Page 2 of Hell’s Weapon

I knew Hades wanted me in on this next round of recruitment games but does he not trust me to pull this off and secure my invitation?

“Back up a second. I don’t need Zephyr’s help! I swear I’ll be sleeping in Darkfield Prison by the end of tomorrow.”

“You said this about the last kill.”

“I underestimated my ability to lower my standards. Trust me, I’m leading the police to this one. I’ve left enough breadcrumbs I’ve basically lit neon signs pointing right to me.”

“So, you’ve sent the message then?” he repeats.

“Yes, I’ve sent the damn message,” I snap.

“You don’t need to use that tone.” Hades’s tone drops an octave.

“You need to trust me.”

“I do, you know that.” His professional voice disappears, and I get my friend on the other end of the line. “You know there is no one else I would trust with this mission, Tacita.” He sighs heavily, and I feel the stress weighing on him even though we are on different planes of existence.

“I will figure this out, I promised you that and I will keep it.” I tell him, turning my back on the mirror and leaning back against the countertop, looking out over the now dark city.

“Good. I’ll see you in a couple of weeks when you arrive with the others.”

“And I’ll pretend to be in absolute awe that you exist.” I chuckle as I roll my eyes. This role really will test me in a lot of ways. I hope my acting is believable because I have no doubt the humans are in for a shock when they get our world revealed to them, let alone the fact they’ve each won the opportunity to interview for some of the most prestigious positions in Hell.

Hades laughs before saying his goodbyes and hanging up.

I pull my makeup bag out of my rucksack next and set to work on winging my eyes with the liquid liner I can’t go without. And my signature plum lip stain. The mission runs through my head as my hands work by muscle memory.

You see, I’m not just a hitman or an assassin. I’m Hades’s Assassin. I’m one of his closest demons, part of his inner circle. I’ve worked for him for over three centuries and in that time, he hasn’t just become my boss and my leader, he’s become a close friend. Him and his husband both have.

So, when the last set of games got infiltrated by the Angels a decade ago, I eagerly took the request to go undercover at the next ones. The ones starting in a couple of weeks. And the importance of the mission increased when we gained intel that the games are going to be interfered with again. Although, we’ve yet to figure out how.

And I’m abandoning the persona I’ve built over the last three hundred years, for everyone knows me as the silent assassin, the Death Bringer. For this to work I need to be undercover. Thus, I’m stripping off my mask, showing my real face, and going human.

What could go wrong?

Packing up my gear, I move to the lounge, pouring myself a long measure of whiskey as I go. Turning on the fire and settling into the plush leather armchair, I wait for the police to come.

Chapter 2

Garrick

Fuck the devil. I thought a few of the guards under my control were useless fuckwits.

Some of the work done on this case is shoddy at best; it’s laughable. No wonder this killer has managed to hit fifteen targets before they’ve got within a mile of them.

I have no idea why Hades wants this particular serial killer to be one of the contestants in this round of recruitment, considering they seem fairly new to the crime scene, but I wasn’t going to argue. He pulled several strings to have me brought in as a consultant on this case to effectively speed up the detective work and bring her in before the games launched in a couple of weeks’ time.

Like I needed the extra work. I was busy enough with the crew trying to set up the compound we’d be calling home for the next three months. When I’d accepted the role of Directing Officer for the next intake, I hadn’t had this in mind. No, I should be in Hell, ensuring all the security there was being properly organised. After nobody survived the last games, I needed to guarantee we were on the ball. The Angels were going to fuck with this over my dead body. And I wasn’t planning on joining the afterlife any time soon.

I loathed being on this plane too. Humans were too messy, too unclean. My skin felt grimy just by breathing their air.

But, as I mentioned, no one argues with Hades’s orders. So I was just going to need to get this done as quickly as possible and get the fuck outta here. With my ninety-eight recruits in tow.

We just had to find number Ninety-Eight first.

“Sir?” One of the junior detectives knocks on my open door. I look up from the pictures I’m studying, they’re of the last few murder victims Ninety-Eight left. She’s really ramped up the display element of her kills. And yes, because of me they’d finally started searching for female killers. Until this point they’d been solely trying to piece together a male profile despite the evidence to the contrary.

“Yes,” I answer bluntly, looking up to meet his gaze.