It was just past 3 in the morning when the solitary figure wandered the streets of the Shades. He walked alone, and with no obvious weapons. This was almost the only reason he wasn't dead quite yet – he was being followed by at least a dozen suspicious-to-the-point-of-paranoid figures. The only people who safely walked the Shades at night were Assassins, seamstresses and the Agony Aunts. This one seemed male, and wore only a scruffy brown coat reaching to his feet, which no self-respecting Assassin would dream of wearing. The variety of unlicensed thieves, muggers and murderers were all waiting for another one of said people to do something.
Eventually, a figure detached itself from the shadows and walked confidently towards the individual. When she reached him, she whispered quietly in his ear, "I didn't know you were in the habit of walking such dangerous paths."
"It was the only way I could get your attention. Seemed to work." This caused a certain amount of extra curiosity in the shadowy figures. The young man sounded barely past the age of fifteen.
"Still, it was an unwise move. Had I not been following you..."
"You think I can't take care of myself?" The figure smirked to himself in the darkness.
"...If you would kindly let me finish...If I had not been following you, it may have had serious repercussions which would have had to be terminated at the earliest juncture. My...employers would not have approved. Such inconveniences would have come out of your own money."
"I see." The figure stopped. The woman, noticing his pause, stopped a few feet ahead, and turned.
"Damien? What's wrong?" She took a few steps towards him, then stopped in horror. She stared at the blood-covered arrowhead protruding from his chest.
Damien looked down with what appeared to be mild surprise on his face. Then he looked up and winked.
"Don't worry, miss..." he said vaguely, "...Happens all the time...Won't be a moment..." and, with a speed that surprised all of those following him, not least the one who had just shot him, he vanished into a side alley(1). There was a brief, organic sound, a sharp intake of breath, then the arrow landed on the street. This was followed by a series of scraping sounds, such as might be made by someone scratching their way up a wall with their fingernails(2). Then a running sound across the rooftops, a brief shadow as something leapt the relatively short distance from one rooftop to another, and a gurgle, followed by a dull thump. Another shadow, then Damien landed lightly on the cobbles, quickly hiding a thin blade about his person.
"Now...Where were we?" said Damien, as the figures behind him quickly fled into the shadows. Not even Assassins moved that fast.
"I don't believe we were." The young woman was doing her best to look unshaken.
"Well, you could at least tell me your name, miss...?"
"You can call me Miss Teatime, for now. But to business...You have prepared the meeting with the Patrician?"
"Of course. And you needn't be so nervous; it's not the first time I've been shot. And you don't need to refrain from asking so obviously, because I wouldn't dream of telling you how I survived that."
Miss Teatime blinked, and ran the past few sentences back in her head. "But how did you know I was going to ask you that?"
"You weren't. I did say you were refraining from asking. But any sensible person would want to know if their...employee...was a little more, shall we say, indestructible than they had planned."
"I don't know what you mean..."
"Come on. I know how the less...official city business is run. Once you have what you need, you want to make sure everyone who knows about it is...out of they way. No loose ends."
Miss Teatime walked on in silence. Damien followed by her side.
"You can trust me, Miss Teatime. I won't tell a soul. But if I do find out that my allies were trying to kill me, it would be very unpleasant for them. Be aware that the one who just shot me is still alive, though he probably wishes he wasn't. Oh...and be careful. Anyone would think that you actually cared about me." He playfully mimicked the woman's voice. "'Oh, Damien, what's wrong?' Haha..."
Miss Teatime shivered. She had neither the liking nor the I-don't-care attitude towards death – amongst other things – that her older brother did...or had.
"See to the Patrician," she said coldly. "Do not worry. I will make sure that you are...free to go when you leave the city. If you wish to leave the city, that is. We will not bother you nor will you hear from us again unless we require your services once more." And with that Miss Teatime fled into the shadows to hide the panic in her face. Damien watched her go, his face impassive, as it always was when he did not wish others to see what he was thinking. After a while he wandered off into the shadows, too.
The arrow glistened in the moonlight.
(1)Though it has to be said, any alley that is more alley-like than most normal streets in the Shades would be hard to come by.
(2)Though in no way is it suggested that this is, in fact, what happened.