The Bodyguard

CONTRACTED TO THE DEVIL'S BODYGUARD

EPISODE 2 - THE BODYGUARD

364:23:41

Knock. Knock. Knock. The door begins to bang.

The sound didn’t echo. It cut.

Ava froze with her sleeve still rolled up, the red sigil pulsing like a second heartbeat. Steam from the shower fogged the mirror, but she could still see it, the timer in the corner of her vision ticking down.

364:23:40

Her phone was still face-down on the bathroom tile. Another buzz. Another unknown number.

`Do not open the door to anyone but House Blackthorn.`

Too late. Someone was already at her door. And someone else was on the fire escape.

Ryder: "Ava. Last warning. Open the door."

His voice was right on the other side of the wood. Low. Controlled. The kind of calm that came right before violence.

Ava backed away. "How do you know my name?" Her voice cracked. "How did you find me?"

Ryder: "Because the mark chose you. And House Blackthorn doesn’t lose what’s ours."

A crash from the window. Glass.

Ava spun. A shadow dropped onto her fire escape. Taller than a man. He was Masked. Gun in hand. Not here to knock.

The door splintered inward at the exact same second.

Ryder came through it like a storm. He got a black suit on, rain still dripping from his shoulders. Got no umbrella. No hesitation. His eyes were gold, but dimmer than last night. Tired. Dangerous.

He didn’t look at her first. He looked past her. To the window.

The masked man raised his gun.

Ryder moved.

It wasn’t human fast. One second he was in the doorway, the next he was between Ava and the bullet. His hand snapped out and caught the masked man’s wrist. Black blood ink sprayed across the wall.

The sigil on Ava’s arm flared. Hot.

Ryder turned to her, and for a second the bodyguard mask slipped. His jaw was tight. There was a cut on his temple that hadn’t been there last night. Black, not red.

Ryder: "Are you hurt?"

It sounded like an order.

Ava: "No. What are you?"

He didn’t answer. He pulled a thin black card from his jacket and pressed it into her palm. Cold. Heavy.

Ryder: "That’s a ward. It’ll hide the mark for 12 hours. Put it on."

Boots. More than one. Coming up the stairs. Heavy. Deliberate.

Ryder’s gold eyes flicked to the door, then to her wrist. The sigil was glowing through her sleeve.

Ryder: "They tracked the pulse. You lit up like a beacon."

Ava: "I didn’t ask for this!"

Ryder: "No one does." He grabbed her hand. His skin was freezing. "We have 40 seconds before they’re in this room. You can scream, you can fight me, or you can live."

The timer ticked. 364:22:58

Another card. This one red. He pressed it over the black one on her wrist. The glow dimmed. Vanished.

The knocking started on the stairwell door downstairs. Polite. Three taps.

A voice, smooth, amused:

Unknown: "House Blackthorn. Cute. You think one Wrath can protect a Vessel?"

Ryder’s grip tightened on her.

Ryder: "Run."

He didn’t wait for her to answer. He yanked her toward the back door, toward the alley, toward whatever hell came next.

Behind them, the front door blew off its hinges.

...TO BE CONTINUED......

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