Chapter 3
1371 Words
Rain blurred everything—faces, shapes, even time itself. Elena’s ears rang from the gunshot.
Someone was on the ground.
Her eyes adjusted through the storm. Clara lay sprawled against the wet pavement, clutching her shoulder. Blood seeped between her fingers.
“No!” Elena dropped beside her. “Stay with me!”
Clara’s face twisted with pain, but her voice was steady. “It wasn’t him. It wasn’t Daniel.”
Elena’s head snapped up.
Marcus stood with his smoking gun.
“You shot her?” Elena screamed.
Marcus’s face hardened. “I saved you. She isn’t what you think.”
Daniel lunged forward, fury blazing. “You’ve lost your mind!”
The woman in black grabbed Marcus’s arm, forcing his weapon down. “Not here. The Council’s watching.”
Elena’s chest heaved. “What are you talking about?”
The woman leaned closer, her voice calm, chilling. “This wasn’t about your sister. This was about you. You’re the target now.”
Elena’s breath caught in her throat. “Me?”
Daniel reached for her, his hand shaking. “Elena, I swear I never wanted this. They dragged me into it years ago.”
Clara groaned, clutching her wound. “Don’t believe him. He’s theirs.”
Marcus wiped rain from his face, spitting blood. “He delivered her once. He’ll deliver you, too.”
Elena staggered to her feet, the gun still heavy in her hand. “Everyone keeps talking in circles. Someone tell me why they want me!”
The woman in black’s lips curved into a smile. “Because you’re the only one who can replace your sister.”
Elena’s stomach dropped. “Replace her?”
Daniel’s eyes widened with horror. “Don’t say it.”
The woman ignored him. “The Council chooses heirs. Clara failed. You. You’ll succeed.”
Lightning cracked above, illuminating the alley. Clara dragged herself up against the wall, her voice breaking. “Don’t let them take you. Don’t let them make you what they made me.”
Elena’s hands trembled. “What did they make you?”
Clara’s face twisted, eyes dark. “A weapon.”
The word hung in the air like a curse.
Marcus turned on Daniel. “You knew. You knew they’d come for her.”
Daniel’s voice cracked. “That’s why I tried to protect her!”
Elena snapped. “Protect me? By lying? By giving me that note? By hiding what happened to Clara?”
Daniel stepped closer, desperate. “I lied because I love you, Elena. Because if you knew the truth, you’d hate me forever.”
The woman in black’s blade glinted in the stormlight. “Enough. She’s coming with us.”
She lunged for Elena.
Daniel intercepted, grabbing the woman’s wrist. The blade clattered to the ground. Marcus kicked it away, but chaos erupted again—shouts, rain, the struggle of shadows against shadows.
Clara clutched Elena’s hand, whispering through clenched teeth. “Run while they’re fighting. Run, and don’t look back.”
Elena’s pulse hammered. But she didn’t move. Not yet.
Her eyes locked on Daniel, who pinned the woman to the wall. He turned, rain streaming down his face, his voice raw.
“Elena—if you run now, you’ll never know the truth about me.”
Clara yanked her arm. “Don’t listen! Run before they take you too!”
Tears stung Elena’s eyes. She was trapped between love and blood, between lies and family.
And then, from deeper in the alley, headlights flared.
A black van screeched to a halt.
Masked figures poured out.
The woman in black smiled, even pinned against the wall. “They’re here.”
Daniel’s face drained of colour. “No. Not now.”
The masked men surged forward.
Elena froze, her heart torn in two.
“Clara!” she screamed.
“Daniel!” she screamed again.
The gun shook in her hand, but she couldn’t choose.
The masked men closed in.
One of them whispered through the storm:
“Bring her to the Council.”
The masked men closed in, their footsteps heavy in the rain. Elena gripped the gun tighter, but her body wouldn’t move. Clara clung to her, trembling. Daniel stood between them and the approaching figures, chest heaving.
The woman in black smirked, even restrained. “This was inevitable. The Council always gets what it wants.”
Marcus snarled, stepping forward, fists clenched. “Over my dead body.”
The leader of the masked men spoke, his voice muffled but commanding.
“Then that can be arranged.”
Daniel spun, grabbing Elena’s arm. “We have one chance. Trust me.”
Elena’s voice cracked. “Why should I?”
“Because I know what they’ll do to you if they take you.” His eyes burned into hers. “I’ve seen it.”
Before she could answer, the masked men rushed. Daniel shoved her and Clara behind him, fighting two at once. Marcus tackled another, rage fueling every blow.
The woman in black slipped free from Daniel’s earlier hold and moved straight for Elena.
“Elena, don’t fight it,” she whispered, her knife glinting. “This is where you belong.”
Clara shoved Elena aside, taking the blade across her already wounded shoulder. She screamed, collapsing.
Elena fired the gun without thinking. The shot missed—but the woman retreated, laughing.
Chaos exploded. The alley became a battlefield. Masked men swarmed Marcus, forcing him to the ground. Daniel fought like a man possessed, brutal and desperate.
Elena dragged Clara behind a dumpster, her hands slick with her sister’s blood. “Stay with me, Clara. Please.”
Clara’s face was pale, her eyes fading. “Don’t let them take you. Promise me…”
Elena’s throat closed. “I promise.”
But a shadow fell over them. A masked figure yanked Elena up, wrenching the gun from her hand. She thrashed, screamed, but his grip was iron.
Daniel saw, his face contorting with panic. “Elena!”
He broke free, slamming his attacker into the wall, racing toward her.
But the leader of the masked men raised a hand, and the others pulled back. The fight stopped as suddenly as it began.
The leader stepped closer, removing his mask.
Elena froze.
It wasn’t a stranger. It was her father.
“Dad?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
His face was calm, cold, nothing like the man she remembered. “Elena. You shouldn’t have come looking. But now that you’re here. You’ll take your rightful place.”
Daniel’s eyes widened, horror washing over him. “No… You told me she was never supposed to know!”
Her father’s gaze shifted to Daniel. “And you disobeyed me. You fell in love with her. That was never part of the plan.”
Elena’s world cracked open. “What… what are you saying?”
Her father’s hand reached for her cheek, almost tender. “You were born for the Council, Elena. Clara was only the trial run.”
Clara coughed violently, her voice raw. “Don’t… believe him…”
Her father glanced at her with disdain. “You were weak. You broke. Elena won’t.”
Daniel shook his head violently. “She’s not yours anymore. She’s mine.”
Her father’s eyes darkened. “Then you’ve sealed your fate.”
Two masked men grabbed Daniel, forcing him to his knees. He struggled, blood pouring from a cut on his face.
“Elena, don’t listen!” he shouted. “He’ll destroy you, just like he destroyed Clara!”
Elena’s body trembled. Her father’s words, Clara’s pain, Daniel’s desperate plea—every truth and lie colliding inside her.
The woman in black moved beside her father, smiling. “Time to choose, Elena. The Council or them.”
Her father extended his hand. “Come with me, daughter. Take your place.”
Clara’s weak voice broke through the rain. “Elena… don’t.”
Daniel’s hoarse scream followed. “Elena, fight it!”
Her heart pounded. Her hand hovered, torn between blood and love, family and betrayal.
Then her father leaned in, whispering words that shattered her soul:
“Your sister was never supposed to survive. I let her live to draw you out.”
Elena’s scream pierced the storm.
- Writer
