Hell Bent

by Marie Bilodeau

  So why the hell am I here? Why did the Guild of Shadows need me here if they could just rely on their equipment? Unless, of course, they feared the equipment might not pick up the attackers.

  I leaned against the stone barrier surrounding the roof. This must be used as some sort of patio during warmer seasons.

  I glanced up. A few of the nearby buildings were slightly taller, but they looked abandoned. Or maybe just closed during the night.

  I looked down at the dim green map on the screen and tapped on the building. Information came up, including which businesses populated it, and a current people count, currently just two. I tapped on it, and it brought up details on two security guards, and their current positions in the building.

  “Wow,” I whispered.

  There was a hell of a lot more I had to learn about being an operative of the Guild of Shadows.

  They were certainly well connected. And yet they needed in-person surveillance, which solidified my theory that they feared not being able to detect the attackers with technology. Or, maybe they didn’t fear it. Maybe they knew from experience.

  I clicked on the building below me. The screen lit up: Chengzu Guild. It focused on scientific research, but that was all the info it gave me. No list of people, floor layouts, or any other pertinent details. Maybe the guilds didn’t like to share with each other.

  Or maybe the guilds didn’t like dealing with the Guild of Shadows...although the Rosetta Guild had fed us information. Maybe they were the exception, not the rule. I remembered Clay’s warning. That the Guild of Shadows was dangerous.

  To some, maybe. But weren’t we all dangerous to someone? Clay thought they were dangerous to everyone, but I didn’t think so. I mean, the Guild of Shadows did kill people, yes, but only to maintain the balance. To make sure that the Traded didn’t end up in a war with humans that we couldn’t win, or that wouldn’t leave thousands, if not millions, dead.

  But what if I was wrong? What if Ian was a bad guy? Like, a really bad guy?

  No. I couldn’t think that way. Ian had saved me. He’d almost died protecting me. He’d respected my friendship with Clay.

  But…Ian was second-in-command. Ian might also be torn between the Guild and who he wanted to be.

  We all had our part to play, after all. That was hammered into our heads time and time again, since going to the Academy, and now at the Guild. All of us are part of a great machine, a cog in the universe. Except the Traded had been thrown into the human machine to sabotage it. Could we learn to work within it, or would we bring it to a grinding halt?

  We all must respect the part we must play.

  Shit. This was so boring, I was going to introspect myself to dust.

  Why the hell am I here?

  I looked back at my screen, empty of pertinent information on the guild below.

  Because I can get in there, and they don’t have information. What if Ian couldn’t actually ask me to do this, so he’d have plausible deniability? What if they really needed intel, and just couldn’t afford for one of their full-fledged operatives to be caught?

  Whereas an initiate with a track record of sneaking away and not being the best at listening to instructions…well, that could be explained.

  Maybe that was the test. Could I independently see what needed to be done and just do it? Get the work done without being caught or stopped? Could my judgement be trusted?

  A siren sounded in the distance, its origin lost as it bounced off the nearby buildings, shadows gently pulsing around me.

  I realized that I’d folded into them without even noticing. They’d easily come to me, let me hide in them, didn’t shy away from my touch. I reached out and stroked them, smiling.

  I’d scared the shadows in the alley by pushing them too far. They’d come back now, understanding that I only tried to work with them, and make them better.

  Maybe Ian was doing the same thing. I’d gotten complacent at the Guild. Hell, I hadn’t even tried to sneak out lately! Maybe the test was just that: for me to push myself.

  I grinned. I liked that idea. I could use something a bit more exciting, anyway, or the operatives wouldn’t be the only ones catching up on their sleep tonight.

  Comforted by the shadows around me and the silence that blanketed the alley, I hopped over the stone guard, grabbed a pipe that ran up, planted my feet, and dangled my body over the edge to find an easy access point to the Chengzu Guild.

  Oh, this was going to be fun. Just below, maybe two stories down, a balcony kindly greeted me. One of the best parts about being in the Guild of Shadows was the fun gear. I touched the back of my belt, pulling free the three prongs that made the end of my grappling hook, the thin but resistant rope coiled inside my belt.

  I hooked it to the venting pipe and rappelled down. Damn, that was fun. Much better than the jumps Clay and I used to take. Painful on even Traded knees and not super subtle, either.

  I nudged the grappling hook free as soon as I found my footing, keeping the shadows tight around me. The balcony gave way to a double glass door. Both doors were opened, thick red curtains slightly parting to let in the air.

  This place doesn’t exactly feel super secure.

  It was probably a good thing that I was sneaking in here. It was ripe for attack!

  I checked on my shadows, still feeling a bit nervous about them deserting me in the alley. But they seemed content around me, carrying the light scent of wood and books wafting from within the Guild.

  Huh. I guess that made sense for a researchers’ guild, though I expected more computers nowadays, and fewer books.

  I carefully approached the opening between the curtains, which revealed dim lights within.

  Pushing the curtains aside I slipped in quietly, the shadows thick around me. I stopped, cocked my head, and listened.

  All was quiet.

  I took another step.

  “Um, hi,” a granular voice said. I turned around, eyes wide, at the person looking at me, despite my folded shadows.

  So much for not being spotted.

  Chapter Six

  “Hi,” I replied, so as not to be completely rude. I mean, I was already sneaking in, but still. I spotted a figure between two bookshelves, in shadows so deep even I couldn’t make out his features.

  Ian wouldn’t be super happy to know I’d been spotted so easily. Or at all.

  Candles flickered around the room, creating the light, though they were the LED kind, not the fire kind. Smart, considering the stacks of papers and books surrounding them.

  “Are you here to slaughter us?” the granular voice asked.

  “Um, no,” I answered. “I’m here to help keep an eye out.”

  “Great!” he didn’t take a step forward, staying ensconced in the shadows. But I’d started to make him out, bandages covering most of his skin, his flopped ears obviously not human, his green glowing eyes focused on me. “Will sneaking through a window keep us safe?”

  “Just having a look around,” I mumbled, my tail swishing in annoyance behind me. I hated when it did that. It didn’t seem to escape the mummy’s attention, though he was wise enough not to mention it.

  He seemed to weigh my words, and then motioned to the room around him, not fully extending his arms, as though he feared leaving his body unprotected. I noticed his hunch, too. He just generally looked uncomfortable, like pain lanced his entire body with unseen needle pricks.

  “This is the library,” he said, his voice also grated with pain. “Well, one of them. We mostly just have libraries here.”

  “Are you okay?” I asked, taking a step toward him. He shuffled back and I stopped, holding out my hands. “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”

  He flinched and stared at me with those unblinking green eyes. “Okay.”

  I debated what to ask next. I’d never met anyone from a research guild before! Not too surprising, considering I hadn’t even known that they existed until today. Still! I be
t he knew and saw a bunch of cool stuff. I wondered what exactly they were researching.

  “How come you see me?” I asked, realizing I still held the shadows against me.

  “Shiny eyes,” he grinned.

  “They are very shiny,” I offered. He nodded. His teeth were either green or reflected his eyes. That was unclear. I’d expected them to be sharpened, but they were quite human looking, aside from the color.

  I dropped my shadows just as a thunk caught my attention. Both the mummy and I glanced toward the door, which stood open past three tables covered in books, flanked by tall bookshelves that reached up to the dark, tall ceiling.

  I motioned to him to stay there, but I doubted he would have moved anyway. He seemed to have withdrawn even more, folding into himself.

  Pulling free my new favorite toy, a sleek, long handgun that had both taser and laser-cutting action, I headed to the door. A strangled cry resonated down the hall, before cutting off abruptly.

  I pulled out my smartphone and hit every button at least three times and headed down the corridor, gun before me, and folding my shadows around me like a protective armor. It would be nice if they could block a blow, and not just visibility.

  I hoped the intruder didn’t also have shiny eyes.

  Chapter Seven

  Despite spending the last three months in training, I felt rustier than I ever had on missions with Clay. We hadn’t even had any training – we were just having fun pulling off heists and doing random jobs. I mean, we’d had battle and skills training, sure, to be useful to the guilds, but we hadn’t had sneaking out training.

  That would have been entirely too useful.

  But now, after being trained for specific missions like this for the past three months, and after spending years looking forward to my next escape with Clay, I felt completely out of my element.

  I guess I wasn’t used to being out here, alone. Also, “find the shiny object” was way more fun than “try not to get sliced in two.”

  I preferred the former, by far.

  The carpet absorbed my footsteps, but I still walked carefully, in case a creaky floorboard lurked beneath the padded surface. The walls were drywall. Stone or metal would be more comforting. Drywall did nothing to stop bullets or sharp claws.

  My eyes wandered from detail to detail, trying to capture everything. Anything could be a trap, or an important signal of danger. My mind whirled with possibilities, mostly of what could go wrong.

  Most scenarios ended with me being sliced in two.

  Well, that was my problem. The Guild had taught me to think, and thinking too much on these missions just slowed me down. I took a deep breath, focused on the corridor, the here and now, and took another step forward.

  A door emerged to the left, partly closed, light filtering into the corridor from inside. Blood dribbled lazily into the carpet, absorbing at its edge.

  Well, shit.

  I wish Clay was here. Or Ian. Or Rachel. Someone to watch my back. I’d rarely been on missions by myself.

  I wasn’t a fan.

  The blood stained deep red on the cream carpet, so it might be human. I held my weapon before me, images of the slaughter flashing before my mind’s eye.

  I took a deep breath, forced them down. What happened can’t be changed, Tira, so focus on turning what might be into what should be.

  Like me getting out with all my body parts.

  I heard a slight scraping behind me, and I whipped around. Several people, looking terrified and about my age, headed my way. I dropped the shadows and held up my hand, to indicate I wasn’t the enemy, while gesturing for them to be quiet.

  Thankfully, none of them screamed. And they certainly stopped. I nodded and indicated the door where I’d left the mummy behind. One, I guess their leader, shook her head and pointed to the end of the corridor.

  I spotted the stair access at the end of it.

  There was no way in hell I could get them all out safely. I couldn’t wrap my shadows around all of them, I was sure of that. We might be seen anyway, as the mummy had proved. Or someone would make noise, and we’d be detected.

  Too risky.

  They just had to cover twenty feet to reach the stairs, but it might as well be a hundred miles. I shook my head and indicated the pooling blood. The leader blanched and herded her friends into the room near them. They were thankfully quiet. Then again, they were probably trained to be quiet in libraries.

  I turned back to the door, ready to at least see what the intruders looked like. Who the hell had done so much damage, so quickly and effectively? Part of me was impressed, sure, but a bigger part of me liked the idea of surviving. I didn’t intend to get in a fight with them if I could avoid it.

  I folded my shadows back around me, drawing them from every nook and cranny, every crack and carpet fiber, to shield me against sight.

  I took a deep breath, careful to remain silent, and peeked around the corner. Blood dribbled lazily from the multiple wounds in the Traded’s body, but I didn’t allow my gaze to linger on her.

  I stepped over her, careful not to get blood on my boots. I felt a pang at her glassy eyes, my mind demanding answers as to who she was, what she loved, what her dreams had been…

  Focus.

  Something dangerous lurked here, and enough people could see through my shadows that I really had no guarantees that I wouldn’t be spotted.

  The room’s dim light gifted me with more shadows, the few lamps knocked over. In the shadows, I could see more bodies. I heard a muffled moan.

  I clutched my gun, held it before me and steadied it with my other hand.

  I scanned my surroundings, keeping my back to the door. There was only one way out of the room. The whole place smelled of… cookies? Sugar? Something sweet.

  It wasn’t a kitchen though. Shelves guarded the walls, brimming with stark, thick gray folders. Blood splatters covered the few worktables. I crouched to scan beneath the tables, in case an attacker hid there.

  Thunk.

  I whipped up, tightening my shadows around me, my breath coming faster. I could smell sugar again. I froze, trying to figure out its origin.

  Someone screamed. Quick. Sharp. Terrified.

  Surprised.

  Then stopped.

  It came from down the hall, where I’d left the other Traded.

  Shit.

  I ran back, slowing down as I reached the closed door. How had they gotten in? Maybe I’d been wrong and I’d just heard someone stumbling?

  I gently turned the handle and pushed the door open, slipping in and quickly moving to the side, shadows tightly wrapped around me. I looked around, eyes wide.

  What the hell…

  Bodies. A pile of them, slashed and bleeding, some in pieces. I’d left them for barely a minute. And nothing had gotten past me!

  I ignored the blank, staring eyes, looked carefully around me. I couldn’t see anything, or anyone. But obviously something was here.

  The door had still been closed.

  Something moved to my left, between two bookshelves. I crouched, springing toward the movement, pulling out a dagger.

  “Wait,” the whisper came. Glowing green eyes pleaded with me. I steadied my hand, put my back against the wall, and squinted at him.

  “Did you do this?”

  He looked shocked at the question, then seemed to ponder it.

  “No,” he answered, his voice wavering. His bandages weren’t covered in blood, nor was he wounded. Besides, he’d been in this room when the slaughter had occurred in the next room.

  But how had they, or it, gotten in?

  “Let’s get out of here,” I whispered, and wrapped my shadows around him. With any luck, the creature, or whatever the hell the thing was, couldn’t see through them.

  I walked around the table and nudged him along, but he hesitated, not moving from his spot.

  “I don’t think I can walk,” he whispered, and pointed
to his leg. I looked down, and half of his right leg was missing, a lazy string of…not blood, but goo dribbling beneath it.

  “It’ll heal,” he shrugged.

  “Okay,” I stared down, the dark liquid not leaking but gelling together, almost like it was trying to form another limb. A loose, viscous limb, dangling there.

  Gross.

  Another thump, near the window. I helped my weird friend back into his hiding spot, indicated he should be quiet. He nodded and crouched, carefully folding his missing limb so as not to touch the wounded portion. I stood over him, my shadows still stretched over both of us, and grabbed my gun and my dagger.

  A few shadows slipped in quietly through the window. I never thought I’d feel such relief at seeing the Guild of Shadows. I hesitated for half a second and dropped my shadows.

  Ian looked surprised for half a second, before turning angry.

  I guess disobeying orders hadn’t been my test, after all.

  I indicated down to the still-breathing researcher. The mummy gave Ian a little shy wave.

  Ian composed himself and nodded. He motioned to two other operatives, and in an instant they were carrying the Traded out the window. He didn’t make a noise. Either the mummy had a great resistance to pain, or he didn’t feel any.

  I turned to Ian, who raised an eyebrow. I shrugged and looked around, my eyes a bit wider than they should be.

  He held up his hand and put up one finger, indicating the bodies and then everything around.

  I shrugged again and shook my head. I didn’t know if the attackers were still here, because I didn’t know how they’d gotten past me in the first place.

  I apparently managed to convey something that made sense to Ian, since he nodded. Two more operatives entered the room. I wondered if others had accessed via different entry points.

  Ian looked at me and pointed back out the window. I shook my head. Like hell I was leaving. They might need me. My shadows might keep someone safe.

  Besides, I’d told these people to hide here, and they’d all died. I had to do something to help.