The quiet before the storm

3. The decisions we make

Jacklyn looked at the man in front of her trying to strangle the girl, she only rolled her eyes before gripping on to his thumbs and bending them the opposite way. The sound of breaking bones made a smile creep up her pale face, the man stumbled backwards howling in pain and cradling his hands to his chest. The black haired girl stepped over to her green eyed friend, she helped the bleeding man sit up against the brick wall behind him. She could hear the dime lion beginning to stand so she did the same and turning to the man, the tall blonde man growled at her before turning around and running down the narrow alley.

"Welcome to hell on earth." Jacklyn spoke loud enough for the blonde to hear as he quickly walked to the alley entrance, he turned to look at her after she spoke. Jacklyn pulled a coin from her pocket, flipping the metal high in the air. The man continued to stumble as the black haired girl pointed her index and middle finger at him, she glanced at Tulin from the corner of her blue eye. She didn't want to give him that image of her, she looked back up to the blonde man with emotionless expression.

When the coin finally dropped back down to eye level Jacklyn pulls her hand back, she pulls the trigger of her finger gun with little recoil. The coin that was in front of her flew faster then any of them could see, the cool metal whizzed past the dime lions head clipping his ear. Jacklyn could hear the blood that hit the cobblestone ground and the yelp that came from the blonde thug, his left hand went up to his ear as he let a shriek of pain be heard.

"Why did you go easy on him, storm?" Tulin rasped from beside her as he slowly stood up using the brick wall for support, the grisha girl quickly picked up her cloak and wrapped it around the brown haired man. "He is only human." Jacklyn replied softly as she took his arm and put it around her shoulder, she helped him stand up and they both began to slowly walk out of the alley. The pale girl sighed as she glanced up to the sky to see the moon shining down on the streets, she untied the braid her black hair was in and letting it fall in front of her face.

    "He let you live. He could have shot you in the head or chest, but he only shot your leg." Jacklyn only spoke half the truth, the other half would entail how she didn't want the closest person in her life to see her as a killer. Tulin has seen her brutal and torture like techniques, yet he has never seen her kill anyone, seen her beat them to pulp on more then one occasion but never killed. She is going to keep it that way for as long as she can.

"What were you trying to steal?" Jacklyn asked the slightly taller man as they traveled down the damp streets, people stared at the two when they walked by some even giving them shoves. They slowly made their way to the small cabin they resided in, Jacklyn helped Tulin sit on the broken couch making it creak under the new pressure. The green eyed grisha man let out a sigh as he let his muscles relax, the black cloak was discarded and the pale girl grabbed a cold rock and pressed it to his bruising eye.

"I wasn't trying to steal anything!" He defended himself while rolling his green eyes, but the smirk that crept up his face gave it away that he lied. "But I did nick this from somebodies safe." The healer said mischievously as he pulled out a large diamond necklace, it look like it was worth millions. It glittered in what little moonlight that shined through the window, the thin metal that wrapped around the gems were pure silver. The grisha girls blue and grey eyes widened in awe and surprise, then it turned to panic very quickly.

Tulin just stole the grand diamond necklace from the dime lions leader, Pekka Rollins, he is going to try and get it back by any means possible. "Tulin you know they will be after you for a while?" Jacklyn calmly asked the light brown haired man as he pressed the cold stone to the bruising around his left eye. "Yeah, but we will be rich when we sell it." He said while holding one of his hands above the bullet wound in his right leg, the other hand still pressing the rock to his face.

Tulin hissed in pain as the skin began to seal itself, a few seconds later the only evidence of the wound was a small pink scar. He pulled the rock away from his face when it was no longer cold, dropping the rock to the ground and put his hand on his face. The ugly colors soon receded leaving clean light tanned skin around his eye and cheekbone, he groaned letting his hand drop to his side on the brown couch. "You have put yourself in danger, my friend." Jacklyn rasped as she tossed the rock in a random corner of the room, Tulin looks over to her to see her determined expression.

"I'm sorry Storm, I thought we could-" He began to apologise but the black haired girl looked up into his green eyes, they seemed grey to her, but she saw the hopeful glint in his eyes. "Don't apologise, just own up to your mistakes. It was very nice of you to think of our future, but you didn't think of the consequences." Jacklyn spoke with a calm voice looking at the guilt stricken boy as he sat up from his laying position, wincing from the bruising on his ribs. "What was that motto you used when we first met." The brown haired healer asked with a small smile while placing his hand on his sore torso, the strained muscles healed under his light touch.

"Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust, You can't change the Past, But you can choose your Future." Jacklyn said while looking down at the stone floor, her eyes traveled to her hands to see the grey skin adorned with small scars. "It's not my motto. My mother always said that to me when I made a mistake." The grisha girl said quietly while looking back up to his face before her expression turned cold, the day her parents died came to mind, their blood dripping to the floor in puddles, she didn't want to think about that right now.

"I like it, reminds me not to make the same mistake twice." Tulin said with a comforting smile, his green eyes never wavered from her cold stare. The black haired girl nodded her head slightly before standing up, walking over to one of the drawers from the rickety dresser in the single bedroom. Jacklyn stretched out her hand as she opened the drawer, the brown haired boy got the message and tossed the diamond encrusted necklace.

The black haired girl opened the drawer looking at the empty space, she pulled the piece of thin wood from the bottom revealing a silver box with yellow and orange engravings. Her pale fingers reached up and grabbed the silver chain that rested around her neck, she pulls the necklace from under her black shirt. A small black key hung from the chain grasped between her fingers, she carefully unclasped the silver around her neck and used the key on the box. 

Jacklyn sucked in a breath when she looked at the small leather pouch that resided in the corner of the box, she placed the diamond necklace on the velvet that lined the inside of the box she now held. Without another thought she closed the silver container and turned the key listening to the mechanism click, letting her know it was locked before she put it back in the bottom drawer. The piece of thin wood on top made the drawer once again appear empty then the peeling wood slammed shut, Tulin glanced up from the couch looking at the sour expression that dawned the grisha girl as she placed the the black key back around her neck.

"You will have to lay low for a while. No more gambling for the time being." She stated while glancing at him with a cold look once more, he didn't even flinch from the harsh look only mock pouted. "Aw, But I can get more money from scamming those suckers." He whined with his eyes never leaving Jacklyn's multi colored stare, her expression turning into a glare making the brown haired man roll his green orbs. "Okay, I won't go near the gambling dens." He stated nodding at the color blind girl, but she noticed the mischievous look in his eyes and knew he was going to get himself in trouble.

"I will be holding you to that." Jacklyn said with a warning glare that says 'don't do anything stupid', but Tulin didn't flinch from stare just smiled meekly while shrugging his shoulders. He said he wasn't going to the gambling dens but he didn't say anything about the bars and pubs where he could get a drink maybe spend a couple extra coin maybe. The black haired girl knew she would have to stick with him for a bit, just to make sure he doesn't get in trouble or get the attention of any dime lions.

Jacklyn sighed before waving the taller boy to the single bedroom in the small cabin, he didn't say anything else to her as he nodded his head in a goodnight gesture. The door closed with a small click that echoed through the small room, the black haired girl stood in the middle of the room before soundlessly leaving through the front door. When she looked up to the night sky there were dark clouds out, but she could still see the shimmer of the stars and the light glow from the moon. 

Everything seemed to be calm, for now.