AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He didn’t turn away from the struggling guard when he answered, “Yes?”
“I’m here with your offer of freedom.”
Immediately the bars relaxed, and with a gasp the guard hit the ground taking in lungfuls of air even as he retched. Looking down at him coldly, Castian said, “That’s not going to get cleaned up in a long while.”
Turning his empty gaze towards the voice, he was greeted by the sight of a slight male. The other’s ash colored hair reached past his shoulder and his golden eyes cut through the gloom of the stone hallway as the ears above his head twitched.
“A chance at freedom?” Castian flashed his teeth at the male. “Sound interesting?”
A BIT OF A TOIL
CASTIAN
Castian kept to the shadows as he walked along the hallway of the Shade. Entering the club hadn’t been an issue for him. He was accustomed to playing Sleuth to the jackals, keeping his pose loose and smiling, barely anyone would notice the sparkle of madness in his eyes or the blood lust that spilled off him in low waves.
The minute he’d heard that a Napier was having a meeting here, he’d quickly volunteered himself to try and catch the Asher fellow who’d hired the chalk-using warlock to create an illusion prison.
Following a server, who’d been assigned to work in the room the two were in. Castian made sure to avoid the crowd of people coming and going.
Hearing feminine voices coming from down the hallway once again. He quickly moved behind a pillar. He watched them walk pass and stiffened when one of them paused on the other side of the pillar. Her long locs swung, the metallic beads clicking as she turned to glance in his direction. Castian stared in surprised wonder at her face, it had been many years since he’d been able to see a human-like face looking back.
His deal with Ashiya altered his sight along with his appearance. A deal with a demon changed a man, and he’d awoken to seeing humans with the eyes of one of the fallen. Their faces telling him their sins as surely as their innocence. He’d grown used to seeing the twisted masses of flesh; that others called faces. Some of them could make a grown man weep or… go mad.
Another reason he preferred working outside of Veil City.
Enjoying the view of her dark skin sprinkled with star light. He fought the urge to follow her.
“Oye?”
The woman jumped, startled. She turned her storm-colored eyes away from where he hid towards the group of women who waited for her at the end of the hallway.
“What’s wrong?” a blonde asked.
The woman named Oye shook her head offering her an easy smile. “Sorry, I thought I saw a mouse, but it was nothing.”
With that she continued to pass the pillar, her gait graceful.
Castian was still mulling over what he’d seen when he’d looked at her as he walked out from behind the pillar. Her skin had been as dark as obsidian, but the texture had been closer to hematite, smooth and shiny. Her eyes had been a soft grey, but lighter; closer to moon stone and her skin appeared dusted with the sparkle of stars.
He released a curse when he realized he’d been so distracted by Oye’s appearance that the person he’d been following had already turned to enter another room.
Grabbing a stone from one of the many necklaces that clicked against his chest, he tossed it. His magic worked softly to manipulate time, slowing it just a tad so that he could walk in behind the server.
He’d just reached the door when something cold and hard wrapped around his neck. Raising his hand to his throat, he released a strangled cough.
“Caught you,” a feminine voice hissed.
Digging his fingers under the thin metallic rope around his neck, Castian glanced back only to meet familiar Moon colored eyes.
Her gaze narrowed on him. “Who are you?”
She yanked hard on her end of the rope. Staggering backwards he tapped it as he attempted to reason with her.
“C-could you possibly loosen—” His words were strained, as she wrenched the rope towards herself once more.
“Tell me why you’re skulking around the V.I.P rooms,” she demanded. She lifted her other hand that held a small metal ball. She squeezed it, forcing it to turn into a blade. “We can do this the easy way, or—”
Her words were cut off when Castian made his move. His body fell down, slipping into the shadows beneath his feet.
