Infiltrate

Chapter 1
The body of the young man was heavy. Alexis was tempted to let it topple off her shoulders and drag it along the ground. She wouldn’t though, it was wrong. The body did reek of alcohol and urine, and the streets weren’t that dirty, but it wasn’t the dirt or rubbish that she was worried about. Letting the body drag along the ground was disrespectful, almost as bad as cutting it up and eating it. Dragging it along the ground would make her a monster. While she was an assassin, she was NOT a monster.
She’d been hired to make these kills. The employer was paying very well, enough money to last the institute she lived in at least a month. Though the institute could survive without the money, it still needed it for the fledglings. The teachers couldn’t be running off on jobs to fund the institute, the girls needed consistent training. Though, she knew, that wasn’t the biggest reason they needed this money, they needed it to buy expensive books, new weapons, food, and cloth and leather for clothing – most of these to fight the monsters.
The clandestine state of the institute sometimes was its downfall, the academy sometimes going months without paying employment. Most monster extermination was free of charge, maybe sometimes casting the recipients a stranger staying in their home for a night, or a meal. The exterminations were also anonymous, the academy found villages plagued with the monsters, rather than the other way around.
However, people with jobs for assassins had to find the institute, a difficult job with the academy and its inhabitants being so surreptitious. When the person does find the place, then they have to convince the elders the job has reason. If the job is simply a massacre, with no real reason other than to kill or create fear in a certain area, they would be refused – unless one of the assassins stepped forward to accept, which rarely happened.
If the job was accepted by the elders however, they would need details, and would judge which assassin would be best for the job. The institute was the best of the best in assassinations, to date no mission had been failed. Assassins had died, but the Institute would always send another, until the job was done. The reputation of the academy, in those who knew about it, was almost perfect, consequently, services weren’t cheap.
That’s why Alexis had to accept this job, and that’s why it had been her assigned to it. The job wasn’t immoral, though at first it may have sounded that way.
Alexis was to kill a family, one by one, the whole bloodline was to be extinguished. She would place each body in plain view of the family, to frighten them before they met the same fate.
It sounded terrible, but then the employer had told her why he wanted them killed.
The Malachi family were cruel and disgusting. They owned a guild of thieves, and very amateur assassins. That would have been semi-okay, the Institute would have accepted the job just on that knowledge, but then they’d been given more knowledge, more disgusting. The family were cruel, torturing their victims for information, and sometimes just for fun. The men in the family were rapists, and the wives didn’t care. They also killed whole families, starting with the children, creating the most fear before they killed the father last.
Alexis’s blood had burned in her veins when she thought of innocent children dying, of women being violated, of people being tortured. She had tortured someone before, and knew that it was the most terrible thing; she’d killed the man immediately once she’d gotten what she needed. The man’s screams echoed in her ears at the memory, she cringed.
The body on her shoulders seemed even heavier at these thoughts, and dragging the body felt like an even better option. Instead she hiked it further up her shoulders with a grunt, walking faster. She was not a monster, and the soul that had been so cruel had left the body.
So Alexis lugged the body on her back, moving as quickly as possible while keeping her soft shoed feet silent. She reached the family home in under a minute, glad the drunk had tried to stumble as far as he could before she had to kill him. The thought of carrying the twice as big body all that way was, to say the least, extremely unappealing.
She stopped in front of the back door, glad the family decided to live in a city home, rather than a fenced off, large manor. She let the body roll off her shoulders; it fell to the ground with a loud thump, the loudest sound in the quiet in the quiet block. She cringed again, muscle tensing, waiting for any sound that the thwack of the limp body colliding with the stone floor had been heard.
The sound of a groan, a quiet whisper, from the above levels alerted her to the fact it had. She strained her ears to hear the sound of heavy footsteps above. She looked up, seeing a window right above the doorstep.
She had to move, quickly. She rolled the body so it faced upwards, and moved the arms and legs so they weren’t tangled awkwardly. Satisfied that the body looked like it was simply unconscious, she ran away, keeping to the shadows.
Her footsteps were silent on the pavement, and she grinned, spotting an uneven wall, the stone blocks jutting out randomly. Perfect handholds, she thought, before running at the wall, climbing, feet and hands finding ledges to hold her body weight. She pulled herself up onto the roof, landing lightly on her feet.
She turned, adrenaline racing, an unconscious grin on her face. She looked down at the alley, at the building where a middle aged woman leaned out of the window. Alexis heard her groan from here, and a disapproving cry of “Antonio”.
She bought it, thinking her son had simply passed out on her doorstep, too drunk to let himself in. Alexis saw her close the window before the bang of the two wooden surfaces reached her ears. She heard the groans of people waking from the sound, one decided to voice his annoyance with a profanity. Alexis’s smile widened.
The smile fell as she saw the mother of the boy come down the stairs, and open the door. She heard her muffled voice, most likely telling her son to get up. Then there was the sound of a thump that came as she kicked her son.
The body rolled over, exposing the bloody on his back, the puddle of red liquid where he’d been lying. The mother gasped, falling to the ground over her son.
Alexis stood, leaping from the building, away from the scene. She didn’t enjoy causing grief, and wasn’t going to stick around to see the wailing that was echoing from the alley she’d left.
Alexis sat in a bar, absently sipping a glass of water. The pub she was in was dirty, the waitresses too busy trying to avoid assault from the laughing men than to actually clean. In the men’s defence, the girls were wearing far too little to be good for them.
Alexis was the most modestly dressed female in here. She wore a dress divided down the middle for horse riding. The neckline just touched below her collarbone, and the sleeves were loose billowing silk, the same fabric and red colour of her skirts. The torso of the dress was tight and faintly restraining, the black colour had attracted an uncomfortable amount of heat in the glaring sun that was a constant of the city Scavati.
To avoid the midday heat was not why she was here though, she was attracting her prey. She was after the next member of the Malachi family. Her first kill had been the youngest member of the family, Antonia Malachi, now she was after the second youngest. Antonio had been nineteen; according to the information she’d been given. The next target was twenty-one, wedded for one year, named Adrian.
She was the bait for Adrian, having inherited one of the more disgusting habits in his family. Yes, she could have come dressed in less clothing, or tighter fitting clothing, but she didn’t really need it. What she usually wore was tighter fitting, showing off her long legs, but it was also conspicuous, women didn’t usually wear tight cloth pants, high boots, and tight shirts without sleeves. Wearing that would either cause more commotion than sitting in the room naked, or instantly label her as a threat. She wanted her fish to grab her hook, not run from it. You could never reel in a fish you don’t catch.
Anyway, what she wore was annoying enough. Her hair, bleached so many times it looked more like white hair with black stripes, was hanging loose. She felt uncomfortable with her jaggedly cut fringe hanging in her eyes, it cut off some of her peripheral vision. The hard fabric of her bodice restricted her backs movements, and the dainty slipper she wore on her feet were uncomfortable and small, pinching her toes and no doubt inhibiting her ability to run. Though it was highly unlikely she would be running in them anyway. After the kill she would ditch the footwear, her feet were hard and calloused enough to walk bare on pine cones without a hint of discomfort.
She watched the rest of the pub out of the corner of her eye, keeping her mouth twisted in a smirk, her eyelids low in a way that seemed to attract the opposite gender.
“Why hello, what would a refined young lady like yourself be doing sitting in such a grimy pub as this?”
Alexis turned to the dingy man who’d approached her smiling. She sipped at her glass of cool water, taking her time before answering. The man was short, 5’6, and sported a smile as greasy as his tunic. His hair was thin, what was left of it was combed to the side to cover his bald patch. His eyes were squinty under heavy eyelids and his face so pudgy and round he was incapable of showing the jaw from which he spoke.
“It’s hot outside,” she explained, her tone telling her impatience and how unimpressed she was with the man. “I was just getting a drink.”
“It is hot, and why are you drinking such light stuff? Surely some wine or lager would cool you off much more. Come sit with me and my friends, we’ll buy you a drink.” His sleazy tone was as disgusting as his blackened teeth which he flashed in a grin at her. She pursed her lips as if contemplating, keeping her nose from crinkling as the man’s eyes strayed to her chest.
She looked over his shoulder to the friends he was indicating, all poor looking and grimy, certainly men who couldn’t afford the amount of drinks indicated by the number of empty glasses on their table.
She looked back at the man slowly, letting her sneer show on her face. “No thank you,” her voice was hard, dismissing.
“Now, don’t...” he started, holding out his hands as if to pull her from her seat.
“Leave,” she stopped him, glaring. The man gulped at her fierce look, hurrying back to his seat. She smirked, turning her attention back to nothing, her eyes pointed at the corner of the ceiling so she could watch the whole room without anyone knowing who she was looking at.
It was a couple of glasses of water later, and a few more advances from beer-breathed men, before she spotted her target. He came through the doors with his pack of friends, his laughter boisterous, and rowdy, graining on her sensitive ears. He was tall, taller than her 6’0 height, and with shoulders even wider across than his brothers had been. His friends were just as stocky, with bulging arms and puffed out chests. She noticed absently that they were all handsome in a sense, with strong jaws, straight noses, smirking smiles. Her mind was only on one though, her target, Adrian.
He had dark, short hair, a prickly-looking stubble on his cheeks, and grey eyes that swept the room, zeroing in on me. I smiled at him, and his grin widened. He punched a few of his mates, and came over to me, a confident strut to his walk. His followers tagged behind, eyes roaming over my body.
“Why hello there,” Adrian said, sitting on the chair beside her. His eyes slowly swept up and down her, she endured the lingering looking, keeping her smile up. His eyes finally met hers, full of lust and greed. Her smile turned genuine, he was taking the bait. “My friends and I are staying for a few rounds, would you care to join us for a drink?” he asked her, she sensed that wasn’t all he wanted her to stay for.
She nodded. “Sure, I’d love to,” she kept her voice low, at almost a purr. Adrian smirked, yelling at the bartender to give him some drinks. Then he turned back to her, introducing her to his friends. She instantly forgot the names he spoke, the information was irrelevant. She nodded to each young man, who in turn grinned wickedly at her.
Adrian stood, holding out a hand to her. She took it, and led her to a large table in the back, close to a door leading into the alley. She settled herself closest to this escape, Adrian sitting by her, his hand falling to rest on her knee. The other men grudgingly took their seats at the other side of the table, glaring lightly at Adrian when he wasn’t looking.
The drinks arrived on a tray of one of the serving girls. She smiled at the men as she gave them the drinks, all the while her eyes wary, almost scared. The closest man to the girl pinched her as she leant over to give the last glass to the man furthest away. She squeaked lightly, and smiled back at him, hurrying away before he could repeat the procedure. The man, he had dirty blonde hair, grinned after her, before turning to the table. “When do you think her sift is over?” he asked.
The next few hours Alexis listened to the painful conversation of the group, keeping her smile light and sipping at her drinks. She went through about six glasses, glad her system barely reacted to alcohol.
Adrian watched her happily, always buying her another drink when her glass was empty. Alexis realized after the third drink that he was trying to get her drunk, and started laughing louder with the men’s jokes, putting in conversation that made little sense. It wasn’t hard to slur her words, and after a couple of minutes the swaying on her seat had become a semi-conscious action, like adjusting your weight as you walked on a rocking ship.
After she purposely fell into him, Adrian seemed to decide she was efficiently intoxicated. He mumbled for his friends not to wait up, and then pulled her out of the chair, to the edge of the pub, and out into the alley.
The cool air felt amazing after the hot, stuffy inside of the pub. It was midafternoon, still warm, but no longer hot. She smiled, and then remembered to keep it lopsided, just to add to the affect her stumbling steps and giggles were already contributing to.
Adrian grinned at her, holding her up with one hand and leading her further down the alley. It grew narrower as they travelled further from the street, the doors and windows on the side walls growing further apart until there were no more. They probably travelled another twenty metres before they came to a dead end.
Alexis looked at the high wall, and then to her left and to her right, keeping her movements slow and unstable. The walls beside her had no ledges, the smooth wall only jutted out to meet the roof. The wall ending the alley wasn’t much better, it’s ledge about a metre or two from the roofs to either side. Her escape wasn’t going to be easy; neither would be transporting the body when she was finished.
“What you looking for sugar?” Adrian’s voice broke her reverie. She turned to face him, catching sight of a drainage pipe far behind his head. It didn’t look in view of the street either. Alexis smiled at her luck.
“Nothing,” she replied, voice slurring, “I was just wondering where you were taking me.”
“We’ve arrived,” he flung his arms wide, gesturing around him in a flourish.
“Oh,” she said, voice sounding perfectly disappointed with a hint of fear. She knew how to lie; it was simply something that needed to be learnt in the industry.
Adrian smirked, taking a large stride towards her. The intimidating, looking down affect was slightly ruined by her height though, and she barely kept from smirking. He was, as she’d first thought, only about an inch taller than her, he barely had to look down.
He still looked cocky though, sure of himself, as he slid his hand down her arm, eyes burning with lust. Alexis didn’t contain her shudder, it added to her unknowing, ignorant facade. “What are you doing?” she asked softly, making her voice waver.
Adrian laughed, think she was frightened. She restrained form rolling her eyes. “We’re just having a little fun,” he said, pulling her to him.
She’d had enough, she seized his arm, ducking under it and holding it to his back. Adrian’s free arm flailed behind him, to his back. She ducked the blows he aimed at her, grabbing the other arm. Adrian bent his back, trying to free the leverage she had against him. His strong arms started to pull free, so she jumped on his back, unbalancing him, forcing him to fall forward. With no hand to break his fall his head collided with the ground, the chin cracking as it hit the pavement.
Adrian spat under her, rolling to try and dislodge her from his back. She adjusted her weight to counter the rolling, holding him to the ground. “Get off me,” he roared from under her, voice slightly muffled by the proximity to the stone beneath him.
“You are the second, be happy you are not the last, and pray to your god for mercy from your sins,” Alexis said in a monotone. Then she jumped up from his back, pulled her legs straight under her, and landed on his neck.
It broke with a crunch; his body fell limp beneath her. She stepped of his neck, unfeeling as she checked for any vital signs. She found no pulse. Satisfied with her work she knelt under him, dragging his body onto her shoulders. She wrapped his arms around her left shoulder, and his feet around her right, tying the limbs together over her chest so she wouldn’t have to hold him on her back.
She walked down the alley to where she spotted the drainage pipe. It led down to the gutter in the alley, she could easily step onto it, however it was rusty looking, and the rungs were spaced at intervals half her body length.
She sighed, stepped onto the first rung. She grabbed the one above her, hauling herself up with only her arms to help. She moved slowly, having to not only lift her weight, but the weight of the body hanging from her back. She was glad she’d tied the limbs together so tightly, the body was already hanging far off her body.
The rope she’d used had doubled as a belt on her outfit, and was probably the only thing she could conceal with her costume. Alexis felt slightly vulnerable, incomplete, without weapons on her body. Hand to hand combat, and creating weapons out of almost anything, were one of the first things they taught in the academy, she knew she was still formidable without her myriad of weapons.
Climbing and escaping was the next thing they taught, and she was glad for all the strength work she’d done. As is, she only just made it to the top of the building, rolling onto the roof, forgetting the body on her back. She was lying half on the body, her heart racing, panting so hard that she literally couldn’t care to move from the corpse.
When her heart had stopped hammering, she sat up; dragging the body back onto her back, making sure it was balanced before she started running.
She kept away from the street, eyes always searching for other people, for curious eyes. She couldn’t be seen, it would ruin everything.
She knew the way to the home, she’d memorised it on a map and had travelled around the city only to return to the house to learn the route from many vantage points. She looked for her landmarks, a certain tree, building, or store, to tell her where to go next.
She constantly had to adjust the weight on her shoulders, especially when she needed to jump from rooftop to roof top. Her path was very zigzagging – she needed to find the easiest route, the shortest jumps – so it took longer than she thought it would. The sun was low on the horizon when she reached the vicinity of the Malachi home, and she was covered in so much sweat that her divided skirts were sticking to her legs, lines of sweat dripping from her nose. She desperately wanted to wipe it away, but any attempt resulted in the body rolling from her shoulders, hanging from her back, banging against her feet until she stopped running.
She was puffing when she finally reached the rooftop of the home of the family she was hunting. She quickly undid the ties on at her chest; the body almost fell to the roof before she caught it quickly, not wanting the sound to alert anyone of her presence.
She stretched her back, rolling her shoulders with the relief from the release of the dead weight that had been weighing down on her back. She didn’t enjoy the moment long, releasing only a quiet sigh before returning to her work.
The employer had told her to aim for dramatics, that he wanted her to inspire as much fear in her prey as possible. As she leant over the body ideas rushed to her head, it was almost shameful how many came to mind. Most she disregarded, they were either too disrespectful or required too much effort. The idea that she chose was, in any other situation, too disrespectful. However, after what Adrian had attempted to do to her in the alley, and the fact he had succeeded with other girls, she decided to create the picture in her mind.
She picked up the body, rope at the ready.