Assassin's Contempt

•Chapter 5: Death

*not edited*

*warning gore and cursing triggers*

Ardent looked strangely at the man he now knew as Fillin said, "the crib taker". What was that harrowing yet ominous name he thought of himself and Fillin shook his head, "that woman was removed from the assassin's guild because of her disgusting 'recruiting' habits but as usual the guild is irresponsible...it's unlikely they didn't know..." he trailed off into thought and looked at Ardent, if what this boy says is true the kids will be in danger he thought and sighed, "Okay, we understand why you need to go back but we can't let you go alone". Ardent frowned, "why not? I'll be punished but its nothing I haven't been through before" Amado frowned at Ardent leaving him puzzled what they were trying to do. 

"This might come as a shock to you but we are not in the business of letting a child willingly go somewhere dangerous" Fillin rubbed his head, "Not to mention this dope gave you his blood"-he pointed at Amado- "and if you die with it in your system you'll become his drudge". Amado looked down, "would you rather him have died" Amado mumbled under his breath and Ardent looked between the two confused. "What's a drudge....and why did he bite my neck last night?" Ardent gestured to the bite scar where his neck and shoulder met. Fillin's eye twitched and sat down next to Ardent on the bed, "Ardent, we are not human. You being isolated by your kidnapper you wouldn't know but the world is full of more than just humans"- he paused to assess Ardent's reaction and continued when he just nodded- "Amado here is what humans typically call a vampire, he drinks blood as his main nutrition and is accompanied by a very long life and supernatural strength" Ardent looked at Amado and assessed his burly shape, the man was beautiful with dark chocolate skin that enhanced his piercing eyes that looked colored by candied apples. Soft Ringlet Curls speckled his head down to his shoulders. Ardent didn't notice he was staring until Fillin cleared his throat. Ardent's cheeks flushed and he looked away as Fillin continued, "I am a Fae, most humans refer to us as fairies. There are many types of Fae, to make it simple my powers are healing and thought manipulation; my diet is also not very different from a humans'"

As Fillin finished his explanation of what they were Ardent simply nodded and thought about what he had been told, "and a drudge?" Ardent questioned and Fillin sighed, "A Drudge is our term but humans refer to them as Dhampirs, They are half vampires sired to their masters to serve their every need" Ardent's eyes filled with understanding and Fillin confirmed, "A servant, either way you don't have to worry about it since you won't die anytime soon" Ardent nodded, "now can we go then" he asked as he dropped the rest of his restraints on the floor in front of Amado. Fillin chuckled, "I guess so".

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Ardent looked at his hand that was healed by Fillin, they were riding in a van with Ardent leading the way to his prison. He just prayed that the children were okay, he didn't know if Amado and Fillin could be trusted but he decided to take his chances with the two strange men... He looked up and noticed they were getting close and told them they should walk from here, Renee always knew when he was close and he was willing to bet she knew now as well. He split from the two that said they had a plan and walked in as he had a million times before. 

He swallowed the lump he had in is throat as he descended into the basement of the quaint prison that was disguised as a regular family home. Nothing happened as he completed his ritual, cleaning his knives, himself and dropping his clothes in the garbage he walked into the twins' room in a white tee shirt and black joggers, his towel laying over his damp black hair. He visibly relaxed as the twins laid in their bed curled into each other safe and sound, he took some clothes out for them and laid them on the bed. Leaving the twins' room he went to check on the older twins' ; noticing them sleeping he quickly woke them and they looked at him shocked, "I thought for sure Renee was gonna kill you" Willow whisper yelled at him and he shushed her, "We're leaving, I need you to get the twins ready immediately. Where is Elaine?" he asked the twins and they looked at each other with unease in their eyes, "Renee took her early Ardy...we couldn't stop her and protect the twins at the same time...She was so angry you weren't back she started Elaine's training early...she's probably still in the play room" Reagan apologized to Ardent and dread filled the eldest of their ragtag sibling group, he quickly ran to the stairs with the parting words to the twins to get the children ready. 

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Ardent cursed to himself as he rushed to the playroom, he hadn't seen Renee yet but he was sure she was either pretending to sleep or god forbid still "training" Elaine. He ripped open the doors of the playroom and his stomach dropped, Renee was standing in the middle of the room with a fistful of Elaine's blonde curls. He looked down to her body and recoiled at the sight. Elaine was passed out and her back was ripped open raw...she never beat them this hard...she was trying to kill her. Ardent struggled to find his voice as his own scars burned at the sight of his little sister, "R-Renee, w-what have you done?" his voice came out loud but not strong and he loathed how she made him like this. His eyes widened with horror as she turned around, her eyes were glowing bright red, very different from her usual brown ones. 

"Ah Ardent, so you did come back..." She released her grip on Elaine and he rushed to Elaine and caught her before her head hit the ground. He trembled as he held the broken child in his arms, she was breathing but for how long, "H-How could you do this?!" He yelled as he glared at Renee. She laughed, "She's my child I can do what I want". He felt fire in his lungs, "Not ONE of us are your children! You Crazy Bitch!" He leapt to his feet and glared at her again and Renee rolled her eyes looking bored, "I thought I beat that disrespect out of you years ago, looks like you'll have to learn your lesson again" she sighed and threw the whip behind her head. Ardent grinded his teeth together, "No, I won't stand by anymore! I couldn't do anything when you started torturing the twins but this--" he looked at Elaine in his arms, "has gone too far, I won't let you ruin another child". 

Renee picked up a knife and smiled, "and how do you plan on stopping me? Running? I won't let you. Killing me? I know you can't, who do you think trained you?!" she yelled as she sliced at Ardent narrowly missing as he dodged with the 11 year old in his arms, unarmed all he could do is dodge her attacks. While he was fast he was slower with Elaine in his arms and was getting cut and stabbed every few attacks. He let his mind wander for a second and saw as Renee's weapon was going straight down to Elaine's chest, unable to dodge he managed to catch the knife at the last minute. Wincing he turned the knife and kicked Renee away from him successfully snatching the knife from her, he used his sliced up hand and threw the knife in the air catching it by its hilt. Feeling accomplished he looked up at Renee who smirked. He was going to ask her what was funny but when he opened his mouth all that came out was blood. He looked down questioningly and saw another knife buried into his chest. 

Renee smiled, "You focus too much on what you can see Ardy, don't worry I'll take great care of the kids" Ardent cursed himself as he felt himself lose his footing and crashed onto the ground. The last thing he heard before he felt himself slip was a growl followed by a scream. Crying as his vision darkened he thought one thing, "I couldn't protect them."

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Hi! Thanks for reading! A dark chapter I know, what do you think will happen? What do you think of the characters so far? Let me know!

~Onyxicea <3