A Long Night

Aiden placed the gun in his hand in his pants waist line by his lower back. He offered Ben a nod in acknowledgment as he made his way towards Claire who was silently watching the man before her kneel on the ground. Gasping for air.

Bernard had fallen to his knees after a few seconds of having Ben's blade inside his chest. He hadn't seen it coming.

'When did he come in?! How come I didn't sense his presence at all?!' He inwardly shouted to himself as he focused his rapidly clouding vision. He needed to see who was responsible for his failure. And once he was finally able to see the face of the man who had sealed his fate, his every thought went silent. His face paled and his body began to tremble. Not from the profuse loss of blood he was slowly suffering from, but from the face of the ghost that had stepped into his field of vision.

"You....bu-but you're supposed to be..." He started to cough up blood as his eyes began to cloud even more.

"Dead?" Ben casually said as he looked down on the once egotistical and prideful man now brought to his knees by a single flick of his wrist. He didn't need to see his face to know who the sorry excuse of a human being was. "I am. And now, so are you."

Bernard's breathing was shallow as he toppled on to the floor. As he fought to keep his eyes open, he saw the face of the woman who was never supposed to have lived, and the face of the man who was supposed to be long dead Both looking down on him. Their eyes filled with unwavering hatred until he exhaled his last breath.

Seeing as the vermin was put down for good, Ben turned around to see Claire's face was void of emotion as she looked down on the man laying on the floor, who he had now made a corpse. His heart ached for her. And even though he was the one to end the life of just one of her many demons, he knew it wasn't enough to sooth her inner turmoil. Nothing would ever be enough.

Aiden noticed Claire was lost in her thoughts. And judging by her expressionless face, he knew they were dark ones. He was about to say something when a loud voice broke the silence between the three of them.

"Aww dammit! Not my favorite couch!" Lucas yelled as he strode into the room. And just like Aiden and Claire, he was also stained with blood all over. He walked over to the couch in question and sighed. "I knew I should have moved it to my place and gotten you another one."

His easy going nature could always be counted on when it came to breaking tension. And in their current case, Aiden couldn't have been more grateful for his overbearing brother.

"Everything okay on your end?" Aiden asked as he took the blade Claire was holding on to. Throwing it on the floor, he held her by the shoulders as he inspected her for any injuries. He didn't see her receive a single blow during their time finishing every person that had gained entry to the house, but he needed to be sure she was entirely okay. Physically at least.

"Of course not." Lucas said as he slumped on to the couch that was stained with all sorts of bodily fluids. Gesturing towards his cheek he continued. "Our little Cheeto here cut my beautiful face. How am I supposed to woo the ladies with this gauze on my face?"His expression was somewhat serious, but his eyes gave away his playful intention.

Claire couldn't help but chuckle. Her guard was slowly coming down and her tired muscles had started to make themselves known by alerting her of the serious exercise she had just put them through. "If you're expecting an apology, you're not getting one you know." She said to him as a small mischievous smile bloomed on her face.

"Nah. Apologies don't do much. How about you set me up with one of your friends instead." Lucas chuckled as well.

Before anybody could say anything else, a swarm of men dressed in all black filled the living room. Some carried weapons, while other carried medical kits. It was easy to distinguish Aiden's people from Claire's do to the fact that one group of people had their faces covered, while the others didn't. As soon as they finished assessing the area, they started to carry the dead bodies out.

"All of the intruders have been either captured or gotten rid of Boss." One of the men said to Aiden as he slightly bowed towards him.

"The estate's employees?" Aiden asked the man who had addressed him.

"Receiving medical treatment from her people Boss." He reported as he gestured the people he referred to belonged to Claire.

Since Aiden's hands were still on her shoulders, he felt when she exhaled deeply. The mention of his people still being alive was important to her. Enough so that she felt even more tired after feeling the relief wash over her. But she still had things to attend to before she even thought about relaxing.

"Can you take Ben to Lily?" Claire said as she looked at Lucas.

Lucas was a bit confused as to why she would ask him to take Ben instead of herself, but decided it wasn't the moment to dwell on such things. "Sure." Standing up he gestured for Ben to follow him.

"I'll be taking my leave then Madam. I apologize again for my late arrival."

"Don't be. You got here just in time. Thanks Ben." Claire said with a sweet smile.

Ben slightly bowed in their direction before following Lucas out. Just as they left, another man covered from head to toe in black walked inside. And as soon as his eyes landed on Claire, he made his way towards.

Claire inwardly sighed. She was starting to grow more and more tired by the second, but she knew she needed to talk to him.

"Report." She said to the man now standing by her side, apparently ignoring Aiden's entire existence as if he weren't there. Adrian was always a petty one.

"There were fifty two men in total, but only fifty one are accounted for. No casualties on our side, the sweepers have made sure nothing was planted and the medics already identified the poison on the residences employees. They're treating them with the antidote as we speak." He sounded unattached as he spoke, but Claire could clearly see the irritation in his eyes. Something she had no plans on dealing with at the moment.

"Have all of the employees transferred to one of our medical bases after they're done receiving their initial treatment. Make sure the security is tripled with men from the Eagle's team and have the clean up crew take care of this mess." After he heard what Adrian said, Aiden instructed the man from his team who was still awaiting orders. He then turned to look at Claire while also ignoring Adrian's existence.

Not because he was petty like he was, but because he truly couldn't care less about the man.

"Is there anything else that you urgently need to take care of Angel?" He asked while noticing Adrian flinch at his endearing nickname for her. He smirked internally. 'So that's what it is?' He thought to himself while making a mental note of his observation.

Claire thought for a moment before she shook her head. "Not really. I just need to call Colton to let him know I'm okay. He won't be satisfied until I tell him myself. The rest can wait until tomorrow."

Aiden was about to reply, but Adrian beat him to it. "You forgot that you need to go back to the base to make sure everything is in order. Now that your plan was forced into action, there are many things that need to be verified." He was not pleased with how close the two were to each other.

Claire's eyes immediately flared up. She couldn't believe Adrian had just outed the fact that she had a plan of some sort and that it was set into motion. Regardless if Aiden knew what he was talking about or not, he should know better than to say such a thing in a room filled with unfamiliar people. Especially after having to forcefully come to terms with the fact that she now had to share with Aiden and his brother more than she was ready to.

Now that he said that in front of him, he had given the man still holding on to her shoulders even more questions to ask her!

Claire was about to chew Adrian's head off when all of a sudden Aiden grabbed Adrian's shoulder and made him directly face him. Without letting anybody else speak, he bent down a bit and looked directly into his chest. Making direct eye contact with the hidden body camera he had on his chest.

"Hey Colton." He said as he stared at the small lens. "She's staying over, so make sure to tell Lily not to worry when she doesn't find her in the morning. I'll see you all for lunch tomorrow." And without giving another word of explanation, he bent down and picked up Claire making her yelp in surprise. Having her secured in his arms he looked at Adrian and smirked. "You heard her. The rest can wait until tomorrow."

He turned his back on Adrian, but before he walked out of his ears reach, he looked down at Claire and smiled at her. "How about we take a shower now Angel?"

---------

Aiden felt like he shouldn't take her back to his bedroom. Regardless if the body had already been removed and the space cleaned.

Although it was obvious she was more than used to the concept of death and the taking of others lives, something about the way she looked at the man he had killed in his room earlier that night made him feel like he should avoid the bedroom. At least for the night. So with that in mind, he opted to go into one of his many guest bedrooms.

The room he picked was half the size of his bedroom, but none the less huge. It was similar in it's layout, but at a smaller scale. The only noticeable differences were the lack of a fireplace and a large balcony. Other than that, it was beautifully decorated with another color scheme and very well kept.

Once inside the room, he closed the door with his foot and made his way towards the bathroom. Only when he was at the edge of the bathtub did he gently lower Claire from his arms and sat her down on it's edge. But even then, she wouldn't loosen the grip on his shirt.

The second they were out of other people's sight, she had nuzzled her face into his neck and grabbed on to him as if she were fearful of being dropped. And since he knew she was well aware of the possibilities of that ever happening were in the negative numbers, he was convinced that whatever was going on in her head was too much for her to bare without holding onto something.

He couldn't even fathom the idea of pulling her hands off him, so he simply pressed her against his body and sat down on the edge of the tub with her on his lap. After opening the faucet to fill it up with warm water, he turned to gaze down at the little angel in his arms.

The night had truly been destined to be a long one.