19:00 P.M

Somewhere in Yellowknife, Canada

. . .

The city was bustling with people. Tall buildings pierced the skies and bore intimidating presence to the people who took their time to look at them. The lively city sparkled at night.

I hated it.

I jumped to an even higher building with my partner, Aegis, that lived inside me.

"Do you see him..."

"Ava, he's right around the corner," replied Aegis. Its robotic voice gurgled in my head with a high tone.

"I see... Don't slack off," I said.

My Aegis growled at my words with displeasure. It calmed down and said something that I despised. "You're taking this too seriously, Ava," said Aegis in my head.

"I do what I want... your job is just to follow me..."

"I'm stuck with you though."

My legs ran towards the edge of the roof and I looked down at the streets. A burly man in military uniform went into a cafe without noticing the danger that about to fall on him.

"He's the one, Ava. Don't jump in yet--"

I freefall onto the streets without caring what my Aegis had to say.

I hated it.

The cold wind brushed past me until I crashed into a red car. The force crushed the car's roof and the pa.s.sengers inside scrambled out.

"The heck?!" People stopped by and watched as I leaped over to the pavement.

"Is her face healing?--Look at all that blood--Someone please call the ambulance!"

They panicked at my state and I stared at them with my dark eyes and red irises.

"She's a demon!"

People ran away screaming but I ignored them as I made my way into the cafe named 'La Hon'.

"You're too flashy, Ava. You aren't supposed to--"

"If you don't have anything important to say, shut your mouth..."

My statement made the Aegis retreated back into the deepest part of my mind, where I could not hear its words again.

People in the cafe dropped their jaws when they saw me walking towards the burly man. He was a prey that I'd been searching for a while and I would not miss the opportunity to strike at him.

"You're bleeding! Wait, do you want something from me? No, get away!" My prey stayed away from me but I kept walking to him. Sensing my intent, he darted out of the cafe and I quickly ran after him.

"H-Help me! This girl wants to kill me!" he yelled. A few soldiers answered his call and stepped in my way.

"Kid, your s.h.i.+rt is drenched in blood. You should--"

I cut their throats with two sharp, crimson whips sprouted from my arms. They held on to their throats as I pa.s.sed them.

"She's a demon! She's that serial killer everyone was talking about!" People around me distanced themselves as I chased my prey into an alley.

"He's stupid to go into an alley..."

My thin spikes cracked the wall as he evaded it. I clicked my tongue.

"What do you want from me?!"

His back was at a wall, signifying the alley's dead end. "Do you want money? You can have it! All of it!"

Crimson tendrils from my palms slowly blocked his escape and he whimpered at his imminent doom. "Wait! Spare me! Please!"

"I want you to answer my questions..." I said.

"Anything!"

"But before that... there's someone here." My tendrils retracted to my side and swirled around me cautiously to prepare against the unknown danger. "Teria soldiers. They're here."

"Really?" The man's body slid down the wall in relief.

Out of nowhere, my body was shot continuously with a.s.sault rifles and I collapsed helplessly along with my tendrils.

"It's the Grim Reaper. The serial killer that targets high-ranking soldiers," said someone.

The s.p.a.ce around me distorted and three soldiers in silver gears appeared, still aiming their weapons at my bloodied body. "She's dead, right? I can't believe she's just a kid."

"Help me here! I don't want to go near that kid!" cried the burly man.

My tendrils shot up into the air and descended upon the three soldiers, piercing their hearts. Shortly after that, the tendrils shaped up into a relatively small scythe and I held it in my hands. My eyes glanced at the tattered dress I wore.

"STAY AWAY!" my prey shouted.

"Answer my questions."

"Will you let me go after I answered your questions?!"

"Do you know anyone in the army named Alicia or Bart?" I raised my scythe and it shot small spikes around the man, locking him in his position.

"No! I don't know anyone with those names!"

My crimson scythe fell onto his right leg and he screamed in agony. His right foot spluttered blood.

"W-Why?! I told you the TRUTH!" He grabbed his amputated right leg and held that very sight of it in horror.

"You're lying..." I raised my scythe again.

"NO! I'M NOT! Believe me!"

My Aegis finally whispered into my mind. "Ava, I don't think he's lying." His monotone voice irritated me and he climbed back into the recesses of my mind knowing what it had done.

I took a deep breath and gazed into his eyes. "Do you know any other high-ranking officers in Yellowknife?"

"As far as I-I'm concerned, there's only the mayor and his bodyguard. I don't know anyone else!" He kept grabbing at that stump of a leg as tears flowed across his face.

"I see. Thank you." My crimson scythe darkened as I readied for my next attack.

"NO!"

His head almost split into two when my scythe dropped onto it. I slammed it repeatedly at his body a few more times.

I clicked my tongue and struck at him again until I was satisfied.

Blood covered my worn out brown dress each time my scythe ripped his body apart. Looking at him one last time, I walked out of the alley slowly.

"I'm hungry..."

. . .

I rummaged through the garbage bin at the back of a restaurant. In just a short span of time, I found pieces of chicken bones and bits of pickles.

A monotonous voice pulled me away from the silence. "Ava, you should change your dress."

My hand touched a soft object and I yanked it out. "It's an onion... half of it."

"It seems rotten, Ava."

I ignored my Aegis and moved to a spot far deeper into the alley and sat down. My fingers brushed the onion and slowly took a small bite of it. The taste was bitter but I forced myself to swallow it.

"I could get you some good food from that store over there. I know you're used to this, but it could help." My Aegis sent a few crimson tendrils out of my right hand.

"No. It's called stealing, Aegis."

"But you've been killing people though. This kind of crime is not that different."

"I kill the people I hate."

"Which is everyone alive in this world, Ava."

"I said NO!"

The tendrils seeped back into my skin and I took it as a sign of submission from my Aegis.

I chewed a little piece of the onion and swallowed it. It was still bitter.

After a while, four grown men approached me.

Annoyed, I gave them a cold, hard stare. One of them kicked a trash bin on his side and the contents spilled out.

"Kid, you got a problem with us?" he said.

"Hey, look at her eyes. What is she?"

They were annoying. I didn't like people watched me eating. "Go away..."

"How about I get a taste of what's it like to beat a kid." A blond man cracked his fist and watched over me with his mad eyes.

"I said... go away..."

Four heads flew into the air and landed on the ground. My crimson blade gleamed slightly as it retreated into my back. Their lifeless bodies then fell hard on the ground.

I hated people like them.

The thugs that only knew how to pick on the weak. Even if they didn't approach me, I would have killed them sooner or later. They didn't deserve to even breathe.

"It has been years, Ava, since your search. I doubt anyone in Canada knew about your parents," said Aegis.

My nose breathed an air of disgust. "They're not my parents..."

"My apologies. I meant former parents."

"Do NOT relate them to me as parents. They're vile, senile, corrupt pieces of human trash..."

Just hearing someone mentioned them made my blood boiled. In no way, that I approved of it.

I bit another piece of the onion and chewed it bitterly. I didn't care about the taste of my food as long as it could supply nutrients to my body. That alone was enough for me. It helped me to carry out what I'd set for myself to finish. And that was to kill both Alicia and Bart.

It was my only goal to avenge Hope, my Papa.