I crossed my legs, one over the other, my upper body leaning forward as I stared at Will. The professionalism that I had seen him show seemed to be out the window now, as he propped his feet up on the futon, his head turned in my direction. His light colored lips parted, but no words came out. He took a deep breath, and I could tell he was nervous. I blinked at him, waiting for the silence to end. “Just ask,” I answered. There were plenty of questions floating around in the air for both of us, but so far, Will was the only one being upfront. “The men you killed,” he started. “I understood that you thought of them as a resource. I understand that you say that they’re bad men…” “We already went over this.” Just that quick I was irritated. Somehow, I even felt shame, though I knew what they were capable of. “Yes, however, there is something else that I never got a chance to ask.” Sincere, be patient. The uncertainty in his face shows that his question was a hard one. “The Blood… the

“If you were a commoner, what are some things you would expect from your leader?” I stared sleepily at Will. My eyelids feel heavy, my shoulders are slumped over, my kinky hair was fighting its way out of the high bun I originally went to sleep in, and I was dressed in generic red and white striped pajamas. I looked like a fucking candy cane. A tired candy cane. When he burst through my bedroom door this morning, I was so out of it, I did whatever he asked of me and I did it half asleep. He said to meet him downstairs, and I did so without a second thought, though my feet did drag. We stood in the center of a perfectly squared room, that had a soft padding used for flooring, and poorly lit with candles somehow embedded into the surrounding walls. It was something straight out of a Harry

WILLS POV I lay back on the examination table, allowing Lana to cut down the torn up shirt, revealing the skin that was underneath, so she could get to my wounds. I didn’t want this little incident to force Sincere back into her cage and discourage her from any further training with me, so I was pretty quick to ask her to leave the room. She did so without hesitation. The wide eyed expression on her face told me that she was surprised by her actions, as well as very apologetic. “I can’t believe you allowed her to hurt you like this,” Lana cursed under her breath, slowly shaking her head, as she dabbed the surrounding skin with water, trying to isolate each scratch. “Don’t worry,” I started, wincing at the pain. “It looks worse than it is.” This much was true. At first the pain came as a shock, feeling like multiple knives sliding into my flesh at the same time. When the blood first started trickling out, there was an alarm because it was more than I expected, and the stinging was u

“And the three little pigs lived happily ever after. The end!” Lana finished story time just as I entered the main hall. There were over twenty little tots, sitting around, clinging on to her every word. You could tell that they heard the story before, yet, it seemed to be their favorite one. I wonder how they’d feel if they knew the true ending. How morbid of me, thinking of the horrific ending of the Three Little Pigs, and how damaging it could be to a young mind. That’s what life is though; full of goals and dreams you hope to reach once you enter adulthood, but in reality most of the time it's lies and bullshit. As the children clapped and gave shouts of yay, I wished I remembered a moment like this, where I had no care in the world, when everything was easy and careless. I envy them. 

To say I had my ass handed to me would be too simple. Here I lay, spread out on the floor, body sore from head to toe. I wasn’t sure if I was in pain due to our hand in hand combat, or the fact that he had me work every muscle so hard. What I did know was how much I didn’t want to move. The pain would feel worse. He stood over me, arms crossed against his bare cut up chest. His brown eyes fixated on my face as he sneered down at me. I thought I was walking into this fight already a winner. He showed me. Whatever magic he had under his sleeve, he’d better continue to use it. I gave it my all. Every punch and kick felt like I was hitting metal. Bringing out my claws seemed to be the only upper hand I had. He only responded to the pain they could cause. He bled from his bottom lip, arms, and his torso. I didn’t have much blood, but I could feel a few broken bones. “I gave you a run for your money, didn’t I?” Ugh, he’s so smug. “Now, shift, so we can shower.” I smacked my lips. “I’m