Vincent thought for a moment, then said, “Well, there may be a place for you somewhere else. What did you have in mind?”
“I thought I may take the test to join the royal guard. I have been training for that posting ever since I was a young girl, and I feel I am ready to finally move into that post.”
“You certainly have been training hard,” Vincent nodded. “And I do remember your request to join the royal knights. It is a difficult trial, I will warn you.”
“I understand, sir. I will be tasked with protecting your parents, after all.”
The angel contemplated her request, figuring she would do well as one of the royal knights, regardless of his feelings for her. A brief thought nagged at the back of his mind that he was coming dangerously close to accepting her request out of favoritism rather than merit. He dismissed the thought as quickly as it arose, knowing that he was making the right decision and leaving his personal feelings out of it. “I will put in your formal request to take the trials as soon as I am able,” he stated.
Anna smiled, causing Vincent’s heart to leap into his throat, and thanked him. She went back to the rest of the knights with her head held high.
Vincent went back to his other duties, patrolling the tower’s defenses, and could not help but smile to himself as he went.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Well, this is odd,” Adrian commented, kneeling over a mark in the dust in one of the weapon caches on Earth. He was exhausted from traveling all the way to north-eastern Siberia from New Giza, but it was worth the rush. The guards were nowhere to be seen, either killed or abducted, and the vault was left wide open. Most of the weapons were gone, taken by whoever had infiltrated the place. The mark left in the dust looked like a body had fallen there, along with a few drops of dried blood.
“This is old,” Adrian’s assassin, an imp named Kizrack, stated. “I’d say at least a year.”
“Then it must have happened shortly after their last check-in,” Adrian guessed. “Have you identified the blood?”
The imp shook his head. “Not my area of expertise.
“Damn… I was hoping you were the one who was good with blood,” the prince grunted.
“That’s Loran, sir,” Kizrack corrected.
“Right… Well, nothing left to do other than burn this place. Good riddance, too. The fewer of these caches in existence, the more knights we can send home.” He took out his dagger and plunged it into the stone near the blood. He cast a spell to soften the stone in the dagger’s path, and he cut a square around the drops of blood. Dried or not, Adrian would use it to identify the person the blood belonged to and get his answers. He tugged the stone free, wrapped it in a cloth and slipped it into a pocket of his coat.
“Ready, sir?” Kizrack asked when they stood outside the vault.
Adrian nodded and the two raised their hands and shot large balls of hellfire into the vault. They watched the flames crawl over the weapon racks and melt the metal and stone into pools on the floor. The flames grew hotter, turning the angelic metal into steam. Content that their work was done, Adrian and Kizrack slammed the door shut and left the cache behind them.
Adrian walked into the living quarters of his assassins after his return to Hell and found Loran hard at work weaving detection spells over the stone with the drops of blood.
“Any luck?” the prince asked the hulking demon.
Loran grunted, shaking his enormous head.
“Keep at it, big guy,” Adrian said, reaching above his head and patting Loran’s meaty shoulder. “We need answers, and I need someone to kill.”
Loran grunted again and doubled his efforts.
“Kizrack, any luck on your end?” Adrian asked, turning to the center of the room and a pile of papers.
The imp looked up, emerging from the heap, and shook his head. “According to these reports, every demon and devil who was posted there has returned.”
“Then why has nobody reported an attack? We had that place guarded. And what happened to the guards my brother sent there to keep watch?”
Kizrack shook his head and searched through the reports. He found what he was looking for and held it up for Adrian to see. The prince took the report and looked over the scrawled letters. “According to that,” the imp mentioned, “the vault was taken out of the rotation two months before the vampire attack.
“Then why didn’t I know about it? This is a glaring breach of the kingdom’s security. Who took this report?”
Kizrack shuffled through the papers once more and found his notes. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the parchment. “Says here, Drae, advisor to the crown. Advisors don’t take these reports, though.”
“None of them do. These reports come directly to either myself or my brother, if not the king himself. But my question is, who in this kingdom is Drae? I’ve never heard that name before.”
“And as the son of the king, you should know every one of them,” one of the other assassins, a demoness by the name of Zhun, commented. She was lounged over one of the overstuffed couches, her cat-like face holding an expression of pure comfort.
“Zhun, my lovely, lazy vixen,” Adrian grinned. “Zhun, my moon-“
“I hate that rhyme,” Zhun interrupted.
“Still,” Adrian continued. “Are you suggesting there is a false advisor in the tower?”
“More like I’m suggesting a false report has been made,” Zhun purred. She rolled off the couch and approached Adrian, her long feline tail swishing with the motion of her shapely hips. When within arm’s reach, she plucked the report from Adrian’s hands and looked it over. “The seal at the bottom is a fake,” she stated after a casual glance, handing the document over.
“I love you, you know,” Adrian teased.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Zhun said over her shoulder as she slunk back to her spot on the couch.
Adrian inspected the seal at the bottom of the page and shook his head. “How did you not see this, Kizrack?” he asked.
The imp shrugged, taking the report and looking it over again. “I don’t know. It’s an excellent forgery, though.”
“Do we know who handed it in?”
Kizrack checked his notes again and shook his head. “Doesn’t say. I’ll reference the logs of who was out there before the attack, though. See what dates match up.”
“Good, get on that. Zhun, get off the couch and help him. You’ve got the best eyes out of all of us.”
“I’ve got the best everything out of all of us,” Zhun shot back, stretching her limbs.
Loran grunted indignantly, scratching at his inner thigh.
“I would if I had one, Loran,” Zhun countered, causing the giant demon to chuckle hoarsely.
“Get a room, you two,” Adrian laughed. “But after you finish what I gave you. I’ll report back once I’ve seen what progress the other three have made, and I hope to see some results.”
He left his assassins to their work and made for the tower’s outer walls.
Vincent patrolled the walls as he did every day, stopping to look out over the capital city of Hell at the base of the volcano.
“Lovely view, as always,” Adrian said, standing next to Vincent at the parapets.
The angel, unsurprised as always, nodded. This had become a regular ritual for the brothers, at least whenever Adrian was home between missions. “You’ve been keeping busy,” Vincent commented. “What are you up to these days? I haven’t seen you for a few weeks.”
“Can’t say,” Adrian replied softly. “Assassin stuff.”
Vincent nodded. This was far from the first time Adrian had given that very answer. “Saving the world, then?”
“Always, brother.” Adrian chewed his lip for a moment then bluntly asked, “Been to Siberia lately?”
Vincent glanced at Adrian in mild surprise. “No. Why?”
“Have you sent any knights there?”
“No. If this is about the weapon caches, I haven’t had to send anyone out th
ere for a few months. Why?”
Adrian turned to face his brother squarely. “You knew about that?”
Vincent looked more directly at Adrian. “I’m gathering you did not. I thought that would be something you were told about?”
“I wasn’t,” came Adrian’s curt response.
“You had to have been told. I sent three knights to relay the news.”
“What happened to the vault, then?” Adrian asked. “Why was it taken out of rotation?”
Vincent looked at his brother in confusion. “It was one if the caches father ordered to be destroyed. You knew about that, at least. One of your assassins accompanied one of my knights to see to its destruction. I thought you ordered that demon to go in your place.”
Adrian’s head swam with questions. “I have no memory of giving such an order. Which assassin was it? Which knight?”
Vincent shrugged apologetically. “I don’t know your assassins. Besides I didn’t actually see who it was. Captain Maluf handed me the report of the mission and I sent him to give it to father. I was busy with other duties at the time, or I would have taken it.”
Adrian beat his fist on the stone wall and swore. “There’s a traitor among our ranks,” he hissed. “Where is Captain Maluf now?”
Vincent thought for a moment and shook his head. “He’s with his family. He has been for a week, now.” He looked into Adrian’s eyes and immediately tensed. “No, you can’t. I know that look. You’re about to go kill him, aren’t you? He’s with his family!”
“What other choice do I have, little brother?” Adrian demanded. “He’s a traitor. That vault was not ordered to be destroyed. It was still supposed to be guarded. I set the fire to get rid of the weapons. I did that just before I returned to Hell today. Something is going on, and I will make damned sure it stops right now.”
“The captain is a good man, he would never betray the kingdom,” Vincent argued, grabbing Adrian’s arm to stop him.
“Says the proud knight who trained him.”
“What are you implying?”
“I’m saying you’re like a parent who thinks his child can do no wrong, even when that child is raping and murdering innocent people. You’re blinded by your pride and see only the good in them. I am the one who must see the bad in everyone. I do it to protect our parents, and our kingdom. So try to stop me if you feel you must, but I promise you, Maluf dies tonight.”
Vincent let go of Adrian’s arm and sighed in defeat. “At least gather the evidence against him before you kill him. I don’t want you murdering an innocent demon.”
“Said the angel,” Adrian muttered.
Adrian left the tower with his armor on and his sword hanging at his hip. His long jacket brushed his calves as he steadily marched out of the city. He was in his element. Nothing made the assassin happier than to be on a job, wearing his armor and his long jacket, sneaking through the darkest shadows, anticipating the warm blood that would soon be running over his blade and his hands. His steps carried him in a wide arc around the ranch Captain Maluf’s family owned.
‘Great,’ he thought. ‘I’m killing a farmer.’
The night wore on while Adrian watched the house. The demons inside went about their regular routines. A demoness cleaned dishes and an older demon male spoke with Maluf. As the assassin watched, the family seemed completely normal. Their conversations were of typical family subjects, nothing out of the ordinary. There was no mention of anything treasonous. On the contrary, it seemed as if this family was happy under Dante’s rule. The older demon mentioned the hardships he and his parents had faced under Damien’s rule just before the war broke out.
Frustrated, Adrian began to leave, but an opening door caught his attention. Maluf was exiting the house. The assassin watched the knight sergeant stroll toward the large tree several yards away from the house. He sat against the trunk of the gnarled tree and stared up into the black fire of the sky. The dancing lights resembled the auroras on Earth, but covered the entire sky in dark flames. They cast a glow, not unlike soft moonlight, upon all of Hell. It was a sight Adrian held onto whenever he was stuck on Earth for a mission.
The assassin silently made his way to the other side of the tree and drew his sword. The blade slid out of the leather scabbard without so much as a whisper and Adrian was just as silent as he approached the knight captain. He picked his footing carefully, always keeping his weight on the balls of his feet. The assassin was ready for a fight if it came to it.
Then, just by chance, Maluf glanced around and spotted Adrian sneaking up behind him. The knight captain leapt to his feet with a shout and tried to run. Adrian was faster. The assassin had the man in his clutches immediately and held him against the gnarled trunk of the tree, sword at his throat. The fear and surprise in the scared sergeant’s eyes caused Adrian to stay his blade. Most traitors knew the day would come when they would be faced with their mortality, either by Adrian’s hand or the blade of one of his lieutenants.
“Why are you here?” Maluf asked, sucking in a fearful breath as the tip of Adrian’s katana poked at his throat.
“You’re telling me you don’t know?” the assassin hissed angrily. “You threaten my family and my home with war, and you have the gall to ask why I’m here? You know me, Maluf. You know exactly who I am. You know my purpose in Hell.”
Maluf nodded carefully. “I do know who you are. Everyone does. So pardon my shock at seeing you here of all places.”
“You claim innocence?” Adrian demanded. “You, who falsified a report about a weapon cache being taken out of the rotation?”
“Falsi-... what? What are you talking about?” Maluf whimpered. He knew, just like everyone else, that when Hell’s master assassin came to call, nothing would stop the demon from getting the kill.
Adrian lowered his sword an inch. He could see the sincerity in Maluf’s eyes. “The cache of angel weapons in Siberia. Who went there to remove it from rotation and relieve the knights posted there?”
Maluf shook his head slowly, about to say that he didn’t know, but Adrian’s tightening grip on his tunic compelled him to think harder. “It was months ago. I sent one of the knights and requisitioned an assassin to accompany her.”
‘So we’ve narrowed the search to a woman among the knights,’ Adrian thought. To Maluf, he said, “Who was the assassin?”
Maluf shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never met most of your men, sir. I imagine that’s the point.”
Adrian pulled Maluf back just a hair and slammed him hard into the tree. “You have gone on several patrols with my men. You know some of them almost as well as you know your own family. Don’t lie to me!”
The knight captain shook with fear. “I’ve never met the one who went on that mission. I had never seen her before.”
Adrian swore violently. “What was the name on the report you sent in? And who did you hand it to?”
“I don’t remember the name, my lord, I swear on my family’s lives.”
“I will hold you to that,” Adrian hissed. “Who did you hand the report to, since it never came to the king, my brother, or myself.”
“An advisor to the king took it. He said the king was busy and you and your brother were off on other duties at the time. I thought it was irregular, but I was assured the king would receive the report. That is all I know, my lord.”
Adrian released the knight sergeant and sheathed his sword. Maluf visibly relaxed, though he still shook from head to toe.
“Who was the knight you sent to Siberia?” Adrian asked calmly.
“I do not remember, my lord,” Maluf bowed. “We were ordered to take so many of the caches out of rotation, I simply forget.”
“How many caches?”
“At least a dozen, perhaps a score or more? I handed in a report for each one, my lord.”
“Let me guess, all to the same advisor?”
Maluf nodded.
Adrian sighed heavily and rubbed his temple. This whole ordeal was giving him
a headache. “From now on, you hold your reports and hand them only to myself or my brother. Do you understand?”
Again, Maluf nodded. “Yes, my lord.”
“Good. And if you hear anything out of the ordinary, especially concerning the weapon caches, you let me know directly.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Good. Now, go. Be with your family.”
Maluf nodded and ran back to the farmhouse, leaving Adrian to ponder the new information. Admittedly it was not much to go on, but the assassin at least had more than he started with. While not entirely satisfied, his search was somewhat narrowed. He would find this false advisor and the female knight and the rogue assassin, and he would personally see to it that they suffered in the Pits.
CHAPTER FIVE
Adrian watched over the knights in the training hall from Vincent’s favorite vantage point. He watched them go over drills, spar, or simply rest from their exertions. They were all well trained, thanks to Vincent. Even Adrian felt a small swelling of pride at the sight of these fine men and women. That pride was tainted, however, by the knowledge that at least one of them was a traitor to the kingdom.
Vincent walked up next to Adrian and leaned on the parapet. “Usually, I’m here before you,” he quipped. “Either my patrols are getting longer, or I am slowing down.”
His mirth was lost on Adrian. “I need you to gather all of your female knights for me,” the assassin stated.
“Really?” Vincent chuckled lewdly. “Do you not have women aplenty throwing themselves at your feet?”
Adrian leveled an angry glare at his joking brother. “The knight sent to Siberia to shut down the weapon cache was a woman.”
Vincent’s smile vanished and he straightened. “That narrows it down a bit, but not by much,” he muttered. Hell’s army was nearly half composed of female soldiers, each one just as effective as their male counterparts. “Perhaps I can narrow your search further and send you the ones who weren’t already on assignment at the time.”
The Assassin and the Knight Page 4
