The Assassin - Chapter 21 Chapter 21

Jaycie’s Point of View:

Right as the get to the door I had seen so many times, the grip of whatever he had given me released. I screamed. Not this room. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t take it. I thought I had been getting stronger, I thought I was getting better. I thought that I had started to heal after breaking, but the terror that ran through me just by the sight of this door tore through the facade. I tried to push away, but I still felt weak. I couldn’t get out of Azeel’s grip. I started begging for them to let me out as Azeel and Colton started to lock me to the ground.

“No. Please don’t put me in here. Please. I will tell you anything, please.” I felt tears streaming down my face. Colton turned smirked at me, “You aren’t going anywhere.” I could see the four nail marks that crossed his cheek. “Why aren’t you frozen?” I ask. He runs one of his fingers over one of the nail marks. “Oh, did someone’s poison get corrupted by her nail polish?” I silently curse. I had forgotten about that. The makeup and nail polish corroded the poison. That is why Colton was still standing, and why Azeel wasn’t dead from kissing me.

I watched as Azeel looked at me once. “I knew you were different than the others. Now I know why you yelled at me, acted like you were better than me. You must be stupid to think you could try and kill Xalem.” I felt more tears spill out of my eyes. Then I remembered Colton’s plan with the Princes. “Wait, Azeel. Colton and his father are trying to-” I was cut off by a slap to the face. Azeel just walked out. I turned to Colton as he said, “You don’t know what you are talking about.”

I saw the mirror’s around me. They all reflected what I truly was right now. A broken, weak, girl. Colton was standing right next me, the spitting image of an assassin. He looked deadly next me. The light seemed to stay away from him. He crouched to where he was face to face with me. “Don’t worry Jaycie. We won’t lay a hand on you.” I felt fear well up in me as he ran a mocking had down the side of my face, making the hair on it frame my face. I asked, “What do you mean?” His smile turned deadly, turned cold. His voice dripped in venom as he said, “Well you friend said you didn’t know anything, we are going to have a nice little chat with him.”

I screamed. “No. I know the whole plan. I know more than him. I was the one who made this mission. I picked him to be my partner. I know everything.” Colton walked towards the door as he said, “Oh Jaycie, you should have said something sooner. Now it is your fault that Garret is going to die today.” I felt sobs rack through me. “No. Please don’t kill him, I am begging you. I will tell you everything. I swear.” I heard Colton give a truly evil laugh. “Looks like we can kill him sooner then. We have a backup source.” He left and I screamed again. I couldn’t hold back the screams. They filled the room and didn’t go away.

Colton’s Point of View:

I stalked out of the room slamming the door. I can’t help but thinking, “This woman is the right one, but something is wrong with her. After tracing her for three years, I would know if she acted like this, but I have never heard a story of her plead with a captor to get away. Saying she would take the interrogation to keep a partner out of harm is normal, but never in tears? Why is she like this?” I walk into the room her partner is in.

It is an observation room. He is already tied into a chair and all his blades are gone. He also has a split lip and the forming of a black eye. “Three years of tracking Jaycie, and I have never heard of this guy.” I think. I walk in the room and see Azeel looking livid at Jaycie’s partner. I simply walk to the far side of the front of the room and look through the one-way window. Jaycie is screaming, and it sounds through this room like a muffled echo. Her partner is facing the window, and he already looks defeated. I turn to him and lean my back against the window. “So, who exactly are you?” I ask.

Azeel’s Point of View: A few seconds earlier

I am staring at Avi. The guards had a hell of a time tying him down. One of them is dead. Garret has left the small battle with a split lip and black eye. As soon as he realized the window, his attention was locked in there. The man who showed us this room was still in there speaking to her. I didn’t bother asking Avi anything because I knew I wasn’t getting answers. Once I started listening, I was shocked.

“Why is he calling Kiya, Jaycie?” I say. Avi doesn’t even acknowledge me. I watch the scene unfold and Kiya…Jaycie…Kiya, the girl starts crying. Sobbing. She is also screaming. “This is the most emotion I have seen since I meet her. He has gotten angry, but only for short bursts. She never shows this emotion in front of me. Of anyone from what I gather.” I think. He runs a hand down the side of her face, and she seems to flinch, but it is almost too small to notice.

I turn to look away from the window. Avi watches in pure horror at what he is seeing. I am mad at him for not answering me, and for making her do this. I hear the door to the mirror room shut and a second later the door to this room opens. Colton walks in and walks to the window, watching Kiya, or Jaycie. Whoever the woman is? After staring for a few seconds, he turns to look at Avi.

Garret Point of View:

“So, who exactly are you?” Colton asks. “I am Avi. Why does she know your name? Why did you follow us here? Why do you keep bothering her?” Colton flies forward almost to fast to watch, his dagger is out and at my neck. I see Avi’s eyes go wide. “I ask the questions. Got it?” I grit my teeth and say, “Sure.” Colton re-claims his spot by the window, dagger already where it belongs. “So, who are you?” Colton asked again. I see his lock pick set at his hip, “I need to get it.” I think.

I keep my mouth shut and he says, “Answer.” I think for a second, “I will when you let the innocent woman go.” Colton chuckles. “She is not innocent. She is a skilled fighter.” I glanced at Azeel and he looked confused. “Oh, do you not want him to know all about her little secrets?” I hear a bite in the word him. “Shut up.” Colton smirks. He walks up to me, then around me in a circle. “So, you don’t want Azeel to know she is a skilled fighter, and an Assassin? That she kills people for a living? Oh, or maybe that her name isn’t even Kiya.”

Azeel steps forward, “What do you mean?” He asks. Colton smirks at him. “Oh, you don’t know?” Azeel shakes his head. Colton starts to speak again, but he also walks behind me, so with all my power, I push my chair back into him making him topple over, me landing on top of him. I quickly snatch his lock picks as he shoves me off. “You really are stupid, aren’t you?” Colton asks, standing up. He stalks up to me, dagger out. “I am giving you one chance. You try anything again, you die. Are we clear?” I laugh.

“You need me. You need my information.” Colton smiles. “Oh no I don’t. Jaycie can tell me everything.” He twirls the dagger in front of my face. “And with the right persuasions, she will tell me.” I fight my binds. “No. Leave her alone. Don’t you dare touch her.” I immediately start picking the lock, but it is hard considering I can’t see. This was the one thing I wasn’t good in. Colton took on step back, looking over me. “You care for her, don’t you?” I immediately shake my head. “I couldn’t care less about the woman. But she is in my guild.” Colton gets a sly smirk, “Really. If you don’t care, then I will get my information from her.”

He puts my chair right in front of the window. Jaycie is still screaming, pulling against her binds, trying to get out. I watch as Colton walks to the door. “Don’t you dare lay a hand on her.” I yell out. His laugh is pure sin. “Not a hand, but maybe a dagger.” Then he walks out. All I can do is work the locks and watch.

Jaycie’s Point of View:

The cuffs are already digging into me wrists and ankles. I can see blood flowing, but I don’t care. On thought keeps running through my head. “I need to get out. I need to help him. This is all my fault. I should have been more careful. I should have killed him sooner.” I yanked again at the cuffs at my wrists only to feel skin their rip and bleed further. I muttered a curse under my breath.

I heard the door open and looked up at the mirror in front of me. I immediately stopped fighting against the binds. “What do you want?” I ask coldly. He closed the door softly. I scowled. I wanted him to slam it shut. I wanted him to do something to show he was angry at me. I didn’t want him to be acting this calm. I can work with angry, angry is easy, calm however isn’t easy to work with.

He walked in front of me, and I followed him with my eyes until I was looking directly into his eyes. He stood off center to the back of the room. “What do you want?” I asked again. He just stared at me for a moment. “Stop staring at me.” I snapped. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. I tried to surge forward, but all that did was make the cuffs dig into my ankles and wrists.

I winced, then took a deep breath. I schooled my face into a blank expression. I forced all my tears away and made my screams sink inside me, so low they couldn’t get out. Then I relaxed my posture. When I looked back at him, he looked amused.

“So, Jaycie. Your partner told me I should come and interrogate you. He said he did care about you. I believe his exact words were ‘I couldn’t care less about the woman.’ We made a little deal with him. If we let him go, he wouldn’t bother us.” I scanned his eyes, they held nothing but truth. Something was off though. I still felt hurt by the words. “You are lying.” I said with an even, plain, emotionless voice. “Am I?” He asked. “You are good at reading people. You should know I am not lying.”

These words stung as well because it was true. His face showed nothing but truth. But his posture was slightly off. He looked slightly tensed, yet that could have been for because of a million reasons. I just raised one eyebrow. “What are you going to do then? Torture me for information?” He crouched in front of me with a dagger out. He traced it up and down my arm. I couldn’t help but lean away slightly.

“I prefer the term persuade.” I did the only move I could. I threw my shoulder back, leaned towards him, then threw it forward again. The dagger fell from his hands, and when he rushed to grab it, I tried to head but him. This only caused him to grab a handful of my hair, right at the roots, and yank my head straight back. I let out a yelp. “Now tell me Jaycie. What is your partner’s real name?” “Avi.” I answered immediately. I felt pain run shock my arm as he quickly stabbed it. Not a deep mark, one meant to inflict pain, but not much harm.

I heard a muffled yell. I tried to look around, but his hand still held my head back. “The next one goes to your neck.” He said. “Who yelled? I asked. “Your partners name.” he said with a commanding tone. “Avi. His name is Avi.” I felt a searing sting across my throat, towards the top. Again, not meant to cause harm, but pain. “His real name. He wouldn’t use his real name on a mission.” I glared at him through the corner of my eye. “You can take your questions to hell with you. I’m not telling you squat. Go ahead, kill me. Slice my throat. It has already happened once this year.” I felt the cold blade rest on my neck, right where the faint scar from Zachery lay.

I heard a muffled yell again, it sounded almost like the words ‘answer him.’ “Who is that?” I ask. “Answer my questions first.” He commanded. “I already told you. Kill me. I am not answering.” He yanked on my hair again. I heard a pop from my neck. This drew a wince from me. “All you have to do is tell me his name. One small thing.” I forced a smirk onto my face and made my voice snarky and confident, “I knew it. You won’t kill me. You are too scared to kill me.”

“You really think that?” He asked slicing slightly into my neck. I felt my whole-body tense up. “I have shaken hands with death, then slapped it away. If you think I am scared of it, you are highly mistaken. I am deaths handmaiden and you will just be returning me home.” He looked shocked for a second, then he pushed it. “You think you are so special?” I laughed. Then I added quietly, “No, I know I am that special.”

As if on cue, the door flung open, and a dagger flew in. Colton just barely moved out of the way. The dagger sunk into his shoulder. Another three were already flying. Colton shoved me in the way of them, diving to the far side. I saw one hit him in the lower gut. That was right before one clipped my head, right above my eyebrow. I almost screamed out as it flipped across my face. I feel tears of pain well in my eyes. I quickly blink them away.

I feel hands working my cuffs, and a voice in my ear is angry. To anyone else, it would seem like he didn’t care at all, but this was Wilker’s way of caring. “Are you stupid. He had a dagger at your throat. You lie at that point. He could have killed you and I have to many customers wanting you as their killer to let that happen.” As soon as the cuffs are off, I am pulled out. Wilker spins me around and tilts my head up. “You are lucky that cut isn’t to deep.” I pull away from him, “Did they kill him?”

Wilker looks confused. “Did they kill Garret at the door when they let him go?” Wilker still looked confused, “Let him walk? He was fighting his way down the hall to get to this door.” I instantly feel guilty for thinking he actually leaving. “Where is he headed?” I ask. Wilker looks at me shocked. “Um…after Xalem. He is finishing the kill. I immediately grab two of Colton’s daggers. “No, Xalem is my kill.” Wilker grabbed my arm. “Jaycie, no. You are in no condition to fight.” I put my free hand to my neck, my healing power surges and heals the cut.

When I lower my hand Wilker’s jaw drops. “Better?” I ask. “Your scar is gone.” “I don’t care.” I say. I am leaving. I run out the door, but his words are caught in my mind. The scar Zachery gave my can’t be gone. It was a permeant one. I kept running. Each step had my bleeding ankle’s crying and each time my wrists moved, the sent pain shooting up my arms. The wound in my shoulder felt like it had hot iron in it, but I kept running. I noticed people from my guild fighting.

The guards were no whereas near trained so our assassins, so they were going down like crazy. I instantly run towards the reception room. Right before I get to the door, a hand grabs my shoulder. I am running so fast that the hand slips away and leave nail marks over my shoulder blade. I hiss and spin around. Azeel is standing there. “You should have stayed away.” I think. “Kiya, I need to get you to the pinks room, where you will be safe.” I scoff, “I am not a pink. I am an assassin. And you are on my last nerve.” He tried to grab my arm and I shove my dagger through his neck. I turn and run, flicking his blood off the dagger.

Inside, the reception room is a blood bath. I see guards going down left and right. I don’t even think about the guard running at me, I just swipe with the dagger, he is down. I see Xalem in the back, he is cowering in a corner. I fight my way back there. Every guard seems to attract to me. I can feel the nicks of blades against my arms, legs, back, and side, but I keep pushing through. By the time I am to the back of the room, there are about thirty dead guards in my wake. I am done playing. I am no longer the strong female assassin; I am a stone cold killed. Xalem sees me and pales.

“Jaycie, please. No.” I walk up to him and he foolishly tries to hit me. I grab that hand and slam it into the wall. I hear cracks and pops all up and down it. “Please, I don’t want to die.” He says. “And I didn’t want to come here.” I say. With a clean swoop of my dagger, his body falls to the ground, his head still in my hand. I walk up to the small dais their chairs are on and yell across the room. “The next guard that takes a swipe at one of my teammates gets the same fate as your boss.” I see everyone turn to stare at me as I shove the head up into the air for everyone to see. One of the guards lunges at Garret, and I throw the dagger that is in my free hand. It sinks into the guards neck, almost going through and through.

“I said next one to make a swipe at one of my teammates gets the same fate as your boss. Anyone else want to test me.” A guard in front of my takes a step towards me and I sweep down grabbing a dagger from a fallen guard. It sinks into the brave guards head, right in between the eyes, second later. “Any other’s out there?” I ask. No one answers so I make a command, “Everyone put your weapons down. Now.” All the guards drop their weapons, as well as half the assassins. I roll my eyes at them. “Not you guys.” “Idiots.” I mumble. “All guards come up here. Now.” Most of the guards rush to the front of the room. One of them rushes for the door and is instantly killed by a dagger. I look to see who threw it, and Zachery is staring at me. He nods his head at me, and I smile slightly.

As all the guards gather in front of me, I throw Xalem’s head against the wall, and it hits with a sickening splat. I see several guards gag. One even throws up. “If any of you follow me, you will be killed.” I see my fellow assassin’s in front of the door, all of the ones that came. Almost the whole guild. I walk through the guards and start walking down the aisle, the one I had to kneel next to for so long. Each of my steps are measured and confident. I hear a loud rustle, and it gets closer, someone following me. Zachery, the one right in front of the door, throws a dagger, it passes with in centimeters of my head. I hear the sound of the dagger finding home, then the sound of a body falling.

When I get to the door, all of us walk out to the fleet of carriages waiting. I climb into a random one with Garret, Wilker, and Zachery in tow. I sit down on the far seat and smile as they all fill in the empty seats. Wilker laughs after we start moving. “Jaycie, you will never cease to amaze me. You truly are my stupidest and smartest assassin.” I laugh as well while I heal my various cuts and scrapes. There are well over thirty of them, most small scraps. “If you saw your bosses head in someone else’s hand you would stop fighting to. It is all about power. I was strong enough to kill him, therefore I am strongest.” About ten minutes into the trip back I yell. “Stop. Colton, he is still alive.” Zachery and Garret both jump at my outburst, both have their hands on there daggers already.

Wilker shook his head. “No, he had a dagger in his gut and shoulder. He is dead.” I sigh in relief. The rest of the ride is spent talking, staring out the windows, and at one point me and Zachery fighting. To end the fight I said, “Zachery, if you don’t shut up, I will throw you out of this carriage.” He smiles but shuts up. When we get to the Guild, we all walk in with smiles. Then a thought pops into my head. “Why did so many of you come to help?” Wilker shakes his head. We got a note two days ago saying you where going to be killed thirty minutes after midnight.” I laugh. “That assassin, the one that drugged me, he was there. He had planned on killing me.

Everyone seemed calm, the calm of an after-mission success. The thing that made me excited was Wilker saying, “Jaycie, go you your room. A certain miss you. Zachery, Garret and about ten other assassins have to jump out of the way as I fly to my room. When I get there, my assassin suite is cleaned, all the blades there. I smile widely at it. I take a shower to get all the blood off of me, wash the hair dye out of my hair, and get the purple eyes color out. Then I get into my suite. I smile at how it fits, perfectly.

When I walk back down the stairs, I feel like I didn’t belong. I thought I would feel at home, but I feel like an outsider. Like I am missing, a piece to another puzzle. The night goes by smoothly. When I go to sleep, I sleep in my room in the guild. The next morning, I wake up with the sun. I quickly slip into my suite since I only wore if for about an hour yesterday.

I am walking to Wilker’s office knowing he will be there. I am the only assassin in the hall. At least the only one that belonged to this guild. Two assassins are walking down the halls with guards. One of them has blond hair and brown eyes, he is only an inch taller than me. The one that catches my eye though is the taller one. He is a good eight inches taller than me. His hair is a rich chocolate brown color and his eyes are green as emeralds. I can’t take my eyes off him. I can feel the connection between us instantly. He gives me a small knowing smile, while he walks up to me. “I am Levi Arsheon. You must be the infamous Jaycie Laker.” I nod and he reaches his hand out.

This is a tricky thing between assassin’s. He could either be shaking my hand or he could be testing my reaction time. I reach my hand out and he shakes it. I go to pull my hand away, but I feel his grip tighten a second before he makes his move. I have half a second to counter. He goes to flip me over his shoulder, but I counter the move by yank his hand back towards me and twisting it. Sadly, he counters that, spinning his hand around again, twirling me, then twisting my hand in a V behind me. A loose V but one nonetheless. I hear his words in my ear, his voice so low only I can hear him. “You are the only one who has ever countered my shoulder flip. Yet you didn’t win.”

I pull away from him spinning back towards both Levi and the other assassin. The blonde one stays where he is. “I am Jaxson. I know we will get to know each other soon.” I nod, but my eyes are instantly back on Levi. “You two better leave. I am sure you have better places to be then in the hall of a foreign guild.” Jaxson nods. “You are right. See you soon.” I nod. Levi smiles at me. “I am not sure when we will meet again, but we will. And when we do, I can’t wait to see how things turn out.” I can already see it in his eyes. The dangerous edge. Not the one most assassin’s have, but one that very few possess. It is that edge that makes me want to follow him.

I walk past them, not letting myself stare any longer. “Don’t let the daggers hit on the way out.” Levi gives a small hearty laugh. It stops me. I listen for a second before walking on again. I get around the corner before I lean against the wall. I don’t know how long it takes me to sort my feelings out, but when I start walking towards Wilker’s office, he is turning down the hall. I also hear the sound of other assassin’s moving around. His voice is strong but quiet. “Rows everyone. To the training room.” Everyone races to the training room, trying to get the best spots. I get the one that is in the front row right in front of Wilker.

Wilker is smiling at all of us. “I have some good news.” The room is completely quiet. “We have been invited to the Annual Ball.” I feel my eyes light up. It is called a ball but really it is a chance for all assassins to meet on good terms. There is dancing, but it is mainly to get information from all around. I hear whispers ring through the room. The thing that throws me off is Wilker’s slight frown, pointed directly towards me. He holds up a hand to silence everyone. “It is one week from today. I expect everyone to be ready; I have set something in everyone’s room. A…gift. You may go.” We all start to walk out but Wilker call’s my name. “Jaycie, you go to my office.”

I feel unnerved as I walk to his office. I fall in to a kneel as he walks past me. “Jaycie, please none of that right now.” I stand up and sink into my favorite chair. “Is everything okay?” I ask. My nods. Then shakes his head. “Jaycie, this is your last week in this guild.” My jaw drops. “What? You are kicking me out? What did I do?” He stands up walks around his desk, up to me and put on hand on each of my arms, standing me up. I don’t like where this is going. He is bringing me to his level. Getting rid of the Assassin/Assassin Master barriers. “Two assassins’ came with letters from their guilds today. “The ones holding the ball want you to join them.” I nod slowly. “I am not longer going to be part of this guild.” I say letting it sink in. Wilker then says, “That is not the only thing. You have also been asked to join The Elite.”