“Where are they hiding?” the Night Fang hissed. His voice was something inhuman, monstrous, and fierce. He launched another punch into the Thug’s face before there was even time for a response. It was a bleak night. It was starting to rain heavily, which helped to cover the sound of the beating. He had cornered the fiend in an alleyway after having tracked him outside a brothel at the edge of Drakelyn. He tried to escape, setting two of his goons on the Night Fang. A most unpleasant fury was upon him, and he had to ensure enough restraint that he left his dogs in one piece. He did, barely, but he also made noticeably short work of them, opting to unleash his charge. Fool, he had told himself as he leapt over the rooftops, not taking his sight off his fleeing target. He knew that he was becoming too self-indulgent with his power. I can’t let what happened in Star Snow happen again. Never.
He had followed the degenerate across several blocks before finally cornering him into a narrow alley with a towering wooden fence blocking any further passage. As the fool feebly attempted to climb over it, the Night Fang grabbed his purple hood and yanked him down, pinning him against the slimy stone-brick wall. Despite his constant punches and threats, Wes remained obstinate. His only response was to spit on the Night Fang’s black and sapphire mask once again, as was his usual retort.
“I have little patience tonight, Wes. If we must do this a more unpleasant way, then we shall,” the Night Fang threatened.
“The City Watch exonerated me,” Wes protested with a nasty smile. “You are beating on an innocent man.”
“The City Watch letting you go after a blatant attempted murder is precisely the reason why I know you are still connected to the clan. You should be hanging on a scaffold.” The Night Fang let go of Wes, drawing the Thug’s steel blackjack from his belt. As he gripped it, blue sparks started to shimmer around the metal. “So, you’re going to lead me to more Inferno assassins,” he thwacked the sparking blackjack against the wall, mere inches from the Thug’s head. It made a sharp explosive squeal and Wes flinched away, landing on his arse. “Or I’m going to do much worse damage than I did to you at the Pax chapel.”
Wes crawled up against an overflown and mucky trough. He wiped his mouth with a ripped sleeve and let out a small cackle. “I would never betray my clan,” he said.
“They don’t consider you one of them.”
“Oh, but they will,” Wes argued. “They promised me, they did. Said they would ship me south and initiate me, train me in the dark arts and help me become something frightful.”
The Night Fang thwacked the blackjack against the trough the Thug was resting against. Another explosive squeal, another flinch. Brownish water splashed everywhere.
“You’re a fool to believe their lies. You’re being used around like Thorne was, and when they’ve made use of you, they’ll kill you in cold blood just like-” Just like Anastasia. “Just like the Gargoyle,” the Night Fang finished after a moment, his flash of failure turning into rage again.
Wes spat. “Do what you will, Arkovian. I know you will not kill me. The Priestess gave you a good telling off for it.” He started cackling and the trough’s waters shook and splashed about.
“Very well,” the Night Fang said as he grabbed Wes by the collar, pulling him up and hanging him by it. “But know this. It brings me great remorse and guilt for having to resort to these foul tactics with the enemy. But when I use these tactics on you, I will feel nothing.”
His arm lifted the blackjack high. The sparks started to flicker wildly around the metal.
“Halt!”
They both looked to see someone in steel armour steadily walking down the alleyway with a raised crossbow, a bronze star pinned to her breastplate. “Drop him, assassin,” Athena Marion ordered as she got closer. Her scowl was hateful, and her hair appeared unwashed from working the long tireless nights as a deputy. It made Hideo sad to see her this way. Growing up in the orphanages and city streets, Athena had repeatedly told Hideo and his sister that she wanted to be a city watchwoman, to protect New Jade City and its people. She had voiced her aspirations with such wonder as a child. Now, in adulthood with her wish fulfilled, she appeared tired and bitter.
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“You’re chasing the wrong assassin, Deputy,” the Night Fang echoed, not heeding her commands to let go of the goon. He was fed up with letting this weasel escape his grasp time and time again.
“I said drop him and drop the blackjack,” she ordered again, more icily.
As the Night Fang’s rage cooled, he lowered and dropped the blackjack, choosing to placate her. Blue sparks squealed one last time as the metal splashed into a puddle before fizzling away. He then let go of Wes who slid against the wall, a look of sick interest on his face. The hard rain pinged and ricocheted off the Deputy’s steel shoulders as she slowly lowered her crossbow in return.
“How did you find us?” the Night Fang asked curiously, “and where is your backup?”
“They’re still clearing up the mess you left outside the brothel. You’re good at covering your tracks, but he isn’t.” She indicated at Wes with her weapon. “Followed his muddy footprints. It didn’t take long to follow the trail.” Thunder echoed above them. “Did you already kill that other assassin, then?” Athena asked irately. “With that blasted sharp mask. The Princess claims you burnt half his face off.”
“I did,” the Night Fang echoed candidly. “But there are many more of them in New Jade, and this man knows where they are hiding.”
“And what do they want?”
“All the Royalists are dead. King Sigismund, the Princess, the Countess-”
“And what about you?”
“I’ve been sent here to protect them.” He saw no reason to lie to her. He trusted Athena and if she knew who was really behind the black and sapphire mask, she might have trusted him too, before arresting and hanging him, regardless. “So please,” the Night Fang politely requested, “allow me to question this man further.”
“Me and the Sheriff already tried beating the secrets out of him and it was fruitless.”
“The City Watch operate so gracefully.”
“You’re one to talk, assassin,” she said indignantly. Indictments against the City Watch’s corruption seemed to easily slight the Deputy, despite how jaded she had become.
“I know what I am,” the Night Fang echoed softly. “I just expected better of you.”
The Deputy scowled. “You should know Sheriff Redtower expects me to execute you on sight, so perhaps you should watch your tongue.”
There was another clap of thunder. The rain began to gush. Wes went off on another of his cackles. The Night Fang ignored the Deputy’s previous order and picked the Thug up again as if he were a small dog. “What’s so amusing?” he asked in a whispered, yet demonic, tone.
“Whilst the two of you stand around and bicker,” Wes broke off, trying to restrain his ugly laughter, “another royalist is getting butchered.” There was another thunderclap. “How is the Duke recovering after Nissaro’s attack?” he asked with a shit-eating grin. “It’s nice to see him out and about again, making himself so visible to the public.”
The Night Fang hit him in the stomach. “Are you bluffing just to toy with me?” he echoed furiously.
Blood started to coat over Wes’ thin lips as he grinned. He looked more like a goblin than a man. “Maybe. Guess you’ll have to see if it’s in the papers or not tomorrow to find out.”
The Night Fang felt a searing pain in his hands, sharper than any venom. There was another thunderclap and his hands flashed with blue sparks. Wes slid down the wall and slumped.
Athena raised her crossbow high. “Stand away from him,” she condemned.
“He’s not dead, just stunned,” the Night Fang said as he stormed through the rain and past the Deputy without care.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Athena called out.
“To the Duke’s manor.”
“He’s not at his home,” the cynical deputy called out in the rain. “He’s at the Drakelyn cemetery, paying his respects in the crypts, along with his Duchess.”
The Night Fang stopped in his tracks and loudly cursed in Arkovian. “Of course. They can kill two birds with one stone whilst they have minimalist security.”
“They have a small escort with them. Relax, ninja.”
“That won’t be enough,” the Night Fang echoed in agitation before continuing to storm through the rain.
“I’m coming with you,” Athena declared.
He stopped and turned his head so that the sapphire side of his mask was gleaming at her. “Can I trust you not to call the full force of the City Watch?” the Night Fang softly echoed. “I know the Inferno Clan. I’ve been taught about them and trained to fight their ilk, unlike your esteemed watchmen.”
“Let’s just shut up and head there.”
The Night Fang nodded, withdrew a pouch from his zaffre belt and threw it to the ground. Blue dust exploded, and he vanished into the thundering night.
There was another thunderclap, and the rain started to form into an icy hail.