The Elvren Assassin, page 4
I got a tub of clean water and another bucket and started the painful process of cleaning each cut before I spread the salve over her wounds. By the time I finished, the night had given way to daylight, and the sun was high in the sky. Every rag in the house had been saturated with blood. The lesser cuts had already started stitching together, but the more serious wounds still wept, staining the bandages.
Her chest rose and fell in shallow breaths. I had done all I could do.
I laid a blanket over her, picked up the soaked rags, and set off in search of a place to clean up. The minute I stepped into the bathroom, I got a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My stomach clenched at the amount of blood covering me. I couldn’t tell if any of it was mine or not, but I needed it all off. I did not care that my bandages would get wet.
I needed to clean the rags prior to cleaning the gore off my skin. I dumped the bucket of rags on the shower floor and turned the shower knob, fully expecting to be doused with frigid water, but I was rewarded with a marginally warm stream that heated quicker than I was used to. I dialed it back and went to work on the rags, soaping and rinsing until each one ran clear.
Then it was my turn, and I scrubbed my skin until no trace of blood in the water slipped down the drain. When I finished, my fingers and toes were wrinkled, and I felt truly waterlogged. I peeled the soaked bandages off and tossed them before gingerly drying off, taking care to not open any of the scabs that had formed over my injuries.
When I finished, I took some of the larger rags and wiped up the bloody trail from the bathroom to the living room, and then I stopped in the entry. The living room looked like there had been a massacre.
Em was still breathing. Eventually, I’d have to clean her up, but for now, I needed to clean this place before I addressed my lack of clothing and got some rest.
This time, the soiled rags went into the garbage, and I washed my hands in the kitchen sink before I went in search of clothes. I found a closet full of butter-soft leathers and slipped on a pair. They were loose enough for the material not to irritate my injuries, but not enough to slip down my body. The shirt I chose was easy to cut up the center so it would fall on either side of my wings. I barely got it buttoned up before I fell face-first on the bed next to the closet.
The last thought that flared in my mind was that I probably should pull the mattress into the living area to be with Em just in case she needed me, but my exhaustion was too big to worry about all the dangers that lurked around the corner.
CHAPTER NINE
AVERY
LIGHT SHONE IN MY eyes, and I blinked, trying to figure out where I was. I rolled, looked around me, and observed what was on me, none of which was familiar. Following that, the stiffness of being in one position too long hit like a punch from Ren.
I groaned as the fog cleared from my head. I had slept, but I did not know how long I had been out. It was bright out, like it had been when I’d slipped into unconsciousness. With how much I creaked as I got up, it had to have at least been a day I’d spent asleep. My first stop was the bathroom to relieve myself and check my wounds.
All that was left was a batch of scratches, as if someone had raked me with dull nails. I pulled the pants back up and latched them.
In the living room, Em still slept. Before I searched the kitchen for food, I first changed her bandages. Afterward, I rounded up something to eat.
She moaned as I cooked up some eggs like Ren had taught me, and then I brought the plate to Em.
Her eyes cracked open, and I offered her a sip of the juice I had found in the icebox. Its sweet taste soothed my throat, and from the way she closed her eyes as she sipped the drink, it did the same for her.
I fed her a few bites of the eggs before I took a taste. We traded off turns at eating until the plate was clean. I allowed her to finish the drink before I tidied up the kitchen.
Em’s eyes closed again.
“What day is it?” she asked when I came back into the room.
“I have no clue how long we’ve been sleeping. I passed out too.” I glanced at the door. “The good news is the door is still locked.”
“Shit. I feel like I’ve been pummeled by the Director’s goons.”
I snorted a laugh. We had all survived the near-death beatings we probably shouldn’t have had at the hands of the Director’s elite guards. They liked to inflict pain. I think they were bred that way, and it always made me uncomfortable.
“It took me the rest of the night and into the day to patch you up. And the sun is brighter than it was when I finally finished cleaning this place up.”
She punched a couple of buttons on her wristband, and her eyes widened. She swung her legs off the sofa and attempted to sit up but only groaned.
“I have been in the same place for over two days. Tonight, it will be three days, and I’m still not travel ready.” She flopped back onto the couch and winced. “I usually heal faster than this,” she muttered.
“There is a higher possibility of infection with those slimy beast bites.” I chewed on my lip. I’d slept for more than a day? Now it made sense that all I had were scratches left. “And thankfully, you didn’t die while I was passed out.”
My mind wandered back to Ren. Over two days had passed, and we weren’t back with news of Mya. I dreaded to think about what was happening to Ren and to Em’s handler, Lo.
“Think you can help me into the bathroom?”
Her question pulled my attention back to her. Em’s coloring became sallower the longer she remained upright.
“Are you going to get sick?” I approached her, thinking a bucket would be better, but she shook her head.
I supported her weight to the bathroom and left her there to do her business while I cleaned up the couch as best I could, stripping the covers and turning them so the stained sides faced downward.
I found a blanket and laid it over the cushions to give Em a clean, soft place to rest. The towel and cushion covers were as complete a loss as my clothing and joined the tattered material in the garbage.
I picked up her clothes and set them aside to clean and mend while she rested, assuming I could find mending thread and a needle in this cottage. Besides, I needed something to keep my mind off all the horrid thoughts of what was happening on Icarus that kept invading my brain.
“Avery,” Em called, and I rushed back to the bathroom to help her return to the main room.
“You cleaned up,” she said with a hint of surprise.
“Well, yes. If you’re fighting an infection, lying on soiled fabric will not help the healing process.” Once I helped her stretch out, I found another blanket in the bedroom and an oversized shirt for Em to wear and handed both to her when I returned.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” She waved the shirt at me.
“It’s to cover you up while I clean and mend your clothing.” I held up her shirt, showing her the number of holes in the fabric.
She grumbled and tossed the tunic I had gotten for her onto the chair, muttering about not wearing other people’s clothing. She opted for the blanket instead and pulled it over herself.
“Can you get me some more of that juice?” she asked.
I brought her the entire container. She needed it more than I did, and she didn’t hold back. When she finished sucking it dry, she let out a gargantuan burp, set the carton on the floor, and then closed her eyes again.
I searched for mending materials and finally found some in the back corner of a closet in the room across from where I’d slept. The blood had dried enough so I could flake it off the fabric by using a brush I found, and I stitched up the holes and set it aside. Her pants were even easier, and I was done before the last of the light faded.
I lit a candle and rummaged for more food. I scrambled up the rest of the eggs, and this time, I inhaled them without leaving any for Em. I had found some more pastries in the icebox and set them aside for when she woke, but my body craved protein for steady energy as opposed to the quick fix of sugar with a crash that would leave me useless.
I had a feeling Em would need at least another day to be in traveling condition. I chewed my lip at the possible opportunity here. I could leave her behind and try to find Mya on my own. That might at least give me a chance to warn her.
But if Em had a setback and died, I would never forgive myself. I shook my head. I couldn’t leave her. If the homeowners came back, and she was all alone here, she could be hurt or killed, and I’d be just as culpable.
It was times like this that I cursed my soft nature. Honestly, if it had been me who’d been attacked by that beast, I was sure Em would have kept swimming and never looked back.
I wiped my hand down my face, almost hearing a sigh from Ren in my head. He did not like it when I pulled punches. He always told me not to hesitate when going for the kill, but I always hesitated. Ren said that instinct of mine would get me killed in the business of death agents.
Now that thoughts of Ren had invaded my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was alive, and if so, what he was doing. Had he been truly concerned about me, or was he just worried about what would happen to him if I failed?
I shifted in the seat and licked my lips at the thought of him. I dropped my hand to the place on my hips that his hands had gripped any time he had sex with me. He always left bruises, but it was the only place he truly touched me, and the way he held me made me wonder if there was something more under his cold exterior.
I wanted his hands on me, but I never asked for more than he offered. He said it was a lesson, not a declaration of emotion. He told me I needed to learn to move the right ways to take down a target. To leave them physically spent so they couldn’t fight back when my blade pierced their chest.
I sighed, pushing him out of my head. I couldn’t get lost in those thoughts, especially since the timeline the Director had laid out had already come and gone. I just hoped he would wait until he received word from us before he took his aggravation out on any of the handlers.
I kept vigilant watch until the wee hours of the morning when the predawn light lit up the sky. My eyelids drooped, too heavy to keep open. Forcing them to stay open was a losing battle and, eventually, I blinked out into the land of dreams and nightmares.
CHAPTER TEN
AVERY
EXHAUSTION HAS A WAY of sucking time. For us, it was at least another day because darkness shrouded the cabin.
Em’s snore nearly made all the glass in the cottage rattle.
It took me a moment and a couple of blinks for my eyes to adjust. The front door stood open, and I lay face down on the floor rather than the chair I had been lounging in.
It wasn’t Em’s snore I heard. It was her growling and gasping as punches were exchanged between her and whoever had interrupted our sleep.
I struggled to get up, but a foot connected with my side. I rolled before a second kick landed and hopped to my feet.
“I know what you are,” the female owner of the boot snarled at me and shook Em’s outfit. “You defiled our queen.”
“I most certainly did not,” I barked back, parrying against a flying fist.
“Assassins wearing this blew up our queen. There were enough of you in this disgusting outfit for all of us to remember. Thankfully, the prince dropped them dead in their tracks.” She threw the outfit on the ground before she struck again.
The fury among the three fae brushed over me like a tidal wave.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the glint of steel and parried again. A blade sliced into my forearm, and I hissed.
They would not stop until we both were dead.
My survival instinct kicked in, and I went on the offensive, hitting, kicking, and disabling my attacker as quickly as I could before she got another slice in.
Em defended herself against two male fae. She wasn’t doing as well as I had against my now unconscious attacker.
I stepped in and peeled one man off Em. But that landed me a punch in the face that dazed me enough for the man to tackle me to the ground. Before he could land a second punch, he bowed back with a scream that turned into a bloody gurgle.
He collapsed on top of me, and his dead weight nearly crushed my chest. Em stood behind him with a bloody knife in her hand. Her other attacker lay dead on the floor, and the woman I’d knocked out made a noise like she was waking.
Em darted to where the woman had crumbled, rolled her on her back, and buried the knife in her chest, silencing her. She grabbed her clothing and slid it on while I rocked the dead man off my chest. Em limped toward the door and closed it before turning on me.
“You didn’t give me any warning,” she hissed while she lit a lamp near the kitchen. “They nearly killed me.”
My head pounded at the sudden brightness the lamp projected. When she turned, I saw the bruising on her throat and along her face. They had pummeled her while I slept?
She crossed to the couch and started attaching her weapons to her suit. She handed me the healing salve.
“At least they didn’t cut me,” she muttered as she looked at my dripping arm.
Dizziness threatened to either drop me to the ground or unleash my stomach. I closed my eyes and slowly breathed, getting control of my roiling belly before I addressed my injury.
Her gaze locked on my forehead, and she sighed. “That’s going to leave a nasty bruise.”
I lifted my injured arm and touched my forehead. A knot the size of my fist met my fingers. I hadn’t slept through the ordeal. I had been knocked unconscious.
But I had slept through them coming inside. So that was on me.
I grunted at Em, focusing back on my arm. I put a healthy amount of the cream on the cut, and she handed me a bandage to cover it.
“We have to get moving. We’ve been here for nearly five days.”
“Are you in travel shape?” I asked.
While on her feet, she swayed enough for me to doubt her endurance.
Finally, her words sank in, and my heart lurched.
“What?” I asked.
“Whether or not I am isn’t up for debate.” She showed me her watch, and it did indeed state nearly five days since we’d arrived. “Our priority is to move, and we must do at least one zap to get us closer to the portal and the kingdom where Mya is.” She opened the icebox and put eat-on-the-go type items on the counter. “See if you can find a bag. We need food to re-energize after our zap.”
I was still stuck on the fact that we’d slept another day away in this place. I must have been more exhausted from the healing process than I thought. At least Em’s cuts had scabbed over enough to move, but she was still sluggish, as if her body were fighting off infections from the beasts.
I stumbled toward the bedroom where I had slept the first night and slipped into the closet. I remembered a red pack that would hold an awful lot of groceries stowed in the back corner where I found the shirt I wore. It still leaned against the wall. Though it wasn’t a color that would blend in, there was nothing else to choose from.
I brought it back into the kitchen. “Is this good?”
Em gave me a skeptical look but took the bag anyway. She packed in all that she had taken from the icebox and some dry goods from the cabinets. I opened the drawer under the counter where I had found an abundance of pastries. Em packed all of it and still had room for the healing salve, the first-aid kit, and extra bandages.
After hooking the pack onto her back, she spread the damp map out on top of the counter.
“We need to zap to a road that leads to the castle.” She measured the last jump we did and shook her head. “I don’t have the energy to do a jump that far right now.”
I couldn’t argue. I wasn’t sure I’d make the jump with my head swirling. But at least I had more energy than Em seemed to have.
She traced her finger from our origin point along the road until it rested between where she had marked the portal and the bog where we’d landed and then tapped that spot. “We’ll try for this spot right near this intersection of Cambridge Road and the North-South breezeway. But off the road enough to not make a scene while just popping in from nowhere. Hopefully, it won’t be in another swamp.”
I nodded, studying the names at the crossroads. “It’s still quite a way to the kingdom.”
“Yes. Probably a day’s walk, if we’re lucky. We’ll have to eat while we move. No stopping once we get on that road.” She took a breath and looked at her outfit. “You’ll need to glamour us on our walk in case we run across people.” Her gaze moved to the dead homeowners. “Especially if they recognize this outfit.” She waved at the clothes she wore.
I would be overlooked, but she certainly wouldn’t be.
“Okay.” I wasn’t sure how good my glamour would be, but I’d try my best. “But we might look like a couple of vagrants.”
She laughed. “With how we look right now, that might not be a bad thing.”
She had a point. She pocketed the map again and linked her elbow with mine. We locked our arms together, and she opened the door to a new day dawning. I focused on that spot on the map before we stepped forward into the pull of the zap.
We both stumbled on re-entry, but at least neither of us fell. The field we landed in lay next to a road full of groups traveling south on foot.
It was light enough to see their faces, and even without my empath powers, I could tell from their expressions that they were shot emotionally. They all carried the look of someone who had seen a ghost. Their emotions ran the gambit between confusion and anger. Sensations pelted me hard enough to mess with my concentration, and my glamour didn’t solidify before those nearest to the field saw us.
“Assassin!” The yell broke through the air, and more than one of them had their fingers pointed in our direction.
“Shit,” Em said and turned away from the road as people trampled behind us with murderous intent.
We lumbered toward the woods at least a hundred yards away. I doubted we could hide in the sparse forest, but if we could find a tree to climb, maybe Em would have enough mojo to make us both invisible.
