Chapter 4

The following days, Jessamine kept tailing Osmond, hiding nearby his home and secretly following him whenever he left it. She had to make up for that inexplicable mistake, seize a new opportunity. Her honor as an assassin was at stake. While doing so, she witnessed several more times how Osmond helped out the smaller and weaker, and every time this happened, she realized a little more that she didn't want to assassinate him anymore. But how could she not? It was the job she had been given! It was her duty as an assassin. And so, she just kept lurking around and observing him, waiting for opportunities she didn't take when they came.

Returning empty-handed every day, it became increasingly harder to explain herself to her co-assassins. And especially, explaining it to her boss. If Lord Thanatos would notice and wonder what took her so long, she might get into trouble if the reasons came to light. And of course, her friends noticed that something was off.

Back in the privacy of her room, she threw her knife at the wall in frustration, where it got stuck, slightly vibrating. How could she have feelings like these! How could she develop compassion and sympathy for a target! What kind of assassin was she, letting that happen?

Suddenly, she heard a knock at the door, followed by a familiar voice. "Jess? Can we come in?"

It was Poinsettia. This wasn't a good time, but Jessamine could hardly turn her friend away. So she took a deep breath, before she replied. "Yes, come in."

The door opened, and the Rainbow was met with the concerned face of her fellow Thermalli and Caleb, who followed after her. "Jess, what's wrong with you?" Poinsettia began, the concern on her face mirrored in her voice. Jessamine opened her mouth for a defensive reply, but Poinsettia wasn't having any of it, and she knew her well. "Don't deny it. It's obvious that something is wrong. Everyone began to notice, not just Caleb and I. You never had this much trouble with an assignment before, and you're behaving so atypically. Avoiding everyone. And you never failed, except with that beaten-up looking, gray bagged Kirby vacuum you have a personal feud with. Lord Thanatos is beginning to wonder, too. So, please tell us. We're your friends, and we don't want you to get into trouble."

Jessamine stiffened at the words. Lord Thanatos… If he noticed that she hadn't done her job yet, he would surely want to investigate the reasons.

There were punishments for assassins who broke the rules – like not bringing back the vital part of their kill as a trophy. Not doing a job fast enough wasn't a punishable offense, but not doing it at all certainly was. The hardest punishment was for traitors; it was only spoken of in low voices shuddering with horror: "Being eaten by the Lord". It meant that the offender was brought to Lord Thanatos, and then they were shoved into the incinerator's maw, where he burned them to a crisp.

Jessamine shuddered. Surely she wouldn't have to be afraid of that unless she committed treason to the guild, but… "So… what did he say?" she managed to ask.

"Well," Poinsettia averted her gaze for a moment, "Lord Thanatos already told us to keep an eye on you, and talk some sense into you."

"So he told you to observe me?"

"Well…" Poinsettia hesitated for a moment. "That's what it comes down to in the end. And to be honest, we want to know what's wrong, too. We worry about you."

Caleb wasn't a carpet cleaner of many words; he just occasionally gave a nod or a rumble of agreement.

"I see…" Oh no. How could she get out of this? She couldn't admit that she didn't want to kill Osmond anymore, not even to her friends. It was unheard of for an assassin. There wouldn't be a way around it, Jessamine realized; eventually, she would have to do what she had been ordered, if she liked it or not. Who would have thought that she'd ever feel remorse rather than excitement at the prospect of harvesting another vacuum cleaner motor?

And so, Jessamine continued observing Osmond. She would have to finish the job, although it would be with a heavy heart. It still confused her how this guy made her doubt anything she had thought she knew about the nature of vacuums. Could it really be that not all of them were that bad? What if some of those she assassinated over the years weren't… No, there was no place for doubts now, she shook her head to clear it. Thoughts like these only distracted her, and she needed to focus on the task ahead. It wasn't long until the Kirby vacuum left the house again, and, stealthy like a ninja, the Rainbow followed.

She followed Osmond through a narrow alley until it widened into an open space. Here, at the mouth of the pathway, she intended to look for a spot where she could hide and observe the vacuum on his further steps.

"Ha! Gotcha! Finally!" A triumphant voice snarled from behind her. Jessamine whirled around. "You won't be interfering with our affairs or decimating our ranks any longer. Today, you will pay!" No one other than Eric the fridge stood there and blocked the way – the leader of one of the rivaling mafia groups. She turned around again and saw two more of his lackeys – the drill and the patio heater – block the other way out. She was trapped. A chilling sensation rushed over her. The hunter had become the hunted. Jessamine was surrounded. Glancing from one to another, she weighed her chances. Three mafia appliances, two of them bigger than her, all of them almost as dangerous as herself. Almost. She was still an assassin.

"You think you got me?" she retorted, readying her knife, the light reflecting on the sharp and solid blade. "I'm not going down without a fight, and you know that I'll take a few of you with me. So you want a battle, huh? Ha, bring it!"

The drill attacked first, his bit whirring. With practiced quickness, Jessamine countered with her knife. Sparks flew where the blade met the spinning bit. What followed was a kind of swordfight between lamp and drill, while the other two mafia appliances were slowly closing in from both sides to overwhelm her.

Suddenly, a familiar voice boomed from behind, followed by the uproar of a motor. "Hey! Leave her alone!" Everyone, Jessamine included, stopped fighting and turned around to the source of the voice. There stood Osmond, ready to intervene. He'd really come to her aid, so clueless and unaware of her motives – no, more just her orders – concerning him. And he seemed ready to face a large fridge, a drill and a tall patio heater all alone. Jessamine couldn't help but admire how recklessly brave he was.

"No! I… I don't need help!" Jessamine claimed, her voice trembling as well as the knife she was holding, pointing at her enemies, trying to hide an odd sensation of almost-panic over her own assassination target coming to her aid. It felt like a total loss of control over the situation, and she couldn't handle it. "I'm fine! I can defend myself."

And then, he was by her side. "It's still unfair, and I won't stand for that," he said. "They outnumber you. Those thugs need to be taught a lesson."

"Ha!" Eric the fridge let out a short, harsh laugh. "You have no idea who this is you're trying to protect, right?"

"It doesn't matter who she is," Osmond retorted, brow furrowed. "What matters is that this is an unfair fight. Come on, three on one? Do you have no shame?"

Eric laughed again, coldly and mockingly. "If that's how you want it, I won't tell you who she is. You'll find out yourself the hard way… if you survive long enough. Foolish vacuum."

With that, Eric gave the sign to attack again. Without any further agreement, Jessamine and Osmond fought side by side. The vacuum took on the fridge, hitting him repeatedly with his handle, so that the loud clanking of metal echoed through the narrow alley. Meanwhile, Jessamine was back to swordfighting the drill. It was more of a lucky coincidence that, from the corner of her eye, she noticed the patio heater sneaking up from behind, ready to ensnare her with his cord. Fast as a ninja, she whirled around, the blade flashed, and the patio heater recoiled with an outcry of pain as part of his cord fell to the ground, severed. The drill saw a chance to strike and jumped at her, but the blade flashed again, and a hard strike with its flat side that resonated like a bell made the drill's bit fly from its socket. Disarmed, he stared in shock, while Jessamine grinned in triumph. She lifted her knife, ready for the killing blow… but something made her hesitate. Was it Osmond's presence? Did he have that much influence on her? Before she could think further -

"This isn't worth it… retreat!" Eric commanded. And the next moment, all three damaged mafia appliances, dented fridge, bitless drill and patio heater with half a cord, made a run for it down the alley. When the noise in their wake died down, Jessamine and Osmond were alone.

"Well…" the Rainbow finally broke the silence that had settled. "Thank you… I guess." She didn't know what else to say, she was at a loss for words. Osmond, a vacuum, had come to help her, defend her, fought by her side. Never even in her dreams would she have imagined anything like that. She had fought against vacuums so many times, but never with one. Even from those that were fellow assassin guild members, she had kept her distance. It was the first time she met one of them as an ally instead of a foe or target… but Osmond was a target, and now that thought, suddenly returning, gave her a painful sting. She had intended to finish the job this time, but now, after what just happened, she didn't believe that she was able to – how could she?

Osmond gave her an encouraging smile that further shook her already crumbling beliefs and intentions to the core. "No problem," he said. "I like helping, especially when someone is threatened by bullies. Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" Jessamine nodded, looking him in the eyes, and that moment she knew she could never do him harm… heck, she would defend this guy! Like he defended her. But what should she do now? It was her job to –

"Jessamine! There you are! Are you okay?" The Rainbow whirled around at the sound of the familiar voice. Oh no, not now… On the other end of the alley, she saw Poinsettia and Caleb appear. So they had followed her at a distance. Poinsettia did say that they would keep an eye on her… "We saw Eric and two of his cronies rush out of here, and they looked beaten – oh! You finally cornered Osmond? Excellent! Caleb and I will make sure he doesn't get away when you finish the job."

"Finish… what?" The surprise, confusion and hurt in Osmond's voice reflected in the gaze he gave Jessamine, and she couldn't bear looking at him and seeing this. "What… what's going on?"

It was one of the hardest things she ever had to say, but he deserved an explanation. She took a deep breath and forced herself to look at him before she answered. It gave her a painful sting. "See… my friends here and I… we're assassins. And someone… sent me to kill you."