Chapter 11- His Angel

"You and me both." She laughs. "Valeria Zanotti. Twenty."

"Cara Morelli," I say. "Thirteen. Just… don't call me that."

She grins. "The only people who call us by our serial numbers are the trainers and Leone. Speaking of which, you have no fucking idea how long I've been waiting for someone to join me make fun of all the other girls who hope to get Leone but never will."

I let out a laugh, amused by the idea. Yet that is all we do for the next few minutes while we eat: listen to the conversations of the other girls, chuckling quietly to ourselves as we comment in whispers. Valeria fills me in on information on each of them as they speak, so before breakfast is over, I already know a handful by name, without even making an active effort to.

"I heard Leone will be at the shooting range tomorrow while we're practising." Bria. Long chestnut brown hair, oval face, blue eyes. "There's a high-profile job on the horizon. He might do an evaluation."

A collective sigh of annoyance leaves the girls. 

"Give it a rest, will you?" Jacquetta is the one who echoes the group's general opinion. "He's never coming. All the other times you said he would, he didn't."

"It's not my fault he changes his plans at the last moment," Bria maintains. "But he's definitely going to be there tomorrow. Raffa told me."

"And why would he tell you something so important?" Alessia asks, and a few other girls snigger.

The red-haired model-type throws some weight around, Valeria informs me- because of her obvious good looks, her easy confidence and the fact that she is a star student in the little academy of female-led assasination known as the Dollhouse. She's been top of the class, ever since I- well, Thirteen- went for that last operation and ended up in a coma. Post that, Alessia had dominated the evaluation charts with ease, rising to Number One- a position that once used to belong to Thirteen; the same one she had claimed so effortlessly in her first month here it was almost like a birthright. 

But now, it's Alessia's. And unlike Thirteen, she likes to use her 'power' well- evident from the cult of respect she has garnered in the house. At her criticism, Bria grows a little quiet, until Elisa leans in closer, curious, prodding.

"So you're going out with Raffa now? That must be why he would tell you something like that; anything at all," she says. 

"Well, he's definitely more available than Leone," Bria responds, defensive at being called out so openly like that. "For all you dreamers out there." 

"Of course he is," Terza chips in sagely. "Leone doesn't care about love or romance. The only things he's passionate about are his sex and his killing. Obviously, he kills like a damn predator. But what you didn't know is that he fucks with one hell of a devotion… like, really thoroughly."

A hush settles over the table. 

Alessia turns to Terza. "What?"

"You mean you've never seen him bring dates inside the premises before?" Terza asks. When Alessia does not respond, she continues. "I saw him on one of his- I'm sure- numerous nights with other women. It was late and I had been out strolling- but at that point, was hurrying back to not miss curfew- when I saw Leone. Lit by his mansion's porch lights, his frame was visible, kissing the hell out of some brunette woman by the hood of his car. They were making out so hard she was arching over the vehicle, loud like a fire drill." She pauses. "By the way, Leone's a very good kisser… if it isn't obvious enough."

"Finish the fucking story," someone snaps impatiently. Her name probably starts with a P or a B. But it could as well be a Z at this point. Nineteen names and hers is not one of the few I remember. I can definitely see the allure of calling people by serial numbers. After a while, it sort of stuck. Not like I won't stop resenting Leone for calling me Thirteen. I hate him so much I resent everything about him; everything he does, including trying to prove that I am attracted to him. Especially that.  

Terza grins as she continues, pulling me from my thoughts. "So while all of that was going on, I was in the darkness watching them, feeling so hot myself-"

Gemma cackles. "You shameless voyeur."

"You have no idea how much I wanted to be kissed like that," Terza answers. "Yet all I could do was watch."

"And?"

"He caught me."

A collective gasp left the table. 

"And?"

"He forced me to watch as he fucked the woman so raw she was screaming into the hood of his car."

Elisa shrugs. "That doesn't seem so bad now, does it?" 

"Except it wasn't me he was taking to the moon and back with his cock," Terza returns morosely. "Plus, he promised to gouge my eyes out the next time I stayed back to watch."

Alessia blows out a sigh. "Yeah, that sounds like him."

Defintely crazy. Definitely him.

"What, you all thought I made the story up?"