Ascendancy Origins Trilogy

by Bradford Bates

  I sat there in silence, my emotions trying to pull me in two different directions. I was a member of the Ascendancy now and it was my job to bring this man to justice after securing the location to the underground marketplace. On the other hand, the job he had given me last night felt rewarding, it was as if I had found my true calling. I still hadn’t decided on which side of the fence I was going to fall. Was the grass greener in Cane’s yard? Only time could tell me the answer to that question.

  Cane finally broke the silence. “I have a standard rate that I pay for contracts like the one you fulfilled for me last night. Payments start at one thousand dollars.”

  I nearly choked when he said the amount. That was enough to buy a new car, make that almost four new cars. For that kind of money you could almost put a down payment on a house. Granted it wasn’t like I could tell the bank I worked as an assassin for the rest of the loan. But with a few more jobs I could buy a home outright. I tried to keep my face as straight as possible when I said, “That seems sufficient.”

  “I should hope so.” He tossed the first envelope in my direction. “After you complete ten jobs for me that rate doubles, after twenty it would become negotiable. Normally if you’ve lasted that long I’ve found something more suited for your individual talents.”

  I gave the inside of the envelope a quick peek; it sure looked like a lot of money. I would take his word for it that it was all there. “Sounds like you might already have another job in mind.”

  “I do, especially if I can count on you to employ the same kind of methods that you used last night. If I wanted someone for simple thuggery I wouldn’t be paying nearly as much.”

  “For the money you are offering I will execute the contract any way that you desire. May I be so bold as to say that I am not looking to be a hired killer for long?”

  He watched me with an almost cold sense of detachment, and then his eyes flashed red for a moment. His head tilted to the side as if he was listening to something and then his eyes flashed back to normal. This time when he smiled something was off about it. It seemed as if he had more teeth than he should have, and if it was possible, they were all sharper. “Maybe I have misjudged you, and we should just go our separate ways now.”

  “I think that would be a mistake.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I am destined for greater things than simply thuggery, as you so eloquently put it. I will do what is required for me to move forward in your organization, I just wanted you to know that I am hungry for more.”

  “That is the kind of attitude I can work with. On that note, I believe I already told you that I have your next assignment in mind.” He passed me a manila envelope along with a white one.

  I opened the white envelope first only to find it matched the first one that I had received. From the looks of it, it contained another thousand dollars.

  “Payment upfront for your next job, just in case you have any additional expenses.”

  I wasn’t sure where he thought I could spend a thousand dollars let alone two. Not to mention what Adam had given me when I left the Ascendancy to take this job. Right now I could walk away and not have to work again for years. I looked up at Cane’s smile, and knew that walking away had never really been an option.

  “When you have this job completed come back here and I will have something else lined up for you. All of my employees are offered housing at one of my clubs. The entire top floor has been converted into large suites, and I have a vacancy that just opened up. You are free to continue staying at the Palace, but they don’t have the kind of benefits that we do. Granted, the girls aren’t free even for you, but you will enjoy a discount, and the food is fantastic.”

  “Funny that you mention it, I had just been thinking that the Palace might draw too much attention to me if I stayed for too long. Once my tailor drops off my new suits I’d be happy to take you up on that offer.”

  “I’m delighted to hear it.”

  I stood up from my chair and extended my hand. Cane took it into his and gave me a firm shake. “Thank you for the opportunity to work with you.”

  “I’d like to think that I have an uncanny eye for spotting talent, just don’t let me down.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Good, and just to be clear, the punishment for betraying me is not one you would like to experience.”

  I looked back as I exited the room. “From you, I would expect nothing less.”

  I was back in my room at the Palace twenty minutes later and decided to order room service while I looked over the envelope Cane had given me. I was feeling pretty good about how well things had gone so far, and I decided to splurge. I had them send up a hamburger with onion rings and bacon, as well as an entire cake. I was going to be using enough magic tonight to offset the calories. I also needed to get a letter together for Adam. I know it had only been a couple days since I left but he needed to know that Cane had found me and that I was working my way forward. If this all blew up in my face I wanted to be able to return to the Ascendancy, and that meant playing the role of the good soldier.

  I penned out a quick note to Adam, leaving out the details of the task that Cane had assigned for me, and letting him know that more updates would be coming as I progressed in my mission to find the market. I paper clipped a five to the envelope, and would ask the waiter to drop it off after his shift. I wanted to make sure the letter didn’t go out with the hotel’s post just in case Cane had someone watching it.

  My meal came faster than I thought. The rumors of my generosity must have reached most of the staff already. I tipped the man five dollars for the room service, and handed him the letter with my instructions. He was more than eager to accept the task, as the ten dollars in tips might be more than he made for his entire week’s wages. With my due diligence taken care of, I sat down and started to eat. I pulled out the manila envelope as I sat back with my first slice of the delicious chocolate cake; the vanilla buttercream frosting was to die for.

  The man pictured inside didn’t look like anything special; I wondered just what he had done to upset Cane. It didn’t look as if he was magical in any way making this a pretty tame job. The packet also included his address, at home and at work, as well as a pretty detailed schedule. It looked as if this was going to be a job better suited to a late night arrival, so I settled in with another piece of cake and kicked off my shoes. The bed was comfortable enough for me to get some rest even though I had only left its comforts mere hours ago.

  The sun had set about two hours ago, so it was time to head out. Now that I was a professional I would give the property a little surveillance before coming back later for the kill. I headed out the door and was in a cab in less than three minutes. I had the cab drop me off at a diner that was about two miles away from my target’s house. After waiting for the cab to leave I started walking down the street. I opened up my perceptions casting a few spells to aid me in determining if anyone was following.

  With the coast clear for now I turned to the left and headed more or less in the general direction of my target. The houses grew closer together as I continued walking, which might be a problem later tonight. When I walked past the target’s house I felt a slight pull on my magic. I quickly let go of the spell and turned to watch. One of the window curtains flickered open and a man peered out. He looked straight at me and nodded. I nodded back to him and continued on my way.

  Damn, the target had his house warded against magic, and what appeared to be some kind of magical alarm. I wondered what other surprises he had in store for the person that dared to break inside. Not only that but he had seen me, and knew that I was coming for him. I doubted that I could have screwed this up anymore if I had deliberately tried. The good news was he hadn’t tried to run; the bad news was that meant he thought he was safe at home. This was another of the twenty-four to forty-eight hours kind of jobs, so I couldn’t just wait for him to leave.

  I tried to think back on my training. Was there anything
that we had done to mask our magic? Normally it was the opposite; we wanted the Pretenders to feel it, to be afraid when we came calling, if anything we amplified the sensation of it. Could I do the same in reverse, was it even possible? It wouldn’t hurt to try it. I thought about what I wanted and how I wanted it to work and commanded that my gift accomplish the task. This time when I walked past the front of the house nothing happened. I took that as a good sign.

  Assuming his neighbors ever looked outside, a man walking back and forth in front of a single residence would look a little weird so I changed directions again and headed away from the house down a side road. Then I decided to see if I could invent something else that was new. I pulled the shadows towards me to shroud myself and then covered the magic by forcing it inwards. I turned and walked past the front of the house again. Again there was no feeling that my magic had been detected.

  One of the upper floor’s curtains twitched to the side. I stood still and watched as the man glanced up and down the street. He couldn’t see me, my spell was holding and the house hadn’t alerted him. There was never going to be a better time to act so I moved up the front steps and stopped on the patio. I thought about circling around to the back, but I suspected that is where he would expect the attack to come from. I focused on keeping my magic shielded and reached out to burst the lock. When I didn’t feel the tug of the runes I knew that I had been successful. I slowly pushed the door open and waited.

  No noises reached my ears, nothing to indicate that anyone had noticed the front door opening. I looked into the house hoping to spot any kind of traps. If he had them then they weren’t obvious, and frankly I had never seen a magical booby-trap so I had no idea what to even look for. I stepped inside and when nothing happened I let out a small sigh of relief. Closing the door behind me I moved further into the house. My target appeared to have been upstairs but if he heard the lock break he could be anywhere by now.

  Slowly and methodically I moved from room to room checking to make sure they were all empty. When that was done I moved towards the back stairs. Again I thought that if he suspected anything the back stairs might be the most heavily guarded. Quietly moving back towards the front of the house, for the first time I heard a noise. A door upstairs opened and two voices floated down.

  “I’m telling you, Martha, I saw someone out there after the sensor went off. I don’t think they are gone.”

  “If they weren’t wouldn’t the alarm still be ringing?”

  “I guess so but I just have a bad feeling. I’m going to peek around downstairs and I’ll be back.”

  “Just don’t shoot yourself with that thing.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  The door closed and I could hear the footsteps coming down the upstairs hallway. There was a small creak as he went down the front stairs. I moved back into a corner of the room and watched my target as he looked out the front window, scanning the street. He moved past me towards the back of the house and I followed him. The shadows still cloaked me and that would be enough to give me the edge I needed. He peeked out into the backyard and after a few minutes turned back into the house heading for the back stairs.

  This was my chance to get out of here nice and easy. I darted forward and touched the man with my normal killing blow and nothing happened. The man spun around, firing his shotgun as he did. The shot went off before he had turned enough to hit me, and a scream sounded from upstairs as he chambered another round. There wasn’t time to think about what to do next, his eyes were darting around the room and it wouldn’t be long before he started taking random shots. I couldn’t be sure that my shield would block anything here when my magical strike hadn’t even fazed him.

  Moving forward again I pushed the gun to the side and an unfortunate coffeepot met its demise in the blast. The man tried to chamber another round into the shotgun but I hit the barrel with everything I had smashing it back into his face. His nose made a satisfying crunch when it broke and his grip on the gun loosened. I ripped the weapon from his hands, finished the pump he started to chamber the next round, and fired.

  The weapon jumped in my arms and knocked me back a foot or two. I hadn’t expected the shot to be so violent. If only my magic had worked it would have been so much cleaner. Instead I watched as his body fell to the ground and started to pump out his life’s blood on the floor. It surprised me just how much damage this weapon had done to the man. I needed to get out of here. I could already hear the sirens in the distance coming to check on the disturbance but I couldn’t leave until I knew he was dead.

  The next round chambered just as easily as the first, although the act of pulling the trigger was harder. The gun jumped in my hands again, and I knew for sure that it was over now. I laid the gun down by my target’s hand and then headed back towards the front door. The last thing I needed were any more surprises. I closed the door behind me and made it down the steps and five steps down the street before the first police car came screeching to a stop outside of the house.

  The shadows must have still been doing their job because the officers ignored me and ran up the stairs and started pounding on the front door. It swung open before too long, the lock was still broken. They ran inside and thirty seconds later one ran out heading straight for the bushes. That had been my reaction as well. Guns were just too messy and didn’t fill me with the same kind of satisfaction that using my gift did. Turning away, I headed down the street, leaving the police and the crime scene behind me.

  The first thing I needed to do was find some new clothes. I hopped the fence into a backyard that had a promising looking laundry line. I stripped out of my coat and pants. Using the garden hose I washed quickly in the frigid water before plucking a towel from the line to dry off. Then I picked out a pair of jeans and an undershirt that looked like it would fit. I topped it all off with a borrowed sweatshirt and started to leave. I turned back towards the house and hung a ten dollar bill from the line. That would more than cover the cost of the items I had taken. When I made it into the alley behind the house I tossed my clothes into a trashcan and lit the contents on fire.

  Circling around a few times I slowly made my way back to the diner. When I walked in the entire place was buzzing with people wondering what all the commotion was about.

  When I sat down the man next to me asked, “Hey bud, did you see what was going on out there?”

  I gave him my best aw-shucks smile. “You know I did see a couple police cars heading up that way.” I pointed for emphasis.

  “Figures,” he muttered. “Some of the folks that live up that way just ain’t right.” He turned back towards his paper and sipped on a cup of coffee.

  When the waitress came over I ordered a large slice of apple pie and an extra scoop of ice cream. Using that much magic had taken a toll on me, I needed some extra calories to feel better. I took my first bite of pie and it was divine. Before she could go too much further I motioned to her for another slice. The man next to me raised one eyebrow but didn’t say a word. Pie always helped calm my nerves and I planned on sleeping well tonight.

  2

  John

  December 1923

  Sarah was still recovering from the Demon serpent’s venom. Each day she grew stronger and it wouldn’t be too much longer before she was back at full strength. After spending the first week without leaving her side, Sarah had grown less tolerant of my constant hovering. The day had come where she was feeling well enough to order me out of the house. She ordered me to not come back until I found a way to make myself useful around the base.

  At first I had just started back into my routine of daily workouts. When Edward finally showed his face again I wanted to be ready. As the weeks crept by I found myself enjoying watching the acolytes training. A few of the instructors were happy to take an additional day off or two and soon I found myself teaching a few of the classes. To my great surprise, I found it extremely enjoyable.

  After three weeks working with the students there was one that was
lagging behind all the others. I approached his main instructor, Frank. “So what is going on with Gavin, he seems to have fallen behind his peers?”

  “Not everyone is cut out for this kind of life, John. The good news for him is we have many positions that need to be filled, not everyone was meant for field work.”

  “Does he not have the talent or is something holding him back?”

  “I couldn’t tell you. I have to spend my time with the students that can keep up.”

  “Do you think it would be ok if I spent some time working with him?”

  “I think there are some other students that would benefit more from your experience, but you have my permission to work with him.”

  “Thank you, Frank. I’ll see if I can’t get him back up to speed, and then I can drop in on a few of your classes to work with those other students.”

  His massive hand wrapped around my forearm and I returned the squeeze before he moved off to work with his students. I could see Gavin marching across the base with his head down, getting ready for another day of class. As he walked by I moved in front of him. His head snapped up ready for a fight, his eyes blazed with energy.

  He stepped back when he realized who it was. “Sorry, John, I didn’t realize it was you.”

  “It’s ok, Gavin; can you tell me why you seemed so ready for a fight?”

  He lowered his head again not wanting to meet my eyes. “I’d rather not.”

  “Walk with me.” I didn’t wait for him to follow. I knew his years of training would never let him disobey a request from me. After a few steps I felt him move up next to me and match my pace.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I thought maybe if I got you away from the rest of the class you would be more inclined to talk to me.”

  “It’s not really something that I’m proud of.”

  “If it’s all the same to you I’d still like to hear about it.”