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Paige drove across the suburbs of Harper Rock, trying to find the address scrawled hastily upon the scrap of paper taped to the rearview. Things had been very difficult for the paladin after accolate Sakura had disappeared, and she intended to track her to that address and scold her for vanishing. Paige had wanted that mission, damn it, and her little sister had been given the job instead. The raven-haired teenager pushed down on the accelerator when she thought about it, gritting her teeth. Some middleschoolers headed home after class almost got the brunt of her wrath, but she ended up stepping on the brakes just in time.

Damn her.
Paige narrowed her eyes, remembering...

You were so happy. You told everyone at the training facility how bright the elders thought you were, how they complimented your grades, your skills. You told me, with a smile on your face, that your first mission had been approved. To Harper Rock you would go, to help crush the vampire menace in its shell before the creatures gained strength and became more like the vampires of old that the paladins used to face. I remember us reading about them together. Given enough time they will only grow stronger. I knew you always had what it takes to help bring that world order to its knees. I knew that I should be proud. But I was jealous.

Paige knew that jealousy was a sin. So was using the agency to compile fake documents of travel, so was using the treasury to give herself a generous stipend, and renting a car with that sinful money. But they wouldn't let her go on her own. Paige had always found another way. Even as a child she never let rules get in the way of her progress. And though she was far stronger and more capable than the Golden Child, she would never please the elders the way Sakura did.

But the paladins' reach extended from mother Russia, to Harper Rock, and she knew that it was a matter of time before she was pulled back and reprimanded. At this point, she didn't care. Sakura had gone missing, and there was a big move to cover it up, but nothing in the way of a rescue mission. The address where Paige was driving, was the only lead she had. It was where the paladins had Sakura staying, while she recieved and carried out orders.
And why couldn't Paige carry out those orders, she thought as she pulled into the driveway, cut the engine and stepped over the snowy lawn, why wasn't Paige fit for service? She had learned everything Sakura learned, and yet the elders always shook their heads. What made Sakura better than her, Paige thought, formulating her rebuke in her head, making plans for what she would say when Sakura answered the-

door...

As soon as Paige knocked, the door slipped open. A horrible odor seeped out, like cat pee but so much worse. Her stomach churned and her eyes stung. She should have run, should have found the headquarters and made a report, reprimand or no, but something propelled Paige through the door, coaxed her to enter the nightmare house. The carpet was smeared with dried blood, and laying on the couch was a body that had bites out of it. Chunks of Sakura were missing.

You were an idiot at the orphanage, and I would beat you up. But I always stuck up for you, protected you from the older kids, from the gangs, the drugs. And here you are, just a kid, gashes in your face, your neck. Whatever this was, I couldn't save you from it.

Paige was on the floor vomiting, images of her childhood seeping up like blood from a wound. She must have knelt there for hours, because when she ran outside, it was past sunset. She needed to call headquarters. She needed to find the branch that operated here in Harper Rock.

Sister... little sister... damn it!

She drove with tears in her eyes that smeared the stoplights, headlights. She parked her rental at a bank and leaned against the steering wheel, reeling. Her clothes still smelled like rotting death. She would never forget that stench.

I'm going to find who did this to you.
I'm going to make them suffer.

The righteous would prevail, against evil. But to avenge Sakura, Paige was going to have to be a little evil herself. She would have to break a few more rules. Get into records, track Sakura and the vampires she had been investigating. If she was caught, they would reprimand her and send her back to Russia, they would treat her like a little kid. They would never let her go on missions.

I have to do this all by myself.

"Tell us again, dear. From the beginning," Brother Fonseca said with gentle encouragement. Paige knew that they were going to tighten security thanks to her. She would tell them just how she pilfered funds and forged documents, so they could stop troublemakers like her from infiltrating the system in the future. Then it would be no more mr. nice paladin. Then would come the reprimand.
Paige's father and mother were both the Paladin Order. Not in it, they were legally her mommy and daddy. A committee would hear her story, and the old men would punish her, probably condemn her to hell. She was young, though. She did have that going for her. Perhaps they would have mercy and just belay her missions another five years.

Damn it, she couldn't wait that long! She was impatient to find whoever killed Sakura. She was going to make them wish they'd never been born. Sniveling bloodsuckers.
"Like I said, it was easy. The House Mother kept her cards in her purse, so I just copied the numbers down. I arranged the flight online. Used an alias, forged the stuff myself."
The old man frowned and wrote something down, "I see, and who encouraged you to practice such a sinful little hobby?"

Paige clenched her fists. Forging legal documents was an extremly risky art that required the meticulousness of a saint painting a holy Icon. This guy didn't understand just how long it had taken Paige to do it. How many nights had she stayed up before her regular lessons, to work on her identity? But it was a little hobby. Paige's anger burned.

"It was all me, Master. I am sorry. I know I have a problem. I know I should do pennance."

After the interrogation was over, a couple of paladins took Paige to a room. They administered her lashes, gave her a glass of water and left her alone. She heard the door lock and knew they were going to send her packing. Didn't anyone care about Sakura? The paladins had assured her that they would clean it up, but what about the one who did it? Did they have any leads? No, that information was for good paladins who would obey the rules.

But Paige knew where to find it.

Picking the lock took forever, but she managed. From there, it was a cinch to sneak around the building. She sat at the front desk, which contained her confiscated daggers and robe. Paige reclaimed them, then printed out a few choice segments of Sakura's file. She had been investigating a list of vampires. She would start alphabetically, that meant Axel Rosen was her first suspect.

Paige snuck out of the building and headed on foot toward the Veil Towers. She had no patience to wait until daylight. She needed revenge. She didn't have time for anything else. It was only a matter of time, and she would be caught again. The many scars on her back proved that she didn't really mind getting caught. She was used to it.
Paige waited at the door, pressed her ear against it for a long time. Nobody was home, so she put her robes on over her leotard and strapped her daggers about her hips just in case she was interrupted in her search. Picking the lock, she entered.

It was all too easy. And there, on the wall, mounted like a head, was the katana. There were some like it, but there was no mistaking that it was Sakura's. The inscription below the hilt, and Paige's own messy signature. Feeling numb, lost, she stepped up to the wall and carefully removed the katana.
Paige knelt with it, hugging it to her chest, and keened softly in grief. Her mournful cries might be mistaken for an animal's, they were so ragged and heartbroken. She hadn't cried since her parents died.

I was new. Older than you, but you still let me cry on your shoulder. Called me big sister, and showed me kindness when nobody else cared. We ate together. You told me your story, but never asked for mine. You knew I didn't want to talk about it. You were always so empathetic. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. Together we might have made a difference, like you always wanted...