chapter 1

5 years later.

As the whole town was asleep there was one house in which the lights were still lit. inside sat a mourning family. The mother sat crying on the couch while the father made some calming tea for his wife. The daughter was in the next room making sure her brother looked good for his funeral.

They all knew this was going to happen. They had just hopped it wouldn’t be so soon. As the daughter heard her mother’s hysterical cries she continued to cry in silence. She had to be strong, she couldn’t count on her dad for not breaking down. She didn’t expect him to either, his son had just died he had every right to break down. But she wouldn’t, her brother wouldn’t want her to. She knew what he wanted her to do. And she would do it. Next thing after the funeral she would do it.

When her mother’s cries finally stopped Wynter kissed her brother goodnight and headed to her room. She made sure her mourning clothes were ready to pull on next thing in the morning. After that she lay in her bed staring at the roof till it was time to get up.

They held the funeral in the little town’s church. There weren’t many people attending the funeral since her brother wasn’t the most loved person. The people that were there however did honestly care for her brother. She knew that and that was all she could ever wish for. She had planned the funeral so that no one would have time to say anything about her brother. And it would be over quickly. She didn’t think she could handle it if people would tell lies about his life on his funeral. After all the biggest lie of all was exactly how her brother had died.

When they went to the grave she smiled. It might have looked heartless to outsiders but she knew he was better off dead. They had told everyone he had a rare incurable disease that had killed his whole immune system in one night and when he caught a cold it was over.  In truth, he had been killed. Someone had send an assassin after him and it had been successful.

She didn’t know who or why but she would find that out. in his last moments her brother had said a name, Hage. She had no idea if the name belonged to the killer, assassin or someone else entirely. All she knew was that she wouldn’t get the answers she was looking for by staying here. So she wouldn’t.

that same night she left her home. Her only luggage, a bag with clothes, some food and a knife her granddad had given her when he thought her how to throw a knife. Her granddad was a hunter and it seemed like a useful thing to learn. Now she was fairly grateful since she had no idea what she would be facing.

for three days she walked down the road without seeing anyone then finally on the fourth day a carriage stopped and she could get a lift to the next town. It took her another two days by carriage which gave her the time to get to know the farmer with who she rode. The man was around the same age of her father, he had just divorced his wife who had taken their only son with them.

‘’ he is turning ten this Saturday. I really hope Mary lets me come visit him.’’

‘’ I’m sure she will.’’ Wynter reassured him. ‘’ he must want to see his father after all this time.’’ The farmer smiled warmly at her.

‘’ where is your father, if I may ask?’’

‘’ At home, with my mom.’’ She answered sadly.

‘’ Why aren’t you with them. I know you young people always think you’re not wanted but trust me, that’s not true.’’

‘’ That’s not it. I know my parent’s love me. there’s just… something I need to take care of.’’

After that there was a long silence that was only broken by the usual ‘ small talk’. 

They arrived in Katern, the next village, that same afternoon. Wynter thanked the farmer and started searching for a place to spent the night. The black swan was the first inn she noticed but since she didn’t have enough money the only thing she got there was a drink.

‘’ I can’t believe you have never heard of him! he is like famouser that famous!’’ some man yelled as he sat down next to her. His companion let out a barking laugh.

‘’ I can’t believe you have! A man darker than the night itself with a red bandana who’s faster than any human being? AND can kill a grown man with a needle alone? Also I’m sorry to inform ya mate but famouser is no word.’’

‘’ Rubbish! I tell you! He’s real, I saw him! you should lock your door at night and inform all you loved ones to do the same cus if I’m right then we are all in danger. I swear to god the Hage is here.’’ Wynter’s head shot up at the mention of the name. she had been sort of eavesdropping on the two man who she suspected were drunk.

‘’ excuse me, but did you just say the Hage?’’ the man closest to her turned and she could now with certainty say that they were drunk.

‘’ yes that’s right! The Hage is in town’’ She felt the eyes of both men scan over her body, just like every guy had done since her body had gotten it’s curves. ‘’ so why don’t you stay with us tonight, we will protect you.’’ Wynter shuddered.

‘’ Thank you, but I already have a place to stay. You wouldn’t by any chance know how I could find this… Hage.’’ The two men actually looked a little disappointed by her answer but they quickly recovered and as one started to laugh the other looked at her with seriousness she didn’t know a drunken man could possess.

‘’ don’t go looking for him.’’ he said. ‘’ he is dangerous!’’ she sighted.

‘’ so you don’t know where I can find him?’’

‘’ you don’t want to! Trust me! no one has ever lived to tell a meeting with him.’’ he said while his companion just started to laugh again.

‘’ it is said that he is staying in the old warehouse next to the bridge together with his ‘sons of the night’.’’ The companion said when he could finally breath again.

‘’ so you have heard of his!’’ the man next to her cried out on which his friend just started laughing again.

‘’ what do you mean ‘sons of the night’? ‘’ Wynter asked, ignoring the reactions of both men.

‘’ his assassins, and he is the head assassin.’’ The laughing man replied. Even before the man had finished his sentence Wynters thought’s drifted off to the way her brother had said the name. it hadn’t been murderous but that might be because of the pain he had been in.

‘’ o  think we scared her Greg.’’ The man next to her said amused. ‘’ maybe we should let her sleep with us anyway.’’ That ruined her chances to get any more answers from the men. So she politely excused herself and went on her way.

Since she knew she obviously couldn’t get a room with the amount of money she had, she decided to just go and take a look at the warehouse. Two times she had to ask the way, two times she was told to ‘not go there since it was dangerous and she would definitely not survive’ and two times she ignored the warnings.  

When she finally arrived at the warehouse the idea suddenly didn’t feel all that appealing to her anymore. She knew she had to do this, but she just couldn’t set those last few steps. As it turned out, she didn’t have to. As she just stood there wondering what the hell she was doing, someone sneaked up behind her and before she knew what was happening she lay face down in the dirt. Something or better said someone sat on top of her and had a knife pressed against her throat. Her knife, her mind registered. Had she made a mistake coming here? Definitely. Was she sorry? No way, if this were the basterds that had killed her brother than she was right where she had to be.

Much time to think they didn’t give her since she was immediately hauled to her feet.

‘’ if you make a sound or so much as move a finger, you’re dead.’’ a sickeningly sweet voice informed her. ‘’ do you understand? You may nod now.’’ She nodded slightly to not touch the knife that was still pressed against her throat.  The man behind her made a approving noise as he started to push her in the direction of the door.

They walked through long dark corridors and up so many stairs she had lost count by the time they reached the top. The hallway they then entered was short and surprisingly light. At the end of the hall there was a door they had to go through. On the other side she was met with a surprising sight. A group of four men sat around a table while two men were dancing trough the huge chamber. This were the assassins? They didn’t look dangerous at all.

The man behind her eventually let out a loud cough and all the eyes turned towards them.

‘’ Wo’s that Leon?’’ one half of the dancing duo asked. The man behind her, Leon, snorted.

‘’ You are so drunk I’m impressed you even know who I am.’’ One of the men at the table whooed and another just patted his shoulder.

‘’ shup Leon’’ Leon just laughed.

‘’ where’s Hage?’’

‘’ in the back room, where else?’’ a man with brown curls said grinning widely. The drunken pair that had just been dancing burst out into hysterical laughter. ‘’ but seriously Leo where did you find her?’’

‘’I’ll explain in a minute let me just take her to Hage first.’’ The man with the curls nodded and that was all she could see before Leon pushed her to the black door in the back.  Just in front of the door the man stopped her and turned her around to face him, still pressing her knife against her throat.  The man had short blond hair with one single braid on the right side of his head. three colored beads held it together. Even though his hair was so different from what she was used to seeing it where his eyes that stood out the most. His right was emerald while his left was dark brown.

‘’ now you are going to do exactly what I say do you understand? You may nod.’’ She nodded. ‘’ good, now I am going inside and you wait right here till I get back. If you don’t we will kill you. We may not look like it but we are trained assassins. Do I make myself clear? ‘’ since he didn’t follow that question with a you-may-nod she assumed she was at liberty to talk.

‘’ crystal.’’ She said simply. He nodded in approval.

As said he removed the knife from her throat and went inside. It gave her a couple of minutes to look at her surroundings and her… company. The men now all sat around the table talking loudly to each other. At school she had once learned that there always were a couple of standard roles. The quiet one. That role she gave to the man with the brown curls that was unlike the others just softly chuckling. then you had the clown, she assumed that was a role fitted for the dancing duo though she had no idea if they acted like that because of the booze or simply because they were that way. The bully, which she without a doubt gave to Leon who hadn’t only acted unfriendly towards her but seemed to not be all that fond of the dancing duo either. The last role she could remember was ‘the boss’ who she was about to meet, the feared Hage. Her heart was trying to break out of her chest and the room seemed to have warmed up 10 degrees when the door finally opened.

‘’ he wants to see you.’’ Leon said as he walked passed her. Hesitantly Wynter reached for the door, trying to remind her why exactly she was doing this. As she tried to picture her brother she found it was easier to go inside. This was the moment she’d get her answers.

‘’ I hear you are looking for me.’’ a voice said. She looked around the room looking for the course of the voice. The room was a lot smaller that she would have thought, all that stood inside was a desk and a chair, turned to the wall so that she couldn’t see who was in it.

‘’ how did you know?’’

‘’ I have my sources’’ the voice said amused. ‘’ what I do not know is why exactly you’re looking for me.’’ she swallowed, what did she do here?

‘’ a week ago my brother died.’’ She started as she just decided to tell the whole story. When she was finished her only reply was a muffled humpf.

Suddenly she felt her anger rise. ‘’ what do you mean ‘humpf’ my brother died saying your name! isn’t it logical I came to look for you!’’

‘’ no, no it is not. What if I was the one to kill him? then you would have just killed yourself.’’

‘’ then I would already be dead.’’ Winter said with all the conviction she didn’t know she had.

‘’ are you sure? You have no idea of how we work.’’

‘’ won’t you look at me when you’re announcing my death!’’ she yelled and the without thinking leaped forward and turned the chair around. It was empty.’’ What the…’’

‘’ right so you caught me.’’ an amused voice said from behind her. As she turned she stood face to face with a man from around the 20. His skin was dark but his eyes had such a light blue color they were almost entirely white. ‘darker than the night itself’ was what the man at the inn had said. Now it clicked and she smiled even though it wasn’t proper at all! She couldn’t spot the bandana though.

‘’ we haven’t assassinated anyone for weeks so no I am sorry to inform you but we haven’t killed your brother. ‘’ she nodded slowly. Then there wouldn’t have been any point in coming here at all. She had wasted precious time, time she honestly didn’t have. ‘’ but now that you have seen us, I am afraid we can’t let you go.’’ She was about to protest when the man yelled Leon and she was taken in the same position as she had come in. ‘’ be careful Leon, we wouldn’t want to hurt such a pretty face now would we?’’ Leon seemed a little taken aback by the question.

‘’ but if you don’t want me to hurt her, what do I need to do with her?’’

‘’ give her something to eat, bring her to a room with a bed and tomorrow we shall see what good she can do for us.’’ Leon obviously didn’t understand Hage’s orders but he could hardly go against them.

That’s how Wynter found herself at a table surrounded by cheerful drunken men and a very pissed off one. The men didn’t ask they just made fun. she found it hard to think of these man as assassins.

Her room turned out to be just as small as the office she’d just med Hage in. it was obvious the group men were constantly traveling since all there was in the room was a matrass. She expected to never be able to sleep but as it turned out it was actually quite easy and even before her head hid the pillow she was out.

The next morning she was woken up fairly early by a strange pang outside her room. The pang was soon followed by a loud voice and right after that couple of swearing’s. she swallowed hard. Was that about  her? About last night? Did they all just remember what had happened last night and then kill her? Had Hage already made up his mind? She mustered up all her courage and left the safety of her room, if she stayed she’d never get the answers she was hoping for.

It turned out that she really had nothing to worry about. when Leon had brought her to her room last night she really hadn’t paid attention to where they were going resulting in her getting lost now. As she just tried every room she could find until she finally came across a living soul. It was one half of the dancing duo, the man with the emerald eyes and wild unruly black hair. He was facing the other way so she had to call out to him to get his attention.

‘’ excuses me, I think I am sort of lost.’’ The man turned toward her and for a second she thought her previous thoughts were in fact true. But then a warm smile spread over the man’s face.

‘’ yes you could say that. I think you have just crossed the entire building without finding the common room. I was just heading there so just follow me.’’ now that she knew where to go she found that the way was actually fairly easy to find. When they entered the room there were already three more people. Fortunately Leon wasn’t one of them. ‘good mornings’ were passed between the group and once again Wynter couldn’t believe these people were trained killers.

‘’ I don’t think we have introduced ourselves before now have we?’’ the green eyed man asked. ‘’ well my name is Garry. This beauty here is Ace.’’ He grinned as the man with the brown curls, who she had labeled as the quiet one, slapped him playfully on the shoulder.

‘’ then right here we have Anthony.’’ Garry gestured at a blond guy on the other side of the table who she hadn’t really noticed the previous night.

‘’  nice to meet you.’’ He said and then he winked. That’s right! She had forgotten about the womanizer!

‘’ and then last but not least this is Adrian.’’ Adrian was one of those people that just got lost in the crowed. He was unique but not like Garry. Garry was energetic and hard to look past. Adrian was unique because he could mix in, in any kind of situation. He was really hard to get height of which made him the… anonymous one? She would have to find a better name for him but it would have to do for now.

Just at that moment another person entered. It was Leon. He sat down without saying a word, not even returning anyone’s good mornings.

‘’ we were just doing some introductions wanna do yours by yourself or shall I do it?’’ Garry asked. Leon just shot him a glare.

‘’ it’s alright I already know what his name is.’’

‘’ well then that just leaves George and Rian. You will recognize George, I was dancing with him yesterday and well as for Rian… he is always late so I guess that’s how you can recognize him.’’ she did remember George. It was the tall blond guy with the sea blue eyes. He had been telling stories to them till Leon had told everyone to ‘just shut up and go to bed already’. She really couldn’t picture Rian though.

‘’ my name is Wynter.’’ She said as she realized she hadn’t told them yet.

‘’ that truly is a beautiful name.’’ someone said from the doorway. She turned her head startled by the familiar voice. Hage. The men at the table quickly wished the older man good morning and then went on with their breakfast. Wynter hadn’t even looked at hers, and she wasn’t planning on it either. Hage sat down on the opposite side of the table.

‘’ why did we have to get up so early? And what was all the commotion in the hallway?’’  Adrian suddenly asked.

‘’ that was just Leon and I having a little disagreement.’’ Hage said with a smile. ‘’ as for the other question, I want everything to look good when he arrives.’’ Wynter looker questioningly at Garry be he just shook his head. she made a mental note to ask him after breakfast.

Fortunately for her she didn’t even have to wait that long since both Hage and Leon excused themselves to talk in hage’ office. And Wynter immediately turned to Garry. He sighted.

‘’ the he Hage was talking about is one of us. A son of the night. He is the best some say he is the one that thought Hage how to fight.’’

‘’ some say? You mean…’’

‘’ we have never seen him before. He only visits us once a year the rest of his assignments he gets sent.’’ Ace finished. If he gets his assignments sent, then he could be it. He might be the one who killed her brother.

She held herself up in her room the whole morning trying to come up with a plan to get to this mysterious person that came to visit. It the end all she could come up with was: run and hope they don’t kill you before you reach him. and she knew that was all she could do when it came down to it.

When it was time for him to arrive, Hage called everyone to the common room to look ‘his best self’. If she didn’t know any better she’d think the mysterious person was the boss instead of Hage.

‘’ if we aren’t allowed to see him, why do we need to present in here?’’ she asked Rian. They had just introduced themselves and Wynter had indeed found out that the boy was late for everything. Rian shrugged.

‘’ this is how it goes every year in a couple of minutes this man will step through the doors, wearing a hood of course, then Hage will welcome him, they will go into his office and after a couple of hours he will leave again. ‘’ and indeed as Rian had said than man came through the door wearing a black hood. Hage welcomed him and they disappeared into his office. She decided to do her sorry-excuse-for-a-plan as they came back out. she just had to know who was under that hood!

five hours later it was finally time. The doors opened and almost before he could step foot outside she was running at full speed towards him. not even Leon had time to grasp her as she just dashed full speed into the hooded man. As soon as they both lay on the ground, his hood fell off and her mouth fell open. Right there, right under her lay the one person she had always thought she’d never see again. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked into his brown ones.

‘’ Alex’’