Red Reaper // Twilight J.H.

01 // THE MISSION

//

At age eight, Nikita stood in line with half the Red Room girls, with the other half of the group lined up across the room. She was dressed in loose clothing, which did not restrict her movement. The other girls wore identical clothing, some in different sizes.

Madame B stood in between the two groups, hands clasped behind her back. Her cold eyes traveled between the two parties, examining each and every individual. Once a long moment had passed, she spoke in Russian, "Today two girls will spar to the death."

Nikita barely restrained a gasp of shock and horror. She didn't want to spar! She wanted to do more ballet! What if she was chosen to fight? What if had to kill one of these girls?

The other girls appeared just as frightened, shocked, and jittery as Nikita. They exchanged nervous and fearful looks, none of them wanting to be the two chosen girls who would have to fight or die.

"Misha and Anastasia!" Madame B called out.

Misha, who was in the same group as Nikita, gasped quietly. From across the room, Anastasia swallowed visibly and had begun trembling.

"Step forward!" the mistress ordered in Russian, as she usually did, unless they were learning foreign languages. When neither girl moved, she bellowed, "NOW!"

Misha made the first move, taking a hesitant step forward. She continued taking nervous steps forward until she was in the center of the room and on the mat placed on the floor. Anastasia took a moment to take action, and slowly migrated forward. Once on the mat, she halted.

"Begin!" Madame B instructed.

Misha bit her lip, and Anastasia had tears building in her eyes. Before either of them could begin, Anastasia had turned to Madame B and cried, "Please, Madame B! I don't want to fight or kill anyone!"

Anastasia's plead triggered Misha's, who spoke, "Neither do I. Please, can we not--?"

Madame B's eyes narrowed dangerously. In a split second, the hands clasped behind her had grasped onto something in her back pocket and yanked it out. Then, she was thrusting her hands in front of her, aiming a gun at Anastasia.

BANG!

BANG!

Multiple girls screamed as one bullet embedded in Anastasia, and then another in Misha. Nikita's jaw dropped, and she suddenly felt very ill.

Madame B smiled cruelly as two adults arrived to drag the bodies away. She shoved the gun back into her pocket, and her eyes landed on Nikita.

"Tanya and Nikita."

//

In the beginning, there were twenty-eight girls. Now, only three remained. These three girls had endured years of grueling training, morphing them into the perfect killers. Not just any killers, but Red Reapers.

One of these girls was none other than Nikita Volkov.

Nikita was now seventeen years old. When she first arrived in Red Room, she was six years old. After eleven torturous years in Red Room, she had grown into a fierce young woman. She wasn't just a victim of Red Room anymore; she was a Red Reaper now.

Nikita had graduated Red Room with flying colors. After enduring the tests and passing them almost flawlessly, she was taken into a medical bay, where she was operated on. They injected her with serums that had specific purposes that a Red Reaper needed.

Most of the serums enhanced her senses and added to Nikita's physical abilities. She overheard hushed words about blood scents, and deduced they must have injected her with something to lessen the desirability of her blood to certain supernatural creatures, such as vampires.

Now that Nikita and the other two young women were Red Reapers, they could be loaned off to other organizations that needed their specialties. One of the girls, Yana, had already been loaned to an organization that required a couple targets to be eliminated.

Nikita was next.

It was on a common chilly day that Nikita was summoned to Madam B's office. The seventeen-year-old hurried to her teacher's office, eager and fully prepared for whatever she was assigned for. Kill? She had already killed three of the other Red Room girls. Capture? She could accomplish that. Seduction? Easy!

Nikita knocked in a certain pattern that Madam B ordered them to. Once done, she heard the mistress call out, "Enter!"

Madam B was speaking English, which must mean Nikita's employer would be English-speaking.

Entering the office, Nikita's brown eyes landed on a man that was dressed formally and seated in front of Madam B's desk. He had graying brown hair, gleaming blue eyes, and thin lips pulled into a polite smile. The seventeen-year-old stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her.

Nikita had only been in this office four times. The first time was when she first arrived at Red Room, while the second and third were unpleasant visits full of Madam B lecturing and punishing her. The last time was to discuss her graduation.

The young woman took a seat as instructed by Madame B's gesture to the second chair placed beside the foreign man. Nikita sat properly, hoping that her first impression had a great outcome.

"Nikita, this is Owen Nichols," Madame B explained. "He has a mission for you." The mistress nodded her head to the man, indicating for him to explain the mission.

Owen Nichols turned to Nikita, fully acknowledging her presence. Nikita met his eyes evenly, waiting anxiously for what mission she would be assigned. Yana was already located in Japan doing who knows what, and the other Red Reaper had not yet been loaned.

"There's been 'animal attacks' in a small town in America," Owen elaborated, gesturing with air quotations around the words 'animal attacks'. "We need you to scout the area and... dispose of the creature killing these people. We suspect vampires. You would be enrolled at a local high school, due to some vampires having a desire to blend in with humans. Are you up for it?"

'Are you up for it?' Nikita almost scoffed at the question. Even if she wasn't willing to accept the mission, she would not have much of a choice. Madame B would despise her if she turned down the mission.

Nikita already knew her answer.

"Yes, I accept," Nikita murmured. "Will I need to be educated on the American culture?" she asked, directing the question to both Madame B and Owen.

"Yes," Madame B answered before Owen could. "You will be taught everything you need to know for this mission."

Nikita smirked. "When do we start?"

//