Chapter 2

-Eir-

I strutted down the hallway without making a single sound. That was one of the first things I was taught as a child, how to be silent. It soon became second nature. Now, it is rare that I make any sort of noise when moving. My white hair flew behind me as a draft ripped through the corridor.

Anybody who walked past greeted me with a bow. As the leader's daughter, it's only appropriate. I was his only child, that we knew of, so it was only fair that I take over when he meets his inevitable death. With the enemies that my father has created, each day was a question of whether or not I would be taking over. The only thing stopping him from dying was his skill in combat.

I pull my mask up to cover my nose and mouth, something that I found comforting. It was uncomfortable at first, but the promise of security became something I sought out after a while. My hair was an issue, but my father taught me many tricks to deal with the stark difference. He always preferred to wear a hood when out in the field, I preferred to use a head-scarf.

The streets were dark, as was normal near midnight. Tuesday nights are always the best times to do my job, when I want things to go smoothly. There are other times when the weekend is preferred. That was when I had to kill two or three birds with one stone.

The man who I was following made my job much trickier than it was meant to be. He wore nothing but black, black suit, black hat, black shoes, and black gloves. There wasn't a single part of him which light reflected off. I focused on his footsteps, I had even begun to doubt myself.

He wasn't alone either. He had two men with him, one on either side. They were large and looked like they would put up a good fight. Luckily, fighting wasn't in tonight's itinerary.

I leaped from roof to roof, following them until they neared Steinroot's house. Their shoulders had slumped, and they slowed down. They were getting comfortable.

I grinned behind my mask and pulled out two knives. The main target's friends were easy to take out, just a bit of a forceful knife throw. It was enough to make them drop as though they were simply passing out.

Steinroot was alone. "Guards!" He yelled and began to run towards his house. I tilted my head to the side, praying that the other members of my guild had done their jobs.

Nobody came to his aid.

I jumped down from the roof and followed him through the streets, silent as a mouse. He probably wouldn't have heard me anyway, his yells and footsteps were loud enough on their own.

"Guards? Javier? Rasmus?" Steinroot's voice was so desperate, I almost felt sorry for him. My chest grew cold. I let out a breath and shook my head, lunging towards him.

The cool handle of my knife bit my hand through my gloves. I wrapped a hand around his mouth to shut him up and swiftly swiped with my other arm. Blood gushed out of the wound on his heck, luckily none of it soaked into my uniform.

I made my way into his house, if it could be considered that. The businessman owned an entire block of flats. He used the bottom two floors for business meetings, and used the other three for business of a different kind, As well as housing for his close employees.

The bottom floor was nearly bare. The small desk which substituted as a 'reception' was uninhabited, Javier being dead asleep in his bedroom. It made it all too easy to find the master key in an unlocked drawer.

My father would roll his eyes at using a key. He would say 'why use a key when you have a hairpin?' or any kind of lockpick for that matter. He would go out of his way to do something that you weren't meant to.

I checked all the rooms on the ground floor, nothing particularly interesting. It was tempting to use the lift, but the stairs would mean that I would get home quicker. The lights in the stairwell were dim, barely illuminating a step in front of me. Any sort of noise would echo throughout the stairwell, meaning I wasn't too worried about being snuck up on.

I was starting to get bored. The hallways were plain white with a purple stripe through the centre. Each door was a stone grey with a white number standing proudly on its surface. The floor was made of dark wood, all of them; Steinroot must have some sort of obsession with that particular flooring.

Everyone else got it easy, they were here all throughout the day, killing one person at a time so that they wouldn't be discovered. I was the one who had to search every room for a prize. Room keys and ties were common enough to find.

The room at the very top of the building was my only motivation for moving forward. The door at the top of the stairwell led me straight into Steinroot's living quarters. I wasn't quite educated enough to know how to describe it, other than grand and large. The walls had been knocked down to create a large living space. The smallest room was the kitchen. Living in the city had its perks when it came to dining out.

Two of the walls were made entirely out of windows. The person who planned the architecture of the building must have been incredibly new to the field, as they made a very large mistake. The windows were able to open from the bottom, we were at least fifty feet in the air. Nobody would be able to get in, but it would be more than easy for someone to fall out.

There was a single door to the left, but after looking at the rest of the room I could tell what it was. I had no interest in seeing whether or not his porcelain throne was an actual throne. I was more intrigued by the rings on his bedside, or the copious amounts of scarves he had hanging in his wardrobe.

I was standing in front of his dresser when something caught my eye. In the black hue of night, something moved. My eyes lifted to see a pair of brown eyes peering in through the window.

"Can I help you?" I asked, a smirk on my lips.

The person was dressed similarly to me, but their head was covered by a large hood. "I don't speak dragon," they said. They were female. "You beat me to it."

"My apologies," I said carelessly. I gripped my knife tighter. I had told my father that these jackets were a mistake. The pattern was black, but the dragon scales and depiction of the creature made it far too obvious who we were. "He's on the road, if that's what you're after."

The person shook their head and made no move. "It wasn't me, I'm not going to take the credit."

I finally turned to look at them head on. Their jacket was leather, with a hood I was convincing myself not to like. They wore black leggings, a black skirt, and black combat boots. They would blend into the shadows with very little effort.

"Who do you work for?" I asked.

They chuckled and tilted their head back. "I'm smart enough not to share that information." They hopped down from the window and walked towards me. "Do I need to be concerned?"

"Do you?" I threw the question back at them. I began to circle them, not being surprised when they do the same to me. "I am assuming that you are an enemy."

"Am I?" They tilted their hood covered head to the side, locks of short black hair peeking through. Their skin was darker than my own, but then again, everyone's was. My father claimed that we were special due to our white hair and pale complexion. I knew that it was simply science. "I certainly didn't expect you here."

I didn't know where this was going, but I wasn't a fan of it. "Good, it means the job is done right." I couldn't see their facial expression, but the hood lifted a minute amount. "Why are you here?" I knew the answer to that already. I don't know why I asked it again.

"You know, you're asking pretty stupid questions." They stopped circling, moving towards the dresser I was at a few moments ago. "You've at least told me to take mirrors into consideration next time."

"There will not be a next time," I said and lunged. My blade ripped through the air by their hood. I could've sworn I felt the fabric graze the knife. The person ducked to the right and lifted an arm, pushing me away. I was expecting as much, they could see me in the mirror.

We faced each other with knives drawn, if theirs could be considered a knife. It was more akin to a dagger. My knife had one sharp ridge and one which was rather blunt. Theirs could be used to slash on either side, creating a point at the tip. They mustn't have a lot of confidence in their skills.

They kept dodging every attack. I wouldn't have minded, it was only natural, but they weren't fighting back. "Come on," I urged. "Play fair."

It wasn't until I slashed their cheek did they start to fight back. I managed to knock their hood off, at which point I was able to see their face clearly. Their black hair just about reached their shoulders, their brown eyes were focused on the blade in my hand. They had small features, a button nose and a little mouth. In any other circumstances, I would consider them adorable.

I cursed my thoughts as their blade sliced my own cheek, along with my scarf. The warm blood oozed down my face, no doubt being a stark contrast to my pale skin which was now visible. The scarf was becoming a nuisance, but I had to keep it on, it was still covering my hair.

Their slashes were confident, but their jabs were not. I used that to my advantage, pushing them away every time they went to stab me. I knocked them over and they stumbled over a glass coffee table, shattering it. They were quick to stand up, hand now sticky with blood.

"Whatever happened to leaving no evidence?" they questioned, getting a better grip on their dagger.

"We never practised no evidence." I slashed at them again, leaving little room for them to collect their thoughts. They continued to block me. I was learning their tactic, they were better at dodging. It tells a lot about how they were trained. Their focus was more on defence rather than offence.

A grunt left my lips as the back of my legs met with the bed, I hadn't noticed we had gotten this far back. I bit my lip so much that it bled as pain shot through my shoulder. I fell onto the bed, dropping my knife.

"Fuck, you're good." Her dagger had been removed from my shoulder. "Come on then, deal the final blow." I spread my arms out, ready for the impact of the blade.

"No," she said firmly.

"No?" I laughed bitterly at her. "I do not think this is the time to start saying no." The blood was making my clothes uncomfortable. I couldn't help but focus on the shooting pain. "You have shamed me, least you could do is finish me off."

They frowned at me. "Well, consider this a draw." They backed away until they reached the window they entered from. "See you another time, Dragon."

Before I could reply, she had thrown herself out of the window. "Later, Stranger." I shook my head and huffed. This mission may have been a success, but I had been a failure.