T A L O N

okay. deep breath. you can CUT into a person to dig out a bullet no problem. it’s probably not even that far in, right?

         he mentally sends a prayer up to the higher          power & starts cutting the bullet wound open          further. crimson blood SEEPS seamlessly from          the laceration. shane has to bite back a grimace          before continuing. this is a life or death situation;          his squeamish-ness about blood & guts is going          to have to take a back seat.

                   the wound is opened up more for easier access,                    allowing him to set the stained scalpel down &                    switch to tweezers. he THINKS he’s got a view                    of the bullet.

the moment before she can feel him cutting into her feels like an eternity, similar to the moment in which the pain seems to increase tenfold & she's swallowing the loud screams which seem to die in her throat anyways.

                         if she hadn't been so stupid.                          if she had done her job like                          she was supposed to, with                          no stupid mistakes on her                          part then maybe she would                          be somewhere else, some                          place with a lot less p a i n.

the least she can do is not scream, because then that would just prove that she's sloppy & that she's weak. fingers clutch at the fabric of her jeans as if her life depended on but it keeps the screams from coming so she keeps her grip as tight as possible.

“ALRIGHT !”

             She grins deviously & trots to the              cabinet, grabbing the two bottles              of vodka stashed there. 

"I'm giving you a second or two to enjoy being thirty bucks richer than you're going to be in a little bit."

     Arrogance rolls off of the assassin in waves      as he strolls over & takes one of the bottles      from her grasp, setting it down only for a      moment as he lined thirty knives that looked      identical in a straight row on the table.

"It isn't necessarily hard to keep me in line,     or to talk me into watching something I've never heard of.         But it's gotta be good if you're thinking of watching it.                    Hold on, let me just do this really quick.  .  ."

"i’m not gonna let you die, ricki.                           and that’s a promise.”

               shane hurries back into the room, kneeling                at the girl’s side. he opens the first aid kit                and pulls out the scalpel they stored in there                previously. he hands her a towel to bunch into                her mouth and bite down on.

“someone once promised me i'd have a bright      & favorable future---- so, sorry if i don't believe you.”

bloody hands grasp the offered towel as she nods, once & then she's twisting it in her grasp so it'll be thick enough for screams that might or might not come to be muffled through it's fabric.

“i don't think we'll need to worry too much about that,      i'd be lying if i said that this is the worst pain i've felt.     just   . . .    please get it over with before it gets to the                point where i can finally say that it is. ”

he’s content to simply hold her, because he knows that she  would do the same thing for  him if he were the one scared. and he IS scared; with every thought of the court, he can feel his half-heart pounding against his ribcage, his cold skin grows colder, his scars pulse, his eyes turn a murky purple in color. but he chooses to hide all of that for her sake.

because if Leo—being the  fearless, courageous,  ferocious sorcerer he is— is terrified of the court of owls, then

          WHY SHOULDN’T SHE BE——?

Leo lets a sigh slip from his discolored lips and buries his face into Ricki’s dark hair. something about her is always so comforting; he never wants to let her go.

she smiles, she smiles & it isn't something huge, it won't  light up  the sky with it's vibrancy, but it's honest & it's because of him that she does. so she smiles, & all that matters is that she's happy.

her hand presses to his chest in one hesitant move, above a heart that should not be capable of beating let alone making her as enamoured as she is of it & of the boy whom it belongs to.

there is a sense of comfort in knowing she can feel it.

“ something fun? ---- like what, pray & tell? ”

the prospect of having fun was still foreign to ricki, who still carried around a knife with her everywhere that she went, who still saw people on the streets as targets & threats. but time spent with leo was time that she enjoyed, & she knew that fun was good; fun was something people did, normal people.