Dale’s head snapped up and he beckoned for the print-out of my information. “Excellent. I’ll call everyone. You get Jack, and your weapon. We’re taking this piece of shit out tonight.”
My jaw clenched. “What do we need Jack for? He’ll just get in the way.”
“He’s a body with a gun. He’s coming.”
“But-”
“Listen, Ilona. I’ve let this thing you’ve got going on continue because I don’t want anything distracting you from the job at hand. I didn’t need any teenage angst getting in the way. Tonight, this whole Warlock incident is going to be over for us, one way or another. So is your relationship with this boy. Got it? He’s a person who can fire a gun, he’s coming with us.”
I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek until it bled and rolling my hands into fists behind my back where he couldn’t see them. “Got it.”
“Now go and get ready. We’re leaving as soon as possible.”
This doubled the stakes, then. If I attacked Dimitri and failed, there was a chance he’d kill Jack on the spot just to spite me. I wouldn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.
A wisp of air rustled the dark tips of my hair. I could do this, I had to be able to.
Chapter Twenty-One
I kept myself just in front of Jack at all times. It would be impossible for someone to shoot him; I would be hit first. My pistol was held by my side, safety off and completely ready to shoot anyone that wasn’t Dimitri.
The entire place was empty, though, I had no doubt. This was the showdown; it wasn’t for his pathetic underbodies to be a part of. They would help him achieve his overall goal, but Dale and the Guild were personal to him now. Plus, he had me on his side. He didn’t need anyone else.
Just outside the door, Dale gave us the signal to huddle. “As soon as you see him, you fire at him. If we’re all shooting, I’m sure there’s nothing he can do. We have to be quick and decisive. Focus him over anyone else.”
Entering the warehouse, we all had our guns raised, before fanning out in the empty room. I kept my position in front of Jack, despite his disgruntled expression about my obvious protection. I wasn’t going to let Dimitri get anywhere near him if I could help it. My heart still wavered every time I recalled the image of Dimitri’s conjuration of Jack being slaughtered.
The room was empty, for now, but I knew what to expect. The same wall that had been there the last time Dimitri and I had met. When he appeared in the furthest corner, everyone, including me, fired a round at his darkened figure. Halfway into their flight path, they simply dissolved, caught by the wall.
Dale practically growled, loosing off his entire clip. The result was the same.
“Right on time,” Dimitri chorused, opening his arms in greeting. “Right on time. Well, this is perfect. I have been so looking forward to this moment.”
Dale shook in his place, but his mouth remained closed. He had no choice but to wait out Dimitri’s speech of assumed accomplishment.
“How are your reinforcements doing? Oh, that’s right, they were met by a little surprise at their hotel,” his gaze flickered to me for only a moment, “clearly I ruffled your jimmies a little bit and now here you are, all unprepared and filled with anger. Always the best way to win a war, I’m sure.”
“You monster. You’re no better than us.”
“I’m not interested in debating things like that. We both know the Fae are horrible and I’m perfectly well equipped to make sure that they’re all, well, almost all,” his knowing smirk made me feel sick, but thankfully he didn’t glance at me this time, “wiped out.” Dimitri would never achieve his goal, it was fundamentally impossible. He couldn’t take out an entire race by himself, but he could cause havoc in the UK before someone stopped him.
“You won’t do it. You won’t leave this room alive,” Glen spat on the floor, taking calculated steps forward.
It was almost comical when he face planted against the invisible wall. Holding his nose, he put his hand back out, feeling out the transparent divide. I didn’t know if my own powers could interfere with it; whether I could access the air on the other side. I had to hope that I could.
“Oh, you Fae and your silly lack of magic is so entertaining. This is why you’re pathetic. You couldn’t even hold onto your abilities once you’d wiped us out.”
At his words I clenched my fist. Maybe I should just go for him now, before he had time to reveal my betrayal. It was the most sensible option, really, but nerves riddled my brain and despite the power I felt, the invisible wall terrified me. Was it really worth it?
I felt my own feet moving forward, leaving Jack exposed, but knowing that if Dimitri wanted to kill him, there was nothing I was going to be able to do about it. I raised my own hand, feeling out the invisible wall, deciding whether it was completely impenetrable. Glen shot me a sideways glance, grimacing at the barrier.
“Your opinion is irrelevant. You’re going to be dead in a moment,” Dimitri dismissed easily, a large smirk covering his face and those shadowy tendrils began to extend from his body. They slithered across the floor, purple smoke emanating as they encroached on us, kicking up dust. They ignored the barrier. It was one way, then. The thought made me more confident that I could get through it.
I watched, unable to do anything, as the shadowy cords wrapped around my colleagues and Jack, incapacitating them completely and leaving me free. Everyone’s eyes were on me, confused and scared. Despite their attempts, nothing could stop the coils encasing them. Glen’s shot had done nothing to defend himself. They couldn’t be outrun.
Dimitri laughed loudly, the sound of his clapping echoing around the room. “Oh, I’ve really outdone myself here. Now, Ilona, I was going to make you just kill Dale, as I’m sure you understood from my note. But, I was thinking about it, and whilst killing these other two nobodies would be entertaining for me, I figured it would be more fun watching your poor little conscience as you did it. I’ve had more than my fair share of Fae blood today.”
The tendrils had gagged everyone, so there was nothing but accusing gazes to meet me as I stared around the room, Jack’s included.
“Well, in your own time. I’m very grateful you brought him along, by the way,” Dimitri gestured towards Jack, himself having moved towards the invisible wall at this point. “It makes the consequences if you don’t do this immediate, which is always the best incentive.”
Jack struggled and I felt almost numb as I raised the gun towards Dale’s head. I felt the energy, flowing through me and begging to be used. My gaze slipped to Jack once more and I begged him to understand everything that I’d done, including the decision to risk his life now to kill Dimitri.
I kept the gun raised towards Dale’s head, but my breathing turned stable, adhering to the count in my head as I stilled the air completely. With my free hand, I began the circular motions, tiny and unnoticeable by Dimitri behind me.
I was holding the air completely still, he wouldn’t be able to tell I had control, but my wield over it grew as I let my eyes slip shut and the energy I’d honed every night charge the air I was standing in.
Taking a deep breath, I prayed that this worked.
Dropping my gun, I turned and attempted to drag the air away from Dimitri. I pulled his head into a vacuum and suffocated him. Eyes wide, it was the first time I’d seen anything but smugness and anger from the Warlock. He grasped as this throat, mouth open and attempting to suck in the air which didn’t exist. My arms ached already and it was like pulling them through treacle as I repeated the movements shown on the scrolls.
Just when I thought I’d gotten him, he vanished, reappearing right in front of me and attempting to grab my arms now that he’d gotten his air back. I vaulted backwards, resuming my efforts and denying him air once more. My breathing was laboured and my muscles hurt, but my adrenaline was higher and I thanked the boy in Nigeria who’d shown me how to do this as the tendrils fell flat and Dimitri was brought to his knees.
Transporting
himself once more, this time Dimitri swiped a knife identical to the one he’d crafted last time against my arm. The pain was dulled by adrenaline. The wound wasn’t an issue right now, but removing Dimitri’s air as he gasped and lunged for me again was. My arms burned with pain as I continued the scroll’s instructed movements, adapting them as it felt natural to do so and creating a vacuum for Dimitri. He dragged himself closer to me, until I was backed up against the wall and the knife was at my throat.
I maintained the vacuum, but felt my own air leaving me. He was too close and I didn’t have the precision to keep myself breathing, too.
Light-headedness was taking over and I felt my vision slipping to blackness, but Dimitri fell first, limp and lifeless, as his heart stopped. I released my hold on the air immediately, slipping to the ground myself and gasping in deep breaths. Dale shot Dimitri twice, once in the head and once in the back, to make sure he was definitely gone.
I couldn’t shift my gaze from the floor, which was slowly turning red thanks to Dale’s shots.
I’d done it, even if Dale decided I had to pay for my compliance by death. I’d still saved Jack and Jenny. It had been worth it.
“You betrayed us,” Dale stated, back to his matter-of-fact voice already. “You went against the race.”
“Yes.” There was no point in denying it. It had been right there for everyone to see when Dimitri gave me my instruction.
“If you hadn’t been able to use your own magic, would you have killed me?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know about what happened this morning?”
“No.” It was a half-truth, one that I couldn’t bring myself to explain. As much as my guilty conscience tore at me, I still wanted to live. Even after all this, I was still clinging onto life with my tired, throbbing hands. I didn’t want to give Dale any excuses to report me to higher powers. There was nothing that could disprove my statement.
Dale dragged me to my feet with both hands on my arms, demanding that I meet his eyes. “Listen, we’re going to call it quits because you killed him. I understand your motives.” It was the first real vulnerability I’d ever seen in Dale’s face. I briefly wondered why he’d become an assassin. He stared around the group, giving everyone the same hard look. “None of us are going to speak about what happened here today again, other than to explain that we found him and we shot him, understand?”
There were disgruntled, affirmative acknowledgements from Glen and Violet. I couldn’t look at them, but I understood all the emotions they were feeling towards me. I didn’t even want to consider Jack.
“Let’s get out of here.”
The car ride home was silent and even when Jack and I were in my room, nothing was said. Jack simply packed his things with a stony expression. “You should know that I let the snipers at the meet-up kill people and that I gave Dimitri the name of the hotel the Fae were staying at.”
“I guessed as much.”
“Are you going to say something?”
“No, I’m not. I don’t want anything to do with you. I just want to get out of here and go back to my normal life. You let so many people die and nothing was worth that.”
I didn’t bother to argue and I didn’t offer him a lift.
He didn’t turn back.
Epilogue
I never went back to school.
There wasn’t any point, really. I found everything I needed for the syllabus online, and requested to take my exams at the college, which cost me some money, but it was neither here nor there to me, really. I didn’t speak to Jack or Jenny again. It was to be expected, but it still hurt every day to think about it. I hoped they were happier without me in their lives.
Right now I was sat in the car park where I’d arranged to meet Leo. I’d sold everything I couldn’t fit in my suitcase and transferred all my money to a bank in Barbados. I was completely ready to leave everything behind.
Leo had sorted out everything for when we got there, so I’d had a relaxing time of it all. He’d studied law, so it made more sense for him to handle the paperwork. That was my excuse, anyway. I had more than enough money saved up for the two of us to be comfortable for a couple of months at least before getting jobs. Plus the official language was English, which definitely helped.
Still, I had never been more nervous in my life.
Leo and I hadn’t even spoken much in the time after Dimitri’s downfall. There’d been an odd text every now and then, but apparently his uni course had been intensive and he wanted to spend as much time as he could with his friends before leaving.
I wondered if he was really committed to this as he seemed and what I’d do if he didn’t turn up. I wasn’t sure I could do this alone.
When the taxi pulled into the car park, I clasped my hands together, taking in the scenery of suburban Sheffield. I wondered if they had Pizza Hut in Barbados. My heart was heavy as my mind returned to the day of Dimitri’s death. Jack and I had been so close. I should have just said fuck it and gone with him. Maybe I’d have been able to live with the guilt of lying to him.
Blue eyes met mine and my breathing stopped. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to run away with you, of course.” Jack’s smile was wide, guilty, and the most welcome sight I’d seen in two months.
I couldn’t bring myself to stand up, but my heart was racing as I admired the person I’d been longing to see so much. “Where’s Leo?”
“He’s not coming. His mum was diagnosed with cancer a couple of weeks ago and he rang me up. I’ve got our tickets, all our documentation. We’re ready to go, Ilona.”
“You can’t leave with me. You have your family and university and everything is good for you here. I don’t deserve you.”
Jack stuck his head back into the taxi and I vaguely heard him explaining he’d pay him more if he just gave us another five minutes. My knuckles were white from holding the handle of my suitcase so tightly.
He had to be messing with me.
Only, when he came to stand before me, I could see the tiredness in everything he did. There were big black circles under his eyes, but the blue orbs themselves were shining.
He’d made up his mind.
“I just want to be with you. I’ve been an idiot for pushing you away for this long. Don’t forget I can always come home if things don’t work out – I at least want to give us a shot. I’ve been miserable without you.”
When he offered a hand to help me up, tears were glistening in my eyes. All that time spent fruitlessly trying to forget him and he was finally here, telling me that maybe things could work out. “You-you’re sure?”
He didn’t reply, just gestured for me to take the hand. I did, and was engulfed in a painfully tight hug. “I’ve missed you,” he murmured against my hair, fingers biting into my skin with unbelievable relief that we were finally close again.
“I’ve missed you too,” my voice caught and it was so muffled in his chest he probably couldn’t understand me anyway. “So, so much.”
“Leo talked some sense into me. At first I was so horrified by what you’d done, I couldn’t accept that my life was worth more than all of those people, but I would have done the same if the situation was reversed. I know I would.”
When we pulled away slightly, Jack pressed an almost hesitant kiss against my lips. It was short and over in an instant, but the second one wasn’t. My skin was littered with goose bumps as his hand weaved through my mass of hair and when we pulled apart, I couldn’t stop my teary grin. “Thank you for coming.”
Jack smiled back, a wide smile that held more than just happiness. “I’m sorry for not coming sooner.”
Dear Jenny,
I understand why we never spoke again and I’m not trying to condone my actions, but I just had to say how incredibly sorry I am for all the sadness I probably caused. My job wasn’t a choice and my lies weren’t a choice. I should have never become your friend, it wasn’t fair, but you should know that I never enjoyed my work a
nd would have given anything to be a normal girl in school who was your best friend. I can never explain why I am in this job and I know you would not be interested, but I’m sorry for the lies I told and for the way you found out about them.
Love always,
Ilona
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The Reluctant Assassin Page 17
