Alex's need for revenge festered like a septic wound. The only effective antibiotic: Death.

Eyes locked on her target, she pulled her hair into a tight ponytail. With her muscles tight and jaw clenched, she grabbed her bow. She plucked the red string twice. Once to check its tension, then to feel the vibration ripple through her veins.

Alex looked to a photo on the wall. Her parents. Blood on the carpet, her mother's blank stare. Her father faced down on the floor, motionless. Alex's cries echoing down the halls, begging for someone, anyone to help.

The weight of the past made her head ache, her anger fueled her. Arrows shattered in half, fiberglass pieces on the floor.

Wiping the sweat off her face with the back of her arm, she took a moment to appreciate the relative peace and quiet. The room was dim, to add more difficulty to her shooting. Only way to tell time was the clock to her left. They had chosen the basement as their training room. Her brothers would come soon. The training routine had been the same for years. Ten to be exact. Ten long years.

The training room, she and her brothers had set up was organized with weights and heavy-duty lifting equipment on one side, and the other held weapons and targets scattered around the room. She loved the wide range of space, the ability to move around while she trained.

"What's going on in that mind of yours?"

Alex flinched. She turned to find Nikolai leaning against the table, watching her. His dark hair stuck out in every direction. She cursed herself for not hearing him enter. He always came downstairs earlier than the rest.

"Nothing." The flames of anger rose to her chest and crawled through her veins. Her hands coiled into fists, crushing the bow she'd held. Blood flushed her cheeks.

"Shit." Another breath, her shoulders relaxed before her powers acted up again. Powers. Some might call it a gift, others call it a curse, but Alex considered it both. It had saved her brothers and her several times, but not without consequences.

"Couldn't sleep?" He'd moved in front of her. "How long have you been down here?"

"Ummm... an hour?" She didn't even know what time it was. Three or four in the morning?

"It's five-thirty, Alex."

Alex's eyes widened. She'd been shooting for the past three hours.

"Lost track of time, huh?"

Alex turned her gaze downward. She couldn't bear to meet her oldest brother's concerned eyes. Her body needed rest.

Without exercise, her mind would keep her up for yet another night, but without rest, her body would spiral into exhaustion. For ten years she'd trained, yet feared it wouldn't be enough.

"You can't keep doing this. I need you fully charged and ready to go on the next mission."

"I'll be ready." Alex walked to the white table. Knife blades gleamed under the fluorescent light, and the guns lined up next to them reflected a dull, metallic glow. The rest of her bows hung on the wall inside a glass fronted case, behind the table. The staves were beside them in a cabinet. Swords hung between the two cases.

"Igor won't be happy, neither would the RCIB."

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"You know, he will find out. He always does." They joined the Russian Crime Investigation Bureau (RCIB). Well... more like they'd been forced. The Bureau had complete control of them, as it had with their parents. They had information on their parents' murders and held it over their heads to do their bidding.

Alex grabbed a thin curved knife. AGS. Her initials. A gift from her mother for her eleventh birthday. Little did she know then how she'd appreciate this gift now.

She balanced five inches of serrated steel on her fingers.

"Focus, Alex. Use the anger to fuel you," Nikolai said.

A sliver of a smile slipped across her lips before she threw it. The tip of the blade cleaved the target's center.

She moved back to the set of targets and bows. They'd inherited all kinds- the classic recurve bows, compound bows, crossbows, and even longbows. She picked up the bent compound bow from the floor, placed it on the table, and chose another.

Arrow nocked and aimed, Alex pulled it back, but lowered the bow, not liking the looseness in the red string. Her favorite color.

She turned towards the door as her head pounded. The lights above flicked on and off. Nikolai called her name, but she didn't hear it. She just saw his mouth move. Another person came into view. Ryder. His dark hair clung to his sweating forehead, sweat running down the sides of his face.

Alex took deep and slow breaths. In. Out. In. Out. The lights flickered faster. Please, not now. Not here.

Her eyes focused on Nikolai's face. His lips moved, but no noise came. She reached to grab his arms, but stumbled. Everything became fuzzy. The world became thick static and endless darkness. Through the inky space her heart thundered, echoing in her ears, alongside fading pleas for help. Feeling drained from her body, until finally, all was black.

*

A bright light shadowed a dark figure standing in front of her. Alex tried to focus. Everything blurred before she heard a deep voice.

"I will kill them."

Next thing she knew, the light was gone, and strong arms caught her as she fell. "I got you." Nikolai's voice calmed her. "Easy, Lexi."

Alex's vision cleared, her eyes focused on Nikolai's face. Who was that person? Who would he kill?

"I'm all right," she said. Ryder touched her bleeding nose with a cold towel. Alex pinched it, leaning her head forward. She counted in Russian. десять, один, два, три, четыре,... Her breathing slowed and the dizziness faded. When her nose stopped bleeding, she wiped her lip and moved away. She'd had enough of these nosebleeds. She didn't need help.

"Alex." The warning in Nikolai's voice made her stop, momentarily. She knew they wanted to know what she'd seen. To be honest, she wasn't sure herself. All she remembered was a blurred figure saying that he'd kill them.

"Hate this. What's the point of having this power, if I can't control it, like you guys." She walked back to the table, hoping her brothers wouldn't ask anymore questions.

Picking up the fallen bow, she strung it again. She focused back on her target, and released the arrow.

It hit left of dead center. That stung. She always hit her mark.

"Alex," Ryder said, but she didn't let him speak.

She didn't need the pity. She hadn't missed the look they shared after she missed the target.

Ryder and Nikolai could be twins, even though there was a two-year difference. Ryder was more muscular than Nikolai and a tad taller. Alex looked more like them than her other brothers. Kellin and Lev had blonde hair just like their mother. Thinking about her brothers calmed her down. Her brothers were her anchors.

"I need to restring it. Do we have any of the red string in the case?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nikolai asked.

"I'm fine, Nik. It isn't the first time and won't be the last."

"Have you slept at all?" Ryder asked.

Alex didn't respond. She sorted through a box of string to find the correct gauge before they were needed for another mission. She couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she'd see her brothers, motionless. It haunted her. She knew it was affecting her. It terrified her, as much as she tried to hide it. She couldn't lose her brothers. They were all she had left.

"You can't keep doing this." Nikolai leaned against the table."Three back to back missions in the past week, none of us have caught much sleep, including you." He rushed in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders to keep her still. He searched her face. "You have dark circles under your eyes, Alex."

She scowled at him as he moved to grab two staves, throwing one towards Ryder without looking. Nikolai spun it in his hand, showing off his speed. She glanced at Ryder, who shook his head. She turned her attention back to her bow.

"Don't think we haven't noticed how much you have been in here," Ryder said.

Alex felt them staring at her back.

"You're wearing yourself down, Lex," Nikolai said.

"I'm fine." Her heart rate increased. How many times did she need to tell them she was fine? "I just want to kill those bastards. We have to!" Alex turned to face her brothers. She scanned their faces. Pity. Worry. Arrow notched once more, Alex aimed at the target.

"We will, Lex. And when we do, we need you to be one hundred percent, not exhausted like you've been for weeks." Ryder inched closer to her.

A sound echoed through the room. All eyes were on the target where the arrow found the bullseye.

Alex laid her bow down and grabbed a staff from another table. She walked towards the mat. Ryder twisted his hands, getting a better grip. Nikolai watched her, waiting for her first move.

Ryder typically struck first, fast and hard. Nikolai was more cautious, analyzing the opponent before taking his move. In that quick moment, their eyes flicked from each other to her, then back. Their faces were unreadable. She turned her eyes on Nikolai, frowning. The corner of his mouth twitched.

Nikolai attacked. Alex leapt back. Her rage held all the power of a wildfire, the flames roaring in her eyes, ready to ignite anything she came in contact with.

"You need to let go of that rage, Lexi," Ryder warned. "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

Alex smacked Ryder's staff with her own. Breaking the deadlock, he knocked it out of her hand.

Alex glared at him. "You didn't just quote Star Wars." Her fists swung as her face contorted. She lunged and grabbed the bottom of his shirt. He twisted, loosening in her grip, and Alex landed on her back."And who said anything about fear?"

Staff in hand, Nikolai leapt towards her. She rolled. The staff hit the mat where her head had been. Nikolai thrust at her neck. She blocked with her arm, ignoring the pain that spread through the muscle and bone.

"Time." Alex pulled herself up, taking a breather. Black dots formed. Blinking to get rid of them made it worse.

"You can't take a break when things get hard," Ryder using that unguarded moment to strike the back of her leg. Stumbling to the ground, Alex lost her breath.

"Ry. Hold on."

"What? Are you tired now?"

"Alex, you good?" Nikolai moved closer to her.

"She's fine, Nik. She's just giving up cause she's getting her ass kicked."

Alex sat up. "Guys, I'm fine. I admit that I need sleep. But I need to-" Her brothers towered over her. She felt small. Her anger built up, but she knew she needed to control it.

"Need to what? Take your anger out on random people? On us? You can't let this anger eat you up. Control it," Ryder said, holding his hand out.

"It's not that." Glaring at his hand for a moment,she grabbed it and pulled him down.

"Of course not. Especially after beating up that one guy for a comment," Nikolai said.

"He deserved it." Alex kicked Nikolai's leg out from under him. He crashed down beside Ryder.

They always worried about her. Her anger had a mind of its own.

"Right," Ryder said, picking himself up and headed towards the towel rack. He handed Alex a towel as she came up behind him.

"Are we done?" Alex wiped the sweat from her shoulders and dropped the towel in a laundry bin next to the door. She walked to the center table, picked up her bow and started stringing it.

"Nope," Ryder said.

"Don't think we're letting this go, Alex. After breakfast, I want you to sleep at least four hours or you're off missions until I think you're ready." Nikolai said.

"But Nik-"

"But nothing, Alex. You could get us, or yourself, killed."

Alex flinched. She couldn't let Nikolai leave her here. She had to be with them. What if they got injured or killed while she was left behind?

"Okay." She walked over to her table with the nows, picking a new one to get ready. "Is Kellin cooking breakfast?"

"No, I think Lev is cooking," Ryder said.

"You let him cook? What's the matter with you?" After Lev's last efforts, they had to redo that section of the kitchen. He had left pasta boiling while he played some video game.

Nikolai laughed. "I think Kellin is watching over him, so something should be edible."

"More like watching over the food." She hauled on the bow's riser until its attains were at the full draw position. She put the new string on and grabbed a wrench to tighten the limb bolts.

"Come on, Lexi. I'm getting hungry," Ryder pouted as she pulled back the string to test it.

"You're always hungry. Where do you put all that food?" Nikolai poked him in his slightly protruding stomach. "Oh, this is where it goes. You need to work it off."

Ryder glared at Nikolai. "I work it off more than you do."

"Hold on, I want to test it." Alex grabbed an arrow and let it rip. It found its mark again.

"Bulls-eye." Alex smiled sadly at the pride in Nikolai's voice.

"If you don't come on, I'll make you eat what Lev made." Ryder grinned.

Alex placed the bow in the cabinet, rushing to catch up.

Her vision blinded with flashing colorful spots. She stood in a cave, bodies laid all around her, eyes unfocused, blood soaking their clothes. Her brothers.

'No... No!' Shaking her head, Alex found herself back in hallway. Leaning her head against the wall. Eyes widened. Breaths ragged and harsh. Her hands trembled at her sides and she jammed her fist into her mouth to stifle a scream. Not now...

The voices of her brothers arguing over breakfast, filled the hall brought her back. They were safe.