The Heart Of Asariel

14 || Mistress Rajan

Red tinted Corinne's vision. It clogged the air like blood, bitter and warm, sticking to her skin in a fine film. With every breath she sucked in, it pierced the back of her throat.

Her boots were like chains, lashing her feet to the hard floor of the Serpent's balcony. Below, the muffled thrum of music seeped through, strings persistently grating on even as hesitance shrieked their edges. What felt like a hundred voices folded over the top, each as discordant as the last.

She gritted her teeth, a growl building in her jaw. She'd always hated this place.

At her back was silence. If she pressed Micah into the furthest corner of her mind, she could deny that he existed at all. She was nothing but herself as she crossed the balcony in quick strides, a wary glance cast to the staircase, a stolen item digging into her side.

The window's latch slid away smoothly, and then she was slipping outside, curling her free hand around the lip of the rooftop. Foot flat against the glass, she shoved it closed behind her. The strain in her arm was a kind of relief, something to inject her energy into when so much of it jittered in her muscles. Something simple and practised to focus on.

Asariel's Heart was admittedly an added weight of complexity. She extracted it from the folds of her coat, grip on the roof whitening her knuckles as she pulled harder to keep herself steady. Electric heat crackled over the Heart's golden surface. She tossed it onto the edge of the roof, almost glad to briefly rid herself of its touch.

With both hands empty, it was easy enough to scramble the rest of the way. The stone tiles held firm beneath her as she twisted, sunk into a crouch, one hand reluctantly laid on the Heart to prevent it slipping down the slight slope. She'd been through so much to retrieve it that she might as well exert effort to keep it.

Rather than examine it again, Corinne lifted her gaze, surveying the sprawl of Anhren before her. It had been a fair amount of time since she last traversed the rooftops, and she couldn't deny how right this felt. After all, she was a shadow, trained to be swift and agile, to appear and vanish within the blink of an eye. Silent and deadly. The perfect killer.

The warm touch of Micah's skin washed over her palms. Teeth clenched, she reached for her rifle.

A quick scan of the street revealed what she was looking for. A dark form nestled under the cloth covering of a house a few along to the right, the gleaming barrel of some kind of gun poking out in tandem with the girl's face. Neither were angled Corinne's way. If anything, the gun had drooped downward an inch or two, lack of focus slackening her grip, despite how intently those distant eyes watched the window of the store room. So fixed on the glimpse of a scruffy angel that her target could wander unseen.

A rookie. The faintest edge of a smile twitched Corinne's lips as she raised her rifle, closing one eye to aim down its length. It was a highly impractical lookout spot to choose. A good hiding place, sure, but all it took was a keen eye and the girl had lost all advantage. It would be difficult to wriggle out of such a space if needed, and lying on her stomach for that long couldn't have been comfortable. It was time someone put her out of her misery.

"Do it, Corinne. Put him out of his misery."

Corinne tensed, her finger seizing a hair's breadth from her trigger. Her sigh emerged silent and heavy. Before she could give herself time to debate back and forth, she lowered her rifle, tucked its end under her coat as she hooked it to her strap, grabbed the Heart and scampered away.

Care and speed formed a shaky line for her to tread. With the additional weight, care's side spread further, hindering every step. She grew close to cursing it, but kept the words locked behind her teeth. The Heart was a much needed solution. It was more than worth all of this.