I walked threw the halls of the guild with a straight back and an air of confidence. I could sense all of the other assassins looking down on me. I was the first and only girl assassin, so I had to work the hardest. I headed straight towards Wilker Wes's study, or in other names, Master. He was the one who controlled all of the assassins and who handed out jobs.

As I turned down the last hall Garret Segal walked out of his office. He saw me coming and smirked. "Is Master's favorite toy back so soon." He was the nicest one to me, but he could still be pretty mean. "No, his best assassin is returning. It seems is favorite toy is leaving right now." Garret scowled. "You might as well leave, everyone knows you don't belong. Even you know you don't belong." "I belong here just as much as any of you." I replied.

I went to walk pass him, but he purposely bummed into my shoulder with his. I immediately grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. Then I dead kneed him causing him to fall to his knees. "Unless you are willing to be taken down by me, I would steer clear of my way." I pushed him to the ground and walked towards Wilker's door. By the time Garret got up, I was to far down the hall for him to come after me. Wilker was standing at the door and he was smiling. When I got to the door I turned and blew a mocking kiss at Garret. Then I walked all the way in.

Wilker went to his desk, and I fell to one knee in front of it. I was staring at the rug. I could tell he was staring at me, right between my shoulder blades, right where my twin swords crossed. "Master." I said by way of greeting. He answered by asking, "How is Ril doing. I heard you paid him a visit." I smiled to myself. I was still staring at the carpet because he hadn't said I could stand yet. "He took a dive to the very bottom of the ocean yesterday. Rumor has it he never surfaced."

Wilker gave a small chuckle. "Good job. I knew you could do it." I heard his footsteps moving towards me. Then I felt his hands on mine pulling me up. When I was standing all the way up, he asked, "Not a scratch on you is there?" My smile dropped. "None that you can see." He dropped my hands. "What happen?" I looked at him with pure, unrelenting, embarrassment. "When I was going for the killing strike and they pulled a hidden dagger out, and sliced open my cheek." "But like a great assassin you healed it?" He asked. "Yes," I replied, "Valries powers really help." Everyone in our town, with the exception for a few humans where Valries. You could tell by the pointed canines and un-earthly beauty.

Wilker smiled and said. "Good girl. Your payment is in that box." He said pointing towards a box on a table on the far side of the room. I walked over there and pulled the lid off. It was the perfect gift. It was two new twin swords. My old ones had been chipped and practically ruined in my last assassination. I pulled out my two old ones and set them on the table. He came up behind me and said, "Your old ones look like they have been through several wars." I sheathed the new ones on my back and turned to him. "Thanks." He smiled and motioned to the chairs in front of his desk.

Once I was seated and he was seated he asked, "Are you ready for your next job?" I gave a wicked smile. "Of course." He settled back and said, "You know The Barrel." My breath caught in my chest. "Yes." I said in a small voice. "Ahh, you always assume the worst." He said quickly. "You are not going to be following your mommy's footsteps in this job." He knew better than anyone that I hated my moms job. Before she died so many years ago, she was a whore. I always hated her for it. I swore I would never turn to that no matter how poor I was.

Wilker used it as a threat or punishment when needed. There where very few times it was used though. I let out a long breath. "What am I going to do then?" I asked. "You are going to fight Farren Varro during his first fight. Tonight is his first ever fight, and you are going to be his first opponent." I stood up and so did he. "Yes sir. What time?" "Eight thirty." He said. "Perfect." I replied. As I walked to the doors, I rolled my shoulders. He must have known how restless I was because he said, "Everyone else is sparring in the training room." I smiled at him and said, "Thank you Master."

I walked the training room and pushed myself to the front of the circle. Garret was in the middle fighting a no-name newbie. Of course he won, and when he asked for next competitor, I stepped up. He laughed and said, "You really want to lose?" "No, I want an easy fight." I snapped back. He took a step back, "Fine, but we are only doing two dagger fights." I smiled, "Perfect." I walked to the far table and started taking off my weapons. I pulled my twin swords out. Then I pulled off the two strapped at my thighs. Next I pulled the ones out of my boots, and finally I took the one's at my wrists off.

I picked the ones that lived at my wrists to use. The only ones that I didn't take off where the ones that where in the breast pockets. There handles where made to look like armor. Only a very skilled eye could see them. Garret happen to be one of these trained eyes. But no smart assassin would take every blade off and only have the ones in there hands on them. Garret gave them a pointed look but didn't say anything about them.

When the fight started, I jumped right at him. This always caught people of guard, because someone my size would never do that move. I nearly got his arm, but he just barley scooted out of the way. We went at each others throats, constantly keeping the other on guard. But he eventually slipped and I got my dagger at his throat. I dead kneed him. "Throw your daggers to the side." I ordered. He threw one to each side and raised his hands in surrender. I backed up and he jumped towards his dagger's. He scooped them up and the stood up.

There was a slow clapping. I looked up at the balcony, and Wilker was standing there. We all fell to one knee in unison. He immediately said, "Everyone up. Jaycie Lancer and Zachery Rinston. You two are up." Zachery was probably the one assassin I couldn't stand. "Full weapons." Wilker commanded, so I put them all back on, but only used my daggers. We both went to the sparring circle and started fighting. I let him have the first move. He tried to ram me, but I swirled to the left and tripped him. He stumbled but not enough to give me an advantage. After a few more moves I had him on his knees and had a dagger at his throat.

"Daggers to the side." I ordered. "Never." He answered. I pushed hard enough to almost break the skin. "Now." I said with a commanding tone. "I will never." He said. Wilker's voice boomed. "Jaycie. Stand down." I scowled. "Not until he admits defeat." I growled. I heard footsteps and the I felt a hand slap me across the face. I fell back. I taste the coppery tang of blood in my mouth. I heard Wilker yelling. "Zachery, if this where a fight in the streets, you would be dead. When someone has a knife at your throat, you do as they say. Do I make myself clear?" He asked. "Yes master." He said. Wilker walked up to me and grabbed me by my shoulder and pulled me into the hall. He grabbed my arms pushing them into painful V's and shoved me against the wall.

With my training, I easily kept in any signs of discomfort. I could tell all the other assassins where watching from the windows and he knew it to. I was an example. "When I tell you to stand down, you stand down. Are we clear?" He asked. "Yes Master." I mumbled. He pushed my arms higher up and I winced in pain. "What was that?" He asked. "I said yes Master." I yelled. He pulled me away from the wall and threw me to the floor. I didn't dare stand up.

"If I can't trust I have your one hundred percent cooperation, I will have someone else fight. If I can't trust you, you might as well stay there on the floor like a filthy animal." "Yes sir." I said. After pausing for a few moments he said, "Get out of here. I will see you at The Barrel. The whole clan will be there. Don't be late." He turned his back to me and walked into the training room.

I walked out of the building and walked into the heart of the city.

I let my feet carry me. For hours I walked around undisturbed, but right as the sun was going down, I heard a footstep behind me. I immediately drew my dagger and spun around. It was resting on Garret's chest. I walked forward, forcing him to walk back. After a good ten feet, I backed off. I bared my teeth. "What do you want. You going to mock me?" He smiled, "I hadn't planned on it, but I can." I growled. "Go away." I said with a deathly calm voice. "If I don't?" He questioned.

I started walking forward with my finger pointed out. "Right now I am over my head with anger. Unless you want some blade on blade action right now, I wouldn't bother me. You know I have a fight tonight, so don't pretend that you just came to see what I was doing, you came to down grade my confidence. But you say one word about my fight, I will gut you." By know my finger was buried in his chest. His smile widened. "Well, if you are angry, I might as well add to that." He captured my face with his hands. He pushed a kiss onto my lips.

I heard my dagger clatter to the ground. At first I tried to push away, but then I relaxed and stopped struggling. I felt a small amount of power. He was healing my split lip. He pulled back, "Maybe that will make you more angry, maybe less angry. We will see." Then he was gone.

I was frozen in shock. Garret Segal had just kissed me. I hated him, and now I loathed him. He was the nicest to me, but he still started fights with me and got me into trouble. I sheathed my fallen dagger and ran to my apartment room. I had moved away from the guild long ago. My apartment was at the top of a hotel. It was one of the most expensive in all of Kalver. Only Wilker knew where it was.

I stayed in my room sharpening blades all day even though I wasn't even aloud to bring them. The fights at The Barrel are only fists. No weapons. So I would only have the ones in my breast pockets. After all my blades where sharpened, I got a something to eat. By the time I got to The Barrel, it was eight twenty-five. I walked up to Wilker and the first thing he did was grab the front of my armor pulling me towards him. "What are you playing at girl? You only have five minutes to size up your opponent." I pushed away from him, which is something no one ever did.

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"If you send me away for the day, I will be here on time. But I will be here when I want to. I have plenty of time." I turned and looked towards the far side of the fighting pits, stood Farren Varro. He was talking loudly with his friends, he was trying to intimidate everyone. I looked him over and decided he had no weapons only him. He didn't even have a hidden dagger on him.

When the time to fight came, he jumped into the fighting pit. His dad, Mr. Varro, stood at the edge of the pit. "So, who is going to go against my son for his first fight." No one stepped up, so I stantuerd up to him. "I will go up against him." Mr. Varro laughed. "I think you are in the wrong part of the tavern. Try that side." He pointed to the cat walk where whores walked down and waited to get bought for the night. He didn't know how much those words stung, but I turned the hurt into fighting power. Especially when I heard everyone laughing. "No, I am meaning to be here, I need a good fight. So I will warm up with an easy competitor."

The laughing stopped. I jumped down into the pit landing on one knee with my hand on the ground. I slowly stood up for the affect.

Farren was standing near the wall with a look of disbelief on his face. "You have got to be kidding." He took a few steps towards me, to where he was in the middle. "I shouldn't be fighting her here. I should be in one of the back rooms with her." I gritted my teeth. He turned to his dad, "I am going to demolish her."

I walked up to him, grabbed his arm and flipped it. I pulled him over my back and he rolled over. With my leverage I threw him to the ground with his jaw first and he rolled to the far side of the pit. When he stood up, he was rubbing his jaw. He tried to scare me by running at me. Guys his size did this as a scare. But I just grabbed at his elbows forcing his arms outward, I used the palm of my hand to push his face back. Then I ducked under his arms, pushing him into the wall. I heard the thud of him hitting it and smiled.

When he turned towards me, I was leaning against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest. I saw the second he saw me as a real opponent, the change in his eyes. He came running at me and I tripped him. But he immediately jumped up. We started throwing punches. I felt one land on my cheek bone, but didn't let it stop me. I went to duck under a punch, but he tripped me. I fell and I immediately flipped to my back. I meet eye's with Wilker. He made a fist and put it on his knee. The move meant shatter his knee. But I couldn't. I couldn't do something that would cause that much damage. I scrambled backwards. He was walking towards me. I locked eyes with Wilker. He had a stern look on his face. But I wouldn't do it.

I felt my back hit the wall. I went to get up, but a hand grabbed my neck and lifted me. He shoved me high up against the wall, to where my breath ran out of me, and my feet weren't touching the ground. I immediately forgot all my training and panicked. This was the one thing I could never pass. I always panicked. My hands where immediately on his and I was kicking and breathing hard. "I win." He yelled. I couldn't get air in or out. Mr. Varro stood up slowly and walked slowly to the head of the pit. By the time he declared winner, I was about ready to pass out. When his dad called him over, he let me crumble to the floor. I knew this was my break. As soon as Wilker got here, I was going to be dead.

I got about thirty seconds of peace before I heard Wilker yelling, "Jaycie. Up here now." I slowly stood up gulping air. I held out a hand for him to help me up and he pulled me out of the pit, then he yanked me towards the door. Garret came up to him once, to ask what they did. All Wilker said was, "No one comes back to the Guild till tomorrow night. I don't care what you do." Then he yanked me towards the door.

The only time he spoke on the whole journey back to his house was when I tried to pull away. He slapped me, his ring catching my lip again, and splinting my lip and said, "Girl, don't make this worse for your self. I would highly suggest you follow me. I don't think you want to get into any more trouble. I think you are already in enough." My lip was bleeding hard. When we got to the Guild, he threw me onto the floor of the hall.

He walked towards his office, and I knew I had to follow. I stood up and walked after him. He sat in his spot and I kneeled before him like I always did. As soon as I did, I knew it was a mistake. He was quiet for a while. "You have failed." He said "You had a chance, and you wouldn't take it. He grabbed your throat and you panicked. You could have gotten away, yet you didn't. You have humiliated us all. You have humiliated me." I heard hist footsteps coming near me. He lifted my chin to where I was looking at him, "You wont forget this for a long while. I promise you that." He let go of my head and I looked back down at the ground. Then he left the room.

I was tempted to stand up, but I knew I would only be getting myself in more trouble. He had done this before. He left for an hour and when he came back, I was sitting in a chair. He had me running for two hours. So I knelled there. Out of the corner of my eyes, I watched the moon light move across the room then disappear. For a while it was complete dark. But then I saw the orange glow of the sunrise fill the room, only to be replaced with the regular light of daytime.

When Wilker came in, it was about ten in the morning, so I had been kneeling for about twelve hours. He walked to the front of his desk and leaned against it. After a good five minutes he said, "Rise." I stood up, but it was slowly because I was sore from being like that all night.

When I was standing, he asked, "Why. Why did you purposely go against me. Why couldn't you do a simple task. You told my earlier that day I could trust you. You told me that I have your one hundred percent cooperation. If you are on a job for me, you do as I say. Now when your mother gave you to me I trained you as a perfect assassin, and when you turned sixteen two years ago, I let you set your own rules on what you would do."

This was true. When I turned sixteen, he let me pick things I wouldn't and would do. I would never kill a child, I would never be put in a fight to the death between two assassin clans, and I would never go on a mission that I knew I would be impossible to do. Like to go to another assassin Guild and kill there clan leader. That was an impossible mission. He had always abide by those rules to.

"But you also said you would give me your one hundred percent. Last night, that was not one hundred percent." Wilker continued. "What I want to know is, do I have one hundred percent?" He stopped talking and I mumbled, "Yes Master." He zipped forward and grabbed the dagger from my breast pocket and raked down the side of my face hard enough to leave a trail a blood, but not hard enough to scar.

I winced, but stayed where I was. "I asked you a question, Do I have one hundred percent?" "Yes Master." I yelled. I almost grabbed my dagger from him, because only the people who made that dagger had touched that, besides me. I was glad he had gloves on, but I had those custom made, and only two people touched it in the making, having me as the third and last.

Wilker shoved the dagger in my hand, and I re sheathed it.

"Stand straight." He barked. So I attempted to, but I was to slow, because he threw a punch into my stomach. I nearly fell. But I immediately straighten up. I stood all the way straight, even though my back screamed. Next he grabbed my arm and pulled me to the training center. Once we got to the door, he said, "Go in and run. Don't stop. I will be back." So I went in and ran.

After about an hour and a half before I felt the vomit in the back of my throat. I looked around, and saw a bucket near the door, so I ran to it and feel to my knees next to it and puked my guts out. This bucket was constantly in here, for this exact reason, but always moved around, depending on the exrices. After I was done, I kept running. Wilker came back, right as I was puking for the third time. He had three bottles of water.

When I stood up, he handed me one. "Rinse." He ordered. So I took big sips and spit them into the bucket. I also gargled the last few to get it out of my throat. When I finished, he gave me the other two and said, "Drink." I drank them both down in about five minutes. When I was done he said, "Follow me." We stepped into the hall and he gave me a command. "Walk around the halls. I will tell you when you can go."

The command was odd, but I did it. After ten minutes, Wilker jumped out at me. He grabbed me by the throat and threw me against the wall. I immediately panicked and tried to push away. I couldn't get away. "Stop panicking. Get away." He ordered. "If you don't I will let you die right now." I knew he would to. So I calmed and kicked out my feet at the same time I punched his inner elbows. He dropped me to the ground, and I was gasping. "I take it you understand what we are doing." He said. I nodded, and he walked away.

So I kept walking and he kept jumping out at me. Sometimes sit was a minute later, sometimes it was forty-five minutes later. I steadily got better, till I didn't panic at all, but he kept doing this. So, when I was walking, I listen for him, I heard him coming down a hall ahead of me. I kept walking, and when he jumped out at me, I counter the attack, pinning him to the ground. I had a knee in his stomach and each arm pinned.

"Good girl." He said. "You have finally got it, you are a hunter, not a hunted." I let him up and he immediately grabbed my neck. I went to stop him but he said, "Wait." Then I felt it. He was healing the huge bruise that had formed. Then he healed the cut on my face. He only left the split lip. He thumb passed over it. "A reminder. This whole thing was a reminder. The real lesson will come soon. Now go home, come in the morning." I immediately ran home.

I dropped in my bed the second I entered my room. I slept all night and only woke up when my stomach woke me up. I ate a huge meal and went back to sleep. When I woke in the morning, I went to the guild. Right as I walked in, Garret did to. I was first to the his study by a second, yet he knocked. "I was here first." I said quietly. "To bad, I knocked." He answered. "Come in you two." We both looked at each other, but he let me go first. We both feel into a kneel.

"Rise." He said. We both stood, and sat in the chairs that where pulled close to the desk. "I have a mission for the both of you." He said. We both listened. "The rackies are going to ransack a warehouse looking for a known cache of falazaic, the paralyzing poison. You two will head down there today. Stakeout and kill them." We both nodded. He handed Garret the job folder. A subtle hint that he was leader.

"Go and don't come back till they are dead." We both stood and left, again Garret let me out the door first. We both walked out the front of the Guild and he stopped by a local market and bought a duffel bag. "We are bringing back the falazaic?" I asked, with a shudder. "Might as well." He said. He opened the folder, read what was needed and kept walking. He lead. On the way to the warehouse, he stopped by a fire and dropped the folder in, making sure it was completely burned before we left. When you get to the warehouse, you nod to each other. "Let's get this party started." I said.