I shut my eyes tight when the lights came back on. I hadn't been able to sleep at all. I had plenty of time to rest when I was dead. 

Laughter came in from just outside. Whoever was coming to visit was apparently getting chummy with the guards. 

"Yeah, just be ready, this one's a fighter, that's for sure. May need your help," a male said as he came down the hall. 

I gritted my teeth. I knew exactly who that was, even through the door. The beep signaled him to enter, and Ian stepped into the room. 

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here, Electra Jaeger." He smiled as he made his way to the door of the cell. 

"Ian."

He looked me over and I pulled my knees back up to cover my top half. 

"Bet you wished you had just decided to go for me back when you had the chance, don't you?"

I tapped my chin with a finger, looking up. "You know, the thought never even crossed my mind. I guess I figured going off with a werewolf was better than all the shit you put me through." I looked him dead in the eye. 

Ian's lip lifted in a snarl and his eyes narrowed. "Get up. It's time to get moving."

He unlocked the door and I stood. Time to make my last walk. 

He came into the cell and grabbed my arm tightly, pulling me after him. 

"She seems pretty broken now," one of them men stationed outside said. 

The other looked to the ground. He was probably the only person who didn't actually want to be doing his job. I wondered if he knew who I was. 

"Yeah. I guess she finally learned when to just give up." Ian pushed me forward with a laugh. 

I wanted to use the cuffs to strangle him. Get rid of the asshole once and for all. I almost did. He wasn't at the top of my list though, and it would just cause more problems. If I could just get this over with, then I would be getting rid of him once and for all. Just in a different way. 

He pushed me down the hall and around a series of turns. we were headed to the locker rooms. He opened the door and shoved hard, causing me to stumble inside. 

"You know the shoving really isn't necessary. Just because I turned you down...multiple times...doesn't mean you have to act like a dick."

"Oh shut up, Electra. You have three minutes to shower."

"Can you take the cuffs off so I can get undressed?"

Ian stepped closer and reached a hand into his pocket. He didn't pull out a key though. He brought out a knife and slipped it under each strap of the bra, slicing up. With a snap, each strap fell in two pieces. He took the blade to my chest. 

"Don't you dare," I hissed. 

Ian raised an eyebrow and slid the blade underneath and cut the fabric. The bra went loose and fell to the ground. 

I had to pull my arms in quickly to cover myself. "Worse than a dick, actually." venom laced my words. 

"I trust you can do the rest?" He said with a smirk. 

I glared and stormed off to the showers. I stripped off my pants, the fabric cracking and peeling from my skin with all the dried blood they'd soaked up. 

"Help save your asses, and this is what I get," I mumbled as I turned on the hot water. 

"Two and a half minutes!" Ian called from the other end. 

I rose my middle finger in his direction and stood under the steaming water. I ran my hands awkwardly through my hair as best I could and over my face, then all over my body anywhere I saw red. I kept going until the water no longer ran pink. That was apparently all I would get, because someone came around the corner. 

It was that girl I'd roomed with. The real eager, talkative one. What had her name been? R - something. 

"Jae - I mean Electra. It's time to get out now." She couldn't look me in the eyes. 

Renaldi. That's what her name was. 

"Is this some sort of attempt to make me remember before? To make me repent or something?" I asked as I stepped out, not bothering to try and cover myself. 

"No...no it's nothing like that. They just started me. It's my first job." She held a towel out as she looked at the ground. 

"Let me give you a little tip. Get out if you still can."I patted the towel in my hair to dry it as much as possible before running it over my body. I didn't even try to get the back. 

"W-why?" I could hear her swallow. 

"Because, Renaldi. With the hunters, you either wind up getting killed, or you live long enough, and learn enough, to regret all the blood on your hands. Just so happens, I get both." My mouth twisted into a dark smile and she looked away. 

Ian rounded the corner, something white draped over his arm and a set of keys in his hand. He could have given the keys to Renaldi, he knew he could have. He just hadn't wanted to. 

He grabbed the chain linking the cuffs and jerked them up roughly. He inserted the key and let my arms drop back down to my sides. Looking me over once more he shook his head. 

"What a shame."

"Could you not? I'd rather not feel violated."

"Oh but you've already been violated. You let that thing touch you."

"Oh please. He's twice the man you ever were, Ian."

He slapped me hard across the face. The metallic taste of blood creeped into my mouth. I didn't give him the satisfaction of rubbing my cheek or letting the tears go. I just turned my head forward again, slowly, looking him straight in the eye.

"It's Freemont to you," he spat. 

Renaldi took whatever the white thing was that was draped over Ian's arm. She held it out for me; a robe. 

I shrugged it on and pulled it close. She tied the robe shut and Ian brought out a marker.

He drew lines on the robe across my stomach, and had Renaldi hold my arms out slightly before making marks on them as well. He then grabbed my chin and jerked my head to the left, placing a mark on the right side of my neck. I looked over the places he'd marked. 

He was marking arteries and places I would bleed most. This wasn't going to be a simple execution, they were going to bleed me out. It wasn't going to be fast at all, it could take fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes that would no doubt feel like an eternity as I felt my body shut down on me with the loss of blood. 

I swallowed hard. 

Ian wrapped a hand around my arm and pulled me forward. As we passed a clock, I looked up to see the time read a quarter after six. It was no doubt set to begin in fifteen minutes, as the sun would be rising. Not that we would see the sun below ground, just ritualistic. 

We made turn after turn, and were soon in a part of the headquarters I'd never seen. I couldn't believe how easily Ian made his way around, not pausing for a minute, just moving right along. He must have spent all night taking the path over and over again to move around with such deftness. 

He pushed a door open and Renaldi quickly went around him to hold it open for us. 

The room was dark, but I could hear the rush of people standing to their feet. When the lights turned up, there were thousands of people. Klarke hadn't been kidding when she said everyone had been invited. 

And right up front where I was walking, stood my family, eyes straight forward to the crowd. 

*********

And here we are, so close to the end. 

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Red Assassin