Hello, all of my fabulous, beautiful, and sassy readers! It is I, AdamineTerra! I shall be the one to take you on a journey to the kingdom of Lancet in the world of Fiore.

Since this is Book Four in my Mages of Lancet Series, I hope you're keeping up.

Prepare to enter a kingdom in which equal rights aren't so equal and the demons that lurk in the shadows are more allies than the angels that fly in the sky. All of my events are based off of real life events. I took pieces from history such as the Berlin Wall for my Wall of Lancet and the Underground Railroad for my Magic Railroad.

If you like a story that is somewhat based in fact, then you've found your writer.

I hope that you all enjoy Book Four, Hired to Kill. It's my love story of an untouchable assassin and a shadow who just can't stop reaching out to her.

"The only thing that comes to people that love me is pain-" Katja Saab

"Just because you can't trust anyone doesn't mean that you shouldn't let someone change that way of thinking-" Rogue Cheney

Grand Magic Games

In the night she stalked. In the light she served. As the top assassin in King Isaac's Royal Guard, it was Katja Saab's duty to keep the kingdom safe. With her face covered except for her brilliant, hazel eyes, she lurked atop the rooftops of the kingdom's capital. Her body was nothing but a shadow as she hunted in her assassin's clothing.

Her entire body was sheathed. Her black gauntlets glistened against the starry night sky. Her leather encased legs moved seamlessly. Even in her heeled boots, Katja was a silent stalker.

The night had been so calm. King Isaac slept peacefully in his rooms. The gatekeeper, that douche bag, was positioned somewhere, thankfully, far away from her. The king's regent, Hollis, was asleep instead of enjoying the night with her. Felix, the sword of the kingdom, was probably sharpening his massive zweihӓnder somewhere in the darkness of his bedroom. The only person Katja could enjoy this cloudless night with was her usual comrade in arms, and that was her brother, Sven.

The two of them were inseparable. Ever since their mother was killed by a Norman, or normal human, the brother and sister duo had become closer than ever. At early ages they had been bought and sold to a Norman that went by the name of Gatlin, a noble bastard who was now in King's Isaac's dungeon. Before their mother had died, she had fed them small doses of poison every day. With each day their tolerances would increase until one day their bodies themselves became poisonous to the touch. It had been their mother's precaution so that Gatlin could never physically touch them, but on the day that she'd been murdered for an attempt on Gatlin's life, she died without ever revealing a cure to their poisonous bodies. Only the two of them could ever touch each other's skin without being subject to poisoning. Thus, the only people they ever turned to was each other.

At least, that used to be the case. When Lancet was liberated by a mighty battle between Lancet's Norman army and the King's allied forces of Fiore guilds and Lancet guilds, Katja and her brother had wound up becoming a part of King Isaac's Royal Guard. Now, Katja's small world had opened up to her comrades in the guard and the kind king himself.

No longer was she a slave bound to her master's word. Katja was a free woman, a free assassin, with contracts given to her by the most powerful man in Lancet. Life wasn't all rainbows and butterflies, but it was a hell of a lot better than it used to be when her only defense against her master's hand was her poisonous body.

Katja back flipped off of someone's roof and landed perfectly atop another person's chimney. Even with her high heels, she didn't make a single sound. Katja was the master of sexy footwear and silent assassinations. Of course, she didn't make sound.

With a self-satisfied grin, Katja cartwheeled off of the chimney then landed on the city streets. Her black trench coat, inspired by the king's favorite choice in attire, fluttered down to hit the backs of her knees, and Katja continued to patrol the capital.

The night was about to be deemed boring until a blood curdling scream ripped through Katja's sensitive hearing. Like a bullet Katja charged in the direction of the horrific screech. Instead of going around buildings in the square, Katja ran up the side of one then charged across rooftops. Leaping over an onion dome, Katja sucked air at the sight spread out before her.

Blood soaked the cobblestone streets. Two bodies were laid out in the city's central fountain. Their blood contaminated the once sparkling, pure water, and Katja felt her feet falter for the first time all night.

She stutter-stepped and nearly tumbled off the roof to her doom. She would have had her younger brother not been there to catch her on the way down. Her younger brother sat her on her feet, but he didn't say a word. If anything, Sven's calculating gaze had settled on the humans in the fountain and hadn't moved.

His gloved hand clenched and unclenched at his sides, but a civilian was the one who spoke the words in his head. A woman whimpered, "W-When will it end?"

When indeed. The kingdom of Lancet may have been freed from Norman tyranny, but that didn't mean that the normal humans treated mages any better. If anything, this fight for equality was making the murders worse. The suppressed mages of Lancet seemed to be coming up quicker and quicker the longer that Isaac, a mage king, sat on the throne.

With feminine steps, Katja walked towards the bodies floating in the fountain. Nordic gods were portrayed in the fountain. Thor had a mage's body draped over his stone arm, and Lady Sif cradled a mage in her embrace. Not only were these kills fresh, they were placed. Katja could tell not only by their arrangement but by the amount of blood that trailed on the streets. Whoever had killed this couple had made sure that their deaths were… bloody.

As an assassin, Katja knew death well. It was her trade, but no longer was Katja permitted to kill without explicit orders from the king. The many murders she'd committed herself flashed in her mind, but she put them in her Time Out Box.

Turning to her equally well versed in murder brother, Katja asked, "Normans?"

"Gotta be. These are Grimm guild marks." He reached over with his gloved hands and pulled out one of the arms on the deceased. Sure enough, Grimm's mark was tattooed across the flesh. It was in a hidden spot, so the member wasn't the master. Still, it didn't make the situation any better. Grimm would want answers. It was Katja and Sven's job to find those answers, but this was the fifth murder they'd seen this month. Neither sibling had found a single culprit.

"Should we wake the king?" she asked to her ever wise brother.

Sven narrowed his hazel eyes. Even though he was younger than her, Sven was much wiser, smarter. His calculating eyes had never stopped looking so haunted ever since he and Kat had been forced to watch as their mother was tortured before their very eyes. That day had turned Sven into the most perceptive mage Kat had ever known, but it hadn't done anything like that to Kat. The only thing it had done was led her to create a mental Time Out Box where she stored all kinds of horrible memories. This murder was going to go right into that box after they cleaned up the bodies.

After a moment of silence, Sven inclined his head. "I'll wake him. Check around for any witnesses. I'm sure the Magician's Alliance will want to have a hey-day with this one," he grumbled out.

Katja knew what he was feeling. The Magician's Alliance was something like a mage police force. They had their detectives and their cops, but what they didn't have was a sense of true justice. Most of the mages that applied to be a part of the alliance were a bunch of trigger happy mages. They just wanted a title that allowed them to accuse Normans of everything that was wrong in the world. Sven and Kat were essentially over them with their whole Assassin Title, but it didn't make the job any easier. Every time Kat had to interact with one of them, they accused her of being a Norman Sympathizer. Thus, Katja had to have Sven restrain her from using her Poison Body Magic to deliver something deadly inside some cocky sonofabitch.

Checking her poison tipped gauntlets like how some prissy woman would check her nails, Katja looked around the city square. The woman that had screamed Bloody Murder at the sight of the bodies was quivering in both fear and rage. Since that looked like the right place to start, Kat sauntered over to the woman, a mage woman.

Isaac drummed his nails against the arm of his throne. Well, nails probably wouldn't be the right term. When Isaac was pissed off, his nails turned black and lengthened into impressive talons. Since Isaac was pissed off at the moment, his talons were playing Beethoven's Fifth against his golden throne.

It didn't deter Sven one bit. He was accustomed to his king's temper. He may not understand the man's seemingly bottomless amount of compassion for the fellow man, but he was accustomed to the fact that senseless murder in Isaac's kingdom equaled one angry king. And, Isaac Grigori angry was not something you wanted to reckon with.

"This couldn't have happened at a worse time," Isaac finally bit out. The man was still in his sleep clothes. How a male managed to look enraged when sitting on a golden throne and wearing nothing but some pinstriped boxers and an eye patch was beyond Sven, but Great King Isaac managed to keep up his image.

"Yes, my King. I know, but-"

Isaac held up his hand to stop Sven. "Stop. Just stop it with the whole 'My King' bullshit. You know how that pisses me off. I've broken everyone of it but you."

After readjusting what he was about to say, Sven restarted, "Yes, Isaac. I understand that this is a bad time, but something more has to be done about these murders. The Alliance is trigger happy and just wants a reason to kill Normans, and I suspect that this operation is much larger than a serial killer."

Reclining in his throne, Isaac pinched the bridge of his nose. "And right when I was going to get to see Kagura again. I mean, really, does the world hate me?" After letting loose an aggravated breath, Isaac added, "The Grand Magic Games held in Crocus each year has decided to include Lancet mages. Toma and I decided to hold it here in capital Lance. I was hoping that you and the rest of the guard could partake along with some other guilds from the kingdom, but with these murders it doesn't look like we're going to be able to hold the games."

Under his breath, Isaac muttered, "And, I promised Kagura I'd have it set up before she got here. She's going to dissect me. Haven't seen her in weeks. Can you even dissect someone with a sword sheath?"

Sven's eyes narrowed. He'd heard of Fiore's expansion this year. Katja had been extremely excited about it. She'd been planning on participating even if it was just to sit in the stands. It would be the first public affair that she'd ever gotten to go to, and it would be the first time that she'd gotten to go to a ceremony without having to kill someone for a contract.

He wracked his brain for all kinds of excuses to permit the games to stay in Lance. He had never seen his sister smile in years, and just recently she'd been able to. The Time Out Box of horrible memories in her head wasn't overflowing with new disasters. As a little brother it was not only Sven's job to make sure he bugged the hell out of his big sister, but he also had to make sure that she stayed happy. Then, a light bulb went off in his head.

"My K-Isaac, I have noticed something familiar with each murder," Sven finally realized.

When Isaac simply arched one of his dark brows, Sven continued, "Each murder victim has been a mage set to go to the Grand Magic Games. I assume it has something to do with the fact that mages were formerly never allowed to participate in grand events. A Norman probably sees this as another chance for them to be deemed as more than just slaves."

The dark lengths that were Isaac's talons faded to white as his ire was soothed. Sven watched them recede back to normal, square nails. Leaning forward in his throne, Isaac asked, "And, this is information Colin has given to you?"

Sven nodded. "Yes, my… Eh… Isaac. He only vaguely mentioned it. He didn't seem to be too concerned with the connection, but with these two new deaths being deemed the same, I am positive that's the case. Perhaps, we could offer our protective services to the guilds. We would travel with them and stay in the same hotel as them. Once they were settled in bed each night, we could patrol the city for assassins."

As Isaac pondered the suggestion, Sven felt his hands forming into hopeful fists. Come on, Isaac. Take the bait, he thought.

"That'd be better than us just smacking skulls each time we found a body. It would give the guilds some relief, too. Alright, Sven, I'll get the news out. We'll hold a meeting with the Alliance and let them know. The masters of Kindred Spirit have recently gotten involved. I appointed Spyro over the Alliance when he showed interest." Isaac rose from his throne, he was just about to dismiss Sven when one of his Shadows connected to the one Isaac's body laid across the throne room. The shadow absorbed in Isaac's body, instantly giving the man a message.

By the look on Isaac's face, the message wasn't a good one. His entire visage, one that had been calming, shot back to his previous look of thick tension. Isaac's eyes narrowed, and his single, visible eye glistened.

He shot Sven a look. "Colin just got a message from Fiore. Normans are attempting to shut down all ports to stop the incoming mages."

Leaping from his stance, Sven snatched his gear up from the ground. "Want the guard to assemble?" he asked.

"Colin said he has the matter under control for now. He already alerted Felix, and he's on his way. Before you go, grab your sister. We have to stop this foolish uprising if we want to keep the games on the table. After I alert King Toma of our situation, he may decide to cancel the games anyway."

With that possible threat hanging in the air, Sven ignored the grand wooden door behind him. His body charged directly passed his king, and the assassin leaped from the castle's fourth floor. As the air whipped his sandy blonde hair heavenwards, Sven whispered, "I will make sure you're safe, Katja."

For those of you who are still interested in reading on, do not fear! I'll have chapter two up in just a bit. Also, Book Five of my Mages of Lancet Series will be coming out tonight. The name of that one is Spirits. It's about Bickslow's little sister and a certain whiskey drinker we all know and love. :D