The Ghost Killer

Malcom stared down at his tray for a long time and his eyes seemed to cloud over like he wasn't completely here anymore. I was about to ask him if he was okay, tell him he didn't have to answer me if he didn't want to, when he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"I have a little sister," his voice was quiet and held a gentle fondness. "Her name's Dahlia, after our mom's favorite flower. She just turned twelve this year, is the splitting image of our mother, and she's never seen me before."

My brow raised in confusion and shock. "I assume your parents are no longer together?"

He laughed and shook his head. "Dad died shortly after she was born and mom never remarried."

"Forgive me if I'm a little confused how she's never seen you before."

His smile grew wider though it was still a little sad. "Sorry, it's a bit of a joke. Dahlia was born blind."

I smacked his arm. "Your jokes are terrible!"

"She tells me that all the time," his smile fell. "You asked why I became an assassin. She's why. With dad gone we had no income and Dahlia needed someone to watch over her. I didn't want my mom to have to work so I picked up odd jobs as soon as I was old enough."

"Which eventually led to assassin work."

He nodded. "At first it was things like construction or farm work, you know things a younger kid could do, then it turned into mercenary stuff once I got a bit older. One day, about three years ago, I was approached by a hooded man."

I tried to hide a snicker but the look be gave me said he heard it. "I'm sorry it's just, it's a very cliché way to become an assassin."

"What, you're telling me you just woke up one morning and decided that being an assassin was your life's calling and went for it?"

"It was a little more thought out than that but yes," I shrugged, "that's pretty much how I got into it."

"Well cliché or not, the man who approached me said he'd been watching me from the shadows for months and said he was looking for an apprentice. He knew about my sister and the financial needs of my family and promised that they would never want for anything if I followed him."

"So you trained under him."

"I told him to fuck off," Malcolm smirked. "I didn't believe a single thing he said, it all sounded too good to be true. But he was persistent. Ever single job I took from that day on he always found me at the end of it and every time he was give me the same promises. This went on on six months before I finally agreed to let him train me. I did it mostly to shut him up but I had to admit that his persistence was admirable."

"What was his name? I may have known him."

He shook his head. "I did get his name but I doubt you knew him, he wasn't from around here and he hadn't taken a job in a year or so, it's partly why he wanted an apprentice. He had no children so an apprentice was closest thing he would ever get to having an heir," he looked up at me and saw I was still waiting to hear his masters name. "Weston was his name, Weston Harrow. Not that knowing his name will do much"

"Why is that?"

"Because I killed him," he huffed, like he had been keeping that inside himself for a long time. "He was already up there in years and I noticed as my training continued that he was getting slower, his reactions weren't as smooth, and I was beating far more often than I usually would have been able to. I started taking contracts a year and half ago and six months into becoming a fully trained assassin he got sick, like really sick. I took a break to take care of him but he didn't want that for me, he wanted me to take care of my sister and my mother, that was the whole reason for me going through all that training. So he put a contract on himself and handed it to me personally. I didn't want to kill him but he was in so much pain."

I glanced at Malcolm with sympathy as his voice broke and his eyes watered. Weston was the closest thing to father he had after his passed. I reached out and gave his shoulder a few soft pats. "You gave him peace Malcolm. Weston was stubborn as all hells but he was still a good man."

His head snapped up. "You knew him?"

"I did. We actually met on a job when I first started doing assassin work myself, both of us picked up the same contract to take out a corrupt mayor. I think that may have been one of his last jobs now that I think about it," I smiled as I reminisced but it quickly fell. "Weston would have trained to have morals similar to our group here, he didn't believe in killing innocent people. What made you turn against your own teachings?"

"Money can corrupt even the best of us," he sighed and looked disappointed in himself. "I wanted Dahlia to have the best things in life. I hired her a personal tutor so she could get an education because I knew that if we sent her to school with all those other kids then they would have torn her apart for being born different. I wanted my mother to never have to work another day in her life so I do everything I can to make sure she lives comfortably but the best paid jobs were always the morally grey ones. But in order to take those jobs I couldn't be Malcolm Trace anymore, I had to be someone different, someone who wasn't so soft, so I became someone else."

"The Ghost Killer," I ran my fingers through my hair with a sigh. "I can't say I don't understand where you're coming from, because I do, and it's admirable that you want to give your sister and mother a good life but what would they think knowing you killed innocent people?"

"There's a reason I do my best not to be seen. I don't want knowledge of what I do to get back to them. They think I'm still just a very well paid mercenary and I would like to keep it that way."

"Don't worry I have no intention of telling your family what you do. For one that would require me knowing where they are and secondly, it wouldn't serve any purpose to me since I would like to get you to work for us," I held my hand out and helped him up. "My rules still apply though. Double cross us in any way and you'll be sent back to your family in a coffin. I don't want to kill you, Malcolm, but this is my family here. Understand?"

He gave me a small grin and nodded. "Yeah, I understand. So how much longer do I have to sleep in that cage? Not that you haven't been hospitable for me being a prisoner but it does get pretty boring in there."

"I'll talk to the other's and see what I can do."

As if on cue, Lyon walked downstairs, stretching his arms above his head and was halfway through a yawn. He paused at the bottom and glanced between us. "Jayde said you were training him a bit. How'd he do?"

I shrugged. "Not horrible but he could definitely use some guidance in hand to hand. I haven't given him a weapon yet."

Lyon walked over to our weapon racks. "Looks like that will be my job then," he jerked his head to the stairs. "Kari wants you," as I walked past him he grabbed my wrist and pulled me closer so he could whisper to me. "I didn't tell her but I think Zierra might have mentioned it to her."

I nodded slowly, feeling dread creeping up my neck. "She's going to kill me isn't she?"

"I'd go prepared for sure, she definitely didn't look happy."

I groaned and climbed up the stairs, feeling very much like a child that knew they were about to be scolded by their parents.