Knowing that laugh, I dropped the rope and immediately moved closer to Layla, turning to face the source of the creepy noise. Layla and I let the rope slip from our hands, Rod instinctively reeling it back and putting it away. Both of us backed up to shield Layla.
The woman facing us was an assassin named Luna. We had met a few times before. Never really got along.
The woman’s white hair swayed in the slight breeze, blond highlights shining in the dark sky. The blood-red tips of her hair swirled in small circles, the breeze of the rooftop pushing them. Her pale skin was off-set by her vibrant green eyes and thickly-pasted lipstick, the bright red color interrupted by pearly white teeth as she smiled.
“Give me the girl, Guardian,” she called across the rooftop, “and she won’t have to get hurt.”
“Why do you want her?” Rod called back, glancing back at me.
“The Foxes paid me a handsome sum to retrieve her.” She fixed Layla with a cold stare. “The only condition was that she still be able to breathe.” I felt Layla give off a small shudder of fear. “Hand her over and she won’t have to bleed.”
“Kyo,” I swore at her. “I didn’t give her over to the Foxes. I certainly won’t hand her over to you!!”
“Then I get to carry out my second orders,” she responded, her smile widening to a freakish length. “Kill!” Her arm lifted and she turned her palm to face us. On it was a tattoo of a grenade.
Oh. That explained the hallway. It was her.
Luna’s specific brand of magic? She could bring to life any kind of drawing, or in the very least produce the symbolic nature of one. This included the image of a small round grenade tattooed on her palm, the picture literally drawn into her skin.
As the tattoo formed into real life and launched towards us, Rod shot forward to meet it while spinning to face us. He took out the camouflage-printed sheet and tossed it to me before spreading out his arms to cover us. At his command, the coat expanded and shifted with a shudder to become a solid black shield. I snatched the sheet and spun, throwing it over her as I whispered, “stay down and move slowly.” The sheet was already shimmering, disappearing into invisibility and shielding the parts of her under it. She understood in a second and ducked under, virtually disappearing. The grenade slammed into Rod and exploded, drawing a grunt from him and throwing him forward into me.
I brushed him off and took off one way while he went the other. Luna’s laugh followed the fleeing thief instead where Layla had been, thank the moons. A blade appeared in her hand and she began swinging it with wild precision, her aim put off by Rod’s equally wild dodging. Every time the weapon managed to make contact, Rod ensured it was with his jacket. The air rang with the noise of metal clashing against metal.
I glanced up to see the sky finally darken. Night was upon us. The last bonds of sunlight were stripped from the sky, and wild magic began to flow through me once again. I smiled a pointy-toothed smile as I aimed my sights on Luna. Playtime.
Snatching two throwing knives from my belt, I launched the first knife as Luna drew back for another blow. The blade caught her high on the side of her chest, near the collarbone. Luna flinched and dropped her blade with a grunt, looking down and then changing her focus to me. She grabbed my knife and pulled it free with a grimacing smile.
She started toward me right as Rod took advantage and leapt onto her back, whipping out a length of cloth and slapping it around her face and giving a yank. Her head snapped back and she screeched as she stabbed backward, Rod dodging as he yanked and pulled the cloth into a knot before jumping off. Her hand went up to snatch it away, providing me with my second target.
The second knife struck her torso again, lower down this time for a crumpling pain. Her muscles contracted and she folded for a moment with a grunt. By this time Rod had re-pulled a good length of rope from his pocket and created a knotted loop. In one movement he flung the rope around her neck and ran for the edge of the roof. Luna was yanked off her feet, sliding on her back with a small trail of blood trailing across the rooftop. Luna managed to reach up, grab the rope with one hand while my knife glittered in her other, when Rod reached the edge. He jumped.
There wasn’t enough time. Luna catapulted off the roof, screaming as she fell. A burst of magic, and the noise was cut short.
I waited a moment for the theatric reveal of Rod’s trick. Soon enough his top-hat popped over the edge followed quickly by his face. He flashed me a grin and climbed his way to the rooftop, opening his hand to reveal a thick paste of putty, using his other hand to peel it off. “Not so silly when you can manipulate adhesive properties,” he said while wiggling the round lump.
“And Luna?”
“Stuck my end of the rope to the side of the building,” he said, pulling a small plastic container from a pocket and shoving the putty inside. “It’ll stick there for a bit before the whole thing gives out and she falls. You can go look for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“I heard the scream,” I said, waving him off. He shrugged, putting the putty away while grabbing out another bit of rope, braided with various colors. He began testing it out, tugging on one end and watching as the rope grew in length. He smiled at it and, catching my look, smiled at me again before moving off. I was always glad when he was on my side.
I rounded the corner to where Layla’s scent was the strongest, calling for her. A shimmer off to my left, and Layla’s head poked out from seemingly nothing.
“Come on,” I said, extending my hand to help her up. “Coast is clear for a moment.”
She took it and stood, the cape shifting in the air and turning back into a piece of camouflage-print fabric. Looking past me at Rod, she asked in a lowered voice, “how do you know him, again?”
“He’s an old…frenemy.”
“An old what?”
I rolled my eyes and started walking. “We’ve tried to both kill each other and save each other in a perpetual cycle for…various reasons. Thankfully for us both he owes me one.”
Her face had dropped as I talked. When she struggled to ask the next question, I cut her off with a slight shrug. “It is what it is,” and turned to walk off. Layla let off a little annoyed growl and trotted after me.
