Here's chapter 16! Read it, and I'd like it if you'd leave a review, please! PS: Hopefully you don't find this chapter too explicit. :P There's a bunch of stuff in this chap that makes it quite different.

Chapter 16: The Predatory

Tsau regurgitated the rest of his gruel onto the sand while he leaned against the wall with his hand. The knife was so cold in his grip, and the blood was starting to dry up from those last three hours. He just had to insist on becoming an assassin, to prove to Hassan that he was stronger than his father. The cold desert breeze of night felt warm, for he could feel his body colder from what had just happened. All the guards were sleeping already, and he'd have to sneak back into his cell soon.

Sitting there for another few moments, Tsau wondered if he could do it again. He wondered if that blade could take another person for him. The sudden psychosis he was enduring made him passive, not thinking, but always in a state of trance. The first four minutes after he claimed that prisoner's life felt like four hours, and the thought of murder lingered in his mind for the next three hours. Tsau finally stood up and wiped the blood off the knife with a torn piece of the dead man's outfit and hid it in a small pocket he made himself. Carefully scaling up the small building that was D Sector, Tsau only felt cold and did not think of much. He had been practicing his acrobatics with Hassan for the past few weeks, and was somewhat confident in his skills. Carefully sneaking up on the rooftops, he found a small door cover to his cell and opened it, sliding back into the prison that held him in. Being an assassin wasn't going to be easy, and he was sure that this murder would haunt him.

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Stumbling over a few crates, Zi's adrenaline pumped through her veins as she desperately tried to find an escape from her pursuer. The merchants were suspicious of what was happening as the lady ran through the streets. Darts seemed to come out of nowhere as they struck the ground, barely missing her. Turning around, she could spot her pursuer behind her.

"A woman…?" she thought.

Finally, as Zi caught the woman putting away her blowgun (blowdart weapon), she changed momentum and turned around to attack her hunter. Zi's changing inertia allowed her to tackle down her enemy with force, causing her to drop the blowgun. The woman looked elegant in her Persian robes, which were designed in the style of royalty, but made out of light military equipment. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her frame was slim and athletic.

As she regained her balance after standing up, Zi barely dodged a reverse roundhouse kick towards the upper body by dropping down and holding herself up by the balance of her arm. From there, Zi quickly spun her body in a Capoeira fashion, deflecting her attacker's kicks and landing a few at the same time. A few more moments of exchanged close combat passed before a small set of troops showed up. They were odd-looking Persian troops, dressed in complete black military clothing including a small tight hood that wrapped around their heads, with light armor a mask of steel covering their faces. A few carried guns, and the rest sported scimitars.

"Uh oh," Zi said as she stopped fighting the woman. As she let her guard down, the woman landed a punch to her cheek and she dropped to the ground.

"Foolish girl," the woman said. "You aren't the one I'm looking for. Where's Tsau? My heart, and my heart only, deserves complete satisfaction."

Zi shook her head and stood up. "I don't know where he is."

"Then maybe I should finish you off," said the woman, picking up her blowgun. "But would it satisfy my craving?"

Zi had a confused look on her face. "What are you talking about?"

The woman shook her head. "Exactly. You wouldn't understand, and you'll never understand me!"

"Why do you want Tsau?" she asked. "What does he have that you want?"
"That dagger…" the woman answered. "He should have never carried it. It will be in Blackwell's hands soon…"

"Who are you?" Zi then asked. "And why do you side with Blackwell?"

The woman scoffed towards Zi's over her ignorance. "You don't know who I am? Well then. I have no name, but I am merely called, 'The Predatory.' I work with Blackwell to satisfy my craving for murder. I love killing unsuspecting prey."

"The Predatory…"

"I am the hunter that watches," the Predatory said with a seductive accent. "I will always find a way to kill someone, even if I have to wait for days or even weeks. You are a waste of a hunter's talent. My men will dispose of you…they are cannibalistic, you know. I shall enjoy watching them devour your smooth, beautiful skin…like true predators."

Zi froze as the Predatory came close and stroked her cheek, and finally drawing in to kiss her on the lips. With her eyes widening, Zi waited until the kiss was finished, then watched as the Predatory drew back with a smile.

"Yes, you truly are the sign of prey," she said, touching her lips. "So gullible for a sweet kiss. A kiss of death. You are in love, naïve one."

"What do you know about love?" Zi asked negatively, in slight surprise with her statement. "You're just a hunter. A hunter has no time for love."

"I know about it more than you, innocent one," Predatory replied. She took off her front armor and unbuttoned half of her shirt, opening it small enough to reveal the scar on her chest. "See this? This is a scar from my only love. Many years ago, when my true love died, I cut open my chest and threw my heart away so that I cannot bear the pain anymore. Now, every male that I hunt, I fall in love with before I kill, because I can no longer find my heart, and the only memory I have of it is the pain of losing my love. The pain is all I remember, and that is what I want. But, I cannot feel anymore. Zhao…my Saladin, has promised me to find it when he and Blackwell get that dagger, and I will not ask questions."

Zi was taken aback by her story as the Predatory buttoned up her shirt. She had never heard such a story before, but it was quite similar to Davy Jones's story.

"So don't prejudge me, you ignorant girl," she said. "I know more about love than you will ever know. Do what you want with her, but make sure she's dead. I'll look for Tsau."

One of the soldiers raised a gun/crossbow-like weapon, but it seemed to hold a cartridge that allowed it to fire several darts instead of arrows. He loaded a chamber with a dart and shot Zi in the leg, causing her to go numb, and spreading throughout her body, immobilizing her. She fell to the ground as the feeling in her leg passed away, and the soldier slowly walked up with the Predatory still watching.

The minute he was within reach of Zi, a shuriken flew from nowhere and cut past his neck, causing him to gurgle sickeningly with blood and collapsing to the ground. The rest of the soldiers looked around in alertness, scanning the rooftops and merchants.

"So…" the Predatory said. "The hashshashin strikes."

More shuriken flew from the rooftops, killing a couple more troops, causing the panic to increase significantly. The few surviving soldiers completely had their attention towards the rooftops, awaiting the next strike. Zi looked around, impressed but worried at the same time, because Tsau was actually killing these people. Some of them haven't died and were screaming in agony. Did he take pleasure in taking lives? As they were completely distracted, the crowds that passed through were of no point of suspicion to them. And with no suspicion, the Falcon began to strike through social stealth, nowhere to be seen in the unsuspected crowd. Then, in quick slashes of his blade, the rest of the soldiers dropped like flies, and no one even saw him. He picked up the semi-automatic dartgun, and noticed how the mechanics worked, impressed with whoever built it. After, he set eyes on the Predatory, who also spotted him.

"Predatory," he said. "It seems there's a contract on you as well…"

"Contract?" Zi asked surprisingly while still sitting, still numb from her waist down, although removing the dart seemed to help her slowly restore her muscles. Tsau ignored her, however. "What do you mean, contract?"

The Predatory smiled. "It looks like the Atrocity did not last, then. Tsau, you kill for the sake of money, but I kill for the thrill, yet we share much common ground with each other."

"Our similarities are beside the point," Tsau replied with a deep tone.

"But I'm a woman," she said with a smile. "And an apprentice of Zhao. We're practically kindred. You can't kill me. I've never lost a battle."

"It is irrelevant," Tsau gripped his blade, put the dartgun away, and stood with a stone face. "I can kill whoever I'm paid to. I always kill whoever I'm paid to."

The Predatory smiled from hearing that. "Hearing that excites me. You're so strong, Tsau. I will take pleasure in killing you, my love."

"Good," Tsau said in a light tone. "The Atrocity was a bit rough, but I ended up killing him, so go easy on me. I haven't fully recuperated from my last fight."

"But you seem to be a man who likes it hard," she replied. Zi looked at her oddly from her type of wording. "If Atrocity couldn't satisfy your bloodlust, then maybe I can end your misery."

Tsau smirked at her wordplay and looked down at the agonized soldier, who was not quite dead, yet, but immobilized. He looked back up at the Predatory and lifted his blade, then killed the wounded soldier who had a chance for survival. After, Tsau looked back up with the most intimidating eyes Zi ever looked into. They were cold, primitive, and hungry

"Your lack of knowledge about me is demeaning."

"No," she countered. "You love killing, Tsau. What do you really do with your money? I don't see your riches around here. Usually men of your…appeal…are rich."

Tsau raised an eyebrow. "Off the record, if I wasn't so sure you were a lesbian, I think you're coming on to me."

"I take what I can get," she replied slickly. Her sense of sexuality must be quite intriguing if Tsau was asking her questions about it.

"Then, you are a true predator," Tsau stated with a smirk.

Zi observed the two with utter shock from what they were talking about. Tsau seemed to be quite in the moment, as if he was playing with her with sexual questions and innuendo. At the same time, however, she felt an irritation when his interests seemed to be drawn to the Predatory.

The Predatory let out a chuckle, then swiftly holstered her strapped dartgun and started shooting at Tsau, who barely missed, dodging out towards the side of the building to the left, and she went towards the right. He sheathed his blade and took out his newly obtained dartgun, ready to shoot when she was unsuspecting. Then again, this was his city, and he decided to play with her a little. They aimed and took cover as shots were traded across the streets, some barely missing innocent bystanders. Tsau kept pulling the trigger on the dartgun, until he ran out of ammunition, causing him to think of an approach. He threw the dartgun away.

"Shit," he cursed. "Screw this."

Tsau reached over his back and pulled out his trigun, which was about half the size of a rifle, and loaded the chambers with bullets. The gun had three chambers that formed a triangle, but with only one hammer able to strike them at one time. Each chamber could be easily switched by the jerk of the wrist, giving the gun a decent amount of firing rate. He waited behind the building wall for her, noticing that she stopped firing, and peeked, causing more darts to fly towards him. Gathering his breaths, Tsau pulled out a shuriken from his item belt and peeked once again. At that instant, he rolled out from his cover spot and at the same time, hurled the star at her. The Predatory barely dodged it, rolling out into the street along with him, and dropped her dartgun in the process, but she still had her blowgun. Tsau walked up to her and pointed the trigun to her and was about to fire, but as she got up, she picked up some sand along the way and threw it in his face, causing him to misfire and hit her in the shoulder. The hit caused her to fly back and let a sound of pain escape from her lungs. Right after that, a small group of British troops came on the scene, no larger than the small Persian troops the Predatory brought with her.

"Hey, you!" the captain exclaimed. "Stop!"

As she lay there, gathering breaths, Tsau, jolting his hand to switch the chamber, turned his head around under his hood and stared at the captain with a cold face. Zi finally regained her muscle strength and got up, heading towards the soldiers who defended her.

"You are under arrest, White Falcon," a soldier said. Tsau turned around and started walking slowly towards him. The soldier slowly stepped back in intimidation. "Y-you are wanted f-for…um, assassination...organized m-murder…a-and a member of an existing…gang."

Tsau cracked his neck and let out a breath. "Ghost me…if you dare."

The soldier shook his head nervously. "I-I don't understand."

He then turned around with his trigun and faced the Predatory again, who was up and had her blowgun ready. Right at the point of letting the dart fly at Tsau, the moment was narrow and time seemed to pause. As Tsau quickly raised the trigun, a shot fired and caught both of them by surprise.

He turned around to see Zi with a raised pistol, and smoke coming out from the chamber of the freshly fired weapon. Her hand started shaking as she dropped the gun and collapsed to her knees. The Predatory had a deadly wound in her chest and she fell back. Tsau ran towards the pupil of General Zhao and kneeled down, watching his target slowly die.

She drew breaths as a subtle smile came across her face. "I never knew that a battle with you would make me so…alive…"

"Take it easy," Tsau said. "I heard you explaining your story to Zi…"
"Yes," she said with a smile again. "Somehow, I always knew that bloodlust would never fill in my missing spaces. I guess…I've just been waiting for someone to come one day and kill me. Each battle, each murder, each unfortunate victory was always the case. I knew I was cursed. God and the Devil would not let me die because I threw away my heart…they would not let me go. But you, Tsau…you are different. I see the fear you put into your enemies. I see why even Zhao is afraid of you. I see why he is afraid of you."

"Who's he?" Tsau asked.

Her breaths became harder as she talked. "He is Drak Nesirus. All I know is that he has something to do with Zhao and Blackwell's plan…and they fear you, Tsau. Zhao curses you for not having anything to fight for, but they fear you. They are afraid for the moment when you start thinking about what you want…but I don't understand why you chase the Necromortalis."

Tsau sighed. "I have my reasons, but I have something to strive for."

"Then I see why you've got them so spooked," she replied. "You are a real fighter, Tsau…I'll be watching from above, where I shall meet my true love once again. Finish me off, Tsau, like a true hunter."
Tsau looked down to his wrist and popped the blade open. "I'll make it quick."

He then shoved the wristblade into her chest which caused her to react painfully, letting out groans of agony. After a split second, she looked at Tsau one more time with a smile, then the fierce fire in her eyes burned out its last bit of fuel. Tsau stood up and watched as her body disintegrated into small glimpses of light that scattered away into the air. He looked up as the light disappeared into the mid-morning sky. The British troops behind him aimed their guns.

"You are under arrest," their squad captain said. "…Reaper."

Chapter 17 will be here soon. Please keep the reviews coming, guys!