Adela couldn’t see the assassin, nor could she sense her, but she knew that she was following. She wasn’t stupid enough to think that she was alone, not for even a second. She liked all her body parts right where they were, thank you very much. Although, her brain still felt like it wanted out from its confinement of her skull. To be honest, she couldn’t really blame the stupid organ, either. Hell, she was even half tempted to help it along. The sound of the wind was loud to her ears as she traversed the sky. Yes, she could have ripped open a portal there, but she wasn’t suicidal enough to risk it, at least, not yet. Adela folded her wings in, and she dropped like a stone. Before she could go splat, she snapped them out, slowing her descent when she was a hundred feet or so from smashing into the roof of a building. Before her feet could touch the solid surface of it, her arm burned as she was suddenly yanked back against an equally hot body. Her vision suddenly went dark, and a hand covered her mouth, muffling her startled scream. She froze, her ears straining to pick up whatever the assassin had heard. It wasn’t long for the sound of footsteps to reach her. “I need to see,” she said under her breath as pain began to flare inside her. It started in her stomach, before slowly radiating throughout her entire body. As it did so, the pain increased, and it was going to keep at it until she found its counterpart, or until she passed out from the agony of it, whichever one came first. If she did pass out before she could find either light or dark to balance herself, she was fucked, because she would slowly die within hours of unconsciousness. She would either be a pile of ash on the floor, or a dried up husk, depending on the source that she was lacking at the time. Luna hesitated, and then dropped her hand from her mouth. She wrapped her arms around the female and pulled her to the edge of the roof. Her wings fluttered behind her as she stepped off and glided to the ground. A squeak escaped the endahli as she suddenly clutched at her arm. The assassin smirked as their feet silently touched down. She led her into an alley and released her, becoming one with the shadows. She lifted the blanket of darkness that she had placed over them both the moment she had solidified.

Adela blinked at the sudden light and sighed with relief as the pain gradually faded, because nausea was starting to make itself known to her, and not in a pleasant way, either. She crept up to the end of the alley that they were standing in and cautiously peeked out. She quickly stepped back and looked around, her throat constricting as rage came over her. From the way ice was rapidly forming along the walls of the alley and the air crystalizing… “Luna,” she called out softly, her eyes darting every which way for her. Of course, she had no hopes of finding her, even if she really tried. The air trembled around her for a long moment, creating a rippling effect before settling. The ice melted, and the temperature slowly returned to normal. The assassin solidified in front of her, her eyes the color of acid-green. Well, she thought with slight relief. At least they weren’t red like earlier. She held on tight to her shield, and a headache formed behind her eyes from the effort of it.

“Have you killed before?” she asked with a growl.

The endahli blinked. “What?”

“Have. You. Killed. Before?” she repeated, enunciating each word.

“Um, a few times.” She took a quick step backward as three daggers appeared in her hands. The assassin smiled and held the lunar, solar, and the dagger of fog out to her, hilt first. After a moment of hesitation, she reached out and cautiously took them.

“Remain out of sight. I’ll return shortly.” Before Adela could ask where she was going, the assassin ripped open a portal and was gone.

Frigid wind slammed into Luna on all sides as she stepped from the portal and into the freezing embrace of her realm of Rislyn. Snow flurries fell from the sky and swirled around her, washing away most of the blood that clung to her hair, clothes and skin. Steam rose from her body as it made contact. “Luna, Luna,” Evanna called to her, squealing as she shot toward her like an arrow. She caught the youngling, her rage subsiding as she nuzzled her hair. “Luna, hurt.” Hot, small hand patted her blood-encrusted hair, and Luna bounced the youngling in her arms as her twin came over to them.

“You left her?” Estoria asked as Alessia and Arild solidified into view.

“Lessa, Lessa,” Evanna said happily and waved at the female with Luna’s silver wings and light blue eyes that resembled Arild, her father. She smiled as she closed the short distance and bent down to kiss the youngling on the forehead.

“How’s my little baby girl?” she asked, ruffling her hair.

“Luna, hurt,” she repeated and frowned. “I no like.” Alessia glanced at her mother and arched an eyebrow.

She sighed. “I’m fine, my daughter,” she reassured her and leaned into Arild as he wrapped an arm around her. “To answer your question, sister, Zella is with her.”

“What did you find out?” her twin asked and extracted her daughter from her.

“I witnessed one of our own hauling in a couple of younglings,” she growled and projected her conversation with the endahlian female into their minds. The air was suddenly filled with low growls and hisses, their eyes turning red. From the tension pressing in around her on all sides, Evanna couldn’t hold back the low hissing growl that escaped her throat. Claws sprang from her fingertips, and her fangs popped out as her eyes turned red. Her mother cuddled her close and looked around at the open span of nothing but snow. Well, nothing except for the frozen lake they were standing next to.

“And the sword of tenebris?”

“I know for a fact that the chancellor has it.” Luna growled. “Nobody touches my baby and lives to see the next moonrise. Nobody.” She was planning to kill the chancellor all along, but the theft of her sword just made it personal.

“So, what are you going to do?”

She smirked. “How would you like to play decoy, sister?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Estoria hissed and smiled. “Tell me when and where, and I’ll be there.” She nodded and took Evanna from her mother.

“Mind if I borrow her? I have a scouting lesson that I wish to impart onto her.”

“Of course not,” she said and gave her daughter a hug. “Have fun with Luna, sweetheart. Tell me all about it when I see you.” The youngling nodded and wrapped her arms around Luna’s neck, snuggling into her. “Be good,” she sang and opened a portal. Evanna made a soft, chirping noise in Luna’s ear as she wrapped the youngling in a bubble of darkness. Giving the others a nod, she stepped back into Mirinia.

At the blast of icy wind suddenly buffeting her from behind, nearly knocking her over, the female endahli spun around with a gasp. The first thing she saw were the glowing red eyes, the fangs and the claws. Yelping, she took several steps away from the silver-winged youngling reaching for her, growling and hissing as she struggled to free herself from the assassin’s tight hold around her. Her wings flapped furiously, but she was no match for Luna. “Evanna,” she growled and pulled the youngling back. “Enough. That is enough, sweetheart.” A high-pitched sound came out of the youngling, and Adela winced, holding up her hands in a nonthreatening manner. The assassin spoke softly to her, soothing her. After a moment, she quieted down and slumped in her arms. “Any problems?” she asked the endahli and shook her head at the daggers that she held out to her. “Keep them. I’m sure that they’ll come in use, soon enough.”

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“No problems.” She let out a grunt of pain and made the daggers disappear.

“Good,” she said and whispered something into the youngling’s ear. Evanna nodded, and then she was gone. Adela frowned, her headache turning into a migraine due to the backlash of emotions around her. She wanted that veil of darkness back. If she started groaning and moaning while clutching her head, she wondered if the assassin would veil her mind again. She pressed her fingers into her temples, rubbing at them as she looked around the garbage-strewn alley. The walls on either side of them were dark grey with gouge marks, pits and furrows marring their surfaces. She kicked one of the crushed aluminum cans with a scowl, and it rolled to the other side, coming to a stop as it met the other wall. The assassin’s hand was suddenly on her arm, and she froze, holding her breath. Her hand wasn’t hot enough to melt the sleeve of her shirt to ash, but it was hot enough to be uncomfortable. When it came to body temperature, the nairue ran on the hot side, around a hundred and twenty degrees. Actually, they all did. She and her people ran around a hundred and ten, give or take, while the redari were closer to human.

“What is it?” she asked under her breath.

“Hold on tight to your shield. We’re going in.”

Adela stiffened. “Has something happened to the youngling?” She shook her head and tightened her grip around her arm. The female took in a deep breath and braced herself, a split second before everything went dark.

When it lifted, they appeared in… a closet of all places. She winced, because it was still dark, even with the hint of light seeping through the cracks. She looked around at the shelves of… Adela blinked at the cans of food stacked neatly on top of each other. Well, it turned out to be a pantry, not a closet. There was a red bucket flipped onto its side, and she turned it upside down before sitting on it. The assassin, on the other hand, was eyeing the cans like they had offended her in some way. Then she stepped up to the shelves and studied each one of them critically. The endahli leaned forward and carefully opened the door. Peeking out into a sparse kitchen the color of cream and copper, she listened. She heard sounds from other parts of the building, but none of them were, thankfully, nearby. She was proven wrong a few second later, when a can sailed over her head. She jerked back with a startled yelp, the cool feeling of the dark veil coming over her mind a split second before the pain of someone’s death could slam fully into her. It still stunned her into immobility, and the only thing that kept her from falling was the assassin’s hand on her shoulder. She took in a shuddering breath and blinked at the total darkness that enveloped them. “What did you do?” she whispered and breathed through the pain that was steadily increasing by the second.

“I made a nice hole in the skull of one of my own,” she said, a little too cheerfully for the endahli’s liking. “and I had to cloak the entire kitchen so that the others don’t come running.” She removed her hand from her shoulder and stepped into the kitchen. The female stood and followed the assassin out, her hands outstretched in front of her. Luna had to smile as she reached into her air pocket and pulled out a light dome. She pressed it into her hand and took a step back. There was a click, and she took another step back as the heat of the light reached her. With a sigh, she went over to the very dead nairue that she had brained with a can of tomato sauce. In fact, she had hit him so hard that the thing went through his skull like it was made of tissue paper. Blood, brain matter and fragments of bone were everywhere. As for the can of tomato sauce, it exploded on contact with his poor head, before going through it to smash into the far wall, creating a somewhat circular dent. Damn, she thought as she glared down at the male. Sister, she telepathically called out to her twin. Are you and the others in position? We are, Estoria answered a moment later. I believe Evanna is keeping an eye on them. She nodded and gestured for the female endahli to join her. As she approached, she pulled more shadow around herself. “Can you handle the evacuation? Or would you rather fight?” she asked as the female came to a stop beside her.

“I can do both.”

“Perfect. Whatever you do, do not kill Zero, he is mine.” She nodded. “Are you prepared?”

“I am.” Luna grunted and dropped the darkness that hid them and everything else from the others, before becoming one with the shadows. The moment it was gone, Adela clicked off the light dome she held and pocketed it. She withdrew a dagger of fog and a lunar dagger as she looked around for the assassin. “You won’t see me,” Luna said and glided into the hall as shouts of alarm sounded.

She headed toward the sound, weaving her way between nairues and endahlians alike. After a few minutes of going through rooms and down multiple hallways, she finally found the person that she was looking for. Other than him and his two sentinels, there was no one else in the darkened room. Well, no one else other than her sister and Evanna. “So self-assured in yourself that you only need two sentinels at your side?” Estoria mused as she solidified into view. “I should be offended.”

“You,” Zero hissed.

“Me,” she said and smiled. “How has these past moons fare thee? I heard that you’ve done well for yourself here. Did I hear wrong?”

“You’ve heard correctly.”

“Hmm,” she said thoughtfully as screams of pain reached them. Zero glanced at the closed door, but he didn’t bother getting up from his comfy chair by the window. The room itself was small, cozy even, with plush dark red carpet, a black overstuffed couch against the far wall, a round glass coffee table, and a couple of oak bookshelves by the door. There was even a painting or two hanging on the walls. Luna took all that in with a quick glance as she made her way to the nearest sentinel to her. “You’re not going to go out there and assist them?” her sister asked and smirked.

He shrugged. “They don’t need my help.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so certain of that, if I were you.” She smiled. “Just an advice from one assassin to another.”

“Why are you here?”

“Where is my sword, Zero?”

“Right here,” he said, and Luna resisted the urge to lunge for him as it appeared in his hand. The shimmering blade of the sword was thirty-six inches long and so dark of a blue that it might as well be black. Traceries of silver ran along it, and the tip was tapered to a sharp point and slightly curved. Tendrils of darkness rose from it, and they created crystalline frost along the double-edged steel blade, which in turn, caused vapor to lightly form over it. The hilt with its silver-winged guard was wrapped in black leather and was a foot long. It was also wrapped with fine silver wire. Embedded in either side of the hilt was an oval-shaped jewel the color of a lighter shade of blue that shimmered silver, and edged on the bottom of the pommel, in gold calligraphy, were her initials of L. V. R. Estoria took a step forward, and then stopped as Zero pointed the sword at her.

“Really, Zero?” she drawled as someone took the door off its hinges and sent it sailing through the air. She and everyone in the room either ducked or dodged out of the way as it went past, smashing into the window and shattering it. Growling, Luna quickly glided from the room and solidified. Before the male endahli in front of her could react, she grabbed him and bit into his neck with a feral hiss.