I followed close to Xavier and Damien as we walked through tunnels to the main estate. Or at least as close as I dared. Damien still reeked of sewage.
Numerous noises echoed up and down the hall—scurrying rats and thundering feet overhead—and I jumped at each one. Seeing all the miserable animals fall dead just to let us escape affected me more than I care to admit. And then, when Axe fell into the water, it was like my mind shut down.
And the worst part? Damien and Nydia saw it. I knew for sure that even they acted innocent about the whole ordeal, they knew I was having a panic attack. If you learned anything at all at Evandor, as an assassin you never clam up. No action equals death. I had failed as an assassin and proven myself unworthy as an Alpha. That won't go unnoticed by the others. I trusted Nydia to not care and maybe Damien as well, but if he mentions it with Arielle, I would be placed several steps back. She wouldn't interact with someone not up to her level. And Xavier, I can forget about completely.
I needed to get myself together before I made a mistake I couldn't come back from. Getting scared of water is stupid and wouldn't get me anywhere.
Move on, Indigo.
We kept walking through the tunnels in silence, climbing numerous stairs until Xavier finally stopped in front of a doorknob that looked like it was in the middle of nowhere. I pressed an ear to the wall and heard footsteps moving around in the hallway.
"Axe's distraction isn't working anymore," I told them. "There are people patrolling the hall again."
"How many?" Damien asked.
I listened harder again and tried to count the different footsteps. "Can't tell. Somewhere around ten."
"Ten to three," Damien said. "That's easy."
Damien grabbed the handle and was about to push it open when Xavier said, "I never knew you were that excited to head to your death. Had I known, I would've killed you long ago. I could've lived my life in peace."
Damien turned back to Xavier. "What's wrong now?"
"You can only count the number of guards who are moving," Xavier explained. "A dozen more could be standing very still. And they all know there was a breach in the arena and lower levels."
Damien slowly shook his head as if he just understood Xavier. I looked between the two of them.
"What?"
"They already know that there are people in the tunnels," he whispered. "Numerous could be standing still and aiming their guns right at our entrance, waiting for the moment we walked in."
I could imagine a dozen guards standing facing our position, guns raised, and all completely unmoving, waiting to close in as soon as we step on their petals like a venus flytrap. I shivered. I would hate to get stuck in that trap.
"So we work our way around," I said.
Xavier shook his head, "There are going to be at least a few guards at every passage entrance. And when we get past them we're still going to need to fight our way through these guards plus multiple others in our way."
"Then what do you recommend?" Damien asked.
"Destroy the door."
Damien blinked. "You mean explode it?"
"Would that result in a destroyed door?"
"Yes."
"Then yes."
"The entire tunnel could collapse!" Damien whisper-shouted.
"If you know how to properly detonate a bomb it won't."
"I do know how to properly detonate a bomb."
"Then get to work."
Damien sighed and knelt down in front of the door, pulling out various contents from his pockets and grumbled under his breath. "For all his intelligence, he's going to get us killed in the stupidest way possible one day."
I smiled a little and leaned against the wall, waiting for Damien to finish with the door. I turned to Xavier to pass the time.
"What are you going to do when you graduate?" I asked, feeling more conversational than normal. My jittery state must be getting to me.
Xavier, who had been staring holes into the ceiling, looked down at me and gave a blank stare.
"I know you're going to be ruling, obviously," I added and built my lip to stop myself from openingly cringing at my own words. "But you're probably not gonna start ruling right away. What will you do in the mean time?"
"Prepare."
I nodded, wondering I had expected to come from my words. An actual conversation?
Xavier tilted his head. "The question might be better suited for you."
I stumbled over words. "Um, what?"
"What will you do after graduating?"
The words were innocent enough, but it sounded like there was hidden maliciousness behind them, especially coming from Xavier's lips. I swallowed, wondering what answer he would like.
Guess you've gotten that conversation you wanted so bad.
"I'm not sure," I told him honestly, although the words that followed were definitely not honest. "I was debating if I should get a job at Cressida as an operative or work as a governor elsewhere."
Governing was usually given to the Upper Court members while others were typically Mayoring, working under their Governor to keep the peace and rule in the nation. However, even though I was a Middle Court member, I was an Alpha. Most people worked so hard to become an Alpha so that they could get the better jobs, like governing, and possibly move up in power to an Upper Court member. Governing would be a typical option for Alpha members.
"I never pegged you as the governor type," Xavier told me. I could only guess what he meant.
"It might not be my very first option, but I'm certainly interested," I said, deciding to give a neutral answer.
"Most Alphas have their path set before they joined."
This was starting to sound more like an interrogation, one that I'm failing at majestically. Xavier was right. Most Alphas did know exactly what they wanted because it was their motivation for rising to the top and staying there. I had my own motivations too, but I couldn't tell them to Xavier. And, as I had realized just that morning in Cressida, it was certainly not sufficient long-term.
Unless I failed and I needed to work in Cressida to stay close to the Crowns and prove them guilty for Echo. But at that point, they would be untouchable. Whatever path I was headed, it would end in disaster.
"I guess I'm just more indecisive than most," I decided to say.
Xavier narrowed his eyes, running over the words I had spoken, trying to decipher the meaning behind every little thing I said. The conversation we had just last night echoed in my ears. My fingers found the hilt of my daggers.
Thankfully, Damien had just finished setting up the bomb. We backed up from the door, though not as far as I would've liked since we still needed to be able to get in quickly. And of course, like the gentlemen they are, they made me stand in the front so that I could be the one to walk in first and get killed by a thousand bullets if Damien's bomb doesn't work as expected. Their logic was that I'm an Unassailable, but that doesn't mean I'm bulletproof. Still, I was too stressed to argue with Intellects.
When we were ready, Damien hovered his finger over his cuff screen and started to count down.
"3, 2, 1."
The booming sound of the bomb assaulted my ears. The metal door flew off its hinges and into the hall outside, most likely dented. The floor shook under my feet and creaks echoed up and down the passage, warning us that it could fall at any moment. I stumbled a few steps from the shockwave, but I quickly steadied myself and charged through the open doorway.
The house was a complete mess.
We'd emerged into the end of a hall where guards ran around, only their shadows visible through the smoke, as they shouted orders and pleas for help. Many guards had fallen from getting hit by the door and the painting it hid behind, others from the objects that had flown at them due to the shock wave and stray bullets. A few found their wits amongst the chaos and turned towards me, raising their guns.
They didn't stand a chance.
I dashed forward and slid low, letting the smoke mask my movements, as I sliced at their legs and then their necks when they fell. I kicked a gun out of another's hands and then his head before pushing straight into another guard. With the momentum of a rock in a river, they crashed through the window and to the ground far below.
Up ahead, a few more guards—who had come when they heard the commotion and positioned themselves too far from my reach—raised their guns, but they were quickly shot down. I turned to find Xavier with the gun, shooting people in every which way, and it was unpleasant to find that I was surprised he had decided to save my life. I wasn't even sure if that was a good thing.
Another guard tried to tackle me from behind, but his footsteps were too loud for a successful sneak attack. I waited until the last moment before ducking to the side and thrusting my dagger up through his chin. I would not be merciful to the men who support the abuse of animals and killing of children.
Many more tried to take me on, usually grouping together and surrounding me, but I cleared through them in minutes. Finally, it was just the three of us standing in a silent hallway littered with fifteen dead bodies.
Xavier nodded to the office door. I made my way across the floor, stepping between the corpses, until I was standing in front of the door. The Kingston's positioned themselves against the wall on either side of the door. I held up my hand, counting down from three, before kicking it down. As soon as I did, the brothers rushed in, firing their guns. The three guards in the room fell to the ground.
I looked around the office room. It looked ordinary enough with the bookshelves, plush chairs, and desk sitting near the back wall, facing us. A large, elaborate painting with the golden crown of the Fortier's and the blue-gemmed silver crown of the Kingston's hung upon the wall behind the desk. Between the two was a depiction of the combined crown—a monstrous thing with twisting golden spires and dazzling blue gems—which had never been worn.
It felt strange hanging in the diablo's room. It didn't seem like someone who despised the Crowns as much as the diablo would have a painting this large dedicated to the Crowns. There was a possibility that it was to mislead any assassins that would question him, but there was something off about the images themselves. The crowns' designs were bent weird the color was off in some parts. I took a few steps forward and, with the new angle, it looked as if the painting was starting to morph into something else.
I walked behind the desk and the image shifted and changed until I was looking at a tiger—its eyes constructed of the blue gems from the Kingston crown making it look unnatural—with the Fortier crown in it's jaws.
How fun.
"Where's the antivenin?" Damien asked his brother. Xavier pointed at a section of the bookshelf and Damien pulled a few books out. Behind it sat a metal box with a lock. Damien fiddled with it for a while until the lid popped open to reveal a dozen glass vials.
"Which one do we take?" I asked, scanning the complex names.
"Just take them all," he said, grabbing a handful and stuffing them in his never-ending pockets. Nydia'll figure it out."
I nodded and obliged, taking as many vials as I could comfortably carry.
Xavier, who was looking through things behind the desk, stood straight and checked his watch. "Arielle and Nydia will have reached the regular evacuation point by now. And Oliver Davis should be leaving in the next five minutes by chopper according to their plan."
Damien grabbed the last few vials and shut the box, putting it back on the shelf. "Let's go."
We ran back out of the office and dashed behind Xavier as he led us through the Chartwell Mansion. The sounds of guards shouting to each other, trying to coordinate, echoed from the halls ahead.
"If their going to protect their rich ass boss," Damien muttered, "they should at least be quiet about it."
I nodded my head in silent agreement.
Xavier veered right and we shuffled into a bland stairwell. Hoppping up the steps, taking two at a time we reached the top and crashed through the door. More men than I could count were sprawled across the roof in heavy armor, their black shapes sticking out against the barren white roof. At the very end of the moving black crowd the diablo, still wearing his impeccable suite, walked in swift motions that bordered running. Just forty yards in front of him was a whirling black chopper sitting on a helicopter pad.
When we dashed onto the roof every single head turned to look, including the diablo. Xavier didn't waste anytime in raising his gun and fired. The diablo's closest guards jumped in front of him as body shields, but Xavier wasn't aiming for them. The bullet shot through the helicopter window and blood smeared across through the cockpit.
The diablo wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. But as every single guard on the roof raised their guns, it occurred to me that we might not either.
We jumped back and ducked behind the outside wall of the passage we had come from. Bullets rang across the roof and I breathed a sigh of relief that the wall held against the onslaught of bullets, only to realize there were men on the other side too, running straight for us as they raised their guns. I chucked a few knives, my aim straight and true, but there were too many men and too few knives.
Damien pulled out a silver ball about the size of my palm with a blue indent down the middle. He threw it towards the oncoming crowd and the guards pointed up, trying to shoot it before it ever reached the ground. The bullets pinged harmlessly off its metal body.
The ball landed and rolled a few seconds before coming to a stop. There was a deadly silence as the guards looked down at the ball, unmoving by shock and wonder. Then the top half of the ball twisted and popped up revealing a blue interior pulsing with blue sparks. The guards sprung into action, one of them making a move to kick it off the roof. But it was too late. The electric bomb exploded, tendrils shooting out of it's depths, scorching the roof and making a portion of it fall in. Bodies jerked in unison before falling to the ground, smoke lifting from their skin. The hairs on my neck stood up.
"Do you have more of those?" I asked him.
"Just one more big one and a few smaller versions," Damien said. He pulled out another silver ball and two dozen small black disks.
I grabbed a handful of the disks as Xavier stole the silver electric bomb and chucked it over passage and into the crowd that had been guarding the diablo. I shoved the electric disks into my pockets and waited as screams echoed across the hills and the roof shook under our feet. I whipped out my daggers, their hilts fitting perfectly in my hands, and ran out from behind the door, stabbing the first guard I came across.
The Kingstons shot men down as I ran across the roof, plowing through people left and right, my eyes set on only one man. A large group to the left cocked their guns and threw a black disk at them. It expanded into a larger disk as it flew and coils of electricity sprung out like blades. About five men went down with the electric disk. It wasn't nearly as much as the bomb, but it distracted the other men in the group long enough for me to throw another their way.
Up ahead, the diablo was arguing with one of his men about the chopper, probably about how to get out of this predicament. I darted across the gaping hole in the roof where the second electric bomb had done its damage. Men charred from the inside out laid on the floor below and the remains of the metal framework from the ceiling stood in some places and dropped off in others.
A woman ran at me with a knife and I side-stepped her, hit her in the back of the leg after she ran past me, and pushed her into the hole. Then I felt someone ram into me from behind and the wind was knocked out of me as I crashed to the ground, face first. The man ontop of me tried to bring my hands together behind my back, but I snapped my wrist and I small blade sprung out, sliding over my knuckles. I jammed up and the knife found its mark in his no-no square. He screamed and I twisted around, pushing him off and ignoring him as I knew the stab I gave was a fatal one. I could care less.
I tried to get up as fast as I could, but it was too late. More men were already onto me. I had lost all of my disks in the fight and I had gotten lucky enough that all of the gun carrying guards were occupied with Damien and Xavier, but I was still completely surrounded. I had lost my main daggers somewhere in the fight as well and I hoped I could find them later. But for know, the pocket knives would have to suffice.
Two men charged from front and back. I tried to side-step and let them crash into each other, but they were already onto me. One man stuck out his hand and grabbed my arm, bringing his other arm up for a blow. I ducked and stabbed him in his exposed chest. The other man managed to land a punch and I staggered back into one of the other men who kicked my knees in making me fall. I was about to stab up when someone else kicked me in the chest. I gasped for air, trying my best to block, but a knife pierced through my stomach. I screamed as the pain spiked up my nerves, carrying over my body. Another person pushed me forward to the ground.
Looking to the side, I could see Damien and Xavier cornered and overpowered. They couldn't save me. I couldn't save me. This was it. I was about to be killed by animal abusers and child predators.
I rolled over onto my stomach and looked up at my assailants. Two grabbed my arms and held them down as I struggled. The diablo loomed over me, pulling out a syringe and a bottle. He pushed the syringe into the bottle and let it fill with the bottle's contents. I struggled even more.
"Not too anxious to kill me," I spat, glaring at the syringe which was, no doubt, carrying a sedative.
He eyed me. "I'm going to enjoy seeing your kind in the ring, begging for your life."
"You already tried that once. It failed."
He knelt down, ready to inject me. "It won't this time."
"That's the fattest lie I've ever heard," a familiar female voice shouted from the side. I didn't need to guess who it was as a golden blade followed, plowing through the men. The diablo ducked at the last second, only getting nicked in the cheek, before tearing across the roof again towards the helicopter he should've gotten in a long time ago.
I looked over my shoulder to see Arielle flinging her blades again at the men who were close to killing the brothers. They fell dead and Damien looked up at Arielle with shock, a clear contrast to Xavier's unbothered expression.
"Arielle?" Damien wondered. "Aren't you supposed to be on the other side of the estate?"
"I figured you cocky bastards would pull something like this"—she waved at the messy scene around us—"and get yourselves killed. So I came after I freed the girl and other prisoners."
"Awww," Damien mimed. "You cared enough to come back."
I didn't hear Arielle's answer as my attention was restored and I ran after the diablo. He was running fast, but even with an open wound, catching up to him was easier than any Alpha training I had ever done.
A few guards trailed him, but my knives were in their necks before they could get a sound out. The diablo turned and pulled out a gun. His back was to the ledge and I could see the hills and Los Demonios behind him. He cocked the gun and I knew he wasn't holding back this time. Too bad, I wasn't either.
I kicked the gun out of his hands and used the same momentum to spin around and kick him in the face. He stumbled a few steps and held up his hands.
"Wait! I can give—"
I didn't hesitate. My knife was between his eyes in a split second.
I pulled it out and blood frothed from his wound. He teetered before slipping off the ledge. The King of Demons fell to the ground far below, his body rolling through the mud, his blood staining the perfectly cut grass, before his body hit a large tree trunk and stopped its descent.
I may have felt remorse for killing Oswald, but I felt none now. His kind deserved none.
The last few rays of sun slipped under the hill, letting the darkness take back its hold.