Chapter 1
Shit, shit, shit.
No.
No.
No.
"No, get away from me!" She wailed in terror.
Of course he'd send older widows. Probably handlers. No, they'd take her back. Or they'd kill her right there. Yeah, they'd kill her right there.
She had messed up the mission, bad, and messed up her arm in the process. Now the older ones were coming to take her back. She'd probably die.
Despite her stress, adrenaline was coursing through her in overwhelming waves, so did the only thing she could think of and fought. She pulled out her switchblade and stabbed the one with short hair. Not too deep, just enough to slow her down. More like cut her, but it got her off Aurelia's back for a bit. Next, she kicked the other blonde one in the stomach and pushed the one with the shorter hair away as she recovered from the minor injury, just far enough for her to start running.
"Shit." She heard one of them curse behind her.
"I'll get her. Get the dust ready and meet me around the corner." She heard the other say.
Aurelia turns the corner to find the shorter haired one. Was that the same one she cut? Her mind was foggy and hazy and they were both blonde and the whole thing was messing her up.
Get your shit together. She can't get caught. But she's so tired. And her wrist hurts really bad.
"Hey. We are not going to hurt you. Dreykov is dead now." The one with the short hair reassures.
It wasn't all that reassuring, honestly.
"No. You're lying. He sent you here to take me back." Aurelia denies, breathless from running.
"We're not Widows anymore. We won't hurt you and we won't let anyone hurt you." The one with the short hair says from behind her.
"No! You're a liar. You're going to kill me. Or-or take me back so they can punish me." She'd be wrong to trust them, but they were starting to get her.
No. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid." She hit her head in frustration, trying to quiet the thoughts telling her to trust them.
"Aurelia." And the short haired one is suddenly close, so close she can feel the warmth of her radiating against her. She's so cold it hurts, the warmth of her adrenaline wearing off. "Don't hurt yourself." She slowly reaches up to remove the good arm from Aurelia's face. And she doesn't let go. And Aurelia thinks it's kind of nice.
"You've been under mind control, Aurelia. For a very long time." She explained. Aurelia's heart sank, just a bit. She knew what had been done to her, but someone confirming the fact made it so much worse.
"And this," she took a small pack of something from the blonde one and showed Aurelia the vials of red...stuff. "This will clear your mind. I just have to break it in front of you like...this." She used Aurelia's distraction to break the vials so that she's not scared.
Aurelia is compelled to take a deep breath, so she does. And-
Oh.
Holy shit.
The memories smack her right in the face as she sinks to the ground in exhaustion, too tired to cry. The woman with short hair comes down with her, and wow, she's so soft, and warm. And Aurelia's so tired. And now she can finally rest.
"Mama..." She mumbled, her consciousness slowly slipping from her as sudden drowsiness overtook her.
"I've got you, Aurelia." The woman comforted.
She was too tired to worry about how the woman knows her name, or whether or not this woman is really her mother. All she knows is that she's safe.