Elemental Assassin 05 - Spider's Revenge

staring at my reflection in the mirror.
    Wintry gray eyes, dark hair, pale skin. I looked the same as always, except for the blood spatters on my cheek from the alley fight and the purple smudges under my eyes. I wiped the blood off with a wet paper towel easily enough, but there was nothing I could do about the circles and the matching exhaustion that had crept over me these past few weeks.
    All the stares, all the whispers, all the knock-down-drag-out fights. They’d all worn me down, until now, I was just going through the motions. Hell, I hadn’t even pulled out one of my silverstone knives tonight and permanently sliced up those bastards in the alley like they deserved. Tangling with the Spider once was enough for most folks, but those idiots would probably be stupid enough to make another run at me.
    I let out a frustrated sigh. Weariness was a dangerous emotion, especially for an assassin. If I didn’t do something about it, eventually, I’d slip up and make a stupid, sloppy mistake. Then I’d wind up dead, my head served up on a silver platter to Jonah McAllister or whatever lowlife finally got the drop on me.
    Much as I hated to admit it, Finn was right. I needed a vacation—from being the Spider.
    I pushed through the double doors, stepping into the restaurant storefront. Once again, everyone froze at my appearance, as if they expected me to whip a gun out from underneath my blue work apron and start shooting. I ignored the fearful, suspicious looks, went back over to the counter, grabbed my knife, and started slicing tomatoes again.
    “Took you long enough,” Finn said. “I was beginning to think you got lost back there.”
    “Not exactly. I had another pair of unexpected visitors that I had to entertain.”
    Finn raised a questioning eyebrow. “Injured or dead?”
    “Merely injured. What can I say? I was in a charitable mood tonight.”
    Finn arched his eyebrow a little higher at my sarcasm. Charity was one thing that assassins, even semiretired assassins like me, couldn’t afford to have too much of. Especially not these days, when every wannabe hood in Ashland wanted a piece of me.
    It took me the better part of a minute and two tomatoes to work up to my next words. “You know that vacation you were talking about earlier?”
    “Yes?” Finn asked, a satisfied note creeping into his smooth voice.
    I sighed, knowing that I was beaten. “When do we leave?”

Fantasy.
Temptation.
Adventure.
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