Double Deal

Chapter 13

Ajax stood face to face with Kharis, knife in hand. “It was you, wasn’t it?” Ajax asked, “You’re the one who killed that girl and then killed Hyram.”

“Wow, you know me so well from our one conversation. Now did you put that together before you got here or right now because I’m fighting you?” Kharis said, a grin wide on her face.

“I started suspecting you from that day we had our first conversation. Lola had pointed out that you never wore your hair in a ponytail. You brushed it off as trying something new, but you had killed that girl that night. We found the body three days later,” Ajax said, “After that pieces started falling into place.”

“I’m sure,” Kharis said, her smile turning into a smirk before she continued, “I’d like my dagger back now. It was a gift, you know.”

“Come and get it then,” Ajax answered.

Kharis pulled out something else from her pocket: a stele. Ajax barely had time to make out what it was before she spun it and it turned into a dagger of its own. “Fine,” She said before lunging at him.

The two daggers clanged together. Upon closer inspection, Kharis' dagger was slightly longer than Ajax’s, which was a problem. Kharis twisted the dagger, pulling it away from Ajax before lunging back in to stab him. Ajax quickly parried, but Kharis did that as a distraction, kicking him in the stomach, sending him flying back. Ajax hit the floor hard, hitting his head. He almost passed out, but he quickly came back to reality as Kharis brought the knife down next to him. Ajax quickly rolled out of the way, getting up as quickly as he could. Kharis was prying the dagger out of the floor. Ajax felt a sharp pain from his cheek as something rolled down his face. He wiped his cheek, blood staining his hand. She had managed to cut him.

Kharis had finally pulled the dagger out of the floor, but Ajax was already on top of her. He pushed her over onto the floor, attempting to pin her hands down. She was quick though, bringing her knee into his stomach again, but despite the pain he held on to her wrist. “Let me go!” She gritted her teeth, trying to wriggle out of his grasp.

While Ajax was busy with Kharis, Zephyrus was standing across from Tom, gun pointed at him. “You think that scares me?” Tom growled at him in pain.

“Scare you?” Zephyrus raised an eyebrow, “No, I don’t think it scares you. But I know it hurts like hell.”

“Yeah, and the only reason you have it out is because you can barely stand. I’d suspect that in a couple minutes, you’ll have bled out enough to the point where you can’t even hold that gun,” Tom snarled, “Then what’s stopping me from killing you?”

Zephyrus smiled, “Sure. If you say so.” Tom saw his eyes flick over his shoulder. He turned to see Lola standing over him, the metal chair that Ajax had been tied to in her hands, raised above her head. Tom tensed as Lola swung the chair as hard as she could.

Tom’s eyes rolled back as he fell to the floor. Lola dropped the chair as she muttered a single word: “Asshole.”

Zephyrus smiled again before the gun fell out of his hand, clattering as it hit the floor. He stumbled, but Lola ran over and caught him. She grabbed his arm and helped him wrap it behind her neck. His head drooped forward, his golden hair covering his face. He was breathing shallowly. “You’ll be okay,” Lola said assuredly.

She saw a small smile spread on his face. Lola’s eyes spread wide at what he told her next.

Ajax was still struggling with Kharis. She had managed to get one of her hands free and was pushing his face away to get some of his grip loosened. This has to end, Ajax thought. Kharis used her hand to grab the dagger she had dropped while Ajax reached for his. He stabbed her shoulder, and she cried out in pain. This also empowered her to gain the strength to throw him off of her.

The two of them got up at the same time, though Kharis was clearly more pissed. She hated losing, and this boy was making her look like an i***t. She was gonna murder him. Knife in hand, she knew what she was going to do. Her grip around the knife tightened.

Ajax’s eyes opened wide. Fine then, he thought, if that’s how she wants this to go. Ajax pulled his arm back, dagger in hand, before jerking his hand forward, like he was throwing a baseball, letting the dagger leave his hand.

Tom opened his eyes, his head pounding from the chair that hit his head. He looked up, and it was like everything slowed. Kharis standing there, Ajax frozen in his throwing stance, with a dagger heading right towards Kharis’ heart.

“Kharis!” Tom cried out, quickly scrambling up off of the floor.

But there was nothing he could do. Within a fraction of a second, the dagger was in her chest and she had fallen to the floor, still. Tom slid to a stop next to her, grabbing her. She wasn’t moving. Blood was staining her shirt red. The dagger had gone straight into her heart.

Kharis was dead.

Tom snarled in anger, his eyes immediately flicking to Ajax but there was a loud bang that filled the room. Tom’s body jerked forward. Lola held the gun in her hand, finger on the trigger. Tom hit the floor, turning. He was helpless, scrambling back as Lola walked closer to him. “L-L-Lola, wait-”

“Shut up.” Lola said, her face stone cold.

“Listen, we can ta-”

His words were cut short with another loud bang. Tom cried out in pain again. “For three years,” Lola said through her gritted teeth, “I really believed when you said you were my friend.”

She pulled the trigger again. Tom had tears streaming down his face. “This whole time, you had just been using me,” Lola was pissed, “And for what, money? A bounty?”

“No,” Tom said, “We were forced to, I swear.”

“Like I would believe anything you have to say,” Lola said, pulling the trigger once more.

Tom cried out. The pain was unbearable. There was nowhere for him to go anymore. Lola was standing right over him, a blank look in her eyes as she placed the gun to his forehead.

“Go to hell.”

Bang.

Ajax had walked over to help Zephyrus stand up. Lola had placed him down to deal with Tom. “Hey, how are you doing buddy?” Ajax asked.

“Not good,” Zephyrus said quietly, a strip of blood running down his chin from the side of his mouth.

“You’re gonna be okay. Don’t worry, we’ll get out of here right now-”

Ajax had stopped speaking. Ajax looked down to see a familiar silver blade peeking out through his shirt, before it quickly disappeared. “Ajax?” Zephyrus said concerned.

Blood started seeping into his shirt. He fell to the side, almost taking Zephyrus with him. Behind him, a voice said, “This doesn’t end with them,” a voice that Zephyrus recognized immediately.

Out of the shadows stepped none other than Holly, holding the same dagger that Kharis had been using. She twirled it and it turned back into her stele. Zephyrus looked at her, though he couldn’t exactly act surprised. Holly snapped her fingers and Emmaline, with another goon, walked over with Lola tied up. Emmaline placed Zephyrus’ stele in Holly’s hand. “I should’ve known,” Zephyrus slurred, “You never forgave me. So you’re working with my sister.”

Holly raised an eyebrow, a smirk on her face. “Me and Astraya have always been best friends.”

“You’re an i***t,” Zephyrus said plainly.

“I’m not the one bleeding to death,” Holly said angrily.

“I told you that Dexter had made me do what I did. He blackmailed me. Or better yet, I should say, she blackmailed me. Astraya killed Dexter and took his place,” Zephyrus said.

“That’s how I knew you’re full of s**t,” Holly said.

“I never lied to you about that,” Zephyrus looked at her.

“If you say so,” She said, snapping her fingers.

Two more of her goons picked up Ajax. Holly leaned in close to Zephyrus, looking into his piercing blue eyes that were slowly fading, “It’s sad.”

She chucked his stele on the floor. It shattered to pieces.

Zephyrus felt his magic leave him, though he couldn’t tell if it was because his stele was broken or because he was dying.

Holly smiled sadly at him, before saying:

“You really were so beautiful.”

Zephyrus couldn’t hold out any longer. His friends had been carried away. He watched as Holly walked away, leaving him all alone in the empty warehouse. His eyes grew heavy.

Then the whole world went black.