My eyes hadn’t missed the two women walking towards me, both rewarding me with unimpressed looks. “I really can’t be bothered with this.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
A grimace settled over my expression. Putting up with judgemental parents wasn’t something I could sit through right now with a pleasant smile. “Ah, Leo, look I found Amber. She says you haven’t seen her since the last meet-up!”
Leo visibly cringed as the young blonde woman leered at him. “No matter, I’m sure he’s just busy with his studies. During the summer we’ll have all the time in the world.”
“And the summer is a great time for weddings you know!”
Leo and I both cringed at that one.
“And who’s this? You know, pitying the assassin’s isn’t part of your job. They hardly ever get caught, so I’m sure your clientele will come from elsewhere when you’re working.”
“Mum.” Leo looked mortified.
“No-no, it’s only the truth, now come on. Let’s go and find your father.”
Amber offered him another predatory smile, linking her hand through his and giving a forceful tug. “Excellent suggestion. Come on, my dear.”
Leo looked back with a comedic “I’ll be back,” before allowing the two women to drag him off. He was right, I certainly didn’t envy his position, even if mine wasn’t too much better. Was having nobody better than having someone forced on you? I wasn’t sure.
Either way, I didn’t really fancy another interaction with people here, and decided backing myself into a window seat was the way to go. No one would bother me here.
No one except for the shadowy figure which materialised beside me.
My breath caught and I found myself cowering away, everyone in the room forgotten. “How can you be here?”
“Perception filter. An easy spell. No one will notice me, unless I want them to, and I happen to want lucky old you to see me.”
“What do you want?” My hand was itching to open my handbag and extract my weapon. It had already been established that one weapon against this Warlock wasn’t going to be effective, but it would have made me feel significantly better nonetheless.
“Just popping in to say hello, my accomplice.” Dimitri’s pale lips twisted into the smuggest smile I’d ever been witness to. “I’m here to test our newfound friendship.”
My conscience hurt just at that sentence. “This is blackmail, not friendship.”
“You’ll admit that you agree with me along the line, once you get over this petty allegiance with these bastards who have made you kill. Just because they’re the only people you’ve got doesn’t mean they should be allowed to live. You could build a new life, with whoever you wanted if the system was dismantled.”
“But look at all these people, they don’t deserve to just die.”
“Don’t they? Living their pathetic little lives, look at them all. ‘When shall I have my first child, how many do we want to have? Other than none, obviously, since that’s expressly forbidden.’ God forbid someone might not want to have children, or marry one of the smarmy idiots within this one room.”
I loathed myself for agreeing with him. “They still don’t deserve to die. Just take out the guys in charge if that’s your goal.”
That was a movement I could probably genuinely get behind. But there weren’t any leaders in Sheffield that would make a difference. London was where it would have to change, and then worldwide. It wasn’t as simple as the petty revenge scheme Dimitri apparently had planned in Sheffield.
“I don’t remember you people having any consideration for taking out the leaders when it came to dismembering the Warlock’s leadership.”
“You don’t remember any of that. You weren’t there. None of these people were there. It happened a millennia ago.”
“I’m from the only line of Warlocks left alive. I’m the last Warlock on Earth – you don’t think I’ve had an accurate story passed down to me? My mother told me all about how the Fae came in and butchered families. You had control over the elements back then, and you sure knew how to use them. Burning people alive. Suffocating them. Drowning them. Burying people alive. Your race is filled with backwards murderers. You all deserve to go.” Dimitri was snarling, passionate, and his words were horrifying. “You should thank yourself lucky I’ve chosen you as my accomplice. We can be the same then. You’ll be the only Fae, I’ll be the only Warlock. The world will be better that way.”
The thought was both intoxicating and horrifying. A life without rules. No one making me kill anyone, whether they deserved it or not. The blood on my hands might be washed off eventually. “They shouldn’t be killed.”
“It’s not like it’s your choice to make, anyway. You’re going to be a party to my slaughter because you, unlike the rest of your pathetic Guild, decided to let yourself care about humans. So, let’s get on to tonight’s plan. Right now, there are two snipers sat on the roofs around this building, aiming straight for the entrance.”
“It’ll be a slaughter, you can’t do that.” My eyes drifted to the people in the hall once more, all chatting and laughing without a care in the world. Glen and Violet were in the corner, giggling about something.
“You’re so funny, Ilona, telling me what I can and can’t do. You’re not going to stop me,” digging into the pocket of his large leather coat, Dimitri retrieved a phone. “Here, just take a look at this.” It was a video link, and I recognised Jenny’s house immediately. I couldn’t see whoever was filming, but the gun they held was clear enough. “And make no mistakes, I won’t just kill Jenny. Might as well get rid of her whole family, too, if you try and tell anyone what I’m about to do.”
Standing up, I wasn’t going to sit in this corner and listen to him anymore. I felt sick to my stomach and I needed to get away from him. “I won’t tell anyone.”
I made a mad dash for the bathroom the second I’d stood up. It was empty, thankfully, so no one bothered me as I retched into the toilet. I was going to allow people to die. Lots of people. I dry heaved again.
Pulling my knees to my chest, I allowed the sobs to overtake my body. There had to be something I could do, I needed to find a way to stop myself being manipulated. I had to find out how to stop this monster.
Pulling myself together took all of my effort. I couldn’t face anyone out there, knowing I was allowing them to walk to their death when this stupid event was over. How could anyone have allowed it? It had been such a foolish judgement call.
I fixed my make-up in the bathroom mirror, you couldn’t really tell I’d spent the last half an hour crying and almost throwing up. The event would be over soon and I had to appear normal if the Guild were to believe I was innocent. I couldn’t let Jenny get hurt.
Exiting the bathroom, everything was exactly as I’d left it. My eyes caught onto the mop of blonde hair I’d been greeted with at the beginning of the night. I could at least try and keep one person alive.
Leo was currently stood with Amber, and their conversation looked beyond strained. I’d never seen someone so obviously opposed to an interaction. I wondered what could possibly be going through his parents’ minds that would make them think this union was a good idea. Did they just want him to be unhappy?
Either way, I wasn’t opposed to stealing him away from the attractive woman. He’d doubly thank me for it in the end.
“Hi, Amber, Leo’s mother sent me over to say that she wanted to speak to you. She said I’d make the perfect messenger,” my smile was sweet and sarcastic. “She’s over in the far corner over there.”
Amber gave me a haughty huff, before kissing Leo on the cheek and heading in the direction I’d pointed.
“Thank you, for that,” Leo quickly guided me to the opposite corner. “Hopefully we can hide over here.”
“Why do your parents push her on you? Isn’t it obvious that you hate her?”
Leo chuckled. “It surely must be, if someone who’s seen us for less than five minutes has worked it
out. But, whatever, Amber’s parents own a top law firm. They’re all about getting as much money as possible, especially since so much of it goes in that stupid Fae tax rubbish. I wonder what they even do with that money, it’s not like there’s people out there getting Fae welfare support.”
I blinked. “I honestly didn’t realise there was such a thing as Fae tax. Dale must pay it for all of us then just dish out our wages after it has been paid.”
“He’s your boss?”
“Yeah, he just does all the admin stuff now. There’s four of us, wait, no, three of us who do the dirty work.”
“Someone retired? What even is the retirement age for assassins? I guess you at least get that earlier than the average Fae.”
It was unbelievable that no one had even been warned that there was a Warlock on the loose. Was keeping people calm really more important than keeping people safe to the guys in London? “I think you retire when the leader decides you’re not good enough anymore.” Then you probably went and lived in a flat by yourself because you hadn’t got a friend in the world.
“What do you do during the day? I mean, there can’t be that many people needing assassinating and there are four of you.”
“You’d be surprised,” I mumbled, eyes dashing to the clock. It was almost time to go. “But I’m still in school, so at least that takes up most of my days and we don’t just deal with Sheffield. We handle most of North Yorkshire, only everyone else does more of the further away jobs since I’ve got school.”
“Oh, I thought you were older, for some reason.”
“I’m eighteen. I’m in my last year. I think I’m going to take that as a compliment, though.”
“So don’t you have human friends? I mean, I have friends at uni who are human, even if most of us Fae stick together.” There were no Fae at my school – they were all sent to private schools during the lower rungs of education. Many even went to a Fae-only boarding school down in Hampshire.
“Yeah, I have a couple of human friends.” What a mistake that had been. Now they were in danger because of me.
The grandfather clock in the corner chimed and Leo let out an audible sigh of relief. “Thank God, finally over,” he paused and heat rose in his cheeks. “Do you want to exchange numbers?”
His smile was more than slightly endearing, but I certainly wasn’t interested in anything more than a friend. Caring for Jack was tiresome enough. “Sure, but only as friends, just so you don’t get the wrong idea.”
Leo grinned. “Of course. I’m practically engaged anyway, don’t forget.”
We swapped phones. “Anyway, come on, let’s get out of here.” My heart was pounding, but my face was composed. Clearly I hadn’t given anything away, even if my hands quivered by my sides.
“I should probably go and find my parents,” Leo admitted, his eyes scanning the room for them.
“They’re probably waiting for you in your car, or something.” I stuck close to his side, making sure we were completely middle of the pack.
It was when the first people had filtered through the door that the screams began. A high-pitched wailing of someone in agony, followed by various other screams and shouts. Stampede mentality kicked in and everyone rushed out rather than back in. “Stick right next to me,” I warned Leo, my eyes darting back and forth as the outside became visible. I got the distinct impression shooting me would have been warned against, Leo should be safe beside me.
We didn’t speak, but Leo had grabbed my hand tighter than was comfortable and definitely didn’t plan on letting go. I headed straight for our car, doing my best to ignore the bodies sprawled out on my path. Not all of them were dead yet, but no one was willing to stay to help when there was the risk of being shot.
A spray of warm blood caught my face and I turned to the side, just in time to see a bullet leaving the back of a woman’s head. I blinked back the tears and continued onwards, reaching the car within seconds. “Get in.” I instructed Leo, the rest of the assassins already in the car. “This is Leo. We’ve rescued him, I guess.”
“No offence, Ilona, but I’m not giving him a lift home.”
“I wasn’t expecting you to. He can stay in my room. He’ll have to play happy families in my living room with Jack, or something. Either way, we can’t just send him back out there. I’ll give him a lift home tomorrow.”
“Whatever,” Dale started the car, speeding onto the road and away from the carnage. I couldn’t bring myself to look back and see the devastation I’d allowed to happen.
“What’s going on? Why don’t any of you look surprised?”
“Because we’re not,” Glen explained from the front seat. “There’s a Warlock in Sheffield, not that anyone from your ‘intellectual’ side wants to let anyone know. Seems real smart, huh?”
“Ring your parents, if you want,” I instructed Leo, ignoring his pasty complexion. “I’m sure they’ll be safe.”
I couldn’t guarantee it, but it seemed like the best thing to say. “Right, okay.”
They were perfectly sound, having left the car park as soon as Leo confirmed he was all right. The ride back consisted of Glen, Violet and Dale bashing the Fae leaders and trying desperately to come up with a solution for what to do. None of them accomplished anything and it certainly didn’t help with the plan I needed to come up with myself to stop Dimitri.
None of us bothered to hide the fact we ran into the building. “Right, everyone get some rest. I’m going to have a long hard conversation with Jasper and we’re going to figure out what the hell to do about this mess. You can bet you neither of us are going to take no for an answer when it comes to those pompous twats who let tonight happen.”
“So, you mentioned some Jack guy? Who is he? You’re really not expecting me to share a bed with someone, are you?” Leo questioned as we headed up the stairs.
I snorted. “He’s just a guy we kind of rescued from the Warlock. It’s a long story, you probably don’t need to know it. I won’t make you sleep together, though, honest.”
I’d left my door unlocked and Jack with the key. He was blasting music out at an ungodly volume and still on my computer. He quickly muted it when I entered. “Hey, how shit was it?” Jack paused the game and turned around, expression quickly turning into a frown. “What happened? Are you okay?”
I touched the side of my face as he gazed at it and remembered the blood. “It’s not mine. I’m fine. This is Leo, I stopped him getting shot. There were snipers all around the building.”
“Shit. Is everyone else okay?”
“Yeah, we’re all good. I have no idea how many people they killed, though. I don’t think I want to know.”
“He’s human.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” I grumbled, retrieving my pistol from my handbag and shoving it into my desk drawer, then depositing my bag on top of the wardrobe. “You can have the camp bed. Jack, you can sleep on my floor or something.”
“Aw, what? How come I get the floor?”
“Because I’d rather not have someone I’ve just met actually sleeping in my room.”
“Ah, yeah. Fair enough.”
Truth be told, I didn’t actually have enough bedding to accommodate three people in separate beds. I was at least going to offer Jack the other half of my double bed before I went and asked to borrow someone’s, though. “I’m just going to clean up my face.”
The silence between the two guys was oddly strained, but it was easy to ignore. I was much more concerned with my guilty conscience as the bodies strewn out across the car park invaded my vision. Closing my eyes, I tried my hardest to ignore them. It was worth it, for Jenny, and her family. It was the only way I could justify my actions.
Wiping away the stray tears and the unknown woman’s blood, nothing could wipe away my pasty complexion and guild-riddled expression. Hopefully I’d be able to get to sleep tonight.
Jack was absent from the living room when I returned and Leo had settled down into the camp bed, still fully cloth
ed. “I can turn the heating up if you want. The thermostat is just by the doorway.”
“Okay, thanks. And thanks for looking out for me, really. I know you only came back and dragged me away at the end because you thought something like this might happen. I appreciate it.”
“It’s fine, it’s just stupid that any of this happened at all. Hopefully Dale and Jasper will accomplish something tonight before these bastards move away from us and start killing random families. It’s going to come soon, I’m sure.” This was just the beginning. He’d officially started his attempted genocide. I wondered where he’d go when he no doubt succeeded in wiping Sheffield out. “Goodnight.”
“Night.”
“You can either have the other half of my bed or I’ll go and ask someone if they’ve got some extra bedding. I don’t mind.”
The Reluctant Assassin Page 13
