G I G I

I held my hands over the fire, letting the warmth bathe over them and expel the coldness that made my body shake.

Neve and I had broken into a small house in the woods that appeared to have been abandoned for years, if the multitudes of cobwebs and dust were any indication. We weren't going to be here for long; we'd just needed somewhere to get out of the elements and lie low for a few days.

Benny had parted ways with us three days ago, having to leave for some urgent mission his deranged master was sending him on. Only a few days before that, we'd broken into some government faculty in the middle of the desert. Imperium agents had taken over the entire operation temporarily and stolen several types of weapons. I'd been forced to keep the workers in their places while they aided us, lowering their blood pressure when they dared to step out of line. Before Benny had left us, I'd snapped at him about how he wasn't keeping up his end of the bargain. But he'd assured me that the mission Orion was sending him on would be more than enough to compensate for our agreement.

But he'd left and Neve and I hadn't heard a word from him since. Though I did catch him and Neve having a very intense conversation as he was leaving, she didn't tell me any of it. I wouldn't have cared ordinarily, but I somehow got the feeling that I was involved in whatever they were saying.

Neve came into the living room wearing a strange expression on her face. Watching her in suspicion, I asked, "Is something wrong?" We were always in danger of being followed now so I was even more wary than usual.

"I have a contact inside Imperium that filled me in on everything that's happened in the past few days. We lost the Russian fortress to the ONNT and your old friends."

"You had a Russian fortress?" I asked, the question falling flat. Of course they did.

"We did. Not as large or mighty as the one in Romania, but still a threat. If they were able to destroy it..." But she never finished her thought, shaking her head slightly as if that could fill the silence.

"Is that it?" I questioned testily. "Because we haven't eaten in a day and a half, so I'll need to hunt something if we don't want to starve." Leaning down, I picked up my bow and the quiver of arrows the Imperium agents brought me before the raid.

"No, that's not all. There's something else."

I looked up at her, irritated when she trailed off without answering. "What is it?"

She regarded me with those glittering eyes for an annoyingly long time. "The answer...you might not like it."

"Tell me anyway."

"Alright." Neve spoke very carefully, like she was choosing every word as it came. "Before the Russian fortress fell, they were able to take one member of your crew back to the Romanian fortress as a captive."

After that, she looked at me expectantly and with a jolt, I realized what she was saying. "They took Delphinium?"

"Yes. It was no secret that Orion loved her the most out of all of us. He's wanted her back ever since she escaped his clutches. And now he has her."

"What is she doing there? Is he going to kill her?" The thought of Orion stealing my kill made anger flare up inside me, but I wasn't stupid enough to challenge him simply over Delphinium's life.

"No, she's not dead. He turned her into one of his own, somehow. No one knows exactly how he did it to her and Benton, but there are whispers of a brainwashing machine. One thing is for sure: she is not who she used to be. She's worse than dead now."

Worse than dead. Delphinium was worse than dead now. I weighed the words in my mind.

"I can't kill her now," I said in realization. Even if she wasn't kept so close to Orion now, she wasn't herself anymore...

"No. No one can. That's the problem."

"That's the problem," I repeated halfheartedly. I couldn't avenge my mother. She was already spoken for. Orion had inflicted the suffering upon her that I had planned to.

But perhaps that was her payment, I realized. She would have never wanted this. She would have rather died than become his slave again. In a way, she was suffering worse than she would if she was dead and gone.

But she still killed my mother and I hadn't seen any blood shed in payment.

"What are you going to do now?" Neve's tone was soft. She knew how much I'd put into this mission, so for it to fail like this was devastating.

Avenge me. Avenge me. Avenge me. You bring dishonor to my name if you can't even do that simple task. You've had several chances and have failed each time.

I could practically hear my mother's ghost whispering in my ears. How was I supposed to right her death now? The assassin was suffering but she still wasn't sated. There was no way I could kill her killer.

Then it dawned on me.

My mother's death had been partially rectified, but she was only one of hundreds—if not, thousands—of deaths by Imperium assassins. What happened to all the people who didn't have daughters and sons to remember their names? What happened to all the people who were killed silently and no one even noticed their absence?

Silent monsters still prowled in the dark. My mother was dead, but those future targets were not. Not yet. Perhaps I could save them from my mother's fate. I could keep their loved ones from suffering as I did.

"I'm going to hunt and kill Imperium assassins." The statement came swiftly and boldly but as I said it, I realized how much I wanted this. I could still make things right. I would make things right, taking out one evil at a time. If I couldn't kill Delphinium Tesla, I'd take the next best thing and murder all of her soldiers.

"You...are?" Neve's face creased in surprise and confusion.

"Yes. Will that be a problem?" I hadn't forgotten which side she belonged to. Until now, our partnership had been amicable, but if she tried to cross me...

"I am an Imperium assassin." It was a silent question: would I kill her for what she was?

"Do you have a death wish?"

"No." She cocked her hooded head to the side and regarded me for a moment. I tried not to squirm under her scrutinizing gaze. "I don't think you would kill me."

"How about I test that theory?" I asked through my teeth. Her heartbeat was steady; Neve had no fear.

"You can't track and kill Imperium assassins without inside knowledge about them."

"I was told I'd never do a lot of things throughout my life and yet I did them anyway. I'll do it with or without you."

"You won't have to. I'm in."

There it was again, the way she seemed to straddle the line between the two sides. "Aren't you with Imperium?" I needed to be sure she wouldn't turn on me.

"Weren't you meant to be with your team?" She countered, gaze flat and arms crossed.

I was about to open my mouth and give her a sharp retort, but she cut in before I could. "I'm willing to help you take out my brethren. I can give you names and places. But in return, you have to let me do an equal amount in the hunt."

I took her in for a moment, thinking about the offer she'd made me. I wasn't nearly stupid enough to trust her, but she would be helpful to me in identifying and finding my targets. There was no doubt that I'd have to watch my back around her, but something was different about her; she wasn't like those other Imperium agents. It made me uneasy, like she would reveal something hidden about herself soon and I wasn't quite sure if it was good or bad.

Getting to my feet, I rested my bow against my shoulder. "Agreed. But keep in mind, assassin, that I don't take kindly to people who turn against me."

"I noticed. Neither do I."

"I'm going to get us something to eat. You find our first target."

With that, I left the cabin and slunk into the thick woods, looking for something to kill.