That Was Then (The Re-Do Series Book 1) (9 page)

K
endall

So, I know guys have weird hobbies. I mean, I’m open to a little bit of adventure. Everyone’s different. But having a secret bat cave at the bottom of a well? Something about that screams… illegal.

I’m more curious than ever to know who Alistair really is. This is all getting just a little too crazy for me. Okay, that’s a lie. It got ‘too crazy’ when the robed guy started shooting knives at us. It crossed the line into crazy town when the prisoner started laughing for no reason.

I’m freaked out. This entire scenario has major horror movie vibes.

I have never watched a horror movie in my life. I can’t stand them! And I sure as heck don’t want to star in my own personal version!

“What’s so funny?” I whisper to Alistair.

He glances at me with a fierce look on his face and places a hand on his lips. There’s a sliver of the Alistair that I’ve come to know lurking in his dark brown eyes, but the man in front of me is a stranger. I’m not sure if I should be more scared of the guy that tried to shoot a knife in my head or of Alistair.

With determined steps, Alistair moves toward the murderous weirdo in the robes.

“Speak,” he says in such a harsh tone that even I wince.

The guy on the ground just keeps on laughing.

Maybe he has some kind of mental illness. That would explain a lot. I’m about to step forward and suggest taking him to an asylum when the robed guy talks. He has a heavy foreign accent.

“You tell
me
to speak? You will kill me anyway. I have nothing to say.”

The man begins to laugh again.

“Sir, we are not criminals,” I stalk forward. “No one’s killing anyone.”

Alistair extends his hands to keep me from drawing closer.

The robed man turns his cold eyes on me. I shiver. There’s so much hate in those eyes. I wish I hadn’t brought attention to myself.

“Tsk,tsk, tsk,” the robed man glances at Alistair, “you got yourself a wench, Thanathus?”

I’m not a ‘wench’. And who the heck is Thanathus?

What an unfortunate-sounding name.

Alistair steps in front of me.

“How do you know my name?”

My eyes widen. Did Alistair lie to me? Is that Thana-thing his real name? I hate being in the dark right now.

The man on the ground meets Alistair’s question with silence.

My date grabs him by the shoulder. “Who sent you?”

I’m starting to suspect that Alistair is a part of a mob or something. It would explain his insane fighting skills, his association with this nut job, and the secret room in the bottom of a well. If he
is
some kind of hardened criminal, I doubt I’ll be making it out of here alive.

Shoot!

Why do I always pick the jerks?

Alistair glances at me. His jaw is working as if all his facial muscles are having some kind of rave. I get the sense that he’s struggling. In that moment, I feel… I don’t know… connected somehow.

I’m not naïve enough to think that Alistair is some innocent bystander in all of this, but I don’t think he’s going to hurt me. I might be reading things entirely wrong, but if he wanted to kill me, he would have done it by now.

That look, the emotions in his eyes, he is almost begging me to keep him from crossing a line. I don’t know how I know that. I just do. I touch his shoulder reassuringly. Whoever Alistair used to be or whatever he’s done, I believe that he can be better. Every day that we have breath is a chance to start over.

He gets my message and nods. Turning away, he breaks our connection and focuses on the prisoner. Alistair walks forward with slow, determined steps. He stoops to his knees and speaks low and soft to the guy.

I draw closer, but they’re talking so quietly that I can’t catch anything. When Alistair moves back and rises to his feet, I hold my breath.

The air is tense with … something, but I can’t put my finger on it.

“Alright,” the crazy guy in black dips his head. “Alright, I will speak. You have three questions.”

I’m more disappointed than ever that I didn’t catch Alistair’s words. They must have been quite persuasive.

“Who sent you?” Alistair’s voice is quiet, sad even.

I’m confused. Isn’t this guy the enemy?

“You won’t like the answer.”

“We had a deal, Maveth!”

Maveth?

Hm, I tilt my head. I guess he does kind of look like a Maveth.

“His name is Martin Howard.”

At Maveth’s words, Alistair goes pale.

“Your father.”

He must be lying. Maveth must be making this up. What father would send some lunatic to kill their own son?

Alistair’s voice is firm. “My father is dead.”

“Is that your second question?” Maveth shifts.

Alistair takes a deep breath. “Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Alistair lunges forward and grabs Maveth by the neck. “Why?”

“Is that… your third question?” Maveth chokes.

I rush to Alistair’s side.

“Hey,”

I don’t know what else to say. Alistair’s shoulders loosen a bit at my voice. He drops Maveth to the ground. The guy doesn’t make a grunt.

Alistair steps back. “Am I marked?”

The man’s eyes are dark and serious when he says, “yes.”

I think something big just happened. Alistair is marked for death… by his father. My mind has been supremely blown.

“Now, hold up your end of the deal.” Maveth adds.

Alistair glances at me. “You need to leave.”

I open my mouth to argue, but Maveth barks out a laugh.

“She needs to see this.” He glances at me. “You look like a nice enough person. Think twice before you get too close,” his eyes shift to Alistair, “his fate won’t be as peaceful as mine.”

“Shut up,” Alistair pulls a small object from his pocket and shoves it in Maveth’s mouth.

“Vivete gladio,” Maveth swallows.

I’m wondering if the entire world has gone crazy when Alistair steps slowly forward and loosens Maveth’s hands and feet.

“What are you doing?” I hiss.

Alistair doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t need to. In the next few minutes, I see the film of death cover Maveth’s eyes. His mouth falls slack. His hood slips back, revealing a face gone pale and stiff. It’s a grueling sight.

I cover my mouth and gasp. He’s dead.

“You killed him!”

I fly at Alistair with both fists raised and pummel his back. This has been a crazy night, filled with ups and downs. Yeah, Maveth tried to kill us, but he didn’t deserve to die.

“You killed him!”

Alistair whirls around and captures my wrist.

“Kendall! Kendall, stop! He wanted to die.”

His words pierce my fury and fear.

“What?

“In exchange for information,” Alistair swings his gaze away from mine, “he asked for the nightlock capsule.”

“Wh-why would he do that?”

“So that he dies with honor. So no one suspects that he broke code and talked.”

The man is speaking pure gibberish.

“Broke what code?”

Alistair straightens his shoulders and looks down at me. “The code of assassins.”

A
listair

The shell-shocked expression on Kendall’s face right now is how I feel on the inside. Maveth
must
be mistaken. My parents are dead. They both died in the fire that night. The event is a little fuzzy in my mind, but I remember that much.

Martin and Lydia Howard are gone. And even if by some miracle one of them survived, why would my father put out a hit on me?

Kendall is starting to shake, but I don’t think it’s from fear. The shock is giving way to anger. I can hear the aggravation ringing in her voice.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You can’t seriously be… I mean, who are you?”

She folds her arms and taps her left foot. There are a million thoughts soaring through my mind at this moment, but I’d rather focus on keeping Kendall calm.

I wave toward the door. “Okay, I’ll talk.”

I lead her away from Maveth’s body and help her out of the well.  I’ll come back later to burn his remains. Dead bodies lead to questions. Questions lead to answers. And all the answers will point to me. I can’t have that.

Kendall allows me to keep my hand on her as she mounts the ladder to the top of the well. As soon as we’re through the foliage and near the car, however, she brushes me off. I know I’m in trouble.

I shouldn’t have let it slip about the code of assassins. I don’t know why I did. I left that life behind years ago. Of course, I planned on being honest about my past if we continued to grow closer, but I don’t think now is the right time. Kendall doesn’t know me enough to trust me yet. If I tell her the truth, I’m risking everything.

She could easily turn me in to the cops for my past crimes.

She could spill to the media.

Assassins don’t thrive in the limelight, at least not the ones who practice the lifestyle. We thrive in the shadows, in our ability to blend in to any scenario. If I brought attention to the league, I’d be dead as soon as the story gained traction.

These are all harrowing realities, but the truth is… I’m more concerned about how Kendall will feel about
me
than what she’ll do when I confide in her. I’d been cautiously optimistic when she agreed to go out with me. I wanted this night to be perfect. I wanted to get to know her better. I wanted her to get to know me better, before my darker side came to the light.

I guess it’s time.

There’s nowhere to sit except on the grassy floor. To my surprise, Kendall hops on Lula’s hood as if she’s in bare feet instead of heels. I guess this night is already changing her.

“Go on,” she prods.

I start from the beginning.

“I don’t remember much about the fire that took my parents,” I stop and glance at Kendall’s face. She doesn’t look surprised. I guess I should have seen it coming. The fire was widely covered in the news.

“Mm-hm,” she encourages.

Her features are softening. I am willing to bet that the sympathy in her eyes won’t remain there for long.

“I was only six when it happened. All I remember was the smoke. It was suffocating me.” I pause and lick my lips. The flames still invade my dreams sometimes. “The reports say it was an accident. Both my parents were consumed by the fire. No one knows how I made it out alive.

I spent a few years with my grandmother, but when she died I went into the system. I couldn’t stand it. I was always unhappy. I bounced from one foster family to the other until I ran away at thirteen.”

I am not looking at Kendall. If I do, I might lose my nerve.

“I headed into the hills, nearly died. That’s when Ladheug found me. He took me in, surrounded me with other people who had the same anger I did. I finally belonged.”

“When did you become an…” she chokes on the word, “assassin?”

“Five years later. Ladheug was the head of the league in a remote parish.” Her eyes widen at the revelation. “He took me to their fortress. I trained with them. Ate with them. Bonded with them. They were my family.

Ladheug always had a soft-spot for me. The others in the brotherhood saw it too. When I got older, I wanted nothing more than to become an official part of the league. But my brothers turned on me. They were ruthless. All the anger Ladheug had tried to help me channel into training rushed right back. It built and built for almost ten years.”

“What happened?”

“Ladheug announced that he was passing the leadership of the league to me.”

Kendall gasps.

“Are you like… the leader of the assassins right now?”

“No, I never got a chance to accept. I was challenged.”

“By who?”

My gaze tracks to the well just behind the foliage.

“By Maveth. He was always ambitious and despised the way Ladheug treated me, thought it was unfair and dangerous to the league. Maveth challenged me for the position. A fight to the death. Ladheug wanted to prevent it, but it was admissible in the code of assassins. I lost my sword mid-fight. Maveth was about to drive the weapon through my heart when Ladheug stepped in front of me. He… died for me.”

I see a mixture of feelings on Kendall’s face. She wears her heart on her sleeve.

“The brothers revolted. Maveth got kicked out of the league. They offered me the chieftain position, but I couldn’t take it. I was too angry. Not at Maveth, but at the system that allowed brother to turn on brother. So I left. I became an independent assassin. Anger fueled me for a long, long time.”

“H-how many people have you killed?”

The answer to that question has kept me up at night for so long, I can barely stand from the guilt.

“I don’t know.”

She hops off the car. Kendall stumbles in the dirt, but when I reach out to assist her, she recoils. I feel the rejection all the way down to my soul.

Her tone is incredulous. “You don’t know?”

“I stopped counting at thirty.”

She winces.

“I quit that life a few years ago. I couldn’t handle the guilt. It was eating me alive. But no matter how bad I feel, it won’t bring back all the lives I took.”

I don’t expect Kendall to understand or to forgive me. I’m not worthy of forgiveness.

“Come on,” I turn toward the car, “I need to get you home.”

The confession is strangely freeing. I’ve never shared the full extent of my story with anyone, not even Damien, and he’s been the closest thing to a friend that I’ve had since Ladheug died. Despite the relief of having a weight lifted off my chest, I am chilled by the silence of the night.

Kendall says nothing for a really long time, but at least she joins me in the cab. I’ve lost her. I can feel it to the marrow of my bones. It’s a huge loss, but I can’t help thinking… I didn’t deserve her in the first place.