The Assassin

Chapter Four

I awoke in the middle of the night to whining. I rolled off the couch and walked back into my problem. My wolf, who I have now named Ezethiel was laying with his eyes perked open. He was whinging and I stood blankly; not knowing exactly what to do. I walked in and crawled up on the bed by him. I leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek. I pulled away to see his eyes were closed and as far as I could tell he was going back to sleep. He couldn't move yet due to his stitches so I had called Ryan earlier telling him he'd need to bring the $2,500 to my cabin in the morning. It was around three in the morning and I felt warm and fuzzy that I was able to help Ezethiel sleep. I slowly tried to roll off of the bed to give him as much space as he needs and headed for the couch, but I heard him whine again. I turned around and looked into the room. He was laying there with his eyes open staring at me. I said 'what?' and he whined some more. I walked back into the room and crawled up beisde him again. I told him I wanted to give him space and he just stared at me. I sighed and crawled under the covers. I kept my back to him most of the time, but then around five in the morning I felt his paw rub my back, I rolled over to look into his eyes. His head was lifted and he was staring down into my eyes.

"Ezethiel!" I shouted, "Oh no, pup, you need to rest you'll hurt yourself!" I gently lowered his head down to rest on the bed, he obeyed and rested it down, but kept his eyes on me. "You know," I sassed, "This wouldn't have happened if you weren't a damn shapeshifter!" I said sarcastically. I saw his lips raise again in like smile-like form. I don't understand how he does that. I stared into his eyes and he stared back. "So...you can change form?" I asked, I felt stupid...talking to a wolf.

I reached and pet down his body. He felt so warm, so alive. I've never slept with another living creature beside me before. It's odd. My raven would always sleep on my sidetable. I froze and went down memory lane. I remembered myself waking up and seeing my raven in it's bed on my sidetable. I remembered sitting up and talking to it. I remember reaching out and touching it...feeling the coldness of it's lifeless body. I remember the heart ache. I was broken from my train of thought by Ezethiel licking my finger where the spider had bit me.

"Yeah," I chuckled. "I got bit by a little spider." Ezethiel almost acted like he was laughing. I smiled at him. I then sat up in bed realizing that someone was knocking on my door, I stood up quickly...but then pausing to realize I wasn't wearing anything but a tank top and underwear. I looked at Ezethiel who was laying still staring at me. "Don't stare, pervert." I said as I slid into some jeans and headed for the door. I heard shuffling from the bed room, but I walked up to the door and opened it; keeping the chains on tightly. It was Ryan and he brought the cash. I unlocked the door and let him in. What am I doing? I asked myself. I never let anyone in! But I let Ryan come in and sit down. 

"Aww." I heard Ryan say in the living room as I grabbed us two beers from the fridge. "I didn't think you owned any pets."

"Yeah." I replied putting some ice chips down into the beer. "I wasn't expecting a pet, but I do like wolfves." I headed into the living room and realized there was a black cat on his lap. I sighed. "Um," This was awkward. "I mean, his name is Wolf. He's my, uh, cat." I smiled and Ryan just stared me down, but then smiled.

"Right." He pet Ezethiel and I felt kind of uncomfortable. I then realized Ryan was staring at my arms. "I didn't realize you self-harmed. He gestured to my arms.

"Yeah, um, It's something I do as an Assassin."

I lied.Most Assassin's don't do that. They harm others to get rid of the emotion. Me? I harm myself. It works better. I mean, who would want to kill someone each time the felt something? I think on average I have over a hundred and some cuts on my arms. That's over a hundred dead bodies to deal with. I cover my ass well, others don't. I am the best Assassin. I sat down next to Ryan and handed him his beer. I then, with one hand, picked up Ezethiel and placed him on the floor. I turned to talk to Ryan about the money and Ezethiel jumped back up onto my lap. I chuckled and pet him a bit. Ryan stared.

"I thought Assassin's were suppose to be heartless." He spoke up. I shot him a glance and he got a worried look.

"We are." I replied. "It's just been so long since I've had a living creature around."

"Really?" He asked, sipping his bear. "By the way, thanks for the beer."

"No problem." I answered. "And yes, it's been almost forever you could say."

"That's nice." Ryan chuckled. "It's cute." I turned to face him with an angry face.

"It's cute?" I questioned. He knew he had said something wrong. "It's time for you to leave, Ryan." I gestured for the door.

"Right..." He put the beer on the table and stood. "The money's right there." He pointed to a bag on the couch. He started walking towards the door.

"Wait," I said deeply as I stood and walked over to investigate the bag. I opened it, everything seemed to be in there. "Alright. You're good. Nice doing business with you."

"You as well. Who knows, maybe I'll see you again soon." Ryan said with a questionable tone and then left and closed the door behind him. I turned to look at Ezethiel on the couch who had transformed back into a wolf. "Really?" I asked. "A pussy cat?!"

I walked into the kitchen and pulled out some cooked meat I had kept in the fridge. I walked back into the living room and hand fed Ezethiel the plate of meat. I then thought of an idea, I had the money now...and I did need the items. I pet Ezethiel down his back and decided I needed to go into town for supplies. I glanced at Ezethiel. Dog supplies. I stood and fetched my purse from my room and as I headed for the door Ezethiel growled. I turned to him.

"What, bud?" I asked. "Do you want to come?" Ezethiel jumped down off of the couch and walked towards me. I saw his large muscular body change from a large wolf into a raven. The raven cawed and flew to land on my shoulder. I just stared at him for a moment. "Fine, just as long as your neck is okay." I gently rubbed the ravens neck and saw that the wound had disappeared. I shrugged. "I can't bring you into pet stores as a raven though. I don't think. Dogs are usually allowed in though." I looked into the ravens blue eyes. Ravens never have blue eyes so thats how I could tell if it was Ezethiel. What an interesting pet. "Hmm," I thought allowed. "I wonder if you can turn into a dog?" I shrugged off the idea and opened the door. Turning to close it up and lock it. I then headed for my horse. I felt Ezethiel tighten his talons on my shoulder. I didn't feel the pain however, just tickled a bit. I mounted my horse and off we rode heading for town. Halfway there I felt Ezethuel fly off of my shoulder. I watched him fly off into the air and disappear in the direction of the town. I shrugged it off. He knows where I'm going. I told myself. I arrived in town at the pet store. I glanced around, but Ezethiel, in any of the forms I've seen him in, was no where to be seen. I dismounted my horse outside the pet store. Everyone was staring at me. The people that have heard of me, and what I do, stared at me as I headed into the pet store. Out of the corner of my eyes I could've sworn I saw a tall man with shaggy raven black hair step in after me, but when I turned to see who was following me I saw Ezethiel in the form of a handsome German Shepherd. His beautiful black fur and blue eyes told me it was him for sure. I reached down to whisper into his ear. "I know you're not going to like this...but it's required." I put a black leather collar around his neck and a leather leash. He wagged his Germ Shepherd tail and I chuckled. "Oh so you do like bondage." I joked and Ezethiel seemed like he knew my inappropriate joke because he stopped wagging his tail and growled at me. "Relax, pretty boy, I am joking." I then walked into the store to shop with my new little friend.