Fury and Flame | 3

1 | 8

G I G I

Neve had the first name on our hit list: Charlotte Madizza. An Imperium assassin known for her willingness to do anything for her master, even take drastic, ruthless measures that others might not have the insanity to attempt. Unluckily for her, I would do the same.

      I stuffed my quiver with arrows we'd stolen from the hunting cabin we'd stayed in for the past week. But we'd since moved on since Neve's contact had given us Madizza's time and location of attack. They'd conveniently chosen the target nearest to us so that we wouldn't have to travel far and wide just to stop the assassin.

      I thought it was more than suspicious that this Imperium contact knew where we were and what we were doing. They were an enemy and she was giving them enough knowledge to destroy us. Neve seemed to trust her contact. But I didn't trust either of them.

Neither of us were completely sure where we parted with Benny. But ever since it became just the two of us, we'd slowly but surely moved east. Eventually, we'd discovered we were in east Michigan; Madizza would be striking in Detroit. Her target was the Secretary of Defense, who was healing in a hospital from some ailment I didn't care to know. They were moving to more important targets, which worried me. The point was, he needed to stay alive.

The assassin and I crouched in an alleyway across from the hospital, watching for any sign of Madizza. Neve had only ever heard of the other agent, so we didn't know what distinguishable features of hers to search for. My hand already clutched my bow and my other was inches away from the stash of arrows in the quiver. One glimpse of Madizza and I'd shoot to kill.

      Time passed and there was nothing to be seen, even as we patrolled around the building. I was beginning to feel restless.

      "Are you sure that contact of yours was telling the truth?" I asked Neve, glancing at her out of the corner of my eye. "What if this is a trap?"

      "It's not a trap." She spoke with surety, but I didn't believe it. My experiences taught me that the truth was often not what it seemed.

      "How can you be sure they're loyal?"

      The assassin gave me one of those looks she gave, the kind where she seemed to stare right through me. "Remember that out of the two of us, I was the one imprisoned in the fortress."

      "I'm well aware." I hadn't been there to see who exactly our enemies were. And I knew that not everyone inside the fortress walls was completely loyal to Orion, but those that were had the mightiest power. That place was filled with bloodshed, backstabbing and scheming; it wouldn't shock me in the slightest if I got sold out. Even if Neve was the one who did it.

      "You may have heard what it was like," she said slowly, still staring at me with soft strength. "But you haven't lived within those walls. You don't know half of what goes on there."

      A moment of silence. I stood from where I'd been crouching on the ground. "I'm going inside. Follow or not, it makes no difference to me."

      Not bothering to look back to see if she was behind me, I entered the hospital through the front doors and went up to the front desk. After giving the receptionist the name of the sick Secretary of Defense under the guise of a family member wanting to visit, she'd told me his room was on the seventh floor.

I rushed to the stairwell, ignoring the stares my bow and arrows were attracting. The elevator would take too long and I'd be too close to potential attackers. As I walked through the hall, my gaze trailed after every passing person. Any of them could be Madizza.

      As I shut the door to the stairwell behind me, I noticed Neve wasn't there. I had no idea where she was and I didn't exactly care at the moment. Finding Madizza was my first priority. Dealing with my untrustworthy assassin partner would come later.

      I looked up the the spiraling steel staircase high above me. The roof wasn't even in sight. But the silence was what garnered my attention. If I was naive, I might have expected that I was alone, but I was too well-versed in this life to believe that. No, Madizza was an Imperium assassin. She was probably already ready for opposition. That was unfortunate for her, because I was too.

      Bow and arrows slung over my back, I began to climb the stairs. Every footfall was as silent as possible as I began to ascend. I would take every advantage I could. Especially now that the power to kill without touching lay inside me more than ever. I hadn't used it in weeks, ever since the raid on the government facility with Benton. I was ready to expel it yet again.

      Two and a half floors up and there was no sign of Madizza. A horrible thought came through my mind: what if she'd somehow escaped our sights and already done her job? What if I went up to the Secretary's hospital room and his chest was a cavern of blood and bone, pried apart by a dagger? What if I was too late?

I didn't care about much anymore; I was numb to most things after everything that happened. But I didn't think I could walk in there and see that I'd failed him. Not because of who he was to the country but to who he was as a person. A husband. A friend. A parent.

This had begun as a hit list for Imperium assassins, but now I was realizing I was invested further than that. I didn't want to think about when this had turned into more than a bloody quest for vengeance. Or why.

My mother's phantom voice whispered in my ears, just an echoing statement that I couldn't quite make out. It was from sometime before the asylum. Back when I was still innocent. Back when happiness was still attainable and not just a hollow word.

I was on the fifth look now. Every time I turned to head up the next staircase, I had to leave my back to the doorway from the outside hall. I did my best to watch behind me, but I couldn't be looking in all directions at once. If Madizza was going to attack me, it was going to be between the next two floors.

I steeled myself against those paranoid thoughts. I was more powerful than I'd ever been. Inside me lay the power to fell dozens of soldiers. I could handle just one.

My own breathing was the only noise I could hear. The steady rise and fall of my chest was a perfect rhythm. I tried not to think about the days in the asylum when listening to my own breathing and heartbeat had been the only thing to keep me alive and sane. It was hard not to resort to those things again. It was hard to remember that when I'd joined the team, I'd thought it was a new beginning.

There was a movement behind me. I felt the air move a second before I turned to see a blur coming toward me. Madizza. My target. She was too close, too fast. I threw up my hands to break her impact.

There was a shine of silver metal and Madizza fell to the ground before she could reach me. Neve approached through the same door from which the other assassin had come. She'd thrown her knife to protect me.

I glanced down at Madizza. She wore normal clothes, nothing that would attract attention. But by the way she was staring up at me like she'd like nothing more than to rip my heart from my chest, I knew she was anything but normal. Especially with the blade sticking out of her lower stomach.

I knelt down beside her, meeting her hate-filled gaze with one of my own. "You thought you could come for me. You thought you could kill me. How mistaken you were." I gripped her lungs with my mind, forcing them to stop. She began to choke.

"You were my first target." I couldn't help but glance back up at Neve, who calmly watched on. She'd saved my life. "Our first target. But not our last." She was beginning to turn a horrible grayish-red. "Your brethren will die just like you. Pitiful and weak." Madizza gave another strangled cough.

She was taking too long to die. So I crushed her heart with one thought and stood up. Her dark eyes still stared up at me, the whites tinged with red. Nothing but a broken body now.

"She didn't get to her target," Neve told me. "I made sure."

Something cruelly satisfied settled into my chest. I had something to show for my efforts. I had blood.

A smile—the first real one in months—spread over my face as I looked up at Neve. "I'd call this a complete victory."