"I already knew about the tattoo's but what about 'who you are?'" He asked.
Zaida opened her eyes and sat up with the blanket covering her. "Oh Your awake, You were mumbling in your dream love, what's up?" She asked looking at him and rubbed her eyes tiredly.
Sitting up, Zanthe sighed, a melancholy look on her face. "Well, you see, my brother, Ethan, he's rather talented for a boy his age. He can run faster than most of the other kids in his class, and he keeps his grades up without even trying. But there are some people out there who look for talents like his..." The catfox gripped her knees, her hands tense. "Very... shadowy people. I can't tell you everything about what they do, but while they aren't inherently bad and they're not exactly on the government's payroll, they... They do terrible things to keep the world in balance. Murderous things, and... about five or six years ago, these people tried to more or less draft my brother into their group. They came to our house one night after we had eaten, and they told my parents what Ethan would have to do, only they watered it down. He'd still be able to visit them from time to time." Zanthe's voice trembled for a moment, her body shaking with a mixture of rage and sadness. "I couldn't let them take him. He was only six, for heaven's sake..." She stared at her feet, gently feeling the initials on her lower back. "I don't recall exactly how I did it, but I convinced them that I could do just as well in their organization as he could, and they bought it. I left at the end of the school semester, and training began." Zanthe sighed again and looked over at Devin, feeling guilty. "... I'm not proud of what I have to do for a living, but I won't lie about it. They made me a survivalist of sorts... an assassin who could get into places, dispatch a target, and escape without anybody knowing that they were there. I've probably killed more people than there are at a normal church service. The skull tattoo, with the wings... it's their mark. The initials I got done later, so that I can always remember why I do this... why I have to do this." The catfox hung her head, the rage replaced with sadness and guilt. "... It's the worst when the people aren't really that bad. Or when you can see their face. Their eyes plead with you... beg for mercy. But they can't get it." Zanthe hugged her knees. "I have to spend at least five more years doing this. Then they said I can start to have a more normal life again." She chuckled sadly. "Some days- before I met you- I wished for death. That one time, someone would be better than me, and I'd bleed to death from some gaping wound and they'd leave my family alone after that. Or something else would happen that would free us from these people. I used to imagine somehow getting myself pregnant, but as soon as my periods started coming, they.... they told me that if I tried on purpose, they would make sure I couldn't." She closed her eyes. "And if it wasn't on purpose, I'd still have to do it until weeks away from being due, and then would have to start up again after. So, until you and I met, I've been more or less chaste." She looked over at Devin. "There you have it. I'm a killer, even if I don't enjoy it. I understand if you want to leave."
Vivi was asleep at the end of Audrey's bed.