The Reluctant Assassin Read online

  No doubt that cold, unfeeling mind of Dale’s would come up with something horrifyingly appropriate for someone attacking our race.

  I shivered at the thought and clung to the poison which felt like lead in my pocket. Just watch for the right opportunity. That’s all you have to think about.

  The sound of Jack attempting to make conversation with me threw me completely off balance. Maybe I was wrong? Maybe this was another game to make me doubt myself?

  Either way, his question of how I was liking the school was easy enough to answer.

  “Erm, yeah, it’s fine, thanks.” It was more than fine, but I didn’t want to get overzealous. This was the first time in a long time I’d actually felt comfortable in school - well, before this whole Rafflesia incident. Jenny and I were close, which was more than I could say for me and just about everyone in my past. “Better than Filey.”

  “You lived there before?”

  “Yeah.”

  My backstory here was foolproof. After a tragic car crash which killed both my parents, I had moved back to Sheffield and now attended St. George’s High School. It explained my living situation and the fact I’d school halfway through the term. Everything. Especially why I wasn’t living with any sort of family.

  “I like it there.” As did I, another reason I’d chosen it. The only holiday I had ever been on was to Filey, we’d been there for a week and of course I remembered it like the back of my hand. “Pretty place.”

  We lapsed into silence, the approaching cafeteria a welcome sight. This would be over and done with soon enough. Steering clear of the chilli again, I opted for a bland salad. I wasn’t sure how Jenny could live on these every lunch. I couldn’t actually see Jenny as I scanned the hall; she must have gone to the library. But Jack’s friends crowded him whilst he was in the queue, engaging in easy conversation.

  They were talking about Jerome’s party from what I gathered. Of course, if Jack turned out to be my attacker then I was practically forced into going, too. If he was drunk there was a chance I could extract information from him, even if it meant dragging Jenny into an uncomfortable situation.

  When he began fiddling with his change, whilst also conversing with his friends I knew my opportunity had arisen. He leant forward to hand the cashier the money and I followed his actions, my hand sprinkling the white powder over his meal and retreating to my pocket with inhuman speed. He hadn’t seen me.

  Breathing a minuscule sigh of relief, the tension eased from my body somewhat as we walked back to the classroom. Closure was imminent.

  My appetite had failed me, but I was content to simply watch Jack anyway. He scooped a mouthful of his jacket potato onto the fork and gave it a good whiff.

  “Wait!” I exclaimed, standing in my seat as he put the piled up fork in his mouth, but didn’t close it. Fingers white on the desk and eyes wide, I couldn’t believe I’d been wrong. I’d been so sure – they way he’d looked at me had condemned him completely in my mind. Now how was I supposed to explain this?

  The corner of Jack’s mouth turned up with a knowing smirk. “Something wrong?”

  “You knew!” I seethed, balling my hands into fists and wanting nothing more than to go slap that smug smile from his full mouth.

  “Maybe.”

  No doubt my hazel eyes had gone black as night from anger - the only cosmetic differences between the Fae and the human race was the mark on the back of my ear and the unnatural dilation of my irises when I was feeling an extreme emotion. “Why are you doing this?”

  “You don’t need to know.” The anger that had barely been concealed behind his attempt at smugness was splashed all over his features now. The person I’d killed hadn’t just been an acquaintance that he was revenging on a moral ground – this was incredibly personal.

  I held my ground, despite the utter hatred now shining in his eyes. “Tell me.”

  “I’m not going to tell you.” He dismissed, stretching his hands in an attempt to control his temper. “I’m never going to tell you.”

  The door opening had me sat in my seat before Mr. Bradley could have noticed me. I didn’t miss Jack blink in surprise at the quick movement. Sure, he’d obviously heard about what I could do, but seeing it in real life was something different entirely. At least this meant he definitely wasn’t some kind of notorious Fae killer. He was an amateur and someone was using him.

  My business wasn’t with Jack at all, it was with his boss.

  “Are you finished with your work yet?”

  “I’m done,” I snapped immediately, retrieving the completed sheet and moving to the front of the classroom, refusing to look at Jack. I wasn’t going to let him affect me like this; I couldn’t. If he got to me, he would win. And winning for him meant me dead. I just had to stay strong and relay this to Dale. “Can I go?”

  I received the go ahead and grabbed my still full dinner tray before striding from the classroom, not giving Jack the pleasure of seeing my uncertainty.

  Chapter Three

  My computer held no appeal today. Normally I came in from school, slung my bag onto my bed and lost myself in the worlds of various video games. Right now I could only pace the small space that was my living room and hope Dale could hurry up with his client.

  Of course, after the original shock of someone attempting to murder me, I’d been put on the back burner for an apparently lucrative client. If he was rich it no doubt meant the target was innocent. It always seemed to work that way.

  But we didn’t discriminate. If someone paid us the cash, anyone was perfectly fair game.

  A knock on the door didn’t bring my striding to a standstill. “Come in!”

  Glen’s head poked around my door, a frown flitting across it even before he noticed my agitated pacing. “Just wanting to check up, Dale told us all about the Rafflesia incident. How are you holding up?”

  “I’m fine,” it had been two days and this was the first time anyone had come to ask me that question. I didn’t doubt that Glen had another reason for coming to visit me. “What’s actually up?”

  “I was wondering if you’d got the notes for our latest job yet.” Glen invited himself in and plopped down on my sofa, eyes scanning my relatively bare room. This might have even been the first time I’d been in here. It was nothing special – I had my computer, my prize possession, and nothing much else. I couldn’t really just Martin’s bare office.

  “I’m waiting to see Dale now, he’ll probably give me them then.”

  “Ah, okay,” Glen began flicking through the maths textbook on my coffee table, nodding along with the instruction in every page. “Well, it looks like it’ll be a mildly entertaining one. No sniper, for a change. I’ll talk to you about it later, anyway, when you’ve had chance to read it. Hey, just take a pistol to that guy’s face, by the way. That’ll teach him for trying to mess with you.”

  I cringed mentally, managing a small smile as Glen stood up. “Sure thing.” It definitely wasn’t as easy as just taking him out.

  Glen swore as he bashed into the receptionist upon leaving my room. “Shit, sorry Daisy.”

  “No problem,” sticking her head through my door, Daisy managed to look completely unaffected by the fact she’d just been hit by six feet of pure muscle. “Dale’s ready to see you now.”

  “Thanks.”

  Everyone else in Sheffield had been here six or seven years, but I was the newcomer. Glen was trying to be friendly, but I was relatively anti-social and I couldn’t quite justify the fact he’d chosen this career path, so I wasn’t inclined to try and spend more time with him.

  I shoved my relatively new housemates to the back of my mind like normal and trudged downstairs, my mind racing with what Dale might suggest next. There were endless courses of action, but I was quite keen to pick the one that resulted in the least death. I wanted to survive, but I was the one in the wrong in this whole situation.

  It would have probably been fairer to have just not told Dale about any of this. We should
die for being murderers and Jack, the person who’d lost someone close to him because of me, could avenge his loved one.

  “He’s the one,” I informed Dale, hating the clenching of my stomach. I couldn’t meet his eyes as I took a seat. “But he’s not the top one. He’s just an amateur and he’s no use to us. We should leave him alone.”

  “Leaving him alone isn’t going to get us any answers,” Dale argued, staring me down until I was forced to look at him. My opinion on the whole assassination business was never masked as well as I’d have liked. “We have to bring him in until he tells us something.”

  “He’s not going to know anything, he’s obviously the bottom of the chain. He’s never even seen a Fae before now.”

  “I’m sure his information is better than nothing. Besides, he’s a danger to you still out there. We’re bringing him in.”

  “I could bug his room instead,” I suggested, trying not to let too much hope seep into my voice. “If we lift him everyone in his organisation is going to be on high alert, it might make them accelerate their plans. Just let Jack toy with me a bit longer whilst we gather information from the bug. Jack isn’t a threat to me, he has no idea what he was doing.”

  That was the only part I wasn’t sure about. He might have never seen a Fae before, but I had no idea how dangerous he actually was. He no doubt owned a gun and knew how to use it.

  Dale didn't look the least bit interested, but then again he never did. I briefly wondered whether I’d ever seen anything but a mask of composure on that aging face. “Fine, I’ll get you the equipment. Get it in his room and get us some info.”

  Returning to his typing, I took that as my dismissal. Well, at least I’d managed to save one person from agony in my job so far rather than consistently causing it. For now, anyway.

  ***

  Jenny was beaming, her ringlets jumping as she walked, when I saw her the next morning. “Am I missing something?”

  “My parents are adopting!” She all but sang, bouncing on her heels and the ringlets following. I really did adore her blonde curls, despite how often she complained about them.

  “That’s great!” I agreed, grinning back. “I didn’t realise your parents were looking to.”

  “Neither did I. They wanted to get everything sorted before telling everyone. But my goodness, he is so cute. His name is Daniel and he’s five year’s old and so adorable. I can’t wait until you meet him. He’s coming to try living with us in a few weeks, to see if he likes it.”

  I laughed at her joyful rambling. “I’m happy for you.” Jenny and I had lamented our lack of siblings growing up many a time and although my life was technically a lie, my lack of family wasn’t. Her excitement was contagious.

  “Ilona!” Tom’s voice carried across the car park, his mood also apparently cheery. “Made your mind up about Jerome’s party yet?”

  I hadn’t broached the subject with Jenny yet, but I had to go to the party. A drunk Jack might be my only chance get information and I needed something to dissuade Dale from getting impatient and torturing the answers out of him.

  “Oh, yeah, I thought I may as well tag along.” I tried to ignore Jenny’s hard stare. “Just text me what time everyone will be getting there and stuff closer to the date.”

  “Sure thing, gotta run, but I’ll catch you in maths!”

  Jenny fixed me with a grimace. “You’re going?” We’d already semi-planned a night of hot men in movies.

  My shrug was meagre. “I had a change of heart. I figured I may as well go to one, just so I know I don’t want a repeat ever again. For the experience,” I teased.

  Frown softening, Jenny rolled her eyes. I knew she’d be partial to that argument. We could lose our party virginity together. “As long as you promise not to ditch me.”

  ***

  I’d managed to go the whole day feeling relatively normal. It was easy to get lost in daydreams of fictional characters when Jack wasn’t placed in front of me and my improved memory could absorb my teacher’s explanations without full concentration. I really wished I was doing hot men in movies next Saturday, rather than attempting to pry information from a hopefully shit-faced Jack.

  Getting the bug into his house had been an easy break-time excursion. Slipping into his foolishly left open window had been simple and finding a place for the listening device even easier. He kept a photo on his bedside table of him and another boy when they were about ten, and it was practically perfect.

  Now I just had to really hope I got some worthwhile information from it.

  Shoving my things into my rucksack, I was more than happy to be on my way home. A night of gaming and spying on my attempted murderer awaited me.

  Choosing the deserted corridor I’d found on my first day of school, I headed towards the side exit nearest to my car. I wasn’t expecting a set of footsteps behind me.

  I went to kick out at the person when they shoved me into an alcove, but a blade in my stomach made me cease movement. It was a dull pressure, but any more and Jack would have cut through my flimsy t-shirt and straight through my flesh.

  I swallowed and forced myself to meet his gaze with a defiant stare.

  “I heard you’re going to Jerome’s party.” Jack’s voice was silky smooth as his tall stature dominated mine, ice blue eyes unwavering as he kept the edge of his knife poking at my gut. I really hoped he didn’t ruin my shirt; it was a favourite.

  “Yes? Scared I’ll ruin it for you?” The fear that he somehow knew I’d bugged his room was hard to banish, but I retained my indifferent expression surprisingly well. Dale had obviously rubbed off on me already.

  “Of course not, I’m absolutely thrilled you’re coming,” his smug smirk reigned down on me. What did he have planned?

  Despite the paling of my face, I managed to retain a controlled expression. “No doubt.”

  I wasn’t scared right now; Jack wasn’t going to kill me in the middle of school, it would be foolish. So, instead, I was being the fool and focusing on the fact I’d never had someone this close to me in my life outside of combat training. Every inch of Jack’s body covered mine, the heat flowing through me in an irritatingly pleasant way.

  It was impossible not to notice how attractive Jack was, with his piercing blue eyes and mop of black hair. Even the angry snarl on his lips was enough to make my heart skip a beat. He was so passionate.

  Unfortunately the fact he was passionate about trying to kill me was a bit of a turn-off.

  “Look at your poor little face, so scared of me,” Jack managed to tease even through the hatred in his expression.

  “Oh, please. You have no idea who you’re messing with. You think that you’re playing a game with me, but I’m the one messing with you, haven’t you realised that yet?” My increased reflexes meant I’d gotten the flick-blade I stored in my jeans’ pocket out and reciprocating Jack’s gesture before he could react. “I’m not just some poor, helpless girl you can mess with.”

  “You can’t fool me. I can see those doubts swimming in the back of your mind, wondering when I’ll finally get to you. Because I will, we both know that I will.” His grin was in full force and utterly disarming. Would he really get so much pleasure out of ending my life? He leant forwards when I was least expecting it, breath tickling my ear. “I’ll do it soon, too.”

  Retracting after that statement and returning his knife to his pocket, I could already feel bruises on my arm from where he’d been keeping me in a vice-like hold. “Well, I have to go now, but I’ll see you on Saturday!”

  Giving a sarcastic wave and walking down the corridor as if he hadn’t just threatened me, I was left in the alcove, knife still outstretched and completely terrified for this party.

  Chapter Four:

  I smoothed the navy dress down for the thousandth time, wishing it was just a little bit longer. We were only going to a house party, but from what I’d gleaned from Tom, that didn’t mean anything about ‘dressing down’. I’d been hoping for jeans, but brows
ing Facebook for pictures of all the other house parties people had been to, this skin-tight lacy number was much more appropriate.

  Slipping into strappy sandals, I really hoped my improved dexterity meant an improved ability to walk in heels. I’d honestly never tried it before. My make-up was still minimal, but I’d gone all-out attempting to get my unruly waves into real curls for tonight.

  If I was going to die, I sure as hell was going to look my best.

  Grabbing my keys, phone and knife, I exited my apartment and smoothed the dress down. It had ridden up again after one step. I was certainly going to be spending a lot of time sitting down tonight.