Calling All Assassins Book 1: The Calls, "Artemis" Lykaios Nightshade [best e reader for academics txt] 📗

shrieked throughout the night.

“What the hel-,” Thane didn’t get to finish, his throat slitted open, his eyes widened, and mouth hanging open in ‘O’.

Leighton collapsed, gasping for air, her sides shuddering as blood of the dealer whipped in the wind, spiraling and disappearing as quickly it arrived. Shadows danced and pressed around her and slowly, a body appeared, the wind whipping around the man, whipping his hair, the shadows swaying to his beckoning.

His tall, muscular body was outlined in the pale moonlight, dancing as he stepped forward. Even in the dark, she could see those impenetrable, icy blue eyes boring into her own. His fair hair was washed in the moonlight, his face partly cast in shadows. She could make out the chiseled lips, parts and bits of his emotionless face, a shiver running down her spine.

Blood dripped from the hand he offered to her.

Hesitantly, Leighton accepted it and could feel the strong muscles pull her up, the dizziness slowly disappearing.

His chiseled lips curved upwards in a half-smile, the strange sensation of fear traveling up her body, leaving her rooted in her spot.

“Who are you?” she asked, her voice sounding small and timid.

The shadows danced around him, dark and oppressive, dangerous yet elegant. A strange atmosphere seemed to surround him, one that even the darkness could not match.

He eyed her before responding, his voice cool and cold like ice itself.

“Yassen Knight."

***

Back at HQ, Kaito asked Thatcher to summon Xander, but there was no need for Xander was coming towards them.

Xander noticed Yassen from behind the others and looked at him suspiciously.

“Who are you, where did you come from, and why are you here?” Xander asked, frowning.

Yassen raised his eyebrow but gazed evenly at Xander.

“Your new assassin, sir,” he said coolly, his face still emotionless.

“His new assassin?” Uruvion asked joining in the small group.

Yassen eyed him, a look of amusement flickering on his face.

“Let me rephrase that; the new assassin for this group.”

“Who called you for you to come here?” Leighton asked.

“That’s classified,” Yassen replied, his icy gaze shifting from Uruvion to her.

Leighton eyed Yassen for a while longer then turned her gaze to Xander.

“Xander, a word if you please,” Leighton said gesturing to his office.

Without a word, Xander excused himself from the group and followed her into his office.


***
“How many more?” Leighton asked as Xander sighed and sits himself down.

Xander gestured a seat to Leighton, but she refused the offering.

“A couple I believe.” Xander said as he watches Leighton turn around and leave the office

***


The waiting room was quiet, for once. All the assassins, except Yassen who had excused himself to his room, were sitting in their chairs, fiddling with various weapons and electrical hardware.

"What are we doing?" Uruvion asked getting tired as Hall glared at him hard.

"You know what we are doing,” Hall said, going back to polishing his gun.

“Who else is coming?” Demetrius asked getting impatient.

Kaito shook his head. Then there was a creak overhead, like someone standing on the ceiling. The assassins jumped to their feet, drawing their weapons and pointing them upwards.

“Whatever it is, make it disappear,” Xander said grimly, “And if it escapes, we’re all dead.”

A louder creak, this time across the room. The guns followed the sound, cocking in unison.

Waiting, the assassins shift their eyes, guessing where this “thing” was.

Thump.

“And why are we not shooting?” asked Demetrius, finger tightening on the trigger.

Just as the words left his lips, the ceiling caved in, a cloud of plaster and a loudly cursing human form fell to the floor.

The hail of gunfire followed the man, bullets spraying all across the room in a deadly rain. They didn’t stop until every magazine clicked empty. Xander walked forward, reloading and keeping the gun trained on the pile of dust.

“Did we get him?” asked Leighton, also reloading.

Xander shook his head as he moved some of the plaster with his foot . “We just wasted a bunch of ammo on shooting the wall.”

“You’re damn right,” a voice said behind them.

The assassins whipped around in unison, spraying lead in the opposite direction. They could vaguely glimpse a grey blur weaving in and out of the path of the bullets, almost lazily dodging the high-powered slugs.

And when the second round of magazines ran empty, the blur slowed and halted, resolving into a human form.

Dante Soldari stood there, leaning against the wall and cleaning his nails. His trademark smirk decorated his handsome face, his dark hair a curtain of obsidian around his head.

“Dante, you son of a-” started Demetrius, but quieted as Dante gave him a look that could cut steel.

“Be careful who you talk about, Demetrius,” he said evenly, moving towards the line of killers. Then his face broke into a grin, and he jumped lightly over his fellow’s heads.

“Who else is coming?” he asked brightly, sitting down in a fine leather chair.

“We don’t know. Two more I believe,” Xander said, turning around to leave.

***
Great. More men, Leighton thought, looking at each of the assassins before leaving, not telling them where she is heading off too.

When she got outside of HQ, her cellphone rang.

“What?” Leighton growled.

“Is everyone there?” The voice asked as Leighton told him that they were waiting for two more.

The person on the other side hung up right after she said it.

Closing her phone, she shifts her eyes to the left and thought she saw something or someone so she went to check it out.

***

“Zane, what news has she sent us?” A man asked bowing to him.

Not looking at the man, Zane told him that they wait for two more then that’s it.

Zane dismissed the man after telling him the message.

Getting out of his chair, he walked towards the only window in the room, crossed his arms against his chest and looked out towards the horizon.

You better not fail me, remember what your promise is and what I can do.” Zane thought, turning around to continue out the door.

***

Walking up to where she thought she saw the silhouette, Leighton turned herself and continued to walk up an alley. Coming towards her was a figure in a long black hooded coat, covering their frame completely. The hood was too deep for her to see a face.

“What are you?” Leighton asked lowering her tone of voice.

Her voice carried to the figure who looked directly at her. Stopping before her a few feet away. Leighton could feel the penetrating gaze of the person trained on her

“Look I do not have time for games. Now tell me who or what you are?” Leighton demanded with a low growl.

A hand slowly rose to push back the hood just far enough to reveal a face. A pair of bright azure eyes studied her.

Staring into the bright azure eyes, Leighton still couldn’t figure out who or what he was.

The man stepped forward slowly.

“I was called here,” he said, his voice deep and low.

“Who called you?” Leighton stopped and turned to face him.

He spared her a glance as he passed by and continued on his way, completely dismissing her from his attention ,not bothering to answer her question.

Glaring at the street below her feet for a bit, she then started to followed him, thinking that he might be heading towards HQ.

He kept walking, ignoring the fact that she was following behind him.

Leighton began to walk faster, getting in front of him and stopped when she arrived at the entrance way.

Once he reached the entrance he walked around her and continued on his way.

Sighing, Leighton heads inside to join the others who were waiting.

“Where have you been?” Hall asked in a bored tone.

Not answering his question, Leighton starts heading towards the training area to shoot some practice targets.

The words scrolled by on the hologram but Yassen’s eyes were on the new comer, who was taking a seat in a fine leather chair in the meeting room.

The others were aware of the new arrival, their nerves and senses on high alert.

Xander soundlessly appeared, gazing around the room calmly. His eyes rested on the new comer but his face did not move a muscle. “Its good to see you finally arrived, Hail.”

Hail made no response and settled himself into his seat, waiting.


Leighton came back after shooting thirteen targets and had a satisfied look on her face; in fact it looked like she nearly smiled.

“So your name’s Hail?” Leighton asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

He looked at her for a brief moment before ignoring her once again.


Yassen stood up and in one fluid motion, grabbed his leather jacket and holstered his gun, Dawn.

“I’m going out for a jog,” he said to no one in particular. Before anyone could blink, he was gone.

“And I’m going...” Leighton said heading towards the other direction.

***


Boom! Boom!

The men surrounding the mysterious hooded figure fell to the ground, their lifeless bodies covered in crimson blood. The hooded figure took one more glance at the bodies, smiling a bit.

“I find it a pity that these men had to experience hell so quickly. But then again, that’s what they deserved,” his voice was calm yet dangerous, like a beast waiting for its chance to pounce.

The hooded figure ran faster than the speed of light, leaving behind a trail of dust and blood.

***


Everyone is nearly here. I won’t break my promise to you, Leighton thought as she joined the rest.

“Well here it is, HQ.” said the figure, his dark hood masking his features.

“It’s about time you arrived....Kross,” Xander said, his back to the hooded figure.

“Hey, I had to take a little stop. All I did was show some men hell,” said Kross nonchalantly, taking off his hood.

“Your still as arrogant as ever, Kross,” Xander said, shaking his head.

“Heh, what can I say? I'm an assassin, but sometimes I do things my way,” replied Kross, polishing his AK-74u.

“Well since everyone went out you can go out as well, Kross,” Xander said, his voice flat.

Kross turned around and as swift as the wind, he was gone.

***

“Harailt, Iain, Thatcher,” Xander said as the three assassins assembled.

“Yes sir?” Thatcher asked, his hands behind his back.

“Summon everyone back. It’s nearly time,” Xander commanded as the three bowed, heading off to gather the members of the Assassin Circle.