The Assassin

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 1 (A Brewing Storm)

The shadows fell onto the darkened city streets below, and the sound of heavy rain filled the air and soothed the ears of the assassin perched atop a rooftop. Above the assassin was an archway that let the rain flow down it as if it were an umbrella.

The assassin was clothed like a ninja with two long katanas attached to a holster on their back. The assassin's sharp eyes pierced the people below, stopping to gaze at the full moon above them.

Among the crowd of onlookers were a young couple, holding each other beneath their umbrella. A man was checking his watch and gazing down a dark and secluded alleyway with an uncertain expression-as though he were to be terrified of walking alone. A young girl stood perched on the step outside the back entrance of an aging apartment building, and in her tiny arms she clutched a pink rabbit.

A cop was kneeling in the street, letting the rain glint off his broad shoulders and his detective cap. The rain that caressed his body gave him a bluish green aura in the moonlight, creating an image that drew the ninja's focus if only for a moment.

Lying motionless on the ground was a middle aged man with short brown hair and a thick bushy mustache. His head had been separated from his shoulders and placed neatly between his chest and right arm. His arms and knees bore long slits while his chest and back had X-shaped gashes that gushed with a crimson flow.

Perhaps the most striking was the killing blow, a careful stab delivered through the chest cavity that pierced through the heart. The ninja admired their work with a proud glint in their eyes; it was a man that deserved such an end. An evil and unjust man for whom death was much too merciful for.

The detective kneeling above him had tears filling his eyes and a distraught expression that suggested closeness to the victim. The detective turned his eyes to the lighting stretching across the sky. His eyes filled with a light of vengeance and rage as he swore to find this man's killer.

The ninja remained in the shadows and raised their eyes to gaze at a small cemetery. The assassin's heart broke remembering who was buried there, and the one for whom vengeance was sworn.

The assassin raised up a phone, speaking into it with a soft and certain tone. "It's done. The target has been eliminated, but we will have to watch our backs. The detective picking up the case has a personal connection to the victim, it looks like."

Static answered on the other end, broken after a few seconds by a distorted voice that bore no detectible identifying information. "Good," the speaker replied in a cold manner, "I'm not worried about the detective. Let him hunt us, he won't find us."

"I agree." The assassin did not speak with the hatred in the heart, but with the most calm and rational manner possible. Who is next?" The assassin walked across the roof, stopping at the edge and peered across the way to another building.

Lightning flashed in the sky, lighting up the sign of Hollywood Arts. "The place that ruined everything," answered the voice. "They all must know suffering." The phone clicked off and the assassin pushed it into the pack tied around their waist.

"And so it will be done."

At the Vega home, Trina and her sister Tori sat at the table playing a game of poker while their father was off working late again and their mother was sleeping off her latest bout of depression. "God the thunder is loud tonight," Tori muttered while placing three cards face up in the center. "I can hardly hear myself think."

"I know." Trina looked over her shoulder, staring at their mother on the couch. "I hope dad gets home soon, mom's been worrying endlessly about him." It was another cold night for them, and it wasn't their mother they were worried about with the storm so much as their father.

The girls hated stormy nights, and this storm was one of the worst in Los Angeles. "I'm a little surprised your friends aren't here, Tori. Usually they're here to play poker with you."

Tori focused on the cards in her hand, using them to cover the lower half of her face. "Sometimes it's nice not having them around, it gives me a chance to spend some dang time with you without them saying something hateful." Trina flashed a smirk and leaned back in her chair.

"So nice to know you care."

"Honestly? Don't get me wrong, I love my friends, they just have this superiority complex that is really grating on my nerves." Trina hummed thoughtfully and peered down at the cards on the table. Two hearts and one club; a four, six and king. "Graduation hasn't humbled them at all."

"Sorry to hear about that."

"You remember my old friends from Sherwood? Ian and Courtney?"

"Yes?"

"They hate me now." Tori threw in a chip, raising the bet by twenty five. Trina called the twenty-five, feeling she had a good hand with a pair of kings. "I finally introduced Ian and Courtney to my friends, and sat there speechless as they joked about how neither Ian or Courtney were interested in artistic talents." The eighteen year old's face tightened and her nostrils started to flare. "Because of this, neither Courtney or Ian want anything to do with me."

It was a shame, and Trina was all too aware of what had taken place. It was her understanding that afterwards, Jade told Tori that Ian and Courtney weren't worth it if they couldn't put up with a little teasing from her newer friends. It angered her that the woman would say something like that, especially without knowing how important those two had been to Tori.

"Never knew what you saw in that lot, Tori."

"Acceptance." Tori sneered as she turned over a nine of hearts. "When I went to Hollywood Arts, I was the new girl without friends, so the moment they let me into their circle I wanted to place them. Didn't want to be rejected, so I went along with everything they did, behaved in a way that they would find agreeable so they didn't reject me."

"How'd that work out for you?"

"I just lost two of my longest best friends because I've 'changed'. How do you think it worked out?" Tori's anger towards her friends would likely pass as it always had. Trina herself found it harder to let her grudges against the group fade. They were the cause of a lot of grief for her in the past, so she didn't trust them at all.

"You know something?" Tori lowered her cards and flatlined her lips. "If it wasn't just the two of us and that no folding rule, I would fold right now. My hand is worthless." Trina grinned and pushed forward another twenty five.

"You're not supposed to say that." They made the no folding rule for moments where it was just the two of them. It would be too easy and the game would go one for far too long if one of them folded on every other hand. "That way I know I'm winning."

"Or, at the very least I could be bluffing." Tori smirked back at her and unveiled the final card. "What do you have?"

"Read em and weep, a pair of kings." She showed her cards and studied the pair in Tori's hand. Tori snickered and revealed a pair of aces in her hand. Her jaw fell open and Tori reached for the chips.

"Told you. Bluffing. I'm the master bluff."

"You learned from the best, sis."

The front door flew open at the crack of thunder and both girls shot up from their seats. Trina's heart raced beneath her chest and she took a deep breath as her eyes settled onto her father.

David shambled into the room swinging off his soaked police jacket and cap. His face was ashen and long, and the rain seemed to conceal the streaks of tears flowing like rivers down his face.

"Jesus," he muttered under his breath, "It's been a long fucking night." Trina could smell alcohol on his breath and groaned with disgust. It was typical of him to drink after he was called out for a homicide, but that didn't make it any better in her eyes.

Holly awoke and pushed herself from the couch, groaning as she rubbed her eyes. "David? You're home? How was work?"

"He's been drinking, if that says anything." She walked over to the couch and sat beside her mother. Her arms crossed over her chest and her mouth twisted into a scowl.

Rainwater dripped from David's body, soaking the carpet around his feet. The man's somber gaze fell to the open door where he watched as the rain flew in to the room. "I'm sorry girls. I know I said I'd stop, but this last case…hit pretty close to home."

Tori rushed to the front door and shut it as quickly as she could. "Don't let the rain in, Dad." David remained unfazed and made his way to the recliner. As he dropped into it, a sloshing noise echoed into the air, and water splashed away from his body. "Dad, what are you doing? Let me grab a towel or something before you go soaking everything in the house."

His eyes were dull and his face was devoid of any expression. It was concerning, since he never came home like this before. "Dad what's wrong?" Trina's voice trembled as part of her didn't want to know what her father might have seen. Tori approached from behind, furrowing her brow as she scanned her father's limp and exhausted form.

"Are you feeling okay, honey?" Holly reached for her husband's hand, but David pulled it away as soon as her fingers brushed his. "Sweetie?" He ran his hand vigorously through his hair, growling under his breath.

"This has never been easy for me, but now I have to tell my own family?" He took a deep, slow breath and raised a trembling hand over his mouth. His hand moved up along his face and then down the right side, sliding off like a piece of meat dripping away. "There's no easy way to say this girls, but something's happened. Something terrible happened to your uncle."

Trina gasped aloud and she could feel Tori's hands falling to her shoulders and grasping them firmly. They knew David saying this could only mean one thing.

"No," Trina whispered, "Don't say it." Her racing heart intensified and her breath held in her throat. While personally she, and Tori, both hated their uncle, they would never wish the man murdered. Still, their father was a homicide detective and his job was always to inform the family of death. "Uncle Benny?"

"Yes." David wrung out the bottom of his shirt and hunched forward, shaking violently. Tori collapsed over the top of the couch, screaming in horror and anguish while Trina could only feel silent tears forming pockets under her eyelids. "I promise you, I am going to find out who is responsible."

Trina gripped her chest and rose from the couch, stumbling in her steps away. "W-Who could have done such a thing? Who would want to hurt Uncle Benny?" It was a strange question but a true one. On the surface, Benito Vega was a friendly and charismatic man that often got along with everyone he met.

For the girls, it was a bit of a different story. When they were young, he would often hold them in his lap, sometimes for the longest time. He would say things and behave in a manner that confused the sisters, but they never talked about this to anyone besides each other, and when they were old enough they stopped going near the man and made great pains to avoid him on holidays.

"He was a strange man," David admitted, "But he was my brother. He didn't deserve to die the way he did."

Trina balled her fists up in her lap and slammed her eyes shut. A rush of mixed emotions swept through her body, leaving a shivering sensation in their wake. "Find the person responsible, Dad." Thunder bellowed outside and Trina raised her head slowly. "Find them and make them pay."

"Yeah." Tori pulled herself up and wiped the tears from her face. "I didn't like Uncle Benny, but no one attacks our family and gets away with it. Right, Dad?" David smiled at them and nodded.

"Right, girls. I will catch the perpetrator. This time it's personal."

"It's very personal." Trina was scared that a killer was out there, but she had to be tough, and so did Tori. Their father could do the job, there was no doubt in her mind about that, but a feeling deep in her gut made her feel that this was only the beginning.

The storm was about to grow out of control.

What are your thoughts on this dark piece? When I say dark, I mean it. I'm going to leave the identity of the assassin a mystery for you to figure out, and bear in mind while David's leading the charge in hunting down this assassin, the story is following the sisters and their group of friends as they all cope with the horror that is going to take over their lives like a storm. It isn't going to be pretty, I hope you're ready for a ride. There is a reason the killer is doing everything, but most have a reason for what they do that isn't just for the sake of death.