The Cobra

Chapter 2

Dinner tonight is a chicken dish with lemon pasta—one of Arlo's favorites. Our cook Diana places the plates in front of us. We've known Diana since we were young, and she used to work for our father. She's always been a mother figure to us and tried her best to make our lives happy outside of our father's abuse. She's amazing and I'm glad we have her.

It was also nice that throughout all the shit our father put us through she was a constant light we could looked towards for guidance.

Besides my brothers, two others have joined our table for the night. Damon, and Arlo's best friend Callum. The two don't only eat dinner with us but live with us as well. Aries met Damon on a stake out where Damon was trying to rob the man he was watching. While Arlo and Callum met in a college computer class, both have been best friends ever since.

And then theirs me and my lack of a best friend at the dinner table. I have a rough time connecting with people, therefore correlating to my lack of friends.

I tried in high school hoping for someone to talk and share secrets with who weren't my brothers. I love my brothers, but I can't tell them everything and I wanted a girl in my life. That turned out in a shit show and a girl leaving with a broken nose, and I've given up since then. I was naive back then thinking I could trust someone outside of my brothers to talk to. The feelings it left me in weren't nice and I have no desire in feeling them again. I'm good by myself and if I do need to talk, I have Arlo and Aries, I don't need anyone else.

Dinner is filled with its usual bickering and snide sarcastic comments between the boys as usual. Their really a funny group when their with one another but these dinners are as much as I can take being in the same room as all of them. I mean I love them and all but their just so loud.

Dinners finished and we move into the living room. Arlo and Aries are talking about the news with Peter, while Damon and Callum play on the gaming system. When all the boys are together, they act like teenagers, getting in trouble and playing video games, you wouldn't assume they're in their mid-twenties.

Arlo and Aries finish their talk and join the boys on the couch. Arlo pulls me closer to him and holds me to his side. "You, okay?" I smile and nod at him.

"I'm just tired, I think I'm going to head to bed" he frowns at my answer but nods his head. I really am okay. Just a bit overwhelmed with everything going on recently. I can't help but think of my dad, which brings back a lot of emotions that I don't want to rise. I need to find a distraction and I need to find one soon.

I head to my room, grab some clothes to sleep in and head to the shower. I still have blood on me from the events of the day. I never got to change, and the blood doesn't bother me much. I strip myself of my clothes and set them aside to give to Diana, hoping she'll be able to get the blood out.

I find myself looking in the mirror. I can't help but smile a little, I look like an exact replica of my mother. Victor hated it and it just made me love the way I looked more. I know I'm beautiful and those who knew my mother would probably mistake me for her. My face is soft and gives off a gentle and loving vibe just like my moms. Those who are dead probably wouldn't say the same though.

I look away from my face and gaze at my body. I have an amazing figure a result of training for hours a day. I don't have many scars on my body and those visible on my arms, torso, and legs are results of my job. I turn around and look at my back inspecting my body. Victor aka my father thankfully only ever scarred my back, those were the calculated ones the 'controlled ones' I still have a couple on my arms as a result of his blinded rage and not being able to calm down enough to take me to the basement. Those are still on display mixed with the other scars I've gotten throughout the years. My back on the other hand is littered with scars, some of different sizes and majority all made from his whip, a small amount made by a small knife he would use to get more accurate strokes. Although I covered them up my back now a giant canvas filled with a beautiful back piece. The star of the tattoo is the cobra going down my spine. A symbol of my place in the underworld. The cobra, a deadly assassin who loves to work with knives and never gives a second thoughts to her kills. That's who I am, a killer and I take pride in that. Although I don't kill everyone just those who I believe deserve it, I've never killed an innocent and never plan to.

The tattoo spans across my whole back and up to the back of my neck. The area not covered by the snake is filled with flowers, jasmine flowers. They were my mom's favorite. The tattoos do a good job at covering the scars, but they don't erase them and if you ran your hand down my back you could feel all the different ridges of raised skin and scar tissue.

Looking at my body no longer leaves me in pain as it did when I was a teenager, now I cherish it and find beauty in it. I survived what happened to me, and the scares on my back prove that. Although the memories are negative, I survived them. I'm happy and content with that.

I step into the shower the hot water cascading down my body and I wash and scrub all the blood off. When I finish, I look fresh and change into my oversized shirt and some underwear and head back into my room, the giant king-sized bed with black silk bedding is calling my name.

A quiet meow draws my attention to the balcony door. Percy my black bangle cat, my own best friend makes his way into the room and nudges my freshly cleaned legs. I bend down to pick him up, his purring increasing as I hold him in my arms and make my way towards the bed. I lay him down on the pillow next to mine, him already starting to knead the material. Pulling the covers open I slid into bed, the cold bite of the fabric makes my skin prickle, soon replaced by the softness of the material and my body heat consuming me. I turn the light off on the bedside table and turn to Percy. When he's here theirs always less of a chance for nightmares. I go to sleep easily knowing my mind wont be plagued by my memories.