"What's a pretty thing like you doing out by this time?" Diego asked as he stalked towards the girl in a black dress. The detective.
"Mind if we walk you home?" Luke appeared behind her, tracing his fingers down her arm.
I watched her freeze as she realized she was cornered by both men on the sidewalk. The dress she had on slipped up her thighs and Diego's gaze fell there. His lips curled into a disgusting smirk and his tongue darted out to lick it. "My my... You are a beauty."
Jude took a step back but ended up bumping into Luke, gasping at the impact. "Stay back." She said, stepping to the side and away from them. The slight tremor rolling off her shoulder blades gave her away; she was nervous, afraid some would call it. But my detective wasn't scared. I knew what fear was and it didn't look like that. She looked like she was weighing her odds, doing the maths drastically in her pretty head.
I didn't know how I should feel. It wasn't an execution, it was simply a warning of a sort. So why did I feel the way I felt? Why did I feel guilt?
Diego lashed his hand out and forcefully grabbed her. He shoved her against a wall and pressed his body to hers, using his other free hand to pin her hands above her head.
Why wasn't she fighting back? Can't be only brains and deduction skills that got her top position in the academy. I flexed my fingers at my side and tried to calm the annoyance bubbling inside me. I watched as Diego ran his right hand through her body, stopping a bit to grasp one of her thighs. My teeth grinded against each other as I saw Jude try to lean away from him but failed as her head bumped against the wall behind her, hard.
Alright, that was enough frightening. Diego wouldn't be using his hands for a while the moment I get to him. I stood up from the croach position I had assumed and was about to go down the stairs when I heard a grunt come from below. Somehow, she had managed to knead him in the balls and Diego was on his knees, pain etched in his features as he tried to stand and failed. Luke was on her immediately, wrapping his hands around her and pinning her arms to the side to prevent her from moving.
"Gotcha." He growled, his lips inches away from her ear. Jude went limp against him, breathing hard. I saw her lips move but was unable to hear what she said due to the distance between us. It was too low, too quiet. And then, I noticed Luke's arms around her had loosened. She used that opportunity and slammed her head back into his face. I heard the crack of his nose before he let her go.
"Fuck!" Luke yelped, holding his bloody nose and shooting daggers at her. "You're dead for that."
Diego had recovered and was up on his feet, attempting to catch Jude off guard as she was focused on the wailing Luke. It happened fast. She ducked under his grabbing arm and drove her elbow hard into his sternum. He stumbled back, gasping.
She shoved a hand full of red hair to the back of her ear, raising her hands in fist at them, "I'll let you boys walk away with your lives if you end this now."
I let out a low whistle, audible enough for only me to hear. She had a mouth on her. My breath created small clouds in the cold night air as I leaned forward on the edge of the roof, my muscles bulging underneath the white shirt I wore.
From my perch, every detail was clear. Diego recovered and lunged at her again. This time, he managed to grab her hair, yanking her head back.
My jaw clenched as I watched him swing his arm to backhand her, making her face move to the side and pulling a grunt from her. "Not so tough now, are we?"
"What do you want?" She spitted on the concrete floor and faced him, completely ignoring the other guy stalking towards her with a shit-eating grin and a knife in his hand.
I reached for my own blade, ready to intervene, when I saw a flash of metal in Jude's hand. A small knife she must have been hiding somewhere. I didn't see her grab it.
She slashed at Diego's arm, cutting deep. He howled and released her, blood spilling onto the pavement.
"You bitch!" he screamed, clutching his wound.
Luke charged at her again, but she was ready. She pivoted, her movements fluid and practiced, and buried her knife into his side.
His eyes widened in shock, mouth opening in a silent scream. He stumbled back, hands gripping the handle of the knife still protruding from between his ribs.
"Jesus." I whispered as I stood frozen, watching as he collapsed to his knees, then fell face-first onto the concrete. He didn't get up. It seemed like she wanted them to overpower her at first,to rough her up a bit, she wanted it and now, she had gotten tired and was ready to strike. The corners of my lip tilted up as I sheathed the sword back and watched.
Diego looked from his fallen partner to Jude, fear replacing the anger in his eyes. He backed away, still holding his bleeding arm.
"Who sent you?" Jude demanded, her voice hard as steel. There wasn't a tremor in it. Nothing to betray the fact that she'd just killed a man.
Diego looked up toward the sky, like he was seeking God. He knew this might be the end of the road for him. We had underestimated the detective severely. That second of distraction caused him.
Jude moved like lightning, grabbing his wounded arm and twisting it behind his back. He screamed as she forced him to his knees.
"I asked you a question," she hissed into his ear. "Who. Sent. You?"
"No one," he gasped. "Just looking for some fun."
She twisted harder, and his scream echoed through the empty street. "Try again."
My pulse quickened, watching her. The cold efficiency, the lack of hesitation. It was mesmerizing. My God, she wasn't just some cop with a badge and a gun.
"Fuck you," Diego spat, the glob landing at her feet.
For a moment, everything went still. Then Jude leaned down, her lips close to his ear, "I can vaguely remember a conversation like this and it didn't go well for the other person. Wrong answer."
In one swift motion, she grabbed his head and slammed it against the concrete. Once. Twice. And by the third time, he stopped moving.
I should have been furious. Two of my men down,one dead and another possibly dying. All at the hands of the very woman I'd ordered them to scare. Instead, I felt something else entirely. A thrill that ran like electricity through my vein. And fuck, if that didn't make me want to break something.
Jude stood over Diego's body, her chest heaving with each breath. Blood stained her right arm, splattered across her dress and her hands trembled against her thighs. She checked Luke's pulse, then Diego's.
Diego was still alive, though barely. She left him there after wiping her hands frantically on the jacket he wore and cursing.
I waited until she was out of sight before climbing down from my perch. I approached the two fallen men, crouching beside Luke first. The knife had pierced his lung. He had died quickly, at least.
Diego groaned, his eyes fluttering open as I knelt beside him. "B-boss?"
"You failed," I said simply, pulling my bottom lip into my mouth and releasing it to make a smack sound.
Fear flashed across his face. "She had a knife... she wasn't supposed to..."
"No excuses," I cut him off. "You underestimated her. So did I."
I pulled out my own knife from the strap below my knee , watching his eyes widen. "Please," he whispered. "I won't fail again."
"I know." I pressed the blade against his throat, the same place he'd held his knife to Jude's. "Because I won't give you the chance to."
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