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EDEN DIDN’T GET A CHANCE to watch Malachi train for long. They heard the telltale sounds of a letter squirming its way beneath the front door and turned to face the doorway. The letter zoomed in the room and crossed to Eden to hover in front of her face.
“It looks like you’re up, sis,” Malachi said, then saluted her and went back to punching and kicking the bag.
She knew who it was from even before she opened it. The message was short. It gave her the name of her next target and the address of where she could find him. “Another shifter has been marked for death,” she said as the spell that connected her to her target took hold of her. It was a niggling sensation in the back of her head that wouldn’t fade until she’d completed her mission. The link could lead her to her prey when she was within a hundred or so yards of their location. It would also let the person who had given her the order know when she’d succeeded in her task.
“I guess Lord Graham still isn’t done eradicating rebels,” her half-brother said philosophically. The assassins had lost count of how many shapeshifters they’d murdered during the past decade. They’d all been fourteen when they’d first been sent out to eradicate their overlords’ enemies.
The letter and envelope vanished now that its message had been imparted. Few people could conjure the strength to send the magical letters now. Most civilians had to use their energy and magic just to survive. Thanks to the power they’d siphoned from the Night Cursed population, their illustrious leaders had far more magic and energy than they needed. They’d given up on trying to find a way to funnel it back into Nox. Some spells just couldn’t be reversed, it seemed. “I’d better head upstairs and gear up,” she said.
“What color are you going to wear this time?” Malachi asked with a smirk.
“I haven’t decided yet,” she replied coolly. He always made fun of her for accessorizing her outfits. She walked out with his chuckle following her and took the stairs back up to the fourth floor.
The succubus headed for her bedroom to change once again. Her bed was huge and was covered in a thick blue and silver duvet. She flicked a glance at the bed, knowing she would be coming home alone as always. Eden had never invited a man over and it was doubtful that she would ever be given permission to. Assassins couldn’t have normal lives. They couldn’t fall in love, get married and have children. They’d been bred for one purpose; to kill whoever their masters told them to.
Malachi had nicknamed them the Assassin Guild and their house was the Assassin Guildhall, which was fitting, since three killers lived in the building. None of them had chosen to become what they were. Their fates had been decided for them. They all hated their lords and masters, but there was nothing they could do to change their destinies.
One side of her closet was dedicated to casual clothes that Eden wore when she was at home. The other half was filled with sleek dresses that were designed to show off her figure. Who would ever suspect a smartly dressed, fragile looking woman like her could be a cold-blooded murderer? She picked a midnight blue dress, then crossed to the dresser to choose matching underwear. The dress hugged her slender body and fell to just below her knees. For now, she left her midnight blue stilettos in the closet and entered the bathroom across the hall.
Years of practice made donning makeup and doing her hair quick and easy. She pinned the long strands of her black hair into an elaborate updo, then headed back to her bedroom. A box full of jewelry sat on her dresser. Picking a pair of long, dangling silver earrings with four large sapphires surrounded by diamonds, she slid her feet into her shoes.
It was doubtful Eden would need a weapon, but she opened an antique armoire where she kept her favorite pieces. An array of knives was on display. She chose one and slipped the sheathed dagger into a midnight blue purse and slung it over her shoulder.
The final item Eden retrieved was a dark blue umbrella. She had a dozen umbrellas in various colors to match her clothes. They hung from hooks on the wall near her door like a strange collage. Malachi said it was one of her stranger quirks that she always had to match everything she wore. Sorcha thought it was amusing. Eden figured it was practical. She didn’t have to waste time trying to find something that didn’t clash if she wore the same color from head to toe. Luckily, she had a few black umbrellas. She wouldn’t miss the one she’d dropped earlier when the vampire had rescued her from the shifter.
A pulse of magic came from the apartment beneath her, which meant Sorcha was now home. She often practiced her spells in her conjuring den. She’d warded the building so no one would feel it from the outside.
Malachi was absent from the training room when Eden reached the first floor. He’d either received an order for a mission, or he was lurking in his apartment on the second floor. All three of them trained regularly, but they didn’t always train together. Sometimes, they needed their own space.
Rain lashed Eden’s umbrella when she stepped out through the back door. She walked for a few blocks, then waited at the curb for a carriage to arrive. One finally lumbered into view a few minutes later and she climbed inside. It was a mystery to her how the skeletons knew when someone needed their services, but one usually turned up for her. She called out the address where she wanted to go to through the window. The skeleton nodded its fleshless skull in understanding and the carriage lurched into motion. The black tattoo all skeletons had on the backs of their heads stood out against its pale skull.
It wouldn’t be a good idea to turn up on her target’s doorstep without knowing how many people were inside, so she’d given the driver an address a short distance away from his house. Surveillance was called for before she could move in for the kill. The carriage clattered over the cobbled streets, cutting through the City Square and circling around the fountain. The assassin sneered at the stone images of a fairy, a vampire and a werewolf standing on a platform and presiding over their subjects. They were obviously meant to represent the Immortal Triumvirate. It was a constant reminder of who ran the city.
Four gigantic guildhalls overlooked the square, but they were smaller than the building where the Triumvirate had their headquarters. Two stone robed figures stood sentinel on either side of the doors to the Magic Guild. A pair of huge stone bloodsuckers sneered down at passersby from the Vampire Guild. A werewolf and a werebear hulked at the doors to the Shifter Guild, but it was the final guildhall that drew her eye. Two hideous stone demons guarded the entrance to the Demon Guild. Their eyes seemed to be sly and she almost felt as if they were watching her as she passed by.
The city was split into four Districts on the surface. The Fae District was to the north of the city. The Vampire District was to the west and the Night Cursed District was to the south. A bridge took Eden to the Shifter District to the east. The Demon District lay in the catacombs beneath Nox. She’d never been there and it wasn’t a place she ever intended to visit.
Eden assumed her magic would work on hell spawn, but she’d never had a chance to test it on their kind. Her targets were always fae, other types of magic users, or shifters. There were no mundane humans in Nox that she was aware of. The soldiers who had been captured during an invasion had all been drained to death by vampires long ago. Barricades had been erected near the entrance to the City of Night by the US Army, but supernatural beings and those who possessed magic could still slip past them.
The population had grown during the past couple of decades. People came here with the hope that life would be better in Nox. It didn’t take them long to realize their error, but it was already too late by then. No one could leave the city once they’d passed through the barrier.
Eden had heard that Nox had once been a utopia for their kind, but those days were long gone. It was highly doubtful that things would ever get better. As the population increased, they needed to donate more magic or energy to power the Districts. It was a vicious cycle without an end in sight.
