Ascendancy Origins Trilogy

by Bradford Bates

  “Nothing could be further from the truth. As I said my wife passed not long ago and my home has grown empty. Our children have all moved on in the world and I would like someone to share my home with again. You would be a free woman, able to leave whenever you want.”

  “It sounds too good to be true.”

  “All you have to do is say yes and I will take you there now.”

  “They will never let me leave here.”

  “Can you keep a secret, Emma?”

  “Yes.” I could see the first signs of uncertainty entering her features.

  “Good, get out of the tub. It’s time to go.”

  She climbed out of the tub and I followed her. She noticed that her things were in the room and gave me a questioning look as she reached for a towel. “You won’t be needing that.”

  She dropped the towel in shock as I used the same spell to dry her that I had used on myself. “You can brush your hair when we return home.”

  She looked down at her now dry skin and smiled. She moved her arms and legs around looking at them for any sign of moisture. When she couldn’t find any she looked at me. “That was amazing!”

  “You haven’t seen anything yet.” As we finished dressing I opened a portal in the doorway. I picked up Emma’s chest and the rather large sack of coins and stepped through. Emma followed me without hesitation. The portal winked out behind us and a look of pure wonder sparkled in her green eyes. “What I can do must remain a secret.”

  “I understand, milord.”

  “From now on you must call me Edward. Welcome to your new home.”

  I set her things down and watched as she moved around, taking in the sights and furniture of the room we were in. She opened the window and looked back at me with surprise. We were no longer in London but out on a small farm on the English countryside.

  “How is this possible?”

  “It simply is. I have a bit more business to conduct in the city. I will return within a couple of hours. If you need anything there are enough coins in that purse to buy them. If you take it and go I will understand. You are a free woman now.”

  “I have the feeling that I’d like to stay around a bit longer. There is a mystery here that has piqued my interest.”

  “Well then, I shall see you when I return.” I gave her a bow and stepped back through a portal into the misty rain of London.

  I had one target left in London and I needed to be quick about it. Byron’s absence wouldn’t go unnoticed for long. My next stop was their family estate. Until last year the warden, Brian, had his own estate to call home. Unfortunately for him, with the loss of his position after my escape the creditors came calling and they had not been kind. His family moved into Byron’s estate and that is where I would find him now.

  The good news was the estate was secluded so my use of magic would go mostly unnoticed. The bad news was he had private security guarding the entire place. I rode out of the city towards the manor. I would have used my portal to get there but the estate was blocked against magical access and any portal that opened within a mile of it alerted the guards. After an hour long ride I moved off the road and tied my horse to a branch.

  A quick sprint covered the rest of the distance to the estate and with a burst of air magic I cleared the fifteen foot stone wall in a single leap. No one shouted out so my leap must have gone unnoticed. I ran through the gardens and towards the back of the home. Byron was not shy about showing off his excessive wealth outside. The garden was full of delights, animals carved out of shrubs as well as stone. In the center of the garden was a statue with a plaque and Byron’s grandfather’s name. The statue looked suspiciously like him.

  I created the same small blade of fire that I had used on the safe earlier and used it on the back door. I slid into the home still unnoticed, at least I hoped I was still unnoticed, and moved from room to room. There seemed to be a distinct lack of guards and that was starting to disturb me, but I had come here for a purpose, and it would be done. The furniture towards the back of the house spoke of enormous wealth but was dated. The fabrics had faded in the light over time. I was sure the front of the house would have the same excesses but in a more current style.

  This is exactly where I expected to find his brother, in the back with the washed-out items. I continued to search room by room until I came upon a study. Sitting in a chair by the hearth was my target. He appeared to be taking in the afternoon reading a book. It shocked me to see him in such an ordinary fashion. This was the man that ruined people’s lives on a whim. He had forced Chris into the pit knowing that unspeakable things would be done to him there, and for what, bribing one of his guards? What did the guard get, a week without pay? The injustice of it rankled me to no end.

  He looked up and his eyes went wide for a moment. He set the book on a little table and watched me as if I might be some kind of illusion. “You might as well come in. Now I know why all of my brother’s guards have rushed off. He is dead, isn’t he?”

  “He seems to have had a mishap during his afternoon bath.”

  Brian snorted. “I always told him his addiction to whores would be the end of him. Mostly I thought it would be when his wife finally caught him, but.” He shrugged his shoulders. “You got to him first.”

  “You seem to be remarkably calm about this.”

  “I’ve known since you escaped that you would be coming for me, and truth be told I stand no chance against you in a fight.”

  “So is there something that you would ask of me?”

  “Only that you be quick, and spare my son.”

  “I wish that I could make you that promise, but I’m not sure that I can.”

  “What if I were to make your job easier and call my wife into the room, I’m sure that she could round up Byron’s on the way.”

  “I’m surprised you would offer such a thing.”

  “You are going to kill them anyway, correct?”

  “I am.”

  “Then if it will spare my son, I’ll deliver them to you.”

  I made a motion with my hand for him to continue. I felt his magic ripple outwards for a moment and then I heard movement in the hallway. Two women walked into the room, both of them draped in colored silk. Each of them wore a small fortune in jewels on their arms and fingers. They stopped short when they noticed someone else in the room. They looked at Brian expectantly, waiting for him to introduce me.

  “Ladies, this is Edward.”

  One of them tried to run, and to be fair I actually appreciated the respect someone had finally shown for my name. I snapped my fingers and the door slammed shut. She hit it hard and fell to the ground screaming.

  “Brian, what have you done?”

  “What I must.”

  I wanted to see these people suffer, the demon inside of me called out for blood. There would be no magic used this time. They would die like so many of the people Brian had sent to the pit, horribly. For the woman that ran I made it quick, I slit her throat, and then blocked her magic when she tried to heal from it. For the one that didn’t run I took a little more time. I stabbed her in the stomach and let her heal herself. Then I did it again.

  “Enough!” Brian screamed stepping forward.

  I slit the woman’s throat and pushed her to the ground. This time she didn’t get up.

  Brian moved towards me but I froze him in place with a word. My Demon had something special in store for him and it whispered its thoughts into my mind. A smile broke out on my face and I could see Brian shrink away from me. I moved him back towards his chair and then used my magic to hold him there. I removed two ornamental swords from the wall above the fireplace and placed them in the fire.

  I stepped forward, ripped off his doublet, and carved a symbol into his chest. This would ensure that his soul went to the Demon. I silently cursed myself for not doing the same thing to his brother but I had been caught up in the moment. The Demon laughed inside of me telling me that his soul had already been secured. I laughed thi
nking about what torments lay in store for these brothers under my Demon’s watch. With the symbol in place it was time to get to work.

  To be honest the swords in the fire was just little trick to get his mind thinking of horrible things. I didn’t need a sword to do what I wanted to do to this man. I used the same dagger that I had on the two ladies. I started with his fingers, sealing each wound with fire after it bled for a moment. Each finger took three cuts, a final cut to sever the hand. The feet were the same but I took each toe off intact, then the feet. Finally, when his screams started to bore me I stabbed him, over and over. The loss of my family came out in that rage, and when I was done there wasn’t much left.

  I stepped away from the body not feeling satisfied. Instead I felt sick at what I had become. I used to stand for something, now I was a shell of a man. Partnered with a Demon until I finished killing those that betrayed me, and then my soul was forfeit. It had seemed like a blessing at the time but now I was only death. I stepped into the hallway planning to leave the same way that I had come in. The last thing I wanted was to leave some magical trace at the scene.

  There was a boy standing there, he had to be all of about six years old. The Demon cried out for his blood, but I was able to suppress him for now. I stood there dripping in his father’s blood and he met my eyes. I wished that I could tell him that everything would be ok, but it wouldn’t, not for him. Not after the monster I had become destroyed his family. I started to move forward and he didn’t shrink away from me as had expected. He held his ground, eyes defiant. Maybe I was wrong to leave this one alive, but he reminded me so much of my own son that I couldn’t bring myself to kill him.

  I moved him to the side and exited the house as quickly as I could. Maybe there was a small shred of my humanity left after all.

  7

  Mathew

  March 1924

  The snarling started as my slow tumble to the ground ended with a thud. Somewhere along the way I must have bumped my head. Maybe it was the growling that brought me back to my senses, maybe it was the shock of landing face first on the hard stone floor. Either way I was finally coming to. I almost wished for the sweet release of unconsciousness. I was bruised, cold, and wet. Why the hell was I wet? Patting the ground around me seemed to help clear my head. The splashing sounds that my hands made when they slapped the tiles answered that question.

  Now I just needed to figure out why my vision was blurry and my head hurt so much. Running my fingers through my hair left them red. Well that answered question number two. I wondered how many times I had to have hit my head on the way down for it to still be bleeding.

  Now I just had to remember how in the hell I got here in the first place. I shook my head again to clear it, and that proved to be a big mistake. Everything around me wavered and spun, making me retch onto the tiles in front of me. When I looked up, the room had finally stopped spinning and the creature snarling at me came into focus.

  Actually when my eyes cleared a little bit more, I realized there were two of them. Two huge beasts, spittle flying from their mouths as they lunged for me. I shuffled backwards so fast that my pants ripped. My back thudded into a wall and I rose to my feet never taking my eyes off the two Lycans. It was just my luck that they were chained to the wall, for now. I wondered just how strong those chains were, how long it would be before they broke and I was ripped to pieces. Who had the power to keep two full-sized Lycans prisoner, and just where in the hell was I?

  I needed to slow down; jumping to a hasty conclusion was the easiest way for me to end up dead. My power was still with me, yet somehow it had been oddly muted. A few deep breaths later and I was already starting to feel better. Maybe I had been set up; I was too valuable to Cane for him to just throw my life away, wasn’t I?

  Ah, Cane, now it was starting to come back to me. He had sent me here, to deal with a wayward merchant. Was it possible that he had finally figured out what I was doing? Had he discovered my connection with Adam, with the Ascendancy? Was there a chance that my reputation as Cane’s assassin had preceded me? Was it even possible that my reputation had grown that large?

  I had too many questions and not enough answers. I couldn’t fix anything until I found a way to get past those two beasts. To keep from panicking I looked at my surroundings. The simple task took longer than it should have. My eyes kept returning to the two Lycans that wanted to make a meal out of me.

  The ceiling was flat and the trapdoor I had fallen through was sealed. The only way out was to walk between the two Lycans, and I wasn’t ready to take that chance yet. Who knew what would set them free. I had already fallen into one trap I didn’t want to do it again. Looking down I found myself covered in filth, the cold air was blowing through my newly ventilated pants, and I felt the rage starting to build. It filled me with a calm confidence that I had been lacking only moments before.

  Someone was going to be buying me a new suit, and if things didn’t get better quickly, possibly paying for it in blood. I focused my anger, pulling it into myself, calling on my gift to start healing my wounds from the fall. The cut on my head sealed itself, and the swelling around my eyes went down, but my rage remained. Embarrassment at being tricked so easily filled me with shame. No one was allowed to make me feel like that, never again. There was one way to make sure that happened, I was going to kill whoever did this to me, and before they died it would be my name they whispered. The healing continued to accelerate as I fed more magic into it, and as it did the memory of how I ended up here started to come clear. Cane was going to have some explaining to do.

  That simple meeting with Cane had, after four months of service, led me here, to wherever this was, wet and disheveled and growing angrier by the second. This was going to be my final job before moving up in the world and I had already botched it. Who would have thought that someone in the city would have a trap door installed under their front porch? Not to mention the two chained Lycans waiting to eat whoever happened to fall in. There was nothing I could do about it now. I was trapped here and the only way out, up the stairs, was just as risky as staying still. The longer I waited the harder it would be to take action. I steeled myself to make a mad dash past the chained creatures.

  Just as I was about to start forward there was a loud clang. The air grew a fraction fresher than it had been before. The Lycans in front of me fell silent and light filtered down the stairwell from above. I could see a shadow growing along the wall as someone made their way down the stairs and into the room. When she came into view my heart stopped, the shock of seeing her here now was almost too much to handle.

  The slit up the right side of her long red dress bared her leg to the thigh. The dip at the top of her outfit made it hard for me to tear my gaze away. Somehow I found the strength to redirect my gaze to her eyes. They sparkled with the madness I had come to know and love so well. She stopped just above the point where either of the Lycans could have reached out for her and simply smiled down at me. She was the picture of perfection, and for better or worse, my downfall.

  I stood up straighter, fixing my coat and tie. It was a losing effort; I was covered in mud and filth from the fall into this room. I brushed a hand quickly through my hair hoping to at least restore some of my dignity. In the end it probably only made things worse. I looked up into her smile and realized I was in big trouble. Only one word escaped my mouth. “Tessa.”

  When I spoke the Lycans turned back to me and started snarling again. Tessa made a simple gesture and they stopped. The room fell into an eerie silence. Her smile turned into a grin. “Fancy seeing you here. Granted you do look slightly shabbier than normal. It is nice to finally confirm what I have expected for some time, that you are Cane’s assassin.”

  I wasn’t sure exactly what to say. I kept my eyes fixed on her, waiting for some kind of indication as to why she was here. She had obviously been here before and the beasts in front of me deferred to her commands. Just what had I gotten myself into? Something was wrong, we both worke
d for Cane. Not only that but we had been sharing a bed for the better part of a month. There had to be something that I was missing.

  I had been assigned to watch Tessa during her first kill to make sure she actually followed through with it. If she hadn’t, it would have been my job to clean it up, and then find her. She had been a success right from the start, and we bonded almost immediately. She had a touch of madness in her, something that could have her whispering in your ear one moment and holding a knife at your throat the next. Life with her was never dull.

  Just how had we ended up here? She continued down a few more steps holding her arms out to the sides. The two Lycans placed their heads under her hands and she rubbed them as if they were pets. Maybe they were? She didn’t move any further down the stairs and when I took a step forward both of the beasts’ eyes followed me, reminding me to stay back from their mistress. “Tessa, what is going on?”

  The smile fell from her lips as she looked at me, her eyes giving off nothing but suppressed anger. “Imagine my surprise when I come home to visit my father and he tells me that he has my lover trapped in the basement. That he had been sent here to kill him.”

  Oh shit, this just went from bad to worse. Cane had sent me to kill my Tessa’s father. I knew the man was sick and had a slippery scale when it came to morals, but this seemed just a step past his normal level of psychosis and dipped into the realm of being truly evil. “Would it help if I said that I had no idea who he was when I came?”

  She laughed. “Would it have mattered?”

  “I guess not, when you are given a job, you do it. No questions asked, ever.”

  “That is just the thing. For me, my father isn’t just a job. It is unfortunate that things between us had to end this way. I would have enjoyed you for another few months at least.”

  She turned and headed back the way she had come. I let out a sigh as the last of her red dress slipped out of sight. This was not going to be fun. I gave myself a fifty-fifty chance of making it out of here alive. Even if I made it out of the basement I had at least two warlocks upstairs to deal with. The cold calmness of battle washed over me and I felt something snap inside. There was no way that I could leave here without killing her as well. Was this the final test to prove my worth, had Cane set me up? Or was this a test for Tessa to show where her true loyalties lay. Working with a Demon you never got to feel comfortable or safe; they were always playing some kind of game.