Double update just as promised falalalalalalalala. WARNING: This chapter on its own goes completely off-rails, so if you read this one then i strongly suggest that you read the next one as well, that is the purpose of this double update. Anyways, enough of that, i am sure you were intending to read both of the chapters anyway, but this was just a precaution. Enjoy chapter 14...
Chapter 14- Draconosis
Erik was sat at his desk looking at the many letters that had been forged in his handwriting. There was no possible way to tell who it was who had written them. It was driving him insane, he had to somehow work out who it was who was trying to mimic his life.
"Erik!" Christine called from the bedroom, "…could you feed the cats quickly please?"
Erik did not answer, he just got up and went though into the kitchen. I will find out who you are, you cannot stay hidden from me forever…
-
Wraith walked through two large stone doors. He could just hear everybody's voices now 'You were beaten by a woman? You, Wraith, beaten by a woman! Ha, well I never thought I would live to see the day…' Wraith cringed at the very thought of it.
He made his way down the dark stone passageways. There were only a few torches scattered here and there about the place, making it quite difficult to see. He wondered if he was going to be punished for his mistake…his unforgivable mistake. After all, nobody else had failed to complete a task, meaning that he, Wraith, would be the first one in history to do so.
What made this even more unbearable was that he was the one that had more experience than anyone else.
Maybe she was right…maybe you do need to be focused on the job no matter how small it may be… Wraith cursed under his breath, making his way down the labyrinthine passages.
Perhaps he was taking the whole thing the wrong way, perhaps everybody would feel sorry for him. "Yeah right…" Wraith muttered to himself, his voice echoing down the stone hallway.
A voice then popped into his head. If you are to earn respect, first you must complete the tasks you are given… "You got that right, and if you don't complete them you lose respect…" Wraith could not believe that he was talking to himself, but he was in such a state of shock at failing he did not much care.
It was the day after the attempted assassination of Anastasia Levian, and Wraith was now sure that the story would be on the front page of the newspapers. He could picture a headline reading something along the lines of 'One of 'The Two' fails to kill'. We all make mistakes I guess…
Wraith finally found himself standing outside the doors which lead into the main chamber. He did not really want to go through them, but he knew that he did not really have much choice anyway. It was time for him to swallow his pride. He took a deep breath, exhaled and then pushed open the heavy stone doors and walked through them.
The main chamber was only a little bit lighter than the dark passageways that he had just been walking down. He looked around, there were more people there than there usually were, and the person who he was looking for was nowhere to be seen.
It took Wraith quite a while to find who he wanted. During this time he was sure that people were giving him very strange looks, though it was difficult to tell as you could only see their eyes through their masks. He spotted who he was looking for sitting at a table with a drink in his right hand. Wraith took another deep breath and walked up to him.
The man in red looked up. "Nice of you to return…" There was something in his voice which Wraith definitely did not like the sound of. It was still the high pitched cold voice that he always used, yet it had a small note of sarcasm in it.
"Nice to be back!" Wraith spat, his voice echoing in the chamber. He was sure that everybody close to the two of them were eavesdropping.
"So…" The red figure said behind his mask, "…were you bored out of your brains yesterday, having nothing interesting to do?"
Wraith could tell that he definitely knew about his mistake. "Lots of fun thanks…"
People were actually starting to look straight at the two of them now. It was evident that they did not much care if he knew that they were listening to them. Wraith waited with baited breath for his colleague to say something, yet if he did not say something soon he was sure that he would be waiting for a long time.
"Actually…" Wraith began, fidgeting slightly with his hood, "…there was a sort of problem…well, a mistake. You may have heard something about it."
Red gave a small chuckle. "I think everybody in France has heard something about it!"
Wraith then noticed a newspaper on the table next to Red's drink. Wraith reached out a hand to pick it up, but Red stopped him before he had chance to. Wraith looked across the table at him questioningly.
"Please…" He began, picking up the paper, "…allow me to read it for you." All Wraith could do was sit back and listen to his colleague read what he was hoping never to hear in his life. " 'It seems that this murder mystery is hardly worth the effort. Yesterday one of 'The Two' failed to kill a female victim by the name of Anastasia Levian. Anastasia managed to defend herself with a pistol, police are still asking why she had a pistol in her possession, but all they are getting out of her so far is Shouldn't you be happy that I had it? Otherwise I would have died!"
Wraith could not believe what he was hearing. They had managed to get this story in the papers overnight. He could here people who were listening in to their conversation starting to mutter amongst themselves. Red continued to read the newspaper article to him.
" 'Perhaps there is no need to fear these two madmen. If a woman with no combat experience can take one of them then who can't? There may still be need to keep our guard up for the one dressed in red, but the one dressed in black now seems to be less threat to us than a cat which has been shot in the foot. For an interview with Anastasia Levian turn to page five."
Wraith sat there trying to take it all in. If people were going to find out about his mistake he would rather they heard it from his mouth rather than a paper. He waited for Red to continue, but he seemed to have said all that he wanted to.
"…what of it?" Wraith knew from the moment he said these words that a joke was going to be made out of them at once.
"What of it!?" Red thought that his ribs were going to crack from compressing his laughter so much. "Do you know how the boss is going to react when he sees you?"
The muttering started up again. Wraith did not know what to do, he had just been told that he was going to be seen by the boss, and that only happened if one of two things happened: If you did something to really impress him or if you did something to really annoy him. Wraith was sure that he had not impressed him with his 'mistake', though the word mistake was now becoming an understatement.
"Listen… I made a mistake alright? Which I am sure could happen to anyone…" Wraith could tell that a joke was probably going to be made out of this as well, but someone then came along who amazingly enough took his side.
"That's right…" The woman in the white coat had come to join in the conversation, "…you should all look back to when you first joined this organisation and remember just how much your superiors babied you!" People started shifting uneasily where they stood.
"Yes, but he has not 'just joined this organisation', in fact he has been here longer than most of us!" Red seemed to be winning this argument by far, all of the onlookers seemed to agree with him. "Sure, I was 'babied' as you call it when I first joined, but now I am going alone and what is my mistake count?" Everybody including Wraith was sure they knew what number they were about to be told. "Zero…" He put the tip of his index finger and his thumb together to make a zero sign.
The woman in the white coat looked as though she was about to run round the table and slap that masked face of his, which she did, but his reflexes were way too quick. He had grabbed her hand before it had come into contact with his face.
"You shouldn't be so full of yourself. It will eventually be your undoing." Red blinked, looking straight into the woman's piercing blue eyes.
"It is the confidence that I have which keeps me alive, if you are not sure of yourself in even the smallest way then…" He drew a finger across his throat, "…that would be game over for you wouldn't it?"
He released her hand, and she walked back round the table to stand behind Wraith. "Show's over!" She shouted at all of the people who had been watching this little argument, "Don't you have work to be getting on with." It sounded almost comical hearing her get angry in her posh accent.
Everybody went away. It was true that all of them had some sort of work to be getting on with. Wraith then turned to the man in the red cape, looking at him questioningly. Red knew what he was going to ask before he even asked it.
"When does the boss want to see me?" He sounded very fearful as he asked this question. The boss was obviously a person who you did not want to get on the wrong side of.
"He doesn't… that was just a scare tactic…" Wraith looked ready to kill, which he probably would have if the woman had not been amongst them.
"Scare tactic…" He muttered under his breath, having the urge to go and punch Red in the face, "…the things that came out of your mouth are enough to fill an entire sewer Red!"
"Crimson…" Red replied, looking straight at Wraith. Wraith himself wanted to look away. The red eyes were very unnerving to look into.
"Whatever…" Wraith got up and strode over to the far side of the large stone chamber, leaving both Red and the woman alone.
"Well, don't you have work to be getting on with yourself?" She asked him, still very annoyed at the way he had humiliated Wraith.
"No, otherwise I would not be having a drink." The woman thought that it must be very difficult to have a drink when you have a mask covering your entire face. The mystery of how he drank however was solved, every time he went to take a drink he would lift up his mask from the bottom slightly, revealing a small part of his face.
"It is a stupid rule that we have to wear these bloody things even when we are here…" Red said, scratching his face beneath his mask.
"You know the boss. He does not like to take chances. For all we know there could be a spy among us even now…" She sounded quite nervous beneath her posh accent.
"Hence why we use codenames even here." Red got up and went over to a door which led out of the main chamber. "I need to ask a favour of you…"
The woman thought that this was an extremely cheeky thing to say after what he had just done. "Which is?"
"I need you to write another letter." He pulled a piece of paper out of his inside cloak pocket and gave it to her, "You can do the handwriting better than anyone else."
"Yes, that is why I have been doing these damn things from the start…" She looked down at the paper to see what was written on it and sighed, "…how long are we going to have to keep up this charade for?"
"As long as it takes…" Red opened the door that they were standing next to and began to walk through it, "…what are you going to do now?"
"I have some very important work to be getting on with." She gave him a very meaningful look when she said the word 'important'.
"I see… that's very unlike you…" Anybody else hearing these words would have wondered why the woman did not get angry, but she simply chuckled and walked off.
She made her way to a very secluded part of the entire place, which took her a surprisingly short amount of time considering the size of the complex. She was standing in front of yet more stone doors, they were identical to all of the others that were around the place.
She opened the door. )n the other side was what appeared to be some sort of waiting room. "Sorry for the delay…"
In one of the many chairs in this room sat a young girl who looked as though she was in her late teens, looking quite at home in this sort of place. "What was the problem?"
"Just a self-obsessed bastard who needs a hard slap across the face…other than that, nothing." The girl got up and walked over to the woman.
"So…" She began, finally starting to realise the sort of place that she was in, "…what exactly is this place."
The woman led her down a passage, "…base of operations, headquarters. Call it what you like… some people even refer to it as 'home'."
"Home?" The girl asked curiously.
"Yes home, many of our members have no place to go…" Her voice sounded quite sad as she told the girl this.
"Members?" The girl was starting to feel more and more stupid due to her lack of knowledge.
"Members of Draconosis. That is our name." The girl seemed to understand, "You have been chosen because you show potential, like the rest our members you were handpicked, not randomly chosen from some archive…"
"Hand picked? You mean I have been being followed!?" She sounded a little angry at the thought of her privacy being invaded.
"No…" Began the woman, "…it means that you happened to be near one of our members when you demonstrated Draconosis quality."
The girl nodded to show that she understood. "When did I show that quality."
You are a very inquisitive person aren't you? Thought the woman to herself. "When you managed to 'Accidentally' kill somebody who was attacking you… yes, it was me who saw that, and from quite a distance as well…"
The girl seemed to know what the woman was talking about. "Where were you?"
"That does not matter…" The woman replied very quickly, "…what matters at the moment is that you know who we are and what we do. We are Draconosis, as you know, and we are a league of assassins as I am sure you have guessed."
"But if you are so secret…"
"If we are so secret…" The woman corrected her.
"Right… if we are so secret then how do we know if somebody wants someone killed?" To the girls great surprise the woman actually laughed.
"You are too inquisitive… but I suppose I can tell you. We do not assassinate for other people, we assassinate for ourselves. Every assassination that takes place is guaranteed to make us a profit some way or another…" The girl looked completely lost at this statement, "…think about it, the murder of Samuel Frelques. He had signed a deal for an estate in London. The estate was left in his will to one of our members. Of course nobody knows that…"
Everything seemed to be starting to make a lot of sense now. "But surely that takes a lot of time to set up?"
"Indeed it does, hence why we have so many members… it ensures that there is always a job available."
The girl was becoming more and more interested by the second. "So…I am a member?"
"Only if you want to be, we don't force membership on you, if you don't accept we just make sure you forget everything you have seen…" The woman then noticed the look of terror on the girls face, "…I don't mean death! Anyway, want a tour?"
The woman was being so polite to the girl it made it hard to believe that she was a killer. "Yes please."
She was shown round the massive facility, asking questions whenever she did not understand something that she was told. They passed a door which the woman did not explain what was behind.
"Hey, wait!" Called the girl. "You haven't showed me what this room is!"
The girl studied the door. In very untidy writing were two letters engraved into the stone. LL.
"You do not need to know about that door… nor do you really want to." There was a quiver in her voice as she said this.
The girl did not decide to press the matter. Eventually they came to a room full of weaponry. This was the kind of room that she loved the most.
"I am sure I don't really need to tell you, but this is the armoury." She gestured to the many weapons around her. In one corner of the room was a fireplace with a fire burning in it. "And now comes the question, do you want to join?"
"Yes." The girl replied, the woman was startled by her certainty.
"Good." She walked over to the fireplace and pulled out a poker. "You have until this touches you arm to change your mind."
On the end of the poker was the letter D. She had no intention of changing her mind. "I don't have to make any oaths of anything?"
"No, if you decide to betray us then that is your funeral…" She hovered the poker over a part of her arm. It was clear that her mind was set, so the woman pressed the poker as hard as she could into her arm.
To her surprise she did not scream, though it was clear that she was in quite a lot of pain. She pulled the poker away, now on her arm was a D, standing for Draconosis.
"Good, now it is up to you what your codename is…oh, and you must always wear a mask in headquarters, and talk to people using their codenames…"
"What is your codename?"
-
Wraith was still not over the humiliation. It had been hours since the argument had taken place, yet people were still giving him the looks that they had done then.
The doors to the chamber opened and in walked the woman in the white coat and a young girl. Wraith knew that this could only mean one thing. He saw Red walk up to the two of them.
"So, this is the new recruit?"
"Member." Replied the woman, "Fiora this is Red…"
"Crimson." Red corrected her, annoyed that he was not being called by his proper name.
"Is he the boss then?" She asked, reaching out a hand to shake Red's. The woman gave a small laugh at this.
"He wishes…" They all walked over to where Wraith was. "And this is Wraith…who I am sure you have heard about."
"Aren't you the one who couldn't kill Anastasia?" She asked, shaking his hand. Wraith nodded his head. "So, who is the leader or boss around here?"
"It would be wise for you to keep those sorts of questions to yourself, Fiora…" Replied Crimson in his high cold voice. "Oh, do you have the letter?" He asked the woman.
"Here." She held out the letter which Red had asked her to write. He read it. The handwriting was exactly like he wanted it to be.
"Wait around here, I need to go and check something…" Red walked off to the back of the massive chamber, where there were some stairs leading up to a very large stone door.
They all waited for his return, two of them knew what was through that door, where as Fiora was completely oblivious to what was going on. In a few minutes he returned.
"Right, your first job…" Fiora was taken aback that she was going to be doing a job so soon, "… you are to clear up the mess that Wraith left behind, just take out Anastasia Levian, and then we will be able to see if you are ready for more challenging jobs… you'd better accompany her." He finished, turning to the woman.
"Ok, let's go and get you kitted up…" She led Fiora back to the armoury, where she left her to pick a weapon of her choice.
It took her a short amount of time to find what she was looking for. She returned to the woman holding two sickles, one in each hand. The only thing that was left for her to do was to choose a mask. This also took a very short amount of time, she returned with a fiery red mask to match her name, Fiora.
"Right, are you ready?" The woman asked Fiora.
"Yes." The two of them left, heading for the exit of the whole facility.
Authors Notes: I will let you off if you choose not to review this chapter, but i would still like you to. Anyway, now you have finished it you can get on with the next chapter, which i PROMISE gets back on-rails. Happy reading...
R