Post by StoryGirl83 on Sept 5, 2009 21:53:01 GMT -5
Chapter Ten – The Assassin’s Lair
Vera’s basement was a frightening place. Some people had animal heads mounted on the walls of their den or some other room. Vera had human heads mounted on the walls of her basement. It was somehow soothing to her to see the evidence of her many successes. Since there was no space to contain the heads of all her victims, she chose only the most important and then magically severed their heads from their bodies.
Dark lights swirled around and formed into Vera as she returned home, annoyed at the temporary setback. She walked over to the sink and grabbed the towel off the rack, then over to the refrigerator and pulled open the freezer. Ignoring all the magical elements that were of no use to her purpose, she made a pouch out of the towel and started stacking ice cubes in it. When it was full she held her make shift ice pack against the growing bump on her head.
“I hate witches,” she mumbled under her breath, “but I certainly never thought one would get the drop on me with a frying pan.”
“Don’t be surprised,” a voice from the shadows recommended. A man with dark blond hair walked out of the shadows, revealing Steve Kessler, a warlock waging slow, deliberate war on the two Halliwell brothers. “Many have tried to beat them and their family. Many have failed.”
“You again,” Vera scowled at him. “Look. I took your commission. I will get it done.”
“Not if you get distracted.”
She chose to ignore him. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“I didn’t give it,” Steve replied. “I hired you to do a job and you are handling it quite ineptly. Never let yourself get distracted.”
“I prefer to only kill my target. No money in killing anyone else. Exposing magic to mortals just doesn’t appeal, so the only other option is to kill them and you just aren’t paying me enough for that.”
“If you have to kill a mortal to keep from being exposed, let me know and I’ll pay you more. Just get the job done.” Steve looked her in the eye. “You do that and I will reward you beyond what I promised. Just get it done.”
Vera glared back at him. “I always get the job done. And this time I’ll even throw in something for free. I feel like it’s time to add a new head to my wall.”
Steve looked over the myriad heads on her wall. “And what head is that?”
“The head of the only Phoenix who ever dared try to assassinate the assassin.”