Part Four: Thirty pieces of silver.
We talked in that bar, verbal agreement stronger than any written contract. Leno looked unattentive, eyes scanning the room every second, but I knew he liked the idea of free killing. Just the spilling of blood, no monetary knots holding him down. It took his "hitman" facade and ripped at it like that Easter veil, and gave him the "murderer" status. Murderer. The crime that was most scoffed at by justice. Once you're a murderer, you're just slightly better than those child rapists. I explained to him how Adrea Rubalkubara was both.
He gave his insight. Rubalkubara was one of the three High Priests. He lived in the Sancturium, the gothic church on the north-eastern part of town. His room would be accesible from one of the three stained glass windows on the back of the church, five stories high, overlooking the graveyard. Window one, the Father, window two, the Son, window three, the Holy Ghost. He told me that it's best if we went at night, give ourselves time to prepare, gather our instruments and wit. Let the rush slow down.
It was going to be so easy, he said. No one guarded the church, just a few monks working the graveyard shift, maybe four or five at most, standing, making sure no one slipped into the treasury to steal the collection. We didn't even have to pass by them, he said, just go right ahead, not be noticed, and we'll be in Rubalkubara's room in no time, and I could show the High Priest his body parts one by one, cut from his own flesh right on his bed, with Leno watching the door.
Nightfall.
The sweet scent of a dying rain. The head was starting to really smell now in the bag behind my back. Leno and I stalked the shadows on the way to the Sancturium, its gray, gothic architecture intimidating in the silence. Just crickets and my own breathing.
I studied Leno's inventory. Multiple daggers, five, six, seven, all hung around his belt. He had venom-filled darts, three of them. He had a falchion on his right thigh. Well prepared, this kid.
He even gave me a pair of claws, which were like gloves outfitted with three sharp steel blades, a short curve at the tip, so I could wear them and every punch would go through skin, and I'd drag my hand down from where my punch landed, the victim would spill his innards onto the ground.
The entrance of the church was now visible. We crouched behind a tree, and immediately saw four men outside, patrolling the church.
"What the hell," Leno asked me, his voice a subdued whisper. "There wasn't supposed to be people on patrol."
"Dammit. Rubalkubara must've known something was up," I said. The head in my bag weighed heavy, almost laughing. "The assasin," I offered, "she didn't come back to report. Rubalkubara got paranoid she turned on him, or told on him, and ordered protection."
I heared a grunt from Leno that signalled his agreement.
"Well, shall we?" I said. We've gotten this far. My claws were itching to be devirginized.
He smiled. He ran towards the church, two daggers in outstretched hands, flat out like he was gliding in the wind. I watched him dash through the street, and I chased after him. He was like a cat, nimble and accurate, quiet and stealthy. I was like a bear, running after the feline, big and loud and awkward.
The guards saw us coming. We must've looked like idiots, a small, lithe teen and an old, balding father running alongside him. They hollered warnings of "stay backs" and "hold it right theres" but we didn't follow, and they suited their metal knuckles.
Leno stopped a few feet from the guards. They charged at him, probably thinking he was the bigger threat. Leno struck a pose, his left dagger in front of his face, his right one behind his back. He spun to his left, full circle, and caught one guard in the neck, then, without looking up, spun the opposite way and caught the same guard in the same neck. Gurgling sounds came from the guard's throat. This kid was good, I thought to myself.
The remaining three guards came after him, and I charged too. The guard nearest me changed targets, and started punching the air in front of him, a few inches from my face. If one hit me, I was dead meat. The knuckles they wore covered their whole hands, metal, steel, cold. I gave an uppercut, armed with the claw, caught him in his elbow. I tried to pull the claw back, let him bleed, but the curved tip must've caught bone, so when I pulled my fist down, his body had to follow. He swung wildly with his free arm, and all I had to do was raise my other claw and strike him in his cheek, three spikes crushing his skull, and all his movement came to a halt.
It took me a while to lodge the claws free, by the time I was done the total death count included the four guards.
"So much for stealth. They should know by now," Leno told me. I was aware they knew. Let them know, Leno, nothing can save them.
Then a figure appeared in the doorway. He was covered in black robes, a walking staff in tow. Rubalkubara.
He smiled and threw a green bag towards Leno. The bag fell with a sickening thud, the sounds of coins tumbling inside. Leno looked at the bag, looked at Rubalkubara, and with a swift, swift move, threw all three poison darts at me, using one hand.
One caught my chest, right over my heart. One got my belly, just under the ribcage. The other nestled itself on my right shoulder.
"You son of a bitch," I said, smiling at the irony. I felt the toxins work immediately. "You goddamn son of a bitch."
I fell to my knees. I needed to focus. "You shon of a bish," my tongue was going numb, and so was my body. The only dart I was able to pull out was the one on my belly, and I fell to my side, Leno's figure picking up the bag with the little white cross on it. He opened it, checking the contents, and walked towards Rubalkubara. I couldn't hear anything, but Rubalkubara led him inside. The doors of the church closed, and I saw four black figures, more guards, pick up the fallen monks. When all was clear, they lifted me up and carried me to the cemetery behind the church.
The poison wasn't lethal, I assumed. Just paralyzing. I was riding the four guards, knowing this was the end. They unarmed me, taking Leno's claws clean from my hands. My vision started to blur, then the stars receded from the sky, and the black canopy of the heavens fell on my eyes.
"I'm sorry, baby," I was thinking. "Daddy tried so hard, baby."
Daddy tried so hard.