12 11: Serenity

I drove through the night, only stopping to buy some energy drinks. Naya lies sprawled out in the back seat of my 4Runner and I occasionally glance back to check on her. Next stop: Washington D.C.

My target:

Name: Theodosia Martin

Age: 29

Hair: Wavy Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Occupation: Drug runner for the Underground and a prostitute. One four month old son

She's the next drug leg for the Underground and one that can give me very useful information. Hopefully nothing will jeopardize my mission during this leg.

We finally reach the outskirts of D.C. a few hours after the sun rose.. After stopping for some coffee I head towards the Hamilton Hotel. Pulling into the parking lot I find a spot that is covered in shadows.

While pulling my bags out of the trunk Naya wakes up and looks over the seat at me.

"I'm sorry girl but you can't come in yet."

She whimpers but remains in the back seat.

"Don't worry pretty girl. I'll be back soon."

Locking the car I walk into the lobby and quickly locate the front desk.

"Hi! Welcome to the Hamilton Hotel!" The lady at the front desk greets me. "How may I help you?" She sweetly asks.

"I was wondering if I can book a room here," I respond. A quick glance at her nametag tells me her name is Lydia.

"No problem sweetie! Do you know how long you're going to be in town for?"

"I'm not sure. Right now I'm in town for business so my time frame is very loose," I answer honestly.

"Okay then." Lydia quickly types some things into her computer. "Can I get your name and what type of room you prefer?"

"Serenity Alacritas and is it possible to get a room with two beds in it? I like a little bit of room to spread out."

"Of course sweetheart. Now, how do you spell your last name?" The question wasn't unusual. It had taken me awhile to get the spelling down.

"A-L-A-C-R-I-T-A-S," I spell out.

"Here you go! I put you in room 1128. Just follow the signs and when you reach the elevator head to floor 11," she instructs.

"Thank you so much ma'am." I smile sweetly at her and begin heading towards the elevator.

"Hold on just a moment honey!" She calls after me.

I pause and turn back towards the front desk. "Yes?"

"If you need anything feel free to ask for me. My names Lydia and I'll be working here most of the week. Okay sweetie?" Lydia asks. It's nice to meet someone who cares about the people they meet.

"I will!" I reassure her. "Thanks again for your help ma'am."

"Anytime honey!"

I make my way towards the elevator passing some of the guests as I go.

'What are they looking at?' I ask myself. I do a quick scan and notice there's a little bit of a shadow blade poking out of my pocket. 'Darn it.' Zipping my pocket shut it disappears back where it belongs.

Once I reach the elevator I press the button for the eleventh floor and begin the long ride up. Unfortunately, they have some bad music playing in the elevator which makes the ride feel like it takes forever.

After the long torturous ride I finally reach my floor. Stepping out of the elevator I locate the signs telling me where to head and turn right down the hallway. A few doors down from me one of the hotel room doors open and a lady steps out, I take a few more steps and see that it's Theodosia.

I turn into the small room with the ice machine and wrap myself with shadows. There's a chance she could know my face and I'm not going to risk her seeing me yet. The Underground could have my face and powers handed out to everyone that works for them. One look at me and she could run for fear of her and her son's life.

While waiting on Theodosia to leave, a sudden memory overtakes me: the day I first used my powers.

...

It was a hot sunny day. We were still living in Phoenix at the time so I couldn't have been more than a few years old.

I was playing outside our house under the shade of a large tree. After a while a little girl in a dress came out of nowhere and started playing with me. Her face had no distinguishable features and looking back I realize that it was a shadow puppet. One I made without even realizing it. We sat there talking for a long time playing with my dolls. Eventually, night fell and Momma called us in.

"Serenity! Come on in for dinner! You can bring your friend with you too!" She called from the front porch.

"I's coming!" I pull up the little girl by her hands and we walk towards the house together.

When we reach the doorway she stops and refuses to go any further. I pull her in and the second she hit the bright lights of our house she disintegrates into nothing. Small burns cover my hands and I scream at the sight of them.

"Serenity! What's wrong?" Momma runs over and holds onto me, making sure I'm okay.

Shadows burst out of me, one of them stabbing her in the hip. Momma stumbles back in pain as shadow armor surrounds me. There was nothing running through my mind but keeping myself safe. Dad emerged from the kitchen to see Momma kneeling on the floor trying to staunch the bleeding and me sitting right inside the doorway protected by my shadows. He pulls the phone off the counter and makes a phone call.

The words are hushed and I don't hear anything except 'Serenity', 'meta', and 'need help'.

I remain on the floor and mutely look up as David enters the house. He rushes over to Momma and works on healing her wound.

Once Momma's hip has been healed, they turn their attention towards me. David tries breaking through my shield but he only succeeds in causing the shadows to lash out and slice at his hands.

I remain in my little shield of shadows for a few more hours before gaining my senses and letting it drop. I crawl into Momma's arms and fall asleep there.

...

I snap to my senses my the ice machine. Poking my head out of the doorway, I make sure the coast is clear before heading to my room. Once I locate room 1128 I swipe the key card, enter, and lock the door behind me.

The room itself is fairly nice. It has a small living room type area with a sofa, TV, and a couple chairs. There's a small kitchen that I can work with to make mine and Naya's meals in if I have to. The beds are both large and there's plenty of room for us to spread out in.

I open the closet door and place my suitcases inside. Walking over to the window I notice that it can be opened.

'Guess it will be easier than I thought to get Naya in here.' I think to myself as I walk to the door. I place the Do Not Disturb sign on the door handle and head back over to the window.

Making sure no one is around to see me I open the window and form shadow stairs down to the ground. Running over to the 4Runner, I unlock the door and wake Naya up.

"Come on pretty girl. I got us a room."

She immediately perks up at the sound of my voice and greets me with a lick on my face.

I laughed. "I missed you too. Now come on. We don't have much time."

Naya jumps out of car and I lock it behind her. We run over to where my shadow stairs are still intact and I coax her up. She goes up a few stairs and stalls, whimpering at me.

"You can do it," I tell her. "We just need to get up them quickly."

She refuses to budge and I sigh in frustration. In one quick move I create a small rabbit out of shadows. It immediately catches Naya's attention and she starts following it. I let it quickly move up the stairs and she bounds after it.

We make it to the room quickly and I dissolve the stairs and rabbit before shutting the window. Naya looks up at me with sad eyes because her target disappeared.

"You can go out tomorrow. You'll just have to stay out of the city while you're hunting," I assure her. "Now let's get some sleep. I've got stuff to do tomorrow."

I lie down on the bed and Naya curls up behind me. The last thing I feel before falling asleep is a single tear running down my face.

...

I wake up the next day and look over at the clock.

"It's 4 o'clock?! I need to get to work."

I roll out of bed and head towards the bathroom to get ready.

Slipping into Shadow's outfit, I pull my hair up and silently climb out the window. I make my way across the rooftops to where the transaction should be taking place. A few minutes later, I reach the garage.

I scan all the levels and find Theodosia on the third one handing off the packages to a man. His face is covered and he's wearing all black. Silently, I wait in the shadows until they're done with the transaction. Theodosia gets in a car and pulls out. I trail her from the rooftops until she reaches her house just outside of town.

Watching from the roof of her neighbor's house, I see Theodosia pull her son out of his crib and prepare a bottle for her. Not wanting to scare him and alert the neighbors I stay in place until she's done feeding him. Once he's securely in his crib I make my move.

I jump across the alley dividing the two houses and grab a hold of a window ledge. Using my shadows to pry it open, I slip inside and silently close the window. I make my way downstairs, making sure to remain as silent as possible. Once I reach the lower level, I see Theodosia moving around in the kitchen.

"Who's the person who gives you the drugs you run?" I demand. She slowly turns around and looks at me.

"So, you finally came," she says in a slow drawn out manner.

"What do you mean by that?" This was one thing I was definitely not expecting. For her to know I was coming was not a good thing. That could mean everyone else I'm going after knew of my existence and I could fail before even getting started.

She sighs. "I mean I knew someone would eventually find out about what I do on the side and try stopping me. Just wasn't expecting someone so young."

"Young? You're not that much older than me by the looks of it."

"You haven't seen everything this world can do to someone. It scars you in ways you'd never think possible." Theodosia walks over to one of the cabinets and grabs a glass. She pulls a bottle from another cabinet and pours herself a drink. "So what are you here for anyway? To take me into the authorities? Kill me? Use my son as leverage?"

"None of those. I just want to know who's above you. Who's the leg that passes everything down to you?" I ask one last time.

"Name's Hank Davis. Shows up here every couple weeks. Let me go grab his file for ya."

I watch as Theodosia walks out of the kitchen, drink in hand, and pulls something out from under her sofa.

"Here it is. Everything you need to know about him is in here. From what I get and what's given to me, the guys a real asshole. Don't trust anything he says until you get the file." She stares me dead in the eye. "Why are you doing this?"

"The Underground took everyone I've ever loved from me and I need to know why," I answer. "You are one of the few leads I've had and I'm making the most of it."

Theodosia presses the file into my hands. "Please stop them. Or try getting me out of their system. I never wanted this life and I need to protect my son."

"I promise you I'll get you out. But make sure to keep your head down and if you see this man don't give him any indication there's something wrong. Otherwise, your son won't know his momma." I say. "Stay low and I'll get you out of this as soon as possible."

"Thank you. Now please, head out. You staying here for long could be dangerous. And good luck on your mission," She tells me.

"Thanks. I'll try getting back here soon enough." With that I run upstairs and out the window I came in.

I don't rush back to the hotel but instead go around D.C. for a little bit and take in the sights. Once I get a little tired I settle down on the Treasury's roof.

"This is the peace I wish I had in my life," I say out loud. "The calm quiet that everything's going to be okay. Once the Demon Lord is dead, everything will be the way it was."

I remain on top of the Treasury for a little while longer before making my way back to the Hamilton. Since it was dark I had no problem sneaking in my window.

Naya was curled up asleep on one of the beds. I changed into some more comfortable clothes, grabbed some fruit from the kitchen and sat down to start reading about my new target.

Name: Hank Davis

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Age: 27

Hair: Brown with blue up front

Eyes: Green

Additional Information: Lives with fiancé. Suspected that he abuses her into silence about his activities.