Prologue (Tw: violence)

He said it was going to be simple..

All I wanted to do was go home, but of course my boss decided to torture me and make me do one more delivery. 

¨Why the hell do I have to do this? My shift already ended 10 minutes ago!¨

¨If you want to keep your job, I suggest you hop to it!¨ 

I mean, seriously! a 40 minute commute!? He must be crazy if he thinks I'm ever doing this again! I really gotta quit this job, it's honestly getting very stressful for me... But i guess when you´re a broke college student, you kind have to get a job to at least scrape by: no matter how bad the job is. I eventually arrived at my final delivery destination and stop the car, looking around to see the houses looked abandoned and the air smelled damp. 

´Wait, no this cant be the place..´ I thought. 

I double checked and painfully enough, I was in the right place. I unbuckle my seat belt, grab the pizza and begin to walk towards the house where the order came from. 

I still can't believe this.. not only is it 40 minutes away from my apartment, but it's in a neighborhood that looks like rats and hobos hang out at. Knocking on the door: I look around a bit more, getting slightly freaked out at the eerie houses creaking while the wind blowed.

No response. 

I knocked again more rapidly and threw out a quick, ¨Pizza delivery!¨ so the people inside knew who it was. Still nothing...weird. I finally decided to just walk around to the back and see if maybe they were outside and they didn´t hear me knock. I had almost reached the backyard and was about to yell out that a pizza delivery was here before I heard talking:

¨I´m telling you boss, this might be our best bet! We head in, scope the place, write out the layouts and BAM! We´ve got ourselves a stone-cold heist.¨ 

"Well I´ll be damned, you just might be right."  A deep booming laugh suddenly came from the backyard, followed by various laughs after it. 

Heist..What the- ..Maybe its a roleplay type of game they´re playing..

I walked a little more, peeking out from behind the old backyard fence door. As I peeked I noticed a couple of men sitting around a wooden table, it reminded me way too much of some  kind of gang meeting... I cleared my throat and stepped out holding the pizza and smiling as friendly as possible, ¨Pizza delivery!¨ I shouted enthusiastically, what I was not expecting was someone standing up quickly and drawing a gun at me. 

¨U-uh...sh-should I come back later?¨ I said a little startled, they really are taking their roleplay seriously... 

The man who pulled the gun out turned his head to the gang, still keeping his gun pointed at my head, ¨Who the hell ordered a pizza?!¨ 

It was silent until someone cleared their throat. 

¨I did, Boss.¨ 

¨Sticks! What part of keeping this place private do you not understand!? There´s a reason we have our meetings in the middle of this hollow shell of a neighborhood!¨

¨I was hungry! I thought maybe we could order pizza to celebrate our perfect heist plan.¨

 ¨Great now you just revealed our plan.. You do realize we have to kill  him now, right? Good job! Definitely NOT a monkey wrench in our plans¨ The ¨Boss¨ sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, 

He cocked the gun,¨sorry about this, kid. It's not you.. It's just, we don´t need you squealing on us.. No hard feelings?¨

My heart began to race. This..this can´t be happening, no way. This is just a prank! It has to be! I hardly believe I walked into a full blown meeting amongst a gang about to actually rob something... 

And yet..

Tears formed in my eyes as I dropped the pizza, clasping my hands together in a pleading motion, 

¨Please, i-im sorry! I won´t tell anyone, I swear! Please let me live! I don´t want to die!¨ 

It seems kinda pathetic now, begging for my life. But your mind doesn´t tend to think logically when in a life or death situation. The only thought that went through my mind at that time was one thing: 

I´m never going to experience life again. 

I won´t be able to call my parents, I won´t be able to hang out with friends, I won´t even be able to experience love. And that´s a terrifying thought. 

I closed my eyes.. and took a breath.. 

Bang!

I waited for the shot to knock me down, but it didn´t.. Opening my eyes a bit I saw a horrifying site. The man who almost shot me was face-down on the grass, blood pouring out of his head.. I felt all the air leave out of my lungs at the site:

Someone was lying face down on the floor.. 

Someone. was lying face down on the floor. 

I didn´t even have a chance to process everything that just happened before a thump was heard from behind the gang. A figure approached rapidly, grabbing somebody by their head before snapping their neck. 

Eventually, everyone registered what was happening and began to attack the figure. I obviously was not going to stay to see if this person was friendly or not and began to run back to my car. I heard a gunshot from behind and quickly opened the door of my car, slamming it behind me as I began to start the car. It stuttered before stopping 

¨C´mon- c´mon!¨ I hissed as I tried starting it again, still nothing. I looked up to the house and could still see commotion going on. I grabbed the bat I had in the backseat (in case of emergencies.) took a deep breath and began to open the car door and run the opposite direction of the house. I continued running until I ran into some woods in the back of another abandoned building, landing onto a dirt patch road smack dab in the middle of all the bushes and trees. 

Dropping onto the ground, I began to breathe deeply to try and relax myself before I had a full blown panic attack. It all happened so fast that I felt my head still reeling. I had finally calmed down after what felt like forever and checked my phone to try and at least call 911 or something. 

No signal..

Shit. 

I put my phone away and got up, maybe there´s someway I could go around without being spotted? Before I could even think of a more fleshed out plan, I heard something rustle in the bushes. I felt my heart race again as I gripped my bat, waiting to strike whatever was about to approach.. 

The figure from before had leapt out, I didn´t even have a chance to strike them before I was pinned down, dropping my bat as I did. I screamed as loud as I could and proceeded to thrash around as much as I could before I heard the figure talk, 

¨Shut up! Do you want us to get found?¨ the voice sounded.. feminine? it was also very high pitched and.. cutesy almost..

I looked up and got a good look at the figure, it was a girl! The girl had medium length light pink hair and fox ears at the top of her head. She was wearing a full black bodysuit and was glaring daggers at me,

¨W-who are you?! Let me go!¨ I shouted in surprise. She just shushed me and perked her ears up, almost as if she was listening for someone coming before turning back to me.

¨Relax, I´m not going to hurt you.. now, if I let you go will you promise to not lash out or anything?¨ 

I quickly nodded and she let me go, I got up and rubbed my wrists as I looked at her, 

¨Y-you're not one of them?¨

She looked at me and rolled her eyes, ¨Of course not! Why would I be with a bunch of criminals!?  Now listen, do you have a phone?¨

I nodded but said I had no signal 

She  pulled out her phone and checked something, she sighed and put her phone in her suit pocket, ¨Great.. no signal for me either..¨

¨...What..what was that back there?¨

¨Oh, those people? Just some bad people that you shouldn´t have interacted with. I mean, what kinda idiot delivers a pizza in the middle of dust-bust nowhere!?¨ She looked at me with a ´are you stupid?´ look. 

¨I..I had to deliver it or I would´ve gotten fired..¨ I said as I started to get up. 

She rolled her eyes again and muttered something under her breath about how I needed to grow a pair.

She stood up, brushing herself off, ¨Welp, your boss got you in deep shit.. Not much I can do for you..¨

¨A-are you saying those people aren´t dead? A-Are they gonna kill me!?¨ 

She looked at me with almost a pitiful look, ¨Probably, that gang you just barged in on was the  ´Blue Bloods.´ Part of one of the most lethal gangs in the Cities Mafia. I was there to kill them so they wouldn´t continue with their plans, BUT thanks to you: a couple of people got away..¨

I felt my body freeze as she explained everything to me. I couldn't believe I messed up this badly.. I didn't even know what was going on.. I honestly assumed they were roleplaying or something.. I didn´t know they were...

I dropped to my knees, not knowing what else to do as tears began to stream down my face. I just wanted to go home, I never meant to mess up..

I looked up at the girl and noticed she was watching me intently, almost like she was thinking of something

¨What?¨ I said with a tearful voice,

¨I think I have an idea on how to make sure you´re not 6 feet under.¨

I looked up at her with hope as I sniffed, ¨Please, anything!¨

¨....How about you become an assassin like me?¨

I stared at her blankly.¨...Become an assassin?¨

She nodded, ¨Yeah, that way I can not only protect you, I can also have another person to fight along side me! I mean, think about it! No one will ever expect a lowly pizza delivery driver to be an assassin!¨

I stood up and looked at her with shock,¨B-but.. I...i can't kill people!¨ I exclaimed. 

She just chuckled, ¨That's the best part.¨

I looked at her as if she was absolutely insane, ¨I..wait- I´m..¨ my head was spinning all over again, I couldn´t even think straight. Me? and assassin?  I had just witnessed a murder and now people are going to kill me? It´s almost like some kind of anime or something..

¨God, I need a cigarette.. ¨ I finally managed to randomly mutter out. She just laughed with an almost bubbly laugh, ¨I´d imagine a normal a pizza boy like you would freak out about something like this..¨

I didn´t respond. 

¨....listen, I understand how you´re feeling. You´re scared, your heart is pounding, you feel like everything couldn´t possibly be real.. But you need to listen to me, you're going to be okay, I swear on it. If you wanna make sure you don't end up in the hands of the Blue Bloods, you're going to have to do what I say. Do you understand?¨

I thought about it for a bit, should I even trust this girl? ..well, she seems genuine.. and she hasn´t killed me yet..

I looked up at her and nodded.

She smiled and reached out her hand, ¨Good boy. Welcome to the club!¨ I took her hand and she helped me up,¨Now, what's your name?¨

¨Asther.. Asther Newmann...¨ 

The fox girl smiled, ¨I´m Vixxy! nice to meet ya! I´ll walk you back to your car¨ 

Vixxy and I walked back to my car in silence, it wasn't until we got back to the car that she broke the silence, ¨I´ll meet you tomorrow at 1-¨

I quickly responded, ¨I can´t... I have college..¨

She just simply shrugs, ¨Ok, how about 5? You should be out by then, right?¨ 

I nodded. 

¨Great! Don´t bother with meeting me at a certain spot, I´ll find you..¨ she said rather ominously before beginning to walk in the direction of the abandoned gang´s house, ¨See ya tomorrow, Pizza Boy!¨

I stupidly waved goodbye as I proceeded to get in the car. Cautiously, I started the car, and the car finally started. I grabbed my pack of cigarettes and lit one up as I began to drive home. I don´t typically smoke often unless i´m really stressed out or my anxiety gets the better of me. Bad habit, I know but this night has been a lot. 

I drove for almost an hour until I eventually reached my apartment. I parked my car and went inside, not even bothering to shower. I laid down in bed and put the covers over me, tossing and turning as I did. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn´t fall asleep. I just kept thinking about what had just happened, the gun, the people getting murdered, the whole meeting in the backyard...

My eyes finally start to droop, finally dozing off but not before one final thought came to me:

Starting tomorrow, I was an assassin