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A WEEK HAD PASSED SINCE Eden had died. Sorcha’s fury and grief at losing her best friend hadn’t subsided yet. The Immortal Triumvirate hadn’t bothered to contact the final two members of the Assassin Guild. The sorceress wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t as if the fairy lord, master vampire and alpha werewolf actually cared about them.
“We’re just tools to them,” Sorcha muttered as she added ingredients to her cauldron. She was brewing a potion to calm her rage that was showing no signs of going away.
While Wort had trained her and her two friends to kill, she’d had to learn how to use magic by trial and error. Most of it was innate and came to her naturally. She’d never needed to use a wand to cast enchantments.
Thinking about the satyr who had used his fists and hooves to beat them into shape darkened Sorcha’s already foul mood. Wort had trained them to use a variety of weapons to kill their targets, but they generally used magic to take their marks down. Eden had been able to seduce her targets and drained their lives away with a deadly kiss. Malachi could do the same thing, but he didn’t reduce his victims to withered husks like his half-sister had been able to.
Fresh grief at thinking about Eden in the past tense made Sorcha hunch over slightly. If her hair had been white rather than blonde, she probably would have looked like an aged hag brewing something horrible in her cauldron. A ghost of a smile at that thought touched her lips, but it was gone before it could form properly.
After mixing a few calming herbs together, Sorcha infused her potion with a touch of magic, then poured it into a mug. She sniffed the concoction and winced at the acrid odor. “Why do my potions always smell so bad?” she complained, then took a gulp and swallowed it down. Clapping her hand over her mouth, she had to fight to keep it down. “Gah! That was horrible!” she said, but at least it was working. Her rage was already ebbing, so she quickly drank the rest of the vile brew.
Now that her anger was at a manageable level, Sorcha left her conjuring den and crossed the hall to her bathroom. She rinsed her mouth out and brushed her teeth, then stared at her reflection. Her usually gold skin tone was paler than usual and her silver-gray eyes looked haunted. She had no idea if the man who had killed Eden was still alive or not. If he was, she hoped she would be given the order to kill him. He’d only defended himself from being murdered, but it was hard for her to care. Her best friend was gone and she had a huge void in her life now.
A fluttering noise came from the hallway, then a letter zoomed into the bathroom. “Great,” she said with a grimace and grabbed it. It was an order for her to eradicate someone in the Fae District. The spell that linked her to both her target and the person who had given her the order kicked in. Sorcha hated the oily feeling of the enchantment that lurked in the back of her head. It was like having a tiny troll in her brain, prodding her to go into action and kill her mark.
While Eden had usually been sent to target men and Malachi had mostly been tasked with assassinating women, Sorcha handled all genders and species. That included some she wished she’d never been sent to eliminate. “Stupid demons,” she murmured as she headed down the hall to her bedroom. It had been a few months since she’d assassinated Beleth, but the hell spawn were still hunting for her.
Winter in Nox was usually brutal and this year was no different. She chose a thick coat to cover her jacket and trousers. Sorcha mostly wore gold, cream and white clothing that the magic of Nox provided for her. She didn’t need to worry about anyone seeing her face while she was on her missions. She was adept at hiding what she really looked like behind a glamor spell.
At that thought, she glanced into the full-length mirror that hung on one of the doors of her closet. She created an illusion that made her look shorter, plumper and made her hair look black. Not even Eden or Malachi could recognize her now. Another stab of pain speared through her when she thought about the succubus, but it was muted, thanks to her potion.
Sorcha pulled on a pair of white snow boots and headed downstairs. She couldn’t hear Malachi in the training room or in the living room as she let herself out through the back door. She hadn’t seen him at all during the past few nights. He was grieving for his half-sister, so she’d decided to give him the solitude he seemed to need.
The sorceress trudged a few blocks away from the four story building she called home. Looking around to make sure no one was nearby, she stepped into the shadows and teleported to the Fae District. Sorcha knew this District well. She’d eliminated hundreds of targets here over the past decade. She’d aimed for a spot in a grove near the elven woods and appeared on where she’d aimed for. The trees sheltered her from the snow that began to fall. She pulled her hood up to shield herself when she stepped out onto the sidewalk.
Although Sorcha had been given the fairy’s address, she didn’t really need it. The spell in her head led her straight to the mansion where her target resided. The prodding became stronger and more insistent the closer she drew to the building. Sorcha camouflaged herself with an enchantment to blend in with a hedge across the street. She cautiously sent her senses into the house, so she could get a sense of how many beings were inside.
Her magic swept forward and infiltrated the house. A dozen fairies of varying strength were inside. Her target was the strongest. She was surrounded by family members and guests. Sorcha didn’t have enhanced hearing, but she wasn’t interested in listening to their conversation. For a few moments, she contemplated asking the fairy if she could break the link between her and her overlords, but discarded it. It would take someone with a lot more power than her mark possessed to help her.
Someone approached the house and she quickly withdrew her magic from the building. When she saw it was just a courier carrying a package, she laughed at herself for being so jumpy. He flicked a look in her direction and she froze. His eyes passed over her and she relaxed again. He was just a lackey and there was no way he could possibly know she was there.
The courier walked along the path and knocked on the door. It was opened by a servant and he was ushered inside. Sorcha wouldn’t be able to enter the house so easily. Permission was needed to gain entrance. It would be too dangerous for her to pose as a courier. She couldn’t get close enough to the inhabitants for them to sense her power far exceeded theirs. All magic users were members of the Magic Guild. They would know something was wrong when they didn’t recognize her. As usual, she needed to hide in the shadows and strike from a distance in order to take her quarry down.
