177Chapter Two: Deadly Revenge
A loud blaring noise invaded Serena's mind as she slept causing her to jerk awake. Annoyed, she slammed her fist on the top of the little black clock, which immediately stopped its morning wake up call. Grumbling to herself, she rolled out of bed, literally, and fell on the floor, her legs still asleep and not yet functioning correctly.
"I hate the morning, I hate the morning, I hate the morning." She muttered to herself as she groggily pulled herself off her plush carpeted floor and slinked over to her walk in closet.
Quickly assessing the clean clothes she still had left, she pulled out a pair of black slacks and a navy button down shirt she shrugged on over a tight white blouse. Hastily she pulled her silvery blond hair into a messy bun, applied some make-up, grabbed her shoes and brief case and shot out the door.
Virginia weather was surprisingly warm this morning for being the beginning of November, the sun casting a few warm rays into the dewy city. Serena walked briskly to her silver viper parked outside and hopped in.
Driving through Southern Virginia had always been a perk of her job although she chose to live in the bustling area of Northern Fairfax, away from the agency. Milling around with everyday people made her feel almost normal, almost.
The leaves on the large oak trees were a blur of color as she sped past, enjoying the variety of greens, reds and yellows. Fall was definitely her favorite season, the air always smelled so fresh, especially away from the polluted, over crowded Fairfax.
Within an hour she arrived at a backcountry road and turned off, heading up the uneven, dirt road that always seemed to travel on for ages. Eventually she reached an older southern mansion and parked her car in the parking lot, extensively new compared to the house.
The mansion was beautiful on the outside; the front porch was made of white alabaster with four columns supporting the triangle-framed roof. Large glass windows covered all sides and the rest of the mansion was the same white alabaster. The mansion was surrounded by a glade of various trees and flowers, a small pavilion sitting just out front to the left. It was a beautiful sight, one Serena appreciated every time she came here. The inside, however, was another story.
It had been completely renovated, as soon as you entered the mansion, thoughts of southern belles and their lovers flew from your mind and jolted you back to the twenty first century. People bustled everywhere, carrying papers and different types of technology. Each room had been designed for a specific type of research. The rooms on the left of the manor, first floor, were technical offices; the basement was an experimental room for the creation of new gadgets and weapons. The right side of the mansion, first floor, was where the assassins had their offices, the second floor contained a huge library and database computer for research that could be accessed almost everywhere.
Serena walked to her office, giving a warm greeting to the different clerks she encountered on the way. She spotted her friend Mina leaning over a counter flirting with one of the new clerks and she shook her head and grinned.
"God Mina, its only seven in the morning and you're already on the prowl." She yelled across the room to her friend.
Mina looked around in surprise trying to locate Serena's voice before settling her gaze on her chuckling friend. Mina grinned sheepishly before turning back to her fresh meat. Serena just rolled her eyes.
'Honestly, why does she even bother with them?' she wondered to herself.
'It's not like Mina ever finishes anything she starts with them, they're just to amuse her sexual appetite.'
Serena never understood women like that. To her, that kind of thing was special, sacred. Sure, she used her womanly charms and sexuality to capture her prey before, but she never threw around her body with out good cause and never had she taken the biggest step, which she was waiting for someone, special.
"Not like I'd ever find that person." She scoffed to herself. "I mean, who would want to love someone like me, I kill in cold blood." Once name however drifted into her mind.
Shaking her thoughts away, she slipped quietly into her office and collapsed into her black leather chair and massaged her temples. Mornings were not on her list of favorite things. She'd love nothing else than to just sleep until at least eleven everyday, but alas, she was a working woman and needed to do something to get paid and that meant getting up at six every morning to be at work on time, barely.
Serena shuffled through some papers scattered on her desk and frowned when she couldn't find what she was looking for. Pulling open every drawer in her sleek wooden desk, she sifted through different folders searching for her one object, but not having any luck.
"Ugh, what did I do with that stupid list!" She yelled at herself aggravated.
"Looking for this?" a masculine voice cut through.
Serena looked up to see her boss standing in front of her, holding her list aloft in his hands.
"Yes, please give it back."
Her boss sighed and ran a hand through his tousled white hair.
"Serena, what is this?" he asked
Serena closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.
"It's my list.""Your list, your list..." He muttered to himself before looking straight into her aquamarine eyes. "Serena, I do not have time for your personal games. I just got a new assignment that you have been requested for and I can't have you lollygagging around town having your way."
"I am not lollygagging around town, Diamond." Serena sniffed
"Then tell me, where were you last night." Diamond demanded. "I needed you here to brief you while the consort was here, but you didn't show up. Where were you Serena?""I was finishing up some important business." She answered evenly.
"You wouldn't have anything to do with this by chance would you?" Diamond threw today's newspaper on the table and it slid to rest in front of Serena.
Serena didn't have to look at it to know what it was, but she did anyways. There on the front cover in black in white was a picture of Lord Brian Thriarfield.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She spoke steadily
"Gods Serena, you can't go around killing royalty! What were you even doing in London last night?" Diamond questioned in an exasperated manner.
"I wouldn't really call Lord Thriarfield royalty, he's basically at then end of the list for the crown, not like it matters having it anyways. Those royals in London have no power, they're just for show, a tourist attraction no less."
"They have a description on you. Some bartender said he quite vividly remembers a "goddess" strolling into the Platinum Club last night. Said he pointed Lord Thriarfield out to her specifically because he was just sitting at the bar and was considered to be a handsome fellow."
'Bartender?' Serena dug in her mind to remember an encounter with one. 'Ah yes, the man obsessed with James Bond.'
"That doesn't matter, they'll never find me and you know it. All records of my existence have been erased since I was ten years old; I'm just a fantasy to the world now, a whisper in the night, a word. No one knows who I am except everyone here and those that I kill." Serena replied indignantly.
"Why were you there. What in the world possessed you to travel all the way to London and back in one day to kill one insignificant man? What is this list?" Diamond inquired
"Because they need to pay, they need to know what its like to feel pain, to lose themselves to the mercy of someone else, someone they do not know." Serena replied in a cold, merciless tone.
FLASHBACK
Serena ran around her backyard playfully dodging the water sprinkling at her. At six years of age, Serena was the pride and joy of her parents. She was a bubbly child, with a harmonious laughter that drew everyone in.
Serena giggled in delight as the sprinkler caught her unaware, splashing her with refreshing drops of glistening water. Her bare feet splattered around in the wet grass now coated with a thin layer of mud as she pranced around. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a speck of black dash across the yard towards the bushes.
"Kitty!" she cried happily and darted towards the cranberry bushes on the side of her yard where the cat had fled too.
Falling on her hands and knees, Serena crouched in the mud and scooted under the bushes.
"Here Kitty, Kitty! I won't hurt you! I promise, I like kitties!" She tried to reason with the frightened animal.
Serena stretched out her thin arm towards the back of the bush were the cat was huddled against the fence and waited. Serena didn't move, didn't dare to breath in fear of scaring the cat away. A few breathless minutes later, the cat hesitantly moved from its huddled position and cautiously stretched its neck to sniff Serena's hand.
"There you go, I'm not going to bite I promise! Besides, you have sharper teeth then I do...and claws, I should be scared of you!" Serena giggled
The cat sniffed Serena's hand until it was comfortable with the scent and then began to come closer, leaving the shelter of the bushes. Serena gasped in delight when the cat began to run against her arm so she grabbed the cat out from under the bush and lifted it into her lap.
The cat was actually a tiny kitten about four weeks old with a thick, silky black coat that glinted with purple tints in the sunlight. Bright green eyes met aquamarine ones and both fell in love.
Serena stroked the kitten's soft fur and was rewarded with a soft rumbling purr from the kitten's throat. Serena smiled at the kitten and kissed the top of its head. As she pulled away, Serena noticed that there was a small white patch of fur on top of the cat's head that slightly reminded her of the moon.
"I'm going to name you Luna, because your black like the night and you have a little moon on your head!" Serena laughed when Luna purred in response and began to lick Serena's fingers with her sandpaper tongue.
"I'm going to keep you forever and ever!" Serena shouted gleefully, pulling the kitten into a tight embrace causing Luna to squeak in protest.
"I'm going to go show you to mommy!"
Serena hopped off her knees and ran through her back yard to the back porch and sat on the wooden steps. She picked up her pool towel and wiped off the dirt she had caked on her knees from ducking under the bushes. Once she had wiped off her muddy feet as well, Serena grabbed Luna off the deck and skipped to the glass doors that separated the outside deck from the living room of her house.
Serena shivered as the cool air conditioning hit her when she entered her house, she forgot that she was still wet from the sprinkler and that there was no warm sun in her house to warm her up. Hugging Luna closer to her damp body, Serena entered her kitchen expecting to see her mom making dinner, but she was no where to be found.
"Mommy! Where are you? I want to show you something!" Serena yelled into the stillness of her house, but she received no answer.
"I wonder where everyone went, Luna." Serena spoke to the docile cat. Luna just looked at her with her big green eyes.
Serena shrugged and trudged down the hallway to check up stairs to see if her mommy was taking a nap, she does that now cause she gets very tired.
As she crept along her hallway, she froze as a large shadow loomed over her on the stairwell. Looking up she was startled to see an unknown man standing above her, his dark blue eyes glinting in the dim hallway light.
Serena gasped and held Luna closer to her as he began to descend the stairs coming near to her.
"Well if it isn't the little angel of the house." He spoke in a soothing tone as he came to a stop in front of her.
Serena stared up at him, her aqua eyes wide in fright. Luna hissed at the man, baring her sharp teeth, the fur on her back arching.
"I had always heard what a beautiful child you were." He whispered, "You look so much like your mother, she was a great beauty in her prime."
"Where's my mommy?" Serena asked in a hushed voice
"She's upstairs waiting for you darling, in her room. Here, this is for you, a present and a reminder of this night."
The man brushed back his long brown hair as he reached into his black trench coat and pulled out a flower. Picking up one of Serena's delicate hands, he placed the flower into it and closed her palm around it. Bending his head down, he planted a soft kiss on the back of her hand.
"Good bye my sweet angel, until we meet again." He whispered in her ear, sending shivers of fear down her spine. Then he was gone, out the door, leaving it open in his wake.
Serena stared numbly at the flower in her hand. It was a rose, but not a beautiful red one like the ones she had seen in pictures, it was black. Full bloomed and large, the petals were course, not soft like she imagined a rose to be, and thorns stuck out of the sides.
Briefly, Serena turned and kicked the front door shut before dashing up the winding staircase to the second floor, holding Luna firmly against her shoulder with one hand, the other still grasping the dark rose.
"Mommy! Mommy! There was a scary man in our house, but he just left!" Serena yelled as she ran down the hallway and burst into her parent's chambers.
The sight that met her eyes caused her to scream in shock and drop Luna on the floor with a thud. Luna landed gracefully on her front paws and wound herself around Serena's legs.
Shaking, Serena walked softly over to her mother's bed where she appeared to be sleeping. Her mother's silvery blond hair had been ripped out and was scattered around the bed, some stray pieces drifting in the room with the draft of air from the ceiling vents. Blood covered her mom's delicate features, her once bright green eyes lifeless.
"Mommy, Mommy! Wake up Mommy!" Serena screamed hysterically as she pulled on her mother's limp arm, covered with deep cuts and bloodstains.
"Mommy why won't you wake up? I need you Mommy, I'm so scared!" Serena sobbed loudly, silver tears collecting at the corner of her eyes before spilling over the brim creating silver rivers along her pale cheeks.
"Why Mommy, why? Why did someone do this to my Mommy?" Serena screamed in rage to the empty room. Sobbing, she climbed up onto the bed and curled into a ball next to her mother. Her tiny fist clenched tightly onto the rose she still had in her palm, slicing her skin and causing blood to run down her wrists. Serena wept hard into the night, her tears mingling with her blood as she rocked back and forth, Luna jumped up behind her and curled at the base of her neck, trying to provide as much comfort as she could to the little lost angel.
END FLASHBACK
"They need to pay Diamond. Pay for what they did to me and what they did to my family. They killed my mother in cold blood, mutilated her! My father...my father was shot to death, shot sixty six times in various places. They need to feel the pain that my parents felt when they died, they need to feel the pain that I felt when I discovered my Mother, lying lifeless and bloodied on her bed when I was just six years old." Serena's voice lowered and had taken a deadly edge to it.
"But what did Lord Thriarfield have to do with it all, he must've been your age when your parents were murdered." Diamond asked confused.Serena smirked, "Because "Lord" Brian Thriarfield is the pride and joy of his father, Duke Robert Thriarfield who just so happens to have been my father's best friend when he was still alive. Duke Thriarfield knew that the murder was going to happen and he didn't warn my father, no and do you know why?"
Diamond shook his head, his feathery white locks falling across his clear blue eyes.
"Because he wanted my father's business, my father's power. In case you didn't know, the Duke has single handedly taken over my father's trade and fortune, I didn't get a single penny of it, I was left out onto the streets." Serena answered bitterly.
"I'm going to kill them all, they will pay for what they did to my family and I won't stop until I find the identity of the ones responsible for it."
"Does the Duke know?" Diamond asked
Serena shook her head, "No, he had just heard some men talking that it was going to happen while he was attending my Mother's funeral. Apparently some men involved had shown up at the wedding to scout my Father. The Duke knew what was going to happen to him and when, but he didn't warn him or tell a soul."
"Then how do you know?"
Serena threw him a haughty look and grinned slyly.
"I'm one of the world's top assassins, I have my ways of obtaining any information I want."
"I need to find them, and I will do whatever it takes to get my revenge, after what I've been through."
FLASHBACK
There were people milling all around Serena as she sat silently in a wooden kitchen chair seemingly in a dazed state just staring at the white walls.
"It's a shame, you know. Her mother was such a gentle, kind woman, a real beauty too." A lady murmured behind her.
"Yes, a pity. The father was brilliant too, started his own corporation from scratch and now it's a multi-million dollar empire." A masculine voice added.
There was a brief pause of awed wonder and mournful silence.
"What about the child?" the woman whispered, turning her head to look at Serena.
"She has no family, both parents were the only children in their families and both sets of grandparents are dead. She has a Great Aunt still alive, but she's too old and sickly to take care of a little girl." He replied.
"What about family friends?"
"Most of them were superficial, there because of the families opulence, but the rest are just afraid. Afraid the murderers will come back for the girl."
"So it's the orphanage then." The woman sighed in defeat.
"Not unless you want to take her."
"You know I can't afford anymore children or I would. I already have six little urchins of my own. It's such a shame though. She's going to be a beauty that one."
Both turned to watch the young child in silence, her once bright aqua eyes were dull; no light shone in them and her demeanor was cold.
"She has been through so much at such a young age. Shall we ever see the bubbly child she once was again? The woman asked sorrowfully. The man just shook his head and they both left Serena to her broken thoughts, a fallen angel.
Four years later found Serena in a small broken down back alley. A few weeks after the agonizing murders of her parents, Serena was thrown into a rotting, unkempt orphanage, unwanted and alone except for Luna whom she snuck in and kept hidden for years.
Serena refused to talk, no longer the bright, enthusiastic child she was before and she withdrew into the recesses of her mind, living in her dreams, but stuck in a never-ending nightmare.
The other children hated her. Hated her pretty aqua eyes, hated her silky silver hair, hated her prefect features, hated her for living.
They made her life hell, teasing her unmercifully, yanking on her hair, slapping her perfect face, punching and bruising her perfect skin.
Serena never reacted. Never yelled, never ran away, never even moved.
Serena held in every tear, held in every cry of pain, held in every emotion. She was devoid of feeling, lifeless and cold.
Then one day, she snapped.
Nine years old, being beaten for three years mentally and physically after a traumatizing event and she finally snapped, lashed out with all the emotion and all the hatred she had locked inside.
Tommy was doing what he did everyday, bothering the pathetic little blond waste of life labeled Serena. He didn't understand why Madam Brusky kept her around. No one ever wanted her and she was dirty and smelled.
"Hello Serena, you're looking particularly ugly today." Tommy said in mock cheer.
Reaching out he grasped one of Serena's matted locks and yanked hard, jolting her head to the side. Silently he watched her dirty face, searched her eyes for some hint of pain and was rewarded with a blank, emotionless stare.
Annoyed, Tommy slapped Serena hard across her face with a resounding smack. Serena's pale skin burned red on her right cheek, marred with a boyish handprint.
"What Serena, think you're too good to talk to any of us? Too make any noise? How about I make you? Make you scream?" he said gruffly in her ear while she sat silently still.
Tommy moved to stand in front of her and punched her in the stomach lightly. Seeing no response, he punched her again with a little more strength. Each time Serena made no comment and each time Tommy used more strength. Angrily he reached out with his grubby fingers and stretched them around Serena's slender neck and began to squeeze hard until Serena's face turned blue, then he released his grasp as Serena's body immediately gasped and sucked in air.
"So, I've discovered a way to make you respond." Tommy smiled wickedly as he reached out his hands to grab her again.
Suddenly, one of Serena's own hands shot out and grabbed his arm in a vice like grip. Tommy glanced at her face in complete shock and finally received an expression, a deadly one. He winced as Serena's nails dug into his arms as she stood up and twisted his arm under him cause him to sink to his knees in pain, trying to squirm out of her tight grip. Serena's other hand drew back and slammed into his face in a tight fist, smashing into his nose causing and immediate burst of blood to run out of it. Serena grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him up by it, throwing him into the chair she previously occupied.
"Did you like that? Did you like the feeling of your hair pulling out of your head or the pain of getting your nose broken?" Serena whispered harshly in his face. Tommy shook his head wildly.
"I don't either."
With that she walked away leaving Tommy holding his head in his hands.
That night she left, never to return to the orphanage again. All three years she pondered her parent's deaths over and over never caring what happened to her, but finally she realized she wanted out. Grabbing Luna and some food she stole from the kitchen, Serena left the orphanage in the dead of night, never looking back.
For a year she roamed the streets, a dirty urchin stuck out in the cold, living in an old abandoned house that provided enough heat to keep her and Luna warm through the harsh winter. She would steal food from random house, scoured through garbage cans for left over food and clothes that were trashed. Serena wasn't any happier then she was at the orphanage, but she was free.
END FLASHBACK
"Serena, I need you to get ready and come down to the board room. Like I said earlier, there are some clients that were here earlier who specifically requested you for a job. It's not going to be an easy one either." Diamond spoke, snapping Serena out of her thoughts.
"Easy? Nothing is ever easy, but I can do anything thing, complete any job." Serena said confidently. Diamond raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Serena said defensively, then with a grin added. "I'm the best."
So, there is chapter 2. Yes, this is a Serena and Darien pairing fic, but unfortunately our dashing knight will not be introduced for a little while. Hope you enjoyed, please review and spread the word! I hope to have chapter three out within the next couple of weeks.
.:Angelgrl185:.