Page 5 of The Pretty Savage

Anger.

Hate.

Love.

Pain.

It didn't matter what they were, when every single one of them could kill me if I wasn't careful enough.

Looking back at my time at The Schatten Estate and everything that happened, I saw that I was a perfect specimen for them. A perfect example of how your upbringing could turn you into a machine that would only ever do someone else’s bidding. My mother’s death only made it easier for them.

Elvira Bektic died on August 15th, just a year after I came to The Schatten Estate, and I was glad she had no idea where I lived by that point. I could barely recognize her, but with my handler at the time, standing in the corner of that room as I said goodbye to the only person that ever loved me, I couldn’t show any emotions. I couldn’t tell her how sorry I was, and I knew from that moment it would be something that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I walked into the oval-shaped room where all our meetings were usually held, my eyes landing on a massive picture hanging above the fireplace that was never used, and unlike before, I let myself really stare at the visual in front of me. My steps slowed as I walked toward the massive photo framed with golden antique metal, my fingers dragging over the top of the fireplace, halfway expecting to see the dust collected on my fingertips, but of course, there was none. Alena made sure this place was spotless, no matter what. The pretenses we kept up with were what bothered me more than they should.

Saints had long excused themselves from these rooms, and the fact that the photo above was taken during Christmas had never failed to amuse me. More than fifty people stood in that picture, some smiling and some frowning, wearing our best festive clothes, but it was the eyes of every single person that pulled my attention every single time.

Empty stares and fake smiles, but you could only see it if you looked beyond the imitation of happiness we were all trying to portray.

"I always find you in front of this picture every time you come here," came a voice behind me, making me turn around, and effectively pulling my attention away from the photo. Alena stood at the threshold, leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed over her chest and her dark auburn hair tied into a low bun—just like always. Her face held no expression, her eyes as cold as the day she arrived at the command center, but her lips turned up into a small smile and I realized that it had been months since we'd last seen each other. "You look good, Vega."

"Do I?" I asked, walking toward her. Her tiny frame was wrapped in black pants that hugged her hips with a dark red sweater tucked inside them. Looking at her you would never expect Alena to be anywhere near lethal, but I guess that was why both of us were so good at what we did. We didn't look like we could do much, and just when you least expected it, we would strike. "I feel like shit, to be quite honest," I murmured, stopping right in front of her.

My eyes scanned the length of her—the lines of her face, the tautness in her shoulders, and the black boots that mirrored my own, crossed one over the other.

"Why am I here, Alena?" I was never one to sugarcoat shit and I wasn't about to start now. She was hiding something, judging by the way her eyes dropped down, refusing to meet my stare, and she wasn't one to shy away from a challenge. So what was going on now? "Alena?"

"I'm trying to find the right way to tell you this, but I don't know how." Her head lifted up, her eyes meeting mine. "Mr. Heinrich is here, as you already know."

"Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be here."

"Right," she murmured, straightening her back. Her arms fell to her sides, she looked casual but we were trained to notice the smallest changes in behavior, and hers screamed of someone that was feeling extremely uncomfortable. "I know this was supposed to be your last mission and?—"

"Alena," I cut her off. "Get to the fucking point."

"He's here to?—"

"Ah," the voice I hated hearing since the first time I met him said. "My two favorite girls." Heinrich Schafer stood behind Alena, wearing that smile we all hated so much. The one filled with filthiness and empty promises. The one he carried when he came into that room in the first orphanage I was in, pretending to be one of the good guys, followed by the psychologist that sold me to him.

I had no idea who he was at the time, and I wished I had. I wished someone would have warned me to keep my mouth shut, because maybe then I wouldn’t have ended up here.

I used to think he was my father, my savior, because I was too young to recognize the wolf wearing sheep's clothing.

"Master." Alena nodded at him, turning her entire body to face the monster, because one thing we had learned was to never turn your back to your enemy, and Master or not, Heinrich Schafer was our enemy.

"Heinrich," I murmured, refusing to call him by his self-imposed title—Master. Only men with egos as big as his would demand to be called Master, as if he could control all of us. It gave him the power, a sense of importance, when it was obvious that he was just a little man trying to make himself big. "It is nice to see you." I was lying through my teeth, and we all knew it.

His eyes narrowed on me, dragging slowly over the black combat gear I wore and over my long leather coat, finally coming back to my face. He hated the fact that I wanted an out, that I wanted to stop doing this, and since I brought it up a couple of months ago, our relationship had been strained, to say the least.

When I first brought it up, he laughed thinking I was joking, but he played along once he realized that I was deadly serious about my plan. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but working for him wasn't what I had envisioned for myself, that much I knew. The only catch was that I knew he wouldn't let me go so easily, even though he promised I would have only a couple more missions to complete to pay off my debt. As if I had anything to pay off.

They didn't send me to school with the other kids, and while they provided me with a room, clothes, and food, none of it was mine and none of the items I had received over the years had my name on them. It was just a camouflage, arranged to lull me into a false sense of security. I was a liability, I knew too much, and I was well aware of the fact that the only way to leave The Schatten was in a body bag. But I would get myself rid of all these people that wanted to control me even if it was the last thing I did.

"You called for me," I spoke first after a minute of silence passed, all three of us assessing one another, bracing for the inevitable. Heinrich saw us as less than humans. As animals trained to fight, to serve him and his fucking organization, but he never thought about the fact that somewhere along the way, he created weapons that were capable of thinking on their own, and his hold on us was slowly slipping. His control was slowly waning.

And that was exactly where the problem was. Because he saw now that his power over us was almost nonexistent. Because he knew we wouldn't follow his orders blindly, he would resort to things I probably wouldn't like.

"Ja," he answered, staying in the same spot. "I have something very important for you."

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