I turned down his request to kill Tristan as did the rest of the Cavalieri Della Morte. He still gets pissy with us about it, but I don't see any point in killing a brother and because of that, we all do our best to protect him.
His crime?
Falling in love.
We've all been there. Hell, I can't remember the last time it happened to me, but I have a favorite girl and I would probably run with her too if the situation called for it.
With a sigh, I look back down at my hands, careful to keep the man just beyond my gaze a blur on the not so distant horizon as I begin to undo the straps on the gloves, then give them a good shake, before tossing them back into my bag.
I don’t have to see the dead man’s face or body to know what I’ve rendered him to. He’s nothing more than pulp—the knuckles having crushed his face in, and I’m sure I managed to rip his eyes out with the talons. I close my eyes for a moment before I think about what happens after.
Maybe if he’s lucky, someone, somewhere loves him enough to come and mourn him when the time comes.
And that will be their crime.
I won’t come for them because they’d simply be doing something anyone would do in the claiming of a loved one’s body, but I know that for at least the next few days, I’ll be safe.
No one will discover what I’ve done. I like working in abandoned buildings because animals are the best co-conspirators.
The vermin will get rid of him. They'll eat his corpse as best they can, destroying any evidence that I was here or how he really met his end. I clear my throat as I get to my feet and hoist the backpack over my shoulder again as I begin to make my way toward the back of the building.
In through the front, out through the back. It's a simple little trick I learned early on as a way of not being seen more than once by any potential witness. Not that anyone would ever speak out against us because while we're a secretive organization, there are whispers of a crew of assassins roaming around the states and no one wants to be caught in our cross-hairs.
Least of all mine.