Contractor: Chapter - 49

“The second we land, things will get crazy. Stick together, but if you have to split off do your best to stick to at least one other person.” Dante turned his dangerously focused blue eyes to me. “Try to make that someone me.”

“Oh, I will. I figure you’ll do all the work for me.” I knew I wasn’t in a position where I should be cracking jokes, but I was nervous. Dante had never been this forward and he’d never taken me into a situation where we’d both be fighting.

“I need you to be focused right now. So for the time being, be focused. Be attentive, your mind cannot wander. I need you to be as serious as you can be.” His voice echoed through my mind and I felt the familiar sensation of my soul tugging on my body. “I’m sorry to force you, but I feel much safer this way.”

“Don’t feel sorry, you’re right.” Hope turned to Amy. “Be focused, be exact, your mind will not wander, you will focus only on the task at hand and what is necessary to get it done.” Amy groaned. I got what she was feeling, but I was relieved to have to have that focus on autopilot. If anything went wrong it would be that much less my fault.

“Are you ready?” Dante looked nervously at Hope. They had had a small disagreement when Hope demanded that she come along.

“I’m not staying behind. This is important to you and I’m helping.” Hope was serious, more serious than I’d ever seen her. There wasn’t any room for the torturer or the little girl in her expression. “Now let’s go.”

“On the count of five.” Dante held out his hand for me and Hope mirrored him for Amy. “One.” I grabbed his hand firmly. It was odd going with him by choice, I almost felt like he needed to catch me off guard for it to work. “Two. Three.” Amy reluctantly grabbed Hopes hand. “Four.” Dante gave Hope one last look, begging her to stop but she was still that serious businesswoman on the outside. “Five.”

The world changed around me with a blink of the eye. I didn’t feel motion sick at all, and regardless of it being because of the last set of orders or just being used to it, I was glad I wasn’t lightheaded. The second we landed we were in a dark room lit by smoldering red flames atop a series of torches along the wall. I hadn’t seen normal fire in a while and I’d almost forgotten that it was normally reddish-yellow rather than blue. Almost. It’s hard to forget a thing that cooked pretty much your entire body at one point.

“So…” I didn’t get to finish what I was about to say.

“Look out.” There was no urgency in the order. Dante was calm as he quickly threw me in front of Hope. I stood there confused for a moment before a javelin flew right through the right half of my stomach.

“Oh come on.” I barely managed to say it as I fell to my knees.

“It’s not that bad.” Amy rolled her eyes as she pushed the pointed end of the javelin back through my chest. “But, if we’re going to hit every trap like that, things will be slow and we’ll be exhausted by the time we actually find Owen.”

“I vote for not being thrown in front of another random flying spear without consent.” The pain had subsided quickly, but I still didn’t want to risk getting back on my feet alone.

“That was a javelin.” Dante walked over to me and held out a hand to pull me up. “Arguably less painful than a spear.”

“Thank you for that useful clarification. I will just lock that tidbit away for later.” I grabbed the javelin in one hand and Dante’s hand with the other. “You want this Amy?” I held the javelin out but she shook her head.

“I prefer my knives, they’re more comfortable.” I had never really felt all that comfortable with a knife. I mean, my favorite knife was like a part of me, but it wasn’t something that I felt very comfortable with. I couldn’t get any leverage and the reach was too short for my taste. I’m not a fan of getting too close to someone that I’m fighting, because they’ll likely also be trying to kill me a well.

“Whatever.” I shrugged and snapped the thin wooden shaft over my knee and tossed the pieces to the ground. While the javelin would have given some nice range it was not nearly heavy enough for my taste, I probably would have broken it by accident anyway. “That’s one less pointy object I have to worry about later.”

“Yeah, now you have to worry about being stabbed with both halves.” A hint of mischief broke through Hope’s serious business face as she said it. I just glared at her. She was right. “I thought you were ordered to focus.”

“Apparently I have zero capacity to focus.” Which was partly true. I thought things out a little more when I really didn’t need to and when it came time to take action for one reason or another I relied on instinct instead of tactics. My instincts were far more developed than my mind.

“I’ll just be focusing for you then.” Dante sighed and gripped my hand more tightly. I got the feeling his interpretation of focus meant throwing me in front of more dangerous pointy objects. “I think we’ve wasted enough time in this one small dungeon of the castle. We should move on.”

Without waiting for further prompting I removed a torch from a wall bracket with my free hand and held in front of me as I led the way. The uneven stone walls cast tendrils of shadow against the rough wooden floor and ceiling in the flickering torchlight. The whole place was lit with torches continuing along the wall. The torch I’d taken wasn’t entirely necessary, but I felt like the lights could go out at any second and I wasn’t about to use my own hand as a torch again. If I was going to be the meat shield in front, I was gonna do it right, and that meant thinking ahead.

“So, if it isn’t obvious, there’s a trap ahead.” I stopped well in front of an area of the hall that was unlit. “I might even suggest being cautious before entering the unlit portion ahead. As you said, he isn’t stupid so the obvious trap is likely a feint to slow us down and throw us off. If there is a trap it’s less obvious and probably before or just after the unlit area.”

“Or he could know that we know he’s smart and trick us by putting the actual trap in the unlit area.” Amy laughed as she walked up beside me. “You’re over thinking things. Sometimes the best way to disarm a trap is to just let it hit you.” She dropped into a push up stance and squinted down the hall from her low perspective for a second before getting up and sprinting ahead. She faded into the unlit area without event.

“We should have ordered you two to stick with the group instead of just suggesting it.” Dante’s shoulders slumped as a metallic sliding noise hissed out from the darkness.

“The only reason I didn’t stop her was because I agreed with Sam, the trap was most likely after the unlit portion.” Dante glared at me but I just shrugged, it wasn’t my fault Hope listed to me. She was smart, she should have displayed better judgement. “I’m still not convinced that there is not a trap before as well. A smart trap maker never misses an opportunity to get more than one catch.”

Dante looked at me and I knew exactly what he was thinking. His grip tensed around my hand and he was about to open his mouth when I stopped him mid breath.

“Just throw me.” I sighed as I got ready for the toss. “Now’s not the time to start being polite.”

Dante did a quick spin and used the momentum to fling me through the air. It felt like I was riding an invisible roller coaster that would inevitably kill me. Strangely no traps were triggered as I flew through the air like a rag doll. In my head the toss lasted for minutes, in reality it was about two seconds before I crunched shoulder first into a cobblestone wall. I had landed at the end or the passage, the hallway continued to the right with torches lighting up the way again. Just around the corner and barely visible with the distant torchlight was Amy... with two large swords sticking out of her collapsed body. Judging by the position she was in it looked like she had noticed them coming in from both sides and tried to slip through sideways. She was too slow of course, if she’d made it through she probably would have been looking all smug and whatnot.

It took a second for my shoulder to pop back into place. I’d actually dislocated my shoulder on several occasions throughout my life and while it still hurt, it was bearable.

“Looks like it’s clear!” I called back to Dante and Hope. I didn’t wait around for them though. I made my way over to Amy and tugged both swords out. Being stabbed by a knife or even a javelin is one thing, being stabbed by a sword, especially one with such a broad blade, it must have been pretty bad. Bad enough for her to take a while to recover and then to stay down for even longer. I examined one of the swords up close and gave it a swing.

“Careful with that, it’s more of that cursed silver.” Amy croaked from the floor. “It’s not as fine as that bullet and I don’t think it hit any major arteries, but it’s still not healing right.”

“Jeez girl, prospectors could probably use you to find places to mine for this stuff.” She laughed weakly but I regretted the joke, it was in poor taste. I’d seen her go through getting the stuff out of her blood and I didn’t want her to go through it again. “It feels like the right fit for me though, if that’s any consolation. I think I’ll keep this one, maybe ruin someone else day with silver in their bloodstream for a change. I just need some way to carry it around.”

“It’s not very subtle, but neither are you. I think it’s a perfect fit.” Dante stepped into the light with Hope clinging to his arm. “As for you,” Dante turned to Amy and an unexpectedly concerned look crossed his face. “This seems to be the same position I find you in every time I catch up. You must either secretly enjoy pain, or you just have very poor luck.”

“You know, by now, it might just be a little of both.” Amy pushed herself onto her feet. She looked as sick as she had last time, maybe worse. If it wasn’t as bad as before she certainly wasn’t acting like it.

“Seeing as how we don’t exactly have time to rest, and we certainly aren’t going back until we’re done, would you prefer if we just took care of this now?” Dante held out his hand and Amy grabbed on just quickly enough to keep her balance.

“Yeah.” Amy groaned. “Don’t even tell me when you’re going to start.”

“Are you sure? Because it’s probably going to hurt a lo…” A sudden screech of pain from Amy cut him short. The sound was nerve-racking and utterly unsettling to hear coming from a human being. The sound eventually died out as she ran out of breath, her face was flushed and her eyes went bloodshot for a second before healing.

“You know.” She muttered breathlessly. “That actually wasn’t as bad as having all of my blood pumped out, filtered, and pumped back in cold. The next time you do this though, and there probably will be a next time, warn me before you start. Not getting a warning was dumb.”

“Okay.” Dante let go of her hand and held out a little splinter of metal just smaller than a toothpick. “Would you like to keep this or shall I trash it?”

“I don’t want it.” Amy’s response was quick and a little agitated. “I don’t want anything to do with that. Get it away from me.”

“I’ll take it.” Hope spoke up and snatched the metal shard out of Dante’s hand. “We might be able to work on a tolerance for silver, then it won’t bother you if you ever get in your blood again.” I could feel Amy’s glare and she wasn’t even looking in my direction.

Dante pushed us down the hall but Amy wasn’t done talking yet. It really should have ended there, but I didn’t want to interrupt her. It was too funny.

“I thought you were going to at least try to make an effort to improve… now you want to make me relive the worst torture I’ve ever been through over and over again?”

“I am being nice. This is me being nice.” Hope replied defensively. “I’m trying to help you overcome this weakness. If this is the worst thing you’ve ever felt then don’t you want to be better than it?”

“No. I don't want to feel that any more than I have too.”

“Up the stairs ladies.” Dante was just one breath away from groaning.

We had hit the end of the hallway and there was a wide spiral staircase leading up. I hadn’t actually noticed that we were right in front of it until Dante pointed it out. I’d been enjoying Amy’s argument too much. I felt weird that the basement of the castle had basically just been one hallway with one turn and no rooms or door or anything. It kind of reminded me of Dante's place… only the opposite. One short hall, no doors, plenty of traps.

“Anyone else think it’s weird that that hall had no purpose whatsoever but to be in our way?” I was curious, did a contractors den always have that sort of thing?

“Samantha, a contractor’s den is his safe haven. It moves to shape his will and his needs. The space is relatively finite, but the arrangement of the space can be constantly changing. The underground labyrinth you traversed before was a more hostile example specifically designed to kill trespassers.” I shuddered at the memory. “Our little block of safety is arranged by my preferences. Simple, streamline, and organized. Trish designed hers to be a palace to showcase elegant and attractive things in a flashy manner. This castle, is just that, a fortress. A place designed to slow down, confuse, and kill attackers. We are not welcome here, and the castle knows that.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he started moving things around while we’re here.” Hope stepped up onto the first stair as she spoke, “I actually expected that to happen when Amy rushed ahead.”

“Be careful Hope, let Samantha go first.” Dante sounded genuinely worried about her, almost like a proper boyfriend. “She can take a hit.”

“And so can I, if you haven’t forgotten.” Hope groaned but let me step in front of her. “Part of the reason I chose to stay with you rather than leave with my father was that he treated me like a china doll. If I’d known I was going to stay on a shelf my entire life I would have killed myself decades ago.”

“Dramatic much?” I mumbled just loud enough for her to hear me. “Just be thankful he actually cares. No one I ever dated actually cared about my wellbeing like that, only what they could get from me.” She gave me a curious look. “Not that I ever gave them what they wanted, I could always see right through them long before that.”

“You’re probably right.” She sighed as I came to a stop at the top of the stairs. “I just wish that I could get my hands a little dirty, you know?”

“And here I thought you were the pampered and manicured type. How much of that was by choice?”

“Most of it, in the early days at least. Having all this power and nothing to do is pure frustration though.”

“You sound like a little kid with a really big firecracker that just got grounded.” I laughed at the analogy. It didn’t quite fit her, but nothing else really seemed to hit the same feeling.

“I kind of feel a lot like that.”

“Kind of a lot huh?” Amy had crept up behind Hope. I hadn’t heard her but Hope didn’t look very surprised “That doesn’t sound like a very firm statement.”

“Mind your own business.” Hope's voice made it sound like an order but Amy was completely unaffected.

“We are minding our own business.” Dante finally reached the top of the staircase. It didn’t make sense that it had taken that long to reach it, but he probably had a really good reason for being slower. “You just so happen to be standing in front of the door we need to go through and we can’t not hear you.”

“Well then maybe you can agree with me and then I can open this door and we can move on?” Hope had all the attitude of a thirteen year old girl, it was kind of funny but a little embarrassing. I got that she wasn’t used to speaking up about things, but she had to know there were better ways to act while doing it. “You know what? I don’t know why I even bother asking. Go on.”

Hope shoved me against the door as she turned her back on Dante and Amy. The door creaked open with an obnoxiously loud metal screeching noise. The room beyond was wide open, like a ballroom or something, and dimly lit. A polished wood floor was just visible and several stone columns around the perimeter of the room were barely discernible. Apart from that nothing could be seen. Hope pushed me through the door ahead of her, even I felt like it was a bad idea to walk so far in without everyone else close by.

“Um, are you sure we should just be walking right in like this?”

“Caution is overrated.” Hope mumbled, her attention locked on something somewhere in the distant darkness. Her statement seemed to contradict everything that she and Dante had planned up to that moment, but I could tell she really didn’t care at that precise moment.

“It is indeed.” A deep voice echoed through the room. Just as the words faded the door behind us slammed shut, sending another resonating sound bouncing off the walls. “I appreciate that you feel the same way that I do. Playing safe is so boring.” The voice sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it.

I was panicking just a little as the lights grew slowly brighter. I hadn’t been able to tell if Dante or Amy had made it in before the door closed, but now I knew that they hadn’t. Hope didn’t move an inch as I ran back to the door only to find a stone wall behind it.

“Don’t worry about Dante, he’s a big boy, he can handle himself. Sadly he won’t be joining us, the doorway has split him off to the far end of the castle. If he ever does find me, it won’t be in time to save you.”

“I don’t think you get it.” Hope finally spoke up. I turned to look back at the rest of the room to see that everything had changed. “I knew that would happen, I expected it. You’re predictable. You thought that you could separate me from Dante and take me out quickly because I’m just the pampered daughter and girlfriend along for the ride. But I’ve had this itch for years that I’ve only ever been able to get close to scratching. I need to let some steam out… and what better way than getting caught. You may think I’m just some girl… but I’m more powerful than Dante has ever been.”

The room was fully lit by a massive wrought iron chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling by heavy chains. Hope was standing directly below it, poised for attack. Her determined look was back, but there was something else now. A swirling cloud of silvery white mist was forming around her. At the far end of the room stood a massive figure, I could just make out his face and as soon as I did I recognized him. It was the same man that had paid me to break into the apartment where my life had pretty much ended. It had only taken a second for me to get on the same page as Hope, itching to get something out of my system.