glow of the mark (six of crows soulmate au)

chapter four (inej)

"Don't forget my hat, Wraith. No mourners," Kaz watched as Inej climbed on the windowsill.

"No funerals," Inej responded, pulling her hood up and soundlessly climbing out through the window.

As she descended down the side of the building, she swore she could feel Kaz's cold, piercing gaze on her, but when she looked up, there was nobody in the window.

She brushed it off, soon reaching the ground. She landed gracefully, on her feet.

Walking down the streets of the Barrel, she regretted not bringing her coat. As she reached the street the Menagerie was situated on, she tried not to panic. Her breathing became heavy, but she tried to calm herself. Tante Helen isn't here tonight, you're okay. Even if she were here, you're strong enough to beat her. Though, she didn't exactly feel strong, especially with how she was reacting at the moment.

She took a deep breath before climbing up the side of the building. The Menagerie featured widely-spaced bars on the windows, to the point where it was a waste. Kaz had taught her how to open locked windows from the outside, or any lock in general. Of course, she wasn't nearly as good as he was at the art of lock-picking. After around two minutes, she was able to pry the window open. The room that she had entered was occupied by one girl, the Lynx. Now, of course, Inej had figured out which room the Lynx occupied beforehand, along with hacking into the reservation database to make sure that the man she was going to be stealing information from was going to be a client of the Lynx that night, to avoid bumps in her plan.  Inej easily squeezed through the window, quietly reaching the floor. She stood, approaching the girl from behind, who was sitting at her desk with headphones in, typing something on a cheap, old laptop. 

Inej wasn't the biggest fan of the violence part of her job, but, some days she couldn't avoid it. She hit the back of the girl's head, hard, causing the Lynx to pass out.

Inej quickly stole the clothes off of the other girl, throwing them on before adjusting them to make them look as normal as possible.

"Lynx, you have a client, I'm sending them up here." A voice sounded at the door.

"Alright, that's fine." She replied sweetly.

A few minutes later, she heard a knock on the door.

She strolled over to the door, taking a few deep breaths before opening it, putting on a very unnatural smile. "Hello, you must be Mr. Barker."

"Please, call me Jadley," He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. He was an... older man, only a bit taller than her, and what most would call... ugly.

"Well, Jadley, would you like me to get you some coffee, or a beverage of some sort?" 

"Coffee would be delightful."

"I'll be right back." Inej winked. She remembered the layout of the building, and headed to the kitchen.

She poured a cup of coffee, putting a high dose of a truth serum that Kaz had given to her. A dose that wouldn't have killed the man, but one that would make him answer any and all of her questions, along with doing anything she told him to do.

When she arrived back at the room, she handed him the coffee, and he drank it in a few minutes.

She could tell the serum was kicking in when his pupils dilated... so, her process of questions started.

-𓄿-

"Here, you should take this." Inej handed Jadley a pill, another thing that Kaz had given her. The pill would make him forget anything from the previous 24 hours.

Jadley took it, no questions asked. When he swallowed it, she quickly knocked him out so that when he awoke, he would have no memories from the past day.

She took off the costume, getting dressed in her own clothing and turning the audio recorder she'd stashed in her hair off. She also wiped down every surface she had touched so that her fingerprints couldn't be traced.

She climbed back out the window and down the building, quietly walking away when she reached the ground. It was late, and she rushed to pick up a new hat for Kaz from the nearest tailor.

-𓄿-

Leaving the tailor, she took a back alley to the Slat. 

"What's a pretty girl like you doing out so late at night?" She turned at the voice, seeing some grubby middle-aged man.

"Getting back from the shooting range." Inej snapped.

He moved closer to her, pushing her against the nearest wall.

She hooked her foot behind her other ankle, pressing a button that was on the back of the ankle of her pants. Small blades popped out of her knees, and she kneed him in the groin with one.

He doubled over in pain, but grabbed a knife out of his pocket, holding her arm to the wall. He stabbed blindly, holding his crotch with the other hand, as Inej tried to squirm away. He got her arm multiple times before she had squirmed away and kicked him in the face. She stole his wallet, before running back to the Slat, her feet not making a sound.

When Inej got inside, she was breathing heavily, and her arm was covered in blood.

"Inej?!" Kaz said from the chair in which he was sitting, and it was odd, especially because he'd actually...  shown concern for her?? He cleared his throat, his face going unreadable, blank. "Come with me."

Inej nodded, following him to his office.

"What in God's name happened?" Kaz asked, he seemed angry.

"Everything was going completely fine, I was on my way back here, and got attacked in an alley. I have his wallet." Inej tossed him the wallet.

Kaz pulled the ID out of the wallet, "William Drought... of course." Kaz was definitely angry... more than angry, he was furious. "I'm going to grab you a cloth for you to wipe your arm off."

Kaz exited the room, fuming. He came back in moments later, a wet cloth in hand. He handed it to her, "Don't drip on the desk."

She rolled up her sleeve, wiping off the blood, "Do you have any-"

He tossed her a rolled-up Ace bandage.

"Thanks." She was fully aware of Kaz staring at the word on her arm, now covered in cuts, gashes, and bruises, though, it was still prominent and easy to read; 'Investment.'

She wrapped up her arm, it was nearly fully covered by the bandage. 

"I have the audio recording downloaded, I was listening in the whole time, as you know," Kaz said, breaking the silence. "You left no signs of yourself, right?"

Inej nodded, "I wiped down all surfaces I'd touched. But, Kaz, I can tell you that I will not return to the Menagerie many more times, I have my limits, just as you do."

"If you want out, just say so."

"You need me, I'm irreplaceable."

"I need your skills, that's not the same thing. You're not the only spider crawling around here, I can replace you."

Inej scowled, "Here's your hat." She placed his hat on the desk, which remained undamaged and pristine.

Kaz picked it up, placing it on his head, "We're leaving at seven, you have around three hours to sleep, so I suggest you do so now."

"And I suggest you do the same." Inej readjusted her sleeve and left the room, turning off the light to his office on the way out. Inej was angry, and she wanted an apology. Even if Kaz wasn't sorry, he could at least pretend to be a human being.