A MARK OR A RUDOLPH?

A MARK OR A RUDOLPH?

[LILY's POV]

'Lily Rudolph'? I thought to myself and felt dirty. I had always admired the name 'Rudolph' – it was actually beyond an admiration. It was a longing, it was a craving, it was an earnest desire. I have devoted all of my life to making sure that I would earn the name 'Rudolph'.

Currently, I am a Mark – my maternal grandfather's name -and after seeing Martha on that hospital bed last night, I said a needed bye to ever being a Rudolph. My father is the famous Czech Rudolph and my mother, the beautiful Taylor Mark. My mother never knew my dad was a married man when she was going out with him. He was the love of her life but my father was a born bloody womanizer and was not head over heels on my mum as she was for him. She got to know of his affair or in proper terms ''marriage'' from the television while scrolling through stations, on a certain day she was relaxing in her small room in Otaya. Displayed on the television was my dad with his wife, Caro Rudolph announcing their latest purchase, the biggest building in the whole of Naylatan, happily. She was pregnant with me and had no idea till she swerved and fainted a particular day she was at work.

When she knew she was with child and was a month gone, she cried a lot because she had ended things with my dad a month ago and he had accepted it like it was normal and my mum feel like a loser. She had detested herself for ever getting involved with him but she could not bring herself to hate him. She raised me on her own and I can always remember her saying ''You are a Rudolph but for now, you must be a Mark. The time would come when you would be a Rudolph and have all you desire''.

I remember always wonder why I was the only one without a father. Whenever school projects came up in school, my dad was always excluded from mine and my class mates would make heavy fun of me. I was bullied constantly because I was myopic and wore huge concave and diverging lenses as a child and whenever I returned from school, I would cry in the arms of my mother and ask for my father so he could protect me. She tried to do her best for me and tried filling up the space of my dad but an unfulfilled space never seemed to fill.

She could not provide it all for me and decided that me being a Rudolph would be the best thing for me. She found a way to reach my dad and told him all about me. He accepted me but it was not because he was thrilled by the idea of having a child but disgusted at the fact that he was not careful enough and had a child outside of his 'happy' matrimonial home. I was so happy when my mum told me I was going to be staying with my dad, I was so excited and felt like all my worries were far from me, having no idea that they just began.

The condition for my being a Rudolph was for my mother to totally give me up and that was what she did – she gave me up. I cried so many times when I got to the house and they would not let me see my mum. The supposed dad I had always wanted never cared for me and was not interested in my existence. He treated his other children well and I was always the odd ball. His wife did not also let me live a peaceful life and was constantly breathing down my neck like a bitch that she is. I did not know what to do with my life and my dad did not keep his promise of being a Rudolph. I lived in the house of the Rudolph but was far from being one. The school I attended was lesser than those of his other children and my name remained Lily Mark.

One unforgettable day, some armed men came into the house and beat the crap out of my dad. His wife, children and I were so shocked and scared but could not move a muscle as we had guns to our head.

''How are you planning on clearing this mess?'', a man with too much beard asked my dad with a gun pointed at him. ''I do not know but whatever you want I would do'' my dad said in pains with a black eye, swollen lips and small blood that sputtered out of his mouth. ''We are running low on persons that can work for us Czech and we need more hands. How about one of your children, preferably, a girl?'' he suggested.

My dad looked around the room till his eyes landed on my shaking frame. ''That one!'' he exclaimed, relief evident in his voice. I looked up with teary eyes at my dad but he looked away to the face of the bearded man.

''She must be your mistress' child, if I am correct?'' the bearded man asked. ''Yes she is and she is pretty strong'' he added. ''Alright, prepare her tonight. Training would start tomorrow by 6am, she would attend the special school and would return in the evenings by 7pm. Any objections?'' he asked teasingly.

''None Sir'' my dad answered hurriedly, wanting everything to be over and almost biting off his tongue in the process.

My pain was in the fact that he had given me up so readily and without an ounce of reluctance that I was at least his blood. I had joined The Blood organization when I was just nine and had passed through rigorous situations and had trained in harsh terrains to be what I am today.

He told me after that incident, that if I kept him from being killed, in the long run, he was going to change my name and give me the recognition I deserved. I had worked restlessly day and night so that I could fulfil my mum's wish – to be a Rudolph. I had gotten into a lot of assisted killings, kidnapping, information hacking, amidst others – losing a part of my soul in the process. Being a Rudolph, sure had its perks. I would gain national recognition and beyond and even if some persons would refer to me as an act of my dad's sheer carelessness, there did still be a tremble to them to do my biddings because I am Czech Rudolph's blood.

Martha Jordan was supposed to be my last mission before finally becoming a Rudolph but seeing Martha being injured severely by Zach Manny, a level four combatant of The Blood, I knew I had to make a step that could either make or mar me.

I vividly remember the day I was told of Martha. I happened to just be returning from an operation. I was sent with some other team members to steal gold worth almost the whole of Naylatan from Mr David Ryan at a party. The party was a huge party to celebrate Mr David's day of birth. He was just turning fifty one and many persons were invited – some governors in Naylatan, politicians, top government officials, top business men and women, mafia lords and ladies, cult rulers and very powerful men. I was Lord Kayden's escort for the night – this whole operation had been planned about three months before the eventful day, so three months ago, I had already made kmown myself to Mr Kayden who seems to have a soft spot for women who came off as super independent and super submissive. I had to act like a weak female – a character I am not – so he could take interest in me, which he did and we hit things off. When it was time for Mr David's party, him asking me to be his escort, came naturally and so I was. During the party, I had met up with the others who came through different parts of the building – the chimney, tunnel, basement and other areas that were not chipped, bugged or guarded; we hit things off and carted away with the gold. I left Mr Kayden, whom I guess was liking a little too much, my fake personality and I heard he has been trying to look for me. He would never find me though.

I was just coming back from this stressful and time consuming operation and was sprawled on my bed, after reporting to headquarters when I had a soft but firm knock at the door. I tiredly dragged myself to the door and on opening it, I came to face my dad with a smile on his face – that was the most weird thing to happen to me. I am currently twenty and for eleven years that I had lived in that house, I had never seen or heard him venture to that part of the mansion and seeing him not just there but also at my door meant that whatever it was, was as serious as my existence.

I welcomed him to my room and after trying to coat words for a while, he handed me a file. He told me that this would be my last mission and then I would be qualified to be a Rudolph because the whole of The Blood was going to recognize me once I succeed and I would have made a huge name for myself and be worthy of being a Rudolph. He had even hugged me and told me to be careful. This had me worried and excited at once – worried that this must be a very dangerous mission and excited because my dad was finally showing an interest in me.

When he left the room, I opened the file and read about the girl and the details of my job description. My job description was to be the girl's friend and also take up the same course she was offering in school so I could be close to her and have maximum information on everything that goes on in her life. As much as the idea of a normal school sounded appealing, the idea of walking out here in the open was a little disturbing for me coupled with the duration of the mission.

The duration of my past missions were about a day, three days, a month and the highest it has ever been is five months but going to the same school as this so called Martha Jordan meant it was likely I did be on this mission till she finished in three years' time. I was to help someone live her life for the next three years, no wonder why I could become a Rudolph afterward. My dad was expecting me to reject the mission because of the terms and conditions and was shocked when I accepted but I have gone too far to give up now. The name my mum has always desired for me would finally be mine.

The day I met Martha for the first time, it was totally by coincidence. I had decided on the girlish role I was going to put up with to fit into Martha's genre after reading her personality traits in the file and when I had gone registering that day, her helping me with my papers was a sure coincidence. As she handed me my books and papers, I almost dropped it on seeing her face because even though that was my first time of seeing her, I had become very acquainted with her face.

Since I had received that file, I had printed her pictures and pasted it on different parts of my room and gym centre. Whenever I wake up, I get to see the nature green eyed girl who I was going to destroy, pasted on my ceiling and I would reach for my bow and arrow and target her head in the picture. Whenever I was shadow boxing, I would have her in my head and picture myself hitting her repeatedly, so there was no way I could not recognize her immediately and extend friendship to her. she had accepted rather quickly and I felt like it was either she was love deprived in the family she was raised or she was just plain naïve but on getting to know her, I knew she was none of those and just a good person. She had always treated me like a proper human being should be treated. The amount of care and love she had shown me, I had not received such for the past eleven years of my life and it was beautiful. When she needed me to help her, I got to know that it was not a case of her seeing me as a servant or a slave or because she wanted something from me but because she was just being herself. She loved me. I battled with so much emotions in my head most nights and I was still considering if she was worth leaving the organization for but now I know better after the attack last night. They had somehow found out I was slacking on some information and felt like I was being careless, so they sent Zach Manny, a level five combatant to teach me a lesson. Martha had jumped into the situation without a care for herself and I need not a genius to know that it was only love that could make her do such. When she was lying on the cold floor of the library, she was still trying to know if I was deeply hurt and if I was alright and my heart broke again and again because I knew I was the reason for what she was going through.

I am definitely going to play along with my dad and other members of The Blood but never again, are they going to hurt Martha. I am going to be an undiscoverable double agent