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  Happy Birthday. And the moment he stepped out from that crowd of people she couldn't stop herself from running up to him.

  They embraced and Storm had picked her up and spun her around. That's when Carter had taken the picture.

  Just looking at it, with a smile of delight and love on both their faces, looking like any young, happyascouldbe couple, made Emerald's heart ache even more, the dull prick in her

  chest becoming sharp and more defined now.

  "You can keep that." someone said from behind.

  Startled, Emerald jumped and the picture slipped from her hand. Storm reached down to catch it and as he did Emerald sniffled and blinked rapidly getting rid of the tears, reaching

  up to wipe any that escaped. How she didn't notice that he was practically standing right next to her was beyond her.

  Storm stood up and she let her hand fall to her side. If he noticed, he didn't say. He held out the photo. She stared at it for a moment. Even as a human he was still quick and

  nimble.

  Emerald robotically took it from him before he held it out to her for too long and dropped it into the box.

  "Thanks." she mumbled, avoiding any eye contact. "Well, I think that's it. I should be going now."

  She stood out there on the balcony, eyes closed, thumbs hooked in her jean pockets, just enjoying the cool breeze. There was noise to her right, then, and she opened her eyes and

  looked over to her right. Carter and Sky stood there, looking up at her bewildered, taking into account how she stood on the rail of the balcony, balancing precariously, the danger

  of falling imminent; how she had ropes wrapped around bruised and bloodied wrists; how her clothes were sliced and slashed, hanging on her frame pathetically; how there was a

  cloth hanging around her neck, that was slightly damp in the front.

  "Emerald?" Carter asked quietly in an appalled voice. "What… what happened?" she asked, looking back into her suite that showed virtually no signs of what had occurred.

  A smile appeared on Emerald's face as she thought back to what happened.

  "Hmm," she chuckled. "What did happen?"

  Emerald had just come home from another long day at work. She had just closed the door and turned around when someone ambushed her, throwing their whole body at her,

  knocking both of them to the ground. Before she could react there a dagger was shoved straight through her heart.

  Emerald, surprised, couldn't hold the cry that escaped her mouth. But only one. She'd only let that one go. The others, she kept behind gritted teeth as she glared up at her attacker

  who was currently dressed in all black and wearing a mask. All she saw were unnatural yellow eyes, staring down at her smugly. Her attacker was also still holding the dagger,

  Emerald's own hands coming up to grasp at the hilt, breath hissing through her teeth.

  "Well, well, well," her attacker, now identified as a female, drawled. "The Great Vigilante." She pulled off her mask then, and revealed a pale, heartshaped face with short, spiky

  paleblonde hair who looked to be around 19. "Nice to meet you."

  "Likewise," Emerald spat, breathing hard, the knife in her chest becoming uncomfortable as her heart tried to mend and beat around it.

  "Why don't we get down to business, then?" the Artful Attacker said, getting off of Emerald, but not taking the dagger out, leaving Emerald basically incapacitated because of the

  pain and especially where she'd been stabbed. The knife wasn't wood, but having a knife through your heart most nearly paralyzed her. She then grabbed a fistful of her hair at the

  crown of her head and started dragging Emerald down the hall and to the living room. Emerald struggled, but they were weak and couldn't even be called struggles, with how much

  she could move.

  The Artful Attacker then dropped her and pulled out bast rope from a backpack lying in the corner of the room, before coming over to Emerald prying her hands away from the

  dagger's hilt and tying it around her wrists, leaving them unconnected for now. She was swift as she did this and as she went back to her backpack and took out a small vile filled

  with forest green liquid. She shook it and uncapped it before dropping some of it onto the floor, behind the couch, parallel to the French doors that led to the balcony, that were

  currently open. That must've been how she got in.

  "I have to pay if that stains!" Emerald gasped, not just because the knife was still in her heart.

  The Artful Attacker rolled her eyes but didn't say a word. She capped the vile and dragged Emerald over to the general area of where she'd poured that strange concoction. But

  instead of a big, dark green stain, she saw the root of a tree. Magic, of course. Why hadn't Emerald figured that out before? The pale blonde then took Emerald's rope that was tied

  to her left wrist and firmly tied it to the root. She repeated the action on Emerald's right side, making sure the ropes were taut, forcing Emerald to kneel on the floor, facing the

  balcony.

  When she was done she finally pulled out the dagger, receiving a gasp from Emerald. The pain slowly receded as her wound healed though and then she was glaring at the

  perpetrator, a low growl building deep in her chest. She pulled at the ropes, gritting her teeth as they dug into her wrists, but they didn't budge. These roots obviously couldn't be

  uprooted like normal tree roots.

  "What do you want?" Emerald asked finally, blowing some hair out of her eyes.

  "We're going to have to fix that, won't we?" the Artful Attacker asked, turning away to her backpack. She pulled out a piece of thick, white cloth this time. She turned to face

  Emerald, her knife in one hand, the cloth in the other. She then stabbed Emerald's side and effectively got her to open her mouth, so that she could stuff the cloth into Emerald's

  open mouth and tie it into a knot in the back. "There we go, that should do it." The Artful Attacker smiled at her work and then went to grab a black pack from her backpack. She

  unrolled it, revealing big, small, intricate, simple knives that gleamed in the lights filtering through the stillopen French doors from the all the building surrounding the Marriott.

  Emerald narrowed her eyes at this display and realized what this woman was here for now. Who she was doing the job for was a question yet to be answered.

  "It's nothing personal," she spoke, standing up and turning the TV on, the volume up high. "It's just business." She finished coming back around to pick one of her many knives and

  standing in front of Emerald. "Now," She grabbed Emerald's chin forcibly. "Where should we begin?" she asked dragging her knife down Emerald's cheek.

  "Are you okay?" Carter gasped when she heard this.

  Emerald looked down at Carter with a smile. "I'm fine." she assured her wideeyed friend.

  "So, how did you get out, then? You couldn't have gotten out by yourself, as good as you are." Sky probed not completely believing that Emerald was okay, but he could only surely

  determine that once she finished the whole story.

  Emerald slumped to the ground, breathing heavily, hands gripping the ropes that bound her, resting her head on the ground for a moment, as the pain faded from her side.

  "You look like you're in a lot of pain, there, Emerald." her Artful Attacker taunted, leaning in to say this in her ear. "That's just too bad. I'm so s—" She broke off as Emerald brought

  her head up, slamming it into the blonde's face, having enough of all this. She veered back, holding her nose, a small streak of blood dribbling down her face as she glared at

  Emerald. The knife she'd been holding a moment ago on the floor several feet away from Emerald.

  The blonde cussed still holding her nose. "You broke my nose!"

  Emerald wanted to retort but the cloth was still in her way. She couldn't even grit her teeth, the cloth was so thick. The only thing she could do was glare right back.
r />   "You're going to pay for that." she hissed walking toward Emerald, who quickly leaned back, pulled one of her legs out from underneath her and kicked her square in the stomach so

  hard she went flying back onto the balcony. The blonde laughed as she stood up and cracked her neck. "So that's how it's going to be, is it? This one bites?"

  It was kind of funny to Emerald how much this girl reminded Emerald of herself.

  The blonde sunk into a crouch, a growl rumbling deep in her chest, forgetting that she could've easily grabbed one of her knives and hurt Emerald more than just attacking her like

  she was about to do.

  Emerald prepared herself for the lunge, making sure that both her feet were out from underneath her. When the blonde did lunge, she reared back, laying down on her back and

  bringing her feet into the air just as her attacker landed. She managed to get a few slashes in on Emerald's face and chest but Emerald ignored this and straightened her legs out at

  an angle. The blonde went flying out of the French doors and over the balconies railing, straight over the edge.

  However, being a vampire as well, Emerald knew this would only slow that woman down and not completely stop her.

  Emerald sat up, breathing hard, looking around for a way to cut these ropes. She spotted the knife first but it was too far, even if she tried to reach it with her feet, legs fully

  extended.

  She let out a frustrated growl, pulling at the ropes almost frantically. Great, she'd only thought about how to get that woman away from her. Now what?

  Ask and you shall receive, right?

  Just then Emerald heard a keycard being slipped into the slot and the knob turning and the door opening. Emerald's heart jumped in her chest and hoped it was someone she knew

  and not some hotel worker. How was she going to explain this?

  Thankfully it wasn't a hotel worker. Unfortunately it was Lucas. An innocent human who didn't know anything about the Night World. She could smell his wet, pulsing blood as soon

  as he walked into the door.

  "Emerald?" Lucas called over the running TV. He walked down the hall to the living room and stopped short, his eyes widening, his mouth dropping when he spotted Emerald. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed, running forward to quickly turn off the blasting TV and going over to Emerald while turning on a light. Emerald blinked as her eyes adjusted to the sudden

  onslaught.

  Lucas kneeled down in front of her and gingerly pulled out her gag and letting it drop to hang around her neck before taking her head into his hands, brushing the hair out of her

  face.

  "Are you okay? What happened?" he asked frantically as he eyed her ripped, torn cloths.

  "Lucas," Emerald whispered breathlessly afraid of his wellbeing with him here but he kept asking her questions and not letting her speak. "Lucas!" she hissed making him freeze, his

  bluegreen eyes meeting hers, his hands still holding her face. "Shut up and listen to me." she commanded quietly through gritted teeth. Lucas simply looked at her slightly appalled

  she'd talk in such a way in such a state.

  "Emerald—" Lucas tried.

  "Just listen to me!" Emerald interrupted. "I need you to do something for me, okay? I need you to act now and ask questions later." she said slowly and carefully. When Lucas didn't

  say anything she continued. "I need you to grab that knife to your left, a few feet behind you." she instructed nodding in the same direction. Lucas turned and grabbed the knife his

  eyes going wide again seeing the dried blood on the blade. "Ask questions later." Emerald reminded him quickly before continuing her instructions: "Take the serrated edge and cut

  through these ropes, quickly!"

  She pulled the ropes taught to make it easier for him to saw through, but also to calm her down. She was so afraid that that woman would come back at any moment and then

  they'd both be in huge trouble. Putting Lucas's life in danger killed Emerald. Another innocent life lost. She couldn't let that happen to him. He had his whole life ahead of him.

  As he sawed through the thick ropes she tried to keep herself calm, monitoring the balcony and the front door not sure if her attacker would come back in from the balcony or the

  front door. Based on her observations during her torture she was sure that her attacker wouldn't hesitate to scale the Marriott and climb back up onto the balcony.

  Sure enough when Lucas was halfway through the second rope Emerald noticed a hand grab the very bottom of the balcony. Her heart jumped in her chest but she didn't alert

  Lucas. She didn't want to put pressure on him but he needed to hurry or he could end up getting hurt. It was like a horror movie with Lucas as the unsuspecting victim and

  Emerald's attacker the monster/creature/thing climbing up and out.

  The woman crashed into Emerald, Emerald getting knocked onto her back. Her attacker wrapping her hands tightly around her neck. Gritting her teeth, Emerald wrapped both her

  hands around one of the woman's arms and squeezed as tightly as she could, pushing the radius and ulna together. The woman held on tighter, but so did Emerald until both the

  bones snapped under all the pressure.

  The woman's grip loosened and Emerald took a second to take a deep breath of air before swinging her fist up at the blonde's head and pushing her easily off. They both stood up,

  the blonde recuperating much quicker than Emerald anticipated.

  After that it was more of a fight of wits than brute. As they fought, Emerald examined her attacker carefully, noticing that she'd also been taught in martial arts—what looked to be

  jujitsu. Lucas stayed off to the side somewhere, looking a little weak and a little sick. Emerald desperately wanted to go check if he was in shock, but she was a little busy at the moment.

  Emerald tried to avoid the fragile furniture and any of the windows. It seemed unimportant with her fighting for her life and Lucas's but if she did win this fight, she didn't want to

  have to deal with the expenses it would cost her to replace the things she'd broke during the fight. As if life wasn't hard enough right now.

  The woman ducked and rolled under one of Emerald's roundhouse kicks and stood again with one of her knives in hand. She twirled it in her hand before charging Emerald again,

  giving her no time to grab a weapon of her own. Emerald went onto the defense in a flash and agilely dodged nearly all of the blonde's attack. She'd gotten through ten attacks at

  the most when Emerald was backed up against a desk. She chanced a quick look behind her and spotted a pencil holder. Perfect. She grabbed a pencil and twirled it around in her

  fingers.

  Now it was time to go on the offense.

  The blonde struck again and Emerald dodged, stepping in and quickly stabbing her with the pencil in her upper forearm—she gave a small yelp—before dashing out of range of her

  knife. This tactic continued for a few moments when Emerald finally got her sweet shot, shoving the pencil cleanly through the woman's knifewielding wrist. She dropped the knife

  and Emerald got two punches in before her attacker collapsed. Before she had time to get up again, Emerald grabbed the knife she'd dropped and without hesitation stabbed her

  right in the heart.

  The woman froze her yellow eyes going wide as she gasped for breath.

  Emerald stepped back.

  "Doesn't feel so good, huh?" she asked, breathing heavily.

  Suddenly Lucas was there, shoving Emerald out of the way and going for the hilt of the knife. She grabbed his wrist and turned around to face him, also to restrain him from getting

  any closer.

  "What do you think you're doing?" she asked carefully.

  Lucas looked at her, disbelief clear in his bluegreen eyes. "You just stabbed someone!" he exclaimed, gesturing toward the blonde who was now struggling, and failing, to pull the

  knife out of her heart
.

  Emerald put her hands on her hips. "Oh, so, me being tied to the floor or the fight just didn't get very much of a response but it's when I do something, you react?"

  "You stabbed someone. In the heart! She needs help. We need to get her to hospital oror—"

  Emerald reached up again and put her hands on his forearms comfortingly. "Lucas," she said, trying to get him to stop talking, but he kept spluttering about aid and help. "Lucas."

  she said with more force. "Lucas, just listen to me!" she hissed, catching his attention. He stopped and looked down at her. "If she has a knife in her heart, then why is she still moving?" she asked in a quieter voice.

  Lucas calmed down and looked over Emerald's shoulder to the woman, with her hands wrapped around the hilt of the knife, trying to remove it from her chest. He paled and swayed

  a little, Emerald steadying him.

  "Maybe you should sit down," she suggested carefully leading him over to the couch where he collapsed. "Lucas!"

  "I'm fine," he murmured, pushing himself into a sitting position. "I'm all right. My knees just buckled. I'm fine."

  Emerald looked at him for a moment longer. "Okay, if you need anything just say so. I'm going to go deal with this." She jerked her head in the blonde's direction. "Emerald, don't —" Lucas started, reaching up and touching her arm. "Don't kill her."

  She merely looked at him and patted his hand before going back to the woman who was glaring at her, still with her hands on the hilt, but it looked like she'd stopped struggling.

  "If I take that out, you promise to not attack me?" Emerald asked in a hard voice.

  "You have my word." the woman said through gritted teeth.

  Emerald appraised her for another moment before cautiously reaching down and pulling the knife out. She gasped and coughed, sitting up and rubbing her chest.

  Emerald put out her hand and the woman looked at it before deciding she'd take it. Emerald hoisted her up and took a step back on guard.

  "Who are you and who sent you?" she asked.

  "I'm Jasmine. And you already know that I can't answer that second question." Jasmine answered.