This most recent wound was deep and dripping. Kieran caught his breath as the man stumbled to his knees. Kieran walked forward as the assassin lingered on all fours and yanked his sword free, carefully dodging the splatter that followed.
Kieran leaned into one of the walls, resting while he waited for the assassin to collapse. If he learned anything over the past twenty minutes, it was not to assume the man had lost the strength to continue. Kieran was content to wait him out while properly removed from his reach.
It took much too long for the assassin to finally fall, face-planting on the slatted floor.
A shadow took shape over his body. Without medical treatment, he would die. Kieran wrestled with indecision. It went against his every instinct not to render aid if it would save a life. Even the life of this man, who had no qualms stealing it from others.
Kieran reasoned that he would return once he found Seth safe and unharmed. It was the best he could do, and Seth didn’t deserve to suffer because this man had chosen the wrong career. Dragging himself upright, Kieran proceeded back to the first floor and stopped at the first apartment.
He knocked.
No answer.
On to the next. He wished he had asked Sera for her apartment number. With any luck, it wouldn’t be one of the upper floors. Or this was going to take a while.
—
Around the fifth floor, Kieran’s fatigue from the fight had mostly subsided. The heat exhaustion and iron, however, were in full force, his head pounding and stomach rolling. It was not normally this bad, even in the old buildings around the Ring. Perhaps the fight had exacerbated his reaction or he was just particularly sensitive, but he had a new appreciation for those that lived outside the fae Courts.
As he walked, he did his best to reorder his clothes where possible, but obvious tears and dirt were unavoidable. That didn’t stop him from adjusting everything back into their ordered, neat positions.
So far, his knocks were met with silence while the occasional answer revealed wrong door, after wrong door. Drained,bruised, and in need of a shower, he knocked on 6C, waited, and prepared to move on.
The door opened just as he turned.
“North?” Seth called from inside the apartment, a box with ornate Summer patterns clutched to his chest. Kieran was surprised by the onslaught of elation and relief. He could have hugged him.
Seth was safe. Which meant Sera would not be devastated. He had done his part. Now he needed to wait for her. Hopefully not too long. Clearing his throat, he adjusted his collar and then his cuffs. Then he turned back to Seth, who gawked with open curiosity.
“I’m here for Sera. Cole posted an assassin to tail you should she not follow his orders. That assassin has been dispatched and the threat to you no longer remains.” Kieran paused, then cast a very obvious and pronounced glance over Seth’s shoulder. Seth followed the motion, looking behind him, then forward again. “Yes, the threat has been eliminated. Now we must—”
A blood-chilling scream silenced him. Seth and Kieran listened, hearing nothing for several seconds. Acting on instinct, Kieran pushed Seth inside and threw the door closed behind them. Kieran pressed his ear to the door, attempting to hear any other indication of distress. Had the assassin regained consciousness? Did Divinity continue to heal the user longer than predicted?
Fucking hell, there had to be a limit, even with Divine blessing. Though, what little he knew of guardians did not include healing abilities. But what else could have caused the scream?
When he heard nothing more, he shared a look with Seth. Seth had regained his footing and clutched his box like it contained precious jewels.
“I’m going to check outside, please don’t die in the meantime,” Kieran ordered.
Seth gave him a droll look, not amused.
Kieran slipped back into the hall, listening, on edge. He sniffed as he detected an odd scent and something catching on the air…
Smoke.
A faint trail of black plumes rose from the stairs. Seth had followed, sharing a similar knowing look of concern, his olfactory senses on par with Kieran’s. There was no time to process before the building was rocked by an explosion from the ground floor.
Chancing another look down the stairs, Kieran cursed in Faery. There was no going back down that way. The lower floors were engulfed in flames. He returned to the apartment and shut the door.
A quick glance showed the start of a shadow, perched but not ravenous, and fully formed on Seth’s shoulder. Kieran suspected an identical version hovered behind himself.
“W-what now?”
The apartment was bare, probably stripped clean of whatever Seth and Sera had left behind and no new tenant had taken their place.
Kieran nodded toward the window facing the street. “I don’t suppose you have a very long ladder tucked away somewhere?”
Checking outside, Kieran glanced back when his quick assessment showed no signs of any way down save a very long jump. “Normally, buildings of this size are required to install fire-prevention equipment and access to outer descending stairs.”
