Cordellus exits the room. And as soon as he does, the door of the hideout slams open.
Grunts and pained cries follow. I have, however, no time to worry for the vampire. I believe he can handle himself.
Relying on memory alone, I go about the room I am in, hitting some piece of furniture along the way, till I reach my suitcase.
I grab it in haste, despite the fact that I am for all intents and purposes a blind man – but not for long, I tell myself. I easily find the zipper, and it isn't long before I am touching a cold metallic object.
I know that my spare gun is already loaded – it always is. I deftly look for the silencer and struggle a little bit to make it hold together.
I feel a presence behind me and I turn immediately towards the person, my gun firing already.
"It's me, man," a voice I don't immediately recognize says.
Is this Zander? I briefly wonder.
It doesn't matter. He isn't here for chitchat, I tell myself.
I fire again. And from the lack of audible reaction, I take it that I missed again.
"So, it's true," he says in a stunned tone and I turn to look in the direction of his voice. "You've turned rogue?"
Is that the lie they fed him and his team?
"But don't you know that we only shoot to kill?" The one who was once my comrade, my studying buddy, taunts.
I have no time to dwell on what he's saying to me.
I have no wish to die right now. The situation is far too messed up. I would probably not rest in peace should I be killed in this manner – without finding any answers.
The darkness dissipates at that exact moment. I focus on him, standing slightly to the left of me.
A small smirk appears on his face, "I am shocked though. I never thought you of all people would rebel against the organization."
His gun is pointed at my head, but he isn't shooting yet. It's almost as if he has doubts of his own, I reason.
"I never did," I tell him and shoot his leg without missing this time around.
Through a few intricate albeit swift combat moves, I am soon enough taking the weapon away from him, and pointing both mine and his at his head.
Cordellus chooses that exact moment to enter the room.
I barely spare him a glance – to see that his lips and his shirt are bloody – and that is all the occasion Zander needs to take his weapon back forcefully.
He has always had a high tolerance for pain. He barely even grunts as he moves.
"Why won't you kill him?" Cordellus asks, his right eyebrow rising.
"Because he didn't kill me, even when he had the chance to do it," I tell him matter-of-factly.
Zander looks taken aback, appalled even.
"What happened to you, brother?" He then asks on a sigh as he lowers his gun.
I don't lower mine just yet, not exactly in a trusting mood.
"I don't know whether it was premeditated or not, but I encountered a problem on my last mission," I say, trying to gauge his expression and know whether he knows more than he is letting on or not.
"You didn't finish off the target?" He asks, sounding bewildered.
Indeed, it didn't fit my profile – not finishing a target while being alive still. But then again, it went against our teachings. And I was the kind of diligent and obedient assassin the organization needed – I never even asked questions.
"I did, but there was someone with him," I then announced, "a witch."
"Oh," he doesn't seem half as shocked as he should have been. "What did she do?"
"She made yours truly blind," I tell him grimly.
"Not permanently though," Cordellus chimes in, almost as if trying to lighten the atmosphere.
"You've been compromised. So they sent us to finish you off," he says in a pensive tone.
"Touché," Cordellus says.
"What I don't get is why you didn't kill me the moment you saw me," I go on, eyes narrowed in suspicion at the man that used to be my sole friend – if I could even claim to having one.
"In all the years I have known you, you never once missed your shot," he shrugs. "I figured there was something off."
"He's on our side," Cordellus says in a hushed tone.
"What are you?" Zander finally focuses on him. He must have noticed the blood on his lips at long last.
"He's a vampire," I answer instead of Cordellus.
"And you're partnering with him somehow?" He asks, as perspicacious as ever.
"It's a long story," I sigh in dejection and lower my gun at long last.
Zander heaves a sigh of his own.
Then, he starts soliloquizing, "I have been diligent about all my missions till now." I nod, knowing this already. "But that didn't keep me from asking myself questions."
I raise an eyebrow at that. "Such as?"
"They say we eliminate threats. They tell us we need to carry out our missions at the exact timing and at the exact place we're given in the instructions. Did that never bother you?"
I shrug at that. "We never asked any question when we taught to obey any and all instructions we are given."
"Maybe we should have," he scoffs, seemingly not liking my words. "I believe the organization works towards a cause that isn't exactly noble."
I have never even taken the time to take that into consideration. I just carried out missions like a killing machine, like a tool, a valuable weapon.
"Are you saying this just so you can report back to the higher ups? They already know of my condition…"
"He isn't," Cordellus interrupts me. "He is sincere."
"I take it you have some special abilities," Zander says with a lopsided smile.
Cordellus shrugs.
"He will make for a good partner," Zander then tells me earnestly.
"I'll be dead by the seventh full moon," I tell him briskly. His eyes widen at that. "Curtsy of the witch."
"It's a curse," Cordellus says. "Curses can be lifted – broken if you will."
"Who says we'll be able to break the curse?" I say in a half challenging, half resigned tone.
"Because you have a three-hundred years old vampire at your side," Cordellus says almost in jest.
A vampire who had been basically shaking in his boots… reassuring!
"Hey!" He says in a tone that is pure outrage. "I take offense in that. Witches – especially those who use dark magic such as the one we encountered yesterday – have no qualms about losing their lives, provided they can achieve their goals. They stop at nothing."
Lovely, I tell myself. She could have killed me but she didn't want me dead. She wanted to torment and torture me first.
Zander cleared his throat and Cordellus and I focused back on him.
"If you'll allow it, I need to report back. That being said, I will be in touch," he says matter-of-factly. "I will be your eyes and ears on the inside."
It surely sounded tempting, and almost too good to be true.
"We can trust him," Cordellus flashes me a reassuring smile.
I decide to put my trust in these two men standing before me – even though it went against every damned teaching I had gotten.
I just nod in response and don't say anything. I could use some allies.