“Oh, no,” Cedar waved her off. “You did kill him.” She looked at the man beside her briefly. His glare alone was trying to kill Vesper. Cedar shrugged. “Twins.”
Vesper rolled her eyes. Another illusionist then too, no doubt. Twins almost always shared the same abilities.
“What about you then? Don’t think you’re a twin.”
If looks could kill, Vesper would be dead twice over. Cedar matched the man’s glare, switching from casual to pissed in seconds. She shoved the cloak off her shoulders to reveal an entire missing limb.
“Do you know how fucking hard it is to keep poison from killing you without an antidote?” Cedar snapped, seething.
Vesper could have sworn she’d heard Bellamy laugh behind her. “Should’ve let it kill you,” Bellamy replied. Vesper nodded her agreement.
“If you wanted me dead, you should have sliced my throat. So, tell me, V, why didn’t you kill me?”
“Thought I did,” Vesper mumbled, shrugging. “How was I supposed to know you’d somehow wake up with enough time to cut your whole fucking arm off?”
Cedar sighed. “I didn’t cut it off,” she said, explaining as if she were speaking to a child. She rolled her eyes. “I just have a much better team who knew something had gone wrong when they spotted you leaving the building with Bellamy instead of me. I woke up, my arm was gone, and half my people were dead.”
“You shouldn’t have tried to fuck with us!” Bellamy yelled, finally stepping up to stand side by side with Vesper. “What do you want from us, Cedar? Vesper rejected your shitty offer, we’re already marked for death from our employers. Why won’t you just leave us the fuck alone!”
Vesper slid her hand around Bellamy’s arm, holding her back just in case she tried anything.
“Because you killed my parents!” Cedar yelled back, finally losing her composure. Vesper stopped short. “First job you ever had. Giant house in back, little one in front, remember that? Where the fuck is my little sister, Vesper?”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Vesper
9 Years Ago
Wiping her sweaty palms on her black cargo pants, Vesper watched the guardhouse for any signs of movement. There was no turning back now. She shook away the nagging thought in the back of her mind that they had never actually wanted this. A forced fate, so to speak, that often befell Energy wielders—unless the wielder had family ties to powerful people and other professions. Apparently, Vesper and Bellamy did not.
Now was not time for lamenting their lives, though. It was time to focus.
They’d done some reconnaissance after meeting with their contact the day prior. This job was only five minutes from their apartment—too close to home in Vesper’s opinion—and apparently was not the norm.
The man they met with told them that getting the chance to do this kind of recon, strolling up the street and subtly scoping out the houses, was incredibly rare. As was the advanced timeline enabling them to learn everything they needed a whole day before instead of only hours.
He claimed they’d been given an easy assignment as their firstone. Vesper tried not to be insulted in the moment—they’d graduated top of their class for fuck’s sake, they didn’t need an “easy first assignment”—but now, she worried it would be anything but easy.
She’d spent most of the morning fretting over timing and what could happen if they were spotted. No witnesses. Not that they had a high risk of being seen, the houses on this street were few and far between.
Really, they were more like mansions. Long driveways lead up to the main houses, which could barely be seen from the road. Hence Vesper and Bellamy now watching the guardhouse they stood in front of. Vesper would take the guard, while Bellamy snuck in and dealt with the occupants of the main house.
This job required precision, and they’d been told the person in the guardhouse would be more difficult to kill than the two in the main house. They’d been given poison—Vesperhatedpoison, it was so tacky, lazy, no art. There were two bottles for the main house occupants, and a different one for the guard.
A lump of unease sat heavy in Vesper’s stomach. She didn’t like that she and Bel would have to split up. What if something happened at the main house and Vesper was all the way up here dealing with the guard still?
She checked her watch; twenty minutes until Bellamy had to be inside the main house. Their contact had given them a precise time to strike—stealth was their number one priority. The sun had already set for the day. The moons were hidden behind clouds. They were shrouded in darkness, wearing all black. Vesper had even tucked her bright white braided hair into a black beanie.
They’d agreed she would have to get the guardhouse taken care of before Bellamy hit the main house, that way there wouldn't be risk of an alarm, and if there was, they could handle it before Bel got inside.
It was now or never, Bellamy would start up to the main house and wait in the shadows until exactly 10 p.m. She wouldthen enter and administer the poison. Apparently, these people had a ridiculously predictable schedule.
Vesper looked back at Bellamy, who fidgeted with her hands. Her matching all-black clothes made her nearly invisible in the dark. The blue curls falling around her blended in with the night sky. Bellamy was perfect.
“Ready?” Vesper whispered, taking Bel’s hand and giving it a squeeze. Bel smiled weakly in return, the nerves getting the best of her. “You’re gonna be fine. We’ve trained for this,” Vesper reminded her. Bellamy nodded, still looking a little sick.
Bel was good at what she did. Not quite better than Vesper, but better than most others. She’d just never taken to the work quite like Vesper, hadn’t had to worry about calming her adrenaline before the kill. It was just a job to both of them, but Vesper might have enjoyed it a bit more.
