Slaughtered Firefly (Shadowed States #1)

Prologue

“Engine, engine, number nine…” the little girl started the chant as she threw the rock on the faded hopscotch outline.

I slowed my pace to watch, my lungs gulping greedy amounts of air as my body vibrated with unspent energy.

The weather was perfect — one of those rare summer days where everything was nice for the season, and it made the run through the park a breeze.

The girl giggled when it landed on the nine, almost completing the game.

“Gabby, we can’t stay longer, we have to go home,” the nanny reminded her, and my heart stuttered. No, don’t leave yet. She hasn’t finished. The little girl stopped, standing on one leg as she turned towards the woman.

“Please, just let me finish, I have one turn left,” big blue puppy dog eyes pleaded with the woman as the girl gripped the rock closer to her chest. With those eyes, a perfect combination of intoxicating and mesmerizing, you couldn’t say no to a plea from those eyes.

“Alright, last turn than we really must go,” the nanny sighed, setting down her bag.

Excitement bloomed within me with the nanny’s resolve.

The game wasn’t over yet; one last turn.

Trees swayed as a slight breeze filtered through the park.

The shouts of children and parents died down as the sun waned.

Everything was hushed in anticipation of the last round.

A low chuckle bubbled up my throat as I watched with predatory intensity.

My eyes tracked every move the two made as I crept towards them.

Caught in the moment of awe, my feet carried me off the hard pavement towards the soft, sleek grass.

Nothing else mattered except her completion of the game.

“Go little one, go,” the tantalizing whisper left my lips as I stared fervently at her and the nanny.

An ache I couldn’t fulfill, something desperate clawed at me to go introduce myself, but I only gripped the water bottle tighter.

The remaining contents spilled from the force.

Elated and thrilled by the sound of laughter, I stalked closer.

These runs were supposed to be calming, a way to focus my mind and disassociate from the day’s events, but they had turned intolerable once I’d seen her—a longing that I couldn’t fulfill. She’s not yours.

My watch alarmed on my wrist, another sign telling me to move on, don’t linger and stop stalking but I stayed grounded.

Shielded under the shade of the tree, I studied them.

She was my precious prey, and I was the large predator ready to snatch her up.

The hopscotch game had almost ended with just one turn left and a new chant this time.

“Hop like sunshine all the way,” the little girl yelled as she reached the tenth square.

A cute child; the little hobbled turn as she prepared to pick up the pebble made me smile.

Her hair, wild and untamed, blew around her face as she turned.

Her face lit up with an enormous smile. The game moments away from coming to a head—I wasn’t ready.

My feet shuffled of their own accord, a brief movement towards them before I thought any better.

I shouldn’t be here. I knew it. An unhealthy obsession brewed.

Magnetized towards them, I continued watching like a weed unwilling to be pulled away.

There I stood, trapped by the beautiful innocence, frozen to my core and unable to resist.

With little Gabby only two squares away, she was going to make it.

The game would be a win. I bounced on my heels, awestruck at such a silly game and a little girl, when a twig snapped to my left.

My head swiveled towards the sound. Anger surged within me at the intruder.

How dare this nobody, this imbecile, interrupt me?

The man loitered nearby, a lowlife with rumpled clothes, unkempt hair, and a layer of grime I could see from here.

His reckless loud stomps caught my attention as a resounding cheer bubbled up.

Sadness wrapped its gentle arms around me as I turned back towards the game, having missed the end.

The lowlife twitched as he continued forward, his eyes trained on the purse discarded in the celebratory rings.

Violence clouded my vision, bitterness washed over me as the last rays of light disappeared beneath the horizon.

This dumb motherfucker just ruined any semblance of joy I’ve had in my life.

The girl, eager, cheered and danced on the hopscotch line as the overly exhausted nanny tried to calm her.

The thug was only a few feet out of the tree line when my hand went around his mouth as I took him by surprise.

I may not have had the weight to bring him down, but I didn’t have to with the knife poised at his neck.

“One wrong move and I’ll gut you where you stand,” I whispered in his ear.

The guy reeked of garbage, and I was holding back a gag as I retreated.

Slow steps to the cover of the forest. I needed to think.

I had been out here exposed for too long, and now I had an asshole to kill.

He was jittery in my arms. Blood flowed from his neck where the knife had sat.

He was high off something, if I had to guess, H.

Irritation sparked within me; this dude couldn’t care less about people in this world; all he cared about was the money and his next high.

This was what the obsidian drugs did to people in my territory.

I hated the alliance. This marked the fourth body I would dispose of today.

“Please man don’t kill me, I wasn’t going to hurt them, just rob them, I swear,” he spoke the words erratically, and I suppressed a laugh.

Why was it that whenever someone got caught doing wrong, they always assumed a guy caught them?

Were women too good to be professionals in male-dominated fields?

What the fuck? I pressed the knife further into his neck, and he let out a sharp hiss followed by a “please don’t do it, I’ll get clean I swear it. ”

I couldn’t very well kill him here, I knew that, but as the stench seeped into my nostrils, I considered it.

The man’s ragged breaths forced as he struggled to stay still.

Blood dripped with a soft splash the longer we stood here.

We just needed to wait until Gabby and her nanny left, then we would be all alone.

You should have let it happen, stupid girl.

The thought raked through my mind. That little voice that had all the answers but didn’t care to share until too late.

I tracked the caretaker as she pulled a tenacious, butterfly-catching little girl along with her in the opposite direction.

Go follow her. My heart fluttered with the possibilities.

I could be her guardian angel, ready for anything that stood against her. My little butterfly would soar.

No, she isn’t ours. Stupid girl.

Reality always came back with full force. I no longer felt the disturbed breaths of my captured prey, no longer felt the eager twitching of his body; all I felt was the dead weight. “Fuck,” I cursed out as I gently laid the guy down on the dew-covered grass.

The jagged wound was too deep, and there couldn’t have been enough time to stop the blood flow. Not that I cared now. I fumbled for the burner phone in my back pocket and dialed the pre-programmed number. Ring, ring, ri—“hello?” the man answered, and I sighed in relief.

“Fuck, hello, could someone come clean up a bit of a mess? Need about five men and some construction equipment at the city park,” I ground out, trying to think if I had missed anything.

“Ah right away Ms. Williams,” the voice replied and then hung up. I dropped the burner on the dead body and kicked it a few times.

“I fucking hate you for depriving me of joy,” I spit on the man’s lifeless eyes.

Ms. Williams, I hated that name. The entire organization knew Ms. Williams. The innocent flower untainted.

Every call an immediate action. ‘Do not taint my flower. If something happens clean it up. I don’t care what it takes keep the Feds away from her.

’ Midas’ voice echoed around the room as I stood naked on display.

His flower—I blinked away the memory as the engine roared down the road.

The black truck zipped into the parking lot, and I stripped off my clothes. Taking care to remove any trace of blood with the shorts and shirt. It all went down on the pile of bloodied remains. Stupid girl, you should have left things be.

“At least little Gabby will have a new playground in about a week,” I laughed out as I strutted towards the open truck door.