Domgre

22

The door swung open and Evie shot up, grabbing the gun off the nightstand and pointing it at the intruder. Isaac threw up his hands, blood on them. He kicked the door shut and moved further into the room to Khaira now up and ready to fight.

She intercepted him, careful of his hands, and held his face. "Isaac, Isaac talk to me. What happened?" He shook his head and she sighed but she didn't give up. "Made me clean it up." He managed finally and Khaira's eyes moved to Evie. It was unlikely someone else had been killed last night. "Ok, ok, let's get you cleaned up. Evie?" Evie nodded and followed them out. Khaira escorted him to the bathroom and helped him wash his arms and hands, he didn't say anything else, only sat on the edge of the sink with his head in his hands.

A man walked by clearly about to say something about their being here. Evie glared at him and he went on to a stall. She tugged at Khaira's sleeve, "Let's go back to the room." Isaac nodded and walked back to the room with them, moving to Khaira's bed and burying himself in the blankets. He tapped his neck. Evie looked away. It was where she'd stabbed her ex-handler. She went to her own bed, hoping to get a few more hours of sleep before training. She listened to Khaira softly console her friend. She heard crying soon and tried not to eavesdrop but she couldn't change their close proximity. Luckily they were quiet enough she couldn't make out much.

The ex-handler was not mentioned but their own handler was angry during training. Angry enough she disregarded Evie's fear of water and sent them into the water for water defense training. They swam laps for a while before she circled the pool and sent them to the shallow end. "The goal is to get the other under. Go." Khaira didn't move, hands limp by her side. Evie followed suit, she didn't want to attack Khaira while she wasn't fighting back. It wasn't right. Still, she could see their handler's patience wearing thin. She lunged at Khaira and she went under easily, quick to pop back up. Surprisingly, it was Evie she checked on. Evie gave her a smile, she could do this.

"That was the worst performance I have ever seen. You didn't even move. Again." And Khaira did the same thing, again, and again, and again. After the fourth time their handler had lost her patience, Evie's stomach tightened as she threw aside her back and stepped into the pool. She grabbed Khaira by the strap of her bathing suit, forcing her to her tip toes in the water. "Maybe you need more of an incentive." Before Evie could stop her she forced Khaira beneath the water. Evie thought of her old handler, holding her under, forcing her to fight for her freedom. She was sick. Worse, she was frozen.

"Miss." She tried quietly, watching Khaira leave red claw marks down her arm as she smiled. Sick. "Miss." She only glanced at her for a moment. "She can do it, Evie." But her fight had slowed. She wasn't moving as much. "Stop." She took a careful step forward but she didn't stop. "Stop!" She tackled her, the two falling beneath the water as Khaira pushed to the top, coughing. Evie pushed her handler away and rushed to her, patting her back as she coughed. She looked to her handler who, now soaked, only shrugged, "She wouldn't fight, I figured she was already good at water defense. It appears I was mistaken." Even as she coughed up water Khaira glared at her, still bent over as Evie held her up.

"You're a monster." Because she'd killed her old handler because he had hurt her. She would kill this one because she hurt Khaira. Neither of them would be hurt again. "Evie, know your place." A warning. Evie would've backed down, she should've really, but Khaira was still trying to catch her breath and she couldn't bear to watch that scene unfold again. Her handler stepped forward. "Evie step away from her." Evie held tight to her. Her handler stepped closer. They were arms-width apart now. She was standing deeper in the pool, making them nearly the same height. She held her gaze as much as her gut screamed not to.

"Evie, I told you to step away from her." But she wouldn't. She couldn't bring herself to, afraid of what would happen if she wasn't between them. She should've been afraid but all she felt was rage. Years of it. She didn't register she'd been grabbed until Khaira slipped out of her grasp, the two going underwater as they fought. Now that Khaira was actually given a fighting chance, her handler seemed to be losing. Evie looked around the empty pool room. It was too soon. Both her handlers dead in the span of twenty four hours? Inaki wasn't stupid. Still, this could be played off as an accident, there was nothing connecting her to the last one.

She watched the two women fight beneath the water for a moment before she went under herself. Her handler's eyes went wide, quickly covered by her foot connecting with her skull. It bounced off the hard bottom of the pool and she went still. She looked at Khaira, realizing she couldn't breathe. The two surfaced, moving to the side of the pool as they watched the woman hover over the bottom of the pool.

"You can cry easy right? We, we were doing water defense training, not a lie, and, and we didn't realize she'd stopped. It was an accident, okay?" But Khaira wasn't panicked, this was a plan. A plan Evie was willing to go along with. Khaira tapped here cheek with two fingers, guiding her eyes say from the body at the bottom, the red in the water coming from beneath it. Bee. She'd cracked her head open, just like she'd wanted.

She climbed out of the pool. Khaira didn't follow suit. Instead she went to the bottom and grabbed the woman, pulling her to the side. She gestured for Evie to help but all she could see was the shock on her face when Evie joined the fight. She threw up on the towel rack, sliding down to her knees as her body shook. She hated her. She was glad she was dead. She had to be. It was done.

Hands touched her, she pushed them off. Khaira came right back, "Hey, hey, look at me. We're in this together now." She nodded and Khaira opened her arms, Evie fell into them, letting the sobs rack her body as she cried. She'd loved her. She was her favorite. She was her prodigy. She was dead. She looked at the throw up on the towels and gagged, Khaira moved so her body blocked the sight.

The door opened, the two looked up. The woman looked first at the body, letting out a yell of surprise, then at them. "Oh my, are you two okay?" She shook her head as Khaira hid her face in her shoulder. Evie pretended not to feel the smile on her face as her face met her back. "I didn't mean to." The woman nodded, "Okay, we can get this taken care of. That was your handler right? Get dried off and we'll go find Inaki." Evie shook her head but Khaira took the lead. She didn't want to see Inaki right now. She'd have to lie to his face. They still had to get rid of the documents.

They walked down to his office with towels wrapped around them, Inaki was already on his feet when they entered. "What happened?" Evie shook her head, this was stupid she shouldn't have been sad. She hurt her. She hurt Khaira. She deserved it. Her final look passed through her mind. She grabbed on to Khaira, holding her arm tight as she recounted the events to Inaki. She painted a story about how they were doing water defense training and how she had hit the bottom too hard. Inaki listened intently as Evie tried to disappear.

"Evie, are you alright?" She wiped her face with her towel, nodding quickly. None of them believed it, then again, Khaira would say they weren't supposed to. It didn't take a lot of acting. "Okay, go get dressed and take the day off, I'll handle it."