Page 19 of Claimed By Night

He turns his vehicle off and throws the door open, lurching to his feet. He sways before struggling to his front door and, once inside, collapses on the floor. I’m seconds behind him.

Before entering, I close my eyes and send my shadows out to detect if there’s anyone else here—anyone I haven’t planned for. There isn’t. The place is clear. I proceed after the target.

He still doesn’t know he’s being followed. He drags himself across the marble floor. Even though we’re bathed in the pitch of night, I possessDarkvisionand, thus, can see. And this bastard is loaded. I’m certain his riches are ill-gotten.

He stops moving once he reaches the center of the room and then just lays there. Then he flips himself over until he’s facing the ceiling, his chest rising and falling with his elevated breathing. No doubt he’s wondering what’s happened to him.

I stand above him and allow my shadows to melt away. In the guile of night, he won’t be able to decipher the features of his executioner. And even if he does, it won’t matter much longer.

I untie the leather straps from my waist and glance down at my family of poisons.

“Who do you work for?” I ask as I lean over him. Of course, he’s too far gone at this point to respond, so I do it for him. “Variant? Blink twice if the answer is yes.”

He doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t blink. Just stares straight ahead.

I chuckle, a menacing, ugly sound. “We can do this one of two ways. Either way, you’re going to die. But I can make that death a fairly pleasant one or, with the help ofGhoul Oil, I can ensure you suffer a long bout of insanity before the Death Knight finally claims you. Or perhaps you’d prefer to be eaten from the inside out, courtesy of myLich Dust?”I pause, mainly for dramatic effect. “I don’t advise death byLich Dust.It’s painful and messy.” Leaning down, I put my mouth right next to his ear and whisper, “so I shall ask you again, do you work for Variant?”

He blinks twice.

I stand up with a quick nod. “I thought so.” Then, I shuffle through my menagerie of poisons. Yes, I could simply drain him, but theSpined Devil Venomwill have spread through his entire system by now, and it’s not the most pleasant taste.

Instead, I reach down into my reticule and produce the vial ofUnknowing Death. To the ignorant onlooker, it appears as though the vial is empty—but therein is theUnkowing Death’sbeauty. Quite the contrary, it’s full of an invisible agent that, once inhaled, provides death almost immediately.

Owing to the fact that I have no respiratory system, I’m safe when handling airborne poisons.

I uncork the vial, then bring it just below the target’s nose. Gripping his jaw with my free hand, I press his mouth shut. It’s amatter of seconds before he’s forced to breathe through his nose. As soon as he inhales theUnknowing Death, I recork the vial and place it back in my armory, then stand to watch the poison take action.

TheUnknowing Deathkills by evaporating all liquid from a target’s body, reducing him to a pile of bones. And it does so within perhaps two minutes.

The paymaster who hired me for this job requires proof of the target’s death. Thus, I must take the extra step of securing what’s left of the half-orc’s body. Releasing the clasp, I pull the chain of bones from around my neck. Each one is hollow, open on one end, and two to three inches long. I select one of the bones and hold it up, willing my shadows to blow into it since I’m unable. Rather than the sound of air coming from the other end, the bone plays a note, deep and doleful.

My shadows begin to swirl around what was once the half-orc and is now merely a pile of bones and bodily debris, shrinking everything into a mass that is perhaps a centimeter in length and width. Then, the mess is summarily whisked into the hollow recess of the bone. When there’s nothing left on the floor, I stand and replace the chain around my neck where it belongs. Soon, I will deliver the remains of the half-orc to the paymaster. Once the remains are freed from the bone, they will return to their original size.

The target will be identified by his teeth.

CHAPTER SEVEN

FLUMPH

The Infinite Forest

Fae Realm

I’m startin’ ta wonder if I’m drugged outta my damn mind jist as bad as that angel is.

‘Cause one minute, we’re in the shadow forest an’ I’m tryin’ to convince big, pissed off Goliath that I ain’t lyin’ when I said the angel’s got ‘er wings. An’ the next thing I knows, we be headin’ through another time-travelin’ hole full o’ mist an’ now I finds myself in the middle o’ another forest. Only this one ain’t so fuckin’ scary. Thank my goddamn balls. It’s still dark, though.

“Thoradin, you will travel with us,” Dragan announce to his main squeeze. Then, he look back at the equivalent to a gargoyle stepson. “Tell Gurdis to travel back to the Gorge. Variant will be coming for me. If the battalion must scatter to survive, so be it.”

Thoradin nods and then goes to talk to the gargoyle runner-up.

“Where we goin’?” I ask Dragan.

“To find Cambion.”

“What the fuck’s that mean?”

“Don’t ask questions if you won’t understand the answers,” he say real rude like an’ frown down at me.

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