Assassin (Starlight Book 1)

by D. N. Hoxa

  I’d been asked that before by professor Young who didn’t give a shit if I even had a mother in the first place. I doubted he’d felt as shitty as I felt that second, though.

  A long moment of silence. “Yes.”

  “You think you can do it? Kill your own mother?” Nobody on their right mind would say yes and mean it, but he had to say that stupid word either way, just like I did.

  “Yes.”

  His voice almost broke. I’d had enough.

  “Go get some rest, Nick. Meet me at the stadium in two hours wearing tights—no trousers. Your shirt needs to be tight, too. Or no shirt at all if you prefer.”

  I think the guy actually blushed. It was a strangely pleasant surprise.

  “Okay,” he said, his head down.

  “I’ll see you in a bit.”

  Hiding my smile, I turned around and walked outside again to see which of the remaining students were being recruited. Another pleasant surprise was the feeling that Nick and I would get along just fine.

  * * *

  McGraw was avoiding me like the plague. He still wouldn’t let me use the basement, not even to train with Nick. And that night after I finished training and went to his office, and McGraw practically shut the door in my face, I’d had enough. If he wasn’t going to give me answers on what was going on, I was going to find out myself.

  Behind the first staircase of the first basement level of the castle was my sanctuary.

  At first sight, the small space looked normal—the back of the stairs on one side and a solid stone wall on the other. But if you looked closely, you could see a horizontal, thin, almost invisible line in the middle of the wall. That’s what had caught my attention when I was eighteen and searching for a place to sneak out, a place that nobody knew about but me.

  I found it by accident, when I was trying to become one with that wall as somebody walked down the stairs. If I got caught out of bed after ten, it was one day of no food and sleeping in one of the cells. No thanks.

  But as I had huddled, so silently that even my heart slowed down the beating, I heard it. Maybe that wasn’t the right term—heard—but I knew no other way of explaining it. The stone whispered to me. It told me that there was something behind it, something I spent a good four hours figuring out. When I finally did manage to crack the side open just a tiny bit, I spent another three nights digging through dirt.

  I was about to give up when I finally felt the cold air. It was pitch black down there, but I had candles. I lit them and finally came out of the “tunnel” I’d managed to dig and into an opening in the side of the mountain, right under the castle on the opposite side of its entrance. Its location was probably why nobody had noticed it.

  It was a cave, nothing more. Dirt and stone and very cold air. The edge was so scary, I rarely went close to it, though the view was magnificent. I saw the mountain go down forever and a part of a city and all of its lights.

  After three years, I knew the place by memory. Now that I was back, I felt a bit nostalgic. I took out my small flashlight and walked slowly through the tunnel. It was just the same as I’d left it.

  I walked for five minutes through the narrow tunnel and stepped into the cave that was my secret place. There were a couple of blankets I’d put there, clothes and a pair of sneakers. I also had a very long and thick rope down there in case I ever needed to leave without being noticed, though I doubted it could be done easily. The mountain was too steep.

  The most important item there was my old cell phone. To my horror, I’d discovered that if I left my phone on the very edge of the cave, it received reception. I started using it two years ago when I established my resources outside Lyndor, and I was visiting the castle. McGraw always provided me with all the information I needed on my targets, but it never hurt to make sure. And I liked to take care of my own business.

  I went for my phone, replaced the battery with a charged one and turned it on. I never used it to talk. You could never know who’d hear. Every small sound echoed through the cave and tunnel so I tried to make as little noise as possible.

  I typed a text message to Kyle, one of my resources. He was another computer genius. Not as good as Samuel, but still… He hacked into extremely well protected databases—like state level—and nobody could even tell he was there. Kyle knew about the sups even though he wasn’t one. He never told me how, and I never asked him. The less we knew about each other the better. He was human, and I only did business with humans. They loved money too much, above all else. Sups were a different story.

  I told him about the killings and about the RR recruiting people, hoping he’d have answers for me for both. I had to know what was really going on. Curiosity was an itch I wouldn’t be able to scratch until I did.

  I stayed there for another hour, removing the dust off my things before I sneaked back through the tunnel and inside the castle. I waited behind the stairway for a couple of minutes before I made my way down, very slowly. Bad idea, but like I said, I was too curious as to why McGraw insisted I stayed out of the cell levels.

  The second floor of the cellar was clear and quiet. No one was in there. I made my way farther down and stopped before the hallway of the third. I felt them before I saw them. Two Royal Guards. I peeked carefully to see who else was inside. I thought I felt McGraw’s old and smelly magic, but it was gone so soon that I couldn’t be sure. The Royals were standing in front of the last cell of the hallway. I recognized both of them, but it seemed like they were the only ones there. At least according to my senses. That was weird. Why would they stand guard if there was nothing to guard?

  Curiosity burned inside me, and I tried to think of a way to approach them without triggering the alarm. They were guarding something, all right. I just needed to see what it was. If I just walked up to them, they’d stop me before I even made it to the middle of the hallway. If they’d stop me, I’d have to kill them. If I killed them, I would be in a lot of trouble. I’d make Vladimir’s fucking day. He would have the time of his life throwing me in one of the cells and beating the shit out of me.

  As much as I wanted to know what was in there, I had to let it go. I’d find out soon enough, maybe even get McGraw to tell me. I made my way out of the cells and slowly up to my room.

  8

  ——————————

  A week passed and I heard no news about what was going on. McGraw was being a pain in my ass, still avoiding me and my questions. I didn’t hear anything from Kyle and I never saw what they held in the third-floor cells. They kept at least two Guard there 24/7. On the third night, I went down there again only to see the place empty, no Guards and no one inside the cells.

  I found something interesting on the long hours I spent staring at the pictures of the dead sups over and over again, and reading the reports so many times that I learned them by memory. On the left shoulder of every victim, there was a similar mark. It was a circle with a simple curved line in the middle. It was so small, barely noticeable by the blood and ruined flesh, but it was on all four bodies. Since vampires turned to ash when they died, I found nothing on the gray piles, but I was sure they’d have the same marks if they’d have remained solid after death.

  I told McGraw, but he didn’t seem to think too much of it, which was very odd. He told me to let it go and wait until I had the chance to go to New York. Still, I didn’t believe the killer—the Red Rebel—was stupid enough to leave a signature behind on the bodies. Maybe the sups that were killed were in some sort of a group, which could be helpful in finding the reason why they were targeted. But McGraw didn’t want to hear it.

  And I never got an answer from Kyle. I was starting to worry. I made a mental note to pay him a visit once this mess was over.

  Nick turned out to be a much better fighter than I expected. With the help of McGraw’s potions, his muscles weren’t too sore, and he fought much better only a week after. His reflexes were better. We hadn’t started on weapons yet, but I trusted him to do good. I was right,
we got along just fine, only because we never really spoke unless I was giving him directions.

  On the eighth night, after my training with Nick ended and I went to the kitchen to fix myself a sandwich, McGraw found me.

  “You leave tonight. The meeting will take place tomorrow. Be ready at eleven. Clear instructions will be given to you once you’re in New York,” he said and turned on his heels, leaving me in the kitchen. Sentimental old man.

  Once I got my things ready, I went to Nick’s room. The way McGraw had spoken to me and everyone else that past week was just too much. The whole situation was making me really uneasy, and something in me was telling me that whatever it was, it was big and messy.

  So I had to tell Nick how to reach me if needed.

  Reluctantly, I took him to the tunnel and to my secret cave. I loved the place, even if it was nothing but a dirt hole. It was my hiding place, a sanctuary to go to when I was upset—which was usually—and wanted no one to find me. Add the cell phone reception and it was the perfect cave, at least for me.

  Nick barely fit the narrow tunnel, and his black shirt was covered in dust by the time we reached the cave. He didn’t seem to mind.

  “Wow.” Nick said, admiring the view of the mountain in front of us. He was smart enough to stay away from the edge. Only God could help you if you slipped.

  “Yeah, it’s something.”

  “You found this all by yourself?” he sounded surprised.

  I nodded. “Sleeping troubles, I guess.” I took him to the old phone. “Here it is. You can only use it for texts. No calls. It has only one number registered.” The rest I needed, I knew by memory.

  “I always thought they exaggerated it,” Nick said after a second.

  “Exaggerated what?”

  “What they say about you.”

  “What do they say about me?” I’d heard the rumors but I never had anyone actually tell me about it.

  “That you’re evil. Incapable of mercy. That you kill just for the heck of it.”

  Every word that left his lips froze the blood in my veins a bit.

  “Thanks,” I muttered. I never knew I was so fucking emotional. Why the hell would I care that my enemy thought I was incapable of mercy? That was a good thing.

  “They fear you out there,” Nick whispered next.

  “Good. They should,” I said, but only half my heart was in it.

  “But you’re not as bad as they say. Bad tempered, sure, but you don’t kill for fun.”

  “What makes you so sure?” Apparently, since the whole damn world thought it, why wouldn’t it be true?

  “I don’t know. I just am,” he said with a shrug.

  “Don’t be.”

  It was stupid that those words of his hurt so much. I’d worked so damn hard to give that exact impression to the world. Now I had a problem with it? I wouldn’t let myself, so I did what I did best: I smiled my evil smile and threatened him.

  “Do I need to remind you what happens if you tell someone about the cave? You’re going to beg for death more than a million times before it comes.”

  And I meant it. I didn’t like torture, but I liked rats even less.

  Nick nodded. I still wasn’t sure that telling him had been a good idea. I never would have, but my gut was telling me to leave someone on the inside. I was sure McGraw wouldn’t bother to tell me if something went wrong, and I expected even less from Kai. I left Nick with strict instructions to send me a message about every little detail he could hear around the castle about the RR or anything else suspicious.

  The Council’s helicopter took me to the airport. I landed in New York at noon and settled into my room at the hotel. And as I waited for the instructions about the RR meeting, I went out to treat myself with a good Starbucks latte.

  And that’s where I saw her…

  9

  ——————————

  Four years ago

  “I have done a terrible thing, Star. I’m so sorry.”

  Uncle Sam’s voice repeated itself in my mind over and over again. Where was I?

  I heard the noises before I opened my eyes: the annoying beep of a machine, and even a little whisper from the wind, telling me that I was lying with my head next to a window. Someone was next to me, and the hospital scent filled my nose. Sterile. It was the worst smell in the world.

  My memories immediately took me to the last time I was in a hospital. Same smell, same feeling. My mom was lying on a white bed in a cold room. She had just been diagnosed with cancer after being fed eleven pills every morning for a month and a half, because the oh-so-smart doctors thought that she had bone tuberculosis. Of course, the cancer had spread almost everywhere in her body by the time they figured it out, and they couldn’t even tell where it had all began. It hid, the little sneaky bastard.

  I could see her, everything else clear but her face. I knew she was struggling to breathe. She was hurting so much. They had to give her morphine to keep the pain bearable. All because they weren’t good enough to diagnose a stupid disease in time. Goddamn doctors. I hated them ever since.

  “Star.” My name coming out of her mouth was something I’d longed to hear again for such a long time. But before, her voice had been one of the most powerful sounds I’d ever heard. Now, it was nothing but a whisper.

  In my mind, I tightened my grip around her hand.

  “Yes, Mom?” I said, my face wet and swollen.

  “Do…do I have a mother?” she asked me, barely able to pronounce the words.

  It felt like the whole building crashed on top of me, breaking every bone in my body. I bit my tongue to keep from crying out loud. I held my eyes closed for a couple of seconds, and I took a deep breath before I answered, hoping to sound at least a little bit strong.

  “Yes, of course you do. She’s up there,” I pointed out of the window toward the sky, “ and she’s watching you right now.”

  Her eyes met mine, and it was like she was looking at a stranger, not her own daughter. My heart kept breaking and breaking, each broken piece into smaller pieces and on. A heartbeat later, she turned her head on the other side and watched the sky for the rest of the night. The morphine they’d given her had made her high. She had no idea what was going on, who she was or who we were. I hated it, but it was better than having her go through the unbearable pain.

  “Star?” Ella’s face brought me back to the present. It chased away all the dark thoughts that had gathered in my mind. Slowly, I pushed my lids open. God, they felt so heavy. Her small hand reached for my face to wipe a tear I didn’t know was there. The first couple of blinks, I could only make out her silhouette, then the view cleared.

  Ella sat on a chair right next to my bed. The room was bright white, everything so clean and smelly. The faint beep came from the heart monitor attached to me.

  “Hi.” Ella gave me a fake smile. She looked good, except for the swollen eyes.

  “Hi.” I tried to sit up. Big mistake. I cried out, and my breath caught in my throat. Every inch of me was hurting, especially my throat and my gut.

  “Don’t move,” Ella said, pushing my shoulders down on the comfortable bed. After a few moments, the pain was mostly gone and I could catch my breath again.

  “Dad?” I asked her, keeping the talking to a minimum. My throat was a mess.

  “He’s downstairs, talking to the police.”

  “Me?” I wasn’t really sure if I even wanted to know. It felt like I’d jumped from a ten-story building and survived with all the consequences.

  “Well, I’d suggest you avoid a mirror for a couple of days,” she teased, and I would’ve laughed if it wasn’t for the piercing pain in my gut. “But you’re okay. Nothing broken, just bruises on your face, neck and stomach and a small cut on your right thigh. The doctors say you were lucky. The hit you got would have broken anybody else’s ribs.”

  Blessed relief again. I could deal with bruises. Makeup would help make them invisible on my face, and clothes would do for the rest
. I needed to get to Uncle Sam right away. But of course, I couldn’t move a finger.

  “What the hell were you thinking, Star? You’re the one who always keeps telling me to look both ways. It’s not like you not to be careful.”

  “What?”

  “The road? Outside Sam’s Bookstore? How come you didn’t look both ways?”

  “What…what are you talking about, Ells?” She’d lost me completely.

  “You don’t remember?”

  The blood drained from her face. Remember? Of course, I remembered. I remembered the woman and the man. I remembered being tied to the chair. I remembered their questions…

  “Star, you were hit by a car right in front of Sam’s Bookstore.”

  Really funny. “No, I wasn’t.”

  “Yes, you were.” Ella slowly nodded and looked back at the door as if she were afraid of me all of a sudden.

  “What…who told you I was hit by a car?” This was ridiculous. I would’ve remembered being hit by a freaking car.

  “Your friend Sam. He saw the whole thing. He said it was a black car. It hit you and didn’t even stop to check if you were alive.”

  Shocked for a second, I couldn’t find my words. “Uncle Sam said that?” Why would he lie? I was tortured by two weird people who kept asking me…asking me about Illyon. Something that was hidden in Uncle Sam’s store under the covers of The Unique. And I knew that. Somehow.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what he said. If you want to speak to him, he’s right outside, but I think you should—”

  “He’s here?”

  Ella nodded, her eyes wide with confusion and a little fear.

  “Do me a favor and send him in, but don’t tell anyone I’m up yet, okay?”

  Ella opened and closed her mouth a few times before she spoke. “What’s going on, Star?”

  “Nothing. I’m fine. I just need to talk to Uncle Sam, that’s all.”

  She didn’t believe me, but she also must’ve heard the desperation in my voice because without another word, she stood up and left the room. The same second, a headache started on the back of my head and spread everywhere before I could think to blink. Images from before came back to me in a rush. I saw the woman. Heard the man. Jonah. Who were they? Where had they taken me? And where had Uncle Sam been?