Seconds to Midnight: A Maiden of Midnight Prequel

Cain- Day Three

Destiny didn’t get back until just past two in the morning, her hood pulled up over her head, her Assassin uniform folded over her arm. She was wearing a sweat-soaked pair of the grey t-shirts and grey sweatpants they used to train in the Dome, her face coated in a thin sheen of sweat. I eyed her as she pushed into my room, angling for my bathroom, peeling her cloak off and tossing it over the back of my desk chair, as well as a stack of papers in a thin white file. There was no name on the file, nor any kind of marking to discern whose files she had stolen.

“You were training?”

“I needed something to do,” she groaned, rolling her shoulders. I heard the bones in them crack, my cousin moaning quietly. Shucking her shirt and pants off, she left them where they fell on the floor, already shoving open the door to my bathroom, leaving it open as she twisted the tap for the bath. She was still in her underwear, but I turned away anyway, my attention shifting back to the TV show I was watching.

Under her skin, the bone armour she possessed crackled, popping, and she reached down, plucking a shard of glass from her calf, tossing it into the bin, where I heard it shatter. The Dome utilised methods for training that would have most people arrested for torture.

“What’s your new record?”

“Three-hundred-and-fifty,” she sighed, sounding disappointed in herself, “Only two above the Demonic-being under me on the Dome scoring board.” I tossed her a fresh bar of soap that I summoned, as well as her usual passionfruit bodywash. She caught both, sinking into the bath and massaging her muscles, tipping her head back to the ceiling, my bathroom mirror already fogging up, obscuring her where she laid just around the corner of the door. Destiny needed boiling hot water to enjoy a bath. Like with everything else; emotions, killing, compliments- if it wasn’t on the extreme end of the scale, it wasn’t enough for her.

“Your skills are unparalleled, Des. Forget the pull-ups and focus on what you’re good at.”

“Failing?” She muttered sourly.

“Killing,” I corrected, dipping my chin to the file, knowing she was watching me through that mirrored glass just as I was watching her, “What’s the paperwork for?”

“Do you remember the deal between Zeella and NightShade? The one that fell through?”

“You didn’t!” I hissed even as excitement shot through me, vaulting to my feet and snatching up the papers. The first sheet was an old Dome sign-up sheet, something Des would have stolen to cover the real files had she been stopped and searched, but the sheets under that…

I flicked to them, reading over the entire transcript of the deal, muttering, “…What?”

“It doesn’t make sense to you, either, does it? When I first looked at it, I thought I was having a stroke.”

It didn’t. The words were nonsense, hidden away in some kind of code or cipher, and not one that I recognised. During my time on Earth, I had learnt as many of the ciphers and codes as possible, deeming it necessary, but this one was unfamiliar.

“Zeella’s done this on purpose!” My cousin snapped under her breath, “He knew I would steal it!”

“Which meant he wanted you to. Why?”

“That’s what I’m wondering. He doesn’t do anything for no reason. Did he want to test me?”

“Or does he want you to learn this cipher?”

“He could have just ordered me to learn it. I would have done it.”

I knew she would have. She would do anything if he asked it of her, no matter how destructive or damaging. If Zeella wanted it done, she was the first to stick her hand up and do it. Anything for attention or praise from him.

Lounging in the bath, I saw her reach for her phone, scrolling through it as she relaxed, muttering, “NightShade is pissing me off. He’s there at every turn, blocking my way in.”

“He knew we were coming. Whatever was in this bargain, whatever happened, has led to him expecting us. Expecting you.”

Which made me wonder why. If Zeella had wanted NightShade dead, which he certainly did, to be ordering Destiny onto his tail, why not give us the transcipt? Why warn NightShade ahead of time? The Manor could have hidden its deadliest asset away from him before it was too late, like they had with other victims they had turned down, or became problematic.

Why was NightShade different? It made me nervous, to think that the Manor was playing some kind of game, using Destiny as a pawn instead of a killing piece.

Placing the file pages down, I promised, “I’ll crack the cipher for you. Keep on NightShade’s tail.”

“Believe me, I will. I want him dead.”

Taron Carten was frustrating her. I could see that in the way she tightened her grip on her phone, hear it in the bite of her voice. He’d survived much longer than most did after Destiny was sent out.

“How did hunting down that Vampire woman go?” Des asked, clearly looking for some kind of good news in a whirlwind of horrible endings. Grimacing, I put on my best sympathetic-yet-disgruntled voice, and muttered, “The footage from the library was a bust.” I heard the water shift as my cousin huffed angrily.

“Was Johann lying?”

“I don’t doubt his story, not when he mentioned the Rift, but there’s nothing to go off of. I scoured the library for any sign of what this woman might have found, but it’s gone. She took it with her, whatever it was.”

“He’s meeting with me at the dance tomorrow night. Hopefully he’ll have more information.”

Shit, I hadn’t thought of that… If Destiny was right, and Johann did have something to tell her, no matter how minor, it would set my cousin onto the tracks to discovering what I had.

The Paradoxin Rift was very much active, and not only was it still able to be accessed, the Manor had been integral in opening it the first time around.

Sure, I’d known that it was the Manor who contracted Satalari to discover and open the Rift in an attempt to use it to access Eden, but what I hadn’t known was that there were deeper levels than just Eden. According to the Septem Peccatis, there could be other worlds- places worse than Hell itself. And if those worlds existed, then other creatures, other species, could exist too.

The war hadn’t happened because Satalari had opened the Rift and people had panicked at what it meant. The war happened because something came out of the Rift, and the humans of Earth rightfully dropped a bomb on its head.

Something horrible. Something unnamed.

And whatever it was, it scared even the Manor into dropping the issue. Zeella and Lilith must have known the Rift was still able to be accessed, even if they knew the items for opening it were missing or destroyed, so for them to back off… I needed to check the Caliem Archives. Whatever I could get my hands on.

If I was right in my suspicions, Des had a way to bring her mother back, with devastating consequences. She was emotionally volatile enough that she wouldn’t care for those consequences, not if she got what she wanted.

Not even if something that frightened the Manor came crawling out.

“Cain? Are you even listening to me?”

“Sorry! I was lost in my thoughts. Uh…” It took me a second to remember what she had said, Destiny narrowing her eyes suspiciously at me as she wrapped herself in a towel, “Yeah, Johann should have some more information for you. As for the Vampire woman, I think we’ve exhausted that route.”

I had to find a way to stifle that information, and fast. Before the Manor or my cousin got wind of this whole Rift incident.

I didn’t want to see another world end. I still had nightmares where those bombs were dropped on our heads, or where I was standing in the snow, screaming for my cousin as the final minute of Earth ticked down. If there was even a chance of the Manor starting up that mission again, I was putting it down.

Today, I would spend my time alternating between visiting Johann, and searching our archives. Whatever I found, I would destroy.

“Wait- Johann didn’t say a Vampire woman gave him the information. A Vampire overheard it from a woman. What if we’re looking for the wrong person? You said you searched the library for footage of a Vampire woman, but what if she was just a Korathian? Or another Super-Natural?”

Horror slid over my bones like a coat, except instead of warmth it brought an icy cold over me, worse than the weather of Caliem. Destiny was right. I’d destroyed footage of the wrong person. Hiding my panic, since it would let Destiny know something was wrong, I swore, hoping she mistook my second of silence for annoyance. Luckily, she did.

“You go back to the library today and find the right footage,” my cousin commanded, summoning a fresh change of clothes that she quickly pulled on. Black jeans and a long-sleeved, black shirt and leather jacket, “Lydiav is picking up my dress. I’m going to set Nym and Bal’gag on another person from NightShade’s list, since last night’s target is dead.”

I winced. I had seen that footage. The man who Des had been tailing last night had attempted to cross a road while drunk, in the dark, wearing black clothing.

The car that had struck him was travelling fast enough to leave him as nothing more than a mushy smear on the road.

“Where are you going to be?” I called after her as she hurried out of my room. She gave me an exasperated look, like I was an annoying parent enquiring about her afternoon plans with friends, and mumbled under her breath, “Getting my hair done. If I’m going to a dance, I need to look the part.”

“Pardon, Des?” I teased. Vain as my cousin was, she put little thought into weekly manicures or makeup routines. If there was a dance, she might apply makeup, but it was always to make her look more threatening; colder and less approachable. I couldn’t imagine her rosy-cheeked and wearing brightly-coloured eyeshadow. Even if it would have been nice to see her wear normal clothes every once in a while, and not constantly shroud herself in Assassin uniforms.

What was odd about it all was that Destiny didn’t need to go to a salon, not when she could just use her Demi-Sin ability and give herself whatever look she wanted. My power shut the door before she could escape, the lock clicking, and she rattled the door handle.

“Cain! Open the damned door!” Her eagerness to get out only confirmed my suspicions.

My cousin was smart, but she would never be able to outsmart me, just like she could never sneak past Zeella, or eavesdrop on him.

“Why else are you going?” I demanded, and she planted a confused look on her face, slipping another mask on as she sweetly asked, “What ever do you mean, cousin?”

“You could make yourself look as pretty as you liked using your Demi-Sin ability. So why go to a salon? You hate salons.”

The confused look melted away, replaced by a scowl. I grinned smugly.

“Go on, fess up. Why are you actually going?”

Like a child being scolded, she crossed her arms over her chest, stamping her foot as her cheeks flushed bright red with embarrassment.

“Why do you always need to get involved?”

“Because you’re hiding things from me! What’s going on, Des? Is there another mission? Do you know something I don’t?” Was it a bit hypocritical of me to be accusing her of hiding things when I was doing the same? Yeah, it was, but mine was in the best interests of not only her, but the world. She was hiding things because the Dome was teaching her not to trust people, and I didn’t want to be left behind. I was her friend, her ally.

There might come a day when the Dome made her leave everyone behind, when she got herself knee-deep into a mission with a gun against her head and nobody to call. I wanted to be the one person she could always count on to have her back. And if that was going to happen, then I needed her to trust me.

“I’m not hiding anything you don’t already know about. There’s no new missions, I just…” Her voice broke, and she dropped her head into her hands, fresh tears appearing on her face. For a second, I thought it was an act, until the scent of her reached me where I was still sitting on the bed. Shame, embarrassment, defeat- What the Hell was going on?

“Des…” I breathed, and she shook her head, wiping away her tears and angrily demanding, “Open the door, Cain!”

“Not until-”

“Open. The. Door.” Her veins lit up, and knowing that if I didn’t open the door and let her out, there was a good chance she was going to tear me apart, I unlocked it, but reached for my jacket and wallet, realising what she might have needed.

“You need a break.”

She turned her face away, ashamed. The scent of it grew stronger around her body. I was right! She was trying to get away from it all for a bit!

By going somewhere she knew none of her Guardians, myself, or the Manor would ever look for her. At a salon.

She was willing to go to a place she despised just to get away for a couple hours.

“Des, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. You’ve been working on these missions for months. NightShade has been stressful for all of us.”

“If Zeella ever knew…” Her hand fell away from the door handle, her Demi-Sin hiding the tears on her face. She shook her head, and my heart broke.

“There’s nothing wrong with needing a break.”

“Nothing wrong?! The Dome-” Hell below, I hated that place. I hated what it was doing to her, how she couldn’t even rest without feeling like she was failing the Manor. She mattered more than the Manor. Her wellbeing, her mental health.

Hell below, the latter more than anything else. Sarah had struggled to live up to the expectations of the Manor, had broken herself to keep up with it, and look where it got her.

Considering depression could be genetic, I wasn’t risking Destiny, who was already so much like her mother, falling into the same trap. The Manor’s expectations were unreachable. They could never be lived up to. The quicker she realised that, the better it would be for her, and the more of herself would survive this place.

“I need a break, okay?” I exclaimed suddenly, watching her pause in surprise. Her Demi-Sin ability flickered, those tears revealing themselves, “I need a break, and you’re coming along with me to watch my back, got it? You aren’t slacking off.”

Relief made her face crumple, the action suddenly justified in her mind. That was all she needed. A reason for being there.

“But I’m not going to a salon. Let’s catch a movie, and then we’ll go spend some time in the shopping centre.”

She nodded once, summoning a weapon to her side that she shoved into her satchel. It was just a pistol, but the sight of it made me worried. I didn’t want her actually thinking she was my bodyguard today. There was still an air of shame around her, enough that I was desperate to wash it away. Grabbing the keys to the S-Class car, I tossed them to her, savouring the way her eyes lit up excitedly, a little more of that shame dying away. Twisting on her heel, she opened the door, leading me out, only to pause when I said, “Des.”

Looking back at me, she offered me a smile.

“Yeah?”

“Keep the car.”

She blinked in surprise, her eyes sliding down to the keys in her hand, only for me to fold her fingers over them when she stammered, “But- the cost of it-”

“Don’t worry about it. Keep it.” I would have the paperwork transferred to her today.

Her eyes met mine, searching for any lie or trick, and I winked at her.

A delighted grin lit up her face, and she hugged me tightly, breathing, “Thank you, Cain.”

I rubbed her back, breathing in her scent as that shame, the embarrassment, finally disappeared…