Eight

Leaning against the tree, I waited to see what Selene would do. All she had to do was surrender, and she would be free. I couldn't see her doing that, though. I had offered her freedom, and she had turned it down, meaning she needed a master for something. This fight would let me know if it had to be me.

I was interrupted from my thoughts by the brute pleading with Selene to surrender. He explained how he could make her life better, and her only response was to rudely yawn while he was talking.

Seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere, he raised both fists in the air and took a weak fighting stance. Noticing that he would half-heartedly fight, Selene let out a growl and mumbled something to herself that I couldn't hear. I don't know how to describe the feeling, but it was almost like I could physically feel Selene's anger from this man's disrespect. After a brief pause, Selene also took a lax stance, and neither of the two fighters moved.

Eventually, Selene started to casually walk forward until she stopped in front of the brutish warrior and looked up at him. With a smirk, he said with confidence, "I was going to let you surrender, but if you are this dense, I will not be held responsible if you get hurt." Selene responded by giving him a big smile, then spitting on his armor.

The brute was taken aback by her action and lost his composure. He let out a yell and swung his massive fist at Selene, who quickly ducked under the slow-moving attack. The man continued his wild swinging until suddenly he stopped moving and looked down with a confused frown. Slowly blood began to trickle out of several holes that had suddenly appeared in his armor.

I doubt that anyone else could keep up with her movements, but I saw everything that happened. When Selene dodged a blow, she extended out her fingernails like blades and thrust them through his armor, puncturing his chest. The man gave Selene a more confused look and tried to say something, but instead, he fell lifeless to the ground.

Everything was quiet for a moment, until the few people who had been watching realized that he was dead and began to scream. The lady next to me was shaking so severely from fright that I thought she would fall over. Turning to her, I said coldly, "We held up our end of the deal. Now you need to pay us. I am going to let you go, and I expect you back here quickly with our money."

I could tell that she wanted to say something but instead melted under my glare and sprinted away. Tucking my hands into my cloak, I slowly strolled towards a surprisingly grumpy Selene. When she noticed me walking towards her, she let out a frustrated sigh and complained, "I didn't get to have any fun. He died way too quickly." Raising an eyebrow, I responded, "I thought you enjoyed killing. How was this different?"

Still pouting, she put her hands on her hips and replied, "Well, I do. But it's no fun if they don't put up a fight. He was too dumb to even use his weapon." Laughing, I said, "Well, if you want a fight, we can always go for another round." Hearing my words, a sinister smile spread across her face.

Before she could answer, though, I suddenly stumbled forward, bumping into Selene. It felt like someone pushed me forward, but spinning around, I didn't see anyone. I turned back to Selene, confused, and noticed that she was now holding a bloody arrow.

Studying the arrow, she said more to herself, "So he really can't feel normal pain, interesting." Looking up at me, she continued, "Someone seems to not like what we did and has tried to kill you with this. Though it is interesting that you couldn't even tell this was lodged in your back." She got lost in her thoughts again while I scanned the area, trying to find our attacker.

Without looking up from the arrow, Selene let out a long sigh, "You really are helpless. He is on the roof directly behind you."

Ignoring her bluntness, I turned around and spotted a man exactly where she said he would be. While I didn't appreciate her attitude, Selene sure knew about assassinations. Turning back to her, I asked, "So are you going to kill him since he attacked us?"

Selene raised an eyebrow at this and replied, "I don't know what this 'us' is. I'm fine. He only attacked you." Grunting, I roughly snatched the arrow from Selene's hand, who scowled at me as I turned back towards the assassin. I brought my arm back and paused for a moment, then threw it forward with all my might. The arrow hurtled from my hand, faster than if it had been launched from a bow and streaked towards the would-be assassin.

While my strength was superhuman, unfortunately, my aim was not, and the arrow clearly missed, crashing into the wall directly below him. I was about to curse my luck when the wall collapsed, causing the assassin to lose his balance and let out a scream as he fell to the ground.

Selene casually strolled in front of me and said, "Well, human, there is no way that he could have survived that. How does it feel knowing you have just taken someone's life? I bet it will haunt you when you try to sleep tonight. You will hear his screams when you close your eyes."

Hearing her taunting, my thoughts went back to my rampage when Rebecca had died.

Turning to Selene, I said, "You ask how it feels to take a life? It feels like something I have done countless times." I wasn't sure how Selene would take my words, but hearing that I had killed before, her whole attitude changed. She spun around and happily said, "Really? You have to tell me all about it!"

I just waved her off and responded, "Doubt it. But for now, we have to find that lady. She'd better have something good to say, or things will be getting a hell of a lot worse for her."