Page 4 of Rising from the Ashes

No. You may not be fucking me tonight, old man, but you’re damn sure not dying on me.

Zayn opens his mouth, his breaths ragged, like he is struggling to say something. Leaning forward, I focus on what he is trying to say.

“What is it, suga?” Pressing my small hands into his stomach and shoulder, where I found the bullet holes, I attempt to slow the bleeding and fail miserably as it seeps through my fingers.

He chokes out, “Tell them…” Confusion rolls through my mind.

Tell who? What?

He closes his eyes, and I shake him awake, urging him to finish his words.

“I’m sorry.”

Sitting back on my heels, my body is trembling when I hear footsteps approaching.

“We will take him from here.” A group of men that I recognize as our Edinburgh’s sector of medical staff are now standing behind me, hovering over Zayn. I sit back and nod mindlessly, looking at the bloodied man before me. Silently praying to any deity or higher power that I didn’t inadvertently get him killed.

Out of my periphery, I catch Everly and one of the petite new recruits with bright magenta colored hair standing in the corner. Both of their eyes wide at the sight of him.

Quickly leaving the arena, I head straight for the place that will give me solace.

***

Cutting the ignition off, I pull the helmet off my head. The wind blows through my burgundy hair, causing it to whip around my face. Kicking the stand in place, I look across the cemetery before me. It’s eerily quiet despite the small crowd of people walking away. A light gray cloud of fog mists over the grass, like something out of a horror movie. Graveyards have always irked me, but I wanted to see the faces of the men who almost took everything from me.

When I received word that my father and my former fiancée visit my grave on the same day every month to replace the old flowers, I was intrigued. Considering the circumstances surrounding my death, I am amused that they want to keep up the facade as though they weren’t the ones behind my disappearance.

I decided to play into their game and had a bouquet of eleven Arabian night burgundy and black dahlia flowers sent to my father’s home, portraying a message signifying my resilience, and his betrayal.

As I watch them stand at my headstone feigning a show of grief, I see my cousin, Liliana, come into view. Silas lightly touches the small of her back and I can see her visibly shudder under his touch, and her eyes squeeze shut. Liliana and I were not only cousins growing up but best friends. We promised each other when we were older, we would break away from the tainted reputation of our families.

I failed her in that promise. I fell victim to my father’s conniving ways and carried out his vile orders, never once questioning him. To Edinburgh, I was just as much of a monster as he was. When the citizens thought I died, they celebrated.

Anger rolls through me as I remember what Silas did to me that night, knowing he is capable of doing it again.

Purposely making sure I stay hidden behind the tree, I cautiously watch them make their way across the wet grass to where they parked. Once the familiar set of faces has entered their cars, I swing my leg over and prop my helmet onto the handle bars before I make my way through the rows of graves, stopping at a lone headstone on a corner lot.

When I reach the headstone, a wave of emotions rolls through me. Relief that I have turned into someone who can no longer be preyed upon, but anger and hatred for the events that led up to this.

I’m dead.

Shaking my head, I squeeze my eyes shut.

No. I am reborn.

Opening my eyes, I stare at the white words etched in the black headstone. “Calista Silvestri - Loving daughter & fiancé.”

Looking around, I make sure I'm alone. I pull the mask out of my back pocket, carefully pulling it over my head, and inhale deeply. The sky is dreary with rain clouds rolling in, and the ground beneath my feet is lush and green except for the small rectangle of dirt that marks my grave; only tiny patches of grass have grown over it in the last few months.

It’s been a long, treacherous nine months, transforming my mind and body into a heartless machine. I sought out the most well equipped group to train me, so I could eventually have my revenge. To teach me how to turn that darkness and anger into something I could use, so that no one will ever hurt me again.

The old Calista was feeble and overly trusting, hiding behind her father’s gun. I took his orders without question, believing he had my best interests at heart. Until the night that I came between him and his plans.

They plotted against me, used my body for their own sick needs.

They wrecked me.

It took me realizing his betrayal for the blindfold to be lifted from my eyes.

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