2 Chapter 2

Clarissa took her sweet time in the shower. The hot water did wonders for her nerves... Relaxing her completely and making her sigh in pleasure.

It had been two weeks since they had moved into their new home and he was yet to find her. She reveled in the peace and had spent her time talking and laughing with her sisters.

They were one big happy family, brought together by the same evil and had a bond stronger than blood.

She smiled as she remembered how they met each other.

She and Charolette had been hired to kill an ice monster in Dimension 13 when they met Sydanne, the last Elementist. She was found hiding in the sewers of the ruined city, her blue hair a mass of tangles and mud and her body covered in rags, the color of her skin hardly visible beneath the dirt and grime it had accumulated. She was terrified of Charolette and Clarissa who had seemed so evil at the time and had kept a wary eye on the sisters. In the end they became acquainted when Sydanne had frozen the giant monster and allowed them to break it into a million tiny pieces.

They met Georgie a month afterwards. She was being held captive by a few barbarians who kept her for party tricks and was about to sell her for a pretty penny. A virgin was worth a lot of Jules*. Luckily Clarissa showed those men how sharp her swords were when she separated their limbs from their body. That was a fun memory. Georgie had revealed to them that she was a witch and begged to come along saying she just had to repay her debt to them. Her magic had been useful in cloaking the girls from their enemies, but she had never recovered from what those men put her through and had stuck with the girls even after she had paid her debt in full.

Geo was a mystery. Clarissa didn't know exactly where Charolette found her and they both had kept that a well-guarded secret. Nevertheless; Geo was a wonderful person albeit a bit dark and secretive. No one but Charolette knew what she was capable of.

All in all, they were a group of misfits, a unit, a team, a family. And a few of the most talented female assassins. It was their job. One they did to earn enough money to hide but took no pleasure in.

Clarissa sighed. She hated hiding and hated the fact that he was ruling her life. She would never be able to just relax and her memories would haunt her for life. At least she found comfort in the fact that she was not alone.

She sank into the tub, submerging herself under the water, blocking out her troubles.

*******

Sydanne swam happily. She had found a waterfall that branched off into a pool of water. The majestic natural wonder was a reasonable height and was the perfect temperature. It was a deep blue and was embanked by a rocky beach with clusters of trees and undergrowth.

She was practically naked, clad in a white bikini that only covered her nipples and hardly hid the triangle between her legs before disappearing between her plum globes. To put it simply, they covered nothing and that was exactly how she liked it. She wasn't a big fan of clothes since they slowed her down in water and she hadn't seen the big need for them as a child. Where she was, there were no people to see her anyways.

She kept swimming, the water feeling like a second skin to her, playing with her like old friends do. She giggled, did a couple summersaults under water and did a few more laps. The water had always been there for her. It was a useful element to control, being full of life and able to sustain the life of another all by its self.

The sun set alerted Sydanne to the fact that she was late for dinner and she cursed silently to herself. The girls were lazy when it came to the kitchen and she never trusted them in there after that one time Geo nearly burnt their safe house down while boiling water. They would surely starve without her cooking.

She hurriedly got out of the water and grabbed her towel, drying off carefully and putting on her slippers. The had the strangest feeling in her stomach, the kind one gets when they are in danger.

The sound of a twig snapping in the bushes near by stopped her actions and she was instantly on her guard.

*******

Clarissa was worried. Sydanne was never late for dinner. Ever. She loved cooking and often claimed they'd starve without her. A claim they all backed.

She paced nervously, unable to sit still. Deep down she knew something was wrong but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Geo was sitting quietly in the living room, enjoying the television that occupied most of the wall. She was watching funny videos and seemed transfixed by the screen, that is, before Clarissa began to annoy her with her pacing and muttering. She wasn't all that worried about Sydanne. Their care free sister was probably swimming her heart out at the nearby waterfall. Geo had no problem with a late dinner and rolled her eyes at Clarissa's panicked state. Everyone deserves to relax after their ordeal and didn't blame Sydanne a bit for being late.

Georgie was having a jolly good time in the bathroom. She was trying out the coconut shampoos she had bought with her during their move and was practically drowning herself in coconut bubble bath, playing with the suds like the child she was.....

She was content to let her sorrows fade while listening to the water running from the facet, until she heard the front door open with a thud and Geo's scream echoed through the halls.

********

Sydanne gasped in surprise as someone grabbed her from behind, her arms pinned to her sides. Fear raced through her body as she was almost consumed with dread. They were here. He had found them.

"What are you doing here?" The husky voice of a male greeted her ears and she struggled against him.

"Let me go!" Her voice was dripping venom but panic was evident. She tried desperately to focus on the body of water beside her. If she could focus she could escape to her sisters. She tried desperately to remember what to do in a situation like this while trying to wiggle out of his hold.

She stepped back, crushing his foot with her heel and elbowed him as he loosed his grip on her, more out of surprise than pain.

She held her hand up frantically towards the water begging her power not to fail her as she began pulling it towards her. It rose in small balls that hardened into sharp ice crystals, surprising her a bit. It must have surprised him too because he stood there in awe, giving her enough time to calm down and shoot the hardened balls towards her attacker, using them as bullets, striking him several places including in his temple.

She took advantage of her distraction, pushing him off her and running as fast as her legs could carry her into the forest and towards the house, praying she got there on time.

********

Georgie was dragged out of the bath, kicking and screaming, by an unknown figure. He was huge and bulky in comparison to her petite frame and easily over powered her, forcing her to stand before him, her naked form inches from him.

"What are you doing in our house?!" A voice laced in anger sounded and she gasped when she realized that it was the man who had spoken.

"Please don't hurt me... Please..." She felt tears in her eyes and was a bit miffed at herself for having to show weakness. On the outside she was a frightened damsel but on the inside she was trying desperately to think her way out of this mess. She fought hard to remember her spells and almost cried harder when she realized her fright was interfering with her concentration.

"Hero, we have subdued the ones down stairs," another man appeared at the door. He hardly glanced in her direction, "get this one in some clothes and meet us down stairs. They have a lot of explaining to do."

Georgie stifled her smirk as she noticed the man at the door was limping and had a hand over a wound in his side. At least one of them had managed to fight back.

But her mind was brought back to her predicament when she felt the hand of her captor, Hero as the man called him, squeezed her shoulder, making her squeal in pain.

Hero let her go and threw her a robe, "Put this on and let's go. Try anything funny and I will hurt you."

He spoke to her as if she was nothing more than the dirt he walked on and his commanding nature made her blood boil but she obeyed him, not seeing any advantage in resisting. He clearly wasn't human and she did not know if her magic or her alchemy would work on him. She only hoped her sisters were safe and that they could come up with something that would get them all out.

He followed her down stairs, keeping a wary eye on her.

*************"

Georgie gasped at the sight she saw when she descended the stairs. The living room was in shambles. There were cracks in the walls, the door was in a broken heap on the floor and many living room fixtures laid discarded on the floor. The television had Clarissa's sword jammed straight through it and the sofa was turned over along with many other items. She ran over to Clarissa who was sprawled out on the floor, blood from an injury on her head soaking into the white carpet of the living room. No one stopped Georgie as she knelt down and pulled Clarissa into her lap, trying in vain to wake her up.

Geo however; was being held by another man as she struggled to get to her sister. She was well on her way to turning the man to ash when she saw the warning look on Georgie's face. These men didn't know about their powers and it would stay that way until they could come up with a way out.

The man holding Geo saw the look they exchanged and kept a tight grip on Geo as she calmed down. His long spiky black hair was the first thing Georgie noticed about him as well as the anger that seemed to radiate from him. Georgie decided that she feared that man.

"Now, you are going to tell us exactly what you are doing in my house," the man with the spiky hair glared at Georgie as he said this.

Georgie looked at him, puzzled, "Your house?"