Silver Huntress (Sisterhood of Assassins: Iliana's Story Book 2)

by Nia Night

  Ahh. There. Now I could get to work. I paid with the remainder of the money I’d stolen from Ibrahim and wandered back out onto the street, where the perpetual night of the place held true, the lights of the city glittering like diamonds.

  There were so many that it reminded me of all those flames in Ibrahim’s realm, all those burning souls. I felt small standing there, like a cog in a machine that I’d only just become aware of. Shaking off the feeling as best I could, I thought of where to start. If I wanted to locate someone in this city, I needed to talk to someone who knew the city. Trouble was, there was only one type of person I knew.

  Sisters.

  Luckily, one of the three stationed here owed me a favor. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t betray me, but I didn’t have anything else to go on. On top of that, Sisters made it their business to know who dwelled near their stations, so the chances that she knew something about the Shadowborn were pretty good.

  Wishing I had my Calidi chain with me for the hundredth time, I headed toward the apartment where I knew I’d find her, moving through the city like the night and the shadows, the ghost on the wind.

  If the city was a wonder during the day, it was a whole other beast after nightfall. Neon signs buzzed to life, proclaiming an assortment of indulgences waiting just within doors. I passed several storefronts where a female of one race or another danced erotically in scant clothing, some pressing themselves against the glass. Groups of various supernaturals gathered outside, chatting, drinking, and smoking. I saw all of them, but they did not see me, because I moved with the stealth of a wraith.

  Before long, I was standing outside a four story building, the loft I was looking for on the top floor. I slipped around to the rear of the place and swung from balcony to balcony until I landed on the one serving the fourth floor. Landing there without a whisper of noise, I peered through the glass at the dark living room inside.

  Either she wasn’t home, or she was sleeping, I thought.

  And was knocked on my ass before I could finish the thought.

  The balcony was made of stone rather than metal, and the impact of striking it reverberated through my back, making my mostly healed throat ache.

  A curved blade was held against the sensitive skin there, cool against the still fresh scar from the Accursed bite.

  “Sneaking up on a Sister is as wise as tugging the tail of a snake,” said the female brandishing the blade. “One would think you were trying to get yourself killed.”

  I looked up into familiar blue eyes, into the face of the Sister who probably despised me as much as the Demon King I’d found myself saddled with.

  “Hello, Raidyn,” I said, looking up from where I was pinned beneath her. “It’s been a while.”

  Raidyn snorted. “Not long enough.”

  I said nothing, but was sure the expression on my face was in agreement with her sentiments.

  The cold, curved blade pressed a little deeper into my throat, just short of breaking the skin.

  “You know, there is a kill on sight order out for you right now,” she said. “And a hefty reward for taking you out.”

  “That’s unfortunate,” I replied, though I’d suspected as much.

  Her sapphire eyes narrowed as she lifted her chin, dark blue hair falling over her shoulder. “Why are you here, Iliana?” Raidyn asked.

  “You owe me a favor, remember?” I said. “I’m here to call it in.”

  For a half handful of heartbeats, she held the blade in place, eyes still narrowed, lips pursed.

  I thought she might just kill me, might not give a shit about the debt she owed me, even if it was a life debt. But then the blade lowered, and Raidyn replaced the weapon in the holster on her hip. She stepped back and folded her arms over her chest, not offering me a hand up, looking down her straight nose at me.

  Once I was on my feet, Raidyn turned her heels and glanced back annoyed when I paused on the threshold of the loft.

  She rolled her eyes. “I disabled the bugs in this apartment years ago, after I was first assigned here. Magic plays new feed on a loop so that the Superiors are none the wiser.”

  “Really?” I asked, impressed. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Then again, of the six of us who’d graduated together, Raidyn was always the one who bent the rules to her will, the ballsy-est of the bunch by those standards.

  She faced me, muscular arms still folded over her chest, looking every inch a Sister in her head-to-toe black, her combat boots and various weapons.

  “Yeah, because I’m not a dumbass like the rest of you,” she said, long blue hair shifting over her shoulders as she waved a hand at me. “I haven’t killed you yet, so we’re even as far as my life debt goes. Now what do you want?”

  That was just about the best welcome I could’ve hoped for from her. The two of us had always hated each other, had tortured and sabotaged each other throughout our years at the Academy, always competing for the top spot in our graduating class. From the way she was looking at me, I knew she hadn’t forgotten the hell we’d put each other through.

  But I’d saved her life once, and she clearly hadn’t forgotten that, either.

  “I’m looking for the Shadowborn,” I said. “He’s supposed to be somewhere in the city.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she studied me. “Why do the Superiors want you dead?” Raidyn countered. “What did you do? Other than being a dumbass.”

  I let the jab slide in the name of diplomacy. “I broke The Code,” I answered.

  “Obviously, but you broke it how?”

  I sighed. “I helped a child that was with a Mark. I dug deeper when I should have fallen in line. I missed a kill, a deadline because I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t stop asking questions… I couldn’t… kill.” I drew a breath. “And then I conspired with an Angel to break into the Academy to rescue the aforementioned child.”

  Raidyn had unfolded her arms now, relaxed her stance. “Ten Hells,” she said.

  I snorted. “Yeah, there’s that, too.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. That’s the truth, though. So do you know where to find the Shadowborn or not?”

  Raidyn blinked at me for several seconds. “You want me to get involved in eating this shit sandwich you’ve made for yourself?” she asked at last. “That’s a hell of a favor to ask, and I don’t even like you.”

  “Yes, well, the feeling is mutual, but one would hope you’d have grown out of your jealousy by now.”

  Raidyn scoffed, shaking her head and rolling those brilliant blue eyes again. After a moment of indecision, she wandered over to a desk in the corner of the room and wrote something down on a scrap of paper. Then she handed it to me.

  I saw that it was an address, and was about to thank her when she held up her hand, stopping the words on my tongue.

  “Consider my debt paid in full,” she told me. “If I see you again. I’ll kill you and bring your head to the Superiors.”

  I nodded and made my exit, figuring that was more than fair enough.

  The coliseum sat in the middle of the metropolis, the domed structure lit by huge pyres that surrounded the place, one for each of the four directions. It was a fight night, made evident by the searchlights that lanced the night and the streams of people heading into the structure.

  I hated crowds. They didn’t make me nervous, but they were harder to predict, more difficult to control, presenting more dangers and obstacles than I’d like to deal with. I didn’t even know if the Shadowborn was here, and had certainly considered the possibility that Raidyn could be screwing me over, setting me up for a trap.

  As I scouted the place from the parking lot, I decided that she could have just killed me or reported me when she’d had her seraph to my throat if that was her intention, and I fully believed that she would follow through on her parting promise to me if I were to cross her path again. So I drew a breath and followed the crowds to the ticket booth, purchasing one for myself and then filing inside.

  The
sound of music mingled with the excited chatter of the people, and the scent of popcorn and hotdogs filled the air. Huge banners with various fighters hung from the ceiling, and the roar from the coliseum straight ahead overflowed into the lobby. I cursed in my head as I saw how many people were here, how difficult it would be to locate the Shadowborn in this crowd. I didn’t even really know what I should be looking for.

  When the smell of fresh brews floated by, however, I suddenly knew exactly what I was looking for. I procured two large goblets and double fisted them, careful not to spill the bitter, amazing liquid as I made my way inside the coliseum and to a seat. The first beer was half gone before my butt touched one of the long benches wrapping around the pentagon shaped ring in the center.

  The roof was open to the night sky, but the lights drowned out any stars that might be seen. It was still the early fights, and the place wasn’t quite packed yet, but it was quickly getting there as more and more people streamed into the coliseum.

  My hood was up, my attire nondescript enough to go mostly unnoticed in the crowd of excited supernaturals. Once the two goblets I’d bought were drained, I discarded them on the ground near my boots and watched my surroundings, going over what I knew.

  The Shadowborn must be some sort of magic user if we needed him to cast a spell for Vida, so that ruled out several of the people here based on their species alone. While all supernaturals had some form of magic running through their blood, only certain ones could wield that magic in spells. I was likely looking for a Warlock or Sorcerer.

  Beneath the shadows of my hood, I surveyed the gathered, picking out potential suspects as the crowd continued to increase in density. In the metal cage at the center of the place, two Wolf Shifters went at it, deadly jaws snapping and snarling. Under the scents of food and libations, sweat and excitement, was blood. Though the fights in the ring before me had not been to the death in several centuries, the violent history of the place had seeped into the stone walls and the barren earth below.

  Death hugged the edges of the coliseum, a presence I knew intimately. In the cage at the center, one of the Wolves latched its jaws around the neck of the other, forcing his opponent to yield or have his throat torn out.

  The benches filled with spectators, and I had to flash a look at a beefy male who tried to sit too near so that I could maintain some personal space. Luckily for him, he saw the monster in my eyes, and scooted far enough down the bench to appease me.

  “Still scaring males twice your size, I see,” said a familiar voice on the other side of me.

  My back went rigid, my fingers twitching toward my hip for a chain that was not there. My head swiveled slowly on my neck, my eyes narrowing to slits.

  “You’ve got some fucking nerve,” I said lowly, the words slipping out between tight teeth.

  The traitorous Angel sitting on the bench beside me met my gaze. “Hello, Iliana,” Kieran said.

  15

  I was going to kill this motherfucker. Right now. In front of all these people.

  Kieran must have seen the murder in my eyes. He spoke quickly. “Hear me out, please,” he said.

  Bleed him out was more likely. A slow death. A grin tugged at the corners of my lips at the thought.

  “I didn’t have a choice,” the Angel said, voice low beneath the growing din of the crowd. “I didn’t choose any of this.”

  My fingers wrapped around one of the daggers Ibrahim had lent me, concealed within my jacket. The various ways to kill him where he sat ran through my head as I searched for the one that would cause the least commotion in this crowd. Just like with a Demon, in order to kill an Angel, one needed to destroy their heart. I could slip the blade right up through his ribcage, quick and lethal. Then make a swift exit while he lay here and bled out.

  Sounded like a plan.

  “I was sold into servitude to Valda. A deal made a long time ago between the Sisters and Angels,” Kieran said. “I have no choice but to follow orders.”

  I adjusted the dagger in my grip, a movement none noticed.

  “And those orders, talking to me right now is part of them, I suppose?” I replied, voice cold.

  The Angel shook his head, scooting closer to me, near enough that I could feel the warmth radiating out of him. Being next to him was like being under the sun. If, you know, you could sit next to the sun and stab its punkass in the heart.

  “There’s a kill on sight order out for you,” he said, confirming what Raidyn had already told me. “So, no, I’m not supposed to talk to you. I’m supposed to kill you.”

  My eyes flashed flames as I continued to hold his blue stare. “Then our sentiments align, Angel,” I said, spitting the last word like the bloody curse it was.

  Kieran shifted even closer, giving me easy access to that tender spot between his ribs, direct access to his heart. “If you’re going to kill me,” Iliana, the Angel whispered, “I won’t stop you. I won’t fight back.”

  One movement, that was all I had to make, and I could slip my blade through his heart and be done with this mess.

  But if I was being honest, I was curious. I’d trusted the Angel against all my better instincts, put my faith in the ideas he’d sold me. He’d told me he was trying to save me from the dark life I was living, told me he was Vida’s new guardian, convinced me to break into the Academy and forsake everything I’d ever known.

  And Gods damn me, but I wanted to know why.

  Why go to the trouble? What purpose could it serve?

  I asked as much while my hand remained poised to strike, the loud and crowded coliseum melting away around us. Kieran’s sapphire eyes gleamed with regret that I didn’t trust, but still he pressed closer, his warmth seeping through our clothing, right into my skin. It was a different kind of heat than that fires that were always burning within me. I hated myself for wanting to lean into it.

  I hated myself for everything that had to do with the bastard Angel sitting beside me.

  “The Sisterhood was hired to take out Elias and retrieve the child,” he said. “Your part of it should’ve ended at killing him, but instead, you took the child in. You saved her from the Accursed, who were also hired to retrieve her.”

  “Hired by whom?” I asked between clenched teeth.

  “I don’t know that.”

  The blade in my hand twitched.

  “I swear to the Gods, I don’t know,” the Angel added quickly. “Valda doesn’t tell me things. She just uses me. But if I had to guess, I would say those who hired the Sisters and those who hired the Accursed are on opposing sides. Likely an Archangel and one or more of the Demon rulers.”

  Demon rulers… Like the one I’d left Vida with.

  “You’re a fucking liar,” I spat. Around us, the crowd cheered and hollered at whatever was happening in the center ring. I heard none of it.

  Kieran nodded. “You’re right. I am a fucking liar, but I’m not lying right now.”

  I said nothing. I needed to stab this fucker through the heart. Right now.

  I didn’t.

  “She knows you’re here,” he said. “Valda knew you’d come to the City of Shadows to find the Shadowborn. Whoever hired the Sisters and the Accursed knows. Everyone is after you and the child.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know, Angel. Before I kill you.”

  “The Angels want the Veil to remain in place, to avoid war. The Demons do not. They want to use Vida to drop the Veil and expand into the mortal realms. They want chaos and destruction. They want another clash of the species.”

  “You keep saying ‘they’ as though Demon blood doesn’t flow through my veins,” I replied. “And from what I’ve seen from you, Angels are not the noble creatures they pretend to be.” My head tilted. “In fact, they’re not at all what they pretend to be.”

  The tip of my blade pressed into his skin now, piercing his clothing and drawing a bit of blood that I could scent on the air. Still, he did not pull away.

  “I know you have no reason to trust
me,” Kieran said.

  “You left me to die.”

  The Angel swallowed as I dug the blade in a little deeper, holding my gaze.

  “I will regret betraying you as long as I shall live,” he whispered after what seemed a long moment. “However long that is.”

  “You still haven’t told me why,” I said. “If you were really just following Valda’s orders, why would she go to the trouble of having you fool me and break into the Academy. She had Vida. What was the point?”

  “You know why,” he said. “You broke The Code, and what does the Warden do with those who break The Code?”

  “She makes examples,” I mumbled, more to myself than to him. I kept the blade where it was, seeing a little splotch of dark blood spread on his black shirt.

  “She’s a Demon of Darkness, Iliana,” Kieran said, and whether I believed the son of a bitch or not, there was no denying the haunted look that came into his eyes. “She’s likely working with other Demons to bring down the Veil, and you got in her way.”

  “Why are you here, telling me this if you’re bound to her? Why risk it?”

  “Because I didn’t expect to like you so much, and I want you to be careful. The next time we meet, I might be forced to attack you, and I wanted you to know it wasn’t what I wanted… You can’t trust anyone.”

  “You already taught me that,” I replied.

  The Angel leaned closer still, digging the blade in deeper now of his own accord. He brought his face close enough to kiss. The fire in my eyes reflected in the blue pools of his, bodies pressed close to each other’s sides.

  “And I pray one day that you forgive me,” he whispered, and paused with his lips only inches from my own. “Are you going to kill me, then?” he asked in a low, rough voice.

  I said nothing. I absolutely should. I should drive the blade in deeper. Right now.

  Right.

  Now.

  The blade remained where it was, remained unmoved as the Angel tilted his face up and kissed my forehead. The kiss made something low in my stomach heat up, and it was safe to say that I’d never despised myself more in my life than I did in that moment.