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NOTE:
Chapter three my loves! I'm really falling in love with writing these characters and this universe. I hope you enjoy this chapter and don't forget to vote comment and share.

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0 3 | How Far We Go

V U L I A A M O U R

Vile passion bloomed in her chest when Calix left without uttering a word. A garden of complexities twirled before her. As if the moon was a burden that drifted into his palms and feasted on his flesh, ablaze and ambiguous. He had morphed into shadows, it seemed, mimicking the darkness that made lifeless bodies and inevitable deaths. And yet she had been so fascinated with it like youth and adrenaline clenched her throat and spilled out stars on the ground. Vulia Amour had never felt more alive and she couldn't tell if she was enamored by the curiosity or despised it.

She knew it was wrong to soak in the very catastrophe that could flip her world on its axis. But she wanted to embrace it like a close friend, allowing it to consume her and crush her with its vicious grace. His absence was like the hush before a sunset, quiet in all the right ways. The silence made her want to pry into the unknown, into that world her brother existed in. Just to get a glimpse of it. Because Calix had made the wheels in her head spin. His words were a burning whisper in her ear, gnawing and shattering what she tried to believe thus far. The truth hit her like a gunshot; what had she truly known about what her brother and Snake did?

She brushed the notion off because it wasn't her territory and all she could do was hope that Snake came back for the rest of his shift tonight. All she could do was assume and pray to God that Calix wasn't going to kill him. It felt like Vulia had been in that room forever, a dreary void foreshadowing something sinister in her chest. She hadn't noticed at first when the bell chimed at the front and it made her jump. She assumed it was a customer, most likely a walk-in, intruding on the quiet. She exited the room and stalked toward the front with her best customer service smile and was met with a woman she hadn't seen before.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked as she made her way behind the desk. The lady, a woman not much older than Vulia shook her head, eyes trained on the different art styles and tattoo designs. Vulia noticed that her eyes were particularly trained on Vulia's pieces. Vulia couldn't help the smile that danced on her face because of it.

"Do you guys take walk-ins?"

"We do."

"Is there anything in particular that you want?"

The lady nodded her head and pulled out her phone, showing Vulia a picture of a rose with a snake entangled in it. Vulia had done similar designs to this tattoo so it had become second nature. She could do it simply by glancing at the photo once. It was a talent but more than anything else it was a gift.

"I can do that," Vulia chirped. "If I can just see some I.D. we can get started."

The woman pulled out the I.D. Vulia glanced at the year of her birthday and nothing more.

"Follow me."

The woman followed Vulia, but there was something particularly odd about the woman and her aura. Vulia couldn't pinpoint what exactly. Maybe, she had simply been misjudging her because of her paranoia cultivated by a certain 6'5 blue-eyed, dark-haired somebody. Fuck him. She wouldn't allow him to diverge into her subconscious and play ghostly tricks on her and her life. She had lived this long, but there was something that was ripping at her soul to uncover what she hadn't known. The seeking part, the lethal curiosities. And maybe it was the wanderer in her and maybe it'd indefinitely result in her demise.

Vulia cleaned her area, got a new needle for the woman, and adjusted her chair. She hummed a tune as she did this. She turned the entity on and began to work on the woman's light skin. Her concentration was fully on her task. Sometimes the customers would make conversation because of the silence, but this woman had been quiet. She delved into the silence like it was a pool of placidity. Vulia cleared her throat.

"Is this your first tattoo?" Vulia asked to start a conversation.

"I have one on my ass cheek," she replied. "A black butterfly. It symbolizes transformation and death."

Vulia nodded and added, "What does this tattoo symbolize?"

"Love and betrayal," she stated. "A juxtaposition, huh? How can love and betrayal coexist? Easy, sometimes we have to betray the ones we love to keep them safe."

"You think so?" Vulia replied, enveloping the woman's statement and for a brief moment Ambrose popped into her head. What if there was more to the story and because Vulia acted on impulse she couldn't read between the lines?

"What's your name?" the woman asked, dismissing her question altogether.

"Vulia. And you?"

"Vulia was it? Sounds familiar. Vulia, Vulia, Vulia," she drawled out. "Is your brother Delano by any chance?"

Vulia's heart thundered in her chest, a storm plundering against her ribs and rearranging her focus. A horrifying shiver skated up her skin and a cloud of darkness protruded from her mind as if to warn her of the danger that seeped into the conversation. Alarms were going off in her head. The safety she once felt seemed to have been compromised.

"Nah, I don't know him," she lied.

"I don't like liars, Vulia," the woman warned. Vulia tried her best to stand her ground and show the woman that she had been unfazed by her demeanor and her threat. Vulia was strong-minded and could always hold her own. She had to after her dad died. The woman's words brought her back to her conversation with Calix and slowly the pieces were connected. Had Calix sent this woman to her job to kill her? Her palpitations spiraled at the thought. Why was everyone showing up at her damn job?

"You work for Calix?" Vulia questioned, trying to sound steady. It was becoming hard.

"You catch on quick," the woman grinned and reached in her pocket for something. At the same time, Vulia jumped from her spot, knocking over her table of work essentials. She noticed the shiny blade illuminating beneath the bright white lights and it was a blessing that she had been quick enough because the woman swung to try and slice Vulia's skin but missed. This was a fucking setup. From the moment Calix walked into the studio to when the woman sat in the chair. It had to be. Calix's plan tonight was to kill her and Snake, but why hadn't he done it earlier and why had the woman waited until she was lying down getting her tattoo to attack?

Vulia bolted toward the door and the woman jumped from the spot, chasing after Vulia who sprinted for her life. She ran through the small parlor, searching for something to hit the woman with. At the end of the corridor there was a small table and on it was a ceramic elephant statue. Vulia hid in one of the other tattoo artist's rooms near the door frame, holding her breath and nearly failing.

 The adrenaline that was coursing through her veins was the only thing keeping her from flipping out. The woman's voice echoed through the studio, haunting and mocking her like the worst kind of lullaby. Vulia had so many questions but she knew she wouldn't get any answers. Why had this woman been going after her?

She had nothing to do with what her brother did and she hated that for a millisecond she pondered being a part of that corruption. Vulia enjoyed her life too much and now this shit was happening and it was too late to take it back. Her thoughts had manifested. She couldn't kill this woman because then there would be a bounty on her of some sort. She was sure that Calix wouldn't rest until he had Vulia's head on a stick for killing one of his workers. He wouldn't hold back and she doubted that the two of them having sex would detour him from committing the crime.

The woman's voice crept closer and closer. There was no doubt she had been checking every room, blade in between her fingers, waiting to disassemble Vulia's entire being with one plunge. The footsteps came closer. The steps were loud and taunting as if Vulia was about to have a meeting with death itself. She was moments away from it and maybe this was her fate. 

The woman walked in slowly and by the time their eyes met Vulia had hit the woman in the head with the decor. The glass clattered and fragments spewed out in various directions, joining the woman's unconscious body. Vulia didn't linger for long before she took her shoes off and held them in her hand, stepped over the woman's body, and darted toward the exit, running towards her car with the last bit of adrenaline she had left.

Lights lit up the street in delirious patterns, dotting the roads and sidewalks, but there was something about the emptiness that pivoted loneliness and unpredictability. It rattled Vulia's bones and hallowed her breath and she was nearly there. She was so close to her initial destination, no longer fighting the nightmares of the shadows that daunted her. 

She almost did it, but then someone touched her, averting her original objective. Vulia flailed her fists, but the man stopped her. He was tall and strong and it took a moment to make out his face. Snake.

"Snake? Snake! I'm so glad you're alive. Fuck, where the fuck have you been?" she breathed out, her entire body had been shaking from the events. Snake attempted to calm her, subduing the trauma she had just endured. His attempts came to avail and at that point Vulia just needed answers.

"I had to handle something for your brother," he stated and a knot formed in her stomach. She didn't want to conjure what affairs her brother may have had for Snake. "What happened?"

"A woman was here and she wanted to kill me," Vulia admitted, gripping her car for support. Her words were like poison as they fell from her lips. It was so tumulous getting them out and now they were in the air, tainting the closest thing it could grasp onto. But that poison was out of Vulia. "I think Calix may have sent her."

"Where is the girl now?"

"Unconscious," she admitted. "Look, Snake, you have to be careful whatever you guys did Calix knows about it and he's coming after you and me."

"Shit," he muttered. "Calix wouldn't hurt a hair on your head, Vulia. He knows that you're not a part of any of this."

"Then why did she try to fucking kill me, Snake? It was a set-up. All of it."

"I don't know, Vulia," he said. "Look, I'm gonna drive you home and give you the rest of the week off. You need to rest and recover. We have to get you out of here."

Vulia was still so furious, afraid, and confused. Perplexity and discomfort were written on her face and she had so many damn questions that she was sure wouldn't get answered unless she searched for them herself. Instead of objecting though, she took Snake's advice because there was some truth in his statement. But she couldn't help but think that if they showed up at her job they could show up at her apartment too. She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.

"Yeah, okay, you're right."

Vulia handed Snake the keys as he spoke, "Everything is going to be alright."

But it didn't feel like it would be. Vulia's life would never be the same.

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Vulia usually possessed an essence of bravado when it came to most things. Fear wasn't something embellished in her DNA, but the misfortunate of last night's events threw her for a fucking loop. Riddles plagued her mind, metaphors teasing prior conversations. All she wanted to know was why. Why had that woman wanted to kill her? She had some sort of relation to Calix so he had to have been the reason behind it, but Snake said otherwise.

Vulia couldn't help but think that there could be more people after her. And the paranoia breezed in like a song. The night she got back she locked both locks and pushed her sofa to block her front door. She also locked her balcony window, hoping that whoever tried to intrude and kill her in her sleep wouldn't be able to. In addition, she locked her bedroom door to be extra careful. Unfortunately, there was that nagging feeling that someone especially someone of Calix's expertise would still be able to find a way in. Frankly, this caused Vulia to get not an ounce of sleep.

She yearned for the rest she lacked but couldn't attain. Even in broad daylight as the sun cascaded onto her carpet and soaked the blackness with luminosity. The morning was as brisk a disaster as her silent thoughts, colliding with more of her inner turmoil. Images of the night before skated in, blurring all the peace she grasped onto before she decided to sleep with Calix. If only she swallowed her pride and accepted the break-up maturely despite it rupturing every artery in her body. No matter how much it pained her.

She recalled the night after the break-up when Ambrose showed up the next day at the apartment to get his belongings. Not a lick of conversation was spoken at the exchange and Vulia hated his indifference. There was a feeling much more painful than love or hate. It was indifference and it was like those four years together meant absolutely nothing to him. He couldn't even meet her gaze when he picked up that last box and told Vulia, "Have a nice life."

She wanted to pine after that hope that maybe the fucker had been threatened and that the woman's words from the tattoo parlor meant more than she had known. But the look in Ambrose's eyes wasn't that of a heartbroken man. He almost looked...free. And she didn't think he'd ever look back once he walked out that door. It crushed her and it seemed like she wasted four years of her life on a man who knew that they wouldn't be endgame. It crushed her.

She despised being holed up in that room, alone with her thoughts. Her mind was that of burning cities, chaos echoing through slivers of buildings and memories. She had been so deep in thought that she hadn't realized that her doorbell rang about three times. Vulia was hesitant about answering the door because it could have been anybody. She kept her comforter wrapped over her head as she left her bedroom and headed toward the front door to look through the peephole. Delano stood outside her door, a worried look on his face.

Vulia pushed the sofa to the side and unlocked both locks, swinging the door open and revealing her brother. The first thing Delano did was hug his sister as tight as he could and then enter the apartment. After all the battles she faced, she finally felt safe in her older brother's arms. He pulled away and closed the door after him.

"Tell me everything that happened, Vulia," he encouraged, collecting a seat on the sofa. A calculating look danced on his face while Vulia stalked to the kitchen to pull two glasses out of the cupboard.

"Do you want a drink?" she asked and Delano shook his head no. Vulia poured herself a drink and collected a seat at the bar.

"Start from the beginning. I don't want you to leave out any details."

Vulia wasn't sure if she wanted to tell her brother that she had slept with the enemy. She wasn't sure if she should tell him that he showed up at her job. She had never lied to her brother and they didn't have secrets. It was always him, her, and Mom since Dad died. Delano had always looked after Mom and her.

She sipped the drink, the alcohol burning her throat as she recalled what would be the most beneficial to tell Delano. She couldn't lie to him.

"Calix showed up to the parlor looking for Snake," she stated. "He wasn't there and I offered to give him a tattoo, assuming that was why he was there. Then I realized that maybe it had something to do with your arms and drug relation."

Delano kept his gaze on the floor as he listened without cutting her off. Vulia took another sip of her drink, bricks bound on her shoulder as if weighing her down but also keeping her grounded. Otherwise, she'd get lost in the clouds purposefully. Truly, she didn't want to remember but knew that she had to.

"Um, he left after I finished the tattoo. Then a woman showed up..."

Delano turned and met his sister's gaze as if detecting the trauma and hurt as she continued to explain what went down. When she finished the story, Delano sighed and muttered something low under his breath.

"Fuck," he grumbled. "He fucking knows. I don't think Calix intended to kill you, Vulia. Maybe it was a warning...for me."

"You think..." she trailed off, trying to glue the pieces together, but still they didn't fit. It didn't make sense. She finished off the rest of her drink, a heavy knot forming in her stomach. "What if it was personal, Del? What if Calix had no idea that the woman was going to do this?"

"There is not a thing that goes unnoticed by him," he stated. "I'm going to kill him, Vulia. Don't worry. That's one thing you don't do and that's fuck with my family."

He began to stand and walked over to her with a sympathetic look on his face. He hugged her and said, "Don't tell Mom. I'll handle it, okay?"

Vulia couldn't speak, nodding instead and watched as her brother left, slamming the door behind him. The loud slam made the entire space vibrate and maybe that was the alcohol sneakily slipping into her consciousness and clouding what was real and what was fake. She stared at the door, uncertainty and guilt clawing in her belly. She didn't want to be the reason Calix died. Although she was sure that Calix had several enemies wanting to kill him and that eventually one of them would get to him, she didn't want his blood on her hands.

She refused it, but those words were left at the tip of her tongue and everything happened too fast. Her brother was gone and her mouth wasn't fast enough. It was like fabric had been gouged into the back of her throat and she was simply stunned. After all, it was still fresh. All of it. Nevertheless, she thought about the fact that Snake was still alive.

He was alive.

And maybe there was an ounce of empathy in Calix's cold heart. It was either that or he hadn't gotten around to it yet. Vulia assumed the latter. Because Calix Ace was a sinner, a villain in this story and there was no redemption left for men like him. Men like him didn't change and Vulia was sure that his motives hadn't either. He'd kill Snake, but not if Delano killed him first. And maybe then it'd be the end of it all. Maybe death would bring peace.

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TO BE CONTINUED

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