Shattered Truth

I watch as the sun sets under the horizon. Tonight’s mine and Bruce’s last night to leave this retched place. For in the next few days Isaac and Edgar will have the port closed to get ready for their adventure to Ridenvell. Isaac has asked Bruce and me to accompany them, in case potential threats occur. After hearing what Giselle said, maybe it would be better if Bruce and I just left. We are nowhere closer to catching the other hired assassins, Sebastian is making me feel things as assassin shouldn’t, and Isaac has been acting weird around me. He’s always asking me questions, personal questions about my life, and the other day he actually stepped in when Sebastian was making a move on me. It’s weird.

“Bandit!” I turn around to see Bruce walking out onto the bluff. I turn back around and finish watching the sun disappear then darkness takes over.

“I did some digging around while you were busy in the library all week,” Bruce mocks, coming to stand beside me. I blush at what he’s hinting at.

“What did you find?” I ask. Bruce seems to be shaking a little, he looks excited. He found something big.

“The person who hired us and the other assassins are one in the same,” he says with pure excitement. I turn and face him. His eyes glowing blue with a black silted pupil. I smiled. We were going hunting.

“Who?!” I say feeling my own excitement growing. I know without looking my green eyes have taken on a reptilian look.

“The same person that left earlier today to go for a visit to her so called sisters.” My mouth drops. No fucking way. Bruce’s smile widens.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?!” I shout. He shakes his head and the smile on my face widens.

“I still have her scent, if we leave now we might be able to catch her meeting with her hired help.” He turns without another word runs and jumps. Seconds later he is circling the sky in his silver dragon form waiting for me. It’s a good thing the moon isn’t full, because he would be a spot light in the sky.

I stretch my arms into the sky feeling my spine lengthen, my limbs shift positions, my skin vibrate as scales replace my skin, last I feel a deep roar grow from the deeps of my stomach. It moves through my body helping the change. As it arrives at my mouth, I feel my face change as it grows a snout, two overly long horns, whiskers, and razor sharp teeth. Once the roar leaves my mouth I stretch. My claws dig into the ground and my flexible spine shifts up and down like waves. When I was younger the change always left me in agony, but now it just feels good.

Bruce roars then takes off towards the north. I may not have wings like most dragons, but my unnatural speed on land makes up for it. I coil my body then explode like a spring following Bruce.

***
As we approach a manor Bruce drops from the sky and shifts, and I follow in suit. Once in human form I roll my shoulders and pop my neck to loosen up. My human form is always so tense. We get low to the ground and approach the gates.

I look at the name plate and almost laugh. Wow the webs royals weave, that’s all I have to say. The plaque reads: Granagde House Manor. I glance through the bars of the wall and see figures walking about. One snaps his fingers and a flame jets out. Great I almost forgot the Granagde House is filled with fire elementals.

Bruce sees them to and leads me to the side of the manor. Both back and front entrances will be guarded, but the sides won’t be as much. We both climb the fence and silently drop on the other side. I scan the side of the manor and notice a window open, I motion towards it and Bruce leads the way.

“Why is it, whenever Gregory Granagde’s mistress comes, we have to cook so much food?” a heavy man says as he slams a pot into the sink. A thin waiter shrugs.

“Why else? She must be a shifter of some type. They eat like pigs.” The heavy man laughs grabs a tray and pushed the waiter out the kitchen doors. If I wasn’t here for sneaking I would rip that waiter a new one, how rude.

With the kitchen empty we jump through the window and follow the two men down a dark corridor. They enter an archway and stop we hide in the shadows and wait.

“Set the trays down and leave,” says a booming voice. The waiters comply and then leave. As soon as they clear the archway a drape drops like a door. The once dark room is filled with light as a drape is opened in the middle of the room. Bruce pushes me back as the shadow get smaller.

Standing next to a heavy set man, with a fire tattoo covering his face is Philippa Daggyrmir. She is in a red silk nightgown, with her hair down, and her cleave almost busting out of her gown. Her air tattoo seems to almost glow in the presence of the man.

“Oh Gregory that damn girl and her friend are now hired as our bodyguards instead of assassins and why in the world did Giselle not die from the poisoning,” Philippa says stomping her foot.

“The assassins failed, but don’t worry I hired some new one.” He snapped his fingers and two assassins come out of shadow across the room. I feel Bruce still. He must be worried, but if we’re still alive then they didn’t see us, I hope. Philippa walks over to the assassins and examines them.

“I want Bruce, Bandit, and Giselle killed. Do you understand?” The two assassins nod their head. “And no mistakes, now leave us.” She waves her wrist and the two assassins walk past us and out the draped door, but before they are completely out one pause’s for and brief second then is gone.

“Now with Giselle and Bandit gone, there will be no more of the Daggyrmir line left,” Gregory says as he pulls Philippa into him. I wrinkle my brow in confusion. I’m not a Daggyrmir.

“Since Isaac thinks Charles and Cecily are his, he will never know that you rule both houses,” she laughs then attacks his lips. My eyes widen, holy shit Charles and Cecily are Granagde’s. I tugged at Bruce. We need to get out of here and stop those assassins. Giselle may not want my help but there is no way in hell am I letting this happen. No fucking way.