way is someone who was sent to kill you, and now you are worried about her……why?”

“Because I believe that the assassins wanted her dead. The fact that they sent her on a suicide mission…but that other assassin doesn’t make any sense.”

“No shit, it doesn’t.”

“Would you still have her coordinates?”

“Yeah, I believe so. Just let me get everything set up. The program should have all the info,” Marcus said, hurrying to his corner of the building, booting up his computer.

“Okay, as soon as we have all of that. We need to find her. Rodney, have the car ready if we ever do get anything.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Bridget, Drew, help Charlie in getting the weapons set up.”

“Alright, Xav, “ Bridget said with an eye roll.

“The rest of you, keep your eyes out for any assassins who might try to look for us.”

A chorus of affirmatives followed the order and the group all spread out to their respective areas of specialty. Xavier felt a sense of pride with his group; however, he couldn't help but feel that something was amiss. Like a dark shadow that he could not see, he was good at reading people but still…there was something about this whole thing that bothered him.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A tiny piece of metal lay broken on the floor of my apartment as I rushed to pack my essentials and clothing for what would definitely be a long trip. I found a tracker in one of the bags when I went about the room rushing to grab everything. I have no idea who put it there but it definitely wasn’t good and without my knowledge. I never want to be found by anyone, not the assassins, not the gang, not even Xavier.

I already contacted my auntie Jen who would gladly let me stay until I changed my whole identity and found my own place. I will admit that Xavier was a good kisser and at least seemed like an interesting man but I was still confused by his actions. The sound of a car horn roused me out of my thoughts. There was no time to go over last night’s events, I needed to leave. Now. I zipped up the last of her bags and bolted out of my apartment. My aunt was waiting for her in a grass-green mustang, she was honking her horn the entire time in an attempt to rush me out the door. I jumped into the passenger seat with her aunt speeding away before she could get a seat belt on. The buildings that decorated the city moved past us like clouds. While I enjoyed some of the more convenient aspects of the city, all of the danger was not worth it in the end.

“Cassie, why did you want to leave the city so quickly,” Auntie Jen spoke gently. “Everyone at that organization was so nice.”

“Auntie Jen, it’s a bit difficult to explain.”

“Cas, I have seen some things in that organization after working there for over 50 years. What would be so difficult to explain?”

I finally gathered up every ounce of nerve I could find, “I…kissed a gang leader.”

“YOU DID WHAT?!?! For god’s sake!”

“Auntie Jen!”

“Are you this naive?!? He could’ve killed you!”

“He’s not like that at all!”

“Oh, and you know this after one kiss,” Auntie Jen said sarcastically.

“No…there was other stuff that happened-”

“Oh my god, Cassie!”

“No no no! Nothing like that happened!”

“Then what?! You better explain what happened!”

“The organization sent me to kill him but I couldn’t find him because there was too much at once. It was so loud in that club, I couldn’t breathe. He helped me get out of that club; He-he took me out dancing to a cafe after I nearly passed out. Then some other assassin tried to kill us, he saved me and then he took me to his apartment. He was hurt badly and so I bandaged him up. Why would that Assassin try to kill me, Auntie?”

“Why would they? Did you do something to set them off?”

“No, why would you say something like that?”

“Well, there would be no other reason to kill you, would there?”

“But that assassin wanted to kill us b-”

The sound of shattered glass interrupted our conversation. I quickly lowered myself below the window while Auntie Jen sped forward through the congested traffic, weaving in and out of any opening. When I peeked out the broken window, I saw one of my fellow assassins in the driver seat pointing their gun at me. I quickly ducked back down with the bullet barely missing me.

“Hang on!”

She drove down different streets and alleys, trying to find an exit. Auntie Jen swerved into an alley that looked too small for their pursuer. I turned back to see if the assassins would attempt to follow us and there was no sign of the attempt. I breathed a sigh of relief but knowing they would be waiting on the other side held me on edge. Auntie Jen increased the speed to beat them on the other side with the left side just scraping the front bumper before hanging a sharp right onto a busy street. Auntie Jen kept twisting and turning until she was confident that she lost them; she found the road that would take them out of the city and took a left. Tension was still in the air even if the pursuers were far away from us.

We kept driving until the city disappeared behind us and were replaced with patches for trees, waving in the breeze as we drove past them. The trees gave me a sense of calm, as well as the fields of grass that surrounded them. The environment reminded me of Xavier, how his green eyes entranced me and the way he looked at me. I shook my head to erase those thoughts of him, it only hurt my heart and I cannot not explain why to anyone, even myself. I look back at Auntie Jen and she has a stern look on her face, she had her eyes on the road and not really looking at me. I sank back into my seat, still fighting the image of Xavier I had in my head until I fell into a stress-induced sleep.

This nightmare had me pinned to the floor of the cafe with Xavier standing over her with the woman next to him. He had the most horrific smirk I had ever imagined and they were both laughing at me. The laughter was getting louder and louder with each second and I could not move from the floor, it was almost like I was glued to the tile. I looked to my right and saw that a puddle of blood was forming around me. I jolted suddenly in the car, looking around and realizing that we are only about an hour out of the city. I grumbled in frustration and leaned back into my seat.

The driveway of Auntie Jen’s cabin had never looked more welcoming and friendly with it’s cobblestone pavement, wooden exterior, and wide deck that looked out east toward the sunrise. There was a small pond where her fish swam happily during the spring and summer with a garden that surrounded the pond; there was also a rock path that connected to the pond from the deck so Auntie Jen could walk over to feed her fish. There was a field of grass and other wild plant life not too far away. I remembered those days where every summer was the most amazing adventure, me and the cousins would hide in the grass acting like different types of prey and predator animals. The predators would jump out of the grass and chase the prey up and down the field, left and right until we ran out of breath and collapsed in surrender.

“Cassie! For god’s sake, help me carry your bags!”

“Sorry, Aunt Jen.” I picked up the heaviest bag in her hand and lugged it up the foyer.

The cabin was even more stunning inside, it was also clean with everything organized in a way that would make sense to my auntie. Figurines on top of the fireplace and a giant portrait of my family hung above the fireplace; in that portrait was my mom, a mid-sized red-head with a heart shaped face and blue-eyes as deep as water. My father, a tall man with slicked-back dark hair with eyes to match. My 3 siblings who had a mixture of both of our parents stood proud and with smiles on our faces. I, on the other hand, had puffiness in my eyes like I had been crying before the picture.

I lost my best friend in a car accident that day. She was on her way home from a late shift the night before when she got hit by a drunk driver. I was considered a “freak” at my school and she was the only one brave enough to want to be my friend; I had never been so happy to have someone that I could put all of my trust into and we did everything together. That day shattered me forever and I could never let in another person again. I felt like I was cursed, after the accident everyone at my school thought so too.

I took my bags upstairs to the spare room and put them next to the bed. I will worry about unpacking them later.

“Cassie!”

“Yes, Auntie?”

“Someone is here to see you!”

“Who is it?”

“It’s an old family friend.”

“I’m coming, Auntie.”

I bound down the steps to find the two assassins from earlier meeting me with evil grins on their faces.

“Cassie! So lovely to meet you.” The gray-haired woman smirked, holding a gun to Auntie Jen’s head.

“Hopefully, for the last time.” The man next to her said with a gun pointed at me.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xavier was smoking outside of the warehouse, with the trackers that he was not aware of and Cassie vanishing left him nauseous. He abandoned the idea of having Cassie see him as anything more than a stray kiss but he did not want her blood on his hands. He flicked the cigarette butt onto the concrete and went inside the building.

Marcus was busying himself on his computer trying to narrow down where this Cassie chick could possibly have been last; Xavier walked up behind him and lightly touched his shoulder.

“Marcus, got anything?”

“Holy shit, man. Don’t sneak up on me,” Marcus exclaimed, flustered from the sudden intrusion.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Well, the last place where Cassie might’ve been was at a building at 54th Street until the signal died.”

“What time was that?”

“Sometime around 9:00 AM.”

“It’s 12:00 PM now, dammit. She would be long gone by the time we got to her building. She might’ve found and destroyed it.”

“Hey, we’ll find her.”

“How?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. But we will find her.”

“Boss,” A voice shouted behind them. Xavier quickly turned with a hand on his gun but relaxed when he saw that it was Drew running up to him.

“Holy shit, Drew! What is it,” Xavier said quickly.

“We caught an assassin! They might know where Cassie is!”

“Great work, Drew. Marc, keep working. We will take care of everything else. Try to see if other Assassins followed her trail.”

“Yes, boss.” Marcus said plainly, getting back to his work.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A light-haired man was strapped tightly to a chair, looking more agitated rather than scared of his imprisonment. The door swung open and Xavier entered along with Drew and Rodney. They did not want to resort to violence to get answers but they might have to if the situation asked for it. Xavier grabbed a chair from the far side of the room and dragged it in front of the blonde-haired man and sat down.

“Look, I don’t want to have to bloody-up my hands in order to get answers from you. So, just tell us what we want to know and we will let you go.”

“If it’s about that drug bust with your thugs and the Coyotes, we have been watching you scum for months now!”

The Coyotes were a neighboring gang but still a strong ally. Those “drugs” this man was talking about were important medications for the people in his neighborhood. They were for the elderly that needed something to treat their arthritis, the kids who were deathly ill and needed accessible drugs because their parents could not afford it. That medication was for everyone but these little turds had to disrupt that and to call all of that “contraband” left a sour taste in his mouth. Xavier tried to keep his temper down, while he did take pride in the fear that he brought to the assassins, he wanted the assassin to at least be able to speak sentences.

“Where. Is Cassie?”

“I have no idea who you are talking about.”

“Oh, you do. One of your own tried to kill both of us the other night.”

“Oh, that little spazzy whore?”

Xavier grimaced at the word, telling himself to keep it together.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh my god, she has you believing that she is some weak little creature that needs someone to save her every time? She sure got you good.”

“I am not screwing around so I suggest you cut that shit before someone gets hurt.”

“She might be dead. Who knows,” the man said casually.

Xavier rose from his seat and punched him hard enough that blood began to stream from his nose. “What the hell, man?!?”

“Talk or else you will lose the ability to breathe!”

The door behind them slammed open and Marcus ran in in a rush. “Boss! I think I found Cassie!”

Xavier quickly turned to face Marcus and when he turned, he saw Marcus’ face go white. He turned back to the hostage to find him out of his binds with a small handgun pointed directly at him.

“The others are outside this warehouse waiting for my orders. Now, if YOU cooperate. I might just help you find your girlfriend.”

Part 3 is here