The Red Nights

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Lina hung up and walked silently toward the sofa of her office and let herself fall down on it and released a long sigh, " thank God it will all soon be over " she said.

She suddenly heard the door being opened, she didn't have to turn her head to know who were the people who entered in as she directly recognized them by the rhythm of their footsteps, " you're late, I already hung up " she said said after she turned slightly her head, which was laying on the sofa on the face side, so they could hear her voice clearly.

" What? You told me you will for us to come " Natasha complained while putting her hands on her waist to show her disappointment.

" Sorry but you were taking too much time " she said emotionlessly, " I tried to hold as long as I could but he has his duty ".

" I'm sorry it's my fault if we're late I have the habit to not notice the time passing when I'm with my patients " Donald apologize to Natasha while stroking the back of his head.

" Don't worry " Natasha quickly reassured him, " if it's the fault of someone you would be the very last person " she said with an accusatory look at Lina.

" Yes she's right, you don't have to worry Don you're doing a fabulous job in here since you and we are all grateful " Lina added ignoring the insinuation of Natasha, she waved her hand still without bothering herself and sitting conveniently on the sofa or even at least turning her head to face them " moreover Volga wasn't with Jamal when he called so you really didn't have miss anything special... except seeing how adorable I am when I'm talking with him ".

Donald had been in the city for four days and meanwhile he had the time to get used to Lina's manners and it wasn't bothering him at all despite that Natasha would time to time apologize for her bad behavior, on the contrary he would always feel amused when discussing with her as she was a kind positive and would always joke to avoid the ambiance being too stiff and formal.

" That's enough " Natasha spitted while walking toward Lina with heavy steps, she grabbed her by her waist and while ignoring her groans she pulled her up and forced to sit up normally, " stop acting like a child and tell us what he said ".

She glanced at her before she responded with a smirk " he told me that he misses me and he couldn't wait to see me ", Natasha didn't replied but instead she pinched her t.h.i.g.h enough hard to make her m.o.a.n painfully. " Are you ready for a serious discussion? " she told Lina.

The latter rubbed her t.h.i.g.h and said " what's your problem to always act so strictly, not a slight hint of humor that's why Jamal would always prefer me over you ".

Natasha pinched her again in the same spot.

" Alright, stop. I will tell you " Lina finally admitted her defeat, " but firstly promise me you won't pinch me again ".

" If I knew that hurting you could make you obey I would have done it very sooner " she said while smiling smugly at Lina.

" With your rustic and not ladylike manners Jamal must see you like a little brother " Lina muttered while protecting her t.h.i.g.h with her two hands. She sighed and with an unenthusiastic voice she said " well, he told me that they already killed the last boss of the villain guys, the wars are all over, he completed the missions and he plans to return back by tomorrow ".

Donald didn't have to check Natasha's expression to understand that he was the most stunned, after seeing him in action with his own eyes he couldn't doubt Jamal's strength and capacity but he still couldn't believe that he had fought four furious battles and ended the war in four cities in only five days, for him it was just surrealistic.

" Amazing " he couldn't help but sighed excitedly, " how do you do to stay so cool after hearing such exploits? " he tried to know.

Lina shrugged " it's not like we are not amazed but it's just that it's less surprising when we already know who is the one who did that and how he did that ".

Seeing how interested he was, she felt that she had to explain more, " as you probably know when we compared the four cities Short-river was the one which was most in need of help, the outlaws were dominating you as they had reduced you in a very small number and for some mysterious reasons all your attempts to inflict a great blow to your enemies caused you to lose even more men. The army of the outlaws was not so well organized, we quickly figured out with Jamal that your attacks failed not because the chef of the outlaws was smart but rather because there was a traitor in your group ".

" Yes " Don said with quite a bitter tone.while bowing his head regretful then he gazed at her " I already know that but how is it related... "

Lina rose her forefinger as to stop him " let me. With a such delicate situation we had estimated that mission to take him at least two days, one day to catch the spy and a second day to defeat the outlaws army by using the informations he would obtain from the spy. By chance, Jamal managed to unmask the traitor very quickly and so he had the time to set a plan to counter attack and the other thing was that we didn't expect you, the rest of Short-river's army, to be so effective, he told me that you have been quite tough what helped him to do his job better than expected ".

Don nodded concisely while trying to overlook and not smiling at the fact that she was praising them.

" And concerning the three remaining cities the case was quite simple " she continued while lazily landing her head on Natasha's shoulder " in fact they just needed us to lend them some strength to defeat the enemy, so by using the effect of surprise, increasing the offensive force by joining the forces with the men coming from the previous cities and obviously with Jamal's skills and strength we already know that there shouldn't take long to deal with them. There was also the city of Palet that we expected that it would take more than two days since there was more than one group of outlaws and that the city's army didn't have the strength and the courage to fight back but in the end it was still not a big deal ".

" I see... it's true that looking that way the actual outcome is logical but I still can't get rid of the sentiment that Jamal is a very incredible man " Don honestly confessed after hearing her clear explanations.

" You're right, we can't deny that " Lina conceded before she suddenly jumped on her feet, she glanced back at Natasha and the latter nodded at her as to tell her that she got her silent message then she said to Don, " now it's time for us to discuss about the next part of our plans ".

He looked confused and he naturally asked " I don't get you, what do you mean by that? "

" Don't worry. Call Brad and go wait for us in your house, we will soon come to explain everything to you " Natasha responded while she was standing up too.

Although he was very interested to ask more Don decided to listen to them and do as they said, he nodded at them " alright, I will go look for him, see you later " then he left the office.

" We should get going too " Natasha proposed few moments after Donald moved out.

Lina nodded and said " let's stop by home to take Matteo so that we will go there together ".

" What about the girl? " Natasha asked with a more serious tone.

" Which girl? " Lina responded carelessly while she was collecting her stuff on the her desk.

" Don't start playing dumb with me, you know exactly what I'm talking about " she replied while lifting a little bit her voice, " that girl, Dana, it has been more than four days since we decided to keep her with me but you didn't give me permission to let her go yet and whenever I'm trying to evoke about this situation you would always dodge the subject. So now tell me, isn't it time to let her go? "

Lina stayed quiet for a moment, with her back facing Natasha she told her " do you remember the answer she gave to us that day we asked her why she wanted to meet Jamal? "

Natasha didn't know what was the relation with what they were discussing about but she made an effort to remember as she knew that even though she didn't always understand her she would everytime expose some interesting points.

" She said looking for a hero before starting crying " she responded while tilting slightly her head.

" She talked about a life saver " Lina corrected her " what means that someone... or something is after her life. That threat is grave enough to make her feel desperate and make her cry in front of us but it's also threatened her enough to make her unable to tell us more " she paused and turned around to face Natasha " until we learn more about that I think it's better if she stays with you, with Jamal absent you're the only one we can rely on to protect ourselves what means that you are the only one able to protect that girl "

Natasha bowed slightly her head while she was starting to understand what she meant, [ she must have been reluctant to confess this to me before because she doesn't want to put too much pressure on shoulders ] she firstly thought [ and that's true that I have been underestimating Dana's case a bit too much. Lina has quite a sharp intuition when it comes to sense potential danger so I should listen to her ].

" Alright she stays with me a little longer until Jamal returns and we clear this story " she finally accepted. " But can I bring her with me? it's been a while since she didn't leave my house ".

Lina thought for a short moment before she said " okay she can come along, everyone in the city would come to know about that anyway ". She reached Natasha and pushed her lightly to the door while telling her " let's move now ".

They arrived at Brad's place a while later and they knocked two times on his door before he came to open it for them. Lina noticed that as his usual he was bowing slightly his head while his eyes were fixing to the ground, for some mysterious reasons since she had met him Brad had avoided to cross Lina's sight and whenever he would look at her in her eyes by inattention he would quickly turn his sight away, Lina had interrogated him many times about that habit of him but he would always find a way to run away from her questions.

" You're still reluctant to look at me in my eyes? " she frankly told him the moment they entered in.

He didn't respond but he instead showed her an embarrassed smile.

" He may be afraid to turn into a stone statue " Natasha commented when she passed next to him and both Matteo and Dana couldn't help but laugh.

" You will be the one I will change into a stone statue if you continue to provoke me " Lina replied.

In the living room Donald was waiting for them in a side sitting on a chair with a cup of tea in his hand.

They all took their seats and Brad handed to each of them some refreshments before they started their discussion.

" Alright, firstly let's explain our current situation to those who still don't know " Lina started while putting her cup on the table. Everyone around imitated her and turned their attention on her at the same time, " in two days this city will be attacked ".

Donald a look at the group before he asked " you mean the outlaws you have isolated in a part of the city? It shouldn't be a problem since they are few and not armed ".

" Not exactly " lina shook her head before she gave him more precision, " the enemies I'm referring to are more fearful and dangerous than mere unarmed criminals ", she paused and after seeing the confusion in his face she said " let me explain the whole story more clearly for you, I know it will be a bit difficult to believe in but please stay calm until I finish and then you can ask whatever you want ".

Then Lina started to tell more in details about the army of outlaws who had enhanced their strength and their resistance and which was expected to attack in two days, she of course didn't reveal everything like Natasha's power and how she could kill them definitively by using her katana. Donald stayed quiet while she was talking and even after she finished he still took a short time to assimilate the informations.

" So an army of people who are already dead is about to unleash their rage on us " he resumed while trying to make it sound as credible as he could, he crossed his fingers on his chin before he said " alright firstly, how do we know that attack? "

" I had a dream about it... no more like a vision " Matteo rose his hand and responded.

" Ah... is that so " he forced himself to nod " okay and how are we supposed to kill them since you said that we can't rely on our normal weapons? " he asked.

Lina glanced at Natasha as if the answer was written on her forehead, the latter quickly elaborated an answer with less confidence though " we have discovered a weapon which works on them, a single sword ".

Donald gazed at the two women, difficultly convinced he turned to Brad and asked " what do you think about it fellas? "

The man crossed his hands took his time and responded " before we left Short-river Jamal asked me to come put myself in Lina's service and lend her a hand on the preparations to protect the city from a fearsome enemy although he hadn't given me much detail about that enemy, back then, I could tell he wasn't joking about it " he paused and took a very quick glimpse at Natasha and Lina " and I doubt his friends here would make fun of us with that, in other words I actually believe them ".

Donald sighed and leaned back on the backrest of the chair " I wasn't telling that they were lying though I just wanted to know your opinion " he rose his sight on Lina " well what are you asking us to do in order to help, miss? "