Soulstealer

*Please do not read if you are sensitive to flashbacks and mentions of physical assault. This might occur. I am not sure if it will. You have been warned. Continue*

## Chapter 1

Serena slipped through the shadows. She was a wraith. A shadow. The Black Death Mask she had programmed herself hummed and sent her the calculations. Three guards approaching.

Quick as lighting she shot into the darkness of a nearby closet and waited. The guards walked in and glanced around as if they had sensed her. She stealthily slipped out and turned to face them. Her dagger waited at her side but she did not need it. Not this time.

She knew Mara had posted guards everywhere. This was her test and it was this test that would determine her fate with the Soulstealers. A glance at them told her all she needed to know. Her helmet whirred. Young, tall, strong.

She circled them and all of them held out a Taser. She darted between them and threw a small purple smoke grenade into the dust. All three guards collapsed in a heap and Serena slid out the claws she had molded into her suit.

Not a cats claws. A tigers. That’s who she was. The Tigress. She never went by that name though. She had always been called kitty or variations of it. With the guards taken down, a quick slash of her claws had the cameras crashing to the ground. She quickly slashed a hole in the glass case.

She grabbed the jeweled necklace she had been sent to steal. Holding it between her fingers, Serena leaped put the window and out of the building. She hurried through the undergrowth. Sharp thorns and brambles didn’t bother her. Nothing did anymore.

She climbed to the top of a roof and effortlessly leaped through the air. Her helmet calculated how far she would need to leap. She moved silently. Almost a shadow. A wraith.

Once Serena reached the outskirts of this wretched city she hopped onto a metallic purple motorcycle that she had parked in a thick bush. She slid along the gravel path and skidded to a halt in front of a seemingly ordinary abandoned gas stop.

Serena walked to the front and traced her claw on the keypad where one would normally pay. Every member of the Soulstealers could sketch the symbol Serena had etched in the metal from heart. It was the first thing they learned in training. Serena looked at the symbol. It was a dagger crossed with a shining orb. The Soulstealers mark. One that was left on everything they accomplished along the persons own mark.

With a hiss, the floor fell down revealing a dank staircase. Serena stepped down a with a small pop the floor closed behind her. She didn’t bother feeling around in the dark. It didn’t scare her. Nothing did. Not anymore. She walked into a large room. It was round with sleek walls and doors all around it. The main lobby of the Soulstealers.

She went to the first room on her left. It took years of training to ignore the guard standing at the entrance. “I’m here to see Mara” Serena said curtly. The guard bowed and the door opened. She stood at the edge of the room. There facing the window, looking out was Mara.

”Did you get it?” She asked, not bothering to turn and face Serena. “Yes ma’am” Serena replied meekly. She gritted her teeth. Mara demanded unquestioned loyalty to her. All the Soulstealers gave it because what she could give them… Serena needed more than anything.

The Soulstealers were made up of young woman whom Mara had recruited from the four corners of the world. She had shaped them into this. The Soulstealers. “Very well” said Mara. “Go to your room and stay there till you are called to the ceremony.

*The ceremony!* Serena’s heart leapt into her throat. The ancient ritual where Mara presented each Soulstealer with a weapon unique to themselves. These weapons were what the Soulstealers were named after. They were the life blood of the entire organization.

These weapons could, with a single touch remove the life force of anyone. Anyone. As she walked into her room she gazed around. When a Soulstealer became an official Stealer they moved into better quarters. A real place to live. All the trainees were treated the same. Meals at set times. Two room living quarters. They were treated worse then vermin.

The worst part was that Mara encouraged this treatment. Anyone with a higher rank then the trainees were allowed to physically harass them. Punishments were doled out by Mara to all trainees. That part at least Serena understood. This was a high operating group with no time for petty slip ups. What Serena didn’t understand was why the punishments were so cruel.

Depending on the level of failure it was either done by high ranking Stealers or Mara herself. Serena glanced at the whip hanging from a hook in the wall. The same whip she taught herself to wield until it was nothing more than an extension to her arm rather than a weapon.

The same whip that had met her own back years ago when she was a young trainee.

## Chapter 2- flashback

*“What have you done!?” Snarled Mara. Serena shrank back, terrified. What she had done though had been a great mistake. One she had not meant to make. She was sent to steal an ancient statue. Her first solo mission. She had successfully gotten the statue and left the building when suddenly another Stealer leaped out from the shadows. Mara’s second Layla Menall or the Wolf as she was known for her incredible stealth and skill.*

*Layla knocked the statue out of Serena’s hands, causing it to clatter on the floor. It’s head had fallen of and a deep crack ran through the middle. Serena had stared at it, horrified when suddenly Layla shoved her against the wall. “Where are your claws now kitty?” She had whispered. And then pulled the alarm. A deep ringing filled the air.*

*Layla dragged Serena close to her face and whispered “you tell anyone about this, kitty. I’ll make sure much worse happens to you than what Mara is going to do to you.” Serena nodded and they both escaped into the shadows leaving the cracked statue behind. The next day Serena walked out of her room to find Layla speaking with Mara.*

*“Ma’am I don’t know what came over her. I found her with her hands empty. The statue on the floor. Cracked. The girl obviously doesn’t know what she is doing. On top of that when I came she tripped over her own feet and triggered the alarm! We barely made it out of there and we don’t have the statue!” Serena froze in horror. She knew that was a lie but she also knew that Layla would be true to her promise so she kept quiet.*

*“Well. We all know what happens for a mistake this big.” Mara had said. “Meet me at my room in ten minutes” she seemed to grow impatient and she stalked off. Layla gave Serena a smirk and walked behind Mara. A few minutes later, fearing the worst Serena walked down the hall to Mara’s private quarters. She gave a nod to the guard and he opened the door.*

*Mara stood at the doorway, whip in hand. Suddenly she seemed to lose her calm demeanor. “Do you know what you have done!?” She shouted. Serena shook her head, trembling. “That statue was worth 7.5 million dollars! We could have expanded so far but because YOU lost it we can’t!” It came so fast Serena didn’t know what happened until after. Before it actually sank in, Mara did it again. And again. She gave her one more strike then shoved her out the door. “Go” she hissed. “And next time your punishment will be far worse. We have no need for a Stealer who can’t steal.”*

*Serena stumbled across the hall. She was distantly aware of Layla and some of the other acolytes laughing at her walk across the main room so clumsily. She collapsed on her bed. Only then did the full effect sink in. Serena groaned in pain but silenced herself when she thought about the punishments some of the other acolytes had gotten for their mess ups and it was much worse than than a few strokes from a whip.*

*Serena had hated Layla from that day on, even more so when she had seen what Layla did to some of the other trainees when they were practicing. She had seen them not be able to walk. Or breath. Mara had just stroked Layla’ s hair and declared it natural selection. Of course. There were ways to rise up in the Stealers. Such as fighting to the death. Anyone could be challenged except for Mara. No one challenged Mara. It wasn’t done. Ever.*