10
Forced
By Christina Long
Chapter One-The OrderI knock once on the door before poking my head inside. "You wanted to speak with me, Master Kiernan?" I ask.
The man in the middle of the room spins around, his black cloak twirling along with him. The only light in the room is the firelight from the fire in the fireplace. Because of this, long shadows dance across his devilish features. He strokes his goatee almost lovingly.
"Yes I did, my little beauty. Please...Take a seat," he says grandly while gesturing toward a empty chair. I scoot forward cautiously, hoping nothing bad has happened recently, because if something has, then I'm sure to get out of her with a broken bone and a dozen bruises at the least. It's almost as if he reads my thoughts, for he says, "Don't worry, my precious sparrow. All is well. It will even get even better now that you are here."
He moves closer and I move to the edge of my seat. "I have... a job for you, my darling," he says. "I need you to kill someone for me." I gasp. It's a moment before I recover and the whole time he just smiles that horrible smile.
"Don't you have your amazing skills though, Master?" I ask quietly. My 'master' is supposedly a magician, and when I say supposedly, I mean he's more devil than magician. "There are rules to magic, you see." He begins to pace around me. "One is that you can't cast a spell on another magician." This time I hold in my gasp, but just barely. If I have to kill a magician, then I might as well defy his request just so he can kill me.
"But the certain one I am referring to is that you can't kill your family. Tragedy, isn't it?" Part of me is relieved and part of me is dreading what is to come next. He stops his pacing and leans over to my ear to whisper, "I want you to kill my dearest son-in-law, Daren."