Angel and the Assassin

you possibly need it for?”
    “That is none of your business. It‟s mine, and it wasn‟t dirty.” Angel planted
    his hands on his hips, leaning forward as he shouted, “You‟re a dickhead! And
    you‟re weird. In fact I‟m surprised you don‟t use latex gloves to pick up your cock
    when you piss.”
    Kael remained completely immobile, stunned by the accusations and insults.
    Adrenaline surged through him, but he knew if he laid into Angel that he would
    seriously hurt him. Aside from that, he didn‟t want to. Instinct made him react with
    anger when he was disobeyed—the instinct to control—but all he wanted just then
    was to repair the damage he had done.
    “I can probably go and find it in the bins.” His voice was strangely quiet and
    calm, surprising him. It was as if the words came from someone else entirely. The
    anger drained slowly out of him as surely as the blood drained from the necks of his
    targets when he did his job well. What never happened when he killed someone was

    Angel and the Assassin
    111

    feeling guilty. Yet now, guilt swamped him at casually disposing of something that
    obviously meant so much to Angel.
    Angel watched him. “You‟re not going to whip my ass for yelling?”
    “No,” Kael said.
    “Okay, let‟s get dressed. I‟ll come and help. It‟s after midnight. No one will see
    me.”
    The bins were located in the basement of the building. They were accessed
    from each of the four floors by a chute in the hallway that bags were dropped down.
    The smell of refuse was incredibly offensive to Kael‟s overdeveloped sense of smell
    as he walked with Angel into the dimly lit, chilly basement. Several large skips full
    of rubbish bags sat about the echoing room. Kael pointed at the skip still sitting
    under the chute. “It will be in that one; it‟s not that long since I tossed it.”
    “That‟s a fair-sized Dumpster, Daddy. Should I go in?”
    “No.” Even as he said it Kael put one hand on the metal ledge and leaped up to
    balance on it, looking down at the pile of black bin bags.
    “Wow!” Angel whispered when he saw Kael leap. “You‟re like a tiger, Daddy.”
    “I bite like one too.” Kael scanned the bin bags to pick out his from the rest. By
    sight it was impossible even for him to tell one black bag from the next. Gingerly, he
    stepped in among the bags. “I can‟t believe I‟m doing this. Going through the bins at
    one in the morning to find a ragged bit of cloth. I should be in my bed, or at the very
    least lying back with your mouth on my dick.”
    “I‟m all in favor of having my mouth on your dick, Daddy, but I want my
    blanket back first.”
    There was only one way to do this. Kael pulled a pair of latex gloves from his
    pocket and drew them on. He looked down at his big hands. “Amazing substance,
    latex. Protects you from everything from bubonic plague to STDs to getting nabbed
    at a crime scene.”
    “Daddy?” Angel‟s brow furrowed in confusion.
    Kael took the bag nearest the chute and sniffed it. No, that wasn‟t it.
    Methodically he took one bag after the next, sniffing and tossing.
    “Daddy, what are you doing? You have to open them. You‟ll never find it like
    that.”
    “Trust your daddy,” Kael said. This was exactly how he would find the blanket.
    It would smell like Angel, and he had memorized exactly how the boy smelled. The
    blanket had probably not been washed in months, and it would emit Angel‟s unique
    scent. He lifted another bag to his nose, sniffing hard through the plastic. “Slightly
    fruity, clean, with a salty edge.” He threw the bag at the floor and leaped down after
    it. “It‟s in that one.”
    One eyebrow raised skeptically, Angel looked at the bag and then up at Kael.
    “Oookay. Let‟s see.” His slender, deft fingers untied the knot quickly, and he opened
    the bag wide. The blanket sat on top, covered in melted brie cheese rinds. Laughing

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    Fyn Alexander

    in disbelief, he pulled the blanket out, shaking off the debris. “Oh my God. You‟re
    amazing!” The smiling gray eyes and wide grinning mouth made Kael‟s heart leap.
    “One sniff through a garbage bag and you found it.”
    There was no other explanation; Kael had gone completely mad. All his life he
    had been hard to please, always wanting more—a more extreme sexual experience
    or a greater challenge going after a target. Nothing excited him more than nearly
    getting caught at a hit. He had run with bullets whizzing past his