Chapter 79: The Assassin

After about twenty minutes of loving on each other, Adrian shifted his clothes back on himself, and used his magic to teleport himself to Tijuana, right on the edge of the desert where Damon is supposed to be.

"Okay...if I were a dumbass devil hunter named Damon...where would I be?" Adrian asked himself. He activated his hunter sense, jumped straight into the air, unfurled his wings, and scoped as much of the desert as he could, and shockingly enough, found him in the first thirty seconds of looking, "Apparently I would be walking back and forth aimlessly...all while hopelessly drunk." Adrian quickly touched down not too far from Damon, who was busy pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself about what he was going to do with a dead phone and no power to get home. But what was even more noticible was that Damon was carrying his coat, and had his pants wrapped around his head like a turban, sweating profusely. "Damon...are you okay?" Asked Adrian. The Devil Hunter looked right at the Devil Virus, dropped his coat and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket,

"Where the FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?!!" He screamed, "I'VE BEEN WAITING HERE IN THE DESERT, IN TIJUANA! IN THE SUMMER! FOR ALMOST THIRTY MINUTES!!!"

"Easy, Damon! Pull yourself together!" Adrian said, shoving Damon off of himself, but the white haired devil continued his rant.

"No! I refuse to calm down! I was enjoying my evening, gorging down pizza, drinking my alcoholic strawberry sundae, walked outside to sleep in the alley like I said I would, but then some girl in a brown hood came up and placed some paper with a rune on my chest, and suddenly I wound up here!" Adrian froze, slowly turning around as he pieced Damons' rant together,

"Oh fuck..." he cursed to himself.

"What now?" Whined Damon.

"Me coming here...it was a trap!" Adrian deduced, turning to Damon, "And you were the bait!"

"Nice deduction," said a female voice, "but I'm afraid that won't save you now." Adrian and Damon turned to the source, seeing a young girl, somewhere in Adrian and Damons' age, was of Egyptian decent, dressed in brown hooded robes with a red sash belt, skin tight leather pants, drak brown boots, and as she raised her hands up, Adrian noticed her ring finger was missing. With her hands raised, she clenched her fists, popping out a pair of hidden blades...no...hidden needles, and from the way Adrians' senses were spiking, he guessed they were filled with the Whitelight.

No need to figure out who hired her, Adrian thought to himself, images of Vali and Blizy flashing in his mind.

"Listen up Hoody with no Masky!" Damon hiccuped, withdrawing the Green Knight from inside his coat, "It's one thing tp wait till a man is fucked up to dance with him, but to take him out all the way to the desert, that's where I get...get...uh oh!" Damon leaned off to the side, vomiting into the sand, causing the girl to slightly cringe in disgust, while Adrian rolled his eyes,

"Damon, go home, you're drunk." The Devil Virus then created a magic circle under Damon, and had him fall through with a yelp, quickly sealing it off so he and the assassin girl could be alone.

"Well, now that the bait is gone," said the girl, "How about I fulfill my contract?"

"First things first," said Adrian, "Why did Vali and Blizy hire you?" The girls eyes widened,

"How did you know my clients names?"

"The Whitelight has a habit of spiking my senses, and trust me, they've been spiking since you brought out the needles." The girl looked to her hidden needles, and growled as she bounded towards him, needles raised, ready for a downward strike, only for Adrian to swing his right hand up, forming his Whipfist, nailing the girl right on the chin, sending her off balance, and with a powerful strike, Adrian snapped his Whipfist, sending her crashing into the sand. The girl stood up, whiping blood from her mouth, and quick as a flash, ran for Adrian again, aiming her needles for his chest, but as fast as she was, Adrian was just that much faster, grabbing her wrists as she tried to take the plunge,

"Wh...what?!" The girl gasped.

"You're faster than you look," said Adrian, clearly impressed. He then brought a foot up and kicked her back, using about three quarters of his Blacklight strength, the intention to knock the breath out of her in mind. As the girl skidded across the sand, she rolled onto her feet, again trying to score a killshot as best she could, but as lightning fast as she was, the Devil Virus was just one step ahead. He then grabbed the Whitelight needles, tore them from the hidden blade gauntlets, and delivered a head-spinning kick, sending her skidding into the sand as Adrian shook his head,

"You got some potential," Adrian admitted, "I would even go as far as to say that had Rias not already had both of her knight positions filled, I would have put in a good word for you." The girl looked up at him, confused,

"You barely know me...I try to kill you...and you want to put in a good word for me?? You must be insane!!"

"Perhaps," agreed Adrian, "But I'm a good reader of people, and I can tell that you don't like to blindly kill someone without knowing why...which is exactly why you didn't want to kill me." The girl was silent, then hung her head in shame,

"I blindly killed a target once...and in the process, I reignited the war between the Assassins and the Templars...between my mother and father...it consumed my world in the worst possible time, and right when I was the last one standing, some freak meteor, one that my world could have prevented, took what was left of it."

"'My world?' Are you from another dimension?"

"Like your friend Damon? Yes, only I have nothing to go back to," the girl silently let the tears flow, "That was when the portal appeared, and with one cautious step, I went through, not looking back, not caring if the portal closed behind me, or that some silver haired boy gave me empty promises of a life of peace in exchange for your life."

"So it was Vali that hired you?" Adrian asked, wanting to confirm his thoughts. The girl then nodded,

"No doubt he will try to send someone after me since I can't complete the contract," she sighed. Adrian weighed his options, and came to a decision,

"He won't send anyone after you, because from here on out, assassin, you will be under my protection." Adrian formed a set of claws in his right hand, and with one quick slice, he opened up his left palm, "With the blood on my hand, I promise you, miss...?" The girl paused, and realized he was asking her name,

"Cleo," she quickly answered.

"I promise you, Cleo, that no harm will come your way." Adrian then offered his bloody hand to the assassin girl, and she hesitantly shook it. "Until we next meet," he gave her a lazy salute, and dissappeared through a magic circle of his own making. Cleo looked down at her hand, seeing Adrians' blood ripple on her skin, then sink inside her hand, out of sight.

"'Your protection,' huh? Let's see how well that protection covers me when Vali finds out about my failure..."