It's Saturday again and you know what that means! Excerpt day. I don't really have much to report besides this. I'm working on book 2 while my betas are reading their hearts out on book 1. I'm also doing some plotting of future books so I have some things all lined up for you guys so there won't be huge delays between books (don't worry, the delay between book 1 and 2 of this series will never happy again unless some life threatening or life altering event occurs that requires me to put down my pen and quil for some time...meaning not likely).
So, since that's all I have to report today, here's an exciting excerpt from Chapter 11:
The street was quiet and only a few lights illuminated the dark street. I sat on the rooftop and watched the house across the road, vaguely aware of the single heartbeat inside being picked up on my communicator. That heartbeat was my target.
After recovering from the situation Raikidan had put me in this morning I had gone out and bought a new mirror to replace the one I had broken in the bathroom. My mood hadn't been good while I was out and it soured more as I installed the new mirror, as I had been forced to remember why I had broken the reflective glass in the first place.
When Genesis had come to me with an assassination assignment, I jumped on it. I knew it wouldn't make my mood better, but it would distract me, even for a little while. The first target had been easy and when I called in to tell Genesis of my completion of the mission she had offered up another one. I didn't see the harm in accepting it, as I was already out in the field, and here I was. I suspected this would also be a fairly easy job.
My target was male, unlike the last one, and was a skilled weapons creator. I didn't like the idea of killing such a talented man but the Council had tried to sway him to our side, including resorting to bribery, however, he proved far too loyal to Zarda and ultimately needed to be eliminated from the equation. He was too much of a threat to be allowed to live.
The man may have money but he lived modestly, having a relatively small house in Quadrant Three, with no top of the line security, keeping him low on the radar. Had it not been for our moles we may have never found out about him.
Noting the coast clear and the heartbeat still in the same location in the house, I slipped into the shadows and made my way to the other side of the street. The man may not have security systems or guards, but he was a weapons maker, so he would undoubtedly be fully capable of defending himself, forcing me to be extra careful as I made it to the side of his house and looked for a way in.
Finding a cracked open window I quietly slid it open more and slipped into the building. The house was still and all the lights turned off. My target was upstairs and if my scanner was correct, he would be asleep making my job fairly easy. Taking my time, I made my way through the house without a sound. I was aware of the weapons strewn about carelessly as if a possible break-in never even crossed this man's mind and I was also aware it was the only mess to be found in any room. His cleaning habits were by far the strangest I'd seen.
Making my way upstairs I was aware of every sound I made as I followed my heartbeat sensor. It led me to a large bedroom, but I became suspicious when it told me my target was lying in the bed. The way the bed was bunched up and how little it moved from someone breathing—Trap! I spun around and narrowly missed the knife slashing at me.
My assailant was a tall, burly man with pale skin and crimson eyes. He carried a dao sword in one hand and a combat knife in the other and obviously meant business. My assailant also happened to be my intended target. I knew this couldn't go as easily as hoped.
"Did you not think I was expecting this?" he hissed. "Did you not think I couldn't see you hiding in the shadows waiting to take me by surprise?"
He slashed at me again but I was quick and drew my favorite dagger and deflected the blow. Thinking quickly, I transformed it into a single sai and used it to disarm his hand with the combat knife when he came at me again.
He grinned with amusement briefly before swinging his dao sword. "Impressive weapon you have there. I'll enjoy learning all about it once I pry it from your corpse."
I snickered. The man had refined swordsman skill but I was better. "Afraid I can't allow that to happen."
Splitting my sai into two and then transforming one into a kukuri, I went on the offensive. My target defended himself well—too well. It wasn't until I had swung at him several time with my kukuri did I realize he was toying with me.
The man smirked. "You can't beat me that way. Let me show you how it's done."
He turned the tables quickly and threw out an onslaught that was hard for me to defend against. I couldn't even get in enough time to try to switch the shape of my weapons. This wasn't going well at all.
I attempted to use objects around me to slow his assault down but he seemed completely unfazed by anything thrown at him. His blade struck my arm and I gritted my teeth as pain rushed through it. This isn't good… I couldn't believe I was being beaten so badly. At this rate he'd actually kill me.
My target swung his dao sword and missed but over extended himself, throwing him off balance. There! I wasn't going to miss this perfect opportunity. Swing my kukuri down, I copped into his arm and the man screamed in pain. He dropped his dao sword and held on to his arm with his uninjured hand. Without missing a beat I thrust my sai at him but he moved and my weapon plunged into his throat—blood splattering everywhere.
The man choked, his eyes rolling to the back of his head before he slumped over. I withdrew my blade from the corpse, taking several breaths as my heart pounded in my ears. That had been too close a call. He may be a weapons maker, but I hadn't expected him to be a weapons master as well. Maybe I had lost my edge—I was just too out of practice for these types of situations.
Wiping his blood on my pants, I returned the weapon to its natural shape and sheathed it. I took a long calming breath and then examined my wound. It wasn't bad, but I'd have to make sure I took care of it when I returned home.
I then went about looking at all his wears to see if there was anything worth taking while I called Genesis.
"Oh good, I was beginning to worry," she said when she picked up.
"He knew I was coming," I informed "But after a quick scuffle I disposed of him. Nothing major."
I knew it wasn't good to lie to her, but I didn't think it important for her to know I actually almost screwed up this assignment.
"Good. I have another assignment since you're out."
I picked up an interesting looking knife. "Well this guy has some nice stuff I could grab instead…"
"Council already has someone coming by to make it look like a burglary gone wrong," Genesis said.
"Nice, so my choice was already made up for me and the assignment offer was just out of formality then."
"Eira."
I sighed. "Yeah, I'll take it. Plenty of night time hours left anyways so might as well. Someone will have to retrieve a bloody weapon though. My target managed to draw a little blood."
"I'll make sure whoever they send will remove any traces of your activity. In the mean time I'll have Aurora relay information on your next target."
She cut the line and I sighed as I put the knife down and left the house to reduce any risk of being caught by a neighbor.