Virulence

Chapter 2 - Lark and the Lion

"That's my seat." Was all I heard before being shoved into the floor. I sat up quick, my hand gripping the stolen knife. Rias was standing over me, his expression cold. He was still dressed in all black, but this time there were a few splatters of red blood on his face. He had just come back from killing someone; I had to force myself to breath normally.

"Sorry," I forced out, getting to my feet. "I fell asleep waiting for you guys."

Rias didn't reply, just sat down and started unlacing his boots. He pulled a sheath and dagger out first, laying it on the arm of the chair. It was much bigger than the one I was holding.

I started to say that I completed his test, when the others wandered past. They were laughing and joking, heading for a hall in the back of the rafters. One of them, the redhead, was talking about how easy that mission was.

"Once those wajaks moved away from that massive fire, it was cake taking them out."

I looked from the others to Rias, annoyed. "Did you send me in there as a distraction?"

Rias looked up at me, a small smirk on his face. "Why would I send a rookie into a high risk situation like that?"

I wanted to get angry but stopped myself. No need to piss off a trained killer. I instead tucked the dagger into my waistband and crossed my arms over my chest. "So where can I get some sleep?"

Rias hitched his thumb over his shoulder, "Follow the others."

I was nervous at first, but I forced myself to follow the other four down a long cavern lit sparingly with sting lights at the back of the main cavern. The hallway opened up into another big cavern with ten beds lined up in the middle and various sized dressers and wardrobes along the walls. I also noticed that there weren't any walls, everything was open. They must not care too much about privacy.

I must have looked stunned and lost, because the redhead turned back and greeted me with a big grin. He patted me on the back and gently shoved me forward towards the beds.

"Don't be afraid, naja." He was talking so fast I could barely keep up. "We're friendlies. Just make yourself at home here."

"Good to know." Was all I could think to say. "My name's Lark."

"Jax," he grinned as he shook my hand. "The others will introduce themselves eventually."

I made eye contact with the bigger guy with buzzed hair. He nodded silently at me before wandering off down another hallway. They all seemed friendly, but there was still a dangerous air about them. I wasn't normally intimidated easily, but these guys were in a whole new league then I was used to.

"Your bed is next to Zade's." Jax says, pointing at the farthest one with a rolled up mattress on it. "but be careful, he cooes kinda loud."

I thanked Jax and headed towards my little corner of the room. I unrolled the mattress and tossed the pillow and backpack to the head of the bed before flopping down and surveying the room a little more.

The walls were bare almost everywhere except for the space around one of the wardrobes, which had a bunch of pictures taped up around it. I assumed that was Jax's area, just because he was the most energetic personality I'd met so far.

The only two in the room were the tall blonde named Zade and the quiet one who looked like he could kill you with just a glance. Zade looked over at me and smirked before heading over.

"I see you've gotten to chat with our Jax." He said with a smile as he sat down onto the bed across from me.

I rubbed the back of my neck and smirked, "Yeah. He chattered on the entire time too."