BELLADONNA

“Luis, what do you see?”

“A few guards shouldn’t be a problem.” Luis, or my eyes, relays into my earpiece. A few guards, ha; with my training, I should be just fine. 

  I slunk out of my dark corner of the street and behind the slick black car in front of me. A man with bleached white hair and a night black suit steps out of the car, followed by his gaggle of women with different colored short dresses. I sneak behind the group of women as the man is paying them no attention to his sparkly-arm candy. The large building stood outside of is dirty and brick on the outside; it looked unfinished and abandoned. But when the guards open the double metal doors, the chaos from inside roars out. In my immediate sight, I see the wealth stored in the inner walls of the club. I step in behind the others girls, and I feel the heat of the room. There are so many bodies around, all swaying and dancing so hard I can’t make out any faces.

“I’m in,” I tell Luis. 

“Great, you must blend in and find out where he is. I’ll make my way to the roof.”

“Got it.” I take a deep breath and turn on my party-chic mode, or at least that’s what Luis calls it.  He’s used to seeing me in cargo pants, shredded shirts, hair up, and in the training room. Then when I got the assignment info, he was all in; he helped me pick out the dress, although the way he smiled when I came out of the dressing room, I could tell it was more than the right color on me. I spot the bar, and there are only a few people there. I then break off from the group and walk elegantly down the stairs. With every step, I try to use and make my hips more visible. Out of all the women here, I look the most gringa, with the lightest skin in the room. I try not to look out of place. My eyelashes are thick with black mascara and lines; my hair has darkening dust. But my red dress makes my skin look lighter. 

“Do you have eyes on me yet?”

“Sure do. Nice butt, by the way.”

“Luis! Shut up!” I can hear his laugh in my ear. He chose the dress. 

“Kidding.” He fixes it, and I shake my head.

  Then he gets serious again, “Ay, I'm not the only one watching either; there’s a guy at the bar and a couple at the stairs and balcony.” I sway and move with the crowd, then casually look up at the all-glass ceiling. In the very corner, I see a small dark figure, and I see it’s Luis. Then I look to the bar; the guy is laughing and staring into a very dark-skinned chick; he barely glances at me before looking away. When I keep looking, he turns back on his chair, staring at me intensely. I dip back into the crowd to hide. The guys on the stairs seem to be still scanning the crowd. I see on the stage a couple of chairs and vertical metal poles. My blood runs hot for a quick second; I want to hurt this man so badly.

“Okay, Dawn, we should start looking for another way up…” he starts, but I’m already making my way to the stairs, dancing a little as I go.

“No, I’ll just take the stairs.”

“But, they've blocked; too many guards.”

“You sure about that?” I make eye contact with the first guard closest to me, then I put on my flirty-not-so-innocent smile and raise an eyebrow at him, “This is what the whole dress thing is for, right?” Luis had insisted that the only way I’d get by was in a dress I could use for my… uses. When I’m closer to a beefy, slicked-back hair man, I quickly crack a blushy smile, and he looks me up and down slowly. 

“Yeah, Dawn, use those hips...” Luis cheers from the roof. The man heads upstairs, and I follow innocently, and when the other man at the top stops us, the guard waves him off.  I start scanning the hallway as I am led to who knows where. I feel my thigh again and finally find the sheath with my fingers. He walks into a low-lighted room, and I stop in the doorway. When I lean on the frame, I can feel the bass from below the room. The volume of the music is turned up. He waves me farther into the room, and I milk the walk-in. He loosens his tie, and I let my hair down, for effect, of course.

"Where can I find the boss?" I asked smoothly, "I need my check after..." 

“No use,” he muttered and unbuttoned his shirt from the top button. I sigh deeply… these useless guys. While he’s slowly undressing, I pull off the top layer of my red dress, to reveal a shorter, more comfortable, black underdress. Now I started to walk back out to the door; this man was useless; at least I was upstairs.  Right as my second foot made it out of the room, I was tugged back in.

“Where do you think you’re going?”  He asks scruffily, and I roll my eyes… I'm done with this guy.

“Listen, we can get this over with, and you tell me where the boss is, or we can drag it out… your choice.” I give him the option knowing full well which option he’ll choose. He huffs as his anger builds, then swings me back into the room. I walk back into the wall as he charges. I dip to the side, and his bulk is thrown past me. 

Then again, the music from downstairs… let's make this fun, I think. “You wanna dance? Let’s dance.” I ask sarcastically. Then he straightens up and cracks his neck side to side. I roll my shoulders back and prepare. I slide my hand down my leg and pull my dress up to snag the small dagger I have stashed there. This catches his attention, of course, and he pauses. Wow, the guy can’t help himself, can he… it will be his downfall. He walks back a bit, and I can see he’s confused. But his anger soon takes over, and he charges again.

I slide out of the way, but he follows quickly. He reaches out, and I grab his hand, then with a rugged grip, I hold his wrist and twirl myself. His arm bends back while I twist it, and he grunts, but I keep spinning till I hear his wrist crack, and then I pull his arm to his back. He stumbles, and I swipe his feet from under him. He falls heavily to the floor and then tries to throw his weight back, and his weight is now on me on the floor. I start to struggle to take deep enough breaths. He starts to yell, but with a quick grip change, I let him fall in front of me, and my legs are around his neck. I lock them and squeeze. His hands try to pull them free, but I stab them when they come close. He gasps and squirms, but I hold firm. I sit up straight so I can look down at his face. It is purple and puffy. His eyes look up at me, and I smile.

“Thanks, it's been fun tonight,” I whisper and then kiss my fingers and put them on his forehead. He makes a squeak and stops moving. I release and stand up, catching my breath.

“One down, many more to go.” I relay to Luis. I wipe the little blood off on my dress and leave the room, closing the door quietly. The hallway is filled with the loud music the DJ is jamming to. The only lyrics I can make out are something about “Goteo.” When I make my way down the hallway, I hear a few more guards walking this way.

Then I listened to the door to the room just walking out of slam open, followed by a bunch of yelling. I try to keep my cool, walk normally pretend nothing’s wrong. You didn’t just kill their friend…okay, I did, and they know it. They all come storming out, but I’m already down the hall and around the corner.  I wait till I see their shadows unite at the edge of the corner, and I pounce. he was. I get the first, and with a quick slit of his throat, he collapses. 

I crouch over his fallen body watching the others approach. There are around five more one stands in the back watching as the following two charges. Just me and my dagger, I think and breathe, dance dawn, remember it’s just a dance…  I blink and get ready to spring, taking in the loud rhythmic music from below, the bass beat pounding through my chest. They start walking towards me slowly at first while I stay still. Then I see movement from behind the first guy; the second man is reaching into his belt. I explode into the air faster than they can react, whirling the first guy off balance and knocking him over, and slide next to the second guy. This narrow hallway gives me the advantage as they can only come at me one at a time. He whips out his gun just fast enough that I have to duck and grab his hand. He jerks it around until I’m right in front of the barrel. Then just as if it's in slow motion, I release my knees and let myself fall out of the way when he pulls the trigger.

I can feel the bullet fly above me, and the explosion sets my nerves on end. I look back and see his friend, that was once rising off the ground, is now lying still on the first man I killed. The man with the gun stays frozen for a minute; I wink at him and start swaying. I can see his anger spur. He lurches forward. I dip to the floor, swiping his legs out from under him with mine. He trips back, and I kick straight up, knocking the firearm from his grasp. He yells, and I quickly pull my dress back down. Then as I crouch back on the floor like Spider-man, I disassemble the pistol take the slide from the frame, and throw it behind me.

“Guns are cheating, guys… come on, you should know this.”  The other guy comes in, and me still being low; I hop up and throw my elbow to his face; he blocks me with one arm, opening up and leaving his chest and another arm unprotected with my other arm. I punch into his stomach, my arm is released, and I take both to one arm and rotate, putting his weight on my legs. Then I let myself roll over, bringing him with me, and he is launched over my head and to the wall behind me. I roll to my back and then to my feet while his immense weight breaks into the wall, and he lands into the heap. I pause to catch my breath while the last two guards take a minute to regroup. 

Then I hear Luis in my ear, “Como estas? There’s a—” he is cut off by disconnection, I hope. Then one man pulls out a phone, and the other pulls out a knife.

“I’m glad you're finally taking me seriously now.” The man dials and calls someone starting to spew cautions and warnings. Not good, not good. I growl and scream, scaring them both into freezing then I throw my knife. It soars past the man in the front ear and into the phone. They both yell and charge. I run and slide through the first man’s legs and leap up onto the other.  With my new height, when the guard holding the knife turns, I leap at the blade. A terrible idea, it turns out; he moves too fast and catches my shoulder as I slam into his arm. I knock him over, and his knife hand slams into the floor. The blade goes flying across the floor, and right to my feet I grab my arm, my hand comes back bloody. That’ll be hard to hide. I cringe and hold it tighter. The man walks over to me scowling as I stay crunched on the floor. My blood has start to run from my arm to the floor and all down the dress. he looks me down and looks confused about where the blood is coming from. I stay curled with the knife in my lap. He moves close as I continue to hold back tears. When he bends down, I spring in his face slicing in open at the cheek with his large knife then I cling to his shoulders next to his neck and then flip to his back knocking him down onto his knees. 

I wrap myself on his back and hold the blade pressing into his throat under his jawline. He freezes up and I feel him shaking under me. “Come here!” I yell at the last man that was holding the phone before. He just looks stunned watching me take out all of his friends. “Come here! Or I swear I’ll end him just I did your friends!” he inches closer. There is something different to this one... he looks like he cares. I don't know what but I'm going to check. I motion with my hands and he does nothing. I press the knife deeper and i see the blood start from the guys neck. The one I'm interrogating starts frantically searching for a way out an escape. "Who are you?" I raise my voice and he immediately pulls out his wallet. I snatch it still guarding his friends neck. Inside is his ID and a little bit of money. I search under his ID is a worn out photo. The picture is of a short woman with dark eyes and dark hair. Then attached to that photo is a picture of two little girl and the same woman. They obviously share the eyes and rosy cheeks. I look back up to him and ask. “When did she die?” 

He looks surprised and answers, “Two years ago...” he sniffles and I feel the slightest bit of warmth enter my heart for him. He is a single father of two daughters. And I could see it in his eyes when it came his turn to die. I could see a different type of fear than the others, the one of a parent who is more scared for his children than his life. I motion him into the room next to us and the man I hold now I motion I too. I hop off his back. He rubs his throat. “On your knees.” I tell them both. The Father is down first and then the second man. I pat them both down and take back my small dagger returning it to its sheath. And then explain, "I will not be the reason your daughters turn out like me... they deserve their father. And know that I am only here because your boss took mine away from me.” The father drops his head down in relief putting his hands together shaking them before me in gratitude. the second man moves slightly  putting his hands to the floor to stand and I stick him faster than he can escape. He yells but I cover his mouth with my hands, I twist the blade slightly into the flooring. His hands will stay pinned to the floor by his own knife till he is found. And I'm not worried about the father causing any trouble.

Then after tying them in their own jackets I close them in. I can't believe my emotions were just bested. No mercy. Thats the first rule of training. But I can feel for him and more so for his daughters. 

I hear the heavy footsteps and I have yet to figure out how to find the target. I decide this stomping man should know. So I put on my damsel-in-distress face.The last guard, the biggest I’ve seen yet comes running, holding a platter of meat and and a bottle of wine. I turn on my water works and start crying when he comes around the corner. I lay on my knees crying with blood on my hands and leg, he looks me up and down, “I don’t know what happened, the man… came… and he k-k-killed them,” I start sobbing loudly and smudging a mix of blood and tears on my face. The man looks unfazed by me and just starts yelling curses at me. 

“Where did he go!?” I continue to blubber until he shakes me and yells again, “Pull yourself together woman, which way did he go!”

“I think he’s going after the boss…” I sniffle and watch as the man looks around and then runs down the hall in the opposite direction. I stand up at this and follow him softly running on my bare-feet. He sets down the platter and then the man uses a card to swipe into a door that I hadn’t noticed before. Through the door is a long set of stairs he starts to climb when I slide in the door behind him and attack. Before he hears me he has a knife in the back of his neck. For a slight second he tips, then falls back onto the knife and down the stairs. His head hits and bobs down each step till he reaches my feet. His eyes are frozen open, I blow him a kiss for good measure, “Was that put together enough for you?” and pull the knife from its resting place. I search the man and grab his card.  Then I grab his nicely organized platter and head up the stairs. I head up the stairs and swipe the card on the reader. There are three guards standing in a line next to a huge black desk. They all wore slick suits and held large guns in hand. My mind jumps and I am filled with adrenaline. I take a deep breathe in and calm myself. As I look to the chair behind the desk, facing away from me, each and every guard comes to attention with guns aimed and ready to attack. 

“Who is it?“ a raspy voice from behind the chair asks. Not knowing what to say I turn my voice to a higher pitch and try to mask my nerves.

“I was summoned to entertain.” I squeak.

“At ease," he says and the men drop their aim,” I did not ask for a dancer as of yet.”

“And I brought refreshments…” the guard eyes them too.

“I did summon those.” The boss wheezes form behind his chair, “bring them” he waves a hand from behind his chair. The guard takes the platter form me delicately and walks away. Then I wait and watch as he is handed the glass of wine and the plate of meat. The air in the room thickens as he slowly raises the glass to his lips and then finally drinks. I breathe in deeply in satisfaction. He drinks again and then again deeper, unlike how most would sip and savor he devours and waves for more to be poured into his glass.

“My apologies for the interruption.” I say as I lift my dress and grab my four micro blades. The guards look at me but don't see anything unusual with this behavior. 

“Martinez please escort her back to the stage...” the boss starts but as he says this I release my micro blades into the air like a fan and watch as they sink into the necks of the four lined up men. they are so small that the entire blade is hidden in their necks. One by one they crumble to their knees. I catch their gun as then fall. Then as the bodies bang into the floor loudly the man spins his chair to finally see me. 

“What… how..” he begins as I drop the act to reveal my true self. He simply stares at my face for a long time. 

“Bella? ” He asks. I can see the recognition in his eyes.

“Not quite.” I respond. “ You killed Bella.”

“Who… how do you?” He rasps with a sick cough.

“Belladonna at your service. ” I say with the highest confidence I’v felt all night. He coughs again and then starts to rap hi,s fist to his chest. 

“You see you killed my mother, Bella, and her friends just after I turned six.” He questions as he continues to cough, and pain slowly fills his cheeks in the form of sick blush.

“My mother worked as your ‘exotic dancer’, and slave, for over six years… I assume it was the only work she could get in her state of life… and she lived those years being used, abused and overlooked… for just barely enough money to sustain herself, not to mention caring for me after her accidental pregnancy… which was your fault as well… you see I am your fault… everything that has come of her death, to now, your own, is all because of your selfish, abusive nature of enslaving women you pretend to care for.” He stutters and clings to his neck as if choking on something. 

“It ends now. The beautiful lives of women, like my mother’s, that you have corroded and destroyed, will be your final downfall.” I yell at him, all the while I approach him closer and closer. He leans away from me, still gagging and sputtering, till he falls over the arm rest of his luxurious chair. 

“You see I grew up learning the value of my life, my beauty of my body, and that they were for no man to use or manipulate… so I came here using all the things you taught  my mother would bring her happiness and money, but all it has brought you is death and pain.” As i finish up this sentence he rolls about as I watch him flinching and starting to convulse. 

“What is happening—” he starts but cant get his voice past the pain and foam dripping from his mouth.

“That would be the deadly nightshade in your wine my dear. In just a few more minutes your heart will stop form the plant’s poison. The American scientists call it ‘Atropa Belladonna’, beautiful killer or foolish man’s fate. I do believe my mother named me well.” 

“Please…” he tries to get out, but then gargles, “spare… me.”

“I bet that’s what my mother begged you too.” I stand over him until his thrashing stops and he lies still with his eyes bulging and foam covering his lips. The  high concentrated dosage I put in his wine would have worked fine even if he had only drank a little, but being the indulgent man he is, he highly overdosed himself. When I can finally see he's head I pull the small clipping from my nightshade garden, and push the stem between his lips. The black berries and ashy green leaves adorn his mouth and stand out against his messy wet face. A new calling card I plan on using for my next targets. I pull the suit off of one of the guards and try to clean all the blood from my face and arms and. Then I cut a thin strip from one and tie it around the cut on my arm. Then i replace the rest of my extract into the base of my dagger that conceals the capsule. And put the dagger into its sheath. And back onto the lace wrapped around my upper thigh. 

Back down the hallway I step over the bodies and put my heels back on. I walk back out to the balcony overlooking the dancing people below. My arm is throbbing as I take the temporary wrap, time to shift back into party girl mode. I descend the stairs slowly and put on a bright smile. Each step I take I feel the beat match my weight shifts. It a little less crowded then when I first arrived i tap my ear, “Luis. The flame has been smothered.” Then I listen… but no response. “Luis,” I try again, “Luis!” There is static for a minute as I start to weave myself toward the doors. I look to the roof and see nothing. When I turn my face I am stopped abruptly by a young man. “Disculpe.” I say rushed and try to dip past him. But before I can I’m grabbed by the arm, where my wound is, I wince and and moved to face the boy. His dark slicked back hair shines under the lights. His dark eyes slightly veiled by his thick lashes and black brows. 

“Hola, Linda, I don't believe I’ve seen you around here.” He says with a smirk. I’m caught off guard and don't know what to say.

“What’s your name?” He asks.

“Bella.” I respond adding a smile to my face and frantically look around the room, where is Luis? 

“I don’t remember seeing you here before. But I saw you head up stairs with one of my men.” He’s says calmly. My mind races, his men!

“Yes, I'm new to the staff,” a smile climb up one side of his face. His men… he must be related to the boss. He looks me up and down slowly, and I suddenly feel self conscious in this shorter black dress. 

“Yes, my grandfather did mention a few additions to the dancers… care to show me your skills.” He says not asking. A new song starts with a slower heavier beat and he grabs my waist. I panic, but go with it, there’s no time to get caught. The crowd around us follow the same moves he begins. I have never danced this before and so I follow his lead. I move hips with each beat move forward, then back following his hold on me. His sharp features continue to watch me intensely as I pretend to know what I’m doing.

“So, Bella, you’re not from around here, huh?”

“Does my skin make it that obvious,” I ask flirtatiously. I’m obviously half American.

 He grins, “We have a many different shades of women here, but none as fair skinned as you.” I blush and look down, I shouldn’t feel so flattered.

 This is what they do, Bella, they flirt and distract and then they’ll hurt you. I look up snapped back to focus, “ I really must be going…” I tilt my head in wondering.

“Matias.” Right then a new song starts, one I’ve definitely heard before, its a crazy song to dance to but it must be danced to. He smiles sees my recognition of the song. He bobs his eyebrows and I'm drawn back in by his dark mysterious eyes. He has one hand on my waist and the other leading my hand expertly through the air. I try to watch both our feet and match the steps. But his expert speed makes me skip and mess up. The beat slows and he twirls me and my dress starts to rise and flow. I can tell my sheath is visible so I stop short and keep moving through the reoccurring steps. He looks deeply at into my face but I put on a masking smile. I try to picture the moves I have watched before. Suddenly I remember the next step and panic. But then before I can stop it he dips me and I can see the whole room around me flip. The other girls around me are feeling the same thing but as I come up I feel the pressure from my lace band release and I snap back to face him. He’s grinning holding my dagger.  

“We were warned there was a possible threat heading upstairs…” he says trying to mentally piece things together, “You?”

 He knows so I can finally regain my pride and drop the act. “What do you think?” I reply. Then he looks back to the balcony, “but we were warned ahead of time.” 

“Were you? I don't see any guards chasing after me… do you?” I give him a malicious smile and take the knife from his hand while he's focusing. When his face turns back he has the painful realization of how far I’d gotten, wrapped around his face like a mask.

“Nice night out tonight, Matias, its about time I escape.”

“No!” He says pulling my arm back and closer to him, “ You can’t think you’ll just escape what you did, you killed him didn’t you?”

“Of course I did.” He breathes out deeply as I smile at him, “You can’t possibly think I’ve come here and not avenge my dead mother and the hundreds of other women your grandfather has been trafficking.” He frowns. “Anyway my work here is done.” His face still frozen till I walk away and out of his grasp. 

“So that was your man we nabbed on the roof?” He calls to me with a verbal smirk. 

I stop in my tracks, “Luis,” My only friend… practically family, “ what have you done with Luis?” He smiles and  rage fills me and I lose it. Then I turn back and leap at him, knocking him to the ground. “You let me and Luis go unharmed or I will kill everyone you ever loved!” I scream at him with my knees to his chest and knife to his neck.

“You already have.” He breathes. I swallow hard. I pull my knife away as I stare into the eyes of a fellow orphan. I sit back on my legs and he stands up brushing himself off. 

“Guards!” He yells, I stand up but not fast enough. They come immediately to his service and seeing the knife in my hand grab me. Now I'm the one staring at the boy silently begging for mercy. The guards stand at the ready for his next order.

“Release the man from the roof and escort them both to a car.” The guards do not question but head through the crowd to retrieve Luis. I will not thank him, not for showing me mercy after I killed his only family… but his only family killed my only family. He grabs my arm and starts walking toward the door as the interested crowd parts a path. 

“Good night Bella.” He walks me up the steps leading me by the arm. The whole time I'm stunned and confused. We wait at the landing till I see Luis walk up in front of the guards, he runs to me and grabs my other arm, tugging me to escape. But I wait and look back to Matias… why is he doing this?

The mysterious, dark, boy pulls me close and then whispers in my ear, “Until we meet again, Bella. We will meet again.” Then before pulling away he lightly kisses my temple and then walks back into the crowd of club-goers. I’m lost. Luis pulls me outside and the guards show us to a car and hands my dagger back to me. 

“What the heck was that?” He asks, knowing not to ask too much.

“I don’t know. Lets get out of here while we can.” I assume part of the boy knows he‘ll inherit his grandfathers assets, but i just killed half of his staff and Abuelo… But remembering the kiss forces me to cram all the nights chaos into the back of my mind. Leave it as it ended. I have a feeling I will see Matias again.