Chapter 1

*Language and violence warning*

< Charlize >

The moon casts a bright light onto the snow as Charlize follows the two stumbling figures down the dark alleyways of the City of Kyzar. Despite being run by the worshipers of the King of the Underworld, the city was quite beautiful compared to the humble towns she had passed through to get here from the Mountains of Demir.

Slipping through the crack of the door, Charlize quietly follows the man and his mistress into the house. Lining the shadows of the damp, dark house. She steps quietly, going unnoticed. Awaiting the right moment. Digging her hand into her back pocket she wraps her fingers around her knife and slowly draws it from her jeans, popping it open.

She watches as the young woman seduces the fourty-year-old, slender, five foot ten man, until he's lust-driven. He mutters dirty words into the woman's ear and Charlize resists the urge to gag. She internally applauds the woman for not laughing in the man's face.

A few moments later, a giggle of delight chimes through the air and the young woman calls out. "Ready?"

"Yes, baby. I'm ready!" He drools.

"Not you," The woman cackles patting him on the shoulder and stepping away to appreciate her handy work. She smirks to see the man stripped naked and handcuffed to a chair, wide-eyed and confused.

"Come out," She turns to Charlize standing in the dark, and Charlize freezes in surprise. "I spotted you in the Tavern, I assume you're here for him."

Charlize stands up from the dark, beside the dresser and steps forward into the dim light of the fire place. Looking at the woman's face properly now she realizes the woman standing before her, in her underwear, flaming red locks covering her nipples.. was just a girl. Charlizes' heart strained. She couldn't have been more than 18 years old. It was clear this was not her first time seducing a man before, she was well versed in what she needed to do to drive a man wild and that thought alone made Charlizes want to rip the man in front of her to shreds. Little Reds' big, honey brown eyes sparkling with interest.

"What the fuck is going on here?" He begins to writhe in his chair, yanking against his cuffs.

Charlize adjusts the knife in her hand and points it at him casually, "Don't you have a wife?" She hums calmly.

"My wife sent you?" He chokes in disbelief.

"Tsk, so you DO have a wife," Charlize mutters under her breath and shakes her head in judgment.

"Listen here bitch-" He grits his teeth at her but she waves him off looking bored.

"Name-calling won't get you anywhere, Mr. Herran," pulling up a chair she spins it, facing him. Pulling her hood off and her snood down to reveal her face. His eyes widen in realisation and she shines him a toothy grin. Still cautious of the girl, she keeps an eye on her out of her peripherals.

He turns to Little Red and roars at her. "You deceived me you fucking whore-" THWACK, Charlize whips the back of her hand across his face. Her rings scrape along his skin and he howls. She waits a moment for him to recover. "I'll fucking kill you both-" THWACK, she hits him again, hard enough to make him cough blood.

"I'm going to need you to tell me the rest names of the men involved in the raid in the Demir Mountains, seven years ago."

"Slut, I don't know what the fuck you're on about-" THWACK.

"Ugh. I know you know who I am, so let's not fuck around. It's been a long night following you around and to be honest, I really don't want to talk to you for longer than I have to." Waving the Knife in his face. Pointing at little red she tips the knife towards the bed. "You. sit." Red does as she's told.

"You're going to kill me anyway so what's the fucking point, you psycho bitch."

Charlize sighs. "See, you know exactly who I am. Now, tell me why you were there that night. What were you looking for?"

"I'm not telling you shit.'' He spits the blood pooling in his mouth at her.

Charlize sits forward and grabs his cheeks in her forefinger and thumb. "Ah," She motions for him to open his mouth. Charlize rolls her eyes when he tries to clench his teeth. Now standing over him she grabs the back of his hair and yanks his head back, forcing his mouth open. She shoves a piece of cloth in his mouth. "Bite," She chomps her teeth together as an example. Before he can process anything Charlize jams the knife into his bare thigh and an eruption of muffled screams fill the air. Charlize leaves the knife there and pulls a cigarette out of her pocket, placing it between her teeth. A hand sticks out with a lit match and she flinches looking at Little Red who is focused on lighting her cigarette. Charlize hides her surprise and inhales, nodding. Little red takes a step back, putting the match out with a wrist flick and sitting back on the bed.

"Why were you there that night and what were you looking for?" Charlize takes the cloth out of his mouth and he gasps for air.

He cackles humourlessly and screams at her, "You FUCKING STABBED ME YOU LITTLE CUNT-" Charlize rolls her eyes, shoves the cloth back in his mouth, and reefs the knife out of his leg, granting more muffled screams.

Charlize knows there's always resistance when trying to get answers from these men but it doesn't annoy her any less. "Red," She turns to the young woman sitting on the bed, pulling on her tight silk dress and she nods in response, "Can you please pass me that tablecloth on your way out please." Red notices this might be Charlize's way of telling her to leave. Little Red runs the zip up her thigh-high boots and watches Charlize closely.

"Yes ma'am," she lulls, completely unphased by the scene before her. Ripping the table cloth clean off the table and looking at her for more direction.

"Just leave it there, thank you," Charlize points to the ground and waits for her to leave. When there is no movement, Charlize looks at her, fixated on the Herran writhing in pain.

"Are you going to kill him?" Little Red wonders.

Charlize doesn't say anything, looking at her with questions. "Do you know me?"

"Yeah," Little Red's lips twitch, "Of course I do." Charlize wants to ask how or why but Herran thrashes against the cuffs so hard, he knocks himself over. Charlize rams her boot into his ribs to weaken him and he convulses around her shoe. "Can I watch?". The question surprises Charlize as she picks him up and meets her eyes. Emotionless.

"No." Charlize glances away from her.

Much like Charlize, due to being overexposed to violence, Little Red seems to have been desensitised by distressing situations of cruelty or suffering. Probably due to her line of work. Charlize could sense this man had done something to her before and a small pang of pain spread across her chest. She was still only a teenager. A baby.

"He killed my friend," Little Red utters, barely audible but it rings loud in Charlize's ears. "She fell pregnant so he just… killed her." Her voice trails off and Charlize closes her eyes and rubs her frown line with her palm.

"Have you ever killed a man before, Red?" Snapping out of her trance she flicks her eyes back to Charlize. When she shakes her head, Charlize nods. "Have you seen someone be killed before?" When she doesn't respond but her hands ball up and shake slightly, Charlize knows she hasn't. Charlize knows Red thinks she needs closure for her and her friend, she's just not sure if this is what she needs to see.

"What did he do to you?" Little Red mumbles in question.

"He and his men raided my town, killed my people, and set my orphanage alight," She turns to Herran with the knife. Drawing blood, she runs the tip across the King of the Underworlds branding tattooed on his chest. "and I want to know why it was necessary to burn 20 harmless children alive in their sleep." Charlize, now in her own daze, snaps out when she hears a breathless scoff. Herran starts to laugh, hysterically. Head rolling back and he coughs up blood.

"Because of you." He snickers, lifting his head and capturing her eyes and locking them. His piercing blue eyes drilled holes into her soul and she fought against her urge to pull away. "You know.. There were actually supposed to be 21 children there that night. I still remember their screams echoing through the mountains. You were meant to be in there," His eyes twinkle as he watches her digest his words, "we actually came for YOU.. So I guess they all died in vain." grinning at her with a bloody toothed smile. "The Fates were right, you'll end us all. We did those little scummy rats a kindness. We saved them from you." His deep laugh thundered through the room.

Before Charlize could stop herself, she put the cigarette between her teeth and rounded him, grabbing him by the hair and running the blade along his throat, spitting the skin like a blood bag. He gurgles for a moment and then goes limp in her arms. She lets go of him, and steps out of the blood now pooling at her feet. Exhaling her cigarette, she looks up, scanning the room for a sink. Her blood runs cold when she remembers Red was still in the room.

"Ah shit." Charlize winces, looking at the teenage girl standing in the middle of the room, eyes locked on Herra who was bleeding out from the throat. Charlize wipes the knife on her jeans and tucks it back into her back pocket, slowly stepping towards a frozen Little Red. Her hands slowly reach out for the table cloth that's still tight in Red's grip. Prying the fabric out of her hand she walks over to Herran and throws the sheet over him. 'Fuck' Charlize curses internally. 'Forgot about her'. Charlize steps closer and Red closes the gap resting her head on Charlize's shoulder and sobbing. Charlize doesn't move, allowing Little red to cry for a moment.

"Um," Charlize scratches her neck for a second before grabbing the sides of Red pulling her away.

"What monster sets a whole orphanage alight in the hopes of killing one," She manages between hicks, and Charlize processes her summary, tipping her head at the girl. She wasn't scared of what had just happened, she was sad to hear what he had done. "Are you the one that's been killing all the Kyzar troops?"

"Just the ones involved in the Mountains of Demir raid," She explains dryly. "How do you know me?"

Red lifts her head, wiping her eyes and looking and Charlize's bloody hands. "Its our duties to 'serve' the troops when they return from their raids.. obviously we notice when we've been relieved of our 'duties' from our regulars. There have been whispers of a new ruthless Goddess. A Goddess of the night, slitting the throats of abusive men to protect us, women." She gets up and moves to the sink, coming back with a wet cloth and grabbing her hands.

Charlize scoffs at the absurdity of the gossip. "I'm sorry to disappoint,"

"No disappointment here, it's an honour to meet you. I knew who you were as soon as I saw you." Charlize's eyebrows knit together watching Red as she grabs for her hands to wipe them clean. "So you're an orphan, huh?".

"Mhm." She grunts.

"How old were you when they raided your town?"

"18." She grabs the cloth from Reds hands and scrubs her own hands.

"How old are you now?" Red continues, standing up from the floor and sitting back down next to her.

"25. You?" Charlize frowns, unsure why she's telling her any of this.

"20." Silence falls between them and Charlize's chest starts to feel heavy, knowing it was a lie.

"How old are you really?" Red clicks her tongue smirking and pulls the cigarette out of Charlize's mouth and takes a deep drag. Charlize blinks heavily at the confidence of this young woman.

"17." Red exhales, giving the smoke back to her. "Were you close with the other children from the orphanage?"

"Very."

"-and so you've been alone this whole time?" Charlize answers her with silence and Red looks up at her with a look she can't quite pinpoint. Admiration maybe?

"You're handling this well considering you're 17 and just watched me slice a man's throat open."

"He deserved that and nothing less." Charlize sighs and squeezes the bridge of her nose at Reds response. "Let me come with you." She presses.

"What? No." Charlize shakes her off and walks towards the window. "Go home, kid. Take a shower and forget everything you saw and heard tonight-"

"Go home?.. Go HOME?! You mean the whorehouse for underaged sex slaves and prostitutes?" She shakes, her cheeks starting to flush as she clenches her jaw.

"I can't take you with me, Red."

"You can."

Bashing on the door makes the two of them jump. "HERRAN, SHE'S COMING! SOMEONE SPOTTED HER IN THE TAVERN!" The voice sternly shouts through the cracks of the door. Charlize looks at the man on the floor and then back at Red who is oddly calm. Looking at Charlize knowingly.

"If you leave me here, they'll kill me," She whispers emotionless.

"HERRAN?" The man at the door waits a moment before throwing his shoulder into the door.

"Fuck sake." Charlize pulls her snood up over her nose, taking her hood off and throwing it at Red. "Put this on, ditch the shoes and keep the fuck up. Jump and swim to the bank on the right. There are some clothes on the other side. Get out and wait for me there." Red does as she's told immediately and torpedoes herself out the window diving into the river below without hesitation. Using the tip of her shoe she flicks the tablecloth off Herran's body and stretches her neck from side to side. A beastly man breaks through the door to see Charlize sliding on some spiked knuckle busters, looming over Herran's naked, dead, and bloody body.

"Tsk. She's already here." Charlize pulls out her two knives, gripping them in a reverse power grip, and gestures to him to come closer. "Let's dance big boy."