Chapter Five #2
The demon ruffled through his pockets. They had a miniature? Sera never sat for one, so Cole must have had that sketched from memory. It would be endearing if it wasn’t creepy and a little deranged.
Sera scooted closer to the small tower of barrels.
Triangles and numbers popped through her thoughts as she attempted to decipher the weight distribution.
She just had to reach the base of the structure before they noticed or sensed her intent.
While she tallied, movement above caught her eye.
A shadow flickered over the rectangle of sky not blocked by buildings. Somewhere on the roof.
Sera checked to see if anyone else had noticed, but their attention was on identifying her.
The demon procured the miniature and unfolded it. He held it up so that the other two could lean in and compare her face to the drawing. Sera smiled and gave a little wave, halting her movement toward the barrels.
“Yeah, see? It’s the spittin’ image,” said the demon.
She was out of time. If she leapt, she’d make it in one move. Sera threw her weight at the tower, slamming into the closest barrel. Pain erupted in her side, but she could deal with bruises when she was safe.
The load bearing barrel shifted and offset the balance of the tower.
The entire structure teetered until the top barrel tumbled over and hit a loose board.
Which knocked over the ladder. Which hit the bucket.
Which rolled to the edge of the balcony.
Which knocked the broom handle. Which crashed into the largest pot.
Which tipped precariously along the lip of the balcony wall.
Thankfully, every eye was absorbed in following the ripples in her chain. The demon stared straight up as the pot finally gave to gravity and smashed over his face. Sera dashed for the exit.
“Hey!” The woman—definitely a guardian, if her reflexes were any indication—snatched her arm before Sera could get away. Sera struggled against immense strength, not the sort that she could fight. Her wiggling was merely an annoyance, but panic had started to set in.
Swallowing her fear, Sera spun in the woman’s grip, lowering her lashes.
“Please, I’m sure we can work something out.
” Sera searched for signs of reception so she could pivot accordingly.
“Find some arrangement that works for both of us, perhaps?” She attempted siren, but adrenaline had caused her voice to falter. The woman raised a brow.
“Not likely,” she said, then added, “bit too femme for my taste.”
Sera’s jaw clenched. “Money, then? I’ve got money.”
“Not enough, lass,” the grimm said, her voice husky and lower in tone, “And before you go trying your feminine wiles on me, I ain’t biting either.”
Well, this isn’t great. Three goons sent after her and not one found her desirable? Fuck Cole. He sent these specific goons on purpose.
She hoped they were not here to kill her. If they were only sent to retrieve her, she had time to devise a plan.
Sera gave one last burst of strength to free herself, shocked when her arm sprang free. She had prepared to use a lot more force and the momentum launched her to the ground. A scream tore through the air as Sera scrambled to her feet.
An arrow shaft jutted from the guardian woman’s shoulder, blood oozing to stain her shirt.
Clenching her teeth, she yanked the arrow out with a splatter of blood and a grunt.
The grimm woman’s eyes searched for the source of the arrow, but there was nothing but darkness above.
The sun was setting fast and ambient light from the street and buildings would not reach this far.
Twang. Another arrow. A scream. The guardian fell to her knees as it sank into her calf.
Two more arrows in quick succession stuck like pins through the grimm woman’s clothes, fixing her to the back door of a shop.
Sera didn’t take her eyes off the shadows, still wary of this new person's intentions and the payment they’d require for saving her. Hopefully, the notes she held would suffice and she could walk away from this.
A lithe figure maneuvered from the roof with a mix of jumps, twists, and wall kicks that made Sera dizzy, before landing with a bent knee at Sera’s feet.
A woman, hair tied in a braid over her shoulder, looked up through a black mask that concealed her face. “That was impressive,” she said, rising to her full height. Which, was taller than Sera, but not exactly ‘tall.’
“I’ll say,” Sera agreed, breathless. Something about the stranger’s crooked, but sunny smile and pretty brown eyes was calming, almost reassuring. Sera wouldn’t drop her guard, but she was no longer poised to run. “You’re a hell of a shot.”
The masked stranger laughed. “No, I meant the flowerpot thing. How’d you know it would hit him?”
“Oh, I just…” Sera blushed. She didn’t want to reveal her inadequacies if she could avoid it. She might say the wrong thing and risk revealing that she was stupid. “Lucky guess.”
The masked stranger’s lips quirked. “Didn’t look like luck to me.
” She began to pull rope from her belt. She wore a guardian uniform—fitted leather and boots often worn by female guardians.
Current fashion still required skirts and bodices.
Sera remembered the ensemble from when her brother went to the free academy for guardians as a child.
Having the Divine’s blood was a genetic quirk that could show up in any family or bloodline.
Even though Sera and Gideon were twins, she was as human as their parents and Gideon got to be strong and special.
If this woman was a guardian, that would explain her abilities, at least.
The masked stranger tied the unconscious demon up first, securing his arms behind his back. As she worked, a blare of bells broke the white noise of the city.
She looked up. “That’ll be the Watchmen. I’ll have these goons tied up before they get here.”
“You’ve made yourself an enemy, bitch. Hawthorne will get us out and then you’ll pay.” The guardian said just before she was gagged and restrained.
“Hawthorne? He works for Wraith?” The masked stranger asked, her voice lacking any hint of fear or indication that she was intimidated.
“Yes,” Sera answered. The masked stranger yanked her arrows free of the guardian’s leg, cleaned them on her thigh, and returned them to her sheath. The stranger ignored the muffled grunts of pain, nodding along with Sera’s answer.
“Oh,” she said, moving on to the grimm, “you mean Cole. The drug runner, right?”
The stranger freed her first arrow from pinning the grimm woman, who seized the moment to lunge forward.
The masked stranger deftly rolled and slipped a knife from her boot as she kicked out at the grimm’s legs.
The arrow still buried in the door tore through fabric as she went crashing to the ground.
In a blink, the stranger’s knife was at the grimm’s throat.
“Try that again. I dare you.” Her threat was met with bared teeth and implied compliance. “They called you Blair? Sera, I think it was?” The masked stranger directed at Sera, her knee on the grimm’s back.
Sera nodded.
“Sera, mind tying her for me? Once those Watchmen show up I have to make myself scarce, if you get me.” She held out a fresh line of rope and Sera took it, tying the grimm until she couldn’t so much as wiggle.
The masked stranger rose to her feet and dusted off her hands.
“Thank you for the help, Sera. I’m…” Her nose scrunched, lip curling.
“Well, the papers want to call me the Emerald Archer ever since I stopped that jewel thief and the Watchmen only call me ‘the Rogue’ which, is entirely inaccurate and so does not fit the mood I’m trying to convey. ”
“What do you want to be called?” Sera asked, a bit startled when the masked woman’s face lit up, the sunny smile reaching the soft brown of her eyes.
“No one has ever asked,” she said, bouncing on her feet and vibrating with giddy energy.
“Okay, so my first thought was, I must include the ‘Archer’ part, the papers had that right. I mean.” She gestured to the bow, raising an eyebrow like she was asking Sera to be impressed.
“And ‘emerald’ doesn’t sound terrible, but I’m not defined by one botched robbery, you know?
So. Okay. How’s this?” She spread out her hands as she spoke, looking up as if picturing her name being written before her eyes. “The Lady Archer.”
Sera couldn’t help but smile, the woman’s cheer was infectious. “The Lady Archer it is.”
The Lady Archer pumped her arm in the air, doing a small leap and landing without a sound. “Tell anyone who asks, okay? The Lady Archer. It feels so validating to have a proper name, you have no idea.”
While the Lady Archer finished securing Cole’s henchmen, Sera realized they were nearing the end of their association. Which meant it was time to pay up.
“Thank you for the help. Will money suffice?”
“Money?” The Lady Archer quirked her brow, as if she had never heard the word before.
“For helping me. I assume you want something. I’m hoping it’s just money. Though, I guess after my previous prospects,” she gestured to the goons bound and gagged, “You’re an improvement.”
The Lady Archer’s smile was just as sunny, just as comforting. “Thanks, I think? But I don’t take payment.”
“Everyone wants payment,” Sera countered. “Or do you expect me to believe you beat up thugs in alleys just for the kicks?”
“Yes, exactly. The kicks. That’s a good way to put it. I have the skills and this is better practice than any. You should have seen me when I first started, the arrows went backward more often than not. Plus, I mean, what else is there to do?”
Sera was about to press that no one in the world worked for free, that everyone was out for themselves, but then footsteps reverberated through the alley. The Lady Archer darted in front of Sera, shielding her as she drew her bow and notched an arrow in one fluid motion.