BLOOD OATH

The Black Shadow Organization was not a place where children laughed. It was where children learned how to kill. The high stone walls that surrounded the fortress had long forgotten what sunlight felt like. Every hallway echoed with the footsteps of assassins who had traded their names, their fears, and eventually their humanity for a single promise. The Blood Oath. An oath whispered about in fear even among the deadliest criminals in Thorns. Once sworn... It could never be broken. Those who dared betray it did not simply die. The oath itself chose how they would meet their end. No one knew how. No one knew when. Only that death always came. I leaned against the doorway, silently watching the girl before me. Blood stained the sleeves of her black uniform. Not her blood. Her victim's. She couldn't have been older than sixteen. Her hands trembled so violently that the pistol slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the floor. She stared blankly at it before sinking onto her knees. Tears rolled freely down her cheeks. She had completed her first mission. Nine more. Only nine more before she would stand before the altar and swear the Blood Oath. I folded my arms across my chest. "Do you feel bad because you killed the children too?" The question made her cry even harder. "They..." she whispered between sobs. "They were so little, Rana." I blinked once. "If you had spared them..." She slowly looked up. "They would've buried their parents alone." Silence. "They would've spent the rest of their lives chasing revenge." Another silence. "They would've become exactly like us." She lowered her head again. "I think dying together with their parents was kinder." The room became eerily quiet. "Tch." I didn't need to turn around. Only one person in Black Shadow could make that irritating sound with such confidence. Vega. She strolled into the room with both hands behind her head, looking completely unbothered by the crying girl before us. "Seriously?" she scoffed. "She's crying over children?" The girl stiffened. Vega rolled her eyes. "At this rate she'll never survive the Blood Oath." "Vega." "What?" "Enough." "I'm only telling the truth." She clicked her tongue once more before walking farther into the room. I sighed. Sometimes I wondered whether Vega had been born without a heart. Then again... Maybe all of us had. I crouched before the crying girl. "Don't take what Vega says to heart." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm weak." "No." "I am." "You completed your mission." "I almost couldn't pull the trigger." "But you still did." She stared at me with swollen eyes. "I'm not like you, Rana." I frowned. "What does that mean?" "You never hesitate." I tilted my head thoughtfully. "I used to." "You... did?" "I don't remember when I stopped." The truth was... I really didn't. Somewhere along the line, killing had simply become another task. No different from eating. Sleeping. Training. Breathing. Sometimes I wondered if that made me a monster. Then I remembered Michael's words. "Emotions make people hesitate." "Hesitation gets people killed." So I stopped wondering. "I'm scared," the girl whispered. "You'll survive." "What if I don't?" "Then you were never meant to take the Blood Oath." "Tch." Vega appeared beside us once again. "I can't believe you're comforting her." "I'm not." "You practically are." I stood up. "She'll be fine." Vega looked toward the crying girl. "I disagree." She pointed toward the door. "Go wash your face." The girl hurried away. The moment she disappeared, Vega looked at me with a smirk. "You lied." "Hm?" "You know very well she won't survive." I shrugged. "Maybe." "No maybe." "People surprise me." "Not in this place." I chuckled softly. Vega was many things. Brutal. Blunt. Annoying. But rarely wrong. "You've become soft lately," she suddenly said. I blinked. "Soft?" "You hugged her." "Oh." "I've never seen you hug anyone besides me." I stared at her. "Should I stop?" She folded her arms dramatically. "No." "Then?" "I was just making sure you haven't become human." I burst into laughter. A genuine one. "You really are impossible." "I'm amazing." "Keep telling yourself that." She grinned proudly. "I do." We walked side by side through the fortress. The walls were lined with boys and girls training with swords, daggers, bows, and firearms. Some were barely ten years old. Children arrived here every year. Some were orphans. Some had been sold. Some had been abandoned. By the time they reached adulthood... They no longer remembered who they had once been. Only what they had become. Weapons. "You know," Vega suddenly began. "Hm?" "If Michael ever dies..." "He won't." "Hypothetically." I sighed. "Continue." "You'd become the leader." I looked at her as though she had gone mad. "I don't want that." "You'd look cool." "I'd look stressed." "You'd look beautiful while stressed." I laughed again. "You flatter me too much." "I'm only speaking facts." "My beauty has ruined enough lives already." "Not ruined." She smirked. "It has made dying men happy." I nudged her shoulder. "Your mouth." "What about it?" "It's sweeter than poisoned honey." She placed a hand dramatically over her chest. "My lady..." I rolled my eyes. "You should've been an actress." "And waste this talent?" She pointed proudly at herself. "I was born to irritate you." "You've succeeded." Before she could answer, hurried footsteps echoed down the hallway. Balec. Poor man. He looked as though he had run for his life. The moment his eyes landed on me, his face turned bright red. I resisted the urge to sigh. Not again. "R-Rana..." "What?" "The boss..." He swallowed nervously. "The boss wishes to see you." I glanced at Vega. She was already trying not to laugh. "Tell Michael I'll come." "I... I already did." "Good." Balec bowed awkwardly before almost running away. The second he disappeared around the corner... Vega exploded into laughter. "Oh my goodness." "What?" "You should've seen his face." "I did." "He looked ready to faint." I sighed. "I don't understand men." "They understand your face." "Tch." "See? I can do it too." I shook my head. "They're exhausting." "You should be grateful." "For what?" "If I looked like you, I'd never stop admiring myself." "I already admire myself enough." She burst into another fit of laughter. "You actually admitted it!" "Why deny the truth?" She wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "I love your confidence." "I know." "You really know?" "I hear it often." She laughed so hard she almost doubled over. "You really are something else, Rana." "I've been told." I adjusted the sleeves of my black uniform before making my way toward Michael's office. Unlike the rest of the fortress... His hallway was silent. No guards. No trainees. Just a pair of enormous black doors. I knocked once. "Come in." Michael's deep voice echoed from within. I pushed the doors open. The familiar scent of cigar smoke immediately greeted me. Michael sat comfortably behind his desk. Across from him... A man I recognized instantly. Nicholas. One of the most powerful mafia bosses in Thorns. His eyes widened the moment they landed on me. There it is again. That look. I was getting tired of it. I resisted the urge to shove his head into the nearest wall. "Rana." Michael smiled faintly. "Take a seat." I obeyed without sparing Nicholas another glance. Something told me... This meeting was about to change my life.