No More Waiting

**Aileen POV**

No one asked me how I knew this hotel was going to be under attack. I'm sure both my love and brother figured out Shiuku had intruded on my dreams once again. The slight glances Devon was giving me told me I would be questioned later. Not that I was complaining. I looked forward to telling him how I beat back the demented demon lord once again. Damn was I getting smart!
We all skidded to an abrupt stop in front of the hotel. There was no evidence of any kind of disturbance. The mansion sized building was still standing with no holes in the structure. No explosions were going off. Maybe Shiuku had been lying to me?
On edge, we all walked to the sliding glass doors. Trevor headed towards the main desk while Devon and I had a quick look around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except how nice the hotel was. Lots of plants and expensive leather chairs sat along the walls in every direction I looked. The DSS must have given the hotel an enormous sum of money for so many people to stay here.
Men dressed in their finest came out of the elevators. They scoffed at us on their way to their meetings, or wherever they were headed. In their defense, all of us were sweating profusely. Trevor was the only one of us dressed properly. I was in a tank top and pajama shorts. Devon was topless, which was probably against the rules of this place. Not like I would complain. During our run here, I got to see all those muscles flexing. Oh I definitely needed to get him in bed soon. Very soon.
Damn, I really had to get better with my daydreaming.
Trevor flipped off one of the men scrutinizing Devon and I. "We can head up now."
"What did you seduce the woman into giving us the correct room keys?" Devon asked genuinely curious.
That made my egotistical brother give a toothy grin. "That would have been plan B. All rooms are registered under Tom and I. All I had to do was show my ID and proof I work for the DSS."
"Save that charm for your cupcake. Let's get moving before I murder one of these high class assholes."
I headed for the staircase. No way was I getting in an elevator. Cars were bad enough, I would never get an elevator again. A rope holding up several people, stories high? Nope. Stairs are perfectly fine. I'm not lazy like all those condescending jerks. If only I had thought to tell them to mind their manners around a princess. Such disrespect could be cause for a beheading back in my dimension.
*Concentrate!*
"Aileen, will you be okay if we split up to investigate? Just holler if something happens. All the rooms are close together." Trevor had worry written all over his posture. He had to give me some more credit. I wasn't pregnant anymore and I was previously a member of the DSS. "Your big brother can bail you out as always." As if the cocky idiot had to save me often. If we weren't in a hurry I would give him a piece of my mind.
There were twelve people who wanted to go to my dimension. From what Trevor explained there were four groups of four people per room. Two were next to each other and the other two across the hall. He wasn't exaggerating when he said close. If any of us got into a fight, the others would hear something immediately.
Trevor and Devon both took the elevator. Bunch of lazy boys! I was the only one to use my legs and ran up the flights of stairs. The room I was to check out was 402. Little did I know that did not mean to go up only four flights of stairs. After charging through the small door separating the stairs from the hall, I saw numbers in the 300s. What kind of backwards crap was that?! I'm four flights up! 1 should be 100, 2 should be 200 and so on!
Now irritated, I ran back through the door flinging it behind me, and sprinted up another flight. *I swear if this isn't 400..*.
My legs were already getting heavy. That obnoxious brother of mine may have had a point. Prior training in the DSS, or not; I was an exhausted Mother and hadn't worked out in months. A good thing they hadn't followed me up the stairs. I didn't need my brother mocking how out of shape I was. With my legs feeling like they were on fire, I leaned on the wall panting hard. In my peripheral vision, I saw Devon and Trevor both enter their assigned rooms.
Right, there were people in danger. My legs could give out later. Maybe Devon would even have to carry me princess style to a room here later. A good idea to expand on after everyone was safe from Shiuku's minions.
A bit wobbly, I made my way over to room 402. A small mercy that the rooms were close to the staircase. Hotels could have ridiculously long built halls. I hobbled myself over to the correct door and slipped what this dimension considered a key. In reality, it was identical to a playing card; just a tad bit thicker. A green light flicked on and I was in the room.
Inside was one girl fighting a cloaked figure and the three others cowering in the corner of the room. The fuzzy carpet was ripped in several spots. The paintings above the bed were now lying broken on the ground. I grabbed a piece of glass as a cloaked man reached for another knife. Girl with the tattoos must have disarmed him at some point. Good for her!
The girl with tattoos flung herself at the man. Not a wise move, now I didn't have a clear shot with my shard. The assassin expected the move and easily toppled the girl. Her head was slammed down next to a pile of glass. A couple pieces cut across her face as the man went to choke her. His target subdued for the moment, he looked up at me. I was now gripping the shard so tightly, warm blood dripped from my hand. I had been stupid to think he hadn't noticed me. He was probably a trained assassin of some sort. Pretty damn clever of Shiuku. The DSS wouldn't sense an elemental-less assassin being sent here. And his work was quiet, so no one in the hotel was alerted of his presence.
"Drop the makeshift weapon." A strangely femine voice said from behind the mask.
I gritted my teeth. "Work so slow you gotta attack victims of a demon lord? Haven't these young ladies been through enough?"
"Drop it." Guess some assassins don't like to gloat and ramble like Sir Alaric did. Nor did she ask me to strip like that monster in the DSS forest. She was here to kill and be done. I would give the murderous monster that at least. She could be more evil.
I did as asked and lifted my hands in the air. I could already visualize what was going to happen. So long as I kept my head calm, I would be okay. All I had to do was remember my training from last year.
As I predicted, the assassin threw a knife at me. I ducked down to my knees and barrel rolled closer to the assassin. Small shards of glass pierced my legs and upper arms. As I unfolded my body, the assassin stabbed towards my side with her knife. I kicked up, knocking the knife backwards. The girl she had been straddling, retrieved the knife and randomly sliced the air around her in hopes of hitting the assassin. Without hesitation, the assassin pulled a knife from out of her boot.
I grabbed another glass shard from the broken picture frame. Whoever this girl was, she was used to fighting multiple people at a time. She dodged my attack with ease. Another swing and she met my makeshift weapon with her knife. She increased the pressure on her blade causing my jagged glass to dig deeper into my palm. I winced at the pain, giving my assailant an opening. The woman got two solid punches. My head started to feel dizzy and I knew there would be bruises forming.
With little yellow birds flying around my head, I let myself fall backwards. Damn, was I out of shape and practice. *"Such a weak little princess. Just lay there like a good girl." For once I think I'll take you up on that advice fake knight! Thanks for the help! Hope you're enjoying the Devil's pitchfork!*
This assassin was clearly stronger, but that didn't mean I couldn't be smarter. This wasn't going to be like in the woods. No, this would play out like that demon Father and I bested. All I had to do was listen to that damn voice trying to break me. Just lay here; completely still.
I closed my eyes and forced my breathing to slow. Being smart as she was, the assassin kept her distance for several minutes, waiting me out. I made no move and continued to deprive my lungs of oxygen. *Hurry up, before I really do pass out!*
After four horribly long minutes, the assassin finally approached me. Kneeling beside me I heard her mutter some sort of apology to me. I felt the cold steel of her blade trail along my throat. A sudden unwanted image flashed in my mind of Tom threatening to kill me and my unborn son.
No way was I going to die here. I hadn't lifted myself up through all this shit attempting to drag me down in my life and survived; just to let some killer hiding behind a mask end everything. There was still so much I had left to do and no way was I leaving my child behind in this cruel world!
The tattoo girl roared as she charged at the assassin. Just because the attack seemed foolish, it gave me a golden second that I happily took. Just as the assassin lifted her blade to stab the tattoo girl, I rammed my fist into her throat. Surprise shown in the thin slit in her mask. Before she could slash at me with that deadly blade, I grabbed her black gloved hand. We struggled for control. My muscles were straining against hers. Soon she would win this little strength check. So I took her by surprise again and headbutted her.
The instant our foreheads collided, I let go of the knife and sliced at her mask with my previously discarded piece of glass. This time I successfully cut her. The mask was sliced up the side and blood oozed from the long gash in the blade's wake. She hissed in pain. I pounced on her like a lion after its prey. Swiftly, I yanked off the rest of her mask. Oddly kind eyes for someone paid to kill for a living looked back at me. They seemed familiar too. I had seen this face before. But where?
"With how strong you are, you should have used your skill to protect the weak. Not to make a quick dollar." I exchanged my glass for her knife. "You are done hurting innocent people! I hope Shiuku's money was worth it."
To my right, the door flew off its hinges and broke the large window on the other side of the room. More glass rained down in all directions. The three girls covered their heads while the assassin and I laid still where we were.
Distracted by the cowering girls, I hadn't realized someone barreling straight at me. Too late, I was rolling on the ground across more glass. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw the silent little cupcake.
She had one of my arms pinned, so I punched her with the other. When she tried to restrain my free arm, I rolled us so her back was being cut up in the glass.
"What's going on?! Get off of her Aileen!"
Trevor ran to us. "What are you doing idiot! Get the assassin!"
My brother's cupcake stopped struggling under me. I cocked my head backwards only to see the assassin had fled.
"He must have gotten away. Are you two okay?" My brother asked full of sympathy.
I growled, "I was just fine until your little crush attacked me!"
The girl said nothing, but started shaking when my brother knelt beside her head. "She must have assumed you were the enemy. I can only imagine how hard it would have been for such a shy girl to fight past her fear. When I first got to Natasha's room, she was shivering under some covers."
The trembling girl under me refused to meet my gaze. Well, the little cupcake was braver than she gave herself credit for. Had she stormed in here earlier when I was on bottom, she would have stormed the right girl... so why did something seem so off?
Devon came into the room with a heavy frown. He sprinted to me, his shoes crunching on the glass. He helped me to my feet. I in turn helped the scared girl to stand.
"I'll call a doctor from the DSS to come here for you. For once listen to your awesome big brother and just sit on the bed over there. You've clearly lost a lot of blood. You're as pale as George Washington's powder wig." Trevor yanked a blanket off the nearest bed and wrapped it tightly around my body.
"What took you two so long?" I asked hesitantly. Devon was clearly upset.
Devon sighed, "everyone in the room I went into was dead. All of their throats were slashed. The only positive was that none of them suffered. All cuts were clean and they died quickly."
Trevor stared at the blood splattered ground. "The first room I went into was the same. All dead. All killed by an expert. Devon and I went into the third room together. Everyone there is safe. Natasha was almost as white as you are now."
Natasha walked out of the room back to where she had been staying. The other women joined her leaving just Trevor, Devon, and I.
"I hate how scared she is of me. Natasha would rather fight an assassin than be in the same room as me." My brother moped. "I can't actually be losing my charm can I?" He kicked a piece of broken glass skidding it across the floor.
"Now what?" Devon asked, ignoring Trevor's sulking. "Besides getting scolded for our habit of destroying doors?"
"I'll have to report this to Tom." Trevor groaned.
Right, they would be back soon and I would be home after all these years. Fuck all the questions and everything else going on. Time to do something for me.
"No more procrastinating. Let's call up Mrs. Hemmer after the healer gets here to fix me up." I held my husband's hand and brought his fingers to my lips. "We don't need some fancy destination. Let's get a start on our honeymoon. No more waiting."