of water on the ground made me grin in anticipation.
My senses were on high alert, just like the elements that surrounded me.
The musky air, the droplets of water that fell back into their rightful puddles, the strength of the earth beneath me, and my adorable dark self who had been singing the Kill song for the last two hours in my head.
Today was a good day.
Most people didn't understand me. Didn't get my dry sense of humor or my "dark" viewpoint on the wonderful thing called life.
I viewed everything like I was playing a video game.
The stakes were always high, and the consequences of failure were up there with death itself. It was what had gotten me this high in the Tracker rank.
It's what made me their top lead underdog of the junior division, which I was being upgraded from.
I wasn't the eight-year-old homeless girl anymore. I was Jade Storm, daughter of Alaric Masters, and a Tracker in his organization.
Many people attempted to belittle my acceptance into this Tracker organization. I was the pitiful child who got lucky. I got in because Alaric was my father.
Excuse after excuse of why I was here and favored, but with my competitive personality, many realized I was nowhere near a pushover.
I had goals. Dreams of becoming the best and making Alaric proud, though I'd never say that to his face. He'd grow an even bigger ego and when it came to defeating him in combat, well, let’s just say I struggled to get even his cane out of his grasp.
Annoying.
How could an old man still look like he was in his thirties and kick ass better than me? I was younger, a female, more flexible, blessed with eight elements...need I say more?
All I lacked was experience and whatever amount of training Alaric had under his belt.
Didn’t mean I wasn't going to keep trying.
Either way, I'd proven a point long ago that I wasn't someone to mess with. A girl who secretly carried eight elements wasn't someone you could push and shove.
To everyone but Alaric and his trusty teammates who trained us on the regular, no one knew how powerful I was. The only element I commonly displayed was the darkness.
Only because she made me act crazy half the time and she loved to randomly appear as my dark twin.
The whole twin thing always amused me, though. My dark element — aka Shadow Jade — loved to appear in my exact image and taunt people. If it wasn't for her erratic thought process and repetitive speech, I would be getting in a lot more trouble than I already did on the regular.
What I did love about my shadow, though, was her loyalty. She couldn't be manipulated by others or their elements. She'd do whatever I told her, even if she didn't necessarily like it.
Except eat chocolate pudding. She'd kill anyone who forced her. Even me.
Having her around made growing up as a Tracker easier. She was the support I needed when the fear sunk into my bones and did its best to divert me from my path.
Coming to a stop at the end of the alley, my eyes scanned the stained cement, wondering what body fluids had darkened it today. I tapped my foot impatiently, moving to the melody of Shadow Jade's Kill tune.
Who knew you could make an entire song with one word?
"Target!"
Shadow Jade's enthusiasm stilled my tapping foot. The person we needed to kill was in the same closed-off alley.
"There you are, sexy. You're hard to keep up with."
Taking my sweet time, I twirled around, putting some extra effort into swinging my hips seductively as I turned to face my target.
It was a middle-aged man in his late thirties. One who got his kicks kidnapping girls and selling them on the Black Market to those who traded in sex trafficking or element manipulation.
All the bad, illegal things that could make you a millionaire.
"Am I?" The question rolled off my tongue like maple syrup glazing the top of freshly baked pancakes. "I love a little fun."
Seducing men was fun, especially when they thought of me as someone they could sweep into their grasp like an innocent child.
Though I was eighteen, when I didn't wear makeup, I looked far younger. Even now with my simple black outfit, short skirt, and leather jacket, I looked like a young teen on the wrong side of town out for the night.
One that wanted a good fucking.
Perfect impression to give off when you're trying to seduce a bad