Everglow

Chapter 1

The dead body before me twitched one last time in the shallow earth I had dug for it, blood pooling in the hole I had created that went straight through the stomach. The sight did not bother me, nor did the intestines hanging dismally from the cavity I had created in the cadaver. I smirked as I began to cover the thing with dirt, ensuring there were no humans around to corrupt the deed. The man had deserved it, I was sent by the Elders to clean up the mess he had created, breeding Magi and Vampire, the fifteen shallow graves to my left holding the bodies of the younglings, all under 5 years easily. My heart twitched slightly for them, it was hardly their fault that they were born halflings, I understood it all too well. Yet I was an assassin, it was my job to kill all who I was asked, regardless of their age. Besides the little things had been monsters, tearing at the humans that the Magi had vowed to protect for so long. My loyalties lied with them. The Elders of the Demonia, Order of the Light.

My aunt Katrina was High Elder, and had raised me from the moment my parents had abandoned me. I despised the woman, but I was loyal, and loyal left no room for empty hatred. She had not raised me as her own child, but instead and used me to do the bidding of the Demonia, a child born purely as a weapon and nothing more.  Sighing, I wiped the sword I used for the slaughter on the rough black denim of my pants, cracking my back as I patted the dark earth down tightly, concealing the last cadaver. The little thing had long raven hair and the palest of skin, a beautiful little creature though condemned to a life of agony and fear. It was all I had known too. 

I began to fiddle through the green tarp sack I carried for my bag, noting the presence of a man leaning against a gravestone some 10 feet away from me. Ignoring his presence, I cracked my back again, pulling my fire emblem from the sack. I flicked the little stone onto the ground, hand hovering closely to it as I felt heat rising through my palm. The ground around the 16 graves swirled with heat, as the bodies cremated in their place and the earth above hardened into stone slabs, marked with the sign of Demonia. The information from the bodies would be sent immediately to my aunt, and she would approve of the killings, placing me on call for my next task. Sighing, I picked the stone up with a pout, throwing it lazily into the sack as I leaned back against the closest gravestone to me. I turned to the man, eyes raking up him as he smirked at me.

"Flynn, always a pleasure to see you. Killing kids for fun, huh? You never cease to amaze me," the man smirked at me, hood covering his face in darkened shadows as I ran my tongue over my teeth, unimpressed. I knew immediately who it was, rolling my eyes as my best friend. The man, like me, was a halfling, though born of richer blood than I was and of the highest importance. It was for this reason that the Demonia had allowed him among our midst and relied on him as a consort of knowledge within the royal courts. 

"I told you to piss off didn't I, Xandro? I thought you had business in Astaria?" I hissed at him with a sigh as I slung the green tarp sack into the back of the rust bucket I called a car, sliding into the driving seat as Xandro slid in beside me. He was not meant to be on this mission with me, and my aunt would surely be furious that he had once again tracked my location for his own personal gain. 

"That's where you come in Flynnie, I need your help, Astaria is in crisis-," I stopped him short with a snort of laughter as my watch buzzed with an incoming message from my aunt that I did not wish to see. 

"If you think for one minute that I'm going to drag my sorry ass into that shit hole of a place then you can fuck off," I huffed bluntly, pulling into our favourite dive bar for folk like us, for halflings. We had been all but killed off by pure folk like my aunt, but those of us who had managed to align ourselves with the people in were fortunate enough to have our lives, no matter how dismal. The place was as dingy as ever, half of the lights broken and flickering, the same cast of burly drunkards causing a ruckus, this was home. She nodded at the bartender with a little smirk, Jon knew her well, a halfie himself and a father to practically every outcast in the bar. 

"Oh c'mon Flynnie, please. This isn't just my home at stake, it's yours too," he hummed softly to me, finally pulling the hood away from his face. He was an attractive man of 26, but then again, his looks came with his lineage. The son of the Fae queen and a Statesman Vampire. He had inherited the dark pink eyes of his mother, large with dark, thick eyelashes that he batted at me now as he begged. The incisors that stuck out from his mouth as he smiled were perfectly white and sharp to a point. His hair was a vivid aquamarine, highlighting his fae lineage, in sloppy curls cut messily atop his head and short at the sides. His beauty was encapsulating, it drew everybody in and when paired with his raffish charm, he was almost irresistible. Almost. 

He'd ordered the drinks as I observed his facial expressions with a sigh, shaking my head at him.

"She'll never let me go to Astaria. I'd have to do something really bad, or really really good, and there's not much worse that what my job is," I huffed as I shot the double vodka down quickly, wincing at the cheap gasoline taste. Yet it still remained my favourite drink as the only thing that could possibly impact my blood. 

I felt his body press into mine from behind as he leaned down to whisper in my ear with a laugh, "What about killing another Elder?" He muttered softly, waving at the bar tender for another drink. I gulped, turning to him, face blank as I ran my tongue over my teeth, taking in his close proximity. Though he was a faerie he was not petite and small. His vampire lineage had given him an impressive 6'4 height and walls of brilliant muscle that held me against the bar. Compared to him I was tiny, 5'3 and lean, with muscles from fighting rather than weights. He didn't intimidate me though, we both knew very well that I was the assassin of the pair. I could take anybody down if necessary and I had taken plenty larger than him out within seconds. 

"What problem could be so large that you would require somebody like me to help you Xand?" I questioned him softly, waving to Jon to put another shot down at the bar. I felt the pain emanating in my head as I remembered a full moon would be rising tomorrow, and that I would need to take the herbal medicines to quell the growing need to change. I reached behind me, taking the shot quickly. He wrinkled his celestial nose, the perfect thing definitely fae in nature, and incredibly cute. There was no doubt that he was a man of incredible beauty,  a beauty that I pushed to the back of me mind as one of his arms wrapped around me waist.

"There is word of an apocalypse coming, of the great Necromancers rising again. C'mon Flynnie, please. You hate it here and I promise I'll make it worth your while." He whined at me as I rolled my eyes at him, wrapping one arm around his neck with a roll of my eyes. I was getting bored of the same old tasks, of the same killings. Wherever I went, he went, so perhaps returning the favour wouldn't be too bad.

"I will kill an Elder, but I shall be choosing who it is, consider this the biggest and only favour I will ever do for you," I hummed sharply at him as I steeled myself against the cold night air.  A little excitement was needed in the monotony of my killings. He hugged me tightly to his side with a soft chuckle. We did not know what we were getting ourselves into.