Chapter 5: Episode 5 — Clean Intentions

"Happy Birthday to you..." They sang.

Damien laughs and blew his candles as everyone clapped.

"Alright!" Derek cheers.

"Happy Birthday, man," Ash says clapping him on the back.

"Thanks, man..." Damien says.

"Good thing you all got blacklisted on time." Mr. Cayce says. "Or else this would've been a very lonely vacation."

"Thanks for inviting us along Uncle Rhaumwald," Ash says.

"Well, it would be pretty cruel if I didn't, won't it?" he laughs, "I can still remember how you boys would go crazy whenever we'd say we're going out of town. I don't think I can handle a 17-year-old tantrum."

Damien stifles a laugh, "I don't do tantrums dad."

"Yeah, but you’re a hell lot of good in cold shoulders and silent treatment, aren't you?"

They all laughed.

"So what you wish for, Damien?" Jared asks.

Damien grins and stares at the cake, "Same as last year..." he said in almost a whisper.

They all smiled and nodded. Then Mrs. Matthews walked up to him and gave him a motherly hug from behind and kissed him on the top of his head.

"Well, I think it'll come true when it's the right time," she says.

"Thanks, Aunt Hannah." Damien gave her arm a light squeeze.

"Now, we'll leave you kids to whatever you want to do." Mr. Matthews says. "Just please, don't get drunk."

"Dad we're 17, no bar would let us drink much more get us drunk," Ash says.

"But brawling knows no age." he reminded.

"Don't worry uncle," Allana says, "I'll keep an eye on the boys."

"And I'll keep an eye on the girl." Collin wraps his arm around her Allana's waist.

Everyone knew of their engagement and they are not showing any signs of going against it, even if it was arranged. But it wouldn't be official until their 18th birthday, a year more and they'll practically be husband and wife.

"You better." Mrs. Matthews says giving Collin a playful look, "We'll see you later."

The grownups entered the house while they were left by the beach.

"So what are we going to do?" Ash asked.

"I don't know about you guys, but I have ladies to please," Derek says eyeing a girl in a bikini passing by them sending a wink his way.

"Hey, hey... hold your hormones there Casanova." Jared says, "This is Damien's birthday, it's our day."

"But the ladies-"

"Will be safer without you." The others say, except for Damien who stifled a laugh.

"Let him go, you all should." Damien stands up, "I'll just bore you."

"Please Damien, please, please don't tell me you'll be writing on the sand like the time we went to Aruba," Derek says, exasperated. Damien just shrugs in response. "That is boring."

"I think it’s sweet," Allana said. "You shouldn't have given up on it Ash."

"And what? Be in competition with lover boy?" Ash teased, "No thanks."

"Say what you want." Damien says, "I think it'll move Astrid to come home."

"Well if you're going to play in the sand the whole day, bring this." Jared tosses a bottle of sunscreen and a towel at him. "We don't want you to burn, do we? Astrid might not recognize you."

The gang laughs again.

"And what about you?" Ash asks his cousins.

"We engage people to have our own plans," Collin says pulling Allana closer to him.

"And I'm guessing you boys are going with Derek?" Allana asks.

"Definitely." Jared and Ash say.

"Then we'll see you later." Allana picks up her bag and reached for Collin’s hand.

Damien shook his head and went for a walk. When he found a secluded area he began writing in the sand, where are you?

Throughout the day he sat there, waiting, he swam a little and watched people pass by, a couple of girls came up to him and made friends inviting him to some party, but he said he was waiting for someone making them leave saying too bad that he was hot but boring but Damien just brushed them off like he always did.

He has been with girls in the NSA. But not for relationships, just for fun. Often times when he was just really bored or something. He didn't want to give Astrid the impression that he didn't have a life while waiting for her. Besides, he was a guy, he has needs. And seeing how girls react to that, he sometimes thought would Astrid be like them, throw herself at every guy she thinks is hot.

As always, he shook the thought away.

"That's sweet." Damien looks up and saw a girl reading the message, she was the first one to look at it. It was almost sunset; he has been there for seven hours.

"I'm sorry?"

"It’s sweet." she points to the message, "Waiting for someone?"

"I thought I was," disappointment in his voice, "I guess it isn't the right time."

"She must be special." the girl adds.

"She is," Damien says as he secretly thanking the darkness that was setting in as he felt his cheek burn. "Very special."

"Well, she sure feels special." the girl sighed.

Damien looks at her, questioned. But he brushed it off, he didn't want the girl to think he was interested.

"Anyway, I'm on my way back to our house," he says, then he looks around, it was getting hard to see and there wasn't much light. "Uhm, I can walk you until the first lamp post."

"That'll be nice, thank you." The girl said they start to walk toward the Cayce's beach house. "Good thing too, I'm scared of the dark."

"Really?" Damien grins, "The girl I was waiting for is scared of the dark too. That's why I have this..." he pulls out a couple of glow sticks from his shorts and broke the liquid inside making it glow. "Here." he reached for her hand and put two different colored glow sticks around her wrist. "Feel better?"

"Thank you," she said, the light glow was just enough to light the girl's smile but didn't reach her whole face.

"Glad it had some use." they start to walk again. "So are you here for vacation?"

"Well, you can say that I guess." she says, "You?"

"Yeah, we're on school break. So my family decided to come here."

"Oh, so only you and your family?"

"Well, I guess they're my friends, but with everything we've been through, they’re more of my family."

"That's nice," she says.

"What about you?"

"I came alone," she said. "I just wanted to see someone."

"I see."

Suddenly a loud blast of music came up ahead. Damien’s jaw drops seeing the sea of people outside Cayce's beach house. People were dancing, grinding, and drinking around a large bonfire as the music blared through the night. They walked through the crowd and toward the house.

"What the..." Damien laughs and shook his head. Seeing the other threw a party for him. "Hey, why don't you join us for a while?"

"No, Uhm, I should go..." she turns to face him, "I have to catch a flight tonight."

"I see, well it was nice meeting you..."

"Angel." she said, "call me Angel."

"Angel, Uhm, I'm..."

"Birthday boy..." she says surprising Damien. And to top it off, she stepped up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Happy Birthday Damien." 

Then lights of the party opened, Damien looks down at her and saw the familiar blue eyes he had been waiting for a long time. He stares at her, frozen in place as she walks away and back to the darkness.

"Hey wait!" Damien tries to run after her.

"There he is, the birthday boy!" Derek shouts over the noise and music. The people start to swarm in on Damien while he tries to walk past them, not leaving his eyes on the long-haired girl who was walking away.

"Wait!" Damien shouts pushing the people away. "Astrid!" He shouts as he finally reached the edge of the crowd, but she was no longer there.

Damien looks around making sure she was nowhere to be found, "Dammit!"

"Damien, what's wrong?" he hears Allana ask him from where the crowd was.

"It was Astrid." Damien was still frantically looking around.

"What?" Derek asks.

"She was here!" Damien shouted, still looking around.

"That's the heat talking, let's get you a drink," Allana says.

"No, no, no you guys!" Damien faced them running his hands through his hair, frustrated. "I'm sure it was her!"

"Damien, I do want her to be here too, but let's not go crazy," Ash said.

"I'm not!" Damien says, "That was her, I'm sure, and I didn't recognize her soon enough!" he kicks the sand, angry at himself. "Stupid!"

"Hey, chill, calm down Damien." Collin said, "We'll check into this, what did she say?"

"She said she has a flight to catch." Damien was pinching the bridge of his nose, calming himself. "She didn't say where though."

"I'll have all flights checked," Collin says pulling out his phone and called the airport. They watched and waited for Collin to finish his call.

"Excuse me?" A boy walks up to Ash. "Are you Ash?"

"Yes." Ash glanced at the others. "Yes, I am."

"A girl asked me to give you this," he said.

"Thank you." he took the box, "what do you think is it?"

"Well, it isn't ticking," Derek says, listening into it. "Let's open it."

They set it down the sand and opened the box. 

"A soccer ball?" Ash asks.

"Hey, there's something else here," Jared said. "Allana, this has your name... And Collin too... for me? A book, oh man, one of the first original copy of Oliver Twist!"' Jared says.

"Hey, what about me?" Derek dug into the box and found a smaller gift, "It's for Damien."

Damien caught the box and opened it. "It’s empty," he says, then he sees a note on the lid. I'll be coming home for my wings soon.

"She has been watching us," Allana said. "I had a doll just like this but one of the maids broke it last week."

"What about me?" Derek whines as he continues to dig into the box. 

"Derek!" he announces finally finding a box with a handle on the side. He winds up the toy and it played the theme pop goes the weasel, and by the end of the music aa clown popped out of the box. They all stared at him, waiting for a reaction, then he laughed out loud, "I've always wanted one of this."

"Seriously?" Allana asked.

"Hey, hey, I'm not hating your doll, am I?" Derek says defensively. "Besides, like Jared's, this looks like one of the original toys from England, where it originated." he looks at it expertly, "Might need some cleaning up and tuning up to get the music louder, but this is quite an item here."

"Hey, something's written on the lid." Jared lifts it up, "Seriously? I'm no Santa, burn that list."

"List?" Allana asks.

Derek and Damien laugh knowing what exactly she meant, "The list of toys I made for Astrid to buy me when she gets back."

"Guys, listen," Collin walks back to them. "The airport said there are no departing flights tonight, but there is a private plane that just left a minute ago.”

"Going where?"

"Russia."

"Russia?"

"Do they have a name?" Damien asks.

"None, just a description, long hair, white, no accent and..." he turns to Damien, "blue eyes."

"So it was her?" Jared asks.

"But how can she get there so fast?" Derek asked, "she was just here five minutes ago."

"Well, there's the rough road through the forest going there," Collin says, "Uncle Rhaumwald didn't buy this house just to get beachfront. If you drive fast enough, you can reach the airport in less than 20 minutes." he glanced at everyone, "That is if you're a really good driver."

Even after years of knowing Collin, it was a wonder how he could still surprise them. The airport was a good hour drive, and they were all more than decent drivers, Collin was, as always, better than they were.

Collin shook off their stare and sees the gifts, "Is it time to give the birthday boy his gifts?"

"Well, it seems like Astrid came to deliver presents," Jared says. "Here." he tossed him a box.

Collin opens it, "A wristwatch?" then he chuckled, "I've been late a couple of times this month."

"So she really has been watching us then?" Allana says. "But why is your empty Damien?"

Damien grinned and shook his head, "This was the box of the last gift I gave her." he stares at it, rereading the message, "It’s more special than what it looks like."

"You stupid girl, that was against the rules!" A man hits her again. Astrid fell on the floor, bloody. "You aren't an exception to anyone here!" he kicks her on the torso this time.

"That's enough." Father Charles enters the room and looks down at her. "Have you thought of what you did?"

"How could I?" Astrid struggled to get up. "If gorilla man here keeps shouting?"

"Why you-" the man was about to hit him, but Father Charles slaps her, she glanced up at him.

"Remember your place, Angel," he says.

"And it isn't here." Astrid glares at him, "I told you, I will come home when I want to."

"No, you are too special for me to just let go." Father Charles knelt and reaches for her face. "You are my prodigy." Astrid moves away.

"No I’m not." she hissed, "You are just afraid you'll lose income."

Father Charles laughs. "That's a bit harsh."

"Then let me go," Astrid demands.

Father Charles sighed and stood up. "Maybe another night in here would be good for you." he stood up and glared down at her, "Learn your place, Astrid." 

Astrid frowned, he never uses her real name, it was not allowed, her identity was to remain a secret to everyone in the House of Duchovny. 

"The right one." he turns to leave, "Untie her and let her stay here for the night."

"Yes Father Charles." the man unties her hands and feet with a knife, and the moment she was free she reached for the man's head and snapped his neck.

Father Charles watched as the man dropped on the floor, dead.

"That's for beating me up." Astrid says, she looks up at Father Charles, "I can kill you and all you men."

"Then I should stop you, shouldn't I?"' he says, "A night in this dark cold room with a corpse should be punishment enough."

With that, he turns and locked the door from the outside. Astrid looks around, the place was all too familiar to her, it wasn't her first time to stay there, but it will be her first to spend the night. 

The cold and darkness would break any person’s ego, but she won’t let that happened. She walks toward the corner of the room where the moonlight shined through from a small window above.

Two nights in a row in the dungeon won’t make a difference cause giving up hasn’t even been considered by her brain.

She sat underneath the light, and wrapped her arms around her legs, she was starting to feel cold. She silently cursed the dead man with her for stripping her off of her clothes and leaving her with just her undergarments. Then she felt a cold brush on her neck, she reached for the center of her shoulder blade, feeling her pendant.

She held it in her palm and smile, "Damien..."

She remembers as he sat there under the sun looking around, waiting. How he seemed to attract female attention even when he is obviously pushing them away. She remembers his warm hands on hers as he gently put on the glow sticks. Then he remembers his words.

"She is... very special." Astrid smiles.

She doesn’t know when, but his best friend seemed to have grown to a man that is so admirable it made her stomach tingle, in a good way.

Her memory of the day snapped out when a flash of lightning lined across the sky, thunder followed. She looks up the window and soon enough, rain starts to pour. Thunder rolled again, this time, Astrid closed her eyes and covered her ear, fear taking over.

It was stupid how a deadly assassin like her was afraid of the dark, lightning, and thunder. That was why she rarely does surveillance on her targets. She was more of seeing him kill him, clean up, and go home. The longest time she spent on an assignment was five hours, and that was just because the curtain on the bedroom of his target was closed. She got pissed and just went into his house, killed his guards, and killed him face to face.

The perfect kill.

 "No, no..." Astrid whispers. "Calm down, everything will be fine."

Thunder booms again, this time the ground gave a light shake, she tightened her cover on her ears.

"Everything will be fine..."

The next day, the door unlocked, light burst into the room, Astrid looks up. She was tired and, most likely, cranky, as she only had a three-hour sleep due to the storm that was glad enough to grace her of its presence the whole night.

"Get dressed, Father Charles' calling for you." she hears Lila say.

"Why?"

"Just do what you are told." she snapped.

Astrid got dressed before Lila led her to the dining hall and the moment, they entered the hall everyone followed Astrid with a look.

"Ah, there you are, good morning angel." Father Charles says the events of yesterday seemed to be forgotten. "Come have breakfast-"

"What you want old man?" Astrid snaps.

"Very well, if you'd be all business-like..." he says, "You have an assign-"

"No." Astrid cuts him off. The room burst into a whisper. Dimitri frowns scared of what else his grandfather would do to Astrid.

"Excuse me?" Father Charles sounds amused, "No?"

"You said I'm your prodigy, aren't I?" Astrid smirks, "You don't want little old me to get killed now, do you?" Father Charles frowns. "Besides, I'm not here for the income, what grandfather sends you is enough." Astrid gave him an amused look, "So if you'd like to punish me again, just say so, I can find my way back to the dungeon."

"That didn't seem to work, did it?" Father Charles says, anger creeping into his voice, but to Astrid's surprise he smiled, "So, I'm using pawns." 

Astrid frowns, Father Charles threw pictures of the boys and the Matthews on her feet. "I'm thinking I should start with the ladies; the boys here had been eyeing the young miss Jacobson."

"You piece of-" the guards grabbed Astrid by the arm as she was about to attack Father Charles.

"Or maybe your mother then?" he continues, "She still seems to have some fight in her." Astrid glares at him as she struggles out of the guards' hold.

"What do you want?”

"One assignment per head." Father Charles says casually. "Of course I need to ask two assignment for the heirs and heiress, that's two each from your friends, two for your parents, and of course," he leans forward, "Three for your grandfather." he laughs, "17 assignments in total, then you can go home."

"Father!" Dimitri sits up, surprised, and disagreeing.

"I'll choose my assignment." Astrid agrees. "And if you even look at my family again, I swear you'll be the 18th."

Then she got out of the guards' hold, she grabbed the gun from one guard's belt and shot both on the head. "You're so good in addition, let's see how you do in subtraction."

She turns to leave and went straight to her room.

"Albert!" she slams the door open, frantically looking for her guardian, "Albert?!"

"Mistress!" he appears from the balcony and ran to her catching her with a hug. "Mistress, I have been so worried."

Astrid smiled and hugged him, "Albert, I thought they caught you too."

"No," he pulls away and checks on her, "Young master Dimitri stayed with me, he said his father might use me as a weakness too." He finally faces her and met her gaze, worried, "What did you do to anger Father Charles?"

Astrid smiled, "I went to see them. It was Damien's birthday yesterday and they were nearby, so I went to see them."

"You went to see the young Masters?"

"Yes, just to send my gifts and to check on them." she walks to her bed and lied down, "I even got to talk with Damien."

"And he didn't recognize you?"

"It was dark," Astrid smiled, "I guess that's why I walked up to him in the first place, I got scared."

"But you weren't scared enough of what father can do to you?" Dimitri was standing by the door. "He has every intention of killing you."

"He should," Astrid says, snapping out of her daydreaming. "Then he won't have an assassin going rogue."

"What you did can endanger the whole house." Dimitri shouts, "Father is just protecting the others."

"Then he should just let me go home." Astrid snapped back. "Or have me killed, that would end all these, won't it?" Dimitri shook his head then toss a folder on her bed.

"A list of assignments," he says, "choose 17, be done with it and leave." he turns to the door, "I will no longer go with you on this assignment, you are on your own, prodigy."

"Dimitri." Astrid calls out before he closes the door, "Thank you, for guarding Albert."

"I hope this trouble was all worth it," Dimitri says.

"It is." Astrid lied back down, "I'll finally be able to go home to my family."

 Dimitri stole a glance at her and left.

"Hey..."

Ash turns around and saw Damien. "Hey, you're out late."

"So are you," Damien says giving him a look.

Ash grins, "Just wanted to see the moon." Damien looks up and saw that the moon was full. "I don't know if you can remember but-"

"We watched the full moon on this very night eight years ago," Damien says.

"So you do remember."

"I pretty much remember our good days." 

"It was good, wasn't it?" Ash asked. "We used to have nothing, now we could have everything." they both fell silent, "It's not Father Johan's fault Damien, we both know Astrid wanted it."

"I know." Damien sighs, knowing where this talk was heading, "I just don't want to believe that she left us."

"She had her reasons," Ash adds.

"Yeah," Damien shrugs, "I never told you but, she talks to me that day. She asked me if I will get mad at her if she leaves."

Ash chuckles, "Somehow I knew she told you something, that's why you're calm." he glances at Damien, "You two were closer than we were."

"No." Damien shook his head. "She knew you'd understand, she probably knew you won't say a word against it. She asked me because I was uncertain."

"She asked you because she cared about you. I never had the strength to be angry or as much as disappointed at her." He looks up at the moon again. "Eight years of waiting is painful, but just think what she must be feeling now."

"She's strong, probably stronger than ever," Damien says.

"True." 

They stood there in silence, watching the moon until Ash broke the silence.

“By the way, I now know why she sent me a soccer ball."

"That's been months Ash," Damien says with a laugh.

Astrid chuckles, "The week before that, I passed my resignation to the academy archery club. Mom told me to get extracurricular, she said it was unhealthy to just lock myself in the Council Office." he turns to face Damien, amused, "Guess what mother insisted me to do."

"Soccer?"

"I realized it a couple of weeks ago when I decided to try out."

"And here I thought she was only watching us." Ash laughs as well.

The wind blew and they both pulled their coats closer.

"Well, I better go, I have training tomorrow at dawn." Ash says, "Good night, Damien."

"Good night." he watched Ash enter the dormitory, "Hey, Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"The reason why I'm calm isn't that she told me of they might be. It's because she made a promise," he smiles, "She promise to come home, she knows we'll be waiting."

Ash nods, "And she never breaks a promise."

"She'll be home." Damien says more to himself this time, he looks back at the moon, "She'll be home soon."

"Five million," Lila says, handing Father Charles a check. "60 guards with the target turned over."

“Very good," Father Charles says, "You've put yourself on the top assassin." he adds, "With an income of 73 million." Lila beamed with pride as the dining hall burst into cheers for her. "Then again, Angel just had 16 kills this year, and she's still in second place. This is a bit of a one-sided competition."

Lila frowned, "It isn't my fault she's refusing big contracts."

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm such a lame opponent." Astrid enters the hall carrying six duffle bags, "I'm just not as bloodthirsty as you are." 

She walks up to Father Charles and dropped the bags in front of him.

"Ah, back from your last assignment, I see." he says, glancing at the bags, "You bought quite an artillery too."

"Hundred million, in clean cash," Astrid says.

"That's money?" the boy asked. "In hundreds?"

"Thousands," Astrid said.

"But this must be more than three million," Dimitri says, he snaps his finger to a guard and had the bags checked.

"It is as Angel says, Master Dimitri."

"They did mention throwing in a little extra," Astrid says, bored.

"For what?" a boy chuckled, "For being cute?" the other laughed.

"Maybe," she says with a shrug. "By the way," she walks up to Father Charles and handed him a list. "I was told that I also killed these people, each has a bounty on their heads, I believe they're on your list, I'm just not sure."

He scanned the list and frowned, his eyes widened, "You- you did all these?"

"Yeah, well, I had time to spare." Astrid said, "I think they were having a meeting when I barged in."

"A meeting?" Lila asks with a glare.

"Yeah." Astrid shrugs, tired. "Anyway, there are a couple of dozen more bags outside. Can you have the guys bring it in, Dimitri?"

Dimitri smirked, glancing at his shocked grandfather and signals for the guards to bring it in.

"How much is it, Father Charles?" a girl asked.

"Its... it’s..." he looks up at her, eyes wide. "150 million." Everyone turns to Astrid, "You killed the head of the Russian mob and his men."

"Oh, so that's why all those men were there." Astrid shrugs. "That's 17 assignments, with some bonus."

"Yes, yes." Father Charles says, trying his best to recompose. "Of course, as said in the contract, you will get the bounty of the bonus and 80% of your assignment-"

"You can keep the money." Astrid says, "Deal is that I can go home."

"Yes, and that too." Father Charles says, "But I'm still keeping what is said on the paper and here..." he hands he an envelope, "Two tickets home."

Astrid’s checks the tickets, "Thank you."

"You are welcome." he says, "By the way, happy birthday, 18th am I right?"

"Yes, it is." Astrid says with a nod, "Thank you."

"A lady..." Father Charles says, “We do have a custom here you know, on a girl's 18th birthday."

“Father- “

“Keep out of this Dimitri.” He hissed at his son.

Astrid kept her eyes on him when guards grabbed her by the arm.

"What the-" Astrid struggles, then one hits her on the nape, knocking her out cold.

"You know where to take her." Father Charles says.

“Are your crazy father? when her grandfather finds out- “

“Then you need to shut up or maybe you’d want me to take care of that too?” he glares at him.

Dimitri glares back and looks toward the door where he saw the guards carrying Angel out.

The men dragged her to one of the rooms with a bed in the middle. They dropped her in the bed and looked down at her.

"Fresh meat." a guard says.

"And royalty too."

Astrid slowly gains consciousness, when she hears men laughing around her, she squints her eyes preparing herself for the burst of flight, only to realize she was awake inside a dimly lit room. She quickly sits up, but someone grabs her by the wrist and pinned her down.

"What the-" Astrid struggles, "Get off me!"

The man slaps her, Astrid was once again blinded by the pain, then she felt his hand on her neck, and her clothes being torn off. She struggles underneath him grabbing his wrist trying to kick him off her, but she slowly succumbed to fear, a different kind one, a fear that was making her hopeless.

"Stop it!" she screams, "Get off!"

The man starts to kiss her on the neck down.

"Get off me!" the man hits her again, then she felt a cold blade on her throat.

"I'll kill you if you don't stop." the man hissed in her ear. Astrid felt tears swelling in her eyes, as the man's hand run all over her. "We can't just give you back to your family without a remembrance from us, can we?"

He ran his hand over her body to her legs, pushing it apart, and positioned himself in the middle. He bent over and started kissing her roughly as he pushed and rub his body to hers.

Astrid felt numb, she felt him toss the blade aside, but he kept this hand on her neck, she was too tired to fight, until she felt a rough scratch on her neck and a tug, her necklace.

 Damien...

The image of the boys and the Matthews ran through her mind. 

Astrid felt anger consume her, the man was running his hand down her legs, to her waist. This time Astrid slid his legs underneath him, rolled it up to her chest, and kicked the man away. 

She quickly sat up and search for the knife on the bed.

"You b*tch-" he stands and staggers toward her again. But Astrid was ready for him and pierced him with his own knife. He staggered backward before finally falling on the floor with a loud thud. 

Astrid hurriedly climbed down the bed and walked toward the door in the middle of the darkness, thankful that the man only tore off her shirt and not her skirt or jacket.

She sees shadows underneath the door, "Hey, there's no hurry," a man laughs from the outside, "lower the ruckus- “

Astrid opens the door with a glare, "Sorry, I like it rough."

He tries to grab his gun, but Astrid grabbed his arm, twisted it to the back, grabbed the gun from his belt, and shot him dead. Astrid looks around and sees her blades hanging outside the door.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes, “Men…”

Hearing the gunshots, the guards rushed to check but Astrid killed every man he came across with.

"We're under attack!" Lila stands on alert and grabbing her own gun.

"Could they have followed Angel?"

"Everyone prepares." Father Charles orders, as a guard, hands him his own gun and a strap of ammunition. "Protect our home."

As quickly the gunshots began it stopped and everything became quiet. Then they heard footsteps outside the door of the dining hall.

"It’s just one person?"

"Shh!"

The footsteps stop in front of the door.

"Angel?" Dimitri stands.

"I have done every assignment, my debt is paid." she steps into the hall, "But to take away my honor? For that you have to pay." she pulls out the blade that Dimitri gave her from underneath her sleeves, on the other hand, she held a gun.

"Your ungrateful little brat-" Astrid shoots Lila on that leg making her fall on her knees.

"You’ve made my stay here a living hell. I have enough reason to kill you, but,” Astrid gives a dramatic shrug, “you helped me out a lot."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Lila spats.

"You'll see. Anyone else would like to protect grandpapa, step up. No one had actually seen me fight, am I right?"

A few stepped forwards, Astrid looks at them, "Interesting... Very well," she pulled back her blades and tucked the gun behind her, "come and get me."

The few who were brave enough to fight her moved, but Astrid dodged and disarmed them, one man with a knife scratched her on the arm, she moved back, looks at her wound before she licks off the blood and looks up with a sinister smile "Again." she attacks this time, and in a minute, all was down on the floor, unconscious.

"She got hit several times..."

"But she didn't even flinch..." Lila, hearing this, was surprised and looked back at Astrid who was looking back at her with a smile.

She smiles at Lila. "All thanks to you."

Astrid walks toward Father Charles, points a gun on his forehead and blade on his throat. "Last words?"

"My work is done." he said, "I have created the perfect killing machine."

"No." she frowns, "I did that, I wanted to be strong, you just taught me what I need to know, I put that to use." Father Charles frowns, "And if I go back to wearing pink laced dresses and surrender my guns and blades, that's because I chose to."

"No!" Father Charles glares at her, Astrid pins him down on his chair, "I created you!"

"She is right Father." Dimitri said, "You only followed orders, she is who she is because she wants to be that person, the perfect killer." Dimitri faced Astrid, "You are entitled to retribution Angel."

He turns away, but then Astrid dropped her gun and pulled back her blades.

"Hearing you speak up to your father is retribution enough," she says as she glares at Father Charles. "You are lucky that your son is wiser than you are. My friend and I will take our leave with no grudge. But if any of you dares to harm me through my family, I will not hesitate to kill you."

With that, she turns and left the room.

"Mistress! Are you all alright? I heard the shooting-" Albert runs to her, "You're wounded! And you’re half-naked!"

"Albert, calm down, I'm fine," she reassures her guardian.

"Well, let me get your clothes, I have prepared your bath." Albert says, relief, "Then we'll patch up your wound."

Astrid smiles as she starts to take off her weapons, hanging it on the hook beside the tub- just in case, and removes the remaining clothes she had on.

"Oh, and Albert?" she hands him the envelope, "You could also start packing, we're going home."

Albert lit up, "Right away!"

Astrid lied in the tub, closes her eyes as she relaxes her mind and body.

"Albert said if you stay any longer here, you'll crumble like a prune."

Astrid smiles, "And a happy prune I will be."

“For someone still in the home of her enemies, you are calm.”

“Are we really enemies?” she asks her, keeping her eyes closed. “Those who are my enemies are smart enough not to attack me now after what happened downstairs.”

She heard her friend sigh and step closer to the tub, her mind instinctively reminds her of where her blades were.

Dimitri leans on the wall across the tub and stared at her. "This is it then."

Astrid looks up at him with just one eye and sees his sad eyes. "Well, I'm not planning to leave naked, but yeah, I guess it is." Dimitri stifles a laugh as Astrid watches him. "You could come with us."

He shook his head. "This is my home; this is where I belong."

"This had been my home for nine years, but never did I think I belonged here."

“That's because your heart is not here." His eyes move to her necklace remembering everything she had said about the one who gave it to her. "All this time I was constantly fighting with a necklace. But if I come with you..." he frowns. "I'll be fighting against the man you love."

"Dimitri..." Astrid says, "I love you as much, but it is different. You protect me from harm, he protects me from what I fear."

"It’s because he's been with you longer."

"Nine years here you should know me as much." Astrid points out.

"I should, shouldn't I?" Dimitri laughs, "I guess I always saw that little innocent girl that arrived here. But then again, innocent as you might be, you could always protect yourself."

"I told you that since day one." Astrid reminds him, leaning back to her relaxed position. "It took you nine years and twenty-four dead guards to believe me." Dimitri laughs and nods, "But thanks."

"For what?"

"For always having my back." Astrid said, "Even if it was against the others."

"Well, you never got out of control for no reason." Dimitri says, "You aren't like them..." he paused. "Like us."

"True. But like I said, this is still home." she faced him, "So don't hesitate to give me a call if you need anything."

Dimitri smiled and stared at her. "With the money you leave. I think we'll be fine for another few decades."

"Other than financial assistance." Astrid rolls her eyes and looks up at him. "I don't think I know how to stay put now."

Dimitri laughs again, "Well, I'm sure there'll always be room for you here." he says, "You are a prodigy after all."

They shared a laugh. Then Astrid gave him a look before she held out a hand. "Astrid Matthews."

Dimitri, surprised, stared at her before he smiled, "I think princess suits you more." and kisses her hand.

Astrid laughs, "Thank you."

Dimitri just smiled and stared at her, etching the moment in his mind.

"Young miss better hurry out there or we'll miss our flight," Albert calls out.

"Someone's excited." Dimitri jokes, Astrid shook her head. Albert steps inside, grabbing her blades.

"To go or not to go?" he asks.

Astrid looked at Dmitri, "Keep it, that's yours."

"Thanks,” Astrid says.

"Ok, I'll put it-"

"I'll wear it," Astrid said. "It'll be hard to explain if it’s in the bag."

"Then how will you explain why you're armed?"

"Easy," she said with a smile.

"How?"

"I don't care how, but I do hope it’s as easy as getting out of that tub," Albert says, walking out of the bathroom.

The two chuckled, Dimitri grabs the towel and opened it for Astrid. Astrid stepped out of the tub when she suddenly slipped.

Dimitri caught her around the waist, his hand staying at the base of her back. Then Astrid quickly slapped her hand away. They stared at each other surprised.

"I'm sorry-" Astrid says, surprised.

"I understand." Dimitri forces a smile, "It’s probably just an aftershock of what-"

"Albert doesn't know." Astrid says looking away and mumbles, "and I'd like it to stay that way.

Dimitri nodded, "You should get ready," he wraps the towel around her and stepped back, "I'll drive you to the airport."

"Why?" Astrid asked. "The chauffer-"

"I'd like to see how easy it is to cross those blades at the security." he teased.

 Astrid smiled and shook her head.

“Remove your shoes, your coat, and empty your pockets and put them on this basket.” The airport guards instruct, bored.

Astrid does as told and took off her coat revealing her guns and blades underneath. She continues to remove her shoes revealing the dagger and guns on both ankles.

Everyone around her stepped back and the guards gaped at her.

“Do I deposit my guns and blades on the basket too?” she asks.

“Uhm, ye- yes, please.”

Astrid continues to remove her weapons and put it in the basket, the guard provides her another one seeing the first one was overflowing f ammunition and daggers.

“Thank you.” Astrid smiles sweetly at the guard dropping her blades on top of the basket.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Albert asks, eyeing the woman behind them who was shaking in fear.

"We'll soon find out," Astrid says as she stepped into the metal detector. She was cleaned but when the basket went through security-

"You got to be kidding me, man-" the guard on the other side looks up at Astrid, feet up. "I mean Uhm, ma'am."

"I'm sorry but is there a problem with my things officer?" she sweetly asked, giving him her most seductive smile.

"Well, ma'am." he stands and puffs out his chest, trying to compose himself. "You are carrying guns, bullets, and sword-"

"Kukri." she corrects him.

"Excuse me?"

"It’s a Kukri, it is not just any sword, it’s a kukri." she points out.

"Well, still, it isn't allowed on the plane."

"Let me explain officer," she sat on the table and crossing her legs, she slowly picks up her ID underneath all the ammunition and presented it to the guard, "I am Astrid Matthews, the heiress of the Jacobson- Matthews family, and I am supposed to bring these at all time as I am in constant danger." She says pouting in the last part.

The guard stared at her lips for a second before he shook his head and crosses his arms over his chest, "As much as I'd like to help-"

"If you want you can call my grandfather-" Astrid offers, giving him the sweet smile again.

"There is no need for that Mistress Matthews." Astrid turns to see a man in a coat walking up to them, "He had already made us aware of the situation, your plane is right this way."

"Thank God." Albert groans, looking up as if saying a silent prayer.

Astrid grins at her guardian and quickly gathers her kukri and putting it on followed by her guns and ammunition. The people behind her watch her put on her guns and blades.

Finally, she puts her Id back on her breast pocket and winks at the guard, “Thank you, officer.”

"Y-you…” he clears his throat, “You’re welcome ma’am." 

"This way to your plane, mistress." The man in the coat says.

They followed the man to the private hanger at the end of the building.

“Did that wink necessary princess?” Albert asks, exasperated.

“The man is doing a good job; a lady should notice him more.”

“He's a grown man, probably older than your father.” he points out, “he’s probably worried.”

“Then good for him.”

“Yeah, if only you didn’t ruin her for him.”

“Oh, shush Albert. I’m sure he is loyal to his wife as you are loyal to the Matthews.”

“No one is as loyal as I am.” He says seriously making Astrid chuckle.

They finally make it out of the building and to the hangar where a jet was waiting for them.

“Have a good flight, mistress.”

"Thank you, good sir," Astrid says, the man smiled and bowed.

“You are welcome, Mistress Matthews.”

"And since I like you,” she smiles and reached for his tie as if fixing it, “It’s just fair that I warn you that if you try to set me up I will find you and kill you, do you understand?"

"Y-yes Miss Matthews," he says stepping back.

Then Astrid turns around and saw Dimitri standing by the door of the hangar as if waiting for them. Up to this day, it still amazes her how Dimitri is always a step or two before her.

He signals to her that he'll be keeping an eye on the man making her laugh and nodded, waving goodbye. 

Finally, she was on their way home.