Preface
Those wood, the woods at the edge of the mountains. That was a place of outcasts. No one ever, in their right mind would go in to those woods. So even stranger than what lurked in the dark was the cloaked figure that seemed to appear from absolutely nowhere.
It lingered at the edge, unsure if it dare proceed. Then once it made up its mind, it disappeared into the dark.
Carefully making its way through the darkness it made no sound just floated through the trees. It suddenly stopped to the sound of a wolf howling in the distance. It made a turn to the left and hid behind a big sequoia tree. This figure, unlike everything else in the woods was alive. It drew breath and produced a light fog in the air.
She peaked out from behind the tree but all that was seen was darkness and a pair of glowing red eyes. She stared blankly in fear.
"Hello empress, how have you been?" She turned quickly to run but before she knew it she was pinned against the tree. She sighed.
"Now Aiden, you should know better. Half the beasts in these God forsaken lands have no common sense, but you." He pushed her harder making her head hit the tree. "Out here your place in the clergy has no meaning; we have no ruler and no rules. Out here … you could be my lunch." He said licking her neck.
"What makes you think I came alone?" She smirked. "I don't smell any guards-" he sniffed the air "or anyone else."
"That doesn't mean there's no one here – Sam." A light fog appeared and then formed the shape of a man. "Sam? … as in your boyfriend? You actually killed the only person that ever loved you." He loosened his grip, "No, I didn't but when he died he chose to stay with me forever."
He stayed quiet for a long time. "Either way I have nothing to lose." He tore her cloak off and pulled her head back to expose her neck. "Have you ever heard of the village outside of Kindle?" He immediately stopped. "Because I think you do have something to lose, and if you were to kill me Sam would ring the alarm and before you could do anything, soldiers would swarm the village without mercy." He shoved her against the tree and began to walk away.
"Don't walk away from me. I came to give you a job." He stopped and in a second he was in her face again. "Whii the hell would I want to help you?"
"Same reason as before and you will get paid as well." Sam floated to her cloak in hand-she took it and put it on. He thought about it but then figured he really had no other option. "Fine, I'll do it. What do you want?" She pulled a bag from inside her cloak.
"These belong to the girls I want you to kill." She smiled wickedly. He reached into the bag a got 2 small boxes out. In one box there was a hair ribbon, in the other there was a light blue sweater. "Who are they? Why do you want them dead?"
She started to walk away as Sam evaporated. "Oh, Aiden that's for me to know and you to find out." With a laugh she disappeared into the shadows again leaving Aiden in the dark.