Winged Dagger

Dark Heart

"Love, please don't do anything foolish," he said with the air of someone who knew exactly what I planned to do.

"You do know I was taught by an assassin, right?" I asked, pulling the knife out of my pocket. "Hide me from the guard, would you?"

He looked away, hiding me from view and I settled on a target. A lone woman stood near a table, directly in my line of sight. It would be a straight shot. I looked away from her, praying to a god for strength and accuracy. Although, at this point, it was probably better to make a deal with a devil instead. A flick of my wrist, and the woman had her hand at her side, surprise on her face as she fell.

Someone screamed, and I watched the guard run over to her, along with the rest of the people in the room. Arthur had disappeared. I headed over to the woman as well, breathing a sigh of relief when I realized I hadn't injured her too badly. She'd recover.

I stepped back and headed down the hallway as well, looking into each room as I passed them, searching for Arthur. Finding him, I headed into the room to see people locked behind bars. He was kneeling in front of one of them, pity in his eyes. Kiyomi sat leaning against the wall with an exhausted smile on her face, and a boy—not older than nine—sat beside her. She had a few bruises on her arms and one on her face. Knowing how strong-willed she was, it wasn't hard to guess what had happened.

"We'll get you out," murmured Arthur, his eyes landing on a set of keys. They must have kept them so close to the victims just to taunt them.

Arthur unlocked Kiyomi and Albert's bar, and Kiyomi walked out with Albert in her arms.

I looked to the other victims, three women and two children.

I heard screaming, and the hair on the back of my neck rose. Grabbing the keys from Arthur, I unlocked the rest of the cages one by one, my hands shaking, as an explosion resounded, shaking the walls of the room. The scent of smoke wafted into the room.

"We need to get out of here," I said, as Arthur steadied me with a hand until the shaking stopped. Some of the women held the hands of the children and nodded, hope finally sparking back into their eyes. "Arthur."

He nodded and looked out. "Come on." Arthur walked out and I followed him, hearing footsteps behind me.

"Well well," said a man who walked down the hallway. Arthur threw out a hand, and all of us stopped. "I see someone let some rats in." He held a gun, and he pointed it at Arthur. I stepped beside Arthur, as another explosion shook the room.

"And someone let some fleas in," I muttered. He trained the gun on me and I shrugged.

Arthur hissed and stepped in front of me. "Stop that." He looked back at the man. "John Helkings, I assume?"

"You assume correctly."

The scent of fire was getting stronger, smoke beginning to find its way into the basement. I coughed.

"You're a noble," noted Arthur. "Why are you bringing the place down?"

"Someone tipped off the police. We were to erase the evidence."

"Why do I always run into psychos?" I asked, as Kiyomi stifled a laugh.

Arthur shielded me again as John readjusted his grip on the gun. I put a hand in my pocket, running a thumb over the carving on the hilt of my dagger. A flick of my wrist, and the dagger flew as if it had wings. John stared up in surprise as blood poured from his chest, and a gunshot resounded as blood dripped from my own arm, the bullet having grazed me and embedded itself into the wall. Arthur kicked him, the gun flying from his grasp.