Dark Savior: A Dark Bad Boy Romance (18 page)

I see his almost bald head peaking through, looking left and right, checking the dark alley for any passerby, before he dares to step out. He is not even 50 years old, but appears so much older with his hairless head, the round belly and his weirdly old fashioned getup.

The bullet hits him between the eyes as soon as the door closes behind him, and as soon as I see him fall to the ground, I straighten up, my eyes still on him, but no longer fixated on the scope.

That’s when I hear it.

I faint gasp.

The sound of a person who is scared witless.

It’s coming from behind me.

I turn around just in time to catch the pale and frightened face of a young girl, maybe in her early twenties, standing just a few feet behind me. She stares at me through dark and wide eyes for a split second, before she whirls around and makes a run for it.

Fuck.

I jump up on my feet faster than I ever have in my life and take up the chase.

No witnesses. No fucking witnesses.

CHAPTER TWO

Nike

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

What just happened?!

Did that guy just shoot someone? Did I witness a murder happen right now?

I cannot believe this. I don’t want to believe this. But I could see him jump up out of the corner of my eye when I turned around to run away. He didn’t yell, he didn’t try to calm me down or explain himself. Instead, he started running after me, indicating that I am to be silenced before I can rat him out.

I am fleeing across the roof, aiming for the fire escape at the other side. Luckily, this is one of the few things that I am good at. Running. I have been a passionate runner and sprinter since high school, and I am fast, not only for a girl. Back in school, most of the fastest boys in my class couldn’t keep up with me and running has even paid for my education, because I got through college on a generous athletic scholarship.

However, never in my life would I have expected my running to come as an advantage in a situation like this.

I might be running for my life right now. Literally. 

Is he still following me? I can’t hear his steps behind me, but I don’t dare to turn around to check. It would slow me down too much, and would give him a chance to catch up.

The curiosity is killing me, but I don’t give in to it. I am still sprinting, running for my life, panic spreading through my entire body. All I can hear is my own breath, my own motions, my clothes crinkling as they are adjusting to my rapid movements.

I storm down the fire escape, pretty sure that he must be on my heels, close, far too close for comfort.

While panic and fright are the fuel for my running, they do not cloud my judgment and ability to make decisions. I know this building well. There is more than one secret passage that leads up to and down from the roof, and I opt for one that is potentially the most dangerous, but also the best hidden. Two stories below the rooftop, the fire escape gives way to two routes, left or right, and while one of them leads to another staircase that continues downstairs, the other option seemingly leads into nowhere but a thirteen story fall.

Unless you know better.

I don’t have time to hesitate, to reconsider my decision. Without looking back or pondering, I choose the path where there is no staircase to be seen. When I reach the edge of it and the deadly abyss opens up in front of me—I jump.

I don’t jump straight forward but to the left around the corner of the building, where I know another ledge is waiting for me. The jump itself is not very far and I have done it before, but that was without being chased and after good consideration. It is safe, as long as I manage to reach the little handle that is attached to the wall of the building and designed for just that purpose. I don’t think anyone was ever supposed to risk this dangerous jump around the corner to reach the other ledge, but it is intended for people to walk on, leading to another fire escape at the other side of the house.

A rush of terror runs through my spine for the split second that I am flying through the air with nothing but death beneath me.

But I make it. I reach the handle and land on the ledge with surprising ease, only having to adjust my position briefly, before I can continue running.

Now, all I have to hope for is that he doesn’t know about this specific characteristic of the building. That he is less familiar with it than I am and that—if he is indeed following me—he did not see me turning this way and would never choose to do so on his own.

I continue my way downstairs, still without looking back, even though I don’t hear him and am heavily relying on him to be thrown off the track by my unusual maneuver.

As soon as my feet hit the ground, I can feel a deep sense of relief taking over me. I indulge in the feeling for just a moment, before I dart off to the street, bringing as much distance as possible between me and the building before I finally dare to risk a quick look back over my shoulder.

He’s not there. 

I don’t see him running behind me on the pavement, nor do I see him on the fire escape.

“Yes!” I gasp, turning around without losing my speed.

I make sure to run around the opposite side of the building that he was facing while looking through the scope of his rifle. I don’t want to run into whatever he was shooting at.

Or whoever.

The shot was surprisingly quiet but still sent a shock through my body. I don’t think I have ever heard a gunshot before, in real life that is. What a terrible sound, even when it was muffled by a suppressor. At least I think that’s what he was using if he was shooting with a real rifle.

Maybe he wasn’t? It could have been some kind of warning shot.  

Or maybe he was just practicing. He could have been aiming at a lifeless object.

Or pigeons! Maybe he was shooting pigeons.

But who does that in the middle of the city?

And why did he not say anything? Why did he not explain himself?

He could be a police officer, even though he did not look like that at all. Plus, if he were police, wouldn’t he have said so?

Instead, he stared at me through narrow eyes, his face mostly covered by a scarf and his hair hidden beneath a dark beanie. His getup screamed criminal.

Murderer.

I keep spurting across the pavement and decide to do so until I am running out of breath. It hasn’t happened yet, but I know it will soon. I need to be as far away as possible from that building, that rooftop.

The streets are completely deserted and I hate it. This neighborhood is scary to begin with and I shouldn’t even be here. I don’t know why I keep coming back, why I need this timeout I set for myself once a month. It’s stupid and dangerous. A habit I should have gotten rid of a long time ago.

But I can’t. I still need this. Or used to need it. I sure as hell won’t be coming back any time soon after what happened tonight.

I have been running straight ahead for an eternity, but realize that the street I am aiming for is to my right, running parallel to the one I am in. I will have to cross through one of the dark and narrow alleys to get to the liberating main street.

The thought of diving into another deserted darkness doesn’t sit well with me, but I decide to get over my fear for just a few seconds. There’s another alley coming up ahead of me. If I make it through there, I will be safe. Or at least feel safe.

I turn right at the next chance, swallowing the instant fear that overcomes me as I fly into the blackness in front of me. It’s certainly not a route I would normally choose, but then again, I’ve never run for my life before either.

I ignore the creepy rattling sounds, mixed with squeaks that undoubtedly come from the mouths of rats—many of them—and literally head for the light at the end of the tunnel. I can see life and bright lights flickering from the far end of the alley. It promises safety, company, eye witnesses to whatever the murderer might plan to do with me once he catches up to me.

If he is even behind me, that is.

I let out a sigh of deep relief when I finally jump into the safety of the main street, embraced by lively noises, bright lights and the first group of people, who let out drunken complaints as I almost run into them.

Strange, dark and tired faces meet mine, but at least I am not by myself anymore.

It is now that I dare to slow down, turning my sprint into a jog and then a calm and steady walk, showing no sign of what I have witnessed just a few minutes before.

I look back over my shoulder again, relieved to find that still no one seems to be following me. A wave of terror overcomes me as I realize that I wouldn’t even be able to recognize him. If he did indeed follow me here without me noticing and took off his beanie and scarf, he could be anybody. It was too dark to see what kind of clothes he was wearing. I just know that they were dark, just like his beanie and his scarf. He seems to be rather tall, but even that I cannot say for sure.

I nervously scan my surroundings, my eyes resting on every man who passes my way. No one is paying any attention to me, at least not more than they usually would. This is still a shady nightlife district that doesn’t necessarily attract the nicest kind of guys.

Normally, I would head for the closest subway station around the corner, but after what just happened, I just want to feel safe and get away from here as soon as possible. So, I do something that would usually be way too expensive and decadent for me: I decide to hail a cab.

As soon as one of them stops in front of me, I jump into the car and tell the driver where to go. When we take off, I find myself turning around again, checking if there happens to be a somewhat tall man with dark clothing who calls for another cab to follow me.

There isn’t.

I sigh and sink down in the seat.

“Rough night?” the driver wants to know.

“Yeah,” I breathe. “I guess you could say that.”

Now is the first time that I actually allow myself to relax and try to think clearly. I am still breathing heavily from my run and my legs scream like they usually would after a competitive sprint. I haven’t been doing any proper training in a while and am sure going to feel this tomorrow. I will have a constant reminder of my escape for the entire day. Great.

I sigh again, trying to calm myself down. I have never been a great fan of yoga, even after my roommate forced me to try it out, but if anything, it emphasized for me how important it was to breathe properly. It also taught me how to use my breathing for relaxation, even when my thoughts and heart are still running wild like they are now.

That fucking melody.

He whistled something just seconds before the shot, a song, kind of like a jingle or a children’s song. It was a calm and relaxed melody, a little melancholic but without being truly sad. There was a discomforting happy tone it.

I didn’t recognize it.

But I am sure it will haunt me forever.

CHAPTER THREE

Mars

This is not fucking happening.

My last hit. My ticket out. The last time I had to pull that damn trigger to end another man’s life.

Or so I thought.

Because now it also turned into the first time that I have been seen. The first time I have a living witness. And above all, it has to be a young woman, a girl even. A pretty one for all I can tell. Those big and wide eyes, her mouth open for a silent scream, and all of that surrounded by a wild mane of thick and wavy hair.

I will never forget that face.

Which is a good thing, because I will have to locate that damn minx. The fact that she managed to get away infuriates me.

She was fast. I jumped up as soon as she turned around and started to run away. I was right on her heels for a few moments and saw her flee across the roof to one of the fire escapes. But I didn’t close in on her as much as I usually would. I don’t know how she did it, but she outran me even before she jumped down the ladder.

By the time I reached the edge of the roof and got on the fire escape myself, I could still see her climbing down below me. I had to avert my eyes while I was making my way down the ladder myself, but trusted my ears and instinct. They have never failed me—until tonight.