Tex (Council Assassins #21)

Chapter One

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“DEMONS?” TEX ASKED.

His boss nodded. He was leaning back in his chair on the other side of his desk, his arms crossed over his chest. His expression was serious, but then, their conversation was serious.

This wasn’t what Tex had expected when Gregory had asked him to come to his office.

To be honest, he wasn’t sure what he’d expected.

He hadn’t been working his job for long, and he was still a little jumpy.

Sometimes, he wondered if he’d done the right thing accepting it.

He’d trained to be a council assassin, and unlike a few of the people he trained with, he hadn’t minded the job.

It wasn’t his favorite, but he believed it was something that needed to be done, and he’d been willing to do it.

When he’d been offered another job with the council that would’ve kept him in town instead of sending him all over the country or even the world, he’d jumped on it.

He hadn’t regretted it yet, but there was time. He enjoyed the steadiness, though.

“I was as surprised as you are,” Gregory said. “But Intel doesn’t lie. There’s an entire network of them selling their magical services to humans, including for assassinations.”

“Which isn’t far off from what the council does.”

Gregory frowned. “The council doesn’t sell its assassins’ services. We don’t kill people for money.”

“Of course not.” They killed people when they couldn’t deal with them in any other way, and it was deserved.

They made mistakes sometimes, though. Tex would never forget that they’d almost had his friend’s mate killed just because he shared a name with someone else.

It had been a supervisor’s fault, not the council’s, but still.

They’d risked killing an innocent person and destroying Orlando’s life.

Tex would never forget that, and it made him glad that he worked for the council.

It meant he could keep an eye out for that kind of mistake and do everything he could to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.

Still, he found it awkward to remember that he’d trained to do what these demons were doing, but instead of being stopped, he’d been encouraged.

The council wouldn’t allow the demons to continue, but the question was more complicated than telling them to stop.

Demons had a member on the council, but most of them were isolated.

They didn’t want to mingle with shifters or even humans.

They wanted to be left alone in their hidden towns, and there was nothing the council could do about that.

But now that demons were working against the council, the council was certainly going to try. “What will the council do about these people?”

“They don’t want to start trouble. As you know, demons aren’t easy to work with.

We also don’t know for sure what we’re dealing with.

The council believes that we should gather more information first, and I agree.

That’s where you come in. We’d like you to go to Starhaven, one of the demon towns from which this network is apparently operating, and find out more about what’s happening.

If the council is going to try to stop this, they want names.

They want details. They want to be able to put together a file that the demons won’t be able to refute. ”

This wasn’t what Tex had expected. He hadn’t thought that this job would surprise him in any way, but so far, it had been anything but boring.

He might have agreed to continue working out of the facility where the assassins were trained, but it looked like he wouldn’t stay there.

“I’m a supervisor,” he said. “That isn’t my job. ”

“I’m aware,” Gregory told him. “But you’ve been trained as an assassin. You’re not working as one, but you are one. That’ll help you on this job. It means that I don’t have to use one of the official assassins. They’re busy enough that I can’t afford to lose one of them for a few weeks.”

Tex tapped his fingertips on his thigh. “A few weeks?”

“You need to go to Starhaven and find a way in. Hell, you’re going to need to find the town first. As you know, demons hide the places where they live behind magic.

Once you do find Starhaven, you’ll have to sneak in, and of course, when you’re inside, you’ll need to ensure that no one notices you.

At the same time, you’ll have to find the network we’ve heard of, identify its members, and hopefully, some of their customers, watch them to see what they’re doing, and put together all that information.

I hope for you that you’ll be able to be home soon, but there’s no guarantee. ”

“And the council can’t send someone else?”

“They could. They want to be sure this is done the right way, though.” Gregory leaned forward. “I know this isn’t what you signed up for.”

“In a way, it is. I did train as an assassin, as you pointed out.”

“But you decided not to become one.”

“I still work here.”

“Not as an assassin. An assassin isn’t what we need here, though. We don’t need anyone dead.”

Gregory didn’t say it, but Tex still heard the yet.

As much as the council insisted that they tried never to kill people unless they didn’t have a choice, Tex was sure that sometimes, it was the easiest way to deal with things.

If they wanted to stop this network of demons, they’d need the cooperation of other demons, and there was no way to know if those demons would agree to help.

Even if they did, the council knew little about demon magic.

A few demons lived away from the rest of their people, from what Tex had heard, and they’d given the council information, but it wasn’t enough.

The council needed to be sure before someone got killed, and if they had to get rid of a few members of this network to ensure it didn’t hurt people the council was supposed to protect, they would.

“Okay, so you want me to do this. Who’s going to supervise my assassins in the meantime?”

Gregory grimaced. “I know what you’re thinking, but you don’t have to worry. No one else is almost going to get killed because of a mistake. I’ll personally take care of it.”

Tex arched a brow. “You’ll personally supervise my assassins?”

“It’s what I used to do before, you know?”

“I’m aware. You were promoted, though.”

“I was. But I know what I’m doing when it comes to your job. You can go and don’t have to worry about what will happen here.”

Tex didn’t fully understand why he’d been chosen.

He got the logic of not wanting an assassin to do this because they were trained to kill people rather than spy on them, but the same could be said about him.

As long as an assassin’s orders were not to kill someone, they could do surveillance jobs and follow people around.

“Look, they asked me to choose someone, and I chose you,” Gregory said as he leaned forward.

“I trust you. I know you better than any of these assassins because I work with you every day. You can say no, and I’ll understand, but I hope you’ll say yes.

I need to trust the person I’m sending out there.

I need to know they won’t do anything stupid, like following an order that clearly shouldn’t have been given.

I also need someone I can trust to have some authority.

You might have to make decisions that some of the assassins would struggle with. ”

Tex understood that. Some of them were too rigid in how they followed orders. Some of them fully believed that whatever the council ordered, they had to do. It wasn’t how Tex worked, though. It wasn’t how he wanted to work. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt, like Orlando’s mate almost had.

He was also curious about demons. He’d never met one.

He wanted to see demons. He never had, but he’d heard about a few of them.

He knew they didn’t look human. He also knew they had magic, and that was something else he was interested in.

“As long as I can trust that someone will keep an eye on my assassins, I’ll do it,” he said.

Gregory grinned. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll do it.”

Somehow, that didn’t reassure Tex as much as it should.

* * * *

NYMON PUSHED SOME OF his magic into the growing tomato plant.

He had to be careful. Too much magic, and the growth would be too fast. He wouldn’t get to enjoy watching the plant grow and give him fruit.

It was part of why he liked gardening, so he made sure that he only gave the plant enough to thrive.

It was a little more than he would usually give, but that was because it wasn’t tomato season.

He couldn’t wait for summer to start. He always loved his garden when the weather was warm.

That was what he had to look forward to. It was his life, and he told himself he was content with it as he listened to his podcast. It was a ridiculous story about someone’s father writing a book, and while he knew it didn’t reflect the way humans really were, like always, it made him wonder.

He’d never met a human. He’d seen plenty of them on TV, but he’d been born in Starhaven, and the town was the only thing he’d ever known. It was the only thing he would ever know for the rest of his life. They weren’t allowed to leave, and if they did, they wouldn’t be welcomed back.

Some days, that felt worth it.

But Nymon had a family. He had a best friend, who was more important to him than his parents or anyone else.

He couldn’t leave him behind. Besides, what would he do around humans?

He didn’t have any money. He wouldn’t be able to survive in that world, not from what he’d seen on TV and had read on the Internet.

Humans knew about demons, but they didn’t see them often, and when they did, they were either fascinated or terrified.

Nymon didn’t think he could deal with that.