Page 9 of Psychological War

“Salem Wren Gray.” My full name, thick with her accent. I cringed. She only used my full name when she was done playing around. She was being too serious. Hands on her hips. “You listen to me and listen to every word,” she said, pointing a finger at me. “I knowexactlywhat you do. Don’t you forget I hide what you do! I make sure you’re not caught on security cameras. Sure we don’t do field trips while you do your thing. But I know what you do, Salem. Now I’m coming with you, either driving with you right now, or I’ll get into my own damn car, and I’ll meet you there.”

“Aziza, I rea—”

“NO!” she yells. Flinching from her outburst, she rarely got like this. Only very few things would set Aziza off. Dance, animal rights, and me.

“Listen to me, please.” She nodded her head. “I can’t protect you and find them.”

“Honey, I can take care of myself. You’ve trained with me. Though you could definitely kick my ass, even with a broken arm.” She laughed, probably remembering the fact that I had indeed trained with her. Though my arm wasn’t broken, it was my elbow, and it was sprained.

I knew Aziza could handle herself, to a certain degree. She knew how to handle a gun, and she knew how to throw a knife to a point. But she didn’t train everyday like I did. She knew how to get out of most situations. But I still couldn’t protect her.

But Aziza was also stubborn, so I knew if she didn’t travel with me now, she’d find her own way and show up on my doorstep there.

“You stay inside the house. You keep your head down, you listen to me, and I swear to everything in life, Aziza, you do not and I fucking repeat you DO NOT put yourself in any harm’s way.”

Putting her hands up, she said, “Oh, come on. You know, I’d never do any of that anyway.”

“Yeah, which means if they come after me and I tell you to fucking run, guess what,honey?”I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on. Let’s get your shit packed, so we can hit the road.”

“Aziza, I’m serious here. If they find us, find me. You run, you don’t come back for me, you run to the safehouse.” This was something I wouldn’t back down from. I didn’t care if I was about to die. All of them were about to kill me. She needed to run, run hard and fast.

“I understand,” she said, giving me her pinky finger. “Aeternum.”

Letting out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, I hooked my pinky with her. “Aeternum.”

I just had to hope that, besides taking down the last of these monsters, nothing else would happen.

5

Salem

Itwasamiraclewhen we arrived at my house at eight. Aziza only had to stop a total of three times. But with my driving I was able to get us back on track. As soon as we got to the house, we took turns showering. When I got out, Aziza gave me the news that both Giulio and Leonzo were at some nightclub downtown. It was a little soon for me to move, but after hearing they were back after four years of nothing, I was ready to get back into the swing of things.

By ten I was dancing in between two guys, the beat of the song pounding in my head. The floors were beginning to move from all the bodies slamming against each other around the song, and was spilling over many drinks from them holding it above their heads trying to get through the crowd. I smelled like the bottom of the floor with how much that was spilling on me.

Everyone else was distracted, drinking, looking for an easy hook up, like the two men who were grinding on me. I could feel their erection digging into me, but I was more focused on the top floor. No one was a concern of mine except for the two men who sat upstairs and were in deep conversation with a few other men.

The moment I laid my eyes on them I refused to let them out of my sight, but just looking at them pissed me off. I could feel my skin getting hot even in this skintight outfit. My hands itched to clench into a fist, and my body wanted to jump the wall and kill them both right there. But the chances of me getting out of this overly crowded club alive, with the amount of security that was here and on that floor, were very slim.

Doable, but slim.

Plus, I was a little out of practice, even if I did train every day. But work on my throwing knife skills and shooting range—I could admit I was a little rusty.

So as much as every fiber in my being ached to murder those two up there I couldn’t. Not yet.

Six names.

Six monsters.

Six more deaths.

Then I could be set free.

Looking up at the high ceiling, I allowed myself just a moment to get lost in the bass of the music. The blue strobe lights danced around everyone. I could almost hear Emmy laughing at me. “Never pegged you for a party animal.”She would laugh, she would think it was hilarious that I was here. For as long as I could remember I wanted to be like Dada, taking care of the farm.

I felt like none of them could rest. They couldn’t be at peace with those monsters still walking the streets. They couldn’t. And I couldn’t be at peace. I couldn’t rest.