Mirror of Embers (Book 1)

o n e

☾  Ember   ☾

THE SOUND OF METAL ON METAL MAKES ME SMILE WICKEDLY AT MY OPPONENT, he snarls at me and lunges. I duck and roll to the side, away from his reach. I bolt upright and land on the balls of my heels. I side-step around my opponent and kick his knees in, he grunts and I pull the dagger out of my boot and throw it with all my strength at him. It lands in his shoulder and he curses at me. I laugh and saunter to the front of him and grab his hair. He looks up at me with hate in his eyes. I pull his head back and slam it with all my might into the concrete floor. He groans and flops to the floor in a heap. I smile, satisfied with my victory. I crouch down and put my two fingers up to his throat, finding his pulse. I curse at the weak beat in his throat. I pull out my dagger from his shoulder and align it between his neck and spine. "May thee rest and be welcomed by Anala," I say quietly, but the prayer echoes throughout the room. I take a steadying breath and plunge my dagger in. He lays still and un-moving. I fight the shudder crawling up my spine and retrieve my dagger. I grimace at the black ichor dripping off my dagger, I wipe it off on the ground and tuck it in my boot once more. 

I turn around to see Lokas still fighting the other man. He catches my eye and gives me a wolfish grin. I turn back around and crouch down to inspect the body. I pat down his sides, feeling for any money to pocket. I feel something thick in his cloak and reach in. His money pouch is filled to the brim with coins. "Oh!" I sing. I pocket the pouch into the inside of my cloak. I stand and turn around, the man is on the ground writhing underneath Loke. I walk towards him and his black curls bounce when he looks up at me, his brown skin glinting in the light. He shoots me daggers. "Don't you dare," He growls, I put up my hands defensively and step away. I know damn well to not help out Loke, he's very territorial over his kills. Very possessive. I don't blame him, I'd hate to have someone "help" me when I was doing just fine on my own. I'm also in no mood to get into a pissing match with Lokas, the mouth on that boy is filthy when he's angry. 

Lokas and I have been partners for almost 4 years now, we both joined The Band of Bastards at the same time. He was fifteen whereas I was thirteen. We were both caught stealing by Minette  Gaeth, the head of the Band. She told us stealing from little shops in the village would get us nowhere in life. Minette brought us back to the Band headquarters and made us one of her Bastards. Minette trained us in fighting and controlling our magic, she trained us to be the best of the best. We became the best of the best. Loke is my partner in crime-literally.

Loke and I have been best friends since we became partners. Minette saw how well we worked together and made us a team. One of the best decisions she's ever made. I don't know what I would've done without Lokas, he's been like a rock in my life. Something solid to grab onto. Yes-I have Faune, but it's nice to have one more person to have my back. Faune has so many friends to talk too. To understand her. There aren't many people like that in my life. I can count all of them on one hand. I've always been the cold one of the family, and I wish I wasn't that way, I want to be like Faune. Her happiness and wonder are things I strive for, but every time I try to act that way it feels so unnatural to me. Like happiness is unnatural to me.

Loke finally snaps the man's neck with a loud crack. I grimace and walk towards him. He's breathing heavily on top of the man. He slowly stands up from the body, he steps away from the corpse and picks up his discarded short-sword. He bends down and gags, he wipes the ichor off his short-sword and straps it to his side. I crouch down to look at the ichor and wrinkle my nose in disgust. Its ebony coloured and is smeared all over the bodies. I look up to Lokas, "What do you think possessed it?" He takes up a spot beside me and narrows his eyes, considering. "It could be any number of demons," he says staring at the ichor on the ground in front of us. "But I've never smelt one as bad as these ones, these ones are different."