VALENTINA
___
There were two possibilities.
It was either that Anastasia had been snatched by one of those monsters,
Or,
That she had escaped to go to that night club she had been crying about.
The two sounded quite impossible.
It had been over a week since her birthday, she was out of danger and the green light on the screen of Ru's Display Tracking Device was blinking.
Trackers usually didn't work once the ladies had been snatched away.
That meant that she had escaped.
But how?
We were on the top floor, it was mansion and Anastasia had no skills.
Or did she?
I sighed, driving faster to get to where the green light was leading us to, then I pulled the car to a screeching halt.
I was right, she escaped.
"Good thing I tracked her down. Right, Ru?"
"I still think you should have put the tracker somewhere else."
I rolled my eyes, finding a place to park the car.
I still remembered the stink eye Ru gave me when I stuck the tracking device on Anastasia's heirloom bracelet.
The problem hadn't been me putting the tracker but she had thought that I shouldn't have altered the 'priceless bracelet' and the tracker should have been placed somewhere else.
But the tracker didn't even alter the bracelet and because of how important it was, I was sure that she would never take it off.
Sometimes, Ru pissed me off with all her unnecessary morals. That was why I was a better soldier than she was and would ever be. I wasn't always letting this touchy feelings blind me. I always kept my eyes on the job, these days though, I had been a little distracted with my sexual fantasies but even with that, I was still a better soldier.
Ru really had a lot of learning to do.
I slammed the door shut as I hopped out of the car, staring at the building in front of me with big darkly colored letters right in front of it.
DEVIL'S LURE.
An interesting name for a night club.
I couldn't fight the grin that took over my face at the thoughts running in my head.
This had to be the most interesting mission so far.
I get to go to a club!
Yayyyyyyy!
The only time I had ever been to a club was that one time we had to get a drunk girl back home before midnight, because she had gone out with her friends, forgetting that her birthday was in the next hour.
That had been no fun but today would be different.
Woohoo!
"We are not here for fun, Val." Ru said, slamming her door shut as she stepped out.
"I didn't say anything." I chuckled, following after her.
"I know that look. You don't have to say a word."
"Fine, fine."
Party popper.
Satisfied, uhn? Wet blanket.
We got to the door quickly, showed the Bouncers our ID and they let us in without a hitch.
They didn't like us. Many clubs didn't like soldiers from the Unit, they considered us bad for business but they also hated the idea of a monster crashing into their club to snatch away someone. So, they tolerated us.
It was easy to find Anastasia.
She wasn't on the dance floor, by the Bar, or the pool at the back.
Instead she was in a room upstairs, her legs up in the air with a half naked lanky dude in-between them.
This girl was living my dream!
Except for the part of the lanky dude, of course. I'd prefer a more muscular man? Something close to the male lead of the book I was presently reading.
Okay, back to business.
The guy jumped up immediately, seeing our uniforms and recognizing what we stood for.
He pulled on his pants, struggling with it, while he scurried out through the door.
We let him go.
Anastasia popped up on the bed, pulling the blanket over her chest, her eyes wide, her face flush with embarrassment.
"How did you find me?" She asked, panting.
"Miss Silvers, please get dressed. We need to leave," Ru said, shutting the door.
"You are not going to tell my mum, are you?" She begged, tears already streaming down her face, as she wiped them quickly away with the back of her hand.
For goodness sake, why was she crying now? What was done was done!
I get that it was so embarrassing to get walked in on like this---
My stomach heated up as the times I had caught in a likely situation began to flood my brain.
Yeah, right. This was indeed very embarrassing.
"We won't tell your mum," I offered and she stared at me in surprise.
What? I can be nice too. What did she take me for? A brick wall with no heart?
"Th-thank you." She sniffled softly, then she stood up.
We turned away while she pulled on her dress.
"I'm ready to go," she said, walking to the door.
I didn't know what was going on in her head but I persumed she needed to be left alone. So, I didn't pester her.
We got to the car soon and Ru led her to the backseat, talking to her as she wept from how she had expected her boyfriend to stand by her but he had left at the first sight of trouble.
As I drove us away, I couldn't even fathom what kind of advice Ru was giving her or where she got those advices from. Ru had zero experience.
For a moment, I was jealous of Anastasia's life. This restriction she was feeling was going to be only for a while, but for me, it would be a good part of my life. I wanted my life to be normal, I wanted to be able to be with people, have the heartbreaks, the love, the feeling. Everything like in the stories that I've read. And of course, the séx.
They said it was highly pleasurable, I'd love to experience that.
But I couldn't. I was a soldier and I would continue to be, until I couldn't be that anymore, or anything else for that matter.
As much as the Unit seemed like a prison, it was a home to me. I found them one day in the woods, when they were training their new recruits. I had gotten there, weak, with no knowledge of who I was or what I was doing there. They took me in and trained me, and I had been with them ever since.
The life of a soldier was the only life I knew.
For a long time I have been wanting more, the thought of escaping had crossed my mind, but just at the time I was putting in my plans, someone had escaped from the Unit.
Surin, one of the Unit's best soldiers.
In 24 hours, they found her and took her to the Facility. After a month, they brought her back and Surin had been a shadow of herself ever since.
My hands tightened around the steering wheel.
After that had happened to Surin, I had diverted my efforts away from the thoughts of escaping, to getting a promotion. Getting me up the rank, would get me away from field work and it's dangers.
"And you kn-know the w-worse thing is I--I--- promised him my vir-virginity tonight. I'm breaking up with him."
I looked out the window, tunning out their conversation.
Same old story.
"Stop the car, Val!" Ru's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"What now?"
"She forgot her bracelet."
"The priced heirloom?! You've got to be kidding me."
"Luke took it off. I didn't even kn-know when he did that," she sniffled.
"Have you checked her bag? This might just be another trick."
"Val! Why are you so insensitive?"
I shrugged.
Why was she always out to get me? What I said was completely logical.
"It's not here, I promise." She said, turning her bag over, some things tumbling out of it to the seat. "I understand why you don't trust me. The room is 103, I think the bracelet will be on the side table. Please, help me get it back."
Half convinced, I continued driving back to the mansion. We helped her upstairs, she was a little tipsy. I volunteered to go back and fetch the bracelet, while Ru stood back and protected her.
"Are you sure you don't want me to ask the Unit for some back up?" Ru asked after we tucked Anastasia in bed.
"That is just going to escalate things and her mum will find out," I dissuaded, hurrying off to the door.
"Be careful."
Why was she so worried?
"Calm down, Ru. It's not like the monsters are out to get me or something. I'm 23 and nothing happened--"
"When you were 20, I know, I get it, I've heard that a million times. I just have a bad feeling, that's all. Be careful."
I smiled.
Classic Ru.
Always worried.
"You worry too much. I'll be back before you know it. Besides, I'm only going to fetch one bracelet. What could go wrong?"