Double Deal

Chapter 12 (Part 2)

Ajax’s head was pounding. What happened? Where was he? Without even opening his eyes, Ajax could feel ropes tying him to the chair he was in by his arms and legs. Blood ran down the side of his face, his hair matted down. He laid there, unmoving. He had a massive headache. The horrid smell of the room didn’t help it either. He finally decided to open his eyes.

At first he was blinded. When his eyes finally adjusted to the dimly lit room, he looked around the room. It was empty. From what he could see, there was dark, black ink lining the room. It was on the walls and on the floor. In one of the corner’s, Ajax could see something slumped over, but couldn’t make out what it was. It was especially covered in the ink, which surrounded the floor around the thing.

Ajax continued to look around the room. In front of him were giant, metal, rusted doors. They reminded him of the ones you find at warehouses. He heard the sound of someone’s feet hitting the floor, slowly getting louder as the person got closer. Then, there they were. They had brought a chair with them and sat down in front of Ajax.

“Hello,” They said with a smile.

Ajax didn’t respond. She looked familiar. “Oh, are you still barely coming to?” She asked, c*****g her head to the side.

Her eyes were bright blue. “Zephyrus’ sister,” He said simply.

She smiled again. “You’re sharp.”

Ajax just looked at her. What had he said her name was? A.. Amelia? No, that wasn’t it. Azariah? No, it was… it was… “Astraya,” He said.

“That’s my name,” She grinned, “And your name is Ajax. So sorry for having to bring you here like this, but unfortunately if I didn’t, then he would never come here.”

“He?” Ajax asked.

“Favonius. He’s really smart. Able to see things other people can’t. It can be unsettling when you don’t know about it,” Astraya leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs. “He can make connections between things. He truly is a wonder. I want him.”

“Is that what this is all about? Your brother?”

“Part of it. While as entertaining as it would be to have Favonius here, Lola is quite the person as well. I know you don’t know yet, but she has an amazing backstory. And because of it, she has quite a hefty price tag. Enough to make me be able to relax with my little brother. As for you, however, you’re a Ross. Son of Mariel and Atlas. The star of the sea and the bearer of the weight of the world.”

Ajax had heard anyone call his mother ‘the star of the sea’ in forever. It was the meaning of her name. “You’re very special too. I’m sure someone would be willing to pay for your blood,” She smiled again.

“Because I’m a Ross?” Ajax asked, his head beginning to pound again. He let his head sink down until his chin was resting on his chest.

“Precisely. Being a Ross is special. Unfortunately your uncle didn’t understand that,” Astraya shrugged.

At this Ajax looked up at her, a wild look in his eyes. “My uncle? What did you do with him?” Ajax asked.

“You see, Nemus was a little trouble maker. Unfortunately, unlike your mom, he didn’t get the magical trait. He was normal, but a Ross is a Ross, nonetheless.”

“Nemus?” Ajax had never heard Sam be called that before.

“Oh, right, you wouldn’t know. Nemus Samuel Ross. Your uncle refused to go by his first name when he left the magical community, and since then, his name has been Samuel Ross,” Astraya explained.

“Or, it was Samuel Ross.” Astraya said, looking at the corner of the room.

Ajax felt a chill run throughout his body. Ajax frantically looked over at the corner. The ink… the smell… the thing slumped over in the corner… It wasn’t ink… and the thing… that thing… It was Samuel Ross’ dead body covered in blood.

Then, Ajax remembered what those papers had said. Those death papers that he had found. His uncle would die in a week. He thought he would have been able to stop it… but he wasn’t even able to do anything. His only living family member… was dead. And with as bad as the smell was… he’d at least been dead for 2 days.

Zephyrus is supposed to die 2 days after his uncle. If his uncle has actually been dead for 2 days then…

Zephyrus is going to die today.

“Zephyrus, where are we going?” Lola asked.

“That note that you found, the one on the back of the photo? It has a drawing of a globe and a star in the middle of it. The person who holds the weight of the world and the star of the sea. The note has to do with Ajax’s parents: Atlas and Mariel,” Zephyrus explained, leading her somewhere.

“So where are we going?” Lola repeated.

“Well…” Zephyrus stopped and looked at her, “You know how I told you that I can see the memories associated with things”

“Yes?” Lola said, continuing to walk.

“Well, even though I’m sure you don’t remember, when you had gotten stung, there was a page torn out in the book that Ajax has. Specifically, the Vaccin cure was missing. When Ajax went upstairs to ask his uncle a question, I looked into why the page was missing. Mariel tore it out and brought it to Atlas in a warehouse. That’s where we’re heading.”

“To a warehouse?” Lola said, an annoyed look on her face.

“Yes. My sister obviously left the drawing there on purpose. That’s where she wants me to go,” Zephyrus stopped in front of a rusty, run-down warehouse.

“And why listen to her?” Lola asked.

“Because, she has Ajax. He’s important to this whole situation, just as much as you are. I just know it,” Zephyrus said, standing, waiting and looking at the building.

“Well then, why wait?” Lola said, strutting over to the door.

“Lola, wait. You don’t know-”

Lola didn’t listen to him and instead, looked at the door. All she had to do was pull it open. Lola placed her hand on the handle, and pulled as hard as she could.

At first the door creaked and was slow to open, but once Lola got it going, it slid open easily.

“See? Wasn’t that hard,” Lola turned and told Zephyrus.

The two of them walked into the dimly lit warehouse. It reeked. Suddenly, the warehouse door slammed shut behind them. The two of them jumped as they turned around, looking towards where they walked in. “Who’s there?” Zephyrus yelled, but there was no response.

From somewhere inside the warehouse, there was muffled whimpering. With no other choice, Lola and Zephyrus walked cautiously towards the sound. Throughout the whole warehouse, there was only one light on. As the two of them approached it, Lola let out a small gasp.

Ajax was sitting there, his head dropped against his chest with cuts along his arms. He had a cloth tied around his head, held there in his mouth. Lola took a step forward, but Zephyrus held his arm out. Ajax heard the movement though, and looked up. He saw the two of them and his eyes opened wide, and he started trying to scream, but the gag around his mouth made his screams muffled.

“Ajax,” Lola said, walking past Zephyrus’ arm.

“Lola-” Zephyrus said, warning in his voice.

Lola didn’t listen though, and instead walked closer to Ajax, and started removing the tie around his head. Ajax didn’t take his eyes off of Zephyrus, and the moment that the gag was removed, Ajax shouted, “Zephyrus, watch out!”

The moment Ajax said that, Zephyrus felt a sharp, searing pain in his lower back. His eyes opened wide as what was used to stab him left his body and he was thrown forward. Zephyrus cried out in pain. He winced as he caught his balance, his sword instantly appearing in his hand.

“I-” Zephyrus heard Lola say, shock clear in her voice. And it was clear why. Zephyrus growled, ignoring the pain in his body.

“Miss me?” A familiar girl stepped out of the shadows, holding a bloody dagger in hand, a wild grin on her face.

“But you’re dead,” Lola said, “I saw you covered in blood, with-”

“Illusions are easy to pull off, my dear friend, “ Kharis said, “It’s easy to fool people when they’re already fooling themselves.”

Zephyrus had been right. Kharis was involved. She didn’t die that night. She… faked her death in order to move around easier while they kept an eye on Tom. Zephyrus saw the necklace hanging from her neck. It had the same charm that Tom’s bracelet had. It was the other half. “Why’d you do it?” Zephyrus asked, “Why would you kill for him?”

Kharis placed her eyes on Zephyrus. “Because,” She said simply, “It’s fun.”

Zephyrus growled. “I’m just the first wave,” Kharis said, fiddling with the knife, “None of you are getting out of here tonight.”

“Lola, get Ajax out of the ropes. I’ll keep Kharis busy,” Zephyrus said, holding up his sword.

Kharis smiled, “I’d like to see you try.”

Lola was trying as fast as she could to untie Ajax from the chair, but the ropes wouldn’t budge. She could hear something coming close to where they were as Kharis’ dagger clanged against Zephyrus’ sword. “Come on, you stupid things,” Lola said in exasperation, still trying to un-knot the ropes.

Zephyrus was having a tougher time than he thought he would have. Kharis really knew how to fight back and defend herself, and it didn’t help that he had already been stabbed. Zephyrus swung left, but Kharis dodged, holding up the small dagger in an attempt to slow the swing to give her time to duck. She went underneath as the sword moved over her, before standing up and hitting the sword as hard as she could down, almost sending Zephyrus down with it as the sword hit the floor. Apparently, that’s just what Kharis wanted to happen, because she brought her knee to his chin and sent him stumbling back.

Zephyrus glared at her, rubbing his chin as he felt the metallic taste of blood fill his mouth. “Come on, Zephyrus, I’ve heard so many stories. I guess you really are just all bark and no bite,” Kharis taunted him.

Zephyrus growled, spitting blood on the floor. “Fine then,” He said simply, before lifting his sword above his head. He brought it down into the floor, and turned. Blue fire spread around the two of them, lighting up the dark warehouse. Zephyrus’ eyes glowed bright blue.

“Now that’s more like it!” Kharis said in a giddy voice.

She ran at him, dagger in hand. She slid across the floor in an attempt to s***h his leg, but Zephyrus jumped out of the way, flipping in the air over her, pulling his sword out of the ground and landing on the floor. Kharis rolled off of the floor, smiling.

They were getting closer. Lola could sense it. Who it was, she couldn’t tell, but they were getting closer to her. “Lola, hurry,” Ajax said.

“I’m trying,” Lola growled back. One of the ropes finally snapped. Only 3 left.

Kharis had lunged at Zephyrus. He seemed to be prepared for it, despite the small cut that formed on his cheek. Zephyrus grabbed her arm and twisted it. Kharis dropped the knife as pain flared throughout her arm, and she flew into the floor. Zephyrus held her arm behind her back. “I thought that I was all bark,” Zephyrus whispered into her ear.

Then, involuntarily, Zephyrus went into her memories.

Kharis had a perfect childhood, from what others could see. She did good in school, had lots of friends, and many called her beautiful. She was considered popular. But what others didn’t know was that she craved something different.

That life others saw was boring and plain to her. She wanted something better… or in other words, something worse. During one such school day where she was zoning out, Kharis noticed a boy from across the room looking at her. Little did she know that that boy was the thing she had been hoping for. Finding out that Tom wasn’t human was the best thing to ever happen in her life. It was exactly what she had been yearning for. From that day forward, Kharis did everything for Tom. Kharis was in love with him, and when he found out, he scolded her. She was mad at him for the longest time, and to get back at him, she started hooking up with Hyram. Tom never liked Hyram after that.

One night, they had been in her room, when someone came into the house. Kharis heard the door open, and out of shock knocked over a glass cup off of her nightstand. At first she thought it was Lola, but after a series of light taps on the wall, she knew exactly who it was. She flew out of her bed, putting her clothes on, annoyance clearly visible before walking out into the living room, leaving Hyram lying on the bed, confused. She scowled as she approached him. “You weren’t answering me so I came over,” Tom said, immediately being jerked to the side as Kharis slapped him.

“I wasn’t responding because I took my necklace off,” She growled at him. “I’m a little busy at the moment.”

“Is he over here?” Tom asked, looking past her shoulder towards her room.

Kharis moved to block his view. “It doesn’t matter Tom. It’s my life.” Kharis crossed her arm.

“You’re being petty for no reason,” Tom scowled.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kharis said with a straight face, still glaring at him.

The two of them stood there, glaring at each other before Kharis said, “Go wait in the bathroom so we can talk,” before turning around and walking back into her room.

She told Hyram to leave and after he did and she shut the door, Tom walked out of the bathroom and leaned against the wall. Kharis turned, still upset. “What was so important that you needed to come to my apartment to interrupt me?”

“There’s cameras hidden in my apartment,” Tom said, crossing his arms.

Kharis, still annoyed, put a hand on her hip. “And this couldn’t wait until the morning?” Kharis asked.

“It is the morning. It’s 5am,” Tom said.

Kharis sighed. “So what do you want me to do about it?”

“One, I need you to stop acting so buddy-buddy with me all the time. Two, I need you to act as Deiros while they’re watching me. That includes finding someone and uh, killing them for me,” Tom said.

Kharis rolled her eyes. “Fine. And how am I supposed to do that when Lola sleeps 5 feet away from me?”

“I don’t know Kharis. Be resourceful. I need you to do this for me or they’re going to make the connection between no murders happening and them watching me,” Tom said.

She bit her lip. “Fine, Tom. But you’ll owe me after, ‘kay?” Kharis said with a small smile, before pushing his chest as she walked past him into her room.

Tom turned and looked at her, sighing as he walked out of her apartment.

Kharis had been looking for someone a couple days, but eventually she found someone. She followed her from a distance, observing her for a few days. She didn’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend, and lived by herself. She didn’t have any family, from what Kharis saw, and she spent most of her days at work or at school studying before going back to her apartment. Meaning, she had no relationships, nothing to get in the way. She was the perfect target.

Kharis had messaged her on i********: with an alt account. Eventually she responded and after a couple days of conversation, her target finally agreed to meet up with Kharis. During their meetup, Kharis drugged her and brought her to her apartment. The girl stumbled into Kharis’ room and Kharis laid her down on the bed. She had changed the sheets that morning to a pair she had just bought, and she already had all the stuff that Tom used when he killed. Kharis quickly tied her to the bed to keep her from moving, though she wasn’t resisting anyway since the drugs overpowered her senses. Kharis gagged her before walking out of the room to double check that Lola wasn’t in the apartment. Luckily she wasn’t. Kharis shut her door, tied her hair up, and grabbed a knife off of the nightstand and climbed on top of the girl who was tied to the bed.

She brought the knife down into the girl’s stomach, which was received with a small cry of pain. Kharis stabbed her two more times before there was a bang as the front door closed. In an effort to get the attention of the person who walked in, the girl tied to the bed dropped the glass water cup that was on Kharis’ nightstand. Out of instinct, Kharis wrapped her hands around her throat and put as much weight as she could to keep the girl from making any noise. “Kharis?” Are you okay?” Kharis heard Lola ask from the living room.

“I’m fine! Just dropped a cup!” Kharis yelled back, trying to avoid a shaky voice.

“Do you want me to bring you the broom?” Lola asked.

“Nope, it's fine!” Kharis said. The girl had already passed out, and Kharis moved her hands.

There was a knock on Kharis’ bedroom door, “Are you sure everything is alright?”

“I’m sure!” Kharis called, “Don’t come in my room Lola!”

Lola paused, before saying, “Okay, good night Kharis,” Lola walked across the hall into her room. Kharis heard her door shut and she sat back, breathing heavy.

The girl wasn’t moving anymore. Kharis realized that she had messed up. Strangling her was not something Tom would have done. It was different and there was the chance that it could get her caught. “I’m such an i***t,” She said to herself, “Tom, you owe me big time for this.”

Kharis had started cleaning the body off the way Tom had told her too. Then, taking a small scalpel, she carefully carved “Deiros Momus” into her stomach. Then, she heaved the body into a tarp, before wiping it once more to get rid of her fingerprints before wrapping the tarp up. She quickly tore the new, bloody sheets off of her bed, wrapping them up in a black trash bag. Then, she took the plastic she had laid under the sheet to keep blood from soaking into her bed off too, throwing it in the bag as well. She changed the sheets back to her old pair. There was still glass on the floor from the cup that broke. She would have to clean it up later. Kharis then waited for Lola to fall asleep completely before throwing on a hoodie, a hat, sunglasses, gloves, a pair of baggy sweats, and a mask. Then she grabbed the tarp and heaved it over her shoulder, leaving the apartment and heading to the park that Tom had told her to. It was the dead of night, and the whole town was quiet. As for the cameras in the apartment building, Tom had already taken care of them and ran interference. There was no way she was going to get caught. After placing the body in the trunk of a rental car (that Tom had gotten using a fake license with a fake name on it), Kharis ran back upstairs, grabbed the trash bag, a change of clothes and shoes, some lighter fluid, and a lighter, before heading back to the car and throwing the things into the back seat. She drove to the park, took the tarp out, and laid it deep into the park where Tom had told her too. Then, getting back in the car, she drove to a trash bin on the other side of town where homeless people normally crowded. She threw the contents of the black bag, along with the clothes and shoes she was wearing just in case cameras had caught her appearance somehow, before grabbing the lighter fluid and dousing the clothes and sheets with it. Kharis then grabbed the zippo lighter, popped it open and threw it into the bin, driving off as the fire slowly grew more and more. She drove home, left the car unlocked, then went back to her apartment. She quickly grabbed the broom, cleaned the glass off of the floor, before laying down and going to sleep. In three days, the body would be found.

Kharis had still been pissed at Tom, but he came up to her a couple days later when she was covering one of Lola’s shifts. “The cameras are gone,” He said quietly to her as he made a coffee next to her.

“Good,” Kharis said in the same hushed tone, “You still owe me.”

“Also, I heard they found the body today,” Tom said.

“Cool,” Kharis said, walking away for a second to give a coffee to someone.

When she came back, Tom asked her, “Astraya came and talked to me yesterday.”

This caught Kharis’ attention. “She said that her brother is in the city and he’s getting involved with Ajax and Lola. She also said not to let him see me because he’s really good at knowing if someone is a monster or not.”

“So?” Kharis asked lazily.

“If you see him coming to the cafe, then you need to tell me so I can leave,” Tom said, before adding “Also, they suspect me and that you’re involved.”

Kharis rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

As luck would have it, a few days later, she had been walking to work when she had seen Ajax walking with another boy in the direction of the cafe. She froze, and the person behind her bumped into her, scoffing. “Sorry,” She said sweetly, smiling, before continuing to walk.

She grabbed her phone and called Lola, putting it on speaker as she texted Tom, “Brother. Coming. Leave.” When Lola answered, she made a stupid joke before Lola hung up.

Sure enough, on her way to the cafe she saw Tom walking towards her. “Thank you,” He said as he passed her.

“You’re lucky I saw them,” She said back, continuing to walk until she reached the cafe and got ready for her shift.

Hyram was still upset with her for when she kicked him out because Tom interrupted, but honestly she didn’t care. He had been telling her that he wanted to be a couple, but she kept turning him down. Kharis wasn’t actually into him, she had just been using him to make Tom upset.

After work, she showed up at Tom’s place even though he hadn’t invited her. “What do you want?” Tom said when he opened the door.

She walked past him, into the apartment. “We need to talk,” She said, laying down on his bed.

Tom rolled his eyes, closing his door. “About?”

“How this ends.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Astraya has already given you the okay to turn Lola in, but you haven’t yet. If her boy toys are suspecting you, and me along with you, then she’ll get suspicious. We need to make a move they’d never expect,” Kharis said, sitting up and looking at him.

“And by that you mean?”

“Fake my death,” Kharis said.

“Fake your death?” Tom scoffed. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, Lola knows about our relationship. She knows you would never hurt me, so if I’m suddenly out of the picture, not only does it make it easier for me to do what you need me to do without the chance of getting caught, it also will take some of the suspicion off of you,” Kharis said simply crossing her legs.

Tom just looked at her, thinking. “Fine. And how do we do that?”

“Just let Lola walk in on my dead body at the apartment. It's simple really,” She said like it was obvious.

Tom sighed. It wouldn’t be easy to fake her death. “Wait, but where are you going to stay after you die?”

Kharis smiled. “You have your connections. Let them know what the plan is and see if they can do anything to be of assistance. After all, you are the person they’re riding on in order for this whole thing to work-”

Zephyrus was jolted back to reality as pain filled the side of his stomach and he was kicked to the side. He came rolling to a stop, his stele being jerked out of his hand. Zephyrus looked up, he saw Tom helping Kharis up off of the floor. Kharis scowled at him.

Lola heard Zephyrus hit the floor. Zephyrus’ stele clattered to a stop next to her and Ajax. Zephyrus sat up holding his side, a sharp pain in his back. He probably just worsened the cut.

Zephyrus stood up. His hand was covered in blood. This was bad. He had no idea where his stele went, which meant he was in trouble. He was in no condition to fight Tom. But then he remembered something.

Tom walked up to him, but stopped when Zephyrus held up a familiar gun to him. The silver bullets. If he shot enough of them, he could render Tom useless. Probably kill him. Plus he was still very much recovering from the last time that he got shot.

Snap. Lola had gotten both of Ajax’s hands free, but still needed to get his ankles free. Someone was watching her. She could still feel eyes on her.

There was a loud bang as Zephyrus shot the gun. It hit Tom in the side of his stomach, sending shooting pain up Tom’s body as he scowled at Zephyrus.

Snap. There was only one left and Lola was frantically trying to get it to break. “Hurry Lola,” Ajax whispered to her, “Zephyrus is in trouble.”

“I’m going, I’m going,” She responded in the same low manner. And finally, snap, as the last rope broke.

Ajax quickly stood and ran over to help Zephyrus, who’s shirt started to turn more and more stained red as he slowly bled out. He scooped the knife Kharis had dropped on the floor before she got a chance to and slid, turning around next to Zephyrus.

Zephyrus whispered to him, “I don’t know what happened to my stele.”

“Are you able to use mine?” Ajax said back, “I don’t know enough magic yet to use it anyway.”

“I should be able to.”

Ajax handed it to him. “I’ll go for Tom. You go with Kharis. Be careful though, she knows what she’s doing,” Zephyrus said.

Zephyrus spun the stele, it turning into his sword. Kharis slowly started backing away, smiling as she said:

“Come and play with me then.”