Jaz

Jaz

Chapter One

I watched the woman through the slits in my black, leathery mask. I was concealed in a tiny crevice filled with shadow, caused by the dark cloak of a sky. There wasn't even the moon to cast light.

I was perfectly camouflaged, wearing a black cat suit that fitted my slim body well, and a dark belt balanced on my hips. The pouch and dagger sheath that hung from it were also black. The handle poking out of the sheath was nightly coloured and the top was shaped like a howling wolf. The blade (also dark) was not polished, to avoid being discovered by light glinting off the metal when it was unsheathed.

The woman strode to the door of the house, looked warily around, then stepped into the shadows of the hallway of the house. I flicked my eyes around the deserted street, then tilted my head to listen. After I was sure the street truly was empty, I stepped out of my crevice and crept across the cobbled road, making slightly less noise than a shadow.

I soon reached the door of the seemingly empty house. With my strangely sharp hearing, I picked out voices from the upstairs room, spoken in whispers.

"Do you have them?" a male voice spoke first. I heard a swish of a cloak, then another, husky voice. It must be the woman.

"Yes." I heard the sound of clinks on wood.

"Sshh! We cannot be heard. If they knew….." the man left his sentence hanging. I grinned, with difficulty as my facial muscles were constricted by the mask. If only he knew they were listening right now.

"There are the goods. Now the reward." The husky-voiced woman clearly did not waste breath on words. I heard something grind along wood. Something was being pushed along the table.

"Is that satisfactory?" the man asked. I could hear the slight quiver in his voice.

"Yes. Quite so," the woman hissed.

"Good," the man answered simply.

"Quite a reward, for things so small," the woman's voice was slightly higher, as if she was afraid. "May I ask why you need them so much? Is it your daughter-"

"I must ask you to leave now," the man cut her off sharply.

Nothing more was spoken, but a door opened and shut and feet were on the stairs. I drew my dagger and gripped it tightly. The feet were closer now. I grinned again, this time looking like a shark would as it advanced upon a shoal of helpless fish. I ducked into the shadows behind the door as it opened, and watched the woman stick her head out. The rest of her body emerged. Slowly and carefully, I slid my dagger in between her shoulder blades, and gently lowered her to the floor. The whole thing had taken less than a second and was done silently.

Using my extraordinary night vision, I rummaged through her belongings. The few coins in her pouch I kept, then moved on to find the reward the man had given her. I finally found it. It was a dagger, made of silver, and far to flashy for my taste. I removed her blood red, thick cloak and bundled the dagger in it. Then, I hooted like an owl, twice. The only sound I had made that night. A small boy appeared by my side, and I gave the cloak and dagger to him.

I raised a fist, the signal to stop or wait. He nodded, so I turned and entered the house. I climbed the stairs without a sound and entered the room with the man silently to finish the job.

Chapter Two

"Good. Good. You retrieved the stolen objects? And the reward? Excellent. You will be paid soon, very soon. Perhaps even tomorrow. No-one saw you?" my boss, Sparrow, sat behind his desk. I stood in front of it, silent. My mask was balled up in my hand. It was much easier to breathe.

"No. Except the boy." I answered. I remained still, my strange, scarlet eyes flicking around, searching for any danger. His eyes, green, tried to catch mine, but I wouldn't let them. I could, if I wanted to, stare him out, anyone out. If I wanted to.

"The boy can be silenced. Permanently. You may leave. We will send your money to you." He wafted towards the door, then ignored me. I left.

I stalked along the winding, twisting maze of tunnels. Only one of us, The Villains, would know his way round. I was the only girl.

We were forced to stay underground to hide from the city. The people knew about us, but The Villains was a name whispered in terror, a name to scare children into obeying. 'Go to bed, or a Villain will get you', 'Come in, or The Villains will come'. Most believed it was bad luck to say the name, that it was a curse. It was almost laughable.

I turned a few more corners, then reached my room. I lay on the bed, breathing deeply, not bothering to change out of the dark outfit. I had been there five minutes before a messenger knocked on the door. I yelled for him to come in, and a teenage boy squeezed through a tiny gap the door made.

"Sparrow wants to see you in his office immediately, sir!" he shouted, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. He opened one to take a peep at me, and shut it quickly when he saw I was watching. I grinned.

"OK! I'll go now!" I shouted, mimicking the messengers way of talking. I pushed past him and hurried back down the passages.

When I reached Sparrows office, a girl was stood uncertainly in front of the desk. The face she hid behind her long blonde hair was undeniably pretty, prettier than me with my pale as death skin and sharp features, and her delicate hands were in the small pockets of her pale green dress. Every so often she glanced out from behind her curtain of hair, then quickly ducked back under it.

"This is Staina. Her father has paid us a considerable amount of money to protect her if something happened to him. Last night, he was sadly murdered. You will protect her. She will need a false name, and no-one outside this room will know her real one." Sparrows voice sounded out from where he was sitting, laid back in his chair with his big, black muddy boots resting on the desk. He eyed me carefully as he told me the father was murdered. I gulped. He turned to the girl, Staina.

"Everyone here has a false name, and no-one knows other people's real names, except me, and now this Dagger, Jaz." Sparrow gestured towards me.

I was still in shock. I don’t get paid to protect people! They're the defenders! I'm a Dagger, slang for an assassin. And the best in the business.

"I-I, er, Sparrow? I'm not a defender, you know, I'm a Dagger." I said uncertainly. You never know when Sparrow would turn on you. He was a good fighter. There are stories going round the pubs down here that he got into a drunken brawl, eight on one, and at the end, the group all together had three black eyes, five broken noses, two broken wrists and eight broken ribs. I might be able to take him, though, but I wouldn't want to risk it.

"Yes, thank-you Jaz, I am well aware of that. It's just Staina has connections, and if you're a Dagger, you won't be easy to get past." He turned away, and said: "So, a name. Any ideas, Staina?"

Staina, who had been looking around the room, taking in its mud floor and walls, the shabby desk and chairs, jumped when her name was mentioned.

"Er..er….ummmm…." she said in a trembling voice. I rolled my eyes. Great I thought, I'm lumbered with one who sounds like she's scared of anything and everything.

Chapter Three

A few minutes later, Staina and I left the office. Sparrow didn't like people to linger too long.

"So, am I now Rowan?" asked Staina uncertainly. "I don't understand."

I sighed. "Yes, you are Rowan. We have false names so that if someone overhears me saying, for example, Rowan was a Villain, the cops couldn't track us down" I said slowly. It wasn't particularly difficult, but she may be simple.

"But if you have a false name, and you never use your real name, if the Wardens search for someone called Jaz, they'll find you because you are Jaz to everyone." She said quietly. I was stumped by this one, and didn't know what to say. So I settled for a 'hmmm' and changed the subject.

"How old are you?" I enquired. She was small, much smaller than me. I would guess about twel- thirteen. I have a problem with the number twelve, until the 25th of January. Then I'd have a problem with thirteen.

"I'm twelve. How old are you?" the girl asked. I jolted, then tried to keep my cool.

"I-I'm seventeen." I answered. I shook my auburn hair back and took deep breaths, calming myself. Suddenly the black cat suit seemed uncomfortably hot and sticky.

"Oh. You're pretty young to be caught up in all the murder of the city, aren't you?" there was something about the girl that I liked. I had only got emotionally attached to one person before, and I had paid for that, so I was on my guard. Even so, I allowed myself to open up a little.

"I had to. There was good money to feed me and- just me. Its hard living Downtown. The Villains was a way out for me."

"Oh" Rowan puzzled this for a moment, then: "But it wasn't the only way out. You could have gone to a slumhouse. I heard they were fine, as long as you didn't have family, because you were seperated, and never saw each other again."

"That was the problem" I said unthinkingly, then mentally berated myself. Stupid! Stupid! I can only hope she doesn't pick it up. She doesn't miss much.

"You had family?" Rowan asked, surprised. I cursed under my breath.

"No." I grunted.

"But you said-"

"ENOUGH!!!" I shouted. She shrunk back, and hid behind her hair again. I sighed, and we walked the rest of the way in silence.

I had been relocated to a larger room than my old one, with a smaller bedroom off the side for Rowan neé Staina. There was also a bathroom with a shower, a sink and a toilet. That in itself was a luxury, but when I stripped off for a shower, the water was hot! This Rowan must be paying a lot of money. Or her father was. Did. I felt a twinge of guilt at knowing that I'd killed the girl's father, but pushed it away. I had learnt not to let any emotion except cool and calm take over me.

After the shower, I changed into a simple leather tunic which my belt, complete with pouch and dagger, gave shape, some dark brown leggings and soft brown boots that were not pretty or expensive, but were comfortable and had moulded to my feet. After I tied my short auburn hair into a small pony tail, I knocked lightly on Rowans door and peeped round the door.

"Rowan? Er, dinners ready. We go down to the hall now. Are you ready?" she was sitting on the bed with her hair still loose over her shoulders, but with crimson flowers pinned in it. She had changed into a floaty, scarlet dress with jewels around the neckline and a gold cord tied around her waist. Her feet were covered by dainty jewelled slippers. I suddenly felt like a street urchin in her presence, and compared my simple clothes with her beautiful gown. Her father must have been very well off. Rowan looked up.

"I'm ready. Shall we leave?" she glided towards the door, and looked me up and down. "Oh. Aren't you changing into a dining gown?" she said, taking in my plain tunic, leggings and boots. I coughed, and said

"I, er, we don't have evening gowns. We just wear our normal clothes. Dresses are too expensive, and we save our money to get out. Well, I do. Well, I don't know. I like it here, so I may stay, but save all the same. We aren't rich, like you." I stumbled over my words, going red. There was an awkward silence, until the dinner gong rang out. Then we left together.

Want to read more? please visit http://www.wattpad.com/story/2101715-jaz and vote!!