Kimberly and Krystel watched as Annette leaned back in her chair with her sandwich eating as a faraway look came to her eyes. “You all have to understand that what I am about to tell you not even my mother or Anna knows. I only know because Samantha told me when we were still kids, running the streets of Toledo. Back when she was still wearing the disguise of Joseph Capizeo, only son of Marko and Mary Capizeo.”

“Okay. No one else will know, unless Samantha tells them.” Kimberly said.

Lyssa was standing in front of the monitors, talking quietly with Maria and Dannigan, watching the tracks of the girls and Angelic on a map.

“The feud between the Capizeo family and the Iscariot Division goes back for as long as our two families have been related. It goes back to the very first Hemlock Rose and the original betrayal by the Iscariot Division. To a time between when Leonardo di Vinci painted the Last Supper and to before Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Sometime around the beginning of the fifteen-hundreds.” Annette took another bite of the bar before continuing.

“For starters, understand that until the fifteen-hundreds the Capizeo family were nothing more than silk-road traders going clear back to the seventh century. If not even further back. No one truly knows how long the Capizeo’s were silk traders. They would most likely have stayed that way until Rinaldo Capizeo, at the tender age of seventeen; made his first and only journey with his father to the Far East.” Annette took another bite of the bar, not savoring the taste. “I know these are made to keep you going, but they leave a lot for taste.”

“We've had worse.” Krystel remarked, she hadn't stopped sifting through the unlocked data, but listened.

“Somewhere during the long return journey home, their caravan was attacked. His father was killed, and he was taken hostage by a local warlord. Nobody knows exactly where he was taken, just that he was taken and held for a rather short period of time. He was then traded to a monastery high in the Himalaya mountains as a slave. He was held there for the next ten years. No one knows exactly what all he did during that time. All that we do know is that when he finally returned, in fourteen-ninety-seven, he was a changed man. He also returned with the secrets for one of the truly deadliest martial arts of them all. The Sleep of the Beautiful Death.” The others were being pulled into the story told by Annette. Of all the Deputies on the Black Badge team Samantha Justice was the biggest mystery for them.

Their attention was drawn back to the screens by a flash on one screen showing the phone's feed. Kimberly was the only one to comment. “DAMN! That was noteworthy. Think the neighbors felt it?”

“No. It was directed inward and down with two delays. Similar to imploding a building.” Lyssa and the others watched the feed. “Aww, poor Sylvia. Everything that mattered to her, gone in milliseconds before her very eyes and now goes screaming.”

Moments later, Sylvia slumped forward as her lower body still incinerated and the feed went to static. Lyssa resumed talking quietly over the comms.

“I’ve always known that my mother has a twisted sense of humor. As for Samantha’s humor, I’ll take whatever we can get out of her. She has too much of her ancestors in her. This is where her unrelenting thirst for revenge comes from. There are times that I worry over what she will do to satisfy it. The legends that surround the Hemlock Roses all tell of their unquenchable wrath and almost godlike skills at killing. I don’t know if Anna told you or not but there are secrets of assassination that only the Capizeo family and their Hemlock Roses hold. Secrets that more than a few say should never see the light day and were best left to the cloak of history’s darkest nights. Even amongst my own family.” Annette’s voice held a barely audible tremble that could heard clear as a bell. They could tell that something scared the fuck out of Annette about Samantha’s hidden talents. “And now that she has the final key to the mystery of who had her family killed; nothing, not even God himself, shall stop the deadliest of the Moonless Night Wraiths from her revenge and fulfilling a long-held blood oath.”

“Annette, where did the title of the Hemlock Rose come from?” Kimberly asked. She could also tell that she needed to get the young woman to think about something else other than what Samantha will do once this operation was over.

“I’ll come to that. Where was I? Oh yeah; Samantha’s ancestor Renaldo Capizeo’s return to San Marino, Italy. Yeah that’s right ladies, the Capizeo’s were originally from Italy not Sicily. To be exact, they were from San Marino in the Papal States during the Renaissance. Until Renaldo’s father’s failed expedition, the Capizeo family were the exclusive dealers in silk to some of the most powerful families in all of Europe. Even the Popes of Rome were their customers. The problem developed when the Pope at that time demanded repayment of the money he had supposedly loaned Renaldo’s dead father for the expedition. Money that Rinaldo did not have on hand.” Annette chewed as she thought about how to explain the next part of the tale. She knew that these hard women, though not Catholic were probably spiritual in some way, would have problems understanding the politics of the Holy Rome Catholic Church and the surrounding Princedoms at the time.

“What does his father owing the Pope at the time have to do with the betrayal of the Capizeo family and this feud of theirs with the Iscariot Division?” Kimberly questioned Annette in confusion. “And why haven’t you explained where the title of the Hemlock Rose came from?”

“Please be patient, I am coming to that, Kimberly. It all revolves around what happened to Rinaldo Capizeo in the days following his return to Italy, his failure to repay the Pope, the original betrayal that resulted in in the death of his father and his capture on the silk-road.” Annette sighed as she could tell that the operators were lost. “Please remember that before and during the Renaissance not even the Nobles defied the Popes. Kings and Queens lived in fear of Excommunication by the Church. For a lowly merchant to defy him was unheard of at the time. Not even the most powerful Venetian merchant families dared to defy the Roman Papacy.”

“Damn. Talk about your Totalitarian Dictatorships.” Krystel remarked.

“The Renaissance period was more than just a rebirth of the arts and science Krystel. It also marked the beginning of the end for much of the Church’s control over a great deal of Europe. However, that power had yet to show the first crack at that time and the Pope was still rightly to be feared. An example of this power was the punishment that was handed down for Rinaldo’s failure in being able to repay the debt of his father. The Iscariot Division, who were an even bigger secret back then, seized the family home, all warehouses and assets, then arrested all of their servants, him and what was left of his family. The Church sold off the family home and business to the highest bidder. As for Rinaldo’s family servants, they were sold off right along with the rest of the family’s assets. The servants were treated as nothing more than chattel.” Annette stopped to take another bite and drink her water.

“The family members themselves were never given a trial. They were just simply thrown into the deepest, darkest and harshest of prisons. For another four years Renaldo languished in captivity with his family. One by one he was forced to watch his family die around him. When he was at last finally able to escape only his youngest sister Elisabeth was still alive. The rest of his family died in those dungeons to torture. During those four years he taught the first steps in learning the Sleep of the Beautiful Death to his sister Elisabeth. The Way of the Dancing Blade.” Annette smirked at the looks of astonishment on the faces of the two Operators. “That’s right ladies. The DeMarco family learned the Way of the Dancing Blade from a Capizeo.”

“Ok, didn't see that coming. So, in short, your whole family owes its whole way of combat to what could only be considered an outlaw of the times. I take it that the Hemlock Rose title came about due to the escape?” Krystel asked Annette.

“You’re close in some ways. The title of Hemlock Rose came about because of the massive tattoo that covered Rinaldo’s back. During his time in the monastery where he learned the secrets of both the Dancing Blade and Beautiful Death. Each step of his training was painstakingly tattooed across his back. The first time this tattoo was ever seen by Western eyes was in the very dungeons that killed his family as the torturers ripped the shirt form his back. According to legend the men were so taken by the beauty of the tattoo that they refused to deface it, even at the orders of the Captain of the Guard. Instead they used Rinaldo’s chest as the target of their torturous pleasures.” Annette knew that she was now getting deep into DeMarco family history as well as Capizeo family history.

“Following their escape from the dungeon, Rinaldo and Elisabeth, spent the next five months slowly working their way south down the length of the peninsula to the island of Sicily. It was there in a small fishing village, that has now disappeared to the annuls of time; that the Capizeo family first met the DeMarcos. We were nothing more than a simple family of fishermen back then, not the feared family of assassins that we would become over the next five-hundred years. It was two years after their escape that Elisabeth married her first and only love; Donavan DeMarco. As for Rinaldo he never taught his sister the second part of the Beautiful Death. He feared what the knowledge could be used for in the wrong hands. Rinaldo had always been a deeply spiritual man. He never lost his faith, even during his time as a slave, as a Martial Arts Disciple and then finally as a prisoner in own country. My ancestors were the ones to give him the title of the Hemlock Rose. A title that has been passed down to the only to the most worthy of members for each generation. No matter the sex.” Annette took a drink from her water.

“By the time Rinaldo had turned thirty-seven, he married the only woman he would ever love. She was a common village girl. She gave him four boys and two girls. He taught the secrets of the Sleep of the Beautiful Death to all of his children. Along with a personal code of honor that has been passed down through the generation.” Annette could tell that the two operators wanted to know more about the betrayal by the looks in their eyes. “Before Rinaldo married the young woman. Word reached him that the Priest who had accompanied him and his father to the Orient had survived.”

“Lemme guess; a member of the Iscariot Division, right?” Kimberly asked, scrolling her screen.

“Give the lady a cigar! The Priest was Father Dominic Fortunato and a member of the Iscariot Division unbeknownst to the Renaldo’s father. The Priest was the Pope’s representative for the expedition. Back then, the Roman Catholic Church practically demanded that all silk-road caravans have at least one Priest among the party. Most of these men were members of the regular clergy, but a few of them were spies of the Iscariot Division. Most of the time their only reason for going on these expeditions was to gather new information on the Orient. For a few of these men their missions were far more sinister. Betrayal of the expedition leaders. This betrayal normally happened on the return journey when the merchants had the most goods, which would be confiscated.” Annette sighed and took a drink of her water. “With the Priests holding the position of the Pope’s personal representative, ownership of those caravans reverted to the Holy Roman Catholic Church should the leaders be captured or die.” Annette took another drink of her water before continuing.

“This was the original betrayal of the Capizeo family and would lead to what we have come to the call the First Great Reckoning. Ten days following his wedding Rinaldo left Sicily with one thing on his mind. Revenge. It took him three months of hard traveling before reaching Rome. Over the next two weeks Rinaldo scouted every route in and out of the Vatican. Most especially the routes for the area that held the Iscariot Division. Back alleys, side streets, roof tops, even the sewers. Rinaldo made hand drawn maps of the whole area. Those maps are still held somewhere within the very walls of the ancestral home of the Capizeo’s in Sicily. I believe there is only one person alive who truly knows where those maps are, that’s Samantha.” Annette giggled as she thought about those ancient maps and where they were. “Let me correct that last statement. Those maps are ‘ON’ the ‘WALLS’ of the Capizeo ancestral home. I think that only Samantha can read those maps though.”

“Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that Rinaldo left maps of how to infiltrate the Iscariot Division Head Quarters on the walls of Samantha’s ancestral home?!” Kimberly couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“That is exactly what I’m saying. I’ve seen pictures of those walls when I was a child. I know that Samantha would know the secret in how to read the maps. To most people, the maps would look like ordinary designs in the plaster covering the walls. But like I said only Sam knows the secret to reading them. I’ve tried to figure them out from the pictures that Samantha showed me as a kid. I failed. I know that there must be a different map key for each wall. The problem is in finding the key for each wall.” Annette’s bitterness over not being able to crack the secret of the map walls was apparent to the others. “And the only person who knows where those keys are is Samantha.”

“Do you believe that Samantha will go after Delicato once she has the chance?” Kimberly asked her again.

“I know that she will, Captain. As sure as I’m sitting here on the sidelines. There will be nothing that we can do to stop her. All that we can do is help her or get out of the way. Samantha is like all Capizeos. I think that no one truly knows just how hard she keeps her need for revenge under control.” Annette’s words were not comforting to Kimberly or the others.

“Annette, you were telling us about how Rinaldo went after this Iscariot Priest. What happened when he was finally able to enter their Head Quarters? I assume that he was able to do so.” Krystel asked to get Annette’s mind off what would happen after this operation was over.

“All we know, or anyone does, is that Rinaldo was able to enter and leave the Head Quarters of the Iscariot Division totally unseen. How he did that, again no one knows. We do know that he did on a moonless night. According to legend; this is where the Wraith of the Moonless Night Guild got our name. When he returned to Sicily the man who had betrayed his family lay dead on the altar of Iscariot Division’s private church. I do mean on the alter.” Annette let a small smile come to her face as she thought of the description of how the guards found the body. “If you take the legend as purely truth. The Swiss guards found the body; arms crossed, eyes closed with gold coins on their lids and a single white rose clasped in his hands.”

“And no one saw him enter or leave the area?” Krystel asked in total disbelief not knowing how to approach the subject. “You say he did it but are you sure that none of the Swiss guards saw?”

“All the guards ever found, or saw, was the body and message left by Renaldo.” Annette chuckled as she thought about that very message and the part it has played in her family history. “I have never really thought about what that message has meant to our two families or its part in our history.”

“What was the message?” Krystel asked her.

“Part of that ceremony for Kasey and Kristine, in Italy. The words that Maria spoke as she inducted Kasey and Kristine into the Guild of Moonless Wraith.” Lyssa spoke up, apparently she had been following the conversation while still focusing on other things. “The smallest half of that deadly guild yet the most feared gave birth to all of your traditions.”

“Your mind is sharp as ever Sergeant-Major. Very few outsiders have ever witnessed our blooding ceremony and grasped the significance of those words.” Annette nodded to Lyssa as she acknowledged the Operator's quick mind. “As for how our guild was birthed there is more to it than just what Rinaldo and Elisabeth brought to us.”

“You’ll have to forgive us Annette, but we never saw the ceremony. What does the message have to do with your induction ceremony?” Krystel asked.

“Rinaldo’s message was written in the blood of the 'good' father. I often find that when I question my calling I think about those words.” Annette closed her eyes and began to recite that long-ago message from memory. “I find that they give me a great deal of comfort and conviction. ‘I am a shadow that passes unseen through the night. I have become the wraith of Justice. In my hands I hold the blades of both justice and vengeance. I take no pleasure in the taking a life. Mine is a sacred honor and duty that shall be passed down generation to generation. Only the most dangerous, most vile, most hated, most unjust, need fear our blades. The innocent, pure of heart, and oppressed shall be avenged by our blades. We shall become the unseen Right Hand of Lady Justice. Fear our passing as we are the Wraiths of the Moonless Night.’” When Annette finished, she slowly opened her eyes to find Lyssa looking at her with a pinpoint glacial glare.

“Those are very close to the words Maria spoke during the ceremony. I remember them as if I was still there. Let me see if I got this correct. ‘Let your passing be as the shadows in the night. In our hands lays justice and vengeance. We take no pleasure in the taking a life. Ours is a sacred honor passed down generation to generation. Only the most dangerous, most vile, most hated, most unjust, need fear our blades. The innocent, pure of heart, and oppressed are avenged by our blades. We are the Right Hand of Lady Justice. We are the Wraiths of the Moonless Night.’” Lyssa could tell by the look in Annette’s eyes that she right on the money.

“Word for word Sergeant-Major. Can you grasp the meaning behind the kiss and marks in blood?” Annette questioned her.

“I can only guess at those, but I figure they have something to do with the next part of the story.” Lyssa stated. She like the rest of the command staff had become fascinated by the history of the two most dynamic parts of the Black Badge Deputies. Namely the highly trained old-world assassins that were four members of that team. They had helped to train Kasey and Kristine, more academically than other, but the majority of their training came from within the family.

“Just a moment.” Kimberly said then answered a call. “Ram Air Charter… oh. Hello. Yes. One moment please. Lyssa, Adonis is on the line. Transferring to you only.”

“Yes?” Lyssa answered then waved Annette to continue while she went over to a terminal. “I'm not even going to bother ask what the hell you're doing in Portugal. Standby, you goof.”

Annette was nodding her head as she returned to the story and the first years of the Wraith of the Moonless Nights. “When Rinaldo returned, he found his sister teaching her husband and his family the Way of the Dancing Blade. At first, he was furious with his sister for breaking her word. She had promised to never teach what he had taught her to anyone else.”

“Why would he make such a demand of her?” Krystel asked.

“It all goes back to that mountain monastery. Nobody knows exactly what all happened during his time there, just that he learned the Sleep of the Beautiful Death. The story goes, part of the conditions for his release was that he would never teach what he had learned to people outside of his family. This was the other reason that Rinaldo never taught Elisabeth the rest of the Sleeping Death. Rinaldo, besides being a man of deep spiritual convictions, was also a man of extreme honor.” Annette explain the problem that Rinaldo was faced with thanks to his sister.

“So why'd his sister teach her husband and the rest of the DeMarco family?” Kimberly knew that the key to understanding these two mysterious families lie in the answer to her question.

“Elisabeth began teaching her husband and family out of fear of what the Church would do if Rinaldo failed. She knew she would need an army to face the Church’s wrath. To this end she turned to her husband’s family. They had all known of Rinaldo’s mission of revenge and were more than happy to help the newest member of their family.” Annette giggled. “Not to mention the fact that none of my family wanted to piss off Rinaldo by letting her down.”

“So he was truly that terrifying to them?” Kimberly mused.

“OH; THAT WAS SMART!” Lyssa snarled into her mic, noticed the others look over and shook her head for them to ignore her.

“That is definite disapproval. Oh yes, the story. I highly doubt that the legends of his anger carry only half the truth. They say that tempers are not a hereditary trait. Obviously, none of those foolish scientists ever dealt with a Capizeo. When they get mad, they never take prisoners, and never spare lives. You asked what the blood and kiss were about during the ceremony. They are to be reminders for the members of the Moonless Night Wraiths of two very important parts of our profession.” Annette took a drink of her water and collected her thoughts. What she was about to tell these women had never been shared with anyone not a member of the families. Yet she knew that she couldn’t end the story now.

“First reminder is what is known to our families as the Five-point-kiss. It is also considered a blessing among our two families. One that is given to the newest members of the Moonless Wraith Guild. It was Elisabeth Capizeo who first performed the kiss. She told us that it is to always remind us to use all of our senses, not just our sight. Our hearing, smell, taste, and touch as well. That we interact with the world through all of our senses, not just sight. It is the way we train our children to do more than just survive, but to truly live.” Annette explained the first of the ceremonial reminders. Then moved onto the next.

“The second reminder is the blood. This is done for two reasons. When the Master or Mistress of the Guild welcomes a new member, they cut the palm of their hands and mix their blood. This is done to show that all are a part of a greater whole. That is the first reason. But it is not the most important of reasons. The second reason is to remind us all they we shall always be cursed by the blood of our victims.” Annette used the first two fingers of her right hand to draw a set of lines down each of her cheeks.

“The four lines of blood represent the four most important kills in our lives. Our blood kill, this is the one that earns us our place within the guild. The first kill for profit, the price doesn’t matter just that they are paid for the kill. Next is the first kill done solely for vengeance. And our last kill. The order in which these kills happen doesn’t matter. The reasons behind them doesn’t matter. We just know that they always happen.” Annette took a deep breath. She knew what she was about to say would touch a sore spot with these women. “Kasey and Kristine have already earned three of those four blood lines. Their first kill, their vengeance kill, and their profit kill. I doubt that I shall live to see their final kill.”

“Let’s get back to the history lesson. You were talking about how Elisabeth had begun to train the DeMarco clan. How did your ancestors become what come only be called the boogeymen of the old world?” Kimberly asked. This was more information on the DeMarco and Capizeo crime families than anyone had been able to collect in history.

“I was wondering when you get to that Captain.” Annette smiled as she looked up at the screen showing her daughters’ progress. “Before I get into that. Krystel, how much more time until the girls will be in position for making their late-night delivery?”

“An hour or so. If they hit traffic, plus twenty minutes. They need to change and pick up the paperwork for the artwork.” Krystel was typing on her computer. “The rest of the team should arrive at their location after they leave. With the exception of the good sister. She is twenty-five minutes out on her destination. Say Annette can you answer a question for me? If there is such animosity between your two families and the Church how did any of them ever end up joining the Church as priests and nuns?”

“Our faith has always been one of the cornerstones to the foundations of our two families, Krystel. We do not hate the Catholic Church as a whole. Our fight is with just one sect of the Church, the Iscariot Division. We know that the Iscariot Division will double cross us the second they get the chance. And they know that we will come for them in the fullness of the night if they dare. The few of us who have joined the Church have done so because they felt the call to serve God. The Guild of the Moonless Night Wraiths never accepts the unwilling under any circumstances. Even during our first days there were always three choices for us. The assassin, the thief and the clergy.” Annette stood up and went to get another water.

“I can tell that most of you have problems understanding this, but it is the truth. The funny part is that there have only been two Orders that would take in the white sheep of our families.” Annette chuckled as she thought about those two orders. “The Order of Saint Nicholas and Saint George.”

Kimberly chuckled. “There couldn’t be two different orders if there were. Yet both dedicated to the reforming of sinners. I take it that the Church cut some kind of deal with your families?”

“If you by that you mean, did we make them an offer they couldn’t refuse. Then yes, we cut them a deal. It all goes back to what happened to the three companies of Swiss guards they sent after Rinaldo. It took the Iscariot bastards four years to learn that he was the one to killed that worthless priest out of revenge. I will save time and tell you right now that none of those men lived to tell of what they found in that fishing village. Our families slaughtered them to the last to drive the point home, that we did not fear the Iscariot Division or the Church. We sent the heads of those men back to the Cardinal of the Iscariot Division with our first ever friendly warning.” Annette could tell that Kimberly and Krystel wanted to laugh at the friendly warning crack. They had witnessed the DeMarco idea of a ‘friendly warning’ before.

“That was the true beginning of the Moonless Night Wraiths Guild. It was Elisabeth Capizeo y’ DeMarco who founded the guild, not her brother. He may have taught us how to kill, but it was Elisabeth who organized the families. It was Elisabeth who turned the two families into the feared assassins we have become. She was our first Donna or Don. The woman was as cunning as she was beautiful. Her planning and foresight turned what was nothing more than a ragtag band of fishermen and their families into what became two of the most powerful old-world criminal organizations. The tales of how the Rome Church would not cross us are true. Even now the Church will only double cross one of the families if it is worth the risk of facing our anger.” Annette smiled as she talked about her family’s history. “People talk about how the Church fears no one. That is true; to a point. What they fear is not a person, but a Wraith bent on revenge.”

“So jus where did the title Lithium Flower come from?” Krystel asked.

“According to legend Rinaldo bestowed that title on Elisabeth. He did this just before her marriage. Part of the legend says he even tattooed her back with each step of her training. Just as his had been tattooed. Only he changed the tattoo somewhat. Namely the center piece. Instead of a hemlock rose in the center he placed a lithium flower. Nobody knows if this last part is true. It is just a part of the legend. I think the only proof of Rinaldo doing something like that would be in the Capizeo family journals.” Annette let her mind wonder for a bit. “Yes, I’m sure of it. Only the Capizeo family journals would hold any proof of Elisabeth ever being tattooed.”

“Annette, why did your families ever turn to assassination? Wait, that didn’t come out the way it should.” Kimberly asked of Annette.

“I understood what you were getting at Kimberly. The answer is simple. Money. In truth; Rinaldo sucked as a fisherman. But he excelled as an assassin. At first it was only a way to feed his growing family. He would take out the odd outlaw here and there for the local lord. Soon his name was being spread across Europe and most of Western Asia. Whispered in the dark halls of power. They say he was the ghost that killed in the night with dark and terrifying ways known only to him. No one ever saw him come or go. He was nothing but the vengeful Wraith that came to kill those that dared to break the covenant between the lord of the land and the people who worked those lands. All they ever found was a body with coins on the eye lids and a white rose in the hands. He was so in demand that Elisabeth had to start sending DeMarco family members to handle some of the jobs.” Annette thought about how her family had grown to be both respected and feared.

“Did they ‘sign’ their kills the same way?” Kimberly questioned Annette.

“Not exactly. They all ‘signed’ their kills yes, but each member had their own mark. One would use just a single rose petal, another a copper coin between the teeth, still another would use a melted candle. There were so many, to be honest; I've forgotten most of them. One stands out for my family though. Elisabeth always signed her kills with a bloody feather. A tradition that has been handed down to the Lithium Flower for each generation. When my mother goes to her heavenly reward or finally retires. I’ll pick up the mantel of the Lithium Flower. With it the ‘Blood Red Feather.” Annette’s voice held a tone of sadness as she spoke of the future. “And Kasey shall take my place becoming the next White Tulip.”

“Who takes over as the Mistress for the Guild?” Kimberly asked.

“As the Hemlock Rose has finally stepped forward and claimed her rightful place, Samantha will become the next Mistress for the Guild.” Both Operators gave Annette questioning looks. “The Hemlock Rose has traditionally held the position as the Head for our Guild.”

“Okay let me get this straight. The Capizeo family has traditionally been the Masters, or Mistresses, of the Guild. And your nickname of ‘the Tulip’ is some kind of rite passed down through the generations. Just as ‘the Lithium Flower’ is passed down. Right along with the way you sign your kills.” Annette nodded her head to all of Kimberly’s statements. “Will Samantha change her ‘signature’ as well?”

“That will be her decision. If a Hemlock Rose decides to follow their own path, instead of tradition, that is their right. Not even the current Mistress of the Moonless Wraiths can stand in their way. Though I doubt that Samantha will go against tradition. The time for the Silver Bullet Ballerina to pass on her signature has come. I fully expect that the next time she signs a kill as an assassin it will be with two coins and a white rose.” The note of honest pride that filled Annette’s voice grabbed all their attention.

“Then the legends are true. There is an honest to god ghost that haunts the Iscariot Division in a way. I’ve heard most of the stories concerning the Iscariot Division in my travels Annette. I’ll be honest here. I never really put much stock in them.” Lyssa remarked then went back to the call. “No, Adonis, go past that and turn right. The blue building. Right. His name is Jason. Two thousand, well two-thousand for me. You're a guy, he might charge you an extra five hundred!”

All four women laughed at that statement.

“Whatever stories you’ve heard concerning a ghost that haunts those pigs, believe them.” Annette snarled as the other two Operators chuckled.

Annette continued her story. “For as long as the Moonless Wraiths have existed, the Capizeo family have kept the Iscariots in line by being a thorn in their side. A good example of how they have done this is the assassination of Cardinal Rupert Von Geist. I think it was in seventeen-oh-one. The man took out a contract on a merchant in Venice. The man lied to the Hemlock Rose for the reason of the contract. According to the contract the merchant was stealing from the warehouses of his competitors. The truth of the matter was; the Cardinal was in business with one of the merchant’s competitors. When the Capizeo who was sent to carry out that contract learned the truth, it was too late. He had already assassinated the merchant. An innocent man. It took thirty days to figure out the truth, but Rupert Von Geist was a member of the Iscariot Division. He had been working towards cornering the market on spice trade and was targeting the spice merchants for take over. On the thirty-first day Cardinal Rupert Von Geist was found dead in his bed. His throat was slit from ear to ear, with two coins on the eyes, a white rose in his hands and a sprig of edelweiss from Von Geist’s homeland lay next to the body.”

“Holy shit! That's driving a point home. Lied to by a contract holder. I thought your families were pretty much in it for the money.” Kimberly said.

“One of the four things we never do is kill an innocent. Vets, children, women and innocent bystanders are hands-off. ‘Wrong-place, wrong-time’ doesn't wash with us. Average people that happen across something, we don't touch, no matter the price. It has been this way from the very founding of our Guild. You take out a contract on an innocent with us and we find out; you pay the fucking price with your life. Our Guild does not suffer the folly of fools lightly. There are no bigger fools than those within the Iscariot Division. More than a few of them have found the bottom of a shallow grave at our hands.” The growl never left Annette’s voice. She looked at the Operators with eyes cold as the frozen North Pole.

“Yes, the DeMarco and Capizeo families have been hired killers for the last five-hundred years. But our targets have been the hardest to find, the vilest, disgusting, worthless, pieces of human shit. The people we have hunted down through history only deserved to feel our blades as we drew them across their necks. If just one of our number should ever stray from the Path of the true assassin. We are the ones to hunt them down and end them. That is our duty.” There was no doubt in the two Operators minds about what Annette meant by this last statement. If a DeMarco or Capizeo would ever turn serial killer, they would take out a contract on their own family member to be carried out by their own family.

“Like Lyssa? You would kill one of your own if they crossed the line?” Kimberly questioned Annette. “Serious ethics.”

“Not only will we hunt them down, Kimberly. We will do so before the authorities ever know that one of our number crossed that line.” Annette let her eyes and voice stay cold and hard. “We put down our rabid dogs ourselves. The Wraiths do not tolerate serial killers. We do not train or raise serial killers. Our targets will always be the worst of the worst, including serial killers. No matter who they are.”

“I’ve sat on this question since Italy. You say that you become Wraiths in the Night; there seems more to it. The mindset that you train your kids to achieve when killing. More specifically, how do you achieve it and why?” Lyssa spoke up, muting her mic.

It was straight to the point, this heart of the training behind the Moonless Wraiths, the Sleep of the Beautiful Death and Sam’s split personalities. The personality aspect was the part that didn't sit well with her.

Annette let the frigid edge leave her eyes and voice. “There is a place deep in everyone’s soul that is a black as a starless sky, and moonless night. A place colder than the far reaches of the Polar icecaps. It is a place that allows one to kill and never feel remorse. Part of the training during the first steps of training for the Way of the Dancing Blade is in how to reach that place. We call this black corner in our souls the Wraith. This is what is needed to master first the Way of the Dancing Blade then finally the Sleep of the Beautiful Death if you’re a Capizeo.”

“I know that you use ballet in the training of the girls. What about the boys?” Kimberly questioned Annette.

Annette chuckled. “Who says we do anything different for the boys?”

“Wait a minute. You’re telling us that you use ballet to train the boys the same way?” Krystel was confused as Kimberly now.

Annette just giggled at the reactions of Kimberly and Krystel. “No, we don’t use ballet to help train the boys in the Way of the Dancing Blade. For the boys we use a harsher approach in their training for first steps in the Way of the Dancing Blade. It is actually the way that Rinaldo was trained. Though there are exceptions to this rule for some of the Capizeo boys. Boys like Joseph. I know that you have all noticed how small Samantha is. Well she wasn’t the only male like that in her family. There have been others; the most feared of the Capizeos. Their speed, their balance, their reflexes, their senses were always greater than a normal person’s. This is not known outside of our two families, so please never bring this up again. There is a rare form of Klinfelters disorder that runs in the Capizeo family blood line. This disorder affects one out of every two hundred males of the Capizeo family blood line.”

Annette sighed as she gave the women another part of the mystery. “The majority of the Capizeo men look similar to my father, the Major. The ones that are affected by this disorder wind up looking almost Elf-like in appearance and all are very petite. Even if Joey hadn't gone the route that he had, he would never have been really respected as a man. Because of his size and natural feminine beauty. Then there is the curse.”

“Okay what is this curse you’re talking about?” Kimberly asked.

“You’ve all seen the shift in Samantha and mine’s personalities when it comes time to kill. This is more than just us tapping into the Wraith. This is the curse. When the curse over takes one of us, our speed, strength, agility, senses, are all increased tenfold. Not as much as Lyssa or those men that came here, those men frightened us. The older ones especially. We do gain though. Our emotional responses decrease some as well.” Seeing the looks of confusion, Annette sighed. “Maybe I should rephrase the part about a curse. Let me see if I can explain this in a way that makes sense. You see there is a genetic quirk that runs in both the Capizeo and DeMarco family blood lines. It was first spotted about five-hundred years ago in the DeMarco family. I’m not sure when it was first spotted in the Capizeo family.” Annette’s voice held a tone of sadness.

“I think that only my mother knows how far back it goes with the Capizeo family. Anyway as I was saying. This quirk was tied to certain members of Capizeo family, namely the males, ones similar to Samantha. In the DeMarco family the trait has never been as prominent, but it has always been there among the females of my family. Ones like me. Our two families started arranging the marriages of these males and females. My ancestors tried to breed us for this trait like we were hunting dogs. It didn’t always show up. After a while they just called it the Curse. It’s not a well know part of our family histories. And me and Samantha are just the latest members of the family to have the curse land on our heads.” Annette let the smile play at the corner of her lips as she rubbed her hand over her stomach. “When I look at Kasey and Kristine, I almost see that same curse. I only pray that this one isn’t touched by either of the curses and that they’re healthy. Which is possible.”

“Hold up Annette. The girls are at the ALOC.” Lyssa said from her position. “Girls? You ready for instruction?”

Kasey answered. “We're in the ALOC now. Go ahead.”

“Go through the undercover bags. Kasey, find Sam's and get a social dress. Kristine, get into Hunter's. I think he has a silk t-shirt.” Lyssa instructed.

A moment later Kristine called back. “I found a red one. What do I do with it?”

“Put on one of Sam's bras and leave off a strap.” Lyssa said.

Kristine replied. “Ok, you know she has more than me, right?”

“Yes. You're going to pad yourself up though. Do that then put on the shirt but do it so your shoulder without the strap is out. Tuck the sleeve in under your arm. Turn it into a one-shoulder mini-dress.” Lyssa instructed.

Kristine understood the directions. “Oh, ok. Anything else?”

“Yes. Cinch the waist with a black wide belt. This needs to barely, and I mean BARELY, cover your ass. Then get the highest heels you can wear.” Lyssa smiled.

Kasey called over. “The blue rayon or the black Lurex?”

All four women answered. “The black!”

“Take off your bra before you put it on, then borrow Annette's red heels if they fit.” Lyssa instructed.

Annette's eyebrows went up. “MY red heels? What are you having them go for?”

“I'm initiating the Glitz and Ditz protocol for mission success.” Lyssa quipped. “They're going to have a blast with this.”

Suddenly Kristine laughed over the comms. “We look like a pair of party babes!”

“Good. Now cover up with the cover-alls for Annette and Sam, but tie the upper part around your waist. Over-do your make-up as you go. Pay attention; when you get there, you two need to channel your inner bimbo.” Lyssa said with a grin.

Annette smiled as she groaned. “Oh God! Not that!”

“We are DEFINITELY recording this!” Kimberly laughed as Krystel asked. “Can they sell it?”

“It’ll work Krystle. The first rule to any good con is knowing the mark.” Annette told the cyberwarfare operative. “And right now, my daughters have the perfect marks for this con. Third shift security guards.”

“Okay, what makes you say that?” Kimberly smirked at the assassin.

“Third Shift is the one shift that they place the most stress on at museums. They also have the highest turnover rate. Gemini will be dealing with six overstressed, underqualified, and way underpaid men. They’ll have no clue how to deal with two girls like this. All they have to show is the ‘proper paperwork’ at most.” Annette raised her hands and made air quotes. “And those men will help them unload the paintings. Just to break up the monotony of their nights. You’ve all walked a standing guard shift, right?”

Lyssa chuckled as Kimberly and Krystel had the good graces to say nothing. “Let’s just say that they understand the concept.”

“Then you know how mind numbing, boring the night gets between zero-one and zero-five. Just sit back and watch as my daughters turn on the charm. I’ll even give you seven to twelve odds that within ten minutes they have those guards unloading the van. With an over/under of five minutes. Let’s say for a c-note? You ladies game?” Annette was giving them all a loan shark smile.

“No way in Hell.” Krystel shook her head.

“Sorry Annette, not even if you throw in one of Anna’s triple decker chocolate-chip and peanut butter cookie cakes for Mindy.” Kimberly grinned.

“This'll be an all-time classic, I promise.” Lyssa smiled. Sometime later, when the girls’ location was shown to be at the museum, they called in.

“Stronghold. Gemini One here. Are we cleared to go for infiltration? Over” Kristine’s voice brought them all back on mission.

“Gemini you are a Go for infiltration. Do it to the max. Go full airhead for these guys.” Lyssa called out to the teens.

Rear loading dock for the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kasey climbed out the van first and walked up to the rear door to hit the nighttime buzzer for the guard station.

“Yes.” The sound of a bored guards voice answered the buzz.

“Random Air Charter Delivery. Like; we've got a drop off.” Kasey answered with a slight peppy tone in her voice.

“We don’t have anything scheduled for tonight.”

“Check your list-thingie, Sir. We've got like, eight crates in the back of our van. Our boss can't hold it and there's no way in hell that me or my roommate can keep them in our dorm room. Don’t even tell me to take them back to the airport. That plane already left, like before we even closed the door, they were rolling.” Kasey almost whined, then pouted. “Look, either send someone down here to get the boxes or we leave them here. We don’t care. Like; our job ended the second you answered the buzzer!”

“Hold on. Someone will be there in a minute.”

Kristine walked up beside Kasey. “It's working?”

“Like Prima Lyssa said, play airhead until we get him suckered, then let 'em have it.” Kasey said as she looked over at her younger sister. “Look this is just like back on the island. We can do this. Nonnina trusts us, or she wouldn’t have sent us and Prima Lyssa gave us a plan that we can pull off. Now the guard should be here shortly. Get your game face on and your phone out, camera ready.”

When the guard opened the door, he was greeted by a pair of pretty smiling faces. Kasey spoke and reacted faster than the guard was ready. “OOH! CUTE GUY! SELFIE!”

In a flash both posed on either side of the confused guard as Kristine snapped a picture.

“Um… can I see your paperwork?” The poor guy didn’t know what to say.

Kasey smiled brightly and angled inward as she handed the man a clipboard with 27 pages of paperwork and a pen. “You sign at the bottom of each page. We get the first page, the shippers get the second and you, like, keep every third page.”

Kristine just stood there fighting the giggle fit that threatened to overwhelm her as his eyes went straight to Kasey's cleavage. She knew what her sister was doing to the poor man and had to fight to keep looking clueless. Between the two girls Kasey was the first to master her lessons in the con. Mostly because she had a lot of experience as a con artist before being found by Annette.

“Hold up here kid. For starters aren’t you two girls awfully young to be working for a delivery company?” The guard demanded.

“Not when our family, like, OWNS the damned thing. We go anywhere and everywhere. Deliver whatever needs to be delivered. That's the family motto.” Kasey snarked.

“Right.” The guard drawled, slowly starting to think the two girls were working for their family due to being a bit fluff-brained.

“One of our grandfathers was an Army Air guy. You know, that war with those German guys? So like, he came home, right? And founded our company. Been making special air freight deliveries ever since.” When Kristine heard Kasey’s description of what the family business was, she really had to fight her giggle fit. “As far as our ages go. We do this in our spare time. Most of the time we’re students at the University.”

As the guard finished signing the forms Kasey took them back and began removing every third page. Kristine had already opened the rear doors of the van and pointed to the first crate. “All yours, guy.”

“Hold on there, young lady. Just what's in those crates?” The guard asked of Kristine.

Kristine and Kasey answered in unison. “Stuff.”

The guard asked with some heat. “What 'stuff'?”

“Like, art stuff. Right?” Kasey replied.

The guard was flexing his fingers as he asked. “What KIND of art stuff?!”

Kristine was truly struggling to maintain herself but answered as she looked at the crate. “The really heavy kind. It took both of us just to slide it out of the plane into the truck!”

At that moment Kasey strategically made her cover-alls come loose and fall down, revealing the too-tight mini dress. The action drew the guard's eyes, making him gawk.

“Damn it!” Kasey swore then stepped out of the cover-alls. “Oh forget it; these just won't cooperate!”

The red stiletto heels tapped sharply on the concrete, drawing more attention.

Lyssa's voice went over the comms. “Ok One, you are go for tantrum. Let 'em have it, like I told you.”

Kristine did, ditching her own cover-alls and stomping out onto the dock. “WELL IF YOU'RE NOT WEARING 'EM, NEITHER AM I! We're gonna be late and Todd promised to get us into the VIP room!”

The guard now gawked at Kristine's improvised dress, thinking if she sneezed, the world would see all. Meanwhile the two continued to squabble as four more guards came out.

“What the hell's going on?” The apparent senior guard demanded.

Kasey and Kristine shifted gears in an instant and pointed, blaming the first guard. “These boxes are heavy! Yeah and he won't help!”

Kristine glared up at the guard. “Look; he, like, already signed for the damned things. Now, you can do whatever the hell you want with them, but we're done.”

“Chill Jodie. Let me handle this will you.” Kasey had turned to face Kristine as if to glare at her. Instead she just winked at Kristine.

“Everybody just take their damned chill pills here.” The senior guard waved everybody down. “I have enough guards down here. We’ll get you unloaded. That fair?”

Kristine looked down at her phone. “Fine! Ten minutes. We got proof we came to deliver.”

“Sounds good to me Jodie.” Kasey folded the paperwork and picked up her cover-alls. “The clock is ticking. Like, have at it.”

The guard just sighed and waved the other guards to the van. It didn’t take the five men long to unload the van. When the last painting was carried through the rear door of the museum, Kasey slammed the van’s rear cargo doors.

Kristine was already climbing into the passenger seat. “Later!”

“You girls take care and be safe. The streets in this city aren’t as dangerous as they once were, they still aren’t safe.” The guard’s final words had Kasey turning to wave.

Kasey climbed into the driver’s seat and drove away. Leaving the guards to wonder just who they had accepted a delivery from on this cold dark night and what club they were going to. Kasey and Kristine though, were both laughing hysterically. Learning a new tactic was fun.

Back in the TOC:

Annette was howling with laughter. “They were so good at that one!”

“I don't know how Kristine managed to keep up her act. I know she wanted to lose it.” Kimberly giggled.

Lyssa smiled with pride. “I knew they could pull it off. They've been itching for something like that for awhile now.

“Stronghold, what is the status of Gemini?” Maria called in from the ALOC.

Lyssa answered. “Mission successful, en route to ALOC now.”

“Why are the undercover bags open? Wait, where's my black dress?” Samantha's voice could be heard.

Annette resumed laughing and simply laid her head down on the desk.

Hunter's voice could be heard as well. “My bag's open too. I thought I had a nice red shirt in here.”

“Stronghold, just what have the girls done?” Maria asked.

Kimberly began sending the video. “Oh, you'll love this one Actual! They utilized the Glitz and Ditz protocol.”

Four voices came back. “The what?”

....tbc....