Redemption

Chapter 16

The abandoned building in the slums stood before Azalea. Staring up at it, she steeled herself before walking in. Yanking her mask once again, the putrid smell still strong, she noticed that the body had disappeared. However, dried blood and black gunk remained on the floor. Pacing back and forth she waited. Hours passed, before she lost hope that anything or anyone would walk in. Turning she stepped towards the doorway, when her ears picked up a scuffle. Facing it she froze, her mouth widening slightly as she started to blink rapidly.

The figure lowered his hood, revealing a sunken pale face and black hair. Faint black veins were visible beneath his eyes, as darker veins could be seen right above his cloak. Burns covered his neck, stopping along his left jaw.

Smiling, "Azzy or should I call you Azalea now." he said tilting his head

A strangled sound escaped Azalea's throat, she moved closer, hesitant.

"How are you not dead? You died that night. They said you did not make it" she whispered.

"Nobody was found, but everyone assumed I turned to ashes, so it wasn't hard to fake my death"

"But why didn't you come find me, we could have lived together or something. We would have figured it out."

"I may not have died that night, but I was on death's doorstep." lowering his voice, "I thought you did not want me near you after that." Pointing to the burns.

"I prayed to the Gods every night to bring you back, I guess this is their twisted way of doing that." her voice cracking. Just when I have to kill you. She thought. "Where did you go after everything?"

Shrugging, "Here and there, a burned, scarred child is not desirable to have in the nicer parts in the city, so I settled here in the slums."

Guilt overtook Azalea, when she was at Creed's home she had bed and a warm meal every night, new clothes, and training. Her heart broke at the thought of her friend begging in the street.

Asking that had nagged her since the beginning. "Samael, are you the resurrector?"

Grinning maniacally, "I knew you would know, did you like my gift I left you yesterday?"

Closing her eyes, she steeled herself pushing down the sorrow of who her friend had become. "If you wanted to get my attention you could have knocked on my door, a dead body wasn't needed."

"I did knock on your day, indirectly through the undead." he replied perplexed.

Shaking her head, she changed the topic. How did you even have this power, it's unheard of for centuries."

Eyes lighting up, "It was an accident, there was this rat that was dead next to me, and I wished it was alive, so I could eat, and then suddenly black ink ran through my veins and the rat was alive. It took me months to be able to recreate that feeling, and years to be where I am today. You may have not known I was alive, but I heard of you, the two eyed assassin who had never failed a job. So you will help me right? To get my revenge, over this fucking city?"

It was at that moment where she knew any remnants of her best friend had disappeared. Blinking, she stared at him, shocked over his offer. "And what exactly do you want me to do, you clearly have it handled, and what did they even do? I killed the ones responsible for my parents death and yours or your burns now. What did the nobles do that was so bad that required you to raise dead souls, so you can control them? You are messing with the balance." she hissed out.

Choking out a laugh, "You want to talk about restoring the balance, let's talk about you. You think I can sense that you died and are back." pointing to the tattoo concealed by her sleeve, "Courtesy of Iram, am I right. You are in no position to judge me, you did not exactly live a good life, Antares's assassin." tilting his head he stared, his nose flaring in anger.

"There is a difference between killing for a living, and raising souls to murder nobles, what did they even do to you, I'm not defending them, no one likes them but why?"

"Those nobles almost let a dying child die on the streets, all I got was degrading words over the past years, not even one hand was extended. My only fault was not being born in one of their families. That's what they did. I was humiliated for all these years and no one tried to help me. If they did it to me, they did it to everyone else. I decided to do something about it. Are you with me or against me?

Taken aback, she said "If I say no or that I am unsure will you kill me."

Jaw clenching, "You disappoint me Azalea. Get in my way and I will send you back to Inferis. Though I have a feeling you and I will meet very soon. Goodbye, Azalea."

Turning he walked out, leaving Azalea rooted in her place. He's doing this all because of humiliation. She thought.

If you were in his place you would do the same thing, you would hate them to the point of wanting them dead and doing what you can do to make that true. A voice argued back inside her.

Swallowing, her heart squeezing as she realized her predicament. The Samael who she grew up with was gone, replaced by a vengeful older man. He reminded her of herself, right before she took her parents revenge, but even then that empty hole in her heart was never filled. And revenge won't solve his problems either. But handing him over to the God of death would solve her problems, and she would escape from peril.

"How long did you think you could hide this?" Acrux's voice bouncing off the walls.