Hunting the Hunter Ch. 08

She focused her mind as best she could and forced the spell back. It was too strong a spell to negate completely, but she was able to create a well of dispelling energy at the center of the gap, spreading it until it was large enough for the young lions to fit through.

They all managed to get through, even Inanna...though she felt the effects of over-extension once she released the spell. She was able to hide the effects of the back lash...for the most part. Lucas was eying her pretty good though as they made their way through the shadows. He must have seen her flinch or noticed something off. He was a clever boy that one. That and he made a habit of assuming people were up to something or hiding things. It was enough to make a Dunmer proud.

By the time she'd shepherded them in the back of the house and sent them upstairs to eat what they could find and sleep, she was too exhausted to do much more than crash into a chair with her feet on her desk and her aching eyes on the front door.

She didn't know how much time had passed before Aina and Lucas appeared in front of her. She glanced up at them. They looked apprehensive. Which meant Aina looked tentative, hesitant...and Lucas had narrowed his eyes suspiciously. She smirked at them. It was a tired smirk though, and they could see it.

"You're exhausted. Go to sleep."

She arched a brow at Lucas. "Awfully bossy aren't we, Shadow?" He scowled. She was really going to have to teach him some new facial expressions. Just because you're suspicious of everyone doesn't mean you have to look it. In fact, it's better if they don't know and think they're getting away with something. Made it all the sweeter when you corrected their ignorance.

"Ina..." Aina began gently. "It...you had to hold them off at the ruin. Lucas said it was difficult for you to open that passage through the wall as well. We've both slept a little today already..."

Inanna smiled a little more gently. They meant well after all. "It's fine. I've had worse." And she had. Much.

"I'm...I'm sure you have," she continued, a little bolder, though she still looked cautious, "but don't you think it might be better, more prudent..."

Inanna sighed when she trailed off. "Aina, what are you afraid I'm going to say?"

She looked confused. "I—afraid?"

"Yeah, you look like I'm going to bite your head off or something. Do I strike you as unreasonable?"

Aina paused, then let out a chuckling sigh as her shoulders relaxed. "I don't know, "she shrugged, "I guess...I mean it sounds petulant to say out loud...but no one listens to me." She gave her a helpless smile. It faded when Inanna didn't smile back.

Instead she pulled her heels off the desk and leaned forward with her hands on her knees. She pointed up stairs to where the little ones were probably piled up in her bed. "They do." She pointed to the lean, dark, young man standing at her shoulder, "He does. Talk to us like you do to them. I've heard you talk Mori and Talon out of any number of stupid ideas."

"They're children...it's different."

"It might be if you sucked at it. But they respect you." She sighed, suddenly feeling way too tired....not herself. She rubbed her eyes with one hand and leaned back in her chair. "Look..." She began again, "Pretend I'm...say, Ambrose, and that you're explaining to me why practicing with exploding mage lights in the same room where Mirisa is trying to get some sleep, is a bad, and possibly life threatening idea." She paused as Aina chuckled, remembering the exact incident she spoke of. "Reason with me."

Aina smirked and shook her head, bemused. "Ok...ah...all right." she straightened and put on her game face. "Inanna. Do you really think it's wise to take first watch when you're clearly exhausted and at risk of overextending yourself, especially when there are two willing, comparatively well rested, and competent individuals who are offering to do it? What's more, if your abilities become compromised, how do you propose to keep track of five cubs and the two of us?"

"Of course I don't think it's wise. I already knew it wasn't."

Aina blinked. "So...why are you?" Her game face slid off and she frowned. "If you knew that why didn't you ask?"

She smiled and shrugged. "Like I said, I've had worse. It's my job to look after you all and make sure you're safe. I'm not just going to fob that off on someone else."

"You had us flank you on the way here." She pointed out.

"Necessity. But this isn't me questioning your competence. It's not that I think you can't do it...I just perceive it as my responsibility, especially since you're under my roof... so it might not occur to me to ask. If you were Bella or Mirisa, I'd probably have done the same thing."

"So...you're being unreasonable then?" She looked confused. Inanna smiled tiredly and stood. "No," she stretched her arms over her head and yawned, "unreasonable would be if I didn't take you up on your perfectly reasonable offer. I was just being...mortal."

They both looked at her askew. Man was she tired. "Ok, I'm going to go join the pile." She was half way up the stairs and called down to them, "But if I get murdered in my sleep because you two were busy necking, I will haunt you both for eternity."

"Kynareth forbid." Lucas muttered. Aina giggled softly. Ina smirked and made her way to the bedroom.

Big, soft bed, how I missed thee.

***

Cold...the air was so cold...ah hell...sonofabitch.

Inanna opened her eyes, and not happily. She felt like she'd just gotten to sleep, and now this crap...

Blearily she looked up at the dark figure hovering in the shadows near the foot of her bed, illuminated only faintly by the light filtering in from the hall.

His voice was barely a whisper. "How sweet. I didn't picture you as the maternal type...but I suppose first impressions can be deceiving." He smirked, then raised a brow. "Though I'm a little unnerved by your choice in pets." As if in response a large, tan head rose up off the covers and turned to stare at the intruder, blinking grey, almond shaped eyes.

Inanna glared, then very carefully disentangled her arm from Sonja who murmured a protest from beneath a mass of blond curls, but otherwise seemed to be sleeping soundly.

"It's ok, luv, I've got this." She murmured to the young lioness who was now making a low growling sound.

Mori cocked her head curiously and watched as Ina shuffled out of the bed, still glaring a hole through the cloaked figure. Ina let out a low growl of her own to complement her glare. The figure eyed her carefully but didn't make any move.

"I can't begin to tell you how not happy I am right now." Inanna whispered.

"I can imagine." He returned dryly.

"Hall."

He nodded and she followed him out, closing the door carefully behind her. Her eyes darted toward the stairs as he turned to look at her.

"They're awake...I came in through the pantry window." She nodded.

"Alright., Either I'm on your hit list or you have a response for me about the guild."

His smile was polite, but no less cold than it usually was.

"Response. For now."

"You know," she whispered harshly, "I'm having a very bad day, so please don't start with me."

His icy smile remained perfectly even, as if she'd never spoken. He slid his hand beneath his black robes and retrieved a black envelope. She took it, feeling the leather and marveling at how soft it was. "Please deliver this post haste, and be warned that it has been enchanted to incinerate itself within a quarter of an hour after it has been opened."

"Paranoid much?"

"We wouldn't want it falling into the wrong hands, would we?"

"I hate to tell you this darlin', but we are the wrong hands."

He chuckled...and the sincere amusement she heard surprised her. "Yes, I suppose that's true enough."

He glanced toward the window he'd supposedly come in through. "I should also warn you that there are at least two other contingents who had the same intentions as I this evening."

"Come again?"

"There is a skittish looking gentleman who has been watching the house for the last hour, no doubt waiting for the young persons down stairs to go to sleep. Just as he arrived, I saw another slip off and leave the city. From what little I saw it seemed your home was being watched with interest. If it had been one of my operatives I would say they were going to inform their superior that something of great interest had occurred. Of course that's only supposition on my part."

"Bloody Murder." She whispered, shaking her head. She glanced up at him. "It never rains but it pours, doesn't it?" She huffed out a breath. "Thanks for the heads up. You'll be happy to know I'm leaving now, and taking the letter with me." She glanced up into the darkness of his hood. "You didn't happen to get a look at the twitchy guy, did you?"

"Medium height, slight build, no cloak, short brown hair, imperial by the looks of it, with a slightly pointed looking face and eyes that are just a touch too close together. His posture gave him the air of a thief. The first operative was cloaked, and frankly, better at his job...meaning he left little in the way of a description. He had a heavier and broader frame than the first. But he was both stealthy, and probably a passable fighter based on his build and ease of movement."

She nodded. "That's what I figured. It's that first one which worries me...not that you care." She smirked dryly at him. "Well, your job is done. Consider your message delivered...unless I die, in which case I'll make my apologies directly to your boss."

He chuckled again at that. "I should be sorry to miss hearing that conversation."

"Yes, well I'd rather it not happen at all, thank you kindly."

"Indeed. So you'll be leaving now then?"

"That's the plan, as soon as I rouse the rug-rats."

"And you'll be able to escape undetected with so many children?"

"You'd be surprised."

"What of the thief?"

"I'll have to deal with it I suppose."

"Would...you like a hand with that?"

She paused and eyed him carefully. He just stared back at her with those black, cold eyes. She shrugged. "Sure. I don't trust him, so I'd rather he not have a chance to see what I'm up to. And I doubt he could tell me anything I don't already know at this point." She cocked a brow at him. "I'd rather we don't have any unexplained deaths in the morning though. Or any deaths for that matter. Plus if he's guild then finding one of their operatives with a brotherhood blade in his back wouldn't be a good start to a budding professional relationship."

He made a sour face. "I really hope you don't think we'd leave evidence. We are professionals after all."

She conceded the point with a nod. "Yeah, fine. That's your rep. I still don't want him dead. Just...scare him off. I imagine that wouldn't be much of a challenge for you.

She could see the faint smirk hovering at the corner of her mouth. "And you trust me?" He drawled.

"I trust that you're motivated by two things: getting the job done and where ever possible giving people the willies in the process. I also trust that you're professional enough to prioritize those two things in a respectable manner."

He nodded. "This is business after all....and I am very good at my business." He smoothed.

She rolled her eyes. "See there you go, professional...and then creepy." He really was. "I hate to admit it...but you're obviously good at what you do, on both accounts. Lucky for me that actually comes in handy in this instance."

"I'm flattered." He bowed slightly, half mockingly.

"Sure you are. Ok...give us... 10 turns? We'll slip out the back."

"The back?"

"Yeah, hidden doorway...I won't live anywhere without one."

"Prudent. Though I'm surprised I hadn't found it."

"It worked then, didn't it?"

"Ina?" A soft voice whispered from behind her. Lachance tipped his head as his eyes slipped back over her shoulder to peer impassively down at the girl. Inanna turned back to look as well. She was standing, naked as an imp, in the door way. Her hands were on her non existent hips and her frizzy orange hair framing her frowning face. "Are we leaving?" She cast a pointed glare at the new comer. Ina smirked mentally....he was the bearer of bad news after all.

"We are. Go back inside while I finish up."

She ignored the command and squinted up at the hooded man. "Who're you?" She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. And doing a pretty good impression of an irritated Mirisa. The tough girl routine was cute, but it really wasn't the time for it. Before she could say so, Lachance stepped forward and stunned her into silence by pulling back his hood and bending down on one knee to bring himself to the girl's eye level.

"I am Lachance, speaker and assassin for the Dark Brotherhood." He held out a hand. She eyed it warily then shook it.

"Mori. What's an assassin?" The movement shook Ina out of her shock and she stepped forward instinctively to put herself between them. Her alarm wasn't unwarranted...even if he wasn't a professional killer, there is something implicitly unnerving about the sight of a strange, armed, cloaked man and a 10 year old girl. All that vulnerability should never be so close to all that pure menace.

"Hey," she hissed, "get away fro--"

"It's ok." Mori looked up at her. "He won't hurt me right now." She looked him in the eye as if daring him to prove her wrong.

Inanna frowned. "Mori, an assassin is a murderer. His job is to hunt down and kill people." She explained and held out her hand to the girl, encouraging her to come over and take it.

Mori frowned and Ina felt sure she understood. She shook her hand at her. Mori ignored it. "Isn't that what you do?" Or maybe not. Inanna sighed.

"He's a hired killer. It's different. He does it for money."

The killer in question chuckled and rose to his feet. "She may have a point, Madam. As you said, we are both of us the 'wrong hands,' are we not? We serve the void in our own ways."

She wasn't sure what button he pushed, but she knew it when she felt it and hardened her eyes. "I don't care what you think you know about me. You know nothing about who or what I do or don't serve. Don't forget that. Also, shut up, no one asked you."

"Wait, people pay you? Why?"

He raised a brow at Mori, then made a show of musing over the question. "Why? Why does anyone want to end the life of another? Money, power," he smirked, but his eyes turned icy, "the pleasure of exercising your complete and unequivocal control over the life of another..."

Ina rolled her eyes. Mori made an irritated noise, as if to say the stupid assassin just wasn't getting it. The sound inexplicably comforted her. "No, no. Why don't they just do it themselves...why would they let someone else do it? Are they like...big babies or something?"

Inanna had to chuckled at that. She knew she should be pissed at Lachance for talking to the little girl like that, and that she should be getting said girl as far from the creepy murder as fast as possible...but it was kind of funny. Big babies indeed. She flashed back to the disgruntled look on Mori's face when she had been kept from finishing off that minotaur. That's my Mori for you, she thought with another chuckle.

The assassin chuckled as well. "And I suppose you do your own killing then?"

Mori pouted slightly. "They won't let me. They say I'm too young." Then she brightened for a moment. "I killed a hunter once ..."she frowned once more, "he was kinda small though, might have been a wood elf actually...so does that count?" She looked up at them, her face bright and hopeful.

Ina caught the smile on the assassins face and decided it was the kind of smile she wouldn't mind punching off. It looked a little too pleased...a little too knowing. She knew what he was probably picking up on, and didn't want to go there...not yet. She knew the girl was probably going to walk down a dark path...but there was no reason she couldn't enjoy a few last rays of sunlight...even if they were fleeting.

She answered 'no', and he answered 'of course,' simultaneously. They exchanged acrid looks. "I know a Bosmer or two who might take umbrage with that," He murmured. She just kept glaring.

"Go back to the room, Mori." She repeated dully without breaking eye contact with the assassin. Enough was enough.

Mori must have sensed the shift in mood and this time she obeyed.

"'Did you notice she said I wouldn't hurt her 'right now'? Clever girl. And so precocious." He commented once the door had closed.

She glared. "You even think of touching her and I'll cut that pervy dick of yo--"

He sneered and held up a hand to stop her. "Please, that's not the sort of preciosity I speak of." There was distaste all over his face. "I have no such base inclinations."

"Yeah, well, consider yourself warned. And don't fetching try to recruit her either."

He shrugged. "She's too young yet anyway. I make it a rule not to recruit anyone under 16."

"Oh, joy." There was something to look forward to. It's not like 16 year old girls weren't already enough trouble to keep tabs on. She could picture it now...an exasperated Max dragging home a bony, teenage Mori, and she looking between the two of them asking "tell me it's just petty theft...or pregnancy! Please Azura let her be pregnant!" And then her having to hunt Lachance down and repeatedly introduce his face to a special made pair of steel boots. For that she'd bend her rules and wear heavy armor. Totally worth it. She could feel the dark, satisfied smirk creeping across her features.

"Why Madam, are you having homicidal thoughts about me?" His voice was suddenly velvety...darkly seductive, as if he'd just caught her thinking about fucking him instead of grinding his face beneath an Orcish boot. Ugh. Gross. Only he would turn death threats into a come on.

"Sorry, nothing kinkier than aggravated assault." She returned blithely.

An ambiguous, "Hm." Was his only response. Fetcher. There was a pause and he tilted his head toward the door. "What are they, exactly?"

She eyed him for a moment. "They're special." She finally answered.

"I take it all these shadowy figures aren't lurking here for your benefit then?"

"Only you, handsome."

His lip twitched slightly at that.

He nodded then, and slipped back into the shadows of the hall. She in turn ducked back into the room and hissed at the sleeping figures. "Rise and Shine kitty cats, we've gotta get a move on." She saw two sets of gleaming eyes watching her in the darkness. "Ambrose, Mori, get them up, we have to get out of here, it's compromised...and let them know it has to be quiet. Lions only...we're playing a very important game of hide and seek."

A moment later they were all downstairs, waiting for her. All but Mori who watched at she dressed and fished out as many useful potions and trinkets as she could find in her cupboards and drawers. There weren't as many a she'd liked, but they were good for emergency use. Mostly to do with healing. She wasn't worried about taking much food...they could hunt just fine if it came to that. She was worried about the safety of the cubs though. Lucas, and Aina could take care of themselves, but it was quite a burden to ask them to watch their own backs and those of the little ones. She glanced at Mori who was still laying on the bed watching her, hers eyes shining in the darkness.

Mori could fight as well, if it came to it. But she was still so young, and so inexperienced...even natural ability would not be enough. If she were Dunmer she'd have other abilities to call on...but she wasn't.

Ina licked her lips and glanced again at the cat. But she could be. Now there was a thought. If anything happened to her, it would certainly give them an added advantage.

"Mori, would you change for a minute." She sat up. In the darkness the shift seemed even eerier. She wasn't sure she'd ever get used to it...it was as though their very reality seemed to blur and fuzz, as if you were looking at them through water, and then the blurred lines shifted and rearranged themselves only to solidify as something totally different. "Does that hurt at all?" She asked curiously.