Chapter 4:

Lionheart

Code: SIN


Reina Lionhart, Age 16Sirens wailed on the street during an afternoon heavy rainfall, moving with haste on the roads. Reina would be running, an arm full of expensive jewelry, cutting a few corners, and moving in between buildings. She quickly made her way into an alley and pressed her back onto the wall, just breaking the corner in time to hide from a police car driving past, barely missing her. Reina’s hair was just past her shoulders, shorter than her hair was when she was a child. From her attire, it was obvious she had been keeping up amounts of money to have well-conditioned clothes on herself. She let out a deep sigh of relief she ran off between clusters of buildings.The area she was headed to was an area consisting of abandoned warehouses off an old boardwalk. The area was abandoned a few years ago due to an Alpha attack that killed an astounding quantity of workers, forcing the company to shut down and abandon all production there. With the residents fearing for their safety its nearby neighborhoods were mostly abandoned too.

Reina with loot in hand approached a thick metal door to one of the warehouses. Pushing the door open she entered.

“Guys I found-“

She announced to the room but with the door open and she making her way through, she could hear multiple cries of a whimper, cutting her sentence short. Hearing the thick metal door open, three men sitting on crates at the center of the warehouse quickly turned their heads, drawing guns and aiming them her way. Reina tossed a hand casually into the air to signal her peaceful entry yet upon seeing her they all chuckled and lowered their weapons.

Male C:“Oh Reina it’s just you”

As the male spoke Reina’s eyes looked over to their circle, seeing three women chained to the metal post in the center. Her eyes shifted to the side, seeing a young girl cuffed to the stairs leading to what looked like was formerly an office from when the place was operational. As Reina analyzed her surroundings she continued to walk closer to the center where the guys sat on their crates surrounding the two girls.

“W-what the fuck guys? Why do you have these women and that little girl tied up?! When do we ever kidnap people?”

Male B:“How about chilling the fuck out huh? It’s all part of a new plan, an opportunity to make loads of cash”

Male C:“No more simple theft and robbery for us. We’ll never have to live in a run-down place ever again, no more worries about food, or money ever again.”

“That still doesn’t explain shit. Why are-”

Quickly the male who had remained silent spoke out, cutting Reina’s sentence quite short.

“Now now everyone calms down. Listen, Reina, it’s just a simple ransom. They slipped up and now we make the profit of our lives. These girls belong to one of the big families, we’re just holding them until we get paid then they can return nice and easy.”

“Just a ransom?”

Reina looked at the girls, not being able to directly look at them for long she diverted her eyes to the side and let out a sigh.

“Did you guys at least try to keep it low-key?”

“Reina, it’s a kidnapping of course there would be resistance. Of course, these guys handled it and I’m sure they did their best to keep damage to a minimal.”

“……”

“Think about it Reina, we’re all tired of the way we live, hiding, stealing, and shit. And I know you are too. Right?”

Male A rose from his seat and approached Reina as she looked down towards the bound women with fabric covering their mouths and dried tears on their cheeks.

“Tch. She’s only been with us for a couple of months. I say we put her back on the streets starving since she apparently wants to.”

As the male finished his sentence, a swift hand was delivered across his face from Male A, knocking him over and off his crate, yet the guy only held his bleeding mouth not daring to talk back to the one who assaulted him. To even the captured girls this took them by surprise as the man held anger in his eyes.

“Calm that shit down. No need to worry, I’m sure Reina knows and appreciates all we’ve done for her. I’m sure she sees this great opportunity and will take it with us. Reina is always on board.”

His words put pressure on her soul. His words led her to look at herself. Her hair was clean, some money in her pocket, and decent clothes without any tears and holes, and most of all she found it easier with a group, at least one that had finally accepted her. The sadness in her eyes was obvious as she looked down at the women who could also see the pressure and reluctance to agree. Her eyes shifted over to the little girl whose eyes were filled with sorrow. Not being able to look at the little girl her head jerked forward as tears began to well up in her eyes, looking at the ground.

“Isn’t that right Reina?”

With a heavy heart, she slowly looked up to the man speaking to her.

“Right Reina?”

Hesitantly Reina nodded and walked off to make her way up the stairs to the office room.

“Good haha!”

“Hey boss, cool if I look around town? Someone ought to be talking about something by now, listen around on what they’re up to about this deal?”

With a nod of his head, the male leaped from his seat and walked for the doorway. The one who was hit, the anger in his eyes was looked at by their boss.

“Watch’em. Try not to hurt them. When he gets back, we’ll find out if what these girls told us is true and we’ll find out just how valuable they are…each.” He said, walking away.
Later That Night…

Reina stood at the top of the stairway, her back leaning against the railing. Her position allowed her to have the young girl cuffed to the bottom of the steps in her sights while staying in her area. The group’s leader and his comrade sat on their crates around the girls. The leader's eyes move side to side looking over them back and forth. Soon his eyes switched to focus on just one.

“I hope that place you told us is legit. Plenty of people to listen to at.”

The heavy door entrance was pushed open, with the male who went scouting coming through, drenched with rain. He quickly made his way to the center of the room to join his comrades. Reina watched from her superior view. Behind the male, Reina’s eyes caught said of a trail of blood drops followed behind him. Surprised she began making her way down the steps.

“So how’d it…Shit! Are you bleeding?!”

He said the leader acknowledges the dripping blood too. In no time at all the injured male reached within his jacket, retrieving a firearm and aiming it directly at the woman’s head prompting all of the women and the young girl to begin their muffled screams.

“The bitch set us up!”

“Whoa whoa whoa!”

The leader said as he quickly got up and held the guy back from getting any closer to the woman, lowering the man’s arm with the firearm.

“Wait what the fuck happened out there?!”

“That place she mentioned, they were there waiting!”

“How the hell would they expect you?”

“The fuck if I know! As soon as they saw me it’s like they knew! Before they started shooting they said I’m the one she showed a vision to!”

“They talked about a vision and you go all psycho?! What kind of crazy shit are you believing!”

“I’m not fucking nuts!”

“Quiet!”

The man’s voice echoed through the room. Reina reached the bottom of the stairs she glanced at the little girl that held nothing but fear in her eyes before looking over to the women in the center of the room. It was then she made eye contact with the woman who had given them the information. As their eyes met, Reina could feel the sadness portrayed by her eyes, and upon closer inspection, Reina’s eyes widened as she noticed what the woman was mouthing the words “Please protect her”. Their eyes continued to lock as a vision was placed inside her mind. Showing the little girl, the three women being maids in their home, then an image of the little girl alongside an older male yet the smile on her face was unmistakable. The vision seemed to become more real as it put Reina in a trance with just the two in an empty space.

“I can tell…you’re like me. An alpha as they call us.”

“You’re…one as well? I-I’ve never met another woman like me…”

“A shame. But our time is short sadly….that girl… is the heir to the Calicio family. I know it might be much to ask but I can see…life in this city leads to working with these people. I could see you have a much kinder heart. For the people who have to live this life, some may deserve it. Others…it tears away and eats at you…until you do anything to survive.”

“I’m sorry. I want to help but I just can’t…”

“It’s never too late to try. The Calicio is a nice Family, the only people who aim to unify a bond between as they call us and mankind. No more prejudice or falling victim to the irrational despise of others…A home. I simply ask that you help her return to her family. She is our hope for the future…”

The woman said, tears streaming from her eyes but a smile towards Reina nonetheless. Suddenly Reina found herself snapping out of her trance-like state. As soon as her eyes adjusted back to reality, all she could see was the leader now holding a gun to the woman’s head. By reflex, Reina reached out her arm in protest.

“Wai-!”

Before much could escape her lips, the warehouse was filled with the echoes of a few gunshots bursting into the maid as her body slumped over. Reina being slightly in disbelief, began picking up the pace of her walk staggeringly to make it over to the center.

“Tricky Bitch, she was an alpha. Any longer and who knows what she would have had the chance to do. I say best be done with it.”

He said, coming to his discovery and conclusion about the woman from what happened. Shrugging his shoulders at the conclusion of his quick display. Making it to the center of the room, Reina shoved the two subordinates of the trio out of her way to lay eyes on the body.

“Well, that concludes my deduction. They all lied and said they were all worth a pretty penny too, but their all just maids. This means something because maids aren’t bodyguards…unless they are secret. Which means the little girl is the heir. Which means I no longer care for these two.”

The two subordinates look at each other in silence, then looked at their boss.

“It would be a waste of ammo to shoot them, I say we deal with them some other and see how long they can entertain us until we’re bored of them. Sound Good? Heh heh.”

All three of them gained a devilish smirk on their faces. Reina was stunned looking at the body, a delayed reaction to the words registering. Hearing them caused her to become furious and quickly turned towards the two subordinates and shoved them back several steps.

“Hell no!”

Her sentence was cut short by a thick pipe being swung to the back of her head, knocking her out instantly and blacking out.

An unknown amount of time passed. Losing consciousness from the earlier attack on her, Reina’s eyes slowly opened, her vision blurry as she pressed her palms against the same cold ground her cheek rested on upon her wake. Her arms trembled with weakness as she lifted her head from the ground. Hearing unintelligent sounds coming from the background revealed that her hearing had suffered as well as her sight. Slowly as she lifted her torso to find a seat on her rear, both vision and sound slowly became clear as well. A whimper of pain escaped her lips as she held her upper body up, with a series of blinking her vision became clear once more, her eyes quickly focusing on the young girl before her. The young girl sat cuffed to the stairs as she way but Reina was quickly filled with guilt seeing the girl like she was in that instant. The young girl sat frozen, her mouth slightly agape and her gaze locked elsewhere. Tears instantly streamed from Reina’s eyes as she could see the girl's face from the side, her eyes devoid of all signs of life even though the girl was still alive. The same lifeless eyes Reina acknowledged as traumatized and broken. A sound began to slowly make its way to Reina, the sounds muffled by her concussion quickly clearing up.

“Hngh!”

The male’s grunts were now clear, Reina could also hear the muffled cries of suffering and crying just as well. In that second, Reina knew the source of the sound was in the same direction the young girl’s eyes were locked. Quickly Reina turned her head and immediately her eyes widened to the shock of not only what she was witnessing but to what the girl had been forced to see while she lied unconscious. The male stood with his pants fallen, his right side facing Reina. With two maids having their bodies lying cold in their own pool of blood near them. The remaining maid’s head was held between the standing man's hands, her body limps except for a single hand weakly pushing against her assaulter’s leg. Reina struggled but forcefully began to lift herself up, looking behind the young girl under the steps to see a thick pipe behind her.

“D-did she somehow gets this and hide it behind her? Agh, no time”

Reina sluggishly crawled and grabbed the pipe before staggering to her feet. Her hand gently pressed against the young girl's head, causing the girl to slowly look away and up at Reina with her lifeless gaze. Her eyes followed Reina as she began to move forward from a staggering walk into a full-on charge towards the male. Hearing the sudden steps the male began to turn his gaze to look but unfortunately, the maid had seen Reina prior and ceased his looking by biting down as hard as she could.

“Gngh! fuuuuuuuuck AGH-!”

He yelled at the top of his lungs before delivering a swift punch to the side of the maids head, knocking her over onto the ground, but it was far too late, just as he turned only his peripheral sight allowed him only an instant of seeing Reina swinging the full weight of the pipe towards his face, with her enhanced strength the pipe quickly forced his face to be crushed from the weight of the swing on impact, knocking him away with his face and skull deformed and blood flowing from the blunt force wounds.

Suddenly the sound of a step onto metal caught Reina’s attention, quickly turning her body and sights to the top of the metallic steps with another male rushing out of the door of the office room.

“Told ya not to do it, now she got ya- whoa wait what the-?!”

Before his sentence could finish, the dented pipe from Reina was already piercing through the air like a harpoon, not only hitting the man in his chest but going through him and pinning him to the doorway as well.

(Thank you…now please get Miss Calicio out of here…the last one left but will be back soon. I endured…to help one last time in keeping her safe)

The voice of the maid spoke inside of Reina’s mind, her telepathy ability. Yet once Reina turned to face the woman, the life within her had vanished after one last hopeful gaze of light exited her eyes. Reina however wasted no time searching the nearby body, finding a key in his pocket before dashing over to the young girl. Reina stopped in front of the girl with a heavy sadness in her eyes.

“I’m…I’m so sorry, but I want to help you get back home.”

Reina looked at herself, blood on her clothes and face

“I understand if you think I’m a monster…”

Reina dropped to one knee and began freeing the young girl from her restraints and quickly taking a step away from her.

“I’m an alpha…so I understand if you’re scared of someone like me…”

The young girl shook her head in disbelief at the statement. This shocked Reina and made her slowly begin to tear up.

“…Really? I-I’m sorry I don’t mean to cry in front of you. What’s your name?”

“…Eleanor”

Reina extended her hand to Eleanor to help the young girl to her feet. Hand in hand her knees attempted to buckle but she held herself up with the help of Reina.

“Eleanor is a pretty name, reminds me of a princess. My name is Reina.”

With that statement, the color and life seemed to immediately return to Eleanor’s eyes as she looked up to Reina.

“Reina is a pretty name too, so you’re not a monster, you’re a princess.”

Eleanor lightly gripped Reina’s hand as the tears now poured from Reina’s eyes from the girl's comment which touched her heart. Suddenly the steel door to the warehouse was pushed open.

The leader of the gang came through, immediately seeing Eleanor missing from her cuffs and blood across the center of the room, far more than just a single person’s blood. He quickly ran to the center of the room, looking over the stacks of boxes they had used for seats to see his ally dead, along with the maids.

“Yo what the fuck happened here?!”

Suddenly he froze with the sound of a click behind him, Reina had snuck up behind him, stealing the gun one of his men held and pulled back the hammer with the gun to the back of his head.

“You guys disgust me. To force a woman to…Argh. Is it that hard to ignore a person’s will for a sick second?”

“Reina? How about this? Name anything you want me to do and I’ll do it then you’ll let me go. Deal?”

“….Deal”

“Aw shit really? Uh-Um I mean what do you want me to do? Just say it and it’s done.”

“…Die”

“Die? What kind of- OH SHIT NO WAIT!”

The sound of several shots filled the air of the warehouse. Moments later Reina walked out, holding Eleanor’s hand in her own. It seemed the rain had yet to cease and it still poured down heavily on the two.

An Hour Later…

Both girls were absolutely soaked through their clothing as they now stood at the doorstep to a large mansion. Before Reina could knock, the door quickly opened, revealing an older male.

Vergil Calicio:“My goodness Eleanor!”

“Granpa!”

They both screamed as they threw themselves in an embrace. It was the first time Reina had seen Eleanor smile.

“Come now let’s get you out of those wet clothes and get you a bath and a meal.”

He said as he began to guide Eleanor into the Manor. Reina however saw her task completed and turned, beginning her walk down the steps.

“Oh? I was referring to you as well young lady, I suspect you’d want a place to stay for a little while we discuss your reward.”

Reina was shocked, turning to look over her shoulder to the older gentleman. Eleanor stepped behind her grandfather and was greeted by a man in a suit with which Eleanor seemed quite familiar.

“Me?...but I’m part of the reason…”

“Now now, whatever you may have been a part of is no more. Thanks to the help of a wonderful woman whom…Used her abilities to keep us here updated on the situation while we searched. I know all about what happened. We will offer her and the others a proper funeral. I know all that transpired and I offer to welcome you into my home with full gratitude”

“Are you sure? I’m not a normal girl”

“Yes and this man behind me isn’t a normal man. Many who work for or alongside our family is either Human or Other, I do hate the term Alpha but its alternative is none the more sensitive. For us Calicio, we firmly believe all deserve kindness and a home. If you would like, as further appreciation, I wish to speak to you about becoming part of our family. You saved my precious granddaughter and I would like to offer you a position, not only one that pays but as a special gift I can allow you to call this very building home, Eleanor could use a friend.”

Turning fully towards the man, Reina could see the sincerity in his eyes behind his welcoming smile. Past him, Eleanor ran back into the rain to approach Reina.

“I…I don’t...really...have friends…You’ll stay won’t you?”

She asked. Reina looked shocked but couldn’t help but smile for the first time in a long time, the rain hiding her tears. With a strong nod, she agreed and was accepted with a smile from Eleanor as well.