Evie
“Nice place, all shiny and shit. Not that I expected anything different,” I drawl, lifting my head, looking at the very gold and shiny building I’ve walked into. There are five elevators in the middle, made of glass, and they stretch all the way up to the top of the building. At the top, the ceiling is made of gold, but all the glass in here makes it seem bright. There is no one at the circler counter in the middle of the room, which is odd. Three Protectors, in perfect, expensive-looking suits come out of one the elevators, and stop dead in their tracks. They all panic, getting back in the elevator and one keeps pressing the button again and again until the door shuts.
“We don’t need your comments on decor,” Trex snaps, eyeing the scared Protectors in the elevator as it goes up. He walks ahead, and I try not to laugh at his stuck-up attitude. I follow him to the middle elevator, getting in with him and Connor. We are silent as Trex presses the button for the twelfth floor. The other Protectors wait by the door, their hands on their swords as they watch.
“Out of interest, why am I here? What could you possibly want me for?” I ask them, wondering if I can get them to tell me. I don’t like the unknown, and this whole situation is exactly that.
“We need your help,” Connor says, and Trex grabs his arm.
“Don’t say another word,” he growls out, and Connor pulls his arm away, keeping his eyes locked on Trex. Why would they need my help? I can’t help but try to think of anything the Protectors could want me for, and I don’t come up with anything. It doesn’t make any sense. I look back at the guys, seeing them both still glaring at each other as they have a silent conversation.
“There is a lot of tension here, is it sexual? I could totally see that happening between the both of you,” I ask innocently, and Connor chokes on a laugh as Trex’s face goes red.
“It’s best you shut up now, blue,” Connor says, still laughing a little bit. We go silent as the door opens to a long corridor. This corridor is lit with white spotlights on the floor, that make a path to massive glass doors at the end. The glass is coloured with red swords in a circle, and a woman on her knees. The woman has runes down her arms, each one is lit up the colour they are when you use them. The blue for holy fire, which burns demons, and it looks like a rose. The red rune for portals, which looks like an archway in a circle. The white rune, which is shaped like a sword in a triangle and lets us heal and finally to the last rune. The black rune shaped like a skull. The black rune I’ve never used before, and I don’t have a clue what it does. I have a feeling like I shouldn’t use it, and I usually listen to those kinds of feelings. Well, most of the time.
“A little advice, be respectful,” Connor says as we get to the door.
“Sorry, that’s really not my plan,” I smile innocently as the doors are opened. Connor and Trex walk slightly in front of me, blocking my view of the room, but they did just what I wanted them to do. I quickly slide my dagger out of the holder on my hip, and jump on Connor’s back, holding the dagger against his neck as I look around.
“Fuck,” Connor mutters, holding his hands in the air.
“Don’t move, you wouldn’t want me to slip,” I say sweetly next to his ear, holding the dagger close. The room is deadly silent as I look around, ignoring Trex as he glares at me. There are three thrones in the middle of the room, the floor is made of red glass by the looks of it. I glance around at the five gold statues in the room, four of them are men, and there is one woman. She has long hair, and a smile on her face as she reaches up in the air for something, and for some reason, she looks familiar to me. She has runes etched on her face and a crown right in the middle. It makes me freeze, but not enough to forget where I am. I pull my eyes away from the statue to the four hooded people in the room.
“Kill him if you must,” the man in the middle says, pulling his hood down. The man has dark skin, brown eyes, and his hair is shaved off, so I can see the tattoos on his head. They look like symbols, maybe even runes, but I’m not close enough to see. He has a flame symbol on his forehead, and when the other three men lower their hoods, I see they all wear the symbol. It’s still clear to me who the leader is as they let him speak.
“Let me go, they won’t care if you kill me. You should have held the dagger to Trex’s throat if you wanted a useful hostage,” Connor bites out. I look over at Trex, who watches me carefully, and I know he is waiting for a chance to attack me. I grin, moving my dagger away as I jump off Connor’s back and hold my hands up. They aren’t going to attack me, I can see it in the way they stand. Everything points to Connor telling me the truth earlier, they need me for something, and I might as well find out what. Connor steps away from me, rubbing his neck.
“Okay, okay. I’ll play nice, what do you want?” I turn away from looking at Connor to ask the men who are in charge.
“My name is Keeper Cadean, and quite simply, we need your help,” he tells me with a dead serious expression.
“Why would I help your kind? You’ve hardly welcomed me with open arms,” I say, with a sarcastic laugh, and he nods in agreement.
“We will never welcome you into the protectors, because of our knowledge of who you are. We still must make a deal with you for your help,” he states, folding his hands together.
“And what am I?” I ask, wanting to know what they think.
“A killer, an assassin, and a thief. You could never be trusted in the royal Protector’s city,” he states simply.
“Explain what you want, I’m getting bored with all this,” I say, waving my hand.
“Two nights ago, our three princesses were taken. Our princesses were five days away from a ceremony that would make one of them our queen, and we have no other royal heirs,” Cadean says tightly.
“Do you think I took them? Are you kidding?” I say, with wide eyes, trying not to laugh.
“No, we do not think you took them. The princesses are the most powerful of our kind, they would not be taken by a simple assassin,” Trex laughs, and I narrow my eyes at him.
“I could have, if I knew they existed that is,” I mutter.
“Our royal family is the best kept secret of the Protectors,” Trex tells me.
“Then why haven’t you gone after them yourselves, you all have runes like me,” I say.
“On the same night, our runes’ powers were stolen. We believe the kidnapper placed demon power into our water supply and food somehow. We won’t be able to use our rune powers until it is out of our system, which will be around two weeks,” Connor explains to me.
“Right, so let me get this straight. Your princesses are taken, you have no powers, and you want me to what exactly?” I ask.
“We have information that suggests the princesses are on the bottom layer of hell. We believe a couple of overlord demons took them for their power. We want you to rescue them,” Cadean says, and all I can do is laugh. They have to be kidding.
“I told you she wouldn’t help, she only helps herself,” Trex snaps, giving me a disgusted look, and I have to resist the urge to stick my tongue out at the moody fucker.
“We have something Evie wants, and she will help us,” Cadean states, his voice confident enough to make me pause and look back at him. He stands still, his brown eyes watching me carefully, like he knows I’m close to flipping out and escaping this hell hole of shiny crap.
“Like what?” I ask.
“I know why you are hunted, I know what your rune name is. I can tell you your past, I can tell you who you are, and make sure you are never hunted again. You help us, and you will have all the answers you have searched for, and you won’t have hide,” he tells me, and I pause for a second, running his answer over in my mind. I don’t know anything about my life, and he could tell me everything. I know my parents had to be Protectors, it’s the only way I could have my marks.
“And you let Hali walk free, and pretend you never saw her?” I ask, because she has to come with the deal.
“We will never speak of the death-marked witch, nor tell her kind she is alive,” Cadean nods. I slide my dagger back into the holder and cross my arms.
“Getting into hell is easy, but surviving there is hard. I’ve only been to the top layer, but I know the two layers below it are impossible to survive alone. I will need some people you don’t mind dying to come with me,” I say, and Cadean nods his head at Trex.
“I will travel with you. Connor and my brother, Nix, will join us,” he says firmly. I nod, looking back to Cadean.
“I will take Hali and leave to prepare,” I say.
“The witch stays here until you return. Think of her as a symbol of trust between us, after all you are the legendary assassin who cannot be trusted,” Cadean tells me.
“I want to see her before I leave then,” I demand and Cadean nods. I turn and walk towards the door with Connor and Trex following. I stop, letting them open the door and look once more back at Cadean.
“I always keep my word, and you’d best keep yours. If anything happens to her, there will be nothing between every powerless Protector, and me. I’m sure the demons would love to know that demon power stops rune powers,” I say, with a smile. He nods his head, almost in a bow, yet keeping his eyes locked onto mine. I don’t need to hear his words as I walk out of the room because I saw the fear flash in his eyes, and that’s all I need to know. They will keep their side of the deal.