Monster's Mercy

by William D. Arand

  Rene took the paper and glanced at it.

  It was filled out appropriately and for the specified amount. It even had a gold seal, signature, and stamp.

  The temple is acting as his bank. Curious.

  “Done,” Rene said, pushing the check into his tunic, and straight into his inventory. “Except that there’s one problem.”

  “And what’s that?” Junk asked, looking entirely disgusted and bored. “Someone else needs to die, too? Ronder?”

  “Him, too, yes,” Rene said, wondering if he could get paid again.

  “Why didn’t you just—Fine. Fine. You’re infuriating to deal with. Three thousand gold for Ronder and the arsonist,” Junk growled, pulling out another check. He started to fill it in, but paused at the amount. “Any other people I should be paying to die?”

  “Don’t know. Any other loose ends I need to clear up?” Rene asked.

  Junk paused at that, then nodded his head.

  “Yes, take care of the little Moon girl. No need to leave any orphans behind. A dead family is a gone family,” Junk muttered. “I’ll pay five hundred for her. Take care of the current guard commander, Carden, as well. He suddenly wanted a much higher bribe. I’ll pay two thousand for him.

  “You know… this is actually… rather nice. I should have just paid to have problems eliminated like this before. And… done. Here. Five thousand, five hundred. Moon girl, Ronder, arsonist, Carden.”

  Rene took the check and smiled at Junk as he put it away.

  “That it?” Junk asked. “I have work to do.”

  “Well… no, that’s not it,” Rene said, then he reached up and pulled off the mask.

  “Because,” Rene said in his normal voice, no longer disguising it. “I have to kill you. I have to kill you for what you did to Bill and his parents.”

  “I… I—” Junk stuttered, staring at Rene.

  “Am going to die,” Rene said with a smile. “All you had to do was leave well enough alone. I was more than willing to let you go. To let it be. But… you couldn’t do that. You just had to force the issue.

  “Do you know what a blood eagle is, by the way?”

  Swinging hard with the back of the hand holding his dagger, Rene clocked Junk on the side of the head.

  Knocked from his seat, Junk went tumbling to the ground and lay there.

  Rene walked over to the door and slid the bar into the holder, locking it. Then he turned back to Junk, who was on the floor groaning.

  “I’ve never done it myself, but I’ve seen it done. Takes a little to die from it, since… well… if done right the end doesn’t come until the lungs are pulled out.”

  Walking over to Junk, Rene took his blade and quickly and neatly sliced away the man’s clothes, revealing his broad, pale, fatty back.

  “I’m going to cut into your back, break your ribs free from your spine, and peel them out. So they almost look like wings behind you. Then I’m going to pull your lungs out through the hole I’ve made.

  “I figure that’s the point you’re going to die at. But I’m not really sure. Let’s find out. We’ll start with a gag, just to make sure you don’t get too loud. Because when we’re done, I do need to rob you. And the guards might make that harder for me.”

  Yes. This is justice for the Moons. This is everything it needs to be.

  And it’ll be so nice. So sweet. We can tell Lori that her family is avenged. And that we took care of the monster.

  Stuffing Junk’s mouth full of some of the fabric he’d cut away from the man’s clothes, Rene was ready.

  With that thought in mind, he pushed the side of his blade into the fat man’s back.

  He got to work and started to cut downward.

  ***

  Rene had cashed Junk’s checks as soon as he got back into the city. He needed to get his money before the news of the fat man’s death spread.

  Standing up as he slunk in through the window, Rene felt drained.

  Killing Junk had been absolutely what he needed. Thankfully, the man hadn’t been able to make any noise much louder than a muffled shout.

  Pushing his hands into his back, Rene stretched it out, then leaned back and forth.

  He walked away from the window and into the study to find Alana and Lori sitting together.

  The nine-year-old was clearly lost in her own distress, staring down at the low table in front of them. Her arms, face, and neck were all covered in bandages the doctors had put over the ointment they’d smeared all over her.

  They had their backs to him, and he wasn’t sure what to say or do.

  Clearing his throat, Rene walked over to the couch.

  “Hello, I’ve just returned,” he said as both heads turned to look at him. “It was Junk who did it. Snakes guild arsonist.”

  Lori’s faced clouded up at that, her mouth becoming a frowning pout as her brows came down.

  “And you… you punished him?” Lori asked. The innocent, slightly naive girl who played with dolls seemed to have vanished in the space of a day.

  “I did punish him,” Rene confirmed. “A lot. He’ll never hurt anyone again.”

  “You killed him?” Lori asked, her eyes staring into him.

  “I did. I killed him,” Rene admitted. “I killed him very painfully, too. I did it in a way that’s going to sound very bad. I hope you don’t think I’m a monster for it.”

  “No, you’re my hero,” Lori said, shaking her head. “You’re my hero, Mr. Rene. Bill always told me if I needed something and he wasn’t there, to go to you. He didn’t say it, but I think maybe… yeah, I think he thought you were a hero, too. Yeah.”

  Rene smiled at that, not really sure how to feel. He was glad to hear he was still her hero for the time being. That might change in the future though.

  “Well, you’ll be staying here with me, Lori,” Rene said, coming around to the front of the couch. He got down on one knee in front of the small girl, coming to her level. “Unless there’s someone else in your family who wants to take you in. Then—”

  “No. No… I don’t want to stay with my aunt,” Lori said, shaking her head. “She lives far away and… and my dad didn’t like her. She wasn’t that nice, either. I’ll stay here, with you.”

  “Okay,” Rene said, smiling at the little girl. “That’s fine. I’m going to hire you some personal tutors to get your education geared up to a university level. If you’re living under my roof, then we’re going to make sure you’re learning.”

  “Alright,” Lori agreed, nodding her head. “But… but I want to learn something else, too.”

  “Oh? What’s that?” Rene asked. He was curious and if he could grant it, he would.

  “I want to start learning how to blacksmith. Like Bill,” stated the young girl. “I’m going to be your blacksmith. And I want to start learning. And I need a forge.”

  Hm. I’m not so sure that’s a great idea.

  No. It isn’t. She shouldn’t do such a thing.

  “I’m going to be your blacksmith,” Lori said, nodding her head once. “You’re my hero, you’re the Hood, and you need a blacksmith. I’m going to be that. Starting today. If you want me to learn from your tutors, you’ll get me a blacksmith to teach me, and a forge.”

  Rene thought on that. He didn’t like that it sounded like a threat.

  “Fine,” he finally agreed. “But the moment you slack on your studies, I’ll destroy the forge. Is that a deal?”

  “Yes,” Lori murmured. Then she gingerly stood up, and laid her arms around Rene’s neck and shoulders. “Thank you.”

  Unable to really touch her back at all, Rene settled for resting a hand on the back of her head. Her hair felt burnt and crispy, and it was likely she’d lose most of it in the next day or so.

  “Yeah, no worries,” Rene said.

  Alana was watching him. A small smile bowed her lips, and it looked like she was rather taken with what she was seeing.

  And why are you here, little Elf? You’re awfully far from home.
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  Did you experience something similar?

  Chapter 29

  Rene held onto his briefcase as he exited his last class of the day. Walking out of the building itself and into the afternoon sun, Rene felt rather negative. University, it seemed, wasn’t going to benefit him at all.

  Outside of making connections, that was.

  In one day, he’d met more young nobles, children of wealthy merchants, and the brightest the city could offer than he’d met in his entire life back in Laetus. Even with his family business.

  The curriculum was set by the staff and there wasn’t any room for negotiations.

  Everything being taught was wrong, or simple, given Rene’s past life. There really wasn’t much in the way of new information here for him.

  Glancing up at the sky, he judged it to be five hours before sunset.

  That means Lori is still going through her lessons at home. I’d rather not interrupt that. She’ll likely study better without having me around to distract her.

  We could see if we could find Odelia or Alana.

  Looking around at all the students going in one direction or another, Rene was momentarily stunned by the number of young people moving around.

  He realized that unless he wanted to keep checking his tracking ability, he wasn’t likely to find his friends. There was also no guarantee they were even still on campus. Odelia had been rather busy with her father as of late, and Alana had been spending a good bit of her time working her job at Redemption House.

  Caleb would likely be out hustling, or teaching at Redemption House as well.

  Or bothering the Billings girls. His obsession with them is a little overwhelming.

  To be honest they’re quite fair; it would be quite lovely to see them bare.

  Rene couldn’t really argue that fact. It’d been a while since he’d lain with a woman. He was also acutely aware that his very teenager body was pushing out far too many hormones.

  Back home, he’d been able to invest in a nice brothel where he could have one woman set aside specifically for him.

  Didn’t we have Dephan put a few girls aside for us? We could check in on that.

  That was a very difficult thought to not instantly act on. He had indeed asked the madam to set some girls aside for him.

  But they were put there for the Mask, not Rene. There were too many things that would be tied up with that and it made him leery of the idea.

  Not to mention he’d never planned on having them. He just needed it done to suit appearances.

  Personally, I think we should go buy a second courting gift for Odelia and go to her house.

  But you’ll just get pissy about doing that.

  So, instead, how about we go see Aurora? She seemed to loosen up halfway through dinner.

  Now that’s an idea.

  Aurora had gone to dinner with him. She’d been stiff at first, but after he’d gotten her to drink a second glass of wine, she’d finally seemed to drop some of her resistance.

  The meal had proceeded into a lovely conversation about the city and the current news. Though he hadn’t been able to get much out of her about herself or her family.

  Unable to help himself though, his mind wandered off toward what his Monster had said about Odelia.

  She’d kept him at a slight distance since their last conversation about courting. So much so, that he really hadn’t talked to her much. He’d only seen her briefly when she’d come over to speak with Lori.

  Still have all those lines of credit we got from Junk. Should probably go see Geoffrey and then introduce myself to them. That’s… not a terrible idea, is it?

  Of course not. For all we know, we met their scions today. That’d be rather interesting, wouldn’t it?

  Unable to really think about Odelia without feeling slightly conflicted, Rene ended up deciding to see Aurora.

  Reaching his carriage, he nodded to the two knights who were waiting next to it. One opened the door, while the other kept watch over everything around them.

  “I’d like to go see Aurora,” Rene said, stepping into the vehicle.

  “Of course,” said the driver. There was no mistaking the driver as anything other than a mercenary Gideon had hired specifically to drive the carriage. Not a knight, but clearly a soldier or something along those lines.

  Rene took his briefcase, full of everything he’d thought he’d need for class, and stuffed it into the carriage’s interior storage compartment.

  At this point, he was going to just leave it here for when he needed it.

  Then again, I might end up skipping classes more often than not to work in the lending office.

  I suppose… I have three jobs?

  Four.

  Hood, Mask, Lender, School Financier.

  Well, the school runs itself, but I guess I’d be loaning it money on occasion, wouldn’t I? So that’s somewhat of an overlap.

  There was a thought in the back of his head as well.

  That part of the reason he’d been so willing to be the Hood was that it gave coin to the Moons, Caleb, and Alana.

  Lori now lived with him, which meant she wouldn’t ever need coin again.

  Caleb was employed by the Redemption House, as was Alana.

  And Odelia never really had a need for coin.

  We can let the Hood lie low unless it’s needed. The coin isn’t that important anymore.

  Besides, as the Mask, we can control most of the underworld anyway.

  We should conquer those not in our guild, lay them out cold and have them all killed.

  Was it not a member of the Snakes who set fire to the Moons and caused a wake?

  The carriage came to a stop. One of the knights opened the door and held it open for the other.

  Hitting the ground with a thump, the knight scanned the area and then moved away a few feet. Knowing that was his permission to get out, Rene got down and looked around. They were standing outside of Aurora’s home.

  Glancing at the driver, Rene thought about how to ask the question.

  “She’s been promoted,” said the driver, smiling at Rene. “By this hour, her day should be over. If she’s not home, she’ll be home shortly, I’d wager.”

  “Oh, thank you,” Rene said, then walked up toward Aurora’s door.

  After knocking twice on it, he put his hands behind his back.

  Several seconds passed, and Rene began to wonder if perhaps he’d have to wait or come back later.

  “Yes?” called Aurora through the door.

  “Good afternoon, Aurora, I thought I’d come pay my respects,” Rene said.

  “R-Rene?” Aurora asked with a bit of nervousness in her voice.

  “Indeed. Could we perhaps talk face-to-face? I’d most assuredly find you a finer view than the door,” Rene quipped. He did love prodding at Aurora.

  “Of course,” said a second female voice. Then the door opened, and Rene found someone he didn’t know standing there.

  Though it was obvious in her face, especially in the nose and the eyes, that it was a relative of Aurora. They shared all the same bits, but she seemed to have a wider face and her eyes were a shade darker.

  If he had to guess, it was likely she was Aurora’s mother—if she had her quite early—or an older sister. Focusing on her, he used his Analyze ability.

  Margo Dean

  Age: 41

  Sex: Female

  Race: Human

  Wow, she looks a lot younger than forty-one.

  “Good afternoon. Would you be Aurora’s older sister?” Rene asked, smiling at the woman.

  “No,” said the woman smiling back at him. “I’m her mother, Margo.”

  Aurora said something under her breath that caused her mother to wave a hand at her.

  “Ah, greetings to you, Margo. I’m Rene Anatolis,” Rene said bowing his head to her. “I can come back another time if Aurora is entertaining.”

  “That would be bes—”

  “Not at all, come right in,” sa
id Margo, interrupting Aurora. Before Rene could respond, Margo had reached out, grabbed Rene’s arm, and begun hauling him inside. “Now, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

  The woman walked Rene over to Aurora’s living room. A tea service was laid out on the table in front of the couch with two plates and cups in a half-finished state.

  “I came to congratulate Aurora on her promotion,” Rene said with a grin. He found Margo to be rather amusing. Her personality reminded him faintly of his own mother’s.

  We need to write Mother.

  “Did you now? Oh, well that’s so lovely,” Margo said, turning Rene toward Aurora. “Well, there she is, your Lieutenant-Captain Aurora Dean. She wasn’t just promoted once, but twice. I get the impression you had a hand in that?”

  “I mentioned her to the city regent and what she’d done for me, but that was about it,” Rene explained. “She earned it all on her own, I’d say.”

  Aurora was blushing a deep scarlet color, her hands clasped in front of herself. She was wearing a uniform he hadn’t seen before, but it was vaguely reminiscent of Ronder’s.

  “Well, go on then,” Margo said, releasing Rene.

  Shit. She thinks we brought her something. I was really coming to just bother her.

  We took much from Junk and still have some booty; let’s search it quickly and give something to the beauty.

  Yes! We never got rid of any of it.

  Unable to help himself, Rene took several steps forward toward Aurora while he rifled through his inventory as quickly as he could.

  Almost everything was jewelry. Junk had a large number of necklaces, earrings, rings, and bracelets. All were apparently presents for women he was attempting to bed by monetary value alone.

  There was also a large collection of perfume bottles that seemed considerably more innocent than giving someone a massive necklace made of gold and diamonds.

  That one’s pretty. Red and gold.

  I like it as well. Red is a great color.

  “I don’t need anything,” Aurora murmured her eyes holding his own. “I’m quite grateful just to have your thanks.”

  The tall and lovely guardswoman, who’d been brave in the face of the Mask clearly felt shy around Rene.