Chương 21: Kill (II)

Mireille

Panting, I come out of the Alterimers territory. I secretly stalk- no, I followed the "shadow" and passed by the treacherous mountain range. The "shadow" I saw, was none other than Marie's. I perfectly concealed myself in the shadows as to not alert the sneaky maid, whose eyes were wary of any presence. Masking my presence yet maintaining my pace was so exhausting! No one said stalking was so hard!

I have been stalking Marie for a while now. She took a detour out of the Alterimers territory. I never knew about the detour, till now. We learn something new everyday, I shrug off.

I trail her into a bustling city whilst trying my best to camouflage in between the civilians. Stealthily , she dashes into a narrow, gloomy alleyway. After minutes, I find my way out the tightly packed crowd and realize that I've lost her trail. I follow my nose and wander around a stinky alleyway. If not for this sole mission, I would have never been here. I roll my eyes at the dank pathway. After my stray walk, I didn't expect to actually spot Marie, but I did.

A lady wearing muted grey frock, her hand in her skirt pocket, is standing in the distant, narrow alley. A looming, blotchy figure is making her hover in fear, she stands there, frozen. The grubby man standing in front is Rum. My target.

Realizing I need to go and polish off Rum, and in the process, getting the favor of Marie- I perform my lithe sprint. Once I'm at an arm's length to Marie; with a light tap, I jump and taking the support of the rigidly solid wall, I parcel out a firm kick to Rum's jaw.

He staggers back, steadying himself on his wobbly legs.

"Not so perfect" I exclaim, quite disappointed that my kick dealt him lesser damage than I imagined. Not giving him any time to recover from the shock, I continue to kick him in his abdominal region. It's going to hurt him like hell, But he deserves it.

He fell down with his inaudible groanings. I crouch down beside him, wondering if I should finish him off. I have my sword, I shouldn't be hesitating right now. But, what if Marie takes the blame to his death? Won't that make it easier to manipulate her? I trail off in my thoughts. I readily spring up from my position at sensing the movements from Marie.

As if playing a theatrical piece, she dashes towards me with her dagger. Like any sane person, I dodge. I dodge and dodge until I buy enough time for Rum to recover from my kicks. As expected, he staggers up with all his might, his eyes were red with anger. In an attempt to crush his enemies, he extends his hands to grapple the one in front of him. It isn't me but Marie. Changing my expression to a worried one, I bellow to her about the unwanted presence.

Scared of her life; she turns around and without any hesitation, she shoves her sharp dagger into the abdomen of Rum. Satisfied, I look at the slumped down Rum and then at his frozen murderer.

"I killed him" Marie mumbles, gasping in horror.

"He deserved it" I reply back, my mood soon turns bitter when I hear the possible groanings of help from Rum. I finally move to him and again, crouch down beside him. This time, it was a sight to behold.

Streams of blood were running one after other, as if competing against themselves to see the outside world of the body. His hands were busy caressing his abdomen in an attempt to stop the buckets of blood. His worn-out clothes were painted with bright red, where the dagger was embedded in his body.

Pulling out the dagger from his torso will only result in damage of more nerves and membranes. But, having the dagger embedded will cause unknown infections. Whatever will result in a quick death, I'll choose that.

A slight smirk forms on my lips, I knew the stab from the dagger isn't deep. A person won't actually die from it. That's why, as philanthropist as I am, I would kindly end his suffering.

"I....." a shaky voice interrupts my train of thoughts. Looks like I forgot Marie was in her own crisis too. Using my oratory skills, I try to calm her down. I can't leave any opportunity to woo her out. After all, Who can resist my drop-dead gorgeous beauty and my flirty advances?

While I orate my speech, I focus on Rum. I stress down the dagger stuck to him before twirling the dagger out his body. His wailing continued oscillating, either increasing or decreasing. Until he ceases his futile wailing and gives in to his fate. Though he closes his eyes and lays immobile, I can see his breathing get shallower, a sign of blood loss.

I let the excess blood drip out the dagger before wrapping it in a white cloth I brought. The owner of the dagger could wash the excess blood, if they value hygiene. I straighten up, holding the dagger in my hand. I spare a last disdainful glance at the lying dead body.

{Yesterday evening-- 20 hours in the past}

«"Name: Jeff

Codename: Rum

Record: Illegal Drug trafficking, repeated sexual harassment and assault, "cleaning off" felony"»

I quickly scanned through the note offered to me. I skeptically read it, thinking- Is this it? I do want to know how he obtained this information, but it must surely have been the informants, scattered here and there.

"Tomorrow" I heard a hair-raising, intimidating voice, I look up at the 6ʼ2 tall Captain. He informed me with insincere look.

"If you mess up even a bit" he whispered, his voice was enough to freeze the surroundings "be prepared for fatal results" he said, lacing his every word with caution.

I gulped, I know he didn't trust me enough to handle this mission to me. I clearly understand this mission is top-secret and any word sweeping outside can cost me my life. And I even know, the Captain teases disdainful looks at me and he would be more than willing to wipe out my existence. I know this secret comes with many life-threatening challenges, but I can't ignore the criminals responsible for Ella's death.

"He's responsible for Ella's death" I mumbled, trying to burn a hole in the paper with my glare.

"This isn't a work for an emotional fool" he whispered back, his icy voice piercing through my thoughts.

"Failure isn't my style" I retort back with my defiant stance.

I may have given in to my emotions and cried like a baby yesterday, but this time, my emotions are different. It's hatred. Enmity towards those atrocious fools toying with innocent lives.

"Don't let him down" he counters my snappy answer with a warning.

"Indubitably" I bow with a 90° angle, sincerely in my actions.

But as usual, Captain left even before I could answer. Does he have a hearing problem? Or is he just straight out rude?

Captain was referring to Duke Allen. Duke gave me an opportunity to work with his top-profile officials. I won't want to disappoint him. Who knows, maybe I can get a hold of an informant myself and mostly, I could collect information on black market where the actual evil lurks.

---------------

I glare at the deceased Rum for the last time. I grab a white napkin, I brought it especially for this. I overlay the cloth over his face, covering it. He should be overjoyed at my kindness for the last time.

"You were stalking me?!" I hear Marie gasping hysterically.

"As a knight, I was only protecting you from the shadows" I reply with my wholehearted smile.

Her expression turns into a mix of terror, shock and dismay. She is definitely not going to trust me so easily. She might be thinking I'm here at the orders of Duke. I play a detective as I deduce her thinking right now. Her gaze darts all around as new realization strikes her. She looks all around as if waiting for someone to pop out from the shadows and execute her in the crime of attempted-murder of Duke.

"Calm down, I'm alone" I reassure her, masking my annoyed expression behind a nonchalant look "And I'm not with Duke"

What I mean is, I'm not siding with the Duke. That's what I want to convey to Marie. But I know, In reality that's just a blatant lie. If she won't trust me with this one, I have no choice but to threaten her with the recent murder.

'Rum' must have been an important figure in this market, and what's more, he must be involved with Marie and her group. Threatening her with the murder as I'm the only witness of the crime will really be helpful. Not a popular belief, but blackmailing is my talent.

Contrary to my expectations, Marie composes herself before whispering to me, clearly "Shall we go?"

"Are you sure?" I say, as a playful grin teases my lips. I wasn't expecting her to be so impulsive about me. Sure, I'm taken aback by her change of mind. I wonder if she has some tricks under her sleeve?

"Yes, let us go to my destination, my hideout"

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A/n

It took me days to write this and I don't know why. The outcome isn't what I expected tho. Anyway, look forward to my next chapters, I'll probably write about the "hideout".....

Likewise, please let me know your thoughts on this chapter, any votes and comments or reviews are appreciated.

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