Blair

Chapter 4

"You did what!" Dani exclaims with wide eyes.

"I don't know how it happened. One second I was about to kill Diego and the next I was straddling Isaac on the floor. Now, I don't even think I'd kill either of them if I did see them again," I reply with animation while jumping off of the bed. I reach into my front pocket and grab the kill-con vial, tossing it to Dani as she catches it in her right hand.

"Do you really think this kill-con matters when you didn't actually kill the person who's head it belonged to?" she angrily shakes the vial in front of her.

"I don't know, I guess I was kind of hoping I could collect the money anyways. It's not like Smith will show up here to investigate my claim," I throw my hands up in the air even though I know it’s a stupid plan. If he finds out that I didn't actually kill who I was supposed to but took millions of dollars from him, I don't even want to know what is going to happen. I’m also aware that I only have one of the two kill cons and Smith didn't say he'd pay 7.5 mil per head, he said fifteen for both.

I sigh loudly and rip the hair tie out of my braid, stressfully combing my fingers through my hair. I drop myself down onto the corner of the bed and groan into my hands. I don't know if I've ever screwed up this badly and I have no idea what’s wrong with me. There isn’t one rational explanation I can come up with that would explain why I didn’t kill Isaac.

Who knows, maybe it’s because he’s actually hotter in person than he was in his photograph. My idiotic hormones wouldn’t allow myself to put down a walking masterpiece.

Dani sits next to me and rubs her face with her hands as we exist in total silence for a minute, both of our minds reeling over the weight of this situation. Two people saw me in the astral world and Diego knows far more about me than he should. He knew that the Reaper is part of Del Sur, but now he also has a face to put to the name. He knows what I look like and where I live so I'm sure Isaac does too. At this point, I know it wouldn't be very hard for them to find out my real name and track me down.

"Do you think they're going to tell anyone?" Dani muses in response.

"I have no idea, but they knew I was coming and it was painfully obvious that neither of them are strangers to the AP. They were calculated, they knew what they were doing and Isaac had a weapon of his own. I think they both knew I would find them eventually and planned on Isaac jumping in to interfere. He was laying low on purpose with the intent of throwing me off so they must've caught wind of my contract with Smith," I reply while fidgeting with my fingers.

"Shit...we've never met anyone else who can project and bring weapons in like you do. What are the chances of someone with the same abilities being your own target?" she inquires.

"Slim to none,” I answer. Something about this entire situation doesn't add up and it feels off. What are Isaac and Diego involved in that would give Isaac the ability to project like I do and why would Smith want them dead? All of this seems too convenient and I don't even know how to proceed from here.

"Maybe we should try to gather some information about who Smith really is. We could make up an excuse about why you haven't been able to kill the Diazs yet and just deter him until we know what's really going on. As for Isaac and Diego...I don't know, B. You don't want to kill them, but if you let them live you'll run the risk of exposure. Is potentially losing your anonymity worth rolling the dice?" she counters. I take a deep breath and massage my temples with my fingertips, desperately wishing that I just killed them both so this wouldn't be happening right now. I never question my clients about why they want someone dead and I don't do any research on them. I don't care what their motives are, I just do my job and follow the money. I've also never let anyone live who's seen me in the AP, taken a contract, or backed out of a business dealing before.

This is the perfect storm of s**t that I don't ever do.

"I don't want to think about this right now. Let's go," I demand as I stand up.

"Where are we going? It's 1:30 AM," Dani confusedly questions.

"To the bar. I need to drink and get laid," I mutter in response while changing into something a little more revealing. I might not be able to solve my problem with Isaac and Diego right now, but there are two forms of accessible stress relief that I know work for me. This is probably a bad idea since I’ve got two people who know what I look like living in the immediate vicinity, but right now I don’t care. If Isaac and Diego are smart, they should already be packing up their things and working on relocating somewhere else. Neither of them struck me as complete idiots, so the chances of them wandering around the streets of Cartagena right now should be pretty slim.

What’s one more stupid decision really going to cost in the grand scheme of things anyways?

•••

4:30 AM

•••

"Wow...that was awesome..." some blonde haired, blue eyed American tourist named Ben breathes while lying naked in his motel bed. I raise my eyebrows and swing my legs over the edge of the mattress, grabbing all my clothing off of the floor to get dressed.

"It was...something," I reply as I shimmy my tight jeans up to my hips. After I was about eight shots and ten reggaetón songs deep at the bar, I randomly selected him to be my stress reliever for the evening. He came up behind me at some point while Dani and I were dancing so I figured he was as good a choice as any. I could tell he was endowed and very inebriated when his body was pressed against mine and that's all I require of a temporary companion.

"Is that a switchblade? It looks really unique," I hear him ask from behind me. I reach my hand back and feel the top of the handle poking out of my pocket, rolling my eyes as I push it all the way back in.

"Yeah, it's for protection. It'd be kind of stupid to walk around alone on the streets at night as a woman without it," I lie while pulling my tank top on overhead. I don't need to play 21 questions about my weaponry with some random guy I banged once.

"I see...so are you from the states or… " he begins trying to make small talk, but I cut him short.

"I'm sorry, filler conversations aren't really my thing and I've got to go." I shoot him a fake smile over my shoulder and he slowly nods. I snatch my purse off of the nightstand and head towards the door to leave before this gets even more awkward.

"Uh okay...maybe I'll see you around if you're in town for longer? The city isn't too big," he inquires with a shrug.

"Highly unlikely, but thanks for the s*x," I respond before pulling the door open. As soon as it closes behind me, I sigh with relief and walk out onto the street, littered with drunks and partygoers. There’s no rest for the wicked. I take a left and head in the direction of my hotel that's only two blocks away, yawning with exhaustion and stress. The drinking and mediocre s*x might have temporarily taken my mind off of things, but I knew it wasn't a permanent solution. I've got to figure out what I am going to do about my situation with the Diaz's.

Do I call Smith and tell him I've got one kill-con in an attempt to pocket half of the cash? Should I tell him I've changed my mind and no longer want to take the deal at all? Should I say screw it and track down Diego and Isaac again to finish the job, stuffing down the insane part of myself that allowed Isaac to live? Or, should I do nothing; allowing this entire situation to erupt in flames and see where the cosmic wind blows me.

Decisions, decisions.

I finally arrive at my hotel and climb the steps to the fourth floor, unlocking the door as quietly as I possibly can. Dani is drunkenly passed out and softly snoring. She doesn't move a muscle when I enter the room. I quickly strip down to nothing but my underwear and a tank top, strapping my emerald bonded throwing knife to my bare thigh as a precautionary measure. I never go to sleep at night without some inscribed weapon on my person because I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I flop down onto my bed and wiggle around underneath the sheets, sighing loudly as my eyelids close. After a few minutes, I'm eventually able to quell my mind enough to drift off to sleep, dreaming that I'm on a tropical beach somewhere. My toes are in the water, ass in the sand, and warm sunlight soaks into my skin. I look over to my left and notice a man approaching me, grinning internally when I realize that it is a shirtless Isaac. I shouldn’t be mentally pining over him like this since he’s the enemy, but how much harm can a little fantasizing really do?

He casually saunters across the fine grained sand in my direction while clear waves gently lick and swell at his feet. Right now, my mind desires to envision him in all of his god given sensuality. I haven't actually seen him shirtless yet, but my imagination fills in the blanks for me as his tanned abs glisten in the sun and the warm wind rustles his black hair. He's got a blended piña colada in hand as he smirks in my direction, the black and white ink of his sleeve tattoos running all the way up to his broad shoulders. The closer he gets, the more I notice how the intricate artwork graces his perfectly toned arms in all the right places. I grin to myself, hoping this dream might lead somewhere more pleasant than my one night stand. I’d bet he’s probably much more skilled in the sack than my last lover. I lower my sunglasses off of my face too ogle him a little bit more before I notice thick fog beginning to creep across the ocean. I narrow my eyes at it in confusion as the sun fades out and it seeps across the beach, completely surrounding Isaac. He stops walking and winks at me before disintegrating entirely as all sound instantly vacates the atmosphere. I stand up and swallow the lump in my throat, quickly beginning to feel uneasy at the dark turn my once pleasant dream has taken. I take a few steps back in the now icy sand, feeling a cold chill creep up my spine. Every hair on my body stands up as the sound of an all too familiar voice surrounds me.

"Hush little children,

Now please close your eyes.

Your loved ones are waiting,

Filled with joy and pride.

But be careful you must,

For darkness does lie.

Stray not from the path,

Once slumber you find."

Suddenly, the world around me flickers in and out of darkness. My breathing becomes erratic as I take a few more steps backwards, tightly closing my eyes in an effort to tune out the song that engulfs me on repeat.

"No no no no, this isn't happening...fight it Blair. Wake up," I whisper to myself through clenched teeth. I'm desperately clinging to the hope that I'm wrong and falsely envisioning my worst fear coming to life. I haven't seen him in 15 years and every fiber of my being has been hoping that 15 years would turn into the rest of my life.

"Blairrr..." His smooth words call to me even closer than before. I shake my head rapidly through closed eyes, completely terrified to open them. I don't want to look at him. I don't want to see his face again. God, this must be how my targets feel when I coax them out of their dreams and they see me for the first time.

He always said he'd come for me again one day, I was just hoping I'd never actually live to see it happen.

"It's time to open your eyes, little one," his voice gently brushes my earlobe but I still don't want to believe this is real, it can't be. I frequently have nightmares that I always wake up from, but this one is different. I don't think I can wake up this time.

"Look at me Blair," he demands.

"You're not real. This isn't real," I whisper while staring at the back of my eyelids.

"The more you fight it, the worse it will get," he coldly states. I choke back the dryness in my mouth as my eyes begrudgingly flutter open only to have them widen immediately. I look around and realize that I'm not even in my hotel room next to my physical body, I am standing in the middle of the street about three blocks away from where I fell asleep. I don't even know how I got here, but I know that I'm not alone.

Standing about ten feet away in the center of the road is a tall man with dark grey slacks and a matching button down, grinning at me with slicked back hair. The thick astral fog swirls around him as his pearly white teeth basically glow in contrast against his black eyes.

Orias.