The place was quiet, eerily so. The kind of quiet you only got after a night of activity and a rush of adrenaline felt by all.
I debated using the window, but there were too many extra warriors around. Besides, I was more shielded under the mask I created—a terrified shell of a girl looking for water and comfort after a trying night of mysterious death.
No one was outside the door and no sound at all in the hallway. I didn’t bring a light source; instead ran a hand along the familiar corridors.
I didn’t waste my time here. The past few years were spent memorizing, learning, and planning. I knew this place better than anyone. I spent days walking the packhouse before I was allowed out of it. I counted the stairs, memorized the turns, knew the feel of the hallway when it curved slightly, telling me I was about to reach another alcove. I could walk this place with my eyes closed, and I have done it before.
No one was downstairs, not even nurses, but who needed to guard a dead man anyway?
I listened to the door that I suspected to be his and heard soft footsteps against a thick rug.
Shit.
I backtracked to an alcove with a curtain and hid, waiting.
A few minutes later, Dalton’s mate walked out, leaning her back against the shut door. In the dim flickering lights, she breathed out, and a huge smile crinkled her black eye.
She let out a joyous laugh and covered her mouth, nervously looking around. She shook her head a few times and bit her lip, schooling her face to look more like someone who lost their beloved mate and didn’t just escape their abuser and possibly their imminent death at his hands.
I let myself feel good for a moment. Seeing that I could bring her that joy, even because of someone's death, made me feel not too scared at what I was becoming - how taking lives had become so easy for me.
It didn’t matter, though. I wouldn’t stay alive long after my vengeance was complete. I wanted to rejoin my family, my pack, in the afterlife.
I just needed a damn good story to tell them when I got there.
The hall was silent for a few moments before I let myself slip into his room.
Candles surrounded him like a vigil, and it was mildly poetic.
His eyes were wide, and he seemed to stare into the abyss. I checked his pulse. It was slow, so slow you might not notice.
“Hello, Dalton,” I purred, leaning over the bed so he could see me.
He groaned, and it was sweet, sweet music to my ears. His mate must have known he was alive too. I hope she got to say her words of parting, damning him.
“Remember me?” I leaned back. “I’ll give you two guesses,” I tilted my head frowning.
“You don’t remember? Let me joy your memory. We’ve been here before..” I wrapped my hand around the hair at the nape of his neck and pulled it tight so he was forced to look up at me. “It was something like this, but we were in opposite positions.” I smiled at him sweetly.
“I was vulnerable and weak, and you took advantage of that. Apparently, took it into your own hands to enact violence against a child.” I shrugged. “Unfortunately, we don’t have much time to work through your mental depravity. Pity.” I let his head fall back.
“I’m just here to fulfill a promise; I am nothing if not a woman of my word.”
I let the anger course through me; let some of it out of the tight box I kept it locked in. It flared to life and seemed to surround me, begging to be let out.
I liked this version of me. At least I liked her better than the weak person I played. The assassin coming to enact vengeance against everyone that wronged her.. Now, that felt good.
Even if neither of those personas was the real me, I didn’t know who I really was anyways. But this was power. This was everything I had been lacking and everything I was craving.
“Can you tell me how you feel? When you woke up from what I was assuming was a brief coma?” He might have made a sound. “No?”
“Funny thing is when you mix dried juniper with water, it acts as a poison, but if you only use a small dose, it can be a fantastic paralyzer. Mixed with fresh fireheart, and I mean..” I shrugged. “A small drop on the inside of your glass, and I can only guess that sensation in your throat.” I smiled at him. “Care to tell me about it?” I leaned over him so he could see me.
I pulled back. “No? Hm, so we’re not behaving then, are we?”
I punched him hard in the gut, and foamy spit shot out of his mouth. If I cared enough, I would be disgusted.
“What's the problem? Can’t say anything?” I punched him again, and he barely wheezed.
“Come on bitch, you dumb bitch say something.” I almost shouted and pulled back, hitting him hard in the gut.
“At least your mate is safe. Hopefully, she will find someone who can actually satisfy her.” I flipped my braid back over my back. “I don’t think she will miss you, but just in case, shall we give her a keepsake?”
His eyes might have widened in the candlelight, and I reveled in his fear.
I sighed, really not wanting to do this, but even more than that, I needed to quell my anger. I let too much of it out, and it was demanding blood. His blood.
I took the knife out of my pants and pulled him down.
His eyes widened. Further, the muscles in his jaws clenched.
“Please, this hurts me more than you,” I wrapped my hand in the sheets, so I didn’t have to touch it, and before I could think…
I took his limp manhood.
I closed my eyes, breathing against the bile rising in my throat. It didn't escape me that this was the first penis I touched—hopefully the last.
I was going to bleed him anyways, and this would work, I tried to ration with myself. I grabbed a fresh towel from the closet and put it in there.
“I’ll make sure your mate gets this with my regards.” I held up the bloodied cloth. “Not that she would want this pathetic thing,”
His eyes shot back into his head, and as he sat in his pain, I covered him back up and cleaned myself in the small bathroom, discarding my shirt in the fire.
“I almost forgot to thank you for pulling me out of my stupor. Now I’ll put you out of yours.” Two small, perfectly placed incisions would do the job if nothing else did.
I threw on my discarded nightgown by the door.
“Bitch.” I spat as I slipped out.