Enemy of my Enemy

𝕿𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖞 𝕾𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓

One Year Later

"What an... Interesting place you've chosen for us to meet, Miss Blackburn."

Bianca's finger traced the rim of her glass. "Have a sip of your drink, Mr Vaughan."

"No thank you, Miss Blackburn."

"Please. I insist."

Tyler Vaughan stared at the glass that had been set before him. He picked it up, but didn't drink from it.

"I haven't poisoned it, Mr Vaughan," Bianca laughed.

"No," he grimaced. "Of course not." He threw the drink down in one gulp.

"I heard your cousin was visited by a mutual acquaintance of ours."

"Three mutual acquaintances, actually," Vaughan cleared his throat. "Mr Castle wasn't pleased at all when three members of The Seven showed up making threats in his own territory."

"How effective were those threats?"

"There's nothing to worry about, Miss Blackburn. Shaun Castle and your father were excellent friends, and that friendship now extends to you. Mr Castle and Mr Awken will continue providing you with all the necessary resources avenge Lorenzo's death... As long as it is only Briare you're planning on dealing with, yes?"

Bianca's lips thinned. "Who else would I be taking down, Mr Vaughan? Surely not The Original Six?"

Dealing with. Taking down. Such humble ways to phrase what Bianca was planning for Grayson.

"We'll be in touch, Miss Blackburn."

"Thank you for your time."

The two shook hands. Vaughan began the tedious work of stepping over the rubble that filled the empty restaurant they were in.

Bianca stayed where she was, continuing to let her finger circle the rim of her glass. Only after Vaughan had disappeared from sight, did she stand. "Bring her in."

At her order, Kenna was dragged into the room by her arms. The two guards holding her kicked her to her knees.

There had been a time when Bianca had adored Kenna's bright nature. In fact, she'd respected it- The ability to find goodness when there wasn't any to be found was rare. But Kenna didn't know where to stop. She couldn't accept the fact that, sometimes, things were just as bad as they seemed to be. Digging in deeper would only cause the worst parts to surface.

"Bianca, I know you," Kenna cried. "Please, this isn't you. You're better than this."

Kenna still thought there was a sliver of humanity left inside Bianca's heart. When would she realize that the girl she was looking for had long since disappeared underneath all the destruction that surrounded them?

"I'm going to let you go, Kenna. I need you to send a message for me," Bianca drew out her claws with the flick of her wrist. "If you were anyone else, I'd make you be the message... Whatever's left of you, anyway."

Kenna trembled as Bianca's claw lightly grazed her chin.

"But you're just someone who made friends with the wrong boy all those years ago," Bianca murmured. "You're an innocent, Kenna, and that's why I'm offering you mercy."

"Mercy?" Kenna's voice shook. "Where's Roman? What did you do to him?"

"Run back to Grayson and tell him I want to meet... The place where it all began. Assure him it's not a trap."

"Is it?"

"Go, Kenna," Bianca nodded in the direction of the exit. "There's a car waiting to take you out of town."

After that, Bianca found her way back to City Hall. Two guards stood by all the exits. Hanging off the roof were the pelts of four wolves: Three with grey fur, and one with silver. Making an example out of those who'd first tried to turn their backs on her had done an excellent job in keeping more traitors from rising up.

"I never liked you, Reyes," Bianca entered the hall and sat down on a polished oak chair. "You were always so full of yourself. Look where that's landed you now."

The good part of having werewolves as your prisoners was that you could torture them to your heart's content, and they'd never die. Unless you delivered them a fatal wound, their supernatural abilities would keep healing them back up. Unfortunately, this was part of the problem, as well. The only proof that Bianca had carved the living shit out of Roman Reyes last night was the permanent scar that ran up his arm.

Bianca raised an eyebrow at Reyes's silence. "What, no 'princess' comments this time?"

"The Seven want you dead, Blackburn," his voice was hoarse. "You're an even bigger threat than Lorenzo ever was."

"Yeah?" At the snap of her fingers, Reyes was thrown onto the ground by her guards. She pressed her platform boot onto his face, simply for the sake of making herself feel better. "And why is that?"

"You have what your father never had." Reyes came up spitting out blood. "Motivation."