Chapter 10

Over the next four years, Mary went from job to job, improving her tech. She had buried her sister and the man she had never called father but more a friend. After going through his things, she found a letter from a man called the Rat. In it, the man described how he had kidnapped the three children, and they were to raise them till it was safe for them to go back to their home. Did Mary think three? So, there was another out there? Reading on it said the boy was Jimmy, the oldest girl was Mary and the youngest was Ann. He would give more details when he got in. Mary remembered Thomas muttering about that idiot rat getting his ass caught. At least he never said anything.

Mary was ecstatic she had a brother! But who? Jimmy? That was a common name. Digging deeper, she found that the year she had been taken, ten other sets of girls had been taken, five of them had a bother Jim, Jimmy, James it was maddening of those five, two families were completely dead, two of the three of the Jims were dead and the other was locked away in a nut house. Sighing, she was disappointed, a brother; she’d always felt there was someone out there, but now she’d never know him. This took her back to her search for the Duke’s son. A little upset, she had wasted almost a year looking for her brother. Now, she devoted all her time to searching for Gregor’s son. Two and a half years later, she was close. She had taken a job for him, the little prick, an arrogant bastard, that was for sure. Arranging to meet him, she was prepared at last to take the revenge that she had longed for.

On the opposite side of the empire, as far from the capital world as one could get, she sat down. The job was a simple one. Nothing hard involved at all, as if she really needed the money now. The last she saw, she had more than the empire had and all of its worlds put together. Moving into position, she waited. She could almost taste the blood she would spill that night; it was sweet and would finally put an end to the murderous little bastard letch who had tortured and killed her little sister all those years ago. A look of hatred crossed her face as she waited. Finally, the little ass appeared. Springing from her hiding place, she knocked him out and dragged him to a specially set up area she had arranged ahead of time.

Waiting till he woke up was the hardest thing she had done in a long time, but she decided when he did, and his screams rang out into the night that it was well worth it. “Well, Gregor, after all these years, you’ve been caught, and now you’re going to die. I want you to feel the terror and pain all your victims did before they died. I want you to feel the hopelessness they did as they begged you to stop. I want you to know it isn’t going to stop till you’re dead.” She spat at the man, now spread-eagled and naked. The man started screaming after the first shallow cut, then even more as she slowly made more. Then he started screaming that he wasn’t Gregor, that she’d made a mistake, and that the real Gregor had paid him to talk to her. Unfortunately for the man, she was well past hearing or caring, cutting him everywhere, saving his scrotum and cock for last. After almost a week, the man succumbed to blood loss and injuries.

Mary was quite pleased with herself when she left the room, paying two men to clean up and dispose of the body. Thinking she had enough money, she was undecided about whether to retire. For a month, she took a vacation of sorts, living in a shack in the woods with no communication with anyone at all. Emerging, she felt refreshed and a lot cleaner, though she still hadn’t decided whether to retire yet. Looking at her network, she saw a few jobs out here on the frontier, a little work to take her mind off things. Hell, it might even be fun. Taking the first two she had both done before the sunset, she had been right. It was fun! Just a little terror, no blood, no death, pretty much the basics of what she had started out doing. Hopping out to another nearby world, she took three more. There was nothing to her, really, just simple retrievals that she finished in a week.

Feeling more relieved, she actually stayed and rested a few more days, taking in the sights and having a date (now that was a strange thing), something she hadn’t ever done. Her family had always come first, but now there was no one else but her. She was a little homesick and decided to go home. Arriving in the capital world, she went to her house, which she hadn’t been here in over three years. Looking around, many of the people were startled when they saw her and quickly avoided her. No one wanted to tangle with THE WILLOW, and not even the huge bounty on her head was worth it. No one had ever been close to catching her, and really, no one really knew who she was.