The weather outside of the apartment was cold and wet. Heavy rain and harsh winds hit the city of Ashcote. Maileena rubbed her hands together to keep herself warm. She wondered how Vera was doing at that very moment. She wondered if she was cold as well, if she was okay. Every day that passed by without her knowing what was going on with her sister drove her mad. The Godly Succubi, that's where I might find her, but I can't just burst in there alone. I need Demilan with me, and that means he has to feel better first.
Demilan was resting in his bedroom. After realizing that his Vex addiction was reignited, Maileena made sure to throw away all the drugs that Demilan had stashed in the wooden box he kept in the bedroom. She took care of him, knowing that the detox process is a long and hard one when it comes to Vex. It doesn't take too many uses of the drug to make the body almost completely dependent on it, making even the two single shots that Demilan received, one thanks to Odis and one thanks to Demilan himself, trigger a torturous rehabilitation process.
Curse that purple shit. Whoever first made it should burn in seven hells. No one ever knew who was responsible for coming up with Vexillum. The purple drug first appeared on the streets 11 years ago, merely 2 years after the people of Alataria rebelled, among other things, against the infestation of illegal drugs in the country and the police's poor efforts to fight it.
Maileena was never one to be tempted by the use of drugs, and seeing Demilan in his state made her all the more appalled by the notion. She spent her free time cleaning the apartment and making food for both of them, trying to pay Demilan back for all that he had done for her so far, but the food quickly began to run low, and eventually she knew that she had to buy some more.
We killed five Men of Midas in total so far, three in the warehouse, Odis, and his friend, and since we didn't use any Elastics, APD could target us as the perpetrators. Then again, Demilan said that Men of Midas like to pay the cops off to have the revenge for themselves, so I'm guessing the golden thugs are looking for us. Going out to buy food is going to be very dangerous.
After bickering with herself for a while, she reached the conclusion that the small amount of food remaining wasn’t leaving her with many choices. She took what little money she had left in her pockets from her days as a pleasurer in the Godly Succubi and dressed in a black jacket, pulling its hood up in the hope of hiding her face, and hid her revolver in the back of her pants, covered under her jacket. She slowly opened the bedroom door, taking a last look at Demilan before leaving. He was fast asleep.
A part of her wanted to lash out at him for allowing himself to be tempted back into the warm embrace of Vex, yet she also knew that drug addictions can be too overpowering at times. Besides, as a 15-year-old girl who used to pleasure older men for a living, she knew she was in no position to judge others.
Maileena took Demilan's key and left the apartment, locking the door behind her. She walked out into the cold, soaking streets of Ashcote.
The walk to the nearest grocery store was relatively short, yet Maileena's anxiety made it feel eternal. Every face that passed by her made her heart jump.
With both APD and Men of Midas after her, she knew that she had to be careful.
The scenery was painted gray and blue with the heavy weather ruling around her. Ashcote wasn't the prettiest city in Alataria by far, but Maileena always believed it had a certain charm to it. She always dreamed of living somewhere in Fraenon Hill, the fanciest district in Alataria, reserved mostly for CEOs, celebrities and others of such financial stature, but with Ashcote being her only option, she grew to love its old houses and mold-infested buildings. But she knew that soon she might have to bid the city farewell. When I get Vera, I'm going to get us both out of here, away from Men of Midas. We might go to Northstock. They say Men of Midas has zero presence there.
She reached the grocery store, and a small weight was lifted off of her. She entered through the glass door, making sure her face was still hidden under the hood of her jacket. She walked through the aisles, grabbing all kinds of food products and placing them in a shopping cart. She took a box of cereal, bread, cheese, some milk and bottled water. I can't take much more. I don't have a lot of money on me.
As she scouted the shelves, looking for whatever she could take that would fit her budget, she noticed a man to her right. She could see him looking at her out of the corner of her eye. She hoped he would stop staring and walk away, yet after a minute of that not happening she began to worry. Never mind. I'll just take what I already have in the cart. It's best I don't stay here much longer.
Her rapid footsteps rattled in echo inside the store as she quickly pushed the cart towards the register. Another customer was already handling his purchases there. Shit! Please, make it fast, I have to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible.
Maileena looked around. She didn't see anyone behind her. The man who stared at her suspiciously was nowhere to be seen. The customer at the register was pulling out his wallet to pay for his stuff. Paranoia struck Maileena hard. Come on, come on. She wished she could just take her things and go.
Finally, the man finished his business at the register and the way cleared for Maileena. She placed the food products on the counter, putting them in plastic carrying bags. The woman at the register gave her a price, and Maileena quickly pulled out all the money she had in her pocket. She paid in haste, grabbed the bags and turned to leave. That was when she stopped in place, seeing the man who stared at her a minute ago. He stood in front of her, no mask or officer uniform on him, yet something about his piercing gaze stirred Maileena.
She headed for the exit doors when she heard the man say, "Hey, girl!"
Maileena didn't stop to see what he wanted. She just walked out and didn't look back.
The rain had stopped by then. Maileena paced quickly back to the apartment. A thick fog blocked her view, yet she still knew how to navigate in it. She looked back to see if anyone was behind her, only to find out that the fog denied her sight of anything.
She paced on and on, her plastic bags rattled as they hit against her legs.
"Hey, girl!" she heard the same voice from before behind her. She looked back and saw the man from the store now behind her. She didn't acknowledge his calling, instead pressing on down the street. Who is he? What does he want from me? Does he know who I am? Maileena's curiosity only panicked her further.
At last, she could see the apartment building that she so longed to get to. Without wasting any time, she ran inside the building. "Hey, stop!" She heard the man behind her as she started climbing the stairwell. A few seconds into her ascent to the apartment, she heard the tapping footsteps of the man climbing after her "Stop, I said!" he yelled.
Once she finally reached the apartment door, she started looking for the key in her pocket. Come on, come on. She found herself troubling getting it out with the ensuing sense of stress and panic.
"Don’t fucking move!" the man appeared at the head of the stairwell, only a few feet away from her. Finally, she pulled the key out and opened the door with it. She rushed inside, dropped the bags on the floor and pulled her revolver. She turned to aim it at the man, who now appeared on her doorstep.
"Hands up!" she ordered him. The man seemed hesitant. At first, it seemed like he was about to do as she said, but then he stormed into the apartment, trying to ram into Maileena.
Time slowed down for her as she aimed her best at the man approaching, her hand shaking in stress. He had almost reached her when she finally pulled the trigger, sounding off an ear-deafening blast that made her flinch and cower. When she returned to look at the man, she noticed that she had only hit him in the right shoulder. He held his wounded arm in pain with a frightening look upon his face as he stepped closer and closer to her. Maileena stood shocked by the man's persistent efforts to get to her. With her flimsy hand, she started raising her revolver again to aim at him. A smoke trail was coming out of the hollow barrel. Before she could pull the trigger once more, the man grabbed her gun-wielding hand by the wrist and yanked the revolver out of it with his other hand. Her weak grip couldn’t stand in his way. She watched him throw away the gun and panicked as his blood-covered hand wrapped around her throat. She felt his clutch tightening and her ability to breathe slowly being stolen away from her. He looked completely mad as he choked her, with his eyes wide open and his lips twitching.
Just when Maileena almost gave up on any hopes of getting out of the situation alive, Demilan appeared and punched the man's face, sending him onto the floor in agony. Maileena coughed as she regained her breath.
Demilan walked slowly and tiredly towards the guy. He's still weak from the rehab. Demilan pulled out his knife and tried flipping the guy over on his back, but he was greeted instead with a mighty punch to his stomach that dropped him on all fours, writhing in pain. Maileena knew that the man would try to turn the tables now in his favor, so she quickly took Demilan's knife from his hand and placed herself on top of the wounded man. She placed the black-as-night blade right above the bullet wound on his shoulder and started poking it with it. The man screamed in pain and twitched incessantly.
"Who sent you?!" Maileena asked him. The man kept on screaming without giving an answer. Maileena pushed the blade further into the wound, making the pain much worse, and the screams, too. "Tell me and I'll stop!" Maileena yelled.
"Connor Griffiths!" the man cried. "Connor Griffiths ordered your deaths!"
"Thank you," Maileena said and plunged the knife into the man's chest with all her might, letting out a slight roar as she did. A surge of blood spattered as she drew the blade back. The man tried fighting back, but the stab drew all strength from him. His hands tried reaching Maileena, but he was too weak to do any harm to her. The best he could do was smear the blood on his hand all over her shirt. Maileena wished to end the man's suffering and sent the dark blade down at his chest again, this time in a different spot. The man gasped in pain but didn’t show much of a further reaction. Maileena looked at his eyes with the same cold, brutal manner that Demilan did as he watched Odis slowly die. It was only then that the man finally became still.
A few moments of silence had passed before her reaction was heard. "Oh, my God," she said.
"Are you okay?" Demilan asked her as he struggled to get up.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." She looked away from the body and helped Demilan to his feet. "I can't believe it. He just started chasing me. I…"
"You did well, Maileena," he reassured her. "He would have killed both of us."
"Who the fuck was he? And who's Connor Griffiths?"
"Reus Mallistrom's lieutenant. It's no surprise that he wants us dead. This guy must be a member of Men of Midas. You just happened to catch him without his Elastics."
"I-I panicked. I couldn’t aim my gun well and I—"
"I'm going to have to teach you how to properly hold a gun, but other than that… it looks like you made some progress by yourself."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Where the hell did you even go?"
"We were running low on food. I had to go buy some. Look, I'm sorry, I didn’t—"
"It's alright, don’t worry. Nevertheless, we're going to have to go now."
"Go? What do you mean?"
"The gunshot and the screams… there's no way our neighbors didn’t hear that. It's only a matter of time before the police are called."
"Where would we go?"
"I don’t know. We'll figure something out."
"You're not well enough to go anywhere."
"Don’t worry about me, I'll be fine. Pack your things. We need to go now."
