Prologue
Normally these kinds of books would start with either a sad scene intended to make the reader feel sorry for the main character or a really intense situation to fill the reader with adrenaline, so here's how my story starts…
The grass as well as some twigs crunched and broke under my steady steps as I stalked my prey, he was a middle aged man with a light brown hair green eyes and he stood about 5.9 feet tall, he was dressed elegantly suggesting that he was an Aristocrat, the Aristocrats were your typical common people who usually only cared for one person and one person only, themselves, this made them easy prey for assassins since nobody would mourn the loss of these selfish bastards. This guy in particular was commonly known in the black markets as ''Dollar Donkey'', he was given this nickname by the those he stole from, children, elders, name them, he has stolen from them and the fact that his face looked like a donkey didn't help him to relieve that name.
I had been given intel on him and every rumor and piece of information I got just made me hate this man more and more, in general this man was a pig who couldn't keep his hands out of everyone else's pockets, and knowing this made me want to finish this assignment faster so he could get what had been coming to him for so long. Yet I somehow could not decide on how his reign of terror should end, slow and painful, fast and painless, I had been trained in both and the death of all my victims would depend on their reputation and how they were seen by the people.
This mans' reputation was similar to his face…..dark and ugly…
I kept to the dark embrace of the surrounding shadows and used them to my advantage as I approached the pig of a man, to scare him I stepped onto a few twigs making them crack loudly, and to my amusement he turned his head to where the sound came from with fear plastered onto his face. I took a deep breath before singing a tune I used to make my victims fear what they could not see.
''Ring, a ring a rosies'' I sang as I steadily approached still covered by the darkness
The man turned around to pin point where the song was coming from, a look of recognition and fear evident on his face
''A pocket full of posies'' I sang as I started to edge out of the shadows
He started to shake in fear and gulped down a shaken breath
''Ashes, ashes'' I continued as made my way into the light
He started to panic and slowly to steps to get away
''We all fall down'' I finished as I stepped in front of him an arrow strung ready in my bow, he had no time to react as the arrow shot outwards and embedded itself deep in his chest, the force was so great that he flew through the air till his body landed on the ground with a heavy 'thump'.
Finally…..now he would not be able to hurt anyone else….
''May your evil ways die along with you'' I said as I approached the body and picked the arm up checking for any sort of wound. After finding that he was mostly clear of any major wounds I dropped the arm, tore off all jewelry and using my knife I cut the head off before stuffing it in a sack and making my way back to the village.
Chapter 1
The village people cheered with excitement as they opened the sack and threw the head into a fire that hungrily dug in and devoured until it was nothing more than a pile of dust. I smiled in the shadows and slunk into the dark woods that surrounded the small cozy village, the shadows are where I felt the safest after the incident that started this life for me.
I was too weak….I couldn't fight back…..it's my fault….
Those screams still haunted my ears and made me cringe and gulp in fear, I remembered the pain and fear that I had experienced back then but my memory was interrupted when I sensed a presence behind me and I turned around ready for battle, but I only came face to face with a very familiar face.
''Shadow'' I greeted with a nod and a smile
Still sneaky as the first time we met…..
Shadow looked at me and took off her hood to reveal her pale face, long straight black hair and golden eyes. She smiled showing off her pearly canines and threw her arms around me pulling me into a hug, she was always like this ever since she first came into the team.
By team I mean a group of supernatural female assassins, as individuals we were all equally deadly but together we were unstoppable, there were 5 of us and each of us were a different supernatural beings that is the reason why we were so unstoppable.
As assassins we all had nicknames so we nobody could know who or what we are, 'Shadow' was a werewolf and got her nickname from killing her victims in the shadows and she was so good at it that none of her victims had survived. Other from being an assassin Shadow was still a young woman with a fiery personality and so much curiosity that you could of sworn she was the one who killed the cat, she was really young when we found her and after helping her to join the guild she was like a little sister to me and she thought of me as her older sister, which I didn't mind at all.
''Nightmare, I missed you so much'' she said still hugging me.
Even though her nickname was shadow, her personality shone brilliantly through her eyes…
''I missed you to Shadow'' I said hugging her back
'Nightmare' was my nickname since I was half demon and half angel, this nickname was given to me because I had the power to manipulate the minds' of my victim, my most powerful move was when I made my victims experience their worst fears in the form of a horrid nightmare.
It may sound horrible….but….if they are wanted dead by so people…they deserve whatever they got…..
Shadow soon let me go and dragged me in the direction of where our guild sheltered, it was a a cave in the side of the cliff, this was the perfect place for our shelter since nobody came close to this cliff because no human would be stupid enough to wonder out this far into the wilderness unless they had a death wish.
''So how was your latest assignment?'' Shadow asked me with a curious smile, she knew what I was and how I did my job.
''He will not be causing any more pain to the good people of that village'' I said with a victorious smirk.
We clambered down the cliff face till we reached the entrance and walked in banging on the front door before opening it and entering the place that we call home. The corridor inside the cave was long until we got to the living quarters, each room had a curtain in the entrance to act as a door, there were 12 rooms in total and there were more assassins than just the ones in my group.
There were 5 males who were also in a group of their own, and finally the last 2 people were the bosses that controlled the entire guild. Having men around helped the girls to not try and kill each other during our arguments and us girls did the same for the boys, but if we got too rough the 2 bosses would quickly put each of us back into line. As girls we liked our privacy and besides that the boys already knew that if we caught them looking through our drawers or come in when we were dressing we would not hesitate to give them a large scar so they could be reminded, it was different if we were caught in their rooms though as they wouldn't hesitate to show us how they thought we should be ''punished''.
Not that it hadn't happened before…
I walked down the long tunnel and turned right, the turquoise curtain hung in the doorway and the bells that hung loosely jingled as I pushed open the curtain and entered my room. I unbuckled and took off my chest armor before hanging it on the dummy that was stationed close to the entrance of the room, I only needed chest armor as well as shoulder and knee armor since I was able to heal but for safety reasons I kept my most vulnerable areas covered. Finally I took off all weapons except for the 2 small knives hidden in my boots and hung them on the wall next to all the other weapons that I have, each and every weapon had been collected from the assignments that made me take out fierce warriors, thieves and assassins. Out of all these weapons I preferred the Ebony bow, and a Palladium short sword with matching daggers , these were my favorite because they hit with so much force and strength that it was hard to believe how precise they actually were.
My chest plate, gauntlets and knee bracers were silver and made out of the strongest metals I could find, this small factor made it all the more stronger .
Speed and strength…..these made for a quick and deadly combination….
''Everyone please make your way into the dining room now'' yelled our male leader
With a sigh I looked at my armor once more before heading towards the dining room, curious as to know why we were being called there.
I wonder what he wanted this time….
Chapter 2
The cave was bright since it was the middle of the day and the hallway was lengthy in how long it was from the entrance, even though we took time of our busy days to clean and sweep, some dust and dirt still hid in the smallest of corners alongside the small insects that occasionally gained enough courage to scurry out and run around the bedrooms.
These small factors did not bother me however, since I spent a number of years in this cave so it felt like home to me and the other people in this assassin guild were more than just my colleagues, they were my family and we all loved each other like a family.
My thoughts were interrupted when suddenly someone jumped onto my back making me grab their legs so they wouldn't fall off
''Nightmare carry me'' a child's voice excitedly rung out from behind me.
That voice, I would know it anywhere, my attacker was a little boy about the age of 13 and he too thought of me as an older sibling, he hadn't been given a nickname yet because he wasn't old enough to be an assassin but nevertheless we still took care of him and treated him like the younger sibling since he had no family when we found him.
The cutest and most loving little boy…..
I smiled as I entered the dining room, oak furniture was set up in the middle of the room and the smell of hot freshly cooked food filled the room making stomach rumble as I had not eaten in a couple of hours. Almost immediately everyone gathered in the room and took their seats same as always and we chatted amongst each other until our male leader stood up making us immediately keep quiet and focus all our attention on him.
His position in the guild commanded not only our attention…but our respect too…..
He smiled at us with a grin that made his old leathery skin crease, to him we were his children and he was our father, he was also one of the most notorious assassin known worldwide for his brutality and precise killings, amongst all the assassins he was ranked number one on the list of the most feared, his nickname was ''Necromancer'', and it suited him well because he could raise the dead and cause them to fight or kill for him, this made him a nightmare as an opponent but a badass as a partner.
With the smile still present on his old face he raised a goblet filled with wine in the air and looked at each of us before taking in a breath and speaking aloud
''My fellow assassins, we have all faced harsh decisions to get to where we are today, but even though we've had our differences we are a guild of the world's best warriors. I look around and I see young men and women that have proved themselves to the point of no return, I see a bond of friendship, nay, of family growing each and every day and binding us all together'' his loud voice rang out throughout the room.
After his speech we all raised our cups of Ale or Grape Juice - for the little ones - , clanged them together as we all yelled in chorus ''To the guild'' and with our voices still echoing throughout the cave we raised our drinks to our lips and drank in honor of the guild.
Each side of the table had the guild members sitting next to each other, the boys sitting on the one side while the girls sat on the other and our leader sat at the head of the table.
On my left sat the eldest of the girls, the twins ''Frostbite'' and ''Ember'' who were demons and were given these nicknames because they had the power to either freeze their victims or burn them, but they were best known for working together in every assignment, the two of them had wavy hair but ''Frostbite'' had white hair while ''Ember'' had fiery red hair.
A truly effective and powerful combo…
On my right sat the second youngest, ''Oceanus'' with brown hair and she had been given this nickname because she was a Siren and could control or manipulate water to her will.
Beautiful and powerful….her eyes showed the beauty of the ocean…..
Next to her sat the youngest girl nicknamed ''Shadow''.
Little misfit….
On the other side of the table sat the boys, starting with the oldest boy who was the son of our leader and that meant he was also a Necromancer but he was nicknamed ''Demon'' because he could manipulate the souls of the dead to do what he wanted.
Hmph…pretty boy…..
Next to him was the second oldest was a red headed Shape-Shifter nicknamed ''Killer'' because he could use his power to manipulate the body of his victims.
His hair reflected his personality….fiery…..
Next was the third oldest boy who was a Demon and was nicknamed ''Virus'' because he could manipulate any source of harmful bacteria or poison to kill his victims.
Truly a deadly ally…..
The second youngest was a blonde hair and blue eyed Dark Angel nicknamed ''Predator'' because he could manipulate any predator animal to do what he wished.
His ego was always a pungent odor…
The last boy on their side was the youngest boy with blonde hair and green eyes who wasn't nicknamed yet because we hadn't found out what he could do and he was too young to be sent on assassination missions, so we knew him by his real name ''Derek''. Lastly our female leader sat at the head of the table directly opposite of our male leader and her nickname was ''Elementia'' because she was an Elf and could bend magic to her whim, thus making her a fierce opponent on the field but powerful ally, she had green eyes and short orange hair.
Our male leader could hardly keep his hands off her because of her looks…..
We all had been given nicknames so we could be safe when living our normal lives outside the guild and we referred to each other by our real names when we weren't working, I was the third oldest girl and I helped to train the new members when they joined no matter what their age so they would be able to protect themselves if they were ever attacked.