Ch.4 - Assaults and Insults
Disclaimer - My Psychologists have convinced me I am not Eoin Colfer, meaning I don't own Artemis Fowl.
"Did you finish him?" Asked a raspy voice from the darkness.
"No, my mistress, I could not. Someone interfered and they retreated." Answered the defeated assassin.
"You have failed me, perhaps I need to replace you..." the raspy voice continued fading out.
"No, Mistress! I shall not fail again!" A gunshot broke off the whining, and now fallen assassin.
"Too late." Came a new voice. A man stepped through the smoke. He was tall, and well built with muscles rippling every place you would expect, and even in some places you wouldn't expect. The first thing that would draw your eyes would be the hair. It was shoulder length red dreadlocks, framing an all too sinister face. The face held a sadistic glint. A glint that said he could tear you inside out with his bare hands, leave you in the dirt and not loose sleep over it.
"I doubt he'll fail you again." The new assassin said. He had not chosen his job because of the money. He had chosen it because it was something he enjoyed doing. A combination that was all too dangerous in an adversary.
"The target will be at a restaurant tonight, the address is in your packet." Raspy voice informed, throwing a manila envelope at the feet of the killer. "I will supervise tonight's events."
"Claudia have you reviewed the plan again?" Artemis demanded of the young hybrid.
"How many times do I have to tell you yes before you comprehend it?" Claudia she wanted to yell, but instead she answered with a quiet "Yes." "We go to dinner, with Butler on ops and Juliet waiting in the wings. The Assassin comes, and WHAM! We incapacitate him and drag him to Fowl Manor for a thorough interrogation and beating." Claudia recited. Artemis' true plan had more details, but she had just given him a slight outline.
They where inside the Bentley, preparing to go into a restaurant with an odd name. Something like "Teirnan's Pub and Grille." It was one of Dublin's other four-star restaurants. Everybody nodded, giving the signal to move out.
Claudia and Artemis exited the car. Claudia looked like a regular little Goth, unlike Artemis' sophisticated look. The calf-length trench coat she wore concealed a buzz baton Mulch had given her, as well as a set of throwing knives, which where located in wrist sheathes. Sure, it might weigh her back, but when the time came she would remove the trench coat. She also wore a skirt of black tulle with bows of satin ribbon hanging down limply. She had done her raven hair up in a hair tie that made the illusion that she had tiny blood red braids in her hair. She had changed corsets, opting for one of blood red satin with patterns of roses in black crushed velvet. Artemis was one of his new Armani suits, but he hadn't gelled his hair back. Claudia had convinced him it would look suspicious. Actually, she had done it because she quite like the way his length black hair fell around his blue eyes.
They entered the restaurant, and while Artemis requested his reserved table for two, outside so if the murderer was fairy they could attack. All eyes had turned to Claudia in her spike heels and trench coat. Teenage boys' here owned most of the eyes' on dates. She didn't belong here, and people wondered why she WAS here. Just that moment, Artemis coiled his armed around her waist, letting his hand rest on her hip. Had to look the part, right? Claudia couldn't look that part if she wanted to. Artemis led her to the outside patio, edged out by hedges that were covered in Christmas lights. He pulled out the chair for her, Claudia suspected him to pull it out from under her at the last moment, and like all of the other boys she had dated. Of course, this wasn't a date, and Artemis pushed the chair with her in it under the table.
From Claudia's point of few she could see everybody and everything that could come near Artemis. Her back was to the corner of the building and tall trees that lined the hedges. It would be hard for you to sneak up on her. Claudia nearly expected the assassin to just pop out of nowhere the instant they sat down, but that was hardly the case. The two teenagers actually had time to talk. Artemis actually found out Claudia's real age, it was sixteen, a year younger than him, seeing as he would be seventeen this year, and she had just turned sixteen. Claudia discovered that Artemis Fowl the Second might actually have a human side. Maybe. Claudia had a salad, objecting to eat anything else but salad and water seeing as it could weigh her down if she had to fight tonight. Artemis had a fillet mignon that he said was actually very exquisite.
It was just about time for Artemis to pay the check when a sleek figure dropped down behind him. Claudia somersaulted onto and across the table, throwing her trench coat off while airborne. She landed behind the assailant, giving him a nice blow to he head with the handle of her buzz baton before he turned around and backhanded her. The slap spun her around, but didn't take her to the ground. He threw a punch at her, but she grabbed his forearm, twisting it around her shoulder and throwing him, but he was obviously well trained and break fell, before jumping to his knees and pummeling into Claudia. He took her to the ground with her, his opaque sunglasses falling to shatter as they did so. His violent red dreadlocks covered her face. It was then she got a good look in his eyes. The irises where three-dimensional just like hers. The man smirked, "You shouldn't attack people so suddenly...it might spook them." He said, carving a thin shallow line down Claudia's cheek with talon of a fingernail. Claudia shrieked as the man licked the blood from the cut. She drew a knife from the wrist sheath, slashing him across the chest. His ego wounded, he fell backwards, screaming curses at her. But, it was behind him that shocked her. There, hovering in the air, very visible and smiling, was somebody she hadn't seen in a long time.
The assassin came for Claudia again, a look of desire and rage in his eyes. Almost like the butcher coming for a fresh piece of meat. Claudia crawled backwards were she was helped up by Juliet, who had already taken Artemis to the car. There was no reason to stay, she already knew who had hired the assassin. Claudia followed Juliet towards the Bentley, where upon their arrival they where sped away in. The whole ride home Claudia only muttered one word. "Mother".
Later at the manor, Claudia sat silently in the grass watching the stars. She reviewed the last few hours mentally. They had all returned to the Manor where Artemis had demanded to know who the female hovering the air was, who the assassin was, why she had stalled...so many questions for which she could barely find the answers for herself. She had answered with few words "Mother...hybrid... eyes..." She had expected a lot of things, but not this. Never this. She had always heard how her mother was a wicked, wicked creature but she had always thought it was because she had ran off right after Claudia was born. She had planned to confront her mother. Revenge, for making her suffer all those years for it. Her father had believed her a wicked child, a tainted child. Evil and impure, beating her any time she messed up slightly, but she had never known why. Claudia shook her head, letting it rest on her knees.
"It was genuine fear in your eyes tonight." Artemis' voice said from behind her. Claudia was silent, there are no responses for comments like that. Artemis' feet appeared in her line of sight. A red rose fell on her knees as she looked up. "Your cheek is still bleeding." Artemis informed the girl, she blinked looking down at the rose, a drop of blood lay on it. A layer of blue sparks covered the cut and quickly healed it, leaving only a thin and nearly invisible line of scar tissue to remind her if it. "I was stunned. He had the eyes of a hybrid; I thought I was the only one. His eyes where so..." There where no words for what those eyes had held.
(And just so you guys know, the Gothic culture and severe depression aren't linked. Goth's are people too; they have emotions other than depressed too. The next chapter will be much longer.)