The Assassin and the Knight

by Rick Bonogofsky

  “Probably a bit,” Zhun mused. “She did take medical supplies and some tools into the bathroom. I think she’s torturing someone in her bathroom.”

  “A woman after your own heart,” Berron implied sarcastically. “What makes you think that?”

  “Well, she carried some tools and bandages in there, and left with blood on her hands.”

  “Did you manage to see who she has in there?”

  Zhun shook her head. “No, I got here after that and there’s no good angle to see into the bathroom.”

  “Well, continue your observation and report in when you have more information.” Berron’s line went dead, leaving Zhun in silence once again. She moved to a more comfortable position and kept out of the angel woman’s line of sight, just in case she could somehow see through Zhun’s invisibility.

  After a few minutes of silence and boredom, Zhun decided she wanted to get a better look into the angel’s apartment. Eventually, the woman would have to leave, and Zhun could sneak into the apartment to see what information she could find. The demoness waited outside the window, hoping the angel woman would leave soon. After several uneventful minutes, the bathroom door opened. Zhun’s heart leapt into her throat when she saw the person walking through it. Adrian strode into the living room of the angel’s apartment, toweling off his hair. He said something to the angel woman and chuckled at some joke. Zhun could not believe her eyes. That was unmistakably Adrian. Right down to his cocky smirk. But there was something else in his eyes. Zhun knew him better than any other demon, and she recognized the pain hidden behind his crimson orbs. He was clearly making a joke to offset whatever was hurting him.

  With a shaking finger, Zhun pressed the button on her headset, calling Berron.

  “It’s only been ten minutes,” came Berron’s annoyed voice.

  “I’ve found him,” Zhun gasped.

  “Good, then help Vincent out of whatever jam he’s gotten himself into.”

  “Not him, Berron… Him,”

  “Him who-” Berron stopped. “Wait… You found Adrian’s body?”

  Zhun could scarcely believe her eyes as she watched Adrian sit down and start chatting with the angel woman. “In a manner of speaking,” she squeaked.

  “Riddles aren’t your thing, Zhun,” Berron admonished. “Adrian’s tomb is empty - and has been for weeks - and you say you found his body?”

  “He’s alive.”

  Berron was silent.

  “I don’t know how, but he is alive and well. He is with the angel I’ve been tracking.”

  Berron remained silent for several moments. “Is he… himself?”

  Zhun shrugged, not knowing how to answer. She watched Adrian stand and walk to the kitchen where he made himself some tea. He looked calm and relaxed, but his face fell every time he felt the angel could not see him. Seeing his emotional pain caused Zhun’s heart to drop. “I… I think so. He looks normal, as far as I can tell. And he is moving about the apartment unhindered. Something is wrong with him, though. He looks worried and sad.”

  “Well,” Berron sighed, “his brother did kill him…”

  “I don’t think that’s it,” Zhun replied thoughtfully. “He looks like he’s haunted by something.”

  “That can’t be good. Find a way to contact him. King Dante met with Lord Amun-Ra about the angel weapon caches, and I’m worried something may be brewing. We’re going to need our prince back home immediately.”

  Zhun nodded, a sad look clouding her feline features. “Yeah… I’ll bring him home.”

  Adrian sipped his tea while sitting in Ariel’s living room. The angel sat across from him in silence.

  “Are you going to talk anytime soon?” Adrian asked, trying to bring some brevity to the atmosphere. He scratched absently at the itching scar on his chest. While he was in the shower, the hole closed up, leaving a wide scar in its place, a grisly reminder of what Adrian had done to his brother.

  Ariel shook her head, saying, “I’m just at a loss for words right now. I have never seen a demon survive being stabbed through the chest with an angelic weapon. Never. How is it that you have survived? What makes you so different from all of the other demons?”

  Adrian shrugged. “No idea, honestly. I’m the prince of Hell, maybe? I don’t know. I’m just as lost as you are.” He took another sip of his tea and glanced out a window. Some slight movement caught his attention. He thought he saw a faint shimmering in the air outside the apartment on the fire escape. He knew what that shimmer meant, and as he focused on it, he clearly saw the outline of a cat-like demoness.

  Seeing his focus, Ariel looked to the window herself. She merely saw the city skyline on the other side of the glass. “Did you see something?”

  “Nope,” Adrian lied. He realized Zhun was watching him, so he relaxed further into his chair, letting her know he was okay in the apartment.

  “Anyway, I’m going to need your help with something,” Ariel stated, moving her eyes away from the window. Adrian met her gaze, but his attention was still on the window.

  “What do you need help with?” he asked. He started tapping his fingers on the armrest of his chair, feigning nervous energy. His fingers bounced on the arm of the chair to communicate the different signs used in the secret tapping signals he developed for use with his assassins on silent missions. He tapped out a coded message to Zhun telling her he was fine and to meet him on the roof of this building after the angel had gone to sleep.

  “It’s Vincent,” Ariel explained. Adrian’s hand froze as his full attention was brought to the angel woman.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “He was taken by vampires earlier today.”

  “Shit! Where?” By now, Adrian was tapping again, shifting his anxiety over the news of his brother being captured to keep the appearance of nervous energy.

  “Downtown, in an alley behind Globe Tech,” Ariel answered.

  Adrian finished his message and clenched his fist. “We have to help him.”

  “Exactly what I was thinking,” Ariel stated excitedly. “Do you know anyone who can help?”

  “I do,” Adrian nodded. “Give me some time to gather my resources, and I’ll help you find our brother.”

  Zhun watched Adrian’s fingers tap out the necessary signals, interpreting their meaning as fast as the master assassin made them. She gave him the thumbs up signal, knowing he could at least see her outline, and left the fire escape. With her boss alive and well, Zhun had more important business than surveillance. As per Adrian’s orders, she was to gather more information about the Globe Tech building and its defenses, if any, and ascertain the general whereabouts of Vincent. Failing that, Zhun was instructed to figure out either a way in through the door the vampires took Vincent through, or find any weaknesses in the door’s magical construction. It was a lot to do in the few scant hours before nightfall, but Zhun would not let Adrian down.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Vincent awoke in a sterilized room, laying on a cold metal table. Bright light assailed his eyes. It took several minutes for his vision to adjust. He looked around and noticed a mirror built into one wall, and several beeping machines tethered to his body. A flimsy hospital gown covered him, telling him the vampires had stripped him of his armor and weapons. As his grogginess left, it was replaced by a dull ache all over his body. He tried to lift his head to look, but was lacking the strength to do so. The ache in his muscles made it difficult to pinpoint where the pain was coming from. Vincent tried to lift his arms, but found they had strapped him to the exam table. His legs were similarly trapped, and each small movement sent another wave of pain across his body. It was clear to the angel that the vampires had done something to him. He looked at the mirror again and tried to get a glimpse of his situation from there. The reflection in the mirror made him grimace in disgust. The vampires had him hooked up to machines that - as far as he could tell - monitored his vital signs and drew his blood. Tubes with his blood drained into bags under the table, whi
ch were nearly full. Aside from being strapped to the table, it appeared his hands were capped in metal cups, not allowing for the use of his fingers. His skin was pale from blood loss.

  The single door to Vincent’s room opened, and a vampire stepped in, dressed in khaki pants, a blue button-up shirt, and a lab coat. His sandy blonde hair hung about his angular face like moss from a tree branch.

  “I see our subject is awake,” the vampire said cheerfully. “How are you feeling?”

  Vincent glared at him.

  “Not feeling super talkative right now, are you?” the vampire chirped as he pulled a wheeled stool over to sit by the table. “Anesthesia will do that, I hear. Then again, so will being forcibly taken captive, then getting stuck with a needle full of a fun concoction that paralyzes you and knocks you unconscious so we vampires can do all sorts of nefarious things to your body while you sleep, and then you wake up on a cold exam table with no idea of where you are or how you got here all while wearing something that definitely isn’t your clothes or armor and then being visited by a total stranger who no doubt wants to do even more nefarious things to you while you’re awake. Am I in the ballpark? By the way, my name’s Walter. I’m the doctor.”

  Vincent continued to glare.

  A look of disappointment flashed across the vampire’s face as if he had made a reference to something he loved, only to have the other person not understand it, but it only lasted a brief moment. “Well,” he sighed, “Let’s get this blood out of here, shall we?” He bent down to plug the drip lines and unhooked them from the bags collecting the angel’s blood. The vampire lifted the two large plastic bags and showed them to Vincent.

  “You’ve definitely got a lot of this stuff in you!” he said excitedly. “I’m sure your body’s ability to heal itself is really coming in handy right now, isn’t it?” He waited for Vincent to respond, and when the angel remained silent, the vampire’s visage fell.

  “Look, I know you’re probably not happy with the situation you’re in, but to me this is an opportunity I never thought I would ever have. For me, this is truly great! I have never been able to study angel blood before. So, for what it’s worth, thank you. Seriously, I mean that. The fact that you’re here against your will is purely due to your lack of cooperation and unwillingness to oblige us.”

  Vincent’s glare deepened. The fires smoldering behind his eyes brought a nervous chuckle out of the vampire. The angel’s strength was slowly returning. Vincent only had to bide his time until the vampire was distracted, then he would strike. The straps were simple leather, not likely warded against angelic powers. Breaking them would be easy enough, he figured.

  “Okie-dokie, then,” Walter muttered. He turned away with the bags of blood and set them on a nearby table. While he was looking away, Vincent tested the straps and found that they were indeed simple leather, not the warded, demon-made leather he was so used to dealing with. Once his strength returned, he would easily be able to break his bonds and escape. Where he would go was still a mystery to him, but all he needed was his sword and he would be able to cut a swathe through the vampires holding him captive. He would find Ariel and leave the city with her.

  Walter turned back to the angel and shined a flashlight in his eyes. “Dilation is normal,” he said to himself. He placed the flashlight in his coat pocket and removed a tongue depressor. “Say ‘ah,’” he said absently, all mirth and excitement gone as he was fully invested in the examination. A cold hand clamped under Vincent’s jaw and forced his mouth open. Walter held Vincent’s tongue down as he checked the angel’s throat.

  “Looks good here,” he stated. He set the tongue depressor on the table and pulled a syringe full of a dark blue liquid and placed his other hand on Vincent’s shoulder. “You will feel something akin to a really big bee stinging you. Don’t worry, it’s just more of that stuff that knocks you out. You look like you’re planning something. Either that or you have to poop. I’m not too sure, either way, I don’t want you getting away. Your body metabolizes this stuff faster than I thought, so I’m giving you a more concentrated dose. So, what I’m saying is, good night. Count backwards from ten, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Walter jabbed the needle into Vincent’s arm and pushed on the plunger. Within a few seconds, the angel felt the strength leave his limbs and his vision went blurry. Within another few seconds, he was asleep once more.

  Walter took the bags of blood out of the room and into the lab. He set them on a table next to several different machines and immediately set to work. Another vampire nearby saw his dejected demeanor and sidled over.

  “So… What’s he like?” the other vampire asked.

  Walter paused his work and sighed. “You know, he’s kind of angry,” he replied disappointedly.

  “Well… I mean, yeah, he would be.”

  “It’s not just that,” Walter said, turning to face his colleague. “You didn’t see his eyes. He’s clearly angry about what happened to him, how he got here, but there’s something else there, behind all that. Like he’s given up on life. It looked to me like he wants to die, but he’s also going to take the rest of us with him if he does. You know?”

  The other vampire looked at Walter as if he had gone a little insane. “Well, he’s here now, and we’re doing all kinds of experiments. Do you really think that angel is going to get out of here alive? Eventually, we’re going to harvest his organs and find ways to synthesize a way to kill his kind. At least, that’s what the boss wants us to do.”

  “I know,” Walter said. “I just let my excitement get to me, I suppose. I guess I was hoping for more of a fight from him. The demon we captured fought like Hell.”

  Walter’s colleague chuckled at the pun, but quickly realized it was unintentional.

  “Screw it, let’s just analyze this blood sample,” Walter stated.

  After nightfall, Adrian met with Zhun atop Ariel’s apartment building. The demon was greeted with a tight hug from his lover, and he welcomed it, though the compression brought a small amount of pain to his chest.

  “How did you survive?” the demoness asked, her feline eyes wide in bewilderment.

  “I couldn’t tell you,” Adrian shrugged. “Although, I’m not so certain I did survive. Technically…”

  Zhun’s look of confusion was all the response she could give.

  Adrian shook his head. “Look, I have no idea what happened. One minute I’m watching myself bleed out, then I wake up next to a lake here on Earth and my magic is fucked… I don’t know…”

  “What do you mean about your magic?” Zhun demanded.

  “Well, I tried going home as soon as I was able, but the spell took me to some forest. Then I wound up in the ocean inside a… bubble city, then after a dozen or three more tries, I wound up here in Ariel’s apartment.”

  “You mean that angel woman,” Zhun spat.

  Adrian gave her a weary look, saying, “Don’t be jealous. It doesn’t suit you.”

  Zhun folded her arms across her chest. “So, what’s the plan, then?”

  “We get my brother out of that vampire building. Any leads on how to get in?”

  “Not really,” Zhun sighed, relaxing her arms. “The door they took him through is warded against any non-vampire.”

  “Just the door?” Adrian quipped.

  “The building is to well-built to just punch a hole through it,” the demoness countered, easily following her boss’s line of thought.

  “Damn… What about the front door?”

  “Poor choice of entry. Plus, from what I could see, every entrance to the secret areas have the same wards as the alleyway entrance.”

  “Damn… The roof? Ventilation shafts? Can we send in explosive rats like that one time in Beirut?”

  “Too many guards, the shafts are too small, and the rats won’t work here like they did there.”

  “Damn… I liked the rat plan… Then, what is the plan? Let them to get tired of doing whatever nefarious deeds they’re doing to my brother, and wait fo
r them to toss him in the dumpster? Because that seems like a pretty shitty plan.”

  Zhun sighed and shook her head. “The team has been on it for a while now. I think we should all meet up and discuss it soon. They’ll be eager to see you now that you’re… you know… not dead.”

  Adrian nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, that would be a good idea. I do also feel obligated to tell my parents that I’m alive. I can’t imagine what my father is doing with me gone.”

  “Oh, he’s declared war on the vampires and offered to hand the angel weapons back to Amun-Ra for his aid in this war,” Zhun flippantly replied. “Hell’s a right mess nowadays.”

  “What? What the hell is he thinking? Waging a war right now, without his sons to back him up, is only going to weaken the kingdom! He can’t just hand over those weapons. What if the angels get attacked while they’re transporting them? This war is only going to open up the opportunity for more rebellions all over again! Dammit, I will not stand by and let my home become another battleground in yet another civil war. I need to see my father now!”

  “I sympathize with you, Adrian, but what about Vincent?” Zhun asked.

  “You said the team is on it? Well, add Ariel to the ranks. She’s more than capable, and she wants my brother safe just as much as I do. With all of you on this, you won’t miss me much. Now, get me to Hell.”

  “Yes, boss,” Zhun sighed, saddened to see Adrian so upset, but knowing how torn he was between saving his home and saving his brother. She knew how much he trusted her and the others on his team of assassins, so she did as he asked and opened a portal to Hell.

  Adrian stepped through the portal and found himself in his personal chambers. There, he changed clothes, strapped on his light, bone-plated armor, and looked himself over in the mirror before throwing open the main door. In the common room, only two members of his team were present. Berron sat at his desk looking through paperwork, while Vurga wrote notes at his own desk. Upon the door’s sudden opening, both demons looked up.