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Description

Okay this is a story and it's kind of long, but I'm writing this as a STORY so it's going to be at least vaguely interesting . . . right?

Trigger warning: Violence
Don't read on if this will trigger you in any way, I would feel really really REALLY bad if someone reads this and is hurt somehow because of it... just don't take the chance if it might trigger you. Safe is better than sorry.

From Lily's pov:
I've always been a pirate. Well, not really, but as long as I can remember I was on a ship of some sort.
Better start at the beginning, huh? If you're not going to listen, don't ask. I don't like to repeat myself.

When I was a kid, my parents had a farm way back in China. They had a son and they "didn't mean to have me". I realize later that's not exactly how it went but in any case my parents were not prepared for two children. And, definitely not a girl. I lived for maybe a month there before something happened . . . I don't know what happened exactly, old man Aries wouldn't tell me. All I know is that my entire family died of murder, I think it was probably arson, but like I told you I haven't the slightest clue what really went down. Afterward the old man liked to tell me how I was sitting in the ruins of the old farm, happy as you please and playing with my brother's skull. The guy kept me until I was around 5 years old, then when I was 6 he had a fateful discussion with me . . .

"Lilly Flower, do you know what is different about you?"
"Old Man," I had responded, "I am just like you!" I was an ignorant child, as is later shown . . .
"Lilly, you have wings," said Aries. "Does it look like I have wings to you?"
"No . . . "
"It's different about you, Lilly. I can't keep you any more."
"Why not? Some people have blue eyes? You have yellow hair. Why can't I have wings?"
"Lilly, people are starting to notice. People can be . . . er . . . dangerous. You have to go away."
" . . . Uh . . ."
"It's not up to you, Lilly Flower. You are going to sea with my brother Kai. He was a farmer, but . . . guess what!"
"Yes, Old Man?" Curious.
"He's like the Sparrow Man in your American movies. Kai is the captain of his own pirate ship!"

I thought that was super cool. It's not fun or easy to be a pirate in reality. It's gory and dirty and involves a lot of preferably unnamed stuff getting under your fingernails. The old man didn't realize what kind of trouble he was in until six-year-old me convinced him to buy me a real sword so that I would be prepared. Swords don't have any kind of use on a pirate ship, but that didn't stop me from cajoling and whining until he discarded the junk plastic thing and got me a curve-bladed, sharp metal sword capable of killing a fully grown man. I spent weeks in the Old Man’s back room while he toiled in whatever factory he was working for, stabbing at cabinets and stuffed animals and honing my relatively nonexistent skills with the thing. At one point I’m pretty sure I killed a rat, or a cat, or some sort of other small animal. I left my sword on his desk for a couple days after that . . . but my thirst for adventure always got me pulling it out again. Finally, the day came for me to meet this Kai man.

Kai wasn’t horrible. A bit gruff, rude, and cold but what else do you expect from a hardened criminal? I was the only girl on the ship, but long before anything happened to me, Kai decided to attack a boat, not realizing there were guards. They were low on funds and all. Kai had taken my sword from me and locked it in a drawer in the wall of the cabin to keep me from hurting myself with it. When it became clear that the ship they had attacked was not going to be a simple matter of waving around weapons and looting, he shut me into the cabin as well.

I by now had learned lock picking from one of the younger boys on the ship and I tried to reclaim my sword, but there was no time at all before an escaped guard from the ship burst into the cabin with a gun. I was outfitted in a bulletproof vest as a standard precaution and there was also a ratty life vest wrapping my chest, and I guess this and my shortish hair must have disguised my gender and age for a bit. I think.

The guy aimed straight for my heart and shot.

I should have been dead.

The bulletproof vest punctured and the bullet hit right where it was meant to—but then it stopped and bounced into my shirt. (These bulletproof vests were completely useless, as the crew would soon discover.) My chest bled a little but not much. I apparently had bulletproof scales under my skin! I jumped up in surprise and fear and anger when I saw the guy approaching. He looked more like a pirate than the other pirate. Mercenaries, I guess.

Before I could even think, the guy had grabbed me around the neck. And that, really,was when I first experienced my dragon gifts.

First of all, everything sort of . . . slowed down. Except me, that is. The way I saw things, too, changed--into infrared, I think. The guy was brighter, outside was dimmer and I was brightest of all. And then I felt the flame inside. And I flared my wings and knew that I was different than the rest of them. That I was better. I wasn't egotistical at all in those days. (Can't you just taste the sarcasm?)

But, I grabbed the guy's wrists with my own hands and smiled. Like a little baby shark. You can't blame the guy, seeing my black-scaled wings and that fang-toothed shark smile, for dropping me in fear. But the young me did. I then breathed some fire at the guy.

It wasn't super hot. But it scared him even more. Then I kicked the man in the balls, and somehow (I think I did it with my teeth, actually) managed to tear the mercenary's throat out and let him bleed to death on the cabin floor while I tried to find my sword.

About five minutes later Kai and the rest of his crew, minus Chen, James, Hansu, Jabez and Erik. As I mentioned, the bulletproof vests were just about useless. Kai freaked out when he saw the blood leaking out from under the half-open cabin door. I assume he was scared that I was dead.

Whatever. I was fine.

By then I'd found my sword and was holding it in a tight grip angled towards the door. There was blood on my hands over my wrists and it splattered on the front of my life jacket. The sword was pristine, but it wasn't like anyone else had killed the mercenary. I suddenly bounced to #1 most feared crewmember. I was a first in a lot of things for the crew of the Black Mist.

By the time I was sixteen, there was a formal warrant out for my arrest in more than ten countries, I could steer a boat of any make, and I probably had about fifty deaths to my name. I had my very own AK-47 and could use it better and faster than most soldiers, but I still preferred the feeling of steel in my hand or a flame on my palm. My original sword had long since fallen overboard half-stuck in the chest of some coast guard guy, but I had a new one. My favorite trick was to douse my hand in gasoline and light it on fire. And when I was sixteen, that's when things got interesting.

Because really, my life was so boring right?

I, by now, was the captain of my own ship. It was called the Red Butterfly. I somehow managed to lead us into an ambush or something. All I know for sure was that I was the lone survivor of the attack. Within seconds, my friends Yen and Chung were dead. Within minutes, even Dai and Jo-Lang were gone. By the time they had tied me down, the entire ship was full of bodies, including the fifty-odd men and women who made up my crew and the hundred or more against me that we had killed, and it was rapidly taking on warer. I mean, we never had a chance anyway. What are fifty robbers going to do against about a thousand soldiers? I was lucky they didn't take prisoners. I didn't realize it, but I was. They lit the boat on fire and sailed away. I managed to free myself before my clothes burned off, and I jumped into the ocean.

I jumped into the ocean! I was going to die! It was miles from any land! What was I thinking?! Was I insane or something? Maybe.

And then they came.

She wasn't one of them, of course. But before them, there were . . . sharks.

Okay, so I was impervious to physical attacks. I'm a pirate. I'm allowed to have a fear of sharks! Have you ever seen the way, after a battle in the summer, the water around the bodies practically boils with their ugly thrashing bodies? Have you ever caught a live one for food and had it attack one of your best warriors and leave them dead in a day?

No. I didn't think so. So don't judge me.

Anyway so I freaked out and started screaming and then I heard them. In my head.

They said that they were nearby and that they were coming. And then a slightly louder one started telling me not to interrupt the proceedings, considering that something important was happening.

And then I saw them.

There were two. They were both midnight black like me. But unlike me, they had glowing neon blue stripes down their backs and heads large enough my entire sunken ship could fit in. (They laughed when they heard that; the bigger one quickly mentioned that she could have eaten two and not realized it. She was joking . . . I think.) They had to be more terrifying than the sharks, and just as quickly they had ripped through the monsters' bluish bodies.

No, you idiot! They had killed the sharks! Sheesh. Why am I even wasting my breath on you?

Don't interrupt me again. I can kill you, you know.

Well, probably.

Anyway, (and can't you see how you have ticked me off a ridiculously large amount?!) the sea monster things then proceeded to tell me that I was a dragon, and that I needed to get to land immediately. Both of which I knew.

Then they told me that there was a sandbar about twenty minutes swimming to my right, which I didn't know.

They were wrong.

Apparently, giant sea monsters swim a lot faster than half-dragons. It took me more like an hour and a half, after which I was ready to fall down and drown. They wouldn't let me! They kept poking me and stuff and forcing me forwards! At least it was warm.

Then, they didn't let me get OFF the sandbar. It was just shallow enough that I could stand. When low tide came just before dawn, it was almost an island. Almost. Not enough to sleep on, though. And then . . .

She showed up.

At the exact crack of dawn, with a guy who I instinctively knew was not human on her left, and a huge hulking dog to her right, they were paddling out in the middle of the freaking OCEAN straight towards me, like they hadn't a care in the world.

All three were faster at swimming than I was.

I was vaguely irritated. I was the one who grew up at sea, after all! And yet these random nobodies were better at it than me. Well, soon they would see who was the boss. Or so I thought.

I drew my sword, dismayed to see the small rosettes of rust on the blade. Dang. That would be another three hours to polish off.

But the guy, he wasn't even fazed. He just approached, and then--without even protecting his hand!--he grabbed the sword by the blade and slashed it out of my grip! I stared as he bent and waved his hand into the water without even thinking. Like he did that sort of thing all the time.

"You shouldn't carry that while you're in the ocean," he said calmly and motioned towards my flask of gasoline with his still-sliced-open, bleeding hand. "Cizcari says it's leaking. You'll kill something."

"Cizcari?"

"The wolf," he clarified. "I guess you could call me the Dragon, but my name is Victor. This is Verbena." He pointed at the black-clad woman beside him. She couldn't have been older than me. Well, maybe by a year, but she wasn't that much older. Or so I thought. I made a ton of sudden jumps in reasoning back then. When the Dragon is involved, nothing is as it seems.

"I better get back to the mountain with Ciz. V, you think you can handle Sword Girl?"

"My name," I said, "is Lillian. I will be called by my name and nothing else."

"Ah, my apologies. Let's call you Nox. Much scarier."

"I said, my name is Lillian," I growled through gritted teeth. "Call me Lillian. Or else I'll kill you."

I meant every word of it at the time. Not any more. I like my name now.

The Dragon stopped smiling and just looked at me, like a hunter analyzing tracks before finding and killing the animal that made them. He struck ice into my heart then. His eyes, a vivid green, something was wrong. It took me a moment to realize that they had shrunk into cat points and by then, it was too late. I couldn't have beaten him anyway, but I would have tried. I had only half gotten my sword out of the water before he hit me flat in the stomach and knocked me backwards into the water. "Don't, Lily Flower. You're much too fragile to break," he taunted. "I'm going to call you Nox. It means Night. And it's a damned better name than Lily."

Verbena or V or whatever her name was turned to face me slowly, a dark smile on her face as well. "Good job. He gives us all better names. Like with Gertrude. We call her Claws now . . . it's a fitting name anyway."

"So he named you too, then?" I sneered.

"No. I named myself. But Nox is such a better name. It fits you, too. Showing up in the middle of the night, with a pair of Sea Dragons as your guards? With scales as black as a shadow? Really, it suits you. You should accept it." I didn't realize she meant as a CODE NAME.

"No."

She sighed. "Why not?"

"How old are you?"

"Two hundred seventy two, I think."

"No," I admonished, "for real."

"I'm pretty sure I know my own age. Two seven two," she said deliberately, tight-lipped and angry now.

"Not possible."

"Yes."

"No--"

"Dragon technology is significantly better than our own, you know. And don't worry about Vic. You do realize you just threatened to kill everyone we know, right?"

"No, I only threatened him--"

"Oh, you poor child," she said mockingly, "You don't know what you've gotten yourself into. I have a deal for you."

"Uh--"

"Retribution. For your ship and your soldiers. You fight for us, and you kill the dragon we need you to and you kill the one that pulled the trigger on your little ship."

"I don't believe you."

"I swear. On my life."

"You swear, how cute."

"In our camp a solemn oath like that would be taken very seriously!" the girl responded hotly. "You have much to learn, Nox."

My name is Lillian, I wanted to scream as I strangled her. But instead, I said only,
"I don't believe you. Prove yourself."

In a smooth motion, I uncapped the bottle of gasoline and dipped my hand in it, then lit it with my breath. Then I extended it to her. "Prove you don't lie. That you truly need me. Take my hand and I'll work with you." Inside I was laughing: I love making people make hard decisions.

And smoother than I could have imagined, cool as you please, she shoved her hand into the inferno that was mine. Within seconds she had a blistered and red, badly burned palm. She dropped it into the water without even so much as a flicker of pain across her face. "That wasn't so bad," she smirked. And then, my new life began.

STATS:
Code Name: Nox Lilium (literally Night Lily)
Original Name: Lillian Yen
Age: 16-ish
Occupation: secret agent, used to be pirate captain
Song: Daughters of Darkness by Halestorm
Scary Factor: I wouldn't want to get stuck in a dark alley with her . . . she's a sadistic jerk after all

Description

Okay this is a story and it's kind of long, but I'm writing this as a STORY so it's going to be at least vaguely interesting . . . right?

Trigger warning: Violence
Don't read on if this will trigger you in any way, I would feel really really REALLY bad if someone reads this and is hurt somehow because of it... just don't take the chance if it might trigger you. Safe is better than sorry.

From Lily's pov:
I've always been a pirate. Well, not really, but as long as I can remember I was on a ship of some sort.
Better start at the beginning, huh? If you're not going to listen, don't ask. I don't like to repeat myself.

When I was a kid, my parents had a farm way back in China. They had a son and they "didn't mean to have me". I realize later that's not exactly how it went but in any case my parents were not prepared for two children. And, definitely not a girl. I lived for maybe a month there before something happened . . . I don't know what happened exactly, old man Aries wouldn't tell me. All I know is that my entire family died of murder, I think it was probably arson, but like I told you I haven't the slightest clue what really went down. Afterward the old man liked to tell me how I was sitting in the ruins of the old farm, happy as you please and playing with my brother's skull. The guy kept me until I was around 5 years old, then when I was 6 he had a fateful discussion with me . . .

"Lilly Flower, do you know what is different about you?"
"Old Man," I had responded, "I am just like you!" I was an ignorant child, as is later shown . . .
"Lilly, you have wings," said Aries. "Does it look like I have wings to you?"
"No . . . "
"It's different about you, Lilly. I can't keep you any more."
"Why not? Some people have blue eyes? You have yellow hair. Why can't I have wings?"
"Lilly, people are starting to notice. People can be . . . er . . . dangerous. You have to go away."
" . . . Uh . . ."
"It's not up to you, Lilly Flower. You are going to sea with my brother Kai. He was a farmer, but . . . guess what!"
"Yes, Old Man?" Curious.
"He's like the Sparrow Man in your American movies. Kai is the captain of his own pirate ship!"

I thought that was super cool. It's not fun or easy to be a pirate in reality. It's gory and dirty and involves a lot of preferably unnamed stuff getting under your fingernails. The old man didn't realize what kind of trouble he was in until six-year-old me convinced him to buy me a real sword so that I would be prepared. Swords don't have any kind of use on a pirate ship, but that didn't stop me from cajoling and whining until he discarded the junk plastic thing and got me a curve-bladed, sharp metal sword capable of killing a fully grown man. I spent weeks in the Old Man’s back room while he toiled in whatever factory he was working for, stabbing at cabinets and stuffed animals and honing my relatively nonexistent skills with the thing. At one point I’m pretty sure I killed a rat, or a cat, or some sort of other small animal. I left my sword on his desk for a couple days after that . . . but my thirst for adventure always got me pulling it out again. Finally, the day came for me to meet this Kai man.

Kai wasn’t horrible. A bit gruff, rude, and cold but what else do you expect from a hardened criminal? I was the only girl on the ship, but long before anything happened to me, Kai decided to attack a boat, not realizing there were guards. They were low on funds and all. Kai had taken my sword from me and locked it in a drawer in the wall of the cabin to keep me from hurting myself with it. When it became clear that the ship they had attacked was not going to be a simple matter of waving around weapons and looting, he shut me into the cabin as well.

I by now had learned lock picking from one of the younger boys on the ship and I tried to reclaim my sword, but there was no time at all before an escaped guard from the ship burst into the cabin with a gun. I was outfitted in a bulletproof vest as a standard precaution and there was also a ratty life vest wrapping my chest, and I guess this and my shortish hair must have disguised my gender and age for a bit. I think.

The guy aimed straight for my heart and shot.

I should have been dead.

The bulletproof vest punctured and the bullet hit right where it was meant to—but then it stopped and bounced into my shirt. (These bulletproof vests were completely useless, as the crew would soon discover.) My chest bled a little but not much. I apparently had bulletproof scales under my skin! I jumped up in surprise and fear and anger when I saw the guy approaching. He looked more like a pirate than the other pirate. Mercenaries, I guess.

Before I could even think, the guy had grabbed me around the neck. And that, really,was when I first experienced my dragon gifts.

First of all, everything sort of . . . slowed down. Except me, that is. The way I saw things, too, changed--into infrared, I think. The guy was brighter, outside was dimmer and I was brightest of all. And then I felt the flame inside. And I flared my wings and knew that I was different than the rest of them. That I was better. I wasn't egotistical at all in those days. (Can't you just taste the sarcasm?)

But, I grabbed the guy's wrists with my own hands and smiled. Like a little baby shark. You can't blame the guy, seeing my black-scaled wings and that fang-toothed shark smile, for dropping me in fear. But the young me did. I then breathed some fire at the guy.

It wasn't super hot. But it scared him even more. Then I kicked the man in the balls, and somehow (I think I did it with my teeth, actually) managed to tear the mercenary's throat out and let him bleed to death on the cabin floor while I tried to find my sword.

About five minutes later Kai and the rest of his crew, minus Chen, James, Hansu, Jabez and Erik. As I mentioned, the bulletproof vests were just about useless. Kai freaked out when he saw the blood leaking out from under the half-open cabin door. I assume he was scared that I was dead.

Whatever. I was fine.

By then I'd found my sword and was holding it in a tight grip angled towards the door. There was blood on my hands over my wrists and it splattered on the front of my life jacket. The sword was pristine, but it wasn't like anyone else had killed the mercenary. I suddenly bounced to #1 most feared crewmember. I was a first in a lot of things for the crew of the Black Mist.

By the time I was sixteen, there was a formal warrant out for my arrest in more than ten countries, I could steer a boat of any make, and I probably had about fifty deaths to my name. I had my very own AK-47 and could use it better and faster than most soldiers, but I still preferred the feeling of steel in my hand or a flame on my palm. My original sword had long since fallen overboard half-stuck in the chest of some coast guard guy, but I had a new one. My favorite trick was to douse my hand in gasoline and light it on fire. And when I was sixteen, that's when things got interesting.

Because really, my life was so boring right?

I, by now, was the captain of my own ship. It was called the Red Butterfly. I somehow managed to lead us into an ambush or something. All I know for sure was that I was the lone survivor of the attack. Within seconds, my friends Yen and Chung were dead. Within minutes, even Dai and Jo-Lang were gone. By the time they had tied me down, the entire ship was full of bodies, including the fifty-odd men and women who made up my crew and the hundred or more against me that we had killed, and it was rapidly taking on warer. I mean, we never had a chance anyway. What are fifty robbers going to do against about a thousand soldiers? I was lucky they didn't take prisoners. I didn't realize it, but I was. They lit the boat on fire and sailed away. I managed to free myself before my clothes burned off, and I jumped into the ocean.

I jumped into the ocean! I was going to die! It was miles from any land! What was I thinking?! Was I insane or something? Maybe.

And then they came.

She wasn't one of them, of course. But before them, there were . . . sharks.

Okay, so I was impervious to physical attacks. I'm a pirate. I'm allowed to have a fear of sharks! Have you ever seen the way, after a battle in the summer, the water around the bodies practically boils with their ugly thrashing bodies? Have you ever caught a live one for food and had it attack one of your best warriors and leave them dead in a day?

No. I didn't think so. So don't judge me.

Anyway so I freaked out and started screaming and then I heard them. In my head.

They said that they were nearby and that they were coming. And then a slightly louder one started telling me not to interrupt the proceedings, considering that something important was happening.

And then I saw them.

There were two. They were both midnight black like me. But unlike me, they had glowing neon blue stripes down their backs and heads large enough my entire sunken ship could fit in. (They laughed when they heard that; the bigger one quickly mentioned that she could have eaten two and not realized it. She was joking . . . I think.) They had to be more terrifying than the sharks, and just as quickly they had ripped through the monsters' bluish bodies.

No, you idiot! They had killed the sharks! Sheesh. Why am I even wasting my breath on you?

Don't interrupt me again. I can kill you, you know.

Well, probably.

Anyway, (and can't you see how you have ticked me off a ridiculously large amount?!) the sea monster things then proceeded to tell me that I was a dragon, and that I needed to get to land immediately. Both of which I knew.

Then they told me that there was a sandbar about twenty minutes swimming to my right, which I didn't know.

They were wrong.

Apparently, giant sea monsters swim a lot faster than half-dragons. It took me more like an hour and a half, after which I was ready to fall down and drown. They wouldn't let me! They kept poking me and stuff and forcing me forwards! At least it was warm.

Then, they didn't let me get OFF the sandbar. It was just shallow enough that I could stand. When low tide came just before dawn, it was almost an island. Almost. Not enough to sleep on, though. And then . . .

She showed up.

At the exact crack of dawn, with a guy who I instinctively knew was not human on her left, and a huge hulking dog to her right, they were paddling out in the middle of the freaking OCEAN straight towards me, like they hadn't a care in the world.

All three were faster at swimming than I was.

I was vaguely irritated. I was the one who grew up at sea, after all! And yet these random nobodies were better at it than me. Well, soon they would see who was the boss. Or so I thought.

I drew my sword, dismayed to see the small rosettes of rust on the blade. Dang. That would be another three hours to polish off.

But the guy, he wasn't even fazed. He just approached, and then--without even protecting his hand!--he grabbed the sword by the blade and slashed it out of my grip! I stared as he bent and waved his hand into the water without even thinking. Like he did that sort of thing all the time.

"You shouldn't carry that while you're in the ocean," he said calmly and motioned towards my flask of gasoline with his still-sliced-open, bleeding hand. "Cizcari says it's leaking. You'll kill something."

"Cizcari?"

"The wolf," he clarified. "I guess you could call me the Dragon, but my name is Victor. This is Verbena." He pointed at the black-clad woman beside him. She couldn't have been older than me. Well, maybe by a year, but she wasn't that much older. Or so I thought. I made a ton of sudden jumps in reasoning back then. When the Dragon is involved, nothing is as it seems.

"I better get back to the mountain with Ciz. V, you think you can handle Sword Girl?"

"My name," I said, "is Lillian. I will be called by my name and nothing else."

"Ah, my apologies. Let's call you Nox. Much scarier."

"I said, my name is Lillian," I growled through gritted teeth. "Call me Lillian. Or else I'll kill you."

I meant every word of it at the time. Not any more. I like my name now.

The Dragon stopped smiling and just looked at me, like a hunter analyzing tracks before finding and killing the animal that made them. He struck ice into my heart then. His eyes, a vivid green, something was wrong. It took me a moment to realize that they had shrunk into cat points and by then, it was too late. I couldn't have beaten him anyway, but I would have tried. I had only half gotten my sword out of the water before he hit me flat in the stomach and knocked me backwards into the water. "Don't, Lily Flower. You're much too fragile to break," he taunted. "I'm going to call you Nox. It means Night. And it's a damned better name than Lily."

Verbena or V or whatever her name was turned to face me slowly, a dark smile on her face as well. "Good job. He gives us all better names. Like with Gertrude. We call her Claws now . . . it's a fitting name anyway."

"So he named you too, then?" I sneered.

"No. I named myself. But Nox is such a better name. It fits you, too. Showing up in the middle of the night, with a pair of Sea Dragons as your guards? With scales as black as a shadow? Really, it suits you. You should accept it." I didn't realize she meant as a CODE NAME.

"No."

She sighed. "Why not?"

"How old are you?"

"Two hundred seventy two, I think."

"No," I admonished, "for real."

"I'm pretty sure I know my own age. Two seven two," she said deliberately, tight-lipped and angry now.

"Not possible."

"Yes."

"No--"

"Dragon technology is significantly better than our own, you know. And don't worry about Vic. You do realize you just threatened to kill everyone we know, right?"

"No, I only threatened him--"

"Oh, you poor child," she said mockingly, "You don't know what you've gotten yourself into. I have a deal for you."

"Uh--"

"Retribution. For your ship and your soldiers. You fight for us, and you kill the dragon we need you to and you kill the one that pulled the trigger on your little ship."

"I don't believe you."

"I swear. On my life."

"You swear, how cute."

"In our camp a solemn oath like that would be taken very seriously!" the girl responded hotly. "You have much to learn, Nox."

My name is Lillian, I wanted to scream as I strangled her. But instead, I said only,
"I don't believe you. Prove yourself."

In a smooth motion, I uncapped the bottle of gasoline and dipped my hand in it, then lit it with my breath. Then I extended it to her. "Prove you don't lie. That you truly need me. Take my hand and I'll work with you." Inside I was laughing: I love making people make hard decisions.

And smoother than I could have imagined, cool as you please, she shoved her hand into the inferno that was mine. Within seconds she had a blistered and red, badly burned palm. She dropped it into the water without even so much as a flicker of pain across her face. "That wasn't so bad," she smirked. And then, my new life began.

STATS:
Code Name: Nox Lilium (literally Night Lily)
Original Name: Lillian Yen
Age: 16-ish
Occupation: secret agent, used to be pirate captain
Song: Daughters of Darkness by Halestorm
Scary Factor: I wouldn't want to get stuck in a dark alley with her . . . she's a sadistic jerk after all