Shattered Truth

Bruce and I spotted Charles the moment we entered the ball. As we talked to Kingsley I kept my eyes on Charles until he persuaded one of the cloud elementals to take a walk, which was about the time we ditched Kingsley and followed Charles. Kingsley may be a bounty hunter, but tonight he was just our contact. The dirty deed must be done by Bruce or me.

“Bandit it seems we have a follower,” Bruce said leaning close to my ear. I glance out of the corner of my eye to see the same man that had been eyeing me since my first step into this retched ballroom. He was tall but not as tall as Kingsley. He walked with grace, yet with an air of authority. He wore black pants with a top that had drapes upon drapes of black and dark purple fabric, over his heart was a medallion with a symbol on it. All the men wore medallions, I suppose they represent their house but I wasn't sure.

I heard the cloud girl giggle, I pulled my glaze from the man and looked at Charles. For him being from a powerful house he was a disgrace. He was groping the poor girl in the middle of the room. I glanced behind me, and sure enough the man was still following us. I leaned into Bruce.

“I want Charles. You take care of our follower.”

“You get the chase and I get the what?” He glances behind him. “A freaking stick up the ass noble. That’s no fun. Why don’t you take the stick and ass boy and I get the chase.” I glared at him.

“No, you got to knock off our last target. It’s my turn.” I stepped away from Bruce without waiting for a response and followed the quickly vanishing Charles. They weren't hard to follow considering the girl was laughing and making out of breathe noises.

I stopped at one of the paintings to make it look like I wasn't following them. I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see that Bruce was staring straight at me with a grim look. I wrinkled my brow in confusion, where was that man. Bruce shrugged like he was actually in my head then started down the hallway.

“Miss?” My eyes widened. I slowly turned around and sure enough there was the man. How he got pass Bruce was unknown to me. He looked a lot different up front. His hair was a dark chocolate brown; it looked to be mid neck long, but it was brushed back. His eyes were a pale hazel. Crawling from his left shoulder up his neck and cheek was his tattoo. It was so weird. It didn't look like a tattoo; it actually looked like real vines, not even vines but a plant. The tips on his face looked to be still be growing. Some vines swirled together, others went out on their own, and some looked like they held buds.

I didn't realize I was staring until I noticed his lips had formed a huge smile revealing white perfect teeth. I shook my head and tried to regain my focus.

“It’s been a long time since someone stared at my tattoo. If you wish to look more I wouldn't mind.” My glaze went to focus on his tattoo then I realized what I was doing and stopped myself. I stared at him saying nothing. I was trying to make him uncomfortable but it wasn't working. He just stared back. If he thought I was going to say something it wasn’t going to happen. I went to sidestep him, he stepped with me. I stepped the other way, he followed. He smirked and arched his eyebrow. I stepped back, he stepped forward. I glared at him and a frustrated sound escaped me, causing him to smile bigger.

“Excuse me stir. I must ask you to leave my daughter alone,” Bruce commanded appearing beside me. The man lost his smile and stared at Bruce.

“My apologizes, stir. I just couldn't help myself. I saw her go off on her own and I feared that some of the less mentionable men might have caused her harm.” What did he think I was a delicate flower? The only person interested in me all night has been him. I made sure to wear a dull brown dress with sandals I could run in and a scarf that covered all but my eyes to attract less attention. If anything was going to happen to me it would probably be from him.

“I appreciate your concern, but I am here now. And I must ask for you to leave us alone,” Bruce barked out. My eyes widened in surprise at his tone. It was easier to attract a fly to honey than to vinegar. Judging by the look on the man’s face, he believed the same thing. Giving me one last look he bowed and walked away. I tried to look at his medallion but he walked too swiftly. I glanced behind us and saw the women looking at me glaring with some kind of dislike and the women looking at the man were all but throwing them self’s at him. Who was he? I heard breathy moans coming from a dark arch way and regained my focus. As I turned my head I caught a glimpse of Kingsley standing alone in the middle of the room staring at the blue eyed girl from earlier. Unfortunately said girl was headed our way.

“Bandit we are drawing too much attention lets whack the target and get the hell out of here. Did you see where he went off to?” Bruce asked pulling me down the hallway. I nodded my head towards the dark arch way. I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see if anyone was watching us. The blue eyed girl glanced our way when talking to one of the glaring girls. I waited for her to turn her head.

“Bruce now. No one’s watching.” We stumbled into the dark room on silent feet. The cloud elemental was making some quite interesting noise or was that Charles?

“Oh baby! That’s right! Who’s daddy's little girl?!” I wanted to vomit. There were some pretty weird hits in my lifetime but this was just plain disturbing. I felt Bruce nudge me with a tube. I took it and put it to my lips. I blew into it and aimed for the figure on top, thrusting. The body let out a shriek, stilled and slumped forward. I was getting ready to bolt when to my surprise I heard the body below let out a male sounding shriek.

“Shit,” Bruce and I cussed in unison. How did I hit the wrong person? He should have been on top. The shrieking stopped.

“Who’s there?” Charles whimpered. We heard running foot steps outside the archway.

“Time to go,” Bruce said tugging me towards the window.