An annoying Contract

Three Months Later - 9 more until the Homunculi are prepared

Few things to note about me: 1) im a half breed, part elf and part human and 2) My parents are the king and queen of AshBourne. However I don't live there anymore, I'm still technically and legally prince of Ashbourne but as of right now the title of heir to the throne has gone to my cousin on my father's side. Reason why doesn't really matter as of this moment but i'd figured that i'd let you in on that little secret.

My day to day life is filled with your average day to day things. Weapons practice for about six hours starting at the crack of dawn. Then after suffering from cruel torture sessions from my mentor Tristan, I relax for about 3 hours so that I can make the daily trip to the temple of Phanheim. After handling my business there at the temple I somehow always end up walking the streets of Hollow Creek.

"Hey Fayren come over here got something to tell you" I looked around for whoever called for me to notice my friend Vlad waving to me from a dark alley.

"Guessing you still didn't get your daylight ring?"

"No I didn't but it'll be done in a weeks time. Anyway that's not what I needed to tell you."

"That being?" He pulled out a scroll and immediately I cringed on the inside. To my annoyed suspicion I saw the seal that I didn't necessarily want to ever see again for at least

fifty years, a wolf's crest. Silver with a gold lining shaped with the head of a wolf howling. As I internally start to roll my eyes he began to talk again.

"Got a new mission for us. Contact says she'll pay good money if we complete it and she'll provide us with a constant source of income." (meaning she'll become a buyer)

"Last time we spoke I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I was done with assassinations for good."

"Come on Ren, last year was a good year for you and you've been weapons training everyday so you can't say your rusty."

"Never said I was rusty. I said that I was done assassinating people, the only reason I did it before was to pay off Marlo"

His pleading face turned into a devilish grin as he unfurled the scroll "Then you'll be happy to see who our bag and tag is."

I looked down at the paper and sure enough right under the bag and tag heading in bold letters read: Marlo Smith; 100k. After seeing that I looked Vlad straight in the eye and back at the scroll with a deep sigh I nodded my head. Marlo was a dick of a human being. Every time I was close to paying him off with the assassination money he'd raise the cap with an extra 500 thousand.

"Fine I'm in. Who's the Contact?"

"Don't know she was smart enough to only give a gender and location for the meet up. She specifically wanted you to be a part of it."

"Okay? Should I be flattered?"

He chuckled and rolled the scroll back up and put it in his pocket. "Whether you're flattered or creeped out is irrelevant. Just be at the Clock Tower at midnight."

After that he just vamped away and left me to go about my day. Don't know how the target is associated with Marlo but I don't really care about him/her. I walked out into the daylight and headed toward my old safe house at the outskirts of Hollow Creek. It's just a small wooden shack that's large enough to fit one person. Front and back door plus an underground escape route. When I entered the shack I looked around to see if anyone was watching. Once I was sure it was fine and clear I looked under my bed in there and pulled out a square chest. After using my shadow power to open the it up i blew off most of the dust and wiped off the rest.

When it was all cleared the mask I'd never thought I would wear again was staring right back at me. The famed mask of the wolf assassin was golden with black lining. It was the shape of a fox and had white tail markings on the outer edges. After looking at it with a frowning face for a couple of minutes I stuffed it in the shadow dimension(shadowlands as I call it) that I've been practicing with. Hopefully it will be moderately decent by the time we have to go on this mission.

The midnight chime rang loud above Hollow Creek as the few remaining citizens in the market started to head to their homes. I exited my shack and started to head out toward the clock tower. The night time breeze made it a bit easier to parkour on the elven buildings and houses. From one roof to the side of another building through the window of one house and onto the branches of the few trees grown in this fair nation.

He chuckled and rolled the scroll back up and put it in his pocket. "Whether you're flattered or creeped out is irrelevant. Just be at the Clock Tower at midnight."

After that he just vamped away and left me to go about my day. Don't know how the target is associated with Marlo but I don't really care about him/her. I walked out into the daylight and headed toward my old safe house at the outskirts of Hollow Creek. It's just a small wooden shack that's large enough to fit one person. Front and back door plus an underground escape route. When I entered the shack I looked around to see if anyone was watching. Once I was sure it was fine and clear I looked under my bed in there and pulled out a square chest. After using my shadow power to open the it up i blew off most of the dust and wiped off the rest.

When it was all cleared the mask I'd never thought I would wear again was staring right back at me. The famed mask of the wolf assassin was golden with black lining. It was the shape of a fox and had white tail markings on the outer edges. After looking at it with a frowning face for a couple of minutes I stuffed it in the shadow dimension(shadowlands as I call it) that I've been practicing with. Hopefully it will be moderately decent by the time we have to go on this mission.

The midnight chime rang loud above Hollow Creek as the few remaining citizens in the market started to head to their homes. I exited my shack and started to head out toward the clock tower. The night time breeze made it a bit easier to parkour on the elven buildings and houses. From one roof to the side of another building through the window of one house and onto the branches of the few trees grown in this fair nation.

Eventually I had made it to the base of the clock tower and if you thought I'd be climbing a tower that is 65 yards tall you'd be so very wrong. Instead I teleported (different from shadow-porting because with shadow-porting I specifically use shadow magic to enhance it) to the top balcony of the tower where Vlad had been waiting for me.

"Ah you're here, great. I was beginning to think that you weren't gonna come. What to you so long?"

"Just because you're used to be active at night doesn't mean that I am."

With a roll of his eyes he just got up off the wall he was leaning on and entered the clock tower and motioned for me to follow. We walked up the rest of the way till we reached the roof of the tower. There standing and waiting for us was a young lady who I assumed to be our contact. She snapped her fingers and out of thin air a table and three chairs were summoned. She sat down and beckoned for us to do the same.

"So have the both of you agreed to carry out this assassination?" She looked to Vlad for the answer. Instead I responded.

"Yeah we have agreed. First however, we need to be on a first name basis with each other. You know our names so what's your's"

She stayed silent for a while and looked my way. Then after our little staring contest she finally backed down and spoke. "My name is Maya, There, you happy?"

With a smirk I said "Oh very much so"

"Okay here's your objective. The target is the Captain of the squad A military group, Cyril Leyva." She tossed us a photo of him. "He normally is around the barracks surrounded by at least four guards at all times. It's likely that he already knows a hit is on him so he'll have aura guards set up."

Vlad chimed in "What's his affinity?"

"Hard to say. Mostly he uses earth style but he's also been seen using water style. So be on guard just incase his affinity is for wood."

Vlad cursed under his breath. I took this moment to continue the briefing "Anything else we have to worry about? Seems like you've already cased the area. Might as well tell us all you know"

"I'm just here to tell you the baseline fact the rest is up to you. Now i'm pretty sure you've seen the optional bag and tag target Fayren."

"I have. What about it?"

"Marlo Smith has been a target for my boss for quite sometime now. That's why he needed your money."

"To pay off his safety"

"Precisely. Now the money protects him from documented and legal attempts to secure him but this whole sting is of the record."

Vlad spoke up "He's your actual target. The other guy is just the bait.. Once we get rid of him then Marlo comes out and we bag and tag him up and give him to you."

"You catch on quickly. Good to know. Anyway that's your briefing, last thing you need to know is that it's located about 30 miles east of Mistveil." After that she teleported away with a gust of wind leaving the two of us on the roof.

"What the hell Fayren?"

"What?"

"You're disgusting."

"Ok so I may have went into her mind and convinced her to use her mana to teleport away, but I needed to see what I was potentially dealing with."

"May I inquire why?"

"Reasons. That's all you need to know." and with that I went back in the tower walked down to ground level. Vlad landed on the ground a few minutes later. The perks of being a vampire, virtually any height is jumpable. We parted ways for the night, him going to check on his daylight ring and me going back home to head to sleep. Once home I took out the kitsune mask from the ShadowLand and placed it with my assassin garb. My body soon found the bed and sleep overtook me.

The Next day came so me and Vlad decided to meet up at the market square alleyway. The streets were busy this day so I figured I would take the scenic route. It's mostly how I get around town anyway. It's fastest way to get around that doesn't include mana usage in any way. The market square was busy today which was normal during the fall season. Everyone trying to stock up before winter hits.

A variety of things are sold here, from claimed magical medallions to regular groceries like food and water. I finally hit ground level about a few streets away and decided to walk the streets of the market. There were the usual struggling merchants who from the look at their stock anybody could tell that they weren't seasoned veterans at the art. These amateurs would either be easily ripped off or they sold the right things at the wrong time.

As I was walking the streets I noticed a blur of movement in the corner of my eye. My head turned toward the blur to see it still moving toward an alleyway. I looked around for a more private spot in the square and found a short shadowy corner pathway. Not that i care if anyone sees me use magic but I'd prefer if anyone didn't. Whilst in this dark corner I closed my eyes and tried to envision and remember every time I had seen vlad vamp across distances. With each vision my power seeped out of me until I willed my very being into shadow. When I opened my eyes I then pushed toward the direction the blur was going.

I shadow wisped down the market and through buildings, stopping at certain points to see if I was getting closer or not. After the sixth or seventh time I stopped I had run out of energy to keep running after it. WIth a tired body I absorb the shadow aura around me back into my body and regained my actual skin. When my body was again a normal one the blur I had been trying to track came from my left and knocked me down. When my eyes opened again I saw the sky mostly, a few roof edges of nearby buildings, and Vlad standing above me looking down and laughing hysterically.

"Haha very funny."

"That. is a very correct statement my friend." he laughed some more before i mustered up enough energy to sweep him and make him fall on his ass. We both laughed on the ground for a while. When it died out we both got up and started to walk down to the cathedral. "Since when could you vamp-speed? Last time I checked only vampires could do it."

"One of the many perks of having a shadow affinity. You can mimic everything you see. To a certain degree"

"So how we gonna carry this out? I was thinking bout hitting up the local bars finding a stray soldier and making him talk." .I looked at him with a puzzled face. "I did some snooping last night and mapped out the local area of the barracks. There's a couple bars on the strip joint about 2 or 3 minutes away from the place. There's bound to be some soldiers who want to take a drink or two." He looked at me with his usual devilish gtin.

"I'm not doing it. You have compulsion so why don't you?"

"I can't do it because because they'll instantly know I'm a vampire and due to my previous case out I quickly noticed a bunch of wooden stakes so….."

"Fucking Liar"

"How the hell? When did you go into my head?" I busted out laughing and he quickly got the joke. "You never went into my head did you? Fucking Prick" That just made me laugh harder.

"All things aside though It probably is better that I do some convincing."

"Thank you. You know where the barracks are right?"

"Ashbourne territory."

"Think you're up for it. I know how hard it is for you to be there."

"I'll be fine. Just as long as royal cunt over there doesn't intervene."

"Okay. Meet you there when the moon comes up."

We both left in seperate directions so that no one thought anything of it. I started to head toward the barracks right away. I haven't lived in Ashbourne ever since I was eleven, the last time I took a trip there was when I fifteen. If things had gone relatively normal in my life I would be heir to the Ashbourne throne but things didn't so my parents decided to import one of my cousins to become rightful heir. That cunt is so annoying, when I did visit he always gloated his position of power everywhere he went.

That's not the entire reason I abhor him though, no, the reason I can't stand him at all is because he thinks that just because he is a pure elf and I'm a hybrid it makes him somehow inherently better than me in anyway. Which is not the case nor will it ever be in any lifetime or dimension. That's neither here nor there though, just figured I rant about him for a bit. God I hope he doesn't decide to intervene at all with this mission, not because it will be difficult but because nowadays I can't really be bothered with mild inconvenience.