Assignment No. 638273
Name, if known: Titus Liu Wood
Aliases, if known: Unknown
Gender, if known: Male
Age, if known: Unknown
Undead age, if relevant: N/A
Breed, if known: Unknown – Caution
Preferred method: Gun. Must pierce heart
Other details that may be important to the success of the hit: Spotted hanging around Riley Storm.
That was it. Her target’s entire life condensed to a single piece of paper. Disappointing, and pretty sad really. She’d been given a name, a time frame, and the image.
It had taken her weeks to find him, the man essentially a shadow, and according to records, he didn’t exist. It had taken even longer to trail Riley Storm, and she’d finally found her target coming out of a construction site over in the square, dressed entirely in black like some grim reaper wannabe.
Now, Riley Storm was an interesting addition to the growing mystery. Titus Liu Wood may only have existed on paper, but she sure as hell had heard of the notorious bachelor of London. He was a pretty-boy businessman, and Rae had more than once seen his image grace magazines and news articles with words such as ‘sexiest,’ and ‘charitable,’ printed over them.
What the mainstream media didn’t publish was that he was also rumoured to be so ruthless, that even the nastiest of Lords didn’t mess with him, or his dangerous men that were just whispers amongst the Undercity. Speculation, of course. It was hard to believe anything coming from the gossip of those that frequented the Troll Market, especially when many of them were high on ashroot, or that new mist she’d heard about. Not to mention the sheer amount of Fae, who’d made twisting lies into deceiving truths an art form. But one thing she was sure of, was that Mr Storm had money, and power. Two things she didn’t need to complicate her life with if she fucked this up.
So she took her time. Planned the hit perfectly.
The early morning sky was dark, the park beyond barely illuminated by the streetlamps along the pavement. It was quiet, just as she knew it would be. There was no residential housing, just boring skyscrapers that held just as equally mundane corporations. A handful of coffee shops, and cafes sprinkled the street with a little colour, but other than that the area was strictly business. Which meant no witnesses.
The sniper nestled perfectly in the little hole created in the window, the surrounding glass starting to spiderweb at the added weight.
“Fuck,” she muttered quietly, blindly grabbing for the tape in her bag. One arm held the gun, and the other placing pieces of the stupidly expensive tape along the edges. It would be secure enough for her to finish the job. So now, she just had to wait.
Because for once in her life, she’d found something she was good at. It just happened to involve killing people.
Chapter2
Titus
Titus groaned as vomit erupted from his nose, the burn causing his eyes to water.
“That stops, eventually,” Lucifer said, patting him on the shoulder like a child.
Titus flipped him the finger before he leaned forward, somehow managing to bring up more puke from an empty stomach, splattering against the floor. It burned like acid, his throat raw as he coughed, hoping that was the end of it. “How… how long?” he managed to say between waves of nausea, turning to look at the Daemon, and then Axel who stood beside him.
Lucifer shrugged, the movement overdramatised as it stretched his shredded black t-shirt. “Hundred years or so, I can’t really remember.”
Fucking, great.
“You’ve got this,” Axel added, his eyes almost sad when they met his. But Titus quickly looked away, not wanting the pity that was the default emotion on most of his brothers for the past three months. He wasn’t dying, he was just… he didn’t know. He wasn’t a Daemon, at least not entirely. But he was no longer what he once was, either.
Only he had the bad luck to be forced into a ritual not once, but twice. First as a child, which resulted in his beast that now shared his soul, and then again as an adult. He was still learning what he gained, or lost, from the Rite. He knew he went through at least the first stage of ascension from a druid to a Daemon. But the memory of the details were hazy.
“You need to try again,” Lucy said, crossing his arms with an impatient grunt. “We need to know your limits.”
“Limits?” Titus repeated, resting back against the cool brick of the wall as his stomach finally settled, his skin slick with sweat, and Axel’s blood. “My limit is fuck you, Batboy.” Black magic uncoiled in his chi, like a viper ready to strike.
“At least let me give you a fucking summoning name,” Lucifer said. “You need it to balance the magic. It’ll help settle the –”
