Page 6 of Rising from the Ashes

He’s going to burn me alive.

“Silas, please,” I choke out.

Walking towards the door, he flicks the cigarette to the ground and the room erupts in flames.

“No hard feelings, Cal,” he says, as he shuts the door.

Smoke starts to fill the room and my lungs, my chest tightens as I feel the suffocating sensation take over my body. The flames begin to crawl closer, and the heat begins to singe my skin.

Losing my fight, my eyelids become heavy as I choke out screams for someone to help me.

Before my eyes completely close, a shadow forms in front of me and I feel my weak body being picked up.

“I’ve got you.”

***

After hearing from the medical team that Zayn is stable after surgery, I decide to retreat to the one place I can breathe: my safe haven that the Silent Guardians designated for me to use, even after I was released from training. It's a small underground bunker, disguised as a small one bedroom house with an entrance in the backyard. It houses my weapons and my small training facility that I had set up before I was technically forced to join The Society. It is equipped with a few computers connected to my father’s satellite so I have eyes on his home at all times.

Sparks fly as the carbon fiber tip arrow grinds against the diamond sharpening wheel. The screeching sound of the metal grinding against the wheel fills the room. Feeling unnerved by how my plan miserably failed at the arena, I resolve to go back to my old ways. Hunting my prey at night.

I earned the name the Huntress through these streets. Even though they believe she is dead, I plan on avenging her death. This time, taking on a new identity.

The Phoenix.

Instead of dying in the fire that night, I became it. Rising from its ashes, I became fueled with conviction. I will no longer let them burn me.

For the last several months, I have been offing the men my father works with slowly and deliberately. In my attempt for revenge, I’ve been working to weaken his organization and screw up his plans to take over more shares of the docks of Edinburgh for his disgusting new business venture. One that, after I had found out about it, he tried having me killed because I voiced my disagreement. My father had never trafficked women before, until he realized the money involved. Usually, he stuck to stocking the streets of Edinburgh with illicit drugs and weaponry.

He chose money over his own daughter.

Placing the ten freshly sharpened arrows in my black leather quiver, I pull on my black pants, along with my black crop top and leather jacket. I lace up my boots and turn my gaze to the mask lying on the small cot in the corner. Walking over to the edge of the room, I pick it up.

Flipping the plastic mask in my hands, I let out a sigh as I don my new identity.

Looking at the clock, I notice it is 19:30. The sun has already begun to set and my father’s meeting will be in session soon.

Perfect timing.

Slipping on the mask and pulling the hoodie over my hair, I strap my quiver to my back. Grabbing the freshly heated syringe from the hot plate off my desk, I climb the steps out of the bunker to where my bike is parked, leaning against the lone tree in the backyard.

I have thirty minutes to use this mixture of formaldehyde and flexible crystalized polymer that I concocted before it hardens and becomes useless. The arrows will be for any of my father’s men who get in my way, but the syringe is designated for Silas.

I need to see him suffer. To cause him the same pain that he caused me the night I realized my fiancée was working with my father. He set the room on fire that night. He left me for dead after he let his men have their way with me. Helpless and defenseless, shackled in cuffs on that hard concrete floor. My back still holds the scars from the rocks digging into my skin as I was rendered helpless against their assaults.

I shudder at the thought. Remembering the feel of their grungy skin against mine, as I looked away with tears in my eyes. Silas watching over proudly, as if he had won. Greed took the man I loved and turned him into a monster.

That night was my crucible - it changed me. Part of me died in the fire, part of me survived and became stronger, yet there’s another part of me who lives for the pain. Living in the hurt, embracing my darkness - and using it as fuel for my revenge.

As I approach the outer gates of my father’s new estate, my anger takes hold and reminds me of the person I have become. I have grown from that naive little girl stuck under her father’s thumb and tricked by the man she entrusted her heart to.

That girl was a pushover who has turned into a ruthless killer, who will never let love cloud her judgment again.

I cut the ignition to my bike and park it behind two large bushes, observing the scene before me.

On schedule, Silas is driving through the gates and pulling up the stone driveway to my father's new home. Two men are on guard at the gates, in black suits armed with semi automatic rifles. Faces I remember from that night. Pulling an arrow from my quiver, anger begins to roil through my stomach as I grab my bow and lace an arrow through the drawstring.

Focus, Cal.

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