Apprentice of Darkness

7. Shot in the Dark

I don't know how long I had been there in the alleyway, drifting in and out of consciousness. I couldn't feel anything, and whenever I forced my eyes open, my head pounded and seemed to blur.

Slowly I blinked my eyes open again. It was early dawn, or maybe dusk. I couldn't tell... my sense of time had been shattered, and the light cast into the opening of the alley was sketchy at best. As I looked towards the opening once again, I wondered if anyone would notice I was back here, probably well on my way of dying.

Almost as soon as I processed the thought, I saw an inky, blurred figure pass by. It was hard to tell the figure's gender, but it moved slowly. It had walked right by, but a few seconds later it returned, head poking into the alleyway as if they had spotted me.

I wanted to shout out to them, but I felt myself slipping again. As the figure knelt next to me, the person whispered something. I couldn't understand their words but they seemed sad, distraught, and worried as a gentle hand brushed some hair from my face. They pulled away as their fingers dripped with my blood and I heard something like a slight whining sound come from them. Why was this person so worried about me?

I tried to move, but the best I could do was twitch my fingers. I gave a weak moan as my eyes felt tired and I closed them again. Before I began to lose my senses once again, I felt the person's arms around me, picking me up and holding me close to their chest. There was muscle there, not quite the softness you'd expect from a woman.

At least I'd identified him as a male before I passed out again.

---~---

"CD?" I heard my name called, distantly. "CD? CD, I know you can hear me. Open your eyes, let me know you're okay..." Weakly I began coming to, and I felt a hand on my forehead. I opened my eyes to see Nix staring at the floor. "...please, CD." She muttered.

"Wolf?" I heard another voice. It took me a moment to realize it was Hunter.

"I'm... I'm fine." I coughed out, my voice weak and gravelly. Nix looked up instantly, eyes filled with relief. I grinned lopsidedly, as I couldn't manage anything more... I felt so tired.

"Here, drink this." Hunter stepped closer to me, and I realized I was in Nix's quarters, back in the Sanctuary. He held out a glass filled with a thick-looking, light red liquid.

Nix stood up from the chair placed next to the bed, which I was lying in, and took the glass from him as I was too weak and too tired to move much. She held the glass to my lips and had me drink the entire thing, though it tasted very odd.

"It'll help flush out the last bits of poison." Hunter explained, stepping back again to lean against the wall.

Poison? My mind blanked for a moment before the stinging pain in my shoulder finally made sense, and I remembered I had been shot. I knew the bullet had been poisoned when I felt the painful burning sensation. I'd been shot before, poisoned before too, but this time it was much different. And much worse.

"What happened?" I murmured. The drink Hunter had given me seemed to wake me up somewhat, though I still felt weak.

Nix and Hunter looked at each other, exchanging glances as they wondered if I was well enough to hear it. After a moment, Nix gave a short nod, and though Hunter seemed hesitant, he agreed.

"Remember before you left, you told Fallen when you would be back?" Hunter began, and as I nodded in confirmation he continued, "He was very insistent that you would be back by morning, and you never returned. By noon, I allowed him to travel to Talon Manor to find you."

"When he returned, he was carrying you. You had been shot, poisoned, and had a pretty bad concussion." Nix continued.

"Probably from when I fell from the roof..." I groaned, "I hit my head pretty hard on the cobblestone." I paused a few moments, closing my eyes as my head began to pound again and I tried to process my thoughts. "What... what was I poisoned with?"

"We... aren't entirely sure. It was something special, something the Dark Assassins have never seen before. The poison was specifically designed to make those with the Dark Gift suffer." As my eyes widened at my mentor's words, she and Hunter exchanged another worried glance.

"And... Fallen?" I had to admit, I wasn't sure why I was asking about him first. Perhaps, I told myself, I was more concerned about this new poison than I thought.

"He tried to help you as soon as he got back. The poison already ran through your blood, so it too effected him."

Hunter nodded, confirming Nix's words. "Indeed. We sent him home. Don't worry about your comrade, Wolf, he has only some minor burns on his hands from touching your blood. The poison isn't very effective unless it actually has access to your bloodstream and vitals."

"Luckily the poison had only been in your system for about twenty hours when you got here, and it hadn't taken much of an effect. We flushed out the poison and extracted the bullet, so you should be fine, CD. We are fortunate Fallen found you when he did." Nix continued, and I thought I saw her nod gratefully to Hunter, though I had paused to yawn so I wasn't entirely sure.

"Perhaps we should leave you to get some rest. We can discuss this when you..."

"No. I'm fine." I insisted. I still felt weak, but I wanted to move. While I tried to get my thoughts in order, I sat up slightly. It wasn't as difficult as I had thought it would be, thought my shoulder stung a bit.

As the blanket fell from my shoulders, I saw the bandages. They wrapped around above my chest and across my shoulder where I had been shot, and they were lightly stained with blood, but not a lot. As I looked back to Nix, I cleared my throat before asking, "Do you... know who shot me?"

Nix slowly shook her head, though her eyes sparked with determination as she looked at me. "No. We'll find out, though. Whoever shot you is an enemy of our family and a traitor to the Night Mother herself."

I paused, considering the possibilities. I eventually just murmured my thoughts out loud, "Whoever shot me could have been sending a message to the Dark Assassins... or they have a personal vendetta against me, which I suppose could be true enough, if anyone knew who I was."

"Furthermore," Hunter added, scratching his chin, "The attacker must have known you were blessed my the Night Mother, what with the specific poison. As well... how could anyone have known where you were at that exact time?"

All perfectly good questions... though the last one, the last one gave me a strike of fear in the pit of my stomach. How could anyone have known, truly?

Perhaps this was what my dream had been about? I closed my eyes as I recalled it. It had struck me as a warning of something horrible to come. And this... this was it.