The Assassin's Ghosts

Chapter 8: Hunt for the Queen

A/n: Sorry for not updating in a while. Been busy with school, but I'm on sprig break for 2 weeks now so I have plenty of time to update. Enjoy!!

"Right. Akoni, I want you, Rae, and Mavis to go to the second building. Myself, Adira, Euphi, and Neo will go to the first one. Look around before you go in. If it's not the right place, don't bother going in, just head over to help us. If we don't find anything we will do the same. Sound good?" Kyros ordered. Everyone nodded. "Okay, everyone be careful. I'm not losing any more to this girl. Alright everyone. Let's get going."

Everyone stood up and went out. When they neared the city, the two groups went their separate ways. Kyros, Adira, Neo, and Euphoria snuck through the streets until they made it to the building. Snooping around on the outside, they decided that it looked worth it enough to go inside to see more. Kyros instructed Neo and Euphi to guard the outside and alert him of anyone coming or going from the building. Euphi and Neo agreed to keep an eye on everything from the outside and watch Kyros and Adira's backs while they were inside.

Adira and Kyros crept around to the back entrance. Kyros picked the lock easily and the door swung open.

"Ladies first," Kyros said, gesturing grandly to the inside of the building, giving Adira a sense of deja vu. Adira could feel his sarcastic, mocking tone radiating off of him. She rolled her eyes and stepped in cautiously. When nothing bad happened to her, she carefully walked in further, still expecting some kind of trap. She felt Kyros' presence close behind her. Examining her surroundings as she had seen Kyros do –with a keen eye that nothing could escape– Adira felt herself being drawn upstairs.

"Kyros, we already saw all there is to see down here. We should go upstairs too."

"Your wish is my command," Kyros smirked, pushing past her to get to the stairs. Annoyed, she scurried after him. He walked up the spiral staircase, which was padded with a shockingly nice carpet. The bannister was a very nice wood. Everything was in good taste; unusual for a poor part of the city. Similar to Kyros' bases, the outside was shabby whereas the inside was decorated lavishly. Though Kyros was pleased to note that he was more modest and strategic with his expenses. The Queen of Bloodshed clearly wanted to live like a queen.

On the second floor, there were fewer rooms, but each room was a great deal larger. The furniture in these rooms were also quite lush.

"Where did they get all this nice stuff?" Adira asked in awe.

"This is what killing merchants and stealing their money gets you," Kyros explained, casually pocketing a golden statue that he had spotted on the desk, as well as a few other things. "Now do you understand why we do it?"

"You do it because you're greedy," Adira glared.

"It's the same thing," Kyros scoffed, shrugging and walking into a new room. Adira followed him in and discovered an oficina. It somewhat reminded her of Madame Kingston's office, but instead of mahogany wood and green decor, the room was lavishly decorated with gold and blue.

"I think we found what we were looking for," Adira noted.

"Yes, but where are its inhabitants?" Kyros asked quietly, likely talking to himself more than he was talking to her.

Just then, Kyros shoved Adira to the floor. She landed hard on her back, her wrists stinging from trying to catch herself.

"What the hell!?" she shrieked, sitting up and rubbing her wrists, trying to get the pain to subside.

"Oh quit complaining. I just saved your life," Kyros snapped. When he saw her confused expression, he then gestured to an arrow. It was embedded in the wall directly behind where Adira had been standing. If he hadn't pushed her, she probably wouldn't have been able to survive that.

"Oh," she said redundantly. Kyros gave her a look that made her feel inferior, and she was abruptly reminded of why she hated him.

"I am merely stating facts when I tell you that you lack the basic survival skills that are required to live out here," he said blandly. He did not seem to notice her glaring at him. Instead, Kyros stepped over her legs to get closer to the arrow. She stood up and brushed herself off indignantly. Upon looking at it more closely, only then did Adira realise that there was a slip of paper attached to the body of the arrow. Kyros reached up with his right hand –an action that confused Adira slightly– and plucked the note down and read it. As he read, his facial features contorted with fury. He crumpled the letter and tossed it to the floor in a ball. Adira scrambled to grab the crumpled letter. She smoothed it out and read, her eyes darting over the fancy gold lettering.

"What the hell is this?" Adira demanded, waving the paper around angrily.

"A letter," Kyros replied dryly. Although his face had returned to normal, she was sure she could see his shoulders quivering with barely-contained rage.

"No shit. How does she know your name?" Adira snapped.

"Did I leave out the fact that I've been personally targeted by our little queen? I'm sure I must have mentioned it," Kyros said coyly.

"You most definitely did not mention it!"

"Yes I did," Kyros argued. "I told you we had been targeted. Remember?"

"You said indirectly. Not that this reina was hunting you and knew your name!"

"Oops."

That was when Adira noticed it. A bloom of crimson was peeking out from beneath Kyros' coat on his left shoulder. It was a shocking scarlet compared to the white of his button-down shirt. Looking over at the arrow, Adira saw that there were streaks of blood on the wood of it. He must have gotten scraped when he pushed me out of the way, Adira realised. She slowly walked over to him. He had turned his back to her. Reaching out slowly, Adira let the tips of her fingers brush delicately over his upper arm. His head snapped towards her and his glare was icy.

"You're injured," she told him simply. He glared again and yanked his coat further up to cover up the bloodstain.

The two of them hurried outside to find Neo and Euphoria. They soon found Euphoria perched in a tree in front of the building.

"Euphi! What happened?" Kyros called, looking somewhat angry but also maybe a little... worried? Euphi dropped out of the tree gracefully.

"I- well, truthfully, I don't know. Neo is around the back. We were both keeping an eye on you guys and the building when all of the sudden an arrow flew from behind me and went through a little window. It almost hit you, Adira. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Kyros shoved me," Adira replied. Euphi nodded in relief.

"Anyway, I turned around as fast as I could but I didn't see anyone. There was no one there. Either they were hidden or they were already gone."

Kyros nodded slowly. Then he spoke calmly, "I'm going to go get Neo."

"Are you sure we should be splitting up? What if they aren't gone?" Adira inquired cautiously.

"I don't think they want us dead. I think she wants to be found. Just in case, Euphi, watch her. Stay safe. I'll be right back," Kyros replied before swiftly walking around to the back to get Neo.

It briefly crossed Adira's mind that Euphi was known for primarily using a bow and arrow. Euphi also said she hadn't seen anyone behind her, which meant it was possible that there was no one there at all. Was Euphoria a traitor? Maybe being around Kyros too much had given Adira a small sense of paranoia, but she couldn't help standing a little further from Euphi than she had before.

The two girls waited in silence for Kyros to return. Adira played with her fingers while Euphi watched their surroundings intently. Kyros returned soon with the lanky blonde boy in tow. Neo informed them that he hadn't seen anyone from his side either. The group went to collect Mavis, Akoni, and Rae. After that, everyone returned to the base. Adira could feel the disappointment practically radiating off of each person in the gang. It was more than disappointment. It was the sting of being beaten by someone else when they had thought they were so close. 

Chapter notes: Sorry, ig you don't get to meet the Queen quite yet. I promise it will be soon though.                                                        -Love, Eris