Walking down the long corridor of the hotel, Vanessa Helsee strode confidently in a biker jacket, black button-down blouse, black leather pants and stilettos.
"Room 310-A. This is it." She knelt outside Evie's hotel room, taking out a set of lockpicks from the secret compartment of her heels. She brushed away her blonde hair, her blue eyes focused on the task at hand. "This is going to be easy money!" she said as she inserted the tension wrench into the bottom of the keyhole and applied slight pressure. Then, she inserted the pick at the top of the lock while applying a slight torque to her wrench. She scrubbed her pick back and forth in the keyhole, repeating until all the pins were set and... The door opened up a little. "Nothing personal, Jade," she said, standing up to retrieve the handgun she kept in the holster that she hid under her jacket, "Just business."
She kicked the door open, aiming at... Nobody?
The window was open, there were two travel cases and a purse on the bed. Vanessa entered with the gun up, searching the entire place.
The bathroom, the shower, under the bed.
Nothing.
"It looks like there's no one here," Vanessa said, turning to leave the room. Once she was out in the hallway, she looked in both directions. "Argh. Where are you, Jade?" Vanessa whispered, but then she heard the sound of a metal wire, heels hitting the wooden floor inside the room, and someone rolling. Vanessa laughed. "Of course. The wolf told his bodyguards that I'm here. Well, well, that's just what I wanted," Vanessa took a long breath and turned quickly with the gun raised, "Come out, come out, wherever and whoever you are. I know you're a former hunter," the blonde entered the room slowly, her senses on alert, "Come on! Who are you? Yeva Freezakov? Miceline Mousley? Hellena Inferguson maybe? Oh! You must be Felix in high heels!"
"Not even close... Kasey."
"Awww. And I was already getting used to being Vanessa," she turned quickly, but a stiletto boot kicked her ribs, making her groan. A hand snatched her handgun away, twisting her arm behind her back.
Silence followed.
"Why are you here, Kasey?" the voice of the girl behind her said, and the blonde had to smile despite being restrained.
"It's been a long time, EV-13," she giggled a little, looking over her shoulder. "How's my favourite fake sister doing tonight?"
"When I heard Vanessa's name I knew it had to be an impostor." Evie whispered. "What are you doing here, Kasey?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing," the blonde whispered in her classic calm and collected voice.
The unexpected happened.
Kasey lunged forward and placed her free hand on the floor, moving up a leg to kick the gun off Evie's hand, sending it flying through the air.
Kasey placed one foot on the ground, then the other, and caught the gun as it descended, turning to aim at the enemy...
But Evie held the gun and snatched it, aiming it at her.
Kasey stood frozen, but with a smile upon her face, raising both hands in mocking surrender, still smiling.
"I'm going to ask you this once... What are you doing here?" Evie kept her finger close to the trigger, "Why were you at the strip club last night too?"
"Can't a girl have a little fun in this shithole town, fake-sis?" The blonde laughed, narrowing her blue eyes.
"Are you working for the Hunters?"
"Don't make me laugh!" Kasey did laugh, but quietly, taking slow steps closer. She wasn't afraid of Evie pointing a gun at her. In fact, she looked pretty relaxed. "We both know you messed them up. I am just here to give that girl a little scare, but you know me, I always have my own plans."
"Someone paid you to scare Jade?" Evie cocked her head.
"Although it seems as if you were expecting me," Kasey bit her lower lip.
"I'm always on the alert when it comes to unemployed hunters. Now tell me, who sent you here?"
"You know us spies and trained killers always use intermediaries. The less you know, the better your chances of survival," Kasey took one last step closer. The cannon of her own gun was so cold against her forehead. "We both know you won't kill me, fake-sis."
"But I know you would have killed me," Evie half-closed her eyes.
"You're angry with me, aren't you, fake-sis?" she chuckled. "And to think that I was looking forward to this little family reunion."
Suddenly, Kasey lowered Evie's arm, elbowed her in the face, and placed her hands on Evie's forearm, moving up both legs at the same time. Kasey wrapped her thighs around her fake-sister's head and swung quickly. Evie was brought down to floor level, pinned roughly by Kasey, whose hand reached to take back her gun.
"Quick word of warning," Kasey said, putting her gun back in its holster under her jacket, "Stay out of this one. The next time you and I meet, I will show no mercy." And then Kasey rose to her feet, pulling a silver grapple gun from the left holster under her jacket, "Thank you for leaving the window open, Evie. You made my job easier." The blonde aimed up at the ceiling, firing the hook, "See you around," then she ran towards the window.
With a reckless leap, the blonde went out the window.
The hook detached from the ceiling, and Evie quickly stood up.
"Kasey!" Evie ran to the window, looking out, but the blonde was already gone, as if she had vanished into thin air, like she always did. Evie snorted, pressing her earpiece, "SM-13! I need your eyes. Check the cameras, I need you to find someone. Woman, in her early twenties, blonde, five-foot-four, black leather pants and jacket, she was in my room, check the hallway camera, she just jumped out my window. Tell me where she is asap!"
"On it," came the reply. "BC-13 also contacted me, there are several hunters in the rose garden."
There were heavy footsteps behind her and Evie quickly spun around, taking up a defensive stance.
"Evie?" Frank asked, standing under the door frame of her bedroom, "You okay?"
"Oh! Frank, you scared me. Yes. I just thought I saw a ghost," Evie replied, "I heard that Jade left the restaurant. Is everything okay?"
"Seriously? I knew you were cruel, but cold-hearted enough to ask if everything's okay? Wow." Frank laughed sarcastically, looking down at his fancy clothes, "I'll go change into something sleeveless and less stiff. Then I'll go have a smoke outside."
"Frank, I don't think that's a good idea," Evie said, looking out the window. "Stay in your room and..." But when she turned around, Frank was already gone.
"EV-13, this is SM-13," the earpiece rang, and Evie nodded, "The blonde is nowhere to be seen. I lost track of her when she crossed the street."
"Wonderful! I need you to keep an eye on Frank then. I'm going down to the rose garden to help BC-13," Evie said, quickly tuning on the microphone she placed on BC-13's shoulder. All she heard were moans and thumps, "Fuck. Hang on, boy. Help is on the way."