Chapter 1: "I'm Going To Fucking Kill Him"

I screwed up.

No. No, I did not. Have a little faith in yourself, Sage! You didn't screw up. There's no way.

That guy you recognized from the agency wasn't here for you. He was probably sent on a mission here in Pyrn. Despite being a small town tucked away in a remote corner, there are bound to be plenty of corrupt men and women with a cross above their heads.

I sighed while staring out of the small, stained window of the little cabin stationed on the edge of the valley surrounding Pyrn. Who am I trying to fool? Not only corrupt people were a target. If there was money to be made for him, it didn't matter whose life was lost.

A stared at my hands. They were clean but still covered in blood. Blood of both the guilty, as the innocent. I hated that innocent had bled by my hands.

My hand found its way toward the small necklaces around my neck. Three necklaces in total. The letter J, the letter A, and a little granite cylinder. The necklaces with the letters were old. The silver they're made of wasn't shining as bright as once before, and a few little emerald stones decorating the letters were missing.

I sighed before looking out the window again. I frowned when I thought I saw someone lurking in the bushes outside my hideout. My chest tightened, thinking about all the possibilities. I closed my eyes to calm myself. When I was calm again, I opened my eyes again, but the man lurking in the bushes was gone.

I sighed in relief, but I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in my stomach. After some consideration, I decided to investigate. Maybe I was working myself up for nothing. Maybe the man was simply collecting berries for a pie.

I groaned.

Now I'm craving pie.

Good thinking, Sage. Making yourself crave things you can't have.

While rolling my eyes, I grabbed my coat from the lonely chair in the room and made my way outside. The wind that was howling this afternoon was fierce, just like rain was drizzling around me, dropping the already cold temperature.

I wrapped my arms around myself as I let my eyes scan my surroundings. I glanced over my shoulder when I thought I heard something behind me. But there was nothing to see. I frowned, I swear I heard something.

The feeling in my chest that something was grew, but I brushed it off.

It's probably nothing. I'm just paranoid from recognizing that man a couple of hours ago. I mean, who wouldn't be if their freedom was at stake?

I left out a painful groan when I got jammed into the wall of the cabin.

"What the-"

"Look who we have here. Risen from the death, Sage?"

My body completely froze, and my heart was pounding painfully in my chest. No. I recognized that husky voice. No, this was not happening. This was not happening!

I kicked behind me. My foot came in contact with his shins, hard. He groaned in pain. I took the opportunity to spin myself out of his hold and bared my teeth angry at the dark-haired guy with the amber eyes standing in front of me.

"Jason," I said. All emotions, except annoyance and anger, drained from my voice.

"Well, hello to you too, little sis."

"O, fuck off! How did you find me? But most importantly, why were you even looking for me? I'm supposed to be dead!"

"Yeah, I can see that," Jason said while rolling his eyes. "You're as dead a fucking doornail."

I spun around to see yet another group of four guys blocking my way out.

"Nah-a-ah," Jason said in a singsong voice. "I thought you would've tried to run, so I brought some backup." I groaned and spun back around to face my brother dearest.

"Wait… Those four dumbasses are all the backup you got? You do remember it's me, right?" I tilled my head sideways and stared at my older brother. Well, adoptive brother.

"Oh, Sage," he chuckled before going all serious on me by giving me a death stare. A stare that would mirror my own facial expression. "Let's just say you're in for a pleasant surprise later." I just rolled my eyes at his response.

"This is her?" I heard one of the guys behind me ask. The disbelief in his voice could be heard from miles away. I rolled my eyes, annoyed.

"Yes! Now shut up, you pool table!"

"How, rude."

I rolled my eyes, the same as Jason. I sighed and rubbed my cold, wet face, glancing over Jason's shoulder, and my eyes widened while I pointed behind him.

"What now?" he asked, annoyed.

"There is this huge ass pink elephant behind you!"

"Do you think I'm dumb enough to fall for that stupid move?"

I shrugged. "Ever seen your face? Nothing looks dumber than that." Jason gritted his teeth and lunged at me. I quickly jumped out of the way and gave him a kick in his back, which caused him to stumble slightly. The guys blocking my exit chuckled. Jason shut them right up by giving them the angriest glare. I rolled my eyes and twirled the end of my ponytail around my finger. "That's everything you've got?"

Jason growled at me and lunged a second time. This time I had to dodge quite a few punches. But like I said. I dodged them. Well... most of them.

Jason got a triumphant smirk on his stupid face when he punched me on the nose. It didn't break, but it was bleeding badly nonetheless.

"Fuck," I muttered and stumbled back into the brick wall behind me. I brushed the ruby blood from my nose onto my sleeve. Trying to stop the bleeding. Jason took the opportunity to tower over me. His hands-on both sides next to my head, against the wall. Caging me.

"Look who's defeated now," Jason whispered in my ear. The stupid smirk never left his face.

"O, please. I went easy on you. And... who even said I'm defeated?" I stared directly into his amber eyes. No single emotion was on my face. It was blank. A true Pokerface. Just like it always was.

I knew what I was about to do was a really low blow. But then again, my freedom was at stake. I'd rather be free because of my next move than stuck at the Agency again and being forced to end people's lives. I despise it more than anything. I was good at it. The best of the best, but that doesn't mean I enjoyed the killing. And being back there...

Oh, He's is going to go wrong on me.

So, I brought my leg up and kicked Jason as hard as I possibly could in the family jewels. He doubled over in pain, and I took the opportunity to jump over him and run away as fast as I could.

Well... That was the plan, at least.

A loud bang filled the air, a cry of pain left my lips as I tumbled to the ground. I was bleeding heavily and in fucking pain. I bared my teeth angry and looked directly at one of Jason's backup Twatheads.

He fucking shot me.

Even Jason looked angry at the blonde guy but didn't say anything because even he knew that that was indeed the only way to stop me. Or at least slow me down.

I stumbled up from the dirty, wet ground and groaned in pain. I was bleeding badly, but I had to move on. I suppressed the pain and started running again. I had to endure worse—nothing I couldn't handle. Jason growled annoyed, and a second bang filled the air. This time the bullet hit me in my leg, and yet again, I took a nasty ass tumble... into a muddy puddle.

Of-fucking-course

I'm going to fucking kill this guy, and this time I am going to enjoy it.

"Fucking again?!" Jason shouted in disbelief at the guy with an absolute death wish who shot me twice!

"She was running away, man! I fucking shot her in the torso, and she was running away, not even a minute later!" The guy tried to defend himself. Well, if you'd ask me that was a lousy excuse. But then again, no one is asking me anything.

"Give it to me," Jason said sternly while he held out his hand for the gun. The guy mumbled something under his breath and handed over his weapon. Jason came walking towards me. I was having trouble breathing because of blood loss. He crouched down in front of me and disabled the gun. I watched as the remaining bullets fell into the mud beneath us.

"This is for making me believe you were dead for three whole months."

And with that said, he knocked me unconscious with the fucking gun.