I am glad that we have been able to make it out alive but now that the Inspector is a black shadow I feel very uneasy about everything.
What if he gets unto us? After all, he’s not a normal police officer. He could track us and jail us. I’ve dragged Arya into this mess. What if that video gets out? What if it becomes viral? What was visible in the video? I turn to look at Arya. She is lost again. I can tell that her mind and her soul and no longer in the same zone as mine. I tap her gently. The car is parked in a concealed spot in preparation for my next assignment. She turns towards me and I wonder if I should still say anything. I’ve still not gotten over my fear for her.
"The Inspector is a black shadow". I said to her.
Her eyes are still glowing. Slowly, they return to normal and she looks at me like she actually sees me.
How does she know? Did she also see the tattoo on his neck?
"How do you know?" I ask her.
"I hear it from the souls around him that he killed. They are everywhere, surrounding him like thick smoke." I gulp.
"Aren’t you afraid?" I ask her.
She just looks me with surprised eyes and says, "I have the bravest man in the world by my side. I have nothing to fear".
Even if her words are not intended to be romantic, I can’t help the feeling of my head swelling. I felt a huge tingle. I wanted to just do the job I had to do and take her home and show her how pleased I am with her compliment.
No one ever called me brave. It was the first compliment from her. Most of what she usually says are cold words without any emotions behind them. Is she being nice because she is going to still leave or is it genuine?
She is glancing back at me. When she stares at me the way she is doing right now, I feel like I am drowning in her gaze. Her eyes look like a purple sea and I feel like a sinking yacht in the vastness of the sea.
I just sit back and lean on the chair.
I still have plenty of time. The most valued quality an assasin is expected to possess is patience.
There are times you have to wait for hours on end to get the perfect strike. If you jump in hastily and miss your chance, you have lost the battle already even if you emerge victorious.
The wind purrs softly outside the window, making it sound like ghosts are singing.
Leaves rustle around everywhere, trees dance to the rhythm of the wind. Everything is in so much harmony. All I can hear is the soft thud of my heartbeat.
I glance at my watch. Still enough time.
I turn to Arya. Her eyes are closed, but I don’t think she is sleeping.
"I can’t stay". She says, hers eyes still closed.
"I know you want me to stay. I can feel your soul calling out to me. What you would not say with your words, your soul has said with its call". She said.
I do want her to stay.
"You can see my soul?" I ask.
"In my world, we call it your essence. There were necromancers who had learned how to enslave the living by trapping their essence". She says.
I pretend like I have a clue about what she is saying.
"No world is perfect. People in this world also do bad things. Are we bad people?" She asks me.
I am taken unawares by her question.
Well, I kill people for a living, but only scum. I do a private background check on all my targets to make sure that they deserve what is coming to them. Still, I kill people. I have been killing people since I was eight years old.
"I don’t know. There are dark shades of grey. I think we should fall under that category. We are not entirely good, and we are not hopelessly bad". I say.
"I was expecting you to call yourself holy. You always say that your Sensei had taught you that it is the will of the gods to purge the earth of scum". She says.
I remember telling her that anytime she asked me where I was going at night when we were not yet married.
I never considered it a holy assignment, but sometimes we have to do a little evil for the greater good.
My target is a professional Pedophile. He rapes both boys and girls. He even sells them to other monsters like himself. The society is better off without scum like him. I had been hired by a Client whose son had been kidnapped and found dead after three years.
If I ever do have any children, I would not want them to have to endure any form of suffering.
"After tonight, let’s take a vacation". I say to her.
I honestly don’t know where the idea came from, but I’m glad it came.
"To where?" She asks.
I did not even think it through. This is the first time we would be going on a vacation. I have never even taken her out on a date before. It’s not my fault though, my job barely even let’s me stay at home. I have to fly around and handle the jobs assigned to me.
Plus, Arya does not like leaving the house. The only places she goes to are the supermarket and the hair salon. She and the supermarket attendant have a sort of friendship. Outside that, she is always contentedly at home.
I remember when she was learning to drive for the first time. She had learned so quickly. Now, she is a pro.
My target is driving into the driveway.
I open the door and come out of the car.
I wait as he parks the car and comes out of it. The moment he is in full view, my dagger sinks into his carotid artery and he falls face flat on the ground.
A little girl had been watching from the window.