ARIA AKA REDHands...Such merciless little tools we each own.They also happen to be our deadliest weapon.They contribute to the creation of existence, the survival, and the destruction of life.They inflict pain... pleasure...They give... take...Without them, we are only a vessel of ourselves, incapable of doing the simplest of tasks in our very ordinary lives.They allow a blind individual to see, read, and feel.We take them for granted when we need them the most. Like right now. I need my hands to be free so I can escape the psychotic Volkov twin who is on a path of devastation. The sides of my hands are grazed to shit, and I bite down on my molars suppressing the cries of agony, fear and suffering. "Come on you son of a bitch!" I hiss, sliding my hands up and down the tree trunk with everything I have. My hands tear themselves free from the shredded clothing, and I take a deep breath as I search the woods for Roar. When I do not hear him, tears begin to obscure my eyes,
ARTEMIS AKA WOLFI stare down at my gun as I storm off in the opposite direction from the rest of the group with Viktor hot on my heels. The air tastes foul and smells of death. My body aches with the desire to plummet my hands into something hard; preferably Aleksanders' face.I roll my head, clicking my neck as I try to keep my shit together and loosen the tension that is clinging to my aching muscles like a filthy parasite. I have so much pent-up anger inside me that I am about to combust; explode.Then out of nowhere, my prayers have been answered when a blood-curdling scream breaks through the air. It's enough to bring me to a complete standstill, almost to my knees.I stop in my tracks, spinning around as I try to decipher where the scream came from. "Red," I mumble."I heard it too," Viktor says softly as he too looks around the woods. "Up there," He hisses, pointing up the small bank where we can see shadows shuffling about. I dont wait.I take off running, pumping my legs
ARTEMIS AKA WOLFThree weeks have passed since Reds' return, and she still refuses to leave her room unless I invite her friend Ana to come and stay with us at the mansion. You would think I would have jumped at her request and done what she asked of me; I didn't. Initially, she requested a divorce and blamed me for all that had transpired. She is correct, and I have apologised for my mistakes, but it was not enough to convince her to stay and work on repairing our marriage; us as a whole.She has also refused to eat, and it has reached the point where I am no longer in control of her.I was hoping she would agree to consult someone, preferably a specialist, because she will not speak to me. I have given her the space she requested, room for herself to recover, breathe, and come to terms with what transpired.I do not expect her to forget; all I want is for her to... move on rather than dwell on the past; to put it behind her.I miss her, her grin, the way she moulded herself agains
ARIA AKA REDI lean in close to Wolfs' ear, "The only individual on Roars' contact list was his name. He was Roars' informant." I whisper as my body shakes fiercely beneath his touch.Seeing Igor in Wolfs' office caught me off guard. I had been in my room practising for days what I would say to him if I was to see him again. The bold lady I aspired to be is now nothing more than a fragment of my imagination, a mere phantom in my fantasies.Being face to face with him has rendered me speechless, immobile and I'm fucking terrified. The hammering of my heart pounding in my eardrums is deafening, and I cannot force myself to look up and meet Igor's stare; those piercing eyes belong to the devil, and I will not allow him to fool me.I know what I saw.A low and vicious growl vibrates from Wolfs' inner core and I shudder in response.Viktor steps forward and I watch as he starts to drag Igor out of the office with him crying and begging for mercy. He grabs onto the door frame, his finger
ARTEMIS AKA WOLF As I reach the barn, I start to remove my suit jacket and roll my sleeves up to my forearm; I'm a breath away from tearing it flush from my body with the rage that consumes me. Igor... Viktor was fucking right, and I dont know what hurts more, the betrayal or the fact that Igor has been with me from the very beginning; undermining my every move, exterminating my wives. I stop in my tracks as I reach the door and I look up at the sun as she beams upon me with her warmth and beauty. The complete opposite of who I am. The mask I don on a daily is becoming unbearable. I don't want to be this monster that I aspire to be when I step through this door. I am sick and tired of living in my father's shadow, which has brought me nothing but anguish and agony; hopelessness and despair. I sabotage everything I touch. Being with Red was beautiful, warm, and passionate until I fucked it up. It's why I have always told myself that I am safer being alone, giving no one a ch
ARTEMIS AKA WOLFAs I reach the top of the staircase intending to go into my room and have a shower, I see Red's friend making a beeline straight toward me. I stop in my tracks, holding a hand up as Ivan attempts to step around me, and I brace myself for impact when her steps do not falter. Tears brim her angry eyes, "You fucking piece of shit!!" She screams at me as she thumps her tiny fisted hands against the hard wall of my bare chest.Her attempts to inflict pain upon me fail, I take hold of her wrists in my hands and shake her, "You better calm the blyad [fuck] down before you find yourself locked up!" I snarl with irritation. "Fuck you!" She spits out, struggling against me. "You have ruined her! Fucking ruined her!" My brows crease, "I didn't mean for any of this to happen." I snap. "I just killed a man I held dearly to my heart for his mother's crimes! Whom he murdered, might I add!" Her irises shine with astonishment as she chuckles at me. "Do you think eliminating the c
ARIA AKA REDI stare at Wolf in complete shock as he makes his way to the door, yanking it open and my fingers twist into knots as my anxiety shoots through the ceiling. "Red.." He titters with his bare back still facing me, and his head slightly turned to his side. "We also had unprotected sex the night before you were seized, or did you forget about the passionate night we spent together?" He growls bitterly."No, of course, I haven't," I reply in a hushed tone.How can he think that I would forget about that passionate night shared between us?He made my body sing and I had never felt so wanted... beautiful, or alive, and even if I did want to forget it; my heart would never allow it. "Well then, if one of us was to get you pregnant, it would be me, and I'm not willing to let you go if you are carrying my child." He openly declares with an underlay of possessiveness as he leaves the room, and slams the door behind him.I slightly flinch, standing there looking into space. I'm fla
ARTEMIS AKA WOLFI step under the hot cascading water, watching as the crimson liquid eventually turns transparent. I allow the hot water to flow over my hair while resting my palm on the wall above my head and dipping my chin. So many thoughts are running through my mind, but one voice is screaming so aggressively that it drowns out the others.'You have lost her, she is pregnant, and she no longer wants to be with you.'Rolling my shoulders, I sway my neck underneath the shower head and grit my teeth. I'm not willing to let her go. I understand how inconsiderate I was by forcing her to stay and take a paternity test.If by some ill-fated chance, the baby is Aleksanders', I will have the results changed; forged with my name as the biological father. There are two types of people in the universe. Those who blame the world and accept defeat. And those who resist and win. I am not a man to accept a cheap spoon as my award and stare at it with the excuse that there was nothing I