InsaneJournal

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“And another one bites the dust,” quipped Ventin as he tugged his dagger from the belly of the man he crouched over, absently digging into his pockets. “You’d think they’d have stopped trying after all these years.”

His twin snorted from behind him and delicately wiped blood from her own blade.

“One would think,” she muttered. Then she frowned and nudged one of the thieves corpses with her bare toes – like their father, she had sharp claws on her feet and preferred his method of footwear, which was just wrapping up her feet in leather and lashing rope around them in places. “How’d they know we were back in town, though?”

Ventin shrugged as he stood up, replying, “Beats me.” He tucked away a few coins and a dagger into his long coat, scuffing his boots in the dirt to hide the blood that had spattered over them. Then he nodded towards the end of the alley and continued, “Mom and Dad are waiting on us.”

“True,” muttered Miralla. “Still…this is suspicious. You don’t think Wills…”

“Mir, he’s head over heels in love with you, I don’t think he’s going to go and betray us to the Guild.”

She scowled at that since she preferred not to think about the crush the older boy had on her. Even if he was the son of fellow thieves that her parents trusted, she just wasn’t ready for that yet. And probably would never be because she wasn’t a nice person as their father was wont to say – “Just like me”, he remarked with a smile.

Ventin had always been the nicer of the two of them, though he hid that under a veneer of sarcasm and vicious street fighting.

“Anyway, c’mon. We’ll leave this mess for the guards.”

“Alrigh’,” she started then stiffened and looked upwards at the roofs of the buildings that loomed above them. “Ven!”

He followed her gaze up and growled as figures appeared there, cackling drifting down to their ears. “Damn,” he hissed. “Should’a figured it for a trap.”

“Well now,” queried a voice from above, “what have we here, boys? Have some little birds wandered into our nest?”

There were a few chuckles at that and Miralla sneered before blurring into motion, her hand flashing to her belt. Above them one shadow stiffened then collapsed, the hilt of one of her throwing daggers buried in its eye. The apparent leader sniffed then applauded slowly before saying, “Impressive. Though you missed if I was your target.”

“That was just a warning shot,” she snapped. Smirking, she flashed three more blades then tucked them away under her hand so they seemed to disappear. “Next time it’ll be you, the one with the high-pitched laugh, and the one leering down my shirt.”

There was a cough from above and the leader chuckled.

“Oh you are most definitely a child of Carus. Come now, m’girl, we’ll let you live if you just tell us where your father is.”

“Like we’d do that!” snarled Ventin.

“If you don’t, we’ll be forced to take measures I do not wish to,” hissed the leader. “Measures that I don’t think you would particularly like, boy.”

Ventin stiffened and shifted a step closer to his twin, wincing as the man laughed.

“Smarter than you look then. Now are you two going to cooperate?”

“Drop dead!” shouted Miralla, her eyes flashing angrily. Ventin brushed his fingers across the back of her hand then drew his daggers as he dropped into an attack stance.

“So be it,” said the leader. He waved a hand and added, “You will regret this, I dare say. Go, boys!”

“Get to the roof if you can,” hissed Ventin as he pressed his back to his twin’s.

“I’m not leaving you,” snarled Miralla, glaring briefly over her shoulder.

“You can actually get away from here faster than they can catch you. Warn Mom and Dad.”

“I’m not leaving you. We’ll get out of here together or not at all.”

Ventin growled at that. “Mir, I have to run. You can glide. Which of us do you think is damn well more equipped to get away?”

She frowned at that but knew it was true. They both had been born with wings like their father’s but while hers continued to grow, Ventin’s hadn’t after they turned six. He was forced to walk everywhere just the same as their mother whilst she was able to hop from the top of building to building alongside their father.

“I can’t leave you,” she hissed, feeling her chest tighten at the very thought. He was her twin, the other half that made her whole – she could always feel him there in the back of her mind through that tentative connection twins always have. Being without him was something she had always feared and tried to not think about.

“If you don’t,” he hissed, wings rustling, “Mom and Dad will have no idea of what’s going on. Go, Mir! Please.”

Miralla frowned then said, “Give me a way up, brother.”

“As you wish, sister,” Ventin replied. Then he dove away from her, burying one dagger in a man’s throat and swiping the other across another’s face. She leapt and kicked out, clawed toes slashing through a shirt to the skin and sending a man screaming backwards.

Her arm blurred and three throwing daggers darted through the air, finding their targets just as she wanted. Then she spun, burying her elbow in one’s throat, then opened her wings wide to surprise a man and woman as she slammed then back against the wall.

“Mir!”

Miralla spun at Ventin’s cry and saw him kick one burly thief in the face then cup his hands as he stood on top of him and several other men thrown into a pile. She darted forward and leapt, her foot finding his cupped hands easily.

“Be safe,” she hissed just before he grunted and tossed her upwards towards the roof. One of his daggers swooped past her and knocked back the man ready to grab her upon her landing.

She flared her wings and dropped to the roof, darting across it the moment her feet landed. Behind her she heard the leader screaming and the sound that was most definitely Ventin in pain but forced herself to keep going.

Her goal was to get to their parents. All she could do was hope her twin would be okay.

Behind in the alley, Ventin grinned through the blood on his face as he hung between two thieves, chuckling darkly. The leader of the group sneered down at him then grabbed his chin harshly, spitting, “When I find your sister, boy, I’m going to be sure she hurts. That I promise you.”

“You don’t know my family obviously,” Ventin said. He kept on grinning as he continued, “Trust me, you aren’t going to be hurting my sister. Our father will make sure of that.”

“What about you?” snarled the leader.

“I’m not afraid to bleed for my family.”

“Well I hope you hold onto that. Because you’re going to bleed a great deal for them.”

He jerked his head and the two thieves jerked Ventin upright, dragging him away into more back alleys. Between them he hung limply and just smiled, closing his eyes.

He had no doubt that this would hurt.

But he knew his father, mother, and sister would come back for him. And they would leave a swath of death behind them that would be the talk of the city for years to come.