Assassin's Mask Read online

  He grins as I scrutinize him.

  He asks, “What do you want to know, Hunter?”

  The moment he smiles, he looks younger and now I can’t place his age at all. “How old are you?”

  “Not much older than you.”

  I frown. He knows I’m twenty years old because I was recently a Novice. If he’s a similar age then it means he was a Novice not very long ago, too. It’s odd that he would be stationed all the way out here so soon after becoming a Superior, but maybe that’s how much Gareth hates him.

  I’m perplexed. “It must be your nose.”

  “What about my nose?”

  I wrinkle my own. “Squished. It makes you look five years older.”

  He raises an eyebrow. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Are you going to eat your breakfast or not?”

  I try to catch up with his change of subject. “I guess.”

  “Good.” He picks up his knife and fork, leaving his gun right where I can grab it.

  I carefully angle a finger at it and very slowly prod it toward him. “Put that away.”

  He grins again, revealing a row of even, white teeth. His laughter is a rumble in his chest. He leaves the gun right where it is. “Don’t think for a second that you can boss me around, woman.”

  Now I’m really tempted to dive for the gun just to see what he does. I’ve already visually ascertained that the safety catch is on so it won’t go off by accident. Deciding not to push our relationship, I leave the gun where it is and finish my breakfast, knowing I will feel better with a full stomach.

  When we’re finished, Vlad stands up, stretches, and says, “We need warm clothes.”

  Then a slow smile spreads across his face. “And a helicopter.”

  Chapter Three

  I eye the motorcycle stationed at the front of the motel as Vlad settles his big frame onto it.

  He raises a challenging eyebrow at me. “We have to get to the airstrip somehow.”

  I adjust my backpack and check that my katana is secured across my shoulders. Everything important is on my back: the Clave and the Keres ring are tucked away in the bottom of my backpack. I’ve wrapped them in cloth this time and secured them inside internal pockets. The verdan plant is also inside my bag, along with several changes of clothes and my assassin’s ledger. It makes for a heavy bag but I’m not leaving any of it behind. I’m uncomfortable enough about leaving Mom’s ledger. Before I exited the room, I locked everything in the trunk and threatened Harry with annihilation if he let anyone in again.

  I frown at the motorcycle. “This is yours?”

  I don’t know much about motorcycles, but this one is a sleek, black beast that looks like it cost more than Vlad could afford.

  He answers me by turning the ignition. The engine purrs like a jungle cat. “Hop on.”

  I slide in behind him, find the footrests, and note how comfortable the motorcycle is despite the fact that I’m totally exposed to the weather.

  Vlad hands me a helmet, waiting for me to clip it in place before he drives the motorcycle out onto the deserted road. I settle in where I am, eventually giving up on keeping my hands at my sides and slide them around his waist instead. He gives me no indication of what he thinks about this as we speed along the road.

  Two hours later, I frown at our location, leaning in to shout over the wind. “This is Dominion territory.”

  He answers me with a nod. “We have to cross the Faction border to get to the nearest airstrip.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  I catch the grin in his voice. “You have your katana. I have my gun. We’ll be fine.”

  I’m not so sure. I keep my eyes peeled, my nerves stretching thin with every town we pass through. Finally, we speed toward a large fenced-off area and through the open gate. At the end of the road, we reach an expansive hanger. Three helicopters rest on the tarmac.

  I narrow my eyes. This is a private hanger. The signs on the building tell me as much. But the helicopters aren’t made for sightseeing. They’re military.

  When Vlad stops the motorcycle, I slide to the ground, stretching out my cramped legs. Three men emerge from the hanger, all heavily armed, and I instinctively check for assassin’s rings, frustrated that I can’t tell at this distance.

  The men stop in their tracks as soon as they catch sight of Vlad.

  He leans down to me with a murmur. “Wait here. I know these people. Let me handle this.”

  He strides across the asphalt to meet the guys. All three step toward him in unison. Vlad raises his hand in their direction and they stop where they are. One of them says something I can’t hear. Vlad inclines his head in my direction. I’m just about to harness my ability to hear their conversation when Vlad turns swiftly in my direction. He strides back to me while the three men scatter.

  Well, that was fast.

  “They’ll have the helicopter ready in a few minutes. In the meantime, you must be hungry.”

  “And curious,” I say, following him along the path to the hanger. True to his word, the men busy themselves preparing one of the helicopters, fueling it, and loading it with what looks like hiking gear. “How do you know these people?”

  “Keeping the peace at the border requires making friends. They trust me. I trust them. It comes in handy.”

  One of the men brings me a sandwich and points me to a nearby seat. It’s easy to identify his assassin’s ring up close. Another one offers me a warm coat. All without speaking, removing their weapons, or altering their carefully blank expressions. They may as well be machines.

  “Thank you,” I say, watching to see if conversation has any impact on them.

  The guy handing me the coat twitches and casts a quick glance in Vlad’s direction, but still says nothing. It seems the Dominion assassins are neither my friends nor my enemies.

  I turn back to Vlad. “When are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

  Vlad stuffs a sandwich into his mouth instead of replying.

  Hmm. I guess I’ll have to make do with a shrug.

  When the first man gives him a nod, Vlad strides over to the helicopter and climbs into the pilot’s seat.

  I follow him and make myself comfortable in the co-pilot’s chair. “You’re flying the helicopter?”

  Vlad grins at me, seeming pleased about my surprise before he gives the men a wave and wastes no time taking off. He handles the helicopter like he’s flown a thousand times before. I close my eyes and inhale the crisp air as we soar up and into the sky.

  We travel for at least an hour before I catch sight of mountains dusted in snow. I lean forward, trying to identify them. Taking into account how far we rode on the motorcycle and how long we’ve traveled by air, we could be in South Dakota now. I would be more stressed about my location if I didn’t have my own wings to get me out of here if I need to escape.

  I finally ask Vlad, “When did you learn to fly?”

  He replies, “My old man taught me.”

  “You’re close to him?”

  “I was until he died a year ago.” Vlad doesn’t take his eyes off the mountain peaks. “That’s when a lot of things changed for me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He glances at me, his expression more piercing than I expected. “At least I knew him.”

  I look away. Everyone in the assassin’s world thinks that the former Legion Master, Soren, was my father. He died soon after I was born so it’s a common perception that I never knew him. Only three people know that Ridley, my combat teacher, is actually my dad: me, Ridley, and Slade.

  I pretend to study the mountain peaks below us. The early afternoon sunlight casts brilliant reflections off them. “Mom taught me everything she knew.”

  “You’re going to need every skill you’ve got when we land.”

  I wait for him to tell me why but he remains infuriatingly tight-lipped. I don’t blame him for keeping things to himself. As he says, trust is tricky. But at some point, he’s going to
have to tell me what’s going on.

  He says, “We’re flying into the heart of this next mountain. However, it’s heavily guarded by an occupant who won’t like our intrusion.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “A non-human occupant?”

  His answer is grim. “A draugr.”

  My eyes widen. “That’s an undead warrior.” My Valkyrie power is no use against a draugr. They exist in the place where they died, usually for the purpose of protecting the treasure that led them to die there in the first place. They are incredibly strong and can increase in size and weight at will.

  Vlad says, “As soon as we step into its territory, the draugr will retaliate.”

  I pull my sword from my pack. A draugr can only be killed by decapitation. Ideally, you also burn its body. “I’ll be ready.”

  Vlad surprises me when he says, “I would prefer not to kill it unless we have no other choice.”

  “Why is that?”

  “We have no fight with it. We are trespassers, after all.”

  I frown at him. “It would help if you tell me why we have to go into the heart of the mountain in the first place.”

  He says, “You’ll see as soon as we get there.”

  I sigh into the crisp air. I’m not going to get anything out of him until he’s ready to spill the beans. Valkyrie run hot but even so, I’m feeling the cold. I’m glad now for the thick coat and gloves the guys gave me at the hanger.

  Vlad points. “We’ll land over there.”

  The snow cover swirls as we set the helicopter down. When I grab my pack, Vlad shakes his head at me.

  “Take only the plant and your sword. But keep your gloves on. You don’t want to touch the sap by mistake.”

  I follow his instructions, but I shove one more thing into my pocket: a small glass vial that I took from the kitchen at the motel before I left. I can use it to collect the sap. I’m not sure what will happen when the shield comes off the plant. The verdan may even self-destruct. I might need to move fast.

  Vlad pulls several daggers from his pack and slides them into various holsters around his body. The only other thing he takes is a flashlight. I consider asking for one too, but both my hands are needed to carry the plant and use my sword if I need to.

  Vlad strides ahead of me, remarkably light on his feet, especially as the snow cover deepens.

  An opening in the mountain yawns in front of us, revealing a deep cave, which we enter and follow for another ten minutes before Vlad slows down in front of me, finally drawing to a halt. The tunnel walls close in ahead of us, becoming an even tighter walkway, leading to a dark, narrow opening.

  He lowers his voice to a rumble. “We need to go single-file.”

  I wrinkle my nose. The air here is very stale. But I suspect it’s more than a lack of air flow. The draugr will reek of decay. The scent in the air tells me that the creature is close by.

  Vlad says, “The draugr’s lair is through that opening. Unfortunately, our destination is right on top of his treasure. I need to turn off the flashlight now.”

  Is he suggesting that we walk in the dark?

  I say, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  He replies, “Trust me, Hunter. You’ll understand as soon as I turn off the light.”

  He doesn’t wait for me to agree. There’s a soft click.

  As the golden light fades, another bursts into life.

  I gasp as the verdan casts crimson light around the tunnel. Each petal of the orchard-like plant glows bright red and dark as blood, the gaps in its light throwing strange shadows across Vlad’s massive body. It makes me realize how much he has to hunch over in the low tunnel. The color of his eyes turns red in the reflected verdan light. The image he presents is gruesome, fearsome, and strangely gorgeous all at the same time.

  I understand now why we’re here.

  I breathe out my surprise. “The verdan’s shield disappears in the dark.”

  He says, “But only in true dark. You have to bring the verdan to a place where no light reaches. You probably thought that the shield was put on the plant by someone trying to stop others from using it. It wasn’t. It’s a self-generated shield that is triggered by light hitting the leaves.”

  He inclines his head toward the plant with a warning. “Walk carefully, Hunter. The shield will completely disappear as soon as we enter the lair. The poison rests on the surface of the flowers. You don’t want to stumble and touch them by accident.”

  “I understand.”

  Vlad says, “The draugr won’t come out here, but it will fight us as soon as we step into its territory. Are you ready to go in?”

  I shoot back a challenge. “Are you?”

  He grins at me, his teeth appearing blood-red. His answer is to present me with his back as he leads the way forward.

  He has to angle his body to slip through the narrow opening and I quickly follow, holding the plant away from all parts of my body, holding my breath until I make it through.

  Inside, a cavern rises high above us, around fifty paces wide and deep. The floor sparkles with gold, silver, jewels, and coins all piled up in the middle. All of it is cursed because the draugr died here. I won’t touch any of it and I certainly won’t try to take any of it with me. There’s not a lot that can physically harm me but I don’t need more bad luck in my life.

  As soon as we enter the space, a humanoid shape rises up from the pile of treasure, displacing coins and jewels as it unfurls, scattering gold across the clearing. A single coin rolls across the rocky floor and hits Vlad’s foot. He is tense and ready to fight. I hang back, knowing that there’s only so much I can do while I’m holding the plant.

  The draugr’s skin is dark blue, a color that blends with the crimson verdan light to create a weird purple. Its stench makes my eyes water, creating a physical sensation like acid inside my nose. Its face is misshapen, barely human. It was once a man but it’s possible that it has lain here for hundreds of years without being disturbed. It growls at us, attempting to form sounds, but it has long ago forgotten how to speak.

  Vlad quickly positions himself between me and the creature. At the same time, I slide my hand through the space next to the plant to check whether the shield is still operational.

  It’s gone.

  Vlad points me toward a spot at the side of the cave that is furthest from the draugr. “I’ll keep him busy. Do what you need to do. But do it fast.”

  His feet thud the ground as he runs at the draugr and barrels straight into it, wrestling the beast to the ground. Coins scatter and clink as the two collide. The only way to restrain the draugr is through sheer strength alone. I don’t have time to admire the fact that Vlad approaches the task with impressive efficiency.

  I race to the spot where Vlad pointed, balance the plant on the rocky ground, unsheathe my sword, and prepare to pierce the curved stem with the blade. I need to make a large enough cut to release the sap and I don’t have time to be delicate. I slide the tip through the part of the stem that curves horizontal so the drips will fall straight down, placing the glass vial beneath it to catch the oozing liquid without allowing it to touch my skin.

  The sap is thick and the first droplet forms more slowly than I need it to.

  Too slowly.

  Shifting air behind me is my only warning when the draugr breaks free from Vlad’s hold and rushes toward me, drawn by the plant’s light, its eyes filled with an eerie glow.

  I jump to my feet, prepared to use my sword. But before the creature reaches me, it suddenly slips forward, barely missing me as it crashes face first into the dirt, its legs pulled out from under it.

  Vlad takes hold of one of its feet and drags it backward as it flails and claws at the ground. He shouts, “Hurry up, Hunter!”

  The beast roars, curls its body around, and hits back with a fist, launching itself at Vlad. Vlad ducks the swing like a professional boxer and retaliates with a crunching blow to the draugr’s torso, followed by two quick hits to its face. The draugr
stumbles backward and Vlad follows it, wrestling it to the ground again. I can’t see the strain on Vlad’s arms and legs because he is covered in furs, but the bulging cords in his neck tell me how much effort it’s taking to restrain the draugr right now.

  I spin back to the verdan just in time to catch the first drop of sap in the glass vial.

  Three drops follow it before the liquid stops flowing.

  I don’t have time to pierce it again. What I’ve collected will have to be enough. I cork the bottle and shove it into my pocket. My heart is pounding, but not because of the draugr.

  The sap is said to be poisonous to all creatures. I can’t assume I’m safe just because I’m Valkyrie. None of it dripped on me but my sword’s tip is now smeared with crimson liquid. It’s well and truly poisonous.

  “Vlad! I’m done!”

  Vlad lands a final blow on the draugr’s nose, shoving it backward. The creature falls with a roar, never taking its eyes off Vlad. It’s not giving up.

  Vlad shouts, “Run, Hunter!”

  I take off at a quick pace without sheathing my sword, not wanting to spread the poison inside the scabbard. I squeeze through the gap at the entrance to the cave and race along the corridor, gripping the plant by its pot. I’m incredibly grateful now that the self-forming shield is returning to the plant.

  The verdan is a deadly object that puts up a barrier between itself and the world to protect others.

  I swallow hard as I realize… this plant is a lot like me.

  I’m twenty paces along the path before I notice the absence of running feet behind me. I skid to a stop, kicking up dust and pebbles, spinning back to the cave’s entrance.

  Vlad isn’t there.

  I wait another second.

  He put away his flashlight to fight the creature. I’m carrying the only light source he had. It’s unlikely he’ll be able to reach for his flashlight, let alone fight with it in his hand.

  I race back to the entrance, my feet and heart pounding. Sliding through, I come upon the draugr holding Vlad off the ground, one of Vlad’s arms in each of its enormous hands.