A Gift from the Goddess

Book Two - Ch.#3 Darkness... Darkness, a damp surface and an overwhelming metallic taste greeted me.

| knew what it was before | even opened my eyes, my last memories immediately remindingto what had happened. Or, at least, what had happened before I'd lost consciousness. Shaking, | pulled my exhausted body upright to see the damage for myself. ... To see the massacre And it was a sight that madewant to throw up.

Bodies laid everywhere around me. Throats torn, claw and bite marks riddling their skin.

No one had survived.

No one had survived *me*.

I'd let it happen again, too weak to stop it. If i'd just regained control sooner, | could have gotten back up to my feet and finished them off, completing the mission per my instructions. But... no, | was a failure. A disappointment.

A monster.

The first tsomething like this had occurred was about four years ago, after my eighteenth birthday. I'd been in a training session with my former tutor, practising during an intense fighting session, when I suddenly felt the sickening change within. ‘Former’ tutor being the key word. They hadn't survived.

Ever since then, it had felt like a constant battle inside myself. Pushing down the creature lurking below the surface, hoping more than anything that | didn’t lose control again. Because whilst | was used to death in my line of work, the sheer destructive energy of the wolf beast was so unhinged that it was too unpredictable to be of any benefit. It was something | had no power over.

That... and | was worried about what would happen if anyone ever found out the truth. Saw wiat | truly was.

And a shudder went down my spine at that very thought. However, right now, | needed to concentrate on damage control. | couldn’t bring Miles back to bir and | knew that | would need to face the punishment of that failure - face *his* punishment. But for now... for now | needed to clean up. And there was only one person to call for that. Crawling along the ground, | began searching for the burner phone I'd concealed on my person earlier. | knew it would most likely be wherever my clothes had been torn to shreds but prayed it hadn't been broken during the lapse. Thankfully, | managed to find it after sunpleasant digging *Hello?” sung an overly positive volce on the other side, picking up after only two rings. | wisud at trvir greeting, finding it so out of place given the grim scene surrounding me.

“Zac,” | replied. My voice was completely serious, hoping he'd pick up on the less than subtle hint.

“Rae? Is that you, girl?” Sigh.

“Yes. I've got a level five situation at the construction site on Smith Street. Immediate assistance is required,” “W-wait, what? A level fi—,” “Yes. See you soon.” And | instantly hung up the phone, slumping myself back against a pile of building materials, too exhausted to do anything else.

For now, | would need to wait.

And wait | did for the next thirty minutes before a van finally pulled up on the scene, a lanky young man with blonde hair getting out from the driver's seat to assess his surroundings.

Though after taking only one look at the mess around me, his face instantly paled.

“Oh, God, Rae... Gross,” he started. “You weren't kidding about the level five. It's been a while since you've left such a gory scene behind and | can’t say I've missed it.” He walked behind to the boot of his van and opened it up to retrieve what he needed. The first item being gloves which he promptly equipped. Zac was a professional, after all.

He originally had been working for his parent's cleaning company for a few years, one that specialised in crscenes, and naturally we'd crossed paths with one another given my line of work. Before long, he was operating closely with our own company, treating us with a customer priority regardless of the tof day or how bad the mess was - no questions asked, of course. My boss took a shine to him and he was eventually brought in full tas one of our own employees. Though somehow, in those years of us seeing each other, Zac had wrongly begun to asswe were much closer than we were. That this was more than a working relationship and, in fact, a friendship. “...Hey, | thought this one was meant to be brought in alive,” he added, grabbing more equipment. “Why go to the effort of making it look like an animal attack?” Because it was one.

But | didn’t reply, the subject still too touchy right now. Instead, | merely gritted my teeth silently. “And do you have to do it while naked?” he continued, still not reading my mood. “Girl, if this is skind of weird kink then | feel bad for anyone you sleep with.” Feeling done with the conversation, | stood up and began walking towards him. | didn’t have the patience for his questions anymore and wanted to return home. “Did you bringsclothes?” | asked, still not addressing his last statement.

He laughed at my unwillingness to talk and turned back to the van to retrieve what | needed. “Yeah, yeah, here.

Lighten up, I'm just joking with you.” | quickly grabbed the clothes and started pulling them on, hating how they clung touncomfortably. All | could think about was how badly | wanted a shower, hoping to wash away at least sof my frustration along with the blood. “Still so cold with me,” he sighed tically in feint offence, a hand over his heart. But | just muttered a ‘thanks’ and left towards where I'd parked a car earlier in the day.

The plan had been to drive off with Miles as soon as I'd knocked him unconscious, handing him over before anyone was made aware. What a disaster that had turned into.

Zac was still laughing behindas | left, but it was as I'd walked a few feet that | suddenly heard him abruptly stop, almost as if pausing in thought. “Oh... and Raven?” he called out.

His tone of voice had changed, the humour absent from where it had been only moments before. And, reluctantly, | turned around to face him.

| could see how his eyes now held a sharpness to them, an intelligence there that madefreeze. Not the jokester, buddy-buddy friend that he'd acted as upon his arrival, but the kind of man who could hide your body without leaving even a drop of evidence behind.

The real face of Zac Greene.

| didn’t speak, instead just continuing to meet his gaze unwavering as he spoke. “...The boss wants to see you,” he informed me. This had to be a joke. | couldn’t see how this day could get any worse.

“You told him?” “You know all scenes higher than a level three need to be reported,” he said. “You wouldn't be able to hide it from him forever. He's your old man, after all.” | knew it would be reported eventually but | just hadn't expected it to be so soon. I'd thought that I'd at least have stto collect my thoughts before facing him. To have a moment to breathe and calm down.

Because to throwinside a cage and be told to fight to the death would be far less terrifying than facing him.

Than facing *my father*.

He was the boss of our company and one of the most influential men in our entire country. A businessman with aworth higher than any one person should need... and a less than honest means of acquiring that status. Only a man such as him would make deals in the form of death and deceit. Whatever was good for business, no matter the cost. God forbid you ever crossed him unless you wanted to find yourself in a situation like Miles was in no | swallowed back my nerves, feeling anxious for the first tin many months. The feeling of fear inside the deepest depth of my gut, makinghave to work harder to reign in the sensations threatening to overwhelm me. To remind myself of my training and keep calm.

It would be fine though. He was my father. Id just... explain to him that it happened again. That they got the drop onand tookunaware. That | lost control. But | groaned internally at that thought. | was meant to be better than this... and he would know it. No, | would need to face my punishment. “Don’t look so grim, Rae,” Zac said, his face easing into a friendly smile once more. “It's not the end of the world.” And | could only hope that was true.