Empire of Vendetta

The Beginning

Lilith Thorn walked down the dark and ominous hallway, each of her footsteps leaving behind a thunderous echo. She held her head up high with a determined look in her eyes as she dragged her bloodied dagger across the wall. It left a deafening screech behind it and although the noise would have made any other person recoil, Lilith was immune to it. It was her warning signal for her enemies. 

Usually Lilith was as quiet and unseen as the black footed cat. When she found her prey, she would hide in the shadows and hunt them at the most unexpected time. They never see her coming and once they realise what was happening, they were already on their way to the after world.

But today was different. Her target was different. He wasn't just some random person she had been ordered to kill without a second thought. She had been anticipating this hit her entire life – ever since she first found out the truth about her background. She had been preparing and practicing for it ever since she first held a weapon at the tender age of four. She wanted it to be perfect and with fifteen years of practice, she was convinced now was the time. No actually, she could no longer wait. She needed to see him cry and beg, she needed to see him bleed. She craved it more than anything in the world.  

She reached the door at the end of the hallway and with a smirk opened it and stepped in. It didn't even take a second for her to find her prey. There he way, hiding right underneath his desk and shaking to the point of convulsions. 

Lilith took a few extra steps until she was standing right in front of the desk. Her smirk grew as she dropped down to her knees and looked her prey right in the eye. 

Her prey gasped before he scurried away on all fours, he was close to having a heart attack. Lilith felt her run blood cold at the thought of it. The only way that man was entering the grave was by her hands. 

"W-Who are you and w-what do you want from m-me?" the middle aged man asked with a terrified look on his face. She wasn't surprised by his reaction, he had just watched her butcher his entire security team through his CCTV screen. She had made sure the cameras around his estate captured it all. She wanted him to feel dear and he was exactly in the position she had wanted. 

She looked down at his pathetic state with a fake smile before she answered, "I'm Georgio Exposito's daughter."

She felt an animalistic excitement slither through her veins as she watched his face pale at the mention of her father. 

"The man you murdered," she added, only further elevating his heart rate. He was terrified beyond words and she couldn't help but enjoy every second of it. 

He fell on his backside and scrambled as far back against the wall as he possibly could. 

"G-Georgio Expo-posito?" he stuttered, his body shaking even harder. He could't believe his ears. Actually, he didn't want to believe his ears. He desperately wished this was some sort of nightmare but he was shaking so hard that he couldn't even bring himself to pinch his skin to wake him up from this nightmare. 

It had been years since he had last heard of that name. In fact, it had been so long that Georgio Exposito seemed more of a vague character from a childhood fairy tale than someone he had actually known in his life. He never even thought he would hear the cursed name again in his life.

"I-I d-didn't do it!" he tried to argue, causing Lilith to grit her teeth in anger. She pulled him from the collar and forced him on to his feet, causing him to shriek in fear. 

"You murdered his entire family in front of him before you slit his throat as if he were some farm animal!" she growled into his face, her burning breath making shivers grow all over his body. 

He tried to shake his head but Lilith's hold on his collar was so tight that the fabric was cutting at his skin every time he tried to move. 

"N-No," he cried out, "I w-was there b-but I didn't do it!"

"Explain to me exactly how you did it," she ordered, causing a heavy flow of tears to fall down his face as a result. 

His chest heaved up and down heavily and his breath hitched but nonetheless, he began to speak. 

"Georgio Exposito found out something that he shouldn't have," he said, surprisingly clear despite how much he was shaking. "As a result, he needed to die." 

Lilith was very close to shaking with anger but she bit down on her tongue before she spat out, "Start from the beginning!" 

He gagged a little, making her realise that her hold on his collar had tightened even more. She let go of him, making him drop to the ground on his knees. As soon as his body made contact with the ground, he scrambled back up the wall once again and looked around as if there would be something around that could save him from his inevitable death. 

When he finally realised it was the end, more tears fell down his face before he begged her to spare his life.

"P-Please," he said as he held his hands together as if asking for mercy. "Please spare me. I-it wasn't me. I was forced into it! I tried to stop him b-but he didn't l-listen!"

"Tell me everything," Lilith warned through gritted teeth. She did not care to hear his sob story. She just wanted to hear about how her family's murder was executed.

"G-Georgio was an excellent lawyer. H-He was s-so good because of h-his stubborn nature. O-Once he had a l-lead, he wouldn't stop l-looking into it u-until he found the culprit," he shakily spoke. "B-But he m-made a mistake a-and began to look into the wrong c-case. I told him not too but he w-was too stubborn so h-he didn't l-listen to me. 

"It was a g**g r-r**e case that involved a high school girl and a few high profile p-politicians. E-even after finding out that dangerous politicians were involved, your father still did not give up. H-He only stopped once h-he found e-evidence and by then it was too late. The politicians needed to save themselves s-so they s-sacrificed G-Georgio," his voice became lower and lower until his last sentence was barely above a whisper. 

Lilith was already aware of this story. She remembers the day vaguely as she was there as well. She remembers her mother begging for them to have mercy on her children but to no avail. Her two older brothers were killed followed by her younger sister. The only thing Lilith couldn't remember was how she had made it alive. She remembers watching her father die and then she remembers waking up in the home of a random man, Fen Luo, who also became her mentor. 

"Why did they kill his family?" she spat out. 

"He was given multiple w-warnings but h-he never listened," he didn't bother to elaborate and he didn't need to because Lilith already knew that as a result, they took the lives of his beloved family with the hopes that he would agree to hand the information he had over to them. Her father hadn't agreed and as a result, his life was taken as well. 

Growing up, Fen Luo never hid her true identity from her and never tried to give her a new identity. Instead, he raised her up to be the notorious fighter that she was and prepared her for her revenge mission. Over the past eighteen months, she had executed her plan well and everyone involved in her family's murder was killed by her own hands. All but one – Felipe Sanchez, the politician that was behind the murder of her family and the man on the floor shaking in fear before her. 

"Everyone who was involved is dead," she scoffed into his face, "all but you." 

She pulled out her dagger and a shrill sound left her prey's mouth. Although many new hitmen preferred to use a suppressed pistol when taking their hit, Lilith preferred the dagger which because she enjoyed inflicting pain on her targets before she finally took their lives. But unlike regular hitmen, Lilith's targets were personal. She was on a revenge mission so every life she took were the lives of those that had wronged her family. 

"WAIT!" Felipe shouted, his body on the verge of collapsing from fear. "Spare me, please!" 

Lilith scoffed, a Cheshire smile growing on her face. 

"Like you spared my family?" she asked as she slashed across his chest. 

Felipe let out such a loud scream that she was sure even the other end of his huge estate would have heard. Too bad there was no one left alive to save him. 

Felipe began to hyperventilate as the blood gushed out of his open wound. 

"I-It wasn't m-me," he said in heavy breaths. "I'll tell you w-who but p-please let me go!" 

Lilith's head slightly tilted to the side with a raised brow. Felipe was so scared that he felt liquid seep through his pants. Lilith was unfazed, it wasn't the first time her prey had wet their pants. 

"Speak," she said as she pulled her knife back. "If this isn't good, you'll regret ever saying anything."

Felipe completely froze for a brief second, making Lilith think that he had really passed away from fear but before she could act upon her suspicions, he quickly nodded his head and slightly stood up, wincing in pain in the process. 

Lilith tried not to laugh at the old man's naivety. Did he really believe she would spare him? 

"A-At the time, I was not a politician. I was o-only an assistant," he began but Lilith stopped him before he could continue.

"I didn't ask for your life history," she spat. 

Felipe quickly shook his head before he continued, "The politician I worked for was the main culprit in the g**g r**e case!" 

This gained her attention. She was not aware of anyone else being involved in the case. In fact, she was certain that the last person involved was Felipe. 

"Elaborate," she ordered. 

Relief washed over Felipe's features as he sat up a little higher and began to speak.

"When I first met your f-father, I was an assistant to prosecutor Carlos Otero. C-Carlos wanted to transition from being a prosecutor to a politician so he prepared a gift for some senior politicians," Lilith felt disgust upon realisation that the gift he was speaking about was the underage girl. "After they had had their way with her, in order to ensure they never got caught, they killed the girl and dumped her body in a nearby pond.

"What they didn't account for was the fact that the girl they r***d and murdered was a close neighbour of Georgio Exposito. Once he found out that she was missing, he didn't let go of the case until he solved it and at that point, he had become well known amongst the criminal group. They threatened Carlos and told him that if he doesn't do something about Exposito, then he'll have to be the one to take the fall in place of all of them. 

"Carlos couldn't have that so he came to me and told me that if I wanted a promotion, I needed to kill Georgio." 

Felipe gulped and looked away from Lilith, knowing all to well that her reaction would be deadly. 

"You agreed," she spat out. 

It wasn't a question but Felipe nodded nonetheless. "Not at first. Georgio was actually my school mate. We graduated together and I knew his family well. I couldn't bring myself to kill him so I warned him. He ignored my warning so I warned him two more times. But the time it came to the fourth warning, Carlos found out that Georgio was still alive and told me I only had one more chance."

Felipe looked like he was going to further explain Carlos's threats but Lilith didn't want to hear about how he had no choice. She had more pressing questions.

"And where will I find this Carlos Otero?" she asked, her voice filled with malice. 

Felipe shook his head slowly with a disbelieving look on his face, "Y-You can't. Over the years he raised himself to the top. Carlos Otero is untouchable now."

This angered Lilith even more. She pulled her knife back and was about to strike when Felipe shouted.

"But he has a son!" Lilith slightly lowered her hand and looked down at him. "He has a son. You can reach Carlos through his son." 

Lilith glared at him without a word or action which prompted Felipe to continue, taking her behaviour as a good sign. 

"His son's name is Valerio Otero. He's a very successful prosecutor. He is the only person who can reach Carlos Otero." 

"Valerio Otero?" Lilith repeated. The name sounded oddly familiar but she didn't dwell upon it. She had more important things to care about. 

"Yes, yes," Felipe nodded, "if you get close to him you'll get close to Carlos too." 

Lilith smiled down at Felipe and said, "Thank you for your help." 

Felipe's entire demeanour relaxed upon hearing those words but it was too early to relax. Before he could even process what was occurring, Lilith had stepped forward and slid her blade across his neck, cutting off his jugular vein and as a result, ending his life. 

She watched as his eyes widened and his hands instinctively reached up to his neck but it was too late to act now, within moments, his body became limp and he fell forward lifelessly. She watched him bleed out for a few minutes too long before she straightened up and turned to leave. 

She had thought that her mission would be over with Felipe, but it turned out she had a new prey on her list: Carlos Otero. But it seemed before she could hunt down her big prey, she needed to get to him first. And her one-way ticket to the so-called untouchable man was his son, Valerio. 

She glanced back at Felipe's lifeless body one more time before she scoffed and left his estate. 

Carlos Otero may be untouchable but Lilith was the reaper himself and no human could escape meeting the grim reaper. No one.