-1-

“Stop !,” I shout to Rias. “It’s okay!”

But it’s not okay

Rias looks over to me with a dismissive eye roll. Normally I’d be offended by this but I  don’t understand why Colette is on the offensive..

And it is her coming towards us. I know the scuffs on her dark blue Covalcotti bike and the fit and slogan on the back of her jacket.

Colette drifts the bike to a slow drag and then launches herself off the bike in a fluid motion. Her body is agile and strong, she lands on her feet and uses her built up momentum makes a run for Rias at  what looks like super human speed. I try and get in front of him, but she shoves me into the wall.

Her leg whips straight upwards and she kicks the gun out of Rias. Her hands forms fists and Rias gets his wits enough to duck and she punches the alley wall instead of his face. But it doesn’t slow her down, it only makes her laugh as she shakes out her fist and goes back in for another hit.

I know Rias doesn’t have another gun on him and they spar in hand to hand combat. She goes for him hard and he blocks her each time but there is never enough time to get his own hit in. They’re both fighters but Colette is just better. Rias is gasping for air and seems to be a half second behind her. 

Clearly fed up, Colette hooks her boot around his ankle and throws off Rias' balance enough to  catch him in a headlock. She pulls a deadly looking pistol from her back holster and presses it to his head.

Rias looks up at me and closes his eyes tight as she presses the barrel into his skull.

“Don’t look, Twyla--” Rias shouts over to me. 

I scream.

“Bang,” Colette says, in a hushed tone.

And then she laughs.

Rias opens his eyes as she releases him for the headlock. I can tell Rias is still ready to finish the fight, but Colette is already walking casually back to her waiting bike. She perches herself on it and drinks from a water bottle she pulls from under the seat.

She also pulls out the strappy gold sandals I told her to wear.  

I walk towards her bewildered. “Colette-”

“Water ?,” she offers the water bottle out to Rias.

He looks utterly confused. “What--No--” 

“You’re too defensive,” she tells him, straddling the bike seat and leaning her back against the handle bars in a way that, no matter how many times I saw her do it, always looked cool. “That’s dangerous.”

“What--”

“When I came at you, you  were just playing defense and looking for an out. If I gave you the chance you were going to run.  There are people who will want to kill you that don’t want an out. They’ll want a story of how they killed you. My left was open you should have taken me out.”

She starts swapping out her riding boots for the strappy sandals, she’s even painted her toenails. Rias just stares at her and then stares at me.

“What the hell is going on ?,” he breathes. He looks pissed, but also confused.

“This is my friend,” I explain. “Atleast…I think.”

“You're a Covalcotti...Why are you giving me advice on how to fight ?,” Rias asks, turning back to Colette

“Because I get it,” Colette says  storing her riding boots under seat.

“Get what ?”

“What it’s like,” she says, removing her hair from the ponytail and shaking it out.“To know that everyone you love wants to kill you for your throne.”

He bristles at the word throne.

“That’s not true--”

“Sure it is,” she says. “That’s why you’re taught to be defensive. Because when someone does come at you…and someone will--it’ll be someone you know and  you’ll choke instead of killing them. So, they teach you to run. It’s a good strategy…but it always assumes we can’t protect ourselves, you know ?”

Rias nods slightly, staring at  her as she walks away from her bike towards us. The gold shoes stand out against her ankle length black pants and tank top,  she's only a year and a half older than me but it’s effortless how adult she looked sometimes.

“I’m Colette. Lets go inside,” Colette says. “We good ?”

She extends her hand and Rias takes it. 

-2-

She hooks her arm around mine and we make a run for Beverly Hell, Rias trailing behind us. I start to pull us toward the back of the line that was wrapping around the club, but Colette pulls me to the front. We go right to the front doors where Colette shares a look with the man guarding the door and he lets us in.

We get some hisses and curses thrown at us from people waiting in the line, but Colette just laughs.

The moment were inside I’m hit with a wall of sound and dancing lights. Giant holoscreens line the enormous space showing the live bands playing on stage while  cute holographic creatures jump across the crowd from screen to screen.  The energy of the crowd and the power of the music pours through me like electricity.

I look behind me to see Rias, he looks a little uncomfortable but he’s got a smile on his face. He’s not used to being around large crowds. Ever since Rayne got sick he never got to go out to the arcades or dance parties like I did. And if he went to a cartel party he was expected to sit with his ailing father, slightly above it all.

Outside of the organized crime world, most people didn’t actually know who the leader of the Shy cartel  was or what he looked like and I had a feeling the people here didn’t care; they were here to be transported. The only people who really had it out for Rias were federal agents looking to end the cartels, but I doubted they’d think to look here for him.

Colette types a message on her Syndicate and projects it for me to see since the music was too loud for us to talk.

 Let’s make a loop

I nod and we make our way around the dance floor. The roof of the casino is  made of some ultraclear material and it looks like we’re partying under the night sky.  Bartenders dressed in skin colored body suits walk around with trays of drinks. Dancers in clear orbs float in each corner, their bodies bending  into shapes that seem impossible.

The two story building is packed--- every corner is filled with people laughing and having fun. Words zipping across the air as people talk to their friends.

Colette whispers into the ear of a waitress and then wanders off with her and I pull Rias out to the dance floor. He closes his eyes and moves to the music, I twirl in my brother’s arms, the airy chiffon dress swirling around me, with my arms spread wide. I try to make silly faces and make him laugh—he so rarely laughs, but he just smiles and continues dancing like normal person. But like a normal happy person.

We’re on our third song, doing some version of swing dancing, when I get a message from Colette.

Look to your left, dancing queen.

I look to my left and it takes me a minute to spot Colette. She’s standing on a roped off  private balcony and she has a bottle of champagne with sparklers in it. She mimes like she’s going to guzzle the bottle and I shake my head before going over to her.

Rias refuses the glass of champagne she pours for him, but I take a glass. Drinking wasn’t anything to Colette, she’d been having wine since she was in grade school and drank all the time, as did I, but Rias had never really been allowed to. There was this new prevailing theory that alcohol is part of what’s killing the Washingtons, since it was Rayne and his father’s only vice.  

Looking out at the crowd we’re probably the youngest people in the club and I wonder if this is what adulthood feels like.

When the band we came to see comes out the entire crowd--us included--erupts into raucous cheer.  The band isn’t actually a group of people, it was just  a sexy 16 foot animated girl with long white hair and fairy wings. She’s dressed in red, white and blue bikini for Federation Day tomorrow.

Her voice is still amazing and the vibe it gives off is strong.  I mostly dance with Colette, we hold on to each other and move our hips together. I feel the music in a different way when I’m with her and I feel alive and it’s fucking fun, but I can't get totally lost in the moment. My eyes always flick up to make sure Rias is okay.

Lots of girls come over to dance with Rias, really hot girls even, but he refuses them—dancing on his own and sometimes with Colette and I.

The band finishes their set at 1AM and we leave right after. I can’t stop giggling as we leave the club and step back into the world outside. It’s pitch black and I’m feeling buzzy. I don’t want this night to end. I wasn’t ready to go home.

“Can we go to The Castle ?,” I ask Colette  when we get outside the club and she nods wildly, like she was hoping I would ask, which maybe she was.  

Colette sends a few private messages on her Syndicate and then smiles at me.

Like Rias, Colette had infinite resources, but unlike Rias she actually had personal access to them. She calls a private car that picks us up from the club, drives us out of the Sprawl, across the desert, on to the Angel City Bridge and then another few miles towards the water and finally to the harbor where The Castle sat.

-3-

The Castle wasn’t really a castle, it was Colette’s grandmother’s house…well her boat. It was a private luxury cruise ship originally built as a vacation vessel. Grandma Santoro lived out of a couple rooms and the commercial kitchen and left the rest empty.

Colette’s Dad, Nico Santoro, bought The Castle so federal agents (who lost authority once they were out of the Federation land) could never arrest Grandma Santoro in connection with the Santoro family crimes. If they ever came looking for her, Grandma would just have to undock the ship and claim to be in International Waters.

Colette called it The Castle because when she was a little girl her father told her she was a special princess  like Rapunzel and that he stowed her away on the ship sometimes so nothing bad would happen to her. She’s told me it was a dumb name, but I’d started calling it that too

Grandma Santoro is  waiting for us at the bow of the ship. The woman was ancient, well over 100 at the least, but she lived out on this boat alone, under the protection her of her Santoro name.  She’s wearing a dark robe and her hair is in curlers, she gives Colette a hug and me a kiss on the cheek but her eyes narrow at Rias.

“This is Twyla’s big brother,” Colette explains.

“By like 15 months,” I add in and Grandma Santoro laughs, before also kissing Rias on the cheek.

“Why are you kids out so late ?,” she demands.

“We’re being safe,” Colette says. “Besides I had a late morning, so it only feels like 7PM to me.”

We follow Grandma Santoro on to the ship and she has a full buffet of stews and pasta laid out on a table in the lounge. She seemed to always have food ready to go no matter what time we came by. We fill up our plates and head to sit on the top deck. It was our favorite place on The Castle, it made you feel like you were between worlds. The decks looks tinto the dark depth of the oceans. All you can see is the rolling ocean and  bight, flickering stars, not even the cityscape was visible. 

“I’m sure you have questions,” Colette says once we’ve settled on the deck. Even though she’s looking out at the ocean I know she’s talking to Rias.

I swallow, the red wine Colette had brought up from her Grandmother’s cellar going dry in my throat.

Colette and I didn’t talk business. That was the main rule. I didn’t like knowing what she did when we weren’t together.

I knew this was my fault for bringing Rias along, but I’d just wanted to set my brother free for a night.

“You’re a rider,” Rias starts

She nods.

“....I always thought Nico was old school,” Rias says. “I didn’t know he had female riders.”

“He doesn't,” she says. “I’m the only one.”

“That’s… impressive,” Rias says.

“Not really,” she says. “I’m Nico’s daughter.”

He stares at her and then at me. He looks betrayed. Her being employed by the Santoro’s is one thing, her being a Santoro was another. Colette is still as I spill out the story of how we met without knowing each others true identity.

“Did Rayne know Nico well ?,” Colette asks him

This was the other thing about them. While Colette has all the access,  Rias actually had power. Real power know that Rayne was going.

Rias nods, shutting his eyes in frustration.

“I’m not your enemy.” Colette says.

“Your riders have killed out suppliers,” Rias tells her flatly.

“Under Nico’s orders,” she says. “If it helps I wasn’t one of them... Territory is sparse for us and when Nico gets nervous he starts taking people out. Look, we need better ways to deal with disputes. I know that…you must know that.”

“This feels like a trap,” Rias says through clenched teeth and his eyes cut to me. “A trap I’ve just walked right into,”

“Hey, I am not your enemy,” Colette repeats sternly. “I already told you, your biggest threat will be someone you know who wants to take your throne--”

“Why does everyone think Luce wants to kill me ?,” Rias says suddenly.

I have to take a big swallow of wine to calm down my nerves. We shouldn't be talking about this. Sure, we all assumed Luce was jealous of Rias’ position in the cartel but no one actually talked about it. Not even Uncle Jean who said everything on his mind.

“I’m not even just talking about your bother,” Colette says. “I mean it could be anyone who wants to end you and end the Washington dynasty with you. Mjollner,  guards, investors, hell even cartel victims with a bone to pick.”

“There’s still Kenji,” he says, referring to his only cousin who was only 8 and lived at Arkham Academy with his parents. If Rias didn’t have kids or died, Kenji would take his place.

“Please. A child could be easily taken out,” she says.

“What about you ?,” Rias shoots back. “When do you take over the Santoro Family ?,”

“Never.” Colette says with a quick smile. “Nico's never trusted me.”

“Gee, I wonder why,” I say, motioning my fork between Rias and I in an attempt to lighten the mood.

She rolls her eyes and goes to sit on the deck railing, straddling the barrier and balancing herself, her heels hooked bottom of the the railing.

“If it were ever up to me,” Colette tells Rias. “I’d change things…I mean I get that we’re not white knights, but it could be better, you know ? Between the cartels.”

"Well, if it were up to me there'd be no cartel," Rias says dryly.

It shocks me that he says this sober. I'd always got the sense that Rias never wanted everything that was being put on his shoulders but he'd never said it.

"Do you really mean that ?," Colette asks, raising a dark eyebrow.

“I don't know. Sometimes,” Rias says. “But then Someone else reminds me it’s much more complicated. That despite what the Federation thinks the cartels are propping up the economy. People are going to buy drugs, so why not from us ?”

“But don’t you veto everyone ?,” she asks. "You're in charge now, right ? "

“It’s not that easy,” he says. “I guess I just want it to be better, less corrupt, less bitter. Maybe one day if you ever get control of the Santoro family we can change things… between our families at the very least.”

 She scoffs.

“For me to take power I’d have to kill my father and all his allies,” she says and then smiles. “So…maybe one day.”

We fall asleep on the deck of The Castle and when  I wake up the sun is beginning to rise. I smack Rias’ arm and whisper that  we have to go back to Mojave.

Aunt Minnie would be knocking on Rias’s bedroom door to get him ready  for his first appointment at 8 AM. It was officially Federation Day and holidays always meant Rias would have to do the most elbow rubbing.

Colette decides to spend the day with her grandmother at The Castle and calls the chauffeured car to take my brother and I to the closest station, where we have to take a bus and two trains to get into Mojave. We both sleep on the trains but I'm still exhausted and glad I don’t have to do school today after last night. 

Which makes me feel like a spoiled brat because Rias never got a day off.

“Where did Luce go this early ?,” Rias asks when we get to the penthouse garage.

Luce never got out of bed before noon unless he had a job. But his Vulcan is gone from it’s usual spot. 

I shrug.

I check for messages on my Syndicate from Luce but there aren’t any. He always left without telling us where he was going, sometimes right  in the middle of a conversation.

“Thank you, Twyla,” Rias says, once we're in the living room. “It was a little weird with Colette and all at first but…I think one day she could be a good ally...and I had fun.”

“Fun? I don’t think you’ve ever said that word,” I tease.

 I go to my room change into pajamas, but I don’t feel like going to bed. I run back downstairs to the kitchen and make coffee. When Rias comes downstairs in his black suit of the day, we drink coffee and talk more about last night, this time I spill some more details on Colette and he listens, although I can still tell she makes him uncomfortable.

“What are you guys doing up so early ?,” Luce says stalking down the stairs in his boxers. Even when he was in his underwear he was carrying—the leather gun holster securely around his broad shoulders. 

“Bonding,” I tell him and he looks uninterested, but pours himself some of the coffee I made.

“Where’s your car ?,” Rias asks him.

“In the garage, dummy,” Luce says.

“I was just out there,” Rias tells him. “It’s not out there.”

“Is this a joke ? You two need to grow up,” Luce shoots back, but he brings up the live footage of the security camera outside and when he sees the image of an empty garage he frowns.

“Motherfucker,” Luce says under his breath.

“Someone stole it ?,” I ask. That shouldn’t even be possible, a trespasser can't get to our floor unless they were bulletproof.

“Lex,” Luce growls, and  charges back upstairs, his bare feet slapping against the hardwood.

Rias and I exchange a  look and follow after Luce. Luce's bedroom is empty and he opens the sliding drawer where he keeps his personal armory. 

All of the guns are kept neatly displayed in the drawer. 

Which makes it noticeable that two are missing. Luce sends a message using the communication system in his cybernetic software and after a minute curses again.

“Shit, he's not at the club. I  thought he just went to work early because of Federation Day traffic," Luce says. He runs his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Where do you--," I start but Luce suddenly goes still, staring at the television.

“Fuck. Alex is  going to the Federation Day parade. He’s going to kill the Attorney General.”