An Assassin's Deception

by A. K. Koonce

  “I’m not a princess. I can carry my own things.” My hands meet my hips as I challenge him. “I’ve never needed someone to take care of me since I was a kid. I can fend for myself. I’m just as good as you are.” My feminist side is roaring loudly.

  “Down tiger. I know you can, but it makes me feel good to do nice things for my girlfriend.” He smirks and takes off, heading for the fire escape on the edge of the building.

  A sweet fluttering sensation storms through my chest. I stare after him, stunned speechless before I trail after his disappearing form.

  Girlfriend?

  Yeah. I can definitely get used to that.

  Ten

  A Power Show

  I feel perfect. Is that possible? After talking with Mason everything feels right in my life. His hand seems to perfectly fit into mine.

  I don’t know if a guy has ever really held my hand like this. Just held it to hold it while we walk. It’s weird. In a good way.

  A boyfriend kind of way. Can’t say I’ve ever had one of those before.

  Everything right now is good. Perfect.

  I swear a Hallmark movie has thrown up all over my life, and I’m just going to bask in it and enjoy it. Maybe I’ll even find a way to be nice to Rory. Maybe everything will be different from here on out.

  The dark stairwell is quiet and when Mason opens the front door to our loft, morning light streams into the space.

  “Where the hell have you two been?” Tylin cross his big arms over his chest as he tilts his head at us. All that perfection breaks away into dust.

  He’s going to make a great stern father someday. Really nailing the disappointed dad look right now.

  “We did a sweep of the League. It’s still up and running without Armond. Allison Meeks was spotted there.” Mason’s hand slips from mine as he pulls his coat off, shooting me a look that says I’m up.

  Before I can open my mouth to fill Tylin in on our case, he opens his own.

  “You went to the League? We killed their leader weeks ago and you think it’s a good idea to snoop around?” Condescension is thick in Tylin’s tone.

  As I pull my coat off, my lips part to explain that it was my idea, but Mason cuts me off.

  “I’m an assassin not an idiot. We didn’t go inside the building.”

  “Well they know.”

  “They know?” Mason comes closer to Tylin, his posture stiffens and I find myself mimicking that stance as I wait for Tylin to explain.

  Could they have seen us?

  No. Mason would have been aware if someone was near.

  “They know we’re in the area. I went to Club Crystalline this morning and before I went in, two assassins showed up. They have to be trailing us. We can’t fuck up. Even if she is an assassin, we can’t put that girl in danger—more danger than she already is.”

  “How could they know? We relocated to the opposite side of the city. We’ve laid low.” My words are quiet, unsure.

  I’m uncertain of everything right now.

  “I don’t know. But walking right up to the front fucking door isn’t doing us any favors.” Tylin’s anger is thrown around the room and it hits hard. I know he’s right. I don’t know what I’d do if I hurt Allison. She’s obviously gotten herself into a situation she knows nothing about, and I won’t make that worse. We’re supposed to be helping her not hurting her. “And you weren’t followed?”

  All eyes are on us. Jameson and Rory stand behind Tylin waiting for our affirmation.

  “No. Of course not.”

  “Shit.” His whispered tone is weak and when I look back at Mason, his eyes are glowing. The pale color of his power casts over his cheekbones, giving him an eerie appearance.

  He doesn’t say more. And he doesn't have to. Because I feel it too.

  Energy shakes the room. Coffee mugs rattle against the shelf above the sink before spraying broken bits across the floor. The wooden kitchen chairs tremble, skittering slightly before falling over with a hard thud. Every piece of my dark hair reverberates against my scalp. My nerves reflect that feeling completely. Everything is quaking with waves of unseen power.

  “You five are more impressive than I ever gave Armond credit for.” Derek’s voice rises over the chaotic sound of his energy strumming through the room. His hand grips my wrist before I even have time to turn and meet his curious eyes.

  His strength jerks me back, pulling me right out the front door. White hot lightning burns against the back of my hand. The flash of power strikes from Jameson’s palm and scalds over Derek’s knuckles as he tries to free me from the man holding me captive.

  The grip on my wrist releases and I stumble away from my attacker.

  Too much power snakes through me. It’s a messy and confusing abundance of energy and I try to sort through it as I keep my attention locked on the dangerous man lunging into the room.

  Tylin leaps. Blue and white light latch together, forming an impenetrable shield originating from Derek’s right hand. As Tylin makes contact with the energy shield, it crackles loudly and he’s thrown across the room. I don’t see where Tylin lands, however, because Derek’s cruel gaze never leaves me. Mouse scrambles after our fallen leader while Derek moves toward me. I let him stalk closer and closer.

  “I wanted to stop in and leave you with a choice. This is your one and only opportunity. When it expires, there will be no further leniency.” Derek is all ice and power. A coldness I hadn’t seen the first time we met is more than apparent now. “Especially you, my dear.” Derek’s sole attention is focused on me. Adrenaline rushes my veins, but I force myself not to move. I remain in place, making my eyes wide with a doe like appearance. I count his steps and wait.

  I wait.

  I wait.

  And I wait.

  Then I strike. My boot connects hard with the center of his chest. That pretty light effect in his palm shutters before disappearing entirely as his body collides with the kitchen table. I stare down on this man who keeps terrorizing my life. He doesn’t look at all like the threat he was just weeks ago.

  The moment of triumph is shortly lived.

  White energy snaps across his image. One second he’s flat on his back the next he standing chest to chest with me. It’s a flash of movement. A teleporting trick like I’ve never seen anyone else do.

  “Vanessa was a fiery woman as well.” His fingers are gentle as he touches a strand of dark hair near my face. His statements are always like this.

  Nothing but confusion follows his words.

  But then it doesn’t matter. Mason’s body slams into us. He takes Derek down in a blur of fists and striking motions. Mason pins the man’s face down. Arching fingers slip against the stubble along the man’s throat as his other hands pounds over and over again into Derek’s face. Blood streams from Mason’s knuckles, leaving crimson droplets across the rage on his face.

  The fierce side of Mason is always quick to call on.

  Just as quick, Derek flips them. There’s a thundering sound as he smashes Mason into the floor, and everything in me rebels as Derek starts punching Mason. My Mason.

  I reach out, drawing power from Derek, collecting the thick ribbons of his energy as I try to drain and weaken him. The amount of sheer power inside the man is as shocking as it is disheartening. There’s no way I can hold enough to do Derek any serious harm.

  Then everything changes. One second I’m draining the life out of Derek, and the next I feel currents of my own energy leaving my body against my will. Making contact with that energy is a stabbing feeling all over my skin. I desperately try to hold on to it, but I fall to my knees on the hard floor as the man weakens me.

  Springing into action, Jameson comes to my rescue, sending enough electricity into Derek to fry an elephant. I gasp as what little energy I have snaps back into my body. Derek stops attacking. I hear Mason scream, and focus just enough to see him writhing with Derek, both of them effected from Jameson’s assault.

  Instead of using his power, R
ory strides forward and rips the man off of his friend in a quick jerking movement, not even seeming fazed by the electric shock he surely sustained. He holds him high in the air before slamming him down at his feet.

  That warning energy of Derek’s snaps over every inch of his body in flashes of bright white. It threatens to steal him away in an instant and I know it.

  “The Lost Five will concede to me soon enough. You’ll see how misplaced you all are without a higher power. And I’ll be here to take you in, I promise. I helped make you. And I can break you just as quickly.” His speech is given through clenched teeth as Jameson’s lightning conducts over the man’s form.

  “Clearly.” Jameson lifts his big hands from his sides. His cocky smirk pulls at the corner of his lips as he sneers down at the man at his feet, increasing his power as he does.

  Thicker bolts of energy crash over Derek, causing the man to writhe more severely. When he laughs, I know the dude has finally fucking lost it. The smile lacing Jameson’s lips falters as he looks through the transparent image in front of him. Derek’s appearance crepitates, waning from view, fading just slightly.

  “I will break you.” Derek lifts an open palm. The white energy twirling through Jameson’s fingers rebounds with a thunderous crack, striking across the side of Jameson’s skull, licking across his face. His arms shake and his body convulses.

  In less than a second, Derek is gone.

  And then a scream of agony rips through the room.

  Eleven

  Numbing the Pain

  Blood splatters down his hand that’s shaking against his face. Jameson covers the entire left side of his face with his palm so much so that I can’t tell how bad the gaping slice that’s running down his face even is. Hot liquid is slick against my palms as I try to keep my hand over his. The pounding sound of my heart fills my ears as he and I sink to the floor.

  The moment Derek disappeared, Tylin came to, disoriented but fine. He speaks a rush of words that I can’t hear and Mason, shaky from the electricity that ran through his body but seemingly no worse for wear, responds. But all I can focus on is the way Jameson’s trembling in my arms.

  “Fuck, fuck. Fuck it hurts. Alexa it hurts. Please.” His other hand fists hard at his side and the blood covers everything now. It’s running through his hair, over the floor, onto my thighs.

  “It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.” Trembling breaths cut through my words and I have no fucking clue if it’s going to be okay. But I say it anyway.

  “I need Scarlett. Mouse get Scarlett.” The blood from his gashing wound covers his lips and he spews the pleading request even though he doesn’t look toward his friend.

  Mason doesn’t even nod. He doesn’t say a word. He grabs his coat and walks right out the door as if it were a command he was ready for.

  I want to argue that Mason is in no shape to go out alone after what he’s just been through, but he’s already gone, and I can’t force my gaze to leave Jameson’s.

  Tylin wipes the blood away with a wet towel but it trickles out just as fast as he can wipe. Rory paces with thundering steps at my side. And I try my best just to be here. To hold pressure on the wound that’s the length of Jameson’s palm while he shakes with uncontrollable pain.

  I can help him. Theoretically, if I focused in on just the feel of Jameson’s energy, his hard pounding heartbeat ,and the very essence that is Jameson, I could freeze time. Just his. I hope…

  Placing both my hands on him, I do the only thing I can do for him. I stare unblinking with complete determination.

  I halt time as he knows it.

  The woman he asked for, Scarlett, arrives in less than an hour. The mark against her slender neck holds my attention as she throws her long crimson hair over her shoulder and drops to the floor at Jameson’s side. I have no idea who the gorgeous woman is, but jealousy tries to rise within my chest. He asked for her in his time of need, so that makes her important in his life. Who the hell is she to him?

  Groans and cries of agony shake through him, and they break my heart with every sound he makes, quickly dissipating my envy over the mystery woman.

  I halted time over and over again for him. Every sixty seconds. It was the first time I cursed my inability to hold my power for more than a measly minute. But with how drained Derek left me, I eventually ran out of energy to keep freezing time, numbing his pain and staunching his blood flow.

  Swirling lines of black ink kiss Scarlet’s wrists. The tattoos strike over each of her knuckles, over nearly every inch of her pale skin. They almost dance as her fingers tense, arching and ticing in a rhythmic way. A feeling of calm energy pools through the room and the moment I feel it, the sound of anguish falls silent. The tension consuming Jameson’s body drifts away. His eyes close with a heavy sigh and his palm falls from his face entirely.

  A look of serene nothingness fills his features.

  And then I see the splitting wound that cuts through his brow, down his left eye ending just along his throat.

  My fingers tremble even as I try to cling to Jameson’s slick hand.

  Tylin wipes away the gushing blood. Another man slowly lowers himself at my side. Morning light shines off of the stranger’s glasses and he keeps his look of concern held on the assassin at his feet. His long chestnut hair is tied back from his face, and the look in his amber eyes makes worry thicken in my stomach.

  The slashing mark across man’s neck is identical to my own. He’s familiar in way that all assassins are familiar to one another without ever knowing each other.

  “Can you help him, Mars?” Mason lifts his hope filled gaze to the man.

  “Whatever did this to him was powerful. Energy radiates through the wound. I can heal him. It won’t be easy and it won’t be pretty.”

  “Just do it. Please.” The way I’m whispering hurts my throat. It hurts because it’s cutting off so many things I’m not saying. I’d beg this man to switch our places. I’d take the blow for Jameson if I could. I’d do almost anything if this man could stop the endless blood that’s leaving my friend’s body right now.

  Slowly he lifts his hand. His fingers hover over the wide line that marrs Jameson’s features. A strange smell fills the room just as colors of red glow along the man’s fingertips. The scent grows stronger and it makes my stomach turn as the wound starts to seal itself together. It’s a smell that I can identify even if I don’t want to admit it.

  It’s the smell of burnt skin.

  Twelve

  Crushing Reality

  It’s late into the night when I can finally do more than just stare at him. Dry lips part and even breaths slip in and out. I find myself hanging on his next breath with every intake. Next to his lip, a tattered pink line crawls up the left side of his face. It hurts to look at it.

  But he isn’t in any pain.

  Not anymore. Because of her. From across the bed, she stares down on him, just as I am on my side. My hand is cold against his, but I don’t move it away. I let the poor insulation of this tiny loft get the best of me. I’ll freeze my ass off before I ever take a step away from his bed.

  My gaze drifts vacantly and it doesn’t take long until I’m looking up at the patched ceiling. The hole Rory left there days ago is completely flawless. The only hint that a chunk of the roof was ever missing is the crisp white color of new plaster that lays among the sea of smoke stained paint.

  My attention slips away from the mysterious patch job. Mason sits on the floor against the railing across from us, his head tipped up against the iron bars as he sleeps in the most uncomfortable position. It seems he won’t leave his friend either. Rory and Tylin are downstairs in the bunk beds. And the three of us huddle around the sweet man resting before me.

  “What did you do to him?” I study the mysterious woman. Marks of black lines arch around her perfectly sculpted brow.

  The only tattoo’s I have are the two the League gave me. The Mark of a Huntress has meaning of power. I can’t help but wo
nder what all of hers mean.

  “I… manipulated his reality.” She shifts in the swiveling office chair as she finally meets my gaze. “You can’t feel pain if you aren’t aware that it’s there.”

  That has to be the most impressive power I’ve ever heard.

  I can see why Jameson called on her.

  But it doesn’t stop the creeping feeling of jealousy from sneaking back into my mind. They’re friends. She’s his friend. She helped him when I couldn’t. She’s important.

  And yet, he’s never mentioned her to me.

  “I’m his sister.” Her pale blue eyes follow the emotions on my face as if she can see right through me.

  “Oh.” I nod, thankful for her words. Her story comes crashing back to me, and even though I don’t know it in its entirety, I know enough. “He really cares about you.” My thumb pushes back and forth against his knuckles.

  “Too much. He always cares too much. I see that when he talks about you.” She looks down at her brother once again even though I continue to gape at her.

  “He’s talked about me to you?”

  Scarlett has an essence about her. She has the same smooth confidence as her brother, except thankfully it’s much more mellow. It’s more of an assuredness than an overbearing, all consuming, in your face, nonstop cockiness.

  “We try to meet up once a week. It was harder when he was still in the League and I had… disappeared.” Her mysterious words make me want to ask her a thousand questions but then she speaks again. “For the last several weeks all he’s gone on about is the smart mouthed Huntress who shoved her way into his life.”

  My fingers squeeze against his. “Smart mouthed, huh?”