Giovanni Vitale

CHAPTER 11 - MORTEM'S HURT

Gio pov

I went to the Mortem Arena to watch the show and found Max there looking bored.

"Hey Max, what's got you so bored?" I ask him.

"Nothing, I'm just here for surveillance, Mortem's not performing tonight." he answered.

"Oh? How come?"

"Personal..." He looked hesitant at his answer. Then all of a sudden, his eyes widened and he looked angry. "WHAT THE FUCK"

I followed his gaze and I saw Mortem on stage. "What's wrong?".

"Nothing" he mumbled when the fight began.

Mortem quickly killed all her opponents but something was off. She looked like she was in pain. She seemed to be trying extra hard to block off all punches to her stomach.

"Has Mortem told you he is actually a she?" Max asks me.

"Yeah...?" I answer hesitantly.

"That means you'll know who she is pretty soon. Knowing her, she's leaving clues left and right. It's all a game. She seems to have taken quite a liking to you, she doesn't normally warm up to people that fast." This sort of surprised me.

"Fuck she hurt herself again, follow me." He gets up and walks out of the VIP room. He leads me down to the underground garage.

"Why are we here?" I question.

"Before I show you where I'm going. You need to swear you won't tell anyone about this passage. It's confidential and no one knows about it except for close family."

"I swear."

We step into an elevator and Max presses on the basement floor.

There's a floor under this one?

We step out and find two steel doors, there's a hand and eye scan in front of the door.

He scans his hand and eye and the steel doors open.

We walked for a while, I could hear honks and tires screeching, so I knew we were under the streets.

Finally we walk up to another door identical to the first with the same security paneling. The doors open and reveal the basement of a club.

"We own a club close to the Arena, that's why no one ever sees Mortem leaving." We walk up some stairs, passing the main floor and reach an isolated hallway with doors on each side. "Mortem and I both have offices here to deal with business."

"Mortem works for you aside from killing?" I might have already met her.

"A lot more than you know, she's my advisor actually. Without her, we wouldn't be this powerful." He tells me with a proud expression.

"You sound proud of her." I confess to him.

"I am, I really am. But don't tell her that, she'll never let me live it down." We both chuckle at his remark.

We reach the end of the hall and he taps eight times, the last one isolated a little from the other seven.

"You have to tap seven times fast, then an eight further down. If anyone doesn't do this. She opens the door and shoots a bullet between their eyes."

I nod. Then we hear a subtle 'come in'.

We both walk in to see a luxurious office, dark wood all over the walls, a sitting area with black couches, a big brown desk. But what worried me was the trail of blood on the floor leading to a white bathroom.

We hear a few curse words coming from the bathroom before a figure walks out. It's her. This is her office. She's wearing sweatpants and a hoodie who's hood covers her face.

"Damn it Mortem, how badly hurt are you?" Max looks worried. "There's blood everywhere."

"Relax I'm fine." She says. Her voice sounds rough, like she's struggling to talk.

"No you're fucking not." Max raises his voice at her.

"I might be bleeding out but I won't hesitate to slit your throat." She threatens him.

He laughs a little bit. "You and your threats, I swear."

At the same time, his phone starts ringing. He looks at the ID and answers.

"Fuck it's Gracie, she got hurt in her training. I gotta go. Gio can you stitch her up again?" I nod at him and he heads out.

"You can go, I'll stitch myself up." Mortem tells me while lifting her hoodie above her waist, but still keeps it around her shoulders so the hood hides her face.

There were bruises on her stomach, along with an open stab wound. That wasn't all. there were scars, long lines running from one side of her body to the other. What really catches my eye is writing on her lower stomach. It says 'My little killer'.

I look at the bruises again and the stab wound. Wait... it couldn't be.

I step up to her and pull the hoodie off of her. Holy shit.

It's her, it's Noah.

I couldn't stop gazing at her so eventually she spoke up. "Are you just gonna stare or are you gonna help?"

I regain my composure and walk to the bathroom taking out the first aid kit. She goes to her desk and reaches for a stitching needle. I give her a puzzled look.

"Not my first rodeo." She shrugs and sits on the counter.

I walk up to her, opening the first aid kit. I take out the rubbing alcohol and put some on the gauze. I press it on her expecting her to wince or something, she stays perfectly still.

I finish restitching her and put a bandage over her wound.

"You still haven't said anything in the 20 minutes you've been here." She says in a bored tone.

"I'm still trying to process this." It makes perfect sense, I haven't seen her and Mortem in a room together and they're both the only people who could potentially beat me in a fight.

"I'll explain, I'm Mortem, always have been, always will. Only people that know are my parents, Max, Sky and Adrien. I'll tell everyone else when we get home, I just like being dramatic. I told you I'd help you out with this war didn't I?" She gives me a smile. It's a fake one, it doesn't reach her eyes.

"But you were put on 3 weeks' rest, you aren't even supposed to leave your bed."

"Yeah so?" She asks while washing her hands.

I look her in the eyes- nope can't do that, they're too distracting. I quickly look away. "So why are you not in bed? resting..."

"Felt like killing someone." She said with a sadistic smile.