A Viper's Nest

“The Earl” Blitz spoke as they walked down the hall toward the front of the palace “intends to have the Duchess killed at her own party, tonight.” Hunter narrowed his eyes in response to her statement.

“Not giving me a lot of time to settle in.” he snorted gently. Blitz suddenly turned on him, glaring into his eyes.

“I’d take this seriously if I were you” she replied aggressively “the Duchess won’t be at the party since she caught wind of the plot; she’ll be using a double, but we can’t let her get killed either.”

“I’m not an idiot.” Hunter snarled back. He knew he had been acting a little silly, but Blitz seemed to genuinely hate him. Hunter wasn’t sure why.

“You’ve done a fine job of playing one!” Blitz shouted back. The empty hallway reverberated with the force of her shout in a way that impressed Hunter. “You slept through the trip here!”

“Why does that matter?” Hunter queried.

“Because I was responsible for making sure your sorry ass got here in one piece!” Blitz responded “And I’ve been watching you do your best to throw away your life for the past three months!” Hunter raised his eyebrows in surprise; she had been watching him for three whole months? That would explain her contempt, since Hunter had spent the past year indulging in various forms of debauchery.

Truth be told, Hunter knew he was extremely depressed; life had lost its luster to him long ago. He simply didn’t care anymore what happened, so long as he could drink his way into senselessness. That was the secret behind his hedonistic lifestyle. It hadn’t helped that he’d watched the death of his apprentice, who hadn’t even earned a codename yet, at the hands of a conniving Griffonian noble. It was a brutal sight. Hunter shook his head a tried to banish the memories threatening to overtake him.

“Look, Blitz, I know I’m far from perfect” Hunter sighed “but I promise, I know what I’m doing. If you want, I’ll stop playing the fool now.” Blitz huffed and began to walk down the hallway again. Hunter followed her as she turned toward the yard where a chariot waited for them.

“Come on” Blitz spoke to Hunter without turning around “the plan is to blend in at the party, find the assassin, capture it and get out unnoticed.” She stepped onto the chariot, awaiting Hunter.

“I’m not exactly dressed for high society.” Hunter responded as he stepped onto the chariot. He saw Blitz grin devilishly.

“Don’t worry about that” she grinned “we’ve got a nice uniform waiting for you.”

A few hours later, Hunter found himself wearing a waiter’s outfit and welcoming the snooty party guests. He had shaved his ragged beard and his hair had been cut to an acceptable length. Blitz was around somewhere, wearing a beautiful sapphire dress that Hunter couldn’t help but admire. She dressed up nice, after all.

The doors closed as the final guest arrived; now the trick was to figure out who the assassin was. Hunter hadn’t spied anything suspicious about the guests he’d greeted, so either they had entered from another place or were playing waiter like Hunter was. He moved into the kitchen to grab a tray of champagne flutes, scrutinizing the staff. None seemed to be anything more than waiters; even the chef looked clean to Hunter, who had years of experience outing wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Moving back into the main room, he spied the “Duchess” standing atop a balcony that overlooked the whole affair. The white marble floor practically sparkled in the light, with the rich tapestries hanging on the walls serving to highlight the wealth of the host. The guests wandered here and there, some sitting and some standing or even dancing. Blitz was standing near the “Duchess”, doing her best to look like a piece of eye candy. Hunter watched with a tinge of jealousy as various men tried to pick her up.

As Hunter sauntered around the room, distributing flutes, his blood ran cold when he finally saw the assassin, a blue haired Valkyrie wearing a white gown. He would never have suspected that the Earl would have been able to hire her. He discreetly ditched the silver tray into a potted plant and worked his way over to the assassin. She saw him coming and cracked a wry smile; she had recognized him, it seemed. Her smile soon gave way to consternation, however, as she realized why he must have been here.

Taking her hand, Hunter escorted her over to the dance floor, where a slow song had just started. The pair began to dance, leaning in closely to speak.

“Azzie, what the hell are you doing here?” Hunter whispered. Azure Heron, his former mentor was not usually an assassin, and she had retired. Why would she have taken this contract?

“You already know.” She answered back, sighing deeply. Hunter cringed slightly as he twirled his partner around. Azzie was a good forty something years old, while Hunter was only in his late twenties. If it came to it, he figured he could take her if he had to. Hopefully, that could be prevented.

“Why would you do this?” Hunter asked quietly. Azure sighed again.

“For my family.” She answered simply. Hunter’s eyes widened as he realized what she meant. He was one of very few people to know that she had a daughter. Her daughter, Hunter remembered, lived in Cloudsdale. This happened to be where the Earl was currently. Hunter snarled involuntarily; he’d skin the Earl alive if he was threatening her daughter.

“It doesn’t have to be this way” Hunter pleaded “I can help you. Just tell me the truth.” He saw a pair of tears form in Azure’s eyes.

“Sorry” she replied, kissing Hunter on the cheek “but I have to do this.” She tried to escape his grasp, but Hunter held on tightly.

“I can’t let you.” He told her. Azure smiled sadly.

“You don’t have a choice.” She answered. Hunter was suddenly struck by a bout of paralysis, and forced to relinquish his hold. He had been a fool; Azzie had put some poison (that she was resistant to) on her lips, and evidently it could be absorbed through skin. Her peck on the cheek wouldn’t kill him, but it would leave him incapable for a few minutes. As Azure gently seated him out of the way, he tried to look around a find Blitz. He had to warn her.

Azure walked off while Hunter was looking for Blitz, and he couldn’t find her again amidst the crowd. Unbeknownst to him, she applied another coating of her special lipstick and was climbing the stairs toward where the fake Duchess sat with Blitz and several other minor nobles. The guards, with no reason to suspect the illustrious Lady Brightstar, allowed her to seat herself right next to the supposed Duchess, just to the left. Blitz sat at the Duchess’ right, and scrutinized the newcomer.

As Azure turned to speak to the Duchess, she was suddenly struck by a bout of sickness. She excused herself and hurried toward the bathroom; what had happened, she wondered.

Just before she could reach the bathroom, she ran into Hunter lounging just outside. He smiled bitterly at her as she looked at him in disbelief; the poison should have kept him out of commission for at least a few more minutes.

“Going somewhere Azzie?” he taunted. Azure growled in response.

“How?” she asked angrily. Her whole plan was unraveling before her eyes.

“You always were a fan of poisons, so I made sure to build a resistance to most of them” Hunter replied “Especially snake venom based poisons. This one was elapid, I believe.”

“Cobra. You didn’t trust me?” she inquired, grabbing her stomach in pain. Hunter shook his head.

“I didn’t want to accidently ingest anything that would kill me” he rebutted “I never expected you to use one on me.”

Azure sighed. “What about my sudden sickness?” she spat out, doubling over in pain as she had a spasm of pain in her stomach. Hunter shrugged; he hadn’t done that. He had run after her, only to see her take off toward the restrooms. A short teleport brought him there before her.

“That would be me.” Blitz spoke as she came up behind Azure. Azure whirled around in disbelief before she began laughing.

“Since when do you have a partner?” Azure asked Hunter. Hunter shrugged again.

“Why don’t we take this conversation elsewhere?” Blitz suggested. Hunter nodded and escorted Azzie over to a dark corner. The three of them stood there in silence for a while, before Azure mustered up the strength to speak.

“You… want a confession?” she whispered weakly. Whatever Blitz had done to her, it was taking quite the toll on her body. Hunter struggled to control his emotions; Azure had been almost a mother to him for several years, and he was pained to watch her in this state.

“Why don’t we start with your name and employer?” Blitz suggested to Azure. Azure smiled weakly.

“I have many names; the one you probably will recognize is Azure Heron” she replied to Blitz, who reared back slightly in surprise “and you already know who is employing me.”

“I’m not working with her.” Hunter reassured Blitz, who had been eyeing him suspiciously. She knew that Azure had been his mentor, it seemed.

“He has my daughter.” Azure turned to and told Hunter, who nodded in response. Blitz cleared her throat.

“Who, exactly?” she interrogated.

“The Earl of…” Azure began before her eyes widened in shock. She suddenly slumped over, as Hunter scrambled over to her. As he held her, he watched as the light left her eyes.

She was dead.