31. Rome

Shirleen was ushered by her bodyguards into a black Rolls Royce that was waiting for her at the private airstrip at the city of Rome. She inwardly smiled at the irony of it. Rome was one of the cities that was renowned for its gladiator's games during ancient times. To have this city be the one to start off the Queen's blade tournament was quite fitting. According to the chocolate skinned man who was supposed to be her guide throughout the tournament the tournament had already begun. He had switched on a laptop and gained access to a site deep in the dark web where only invitees could be able to access, and she watched as four matches took place. Apparently, some contestants had already met in airports and strips or at hotel lobbies and immediately the tournament had begun. All guides carried a camera and streamed the fights live onto the site. She was grateful she had not been that unlucky because the more she saw what was going on the more she realised this was a profoundly serious event. It was like fighting to be president of a country but only in this case the fight was not via votes but actual fighting. Out of the six fights that took place in Rome four died while two emerged victorious. The reason why six fights occurred was because Rome was where all the contestants merged at once before being dispersed to various parts of the world. Only two contestants will meet in a certain city at a point in time from then on. A message will be sent to each contestant telling them the city and on which date. A chip was embedded in the watches around their wrists, a watch that was impossible to take off. So immediately a contestant arrived in a city she would be able to know their opponent is within the same area. They would find each other and commence the tournament.

In Rome the fights continued with Shirleen watching unaffected by them all. Somehow her watch never once beeped during it all for the next five days as she was holed up in a villa outside the city. All she saw were alerts claiming an opponent has won and another proclaiming the death of another. She was bored, she was restless, and she really wanted to fight but she remembered all the warnings given to her by Angela. During one of those restless days she felt her watch vibrate alerting her to the proximity of another contestant within the area and she checked the site in triumph, but she was too late someone else was fighting the contestant. They were both near her villa. Surprised and curious she turned on her live video streaming and saw two women fighting. One was young and, in her opinion, too young to be participating in such an event and the other looked to be in her early twenties. It was raining but the fight was not disadvantaged even if the younger of the two was too young she fought desperately. Shirleen didn't know what made her fascinated with the younger woman but somehow, she found herself rooting for her. She could tell by the surroundings that the tournament was taking place close to her villa in the woods. The fight continued for one hour non-stop with the clashing of swords. Finally the younger girl grew tired and the older woman executed her skills with precision leaving the younger defeated and lying on the ground bleeding. To the credit of the older lady she did not kill her instead she left as the winner with the younger bleeding out on the ground. The younger woman's guide stayed with her filming staying true to his instructions that he should not help his contestant in any way unless the family of said contestant came to collect the body or the injured. Seconds trickled into minutes and no one came for the girl while the crime world watched some in pity and some in fascination.

Shirleen reached for her silver mask and her cloak and walked out of the villa without a second word heading towards the direction the fight had been taking place with her four guards and guide in tow. When she made it to the clearing she stopped out of sight when men walked into the clearing heading for the young girl who was curled on the ground in pain. Her eyes were black as night, her hair black as a raven's wings and her skin pale and white. The men surrounded the girl laughing saying how the boss would be angry at the girl for failing him. They were six of them not even bothering to pick the girl up. One was kicking her telling her to get to her feet or they would carry out her father's orders and rape her while she was still wounded as punishment for her failure. In that moment and at those words Shirleen snapped and she let the anger that had been consuming her all her life take over. She took out two daggers tucked in her boots and lunged into the clearing blinded with rage. She slaughtered the men where they stood even if they put in quite a fight. By the time she was done the men lay across the clearing with multiple stab wounds and blood formed streams on the ground. She walked to the young girl who was looking at her warily and in pain. Shirleen tucked away her daggers and crouched next to the girl and stretched a hand. "Need some help little one?" she asked softly. The girl tentatively looked into her eyes past the silver mask for a few minutes and something in Shirleen's eyes must have reassured her for the girl reached for her hand. Shirleen smiled and carefully took her into her arms bridal style. Looking at the girl at that moment she could have sworn the girl looked twelve years old. Shirleen turned to look at the video camera still streaming, and her eyes turned hard. "She is mine now. If you want her come and claim her." Without another word she turned and walked away holding the girl in her arms with four enormous guards flanking her. When they got to the villa Stacey took one sight of her and didn't say a word instead directed the patient to be taken to a room and she began surgery.