My hands pushed at the door. To my astonishment, it swung forward, almost throwing me off balance.
“Who’s that?” grunted a man.
As my eyes adjusted to the red luminance of the red paper lanterns, I spotted a large man in the corner. Beside him, lay the young woman I’d seen through Tuto’s eyes.
Her body was bound to the cot with thick ropes. She struggled weakly against them and cried softly. Her right hand hung limply from the edge of the bed. A glistening scarlet X was cut on the underside of her wrist. Thick streams of blood steadily poured from it and fell into a silver bowl on the floor.
My blood turned cold as my gaze focused back on the fat man beside her. He had a pale, greasy face. Mean black eyes stared back at me.
“What are you doing here, bitch?” he asked sternly. “No one is allowed to come up here.”
“No?” My voice was barely a whisper.
I closed the door shut behind me, making sure to latch it securely before turning back to look at my mark. The mission was to kill the man who bled young girls and to find the names of the men he sold the blood to.
In recent years, a roaring trade had been built upon selling virgin blood. People touted medicinal properties which would bring both virility and longevity in those who drank it. Of course, it was another way to scam money from the rich nobles who ruled the country.
Blood was blood. A virgin’s was no better than a whore’s.
“Get out of here!” the man hissed. When I continued to stand my ground, he swore and got to his feet. “I am going to make you regret this, bitch.” Raising his hammy fists, he came at me.
I stepped out of the way and threw a poisoned needle at the bald patch on his head. With a cry, he came to a sudden halt.
“Wait there while I patch her up,” I said, moving toward the cot. The man wouldn’t be going anywhere. The needle poisoned him with a paralysis drug. He would die that night but not until I completed the second part of my mission.
Reaching the bed, I tore off a piece of fabric from my underskirt. “Here,” I said in a low, gentle voice. “You’re going to be okay.” I tied the cloth over the cut and pulled it tightly. Next, I took a few more needles from inside my sleeves and stuck them in specific points on her neck and chest. “This will slow down the blood flow.”
She stared at me with wide pale gray eyes. “Will I live?”
“Of course, you will. He’s the only one who’ll be dying tonight,” I said, my tone cheerful. I gestured with my thumb at the fat man who stood still at a strange angle. The girl looked confused. At least, she’s not terrified anymore, I thought, walking back to my prey.
“I am going to allow you to talk,” I said, piercing him with a needle in his throat.
“Who are you?” he asked at once, his voice heavy with fear. “What do you want from me?”
“Who do you sell the blood to?”
He swallowed.
I repeated the question, speaking slowly.
“Just…just…nobles and officers of the army. They are the only ones who can afford to pay.”
“Really?”
Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as he evaded my gaze. “Yes. That’s it.”
Coming to stand in front of him, I fumbled around his pockets.
“Stop! Please stop! You won’t find anything in there.”
I started searching every fold in his robes for what I was looking for. Coins of gold and silver, a wooden comb, a half-eaten sweet bun and a handful of peanuts scattered onto the floor.
“Stop!” he cried when my hands reached under his robe to fumble around his crotch.
I stopped. “Will you give me the names?” I grasped him by the balls and squeezed until I had him screaming again. “You are dying tonight, Master Blood Trader,” I whispered as he wheezed. “Won’t you like to take your friends to hell with you?” For effect, I crushed his balls again.
He screamed, proceeding to cry and plead. “I will tell you,” he whispered through his sobs when I released the pressure on his hairy sacks. “Will you let me live, then?” He sounded hopeful.
“Tell me the names,” I said. There was no chance he was getting out alive.
“Gaelway,” he said as I stepped away from him.
“The town’s mayor?”
He nodded. “And General Abel and Valhad. They distribute it among their friends and acquaintances.”
I made a mental note of all the names the man spewed out.
He took my thoughtful expression to be one of leniency. “That…that’s all,” he finished lamely with a hopeful smile.
I closed my fan, sliding it inside my belt. The interrogation was over.
“Free me now,” said the man desperately.
Without a word, I stabbed him in the neck with a poisoned needle. He gasped, his hairless face breaking into an expression of surprise. Within minutes, frothing saliva bubbled out of his mouth and he fell to the floor with a loud thud.
Target hit, I noted.
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