Ch8 - Purpura

One day all will fear the color purple.

The male sat, thinking intently.
Damiaan was in his assassin's armor.
There was a knock at the door, before it opened.
In walked a male, with crazy hair, and an eccentric look to him.
"Ah, hello." He closed the door behind himself.
"I was worried I wouldn't be able to find it, there are so many doors.
Yet yours is the only purple door."
Damiaan just stared to the male.
"Right!" he came over and sat down.
"So, I was sent to...
Offer my services.
As a contract rep, met clients, collect down payments, negotiate contracts, all on your behalf."
The eccentric male stared at Damiaan who stared back.
Suddenly the male gasped, "RIGHT!" he shuffled thru his bag.
He pulled out a piece of pitch black paper, offering it to Damiaan.
Damiaan took it, and examined it, he then set it down on the table.
The eccentric male waited, looking excited.
Damiaan looked back to him, before giving a small hand wave encouraging the male to speak.
"Ah, so in truth I've never worked with an assassin before.
However, I believe I will be most useful to you!
I've recently opened a little shop, and thru various contacts I've acquired many things.
I can use these contacts to spread your name, and find potential clients.
Using my storefront, I can easily scrub blood off any money.
I'm also a bit of a tinkerer, so if desired I could put some tech together for you.
Oh! But my store deals in antiques as well, so I can easily encourage a plethora of information from people.
Get maps of places, like maps of ancient runes, or old maps of a city's underbelly.
Could be useful for sneaky entrances or exits.
So many cities are built on top of old cities."
He paused to catch his breath.
Damiaan did like what the male offered.
He didn't need tech, but what if at one point he did?
And maps, of forgotten places... Very useful.

"I was told little about you, mainly that you didn't speak.
And curiosity has the better of me.
Would you mind if I asked... yes or no, questions?
I mean, I know you decide if we'll work together...
But if I don't know anything about you, then I can't properly help you.
So, may I?"
Damiaan sat back in his chair and shrugged, before nodding.
He liked this one, he'd met nearly a dozen possible reps.
"Ah! Thank you." He took out a notebook.
"So, first question.
Seems obvious.
Contracts on the royal family?"
He shook his head.
"I figured, given who sent me.
Next, have you decided on a... marker.
Something to claim a kill as yours?"
Damiaan thought and shook his head no.
The male kept scribbling down info.
"Ah, I wasn't sure.
You should pick something unique.
At least while you're still gaining prestige.
Okay, is there family I must be concerned with?
In case I need to create a safe haven, or-"
Damiaan shook his head no, even though he did have family.
But they did not require any help.
They'd survived this long without help, they would keep doing so.
The male nodded.
"Okay, I have so many questions...
But this one isn't yes or no...
I was curious what your assassination talents are.
I mean, if your talents are tech, we can use that to our advantage.
But avoid targets who might have an advantage against us."
Damiaan created a small ball of blood in his hand.
"Wha- what is that?"
Damiaan reached offering it.
The male took it, and it lost its ball form.
"It's blood!" he shouted, examining it as the blood began to drip from his hands.
"You can control blood? That's amazing.
Geez, I can't imagine a lot of potential targets would even have a way to prepare against such a thing."
Damiaan shrugged, and the blood quickly pulled and flowed back into his armor.
"That is very impressive.
I will ensure to do research into any potential threats.
Do you happen to know any targets that are immune to your skills?"
Damiaan nodded.
"Who?! Wait, you can't-"
Damiaan pointed to the black paper.
The male looked then went wide-eyed, "The royal family!
Of course. They are shadow demons.
They don't bleed, it makes sense.
Know of any others?"
Damiaan shook his head no.
"Alright, I'll make sure to do research.
Make sure you're never surprised."
The male scribbled down some more stuff.
"Okay, I think that's good, for now at least."
He was quiet, then looked surprised.
"OH, GEEZ! I forgot to introduce myself!
My name is Kipsy.
100% mutt." He said with a laugh.
Damiaan tilted his head.
Kipsy stopped laughing, then sighed.
"I don't know what I am.
My only talents are getting contacts...
And using those contacts to acquire items."
Damiaan examined him, it was rather true.
The male appeared totally human.
Though his hair was carrot orange.
Perhaps he was part siren, if his talent was getting contacts.
Damiaan didn't know, or want to think on it too long.
"I uh, well... Since to get in we had to have a contract ready...
I do have one, if you want to take it."
Damiaan held his hand out, and Kipsy handed him a contract.
Damiaan opened it, and read thru it.
"Even if you don't hire me, I'll ensure you get paid for the contract."
Damiaan picked up the black paper, and folded it.
He kept folding, until he'd folded it into a small triangle.
He then offered the folded paper to Kipsy.
Kipsy took the paper, and nodded heading out.
Damiaan waited, before looking to the contract again.

A bit later Damiaan stood with his feet on a ledge.
He was inside, and at the ceiling of the room.
The room was a large ballroom.
It was extravagant.
There were guests all around, chatting.
It was an elegant party.
No one bothered to look up.
Plus the plush crimson curtains that hung all about helped him blend in.

He was watching the crowd for his target.
This would be hard, the contract stated they had to die during the party.
And Damiaan could not be seen.
He'd been mastering stealth kills...
But never in a crowd.
Most of his kills involved getting close to a target.
Or using his blood needles.
The first was impossible, the latter risked hurting others.
Plus he needed to stay hidden, there were guards covering all exits.

Suddenly his attention caught.
His target had appeared, Damiaan took out the picture to confirm.
He looked to it, and nodded.
But as he put it back, it slipped and drifted down to the crowd.
He tried to grab it, but it slipped away.
Luckily it floated harmlessly, barely missing a woman.
It landed on the ground, with the picture down.
He gave a sigh of relief, hopefully no one would notice it.

He looked to his target.
He contemplated the best approach.
Perhaps using the target's blood would work best.
He focused on the target's blood.
Suddenly every person's blood came into focus.
All he could see was the blood and heartbeats inside every person.
He covered his eyes with a hand.
When he uncovered, they all looked normal.
There were to many people.

He'd never tried to sift thru so much blood.
There were easily a hundred people just in the room.
Plus guards, staff, and anyone helping themselves to other rooms...
He needed to focus on the target.
So stared at the target, and forced himself to focus.
Ignore all others.

It was hard, but began to work.
He was forcing himself to ignore others.
And soon only the target had his focus.
If he could stop the target's heart for long enough it'd kill him.

"What's this?" a woman said, picking up the picture.
She gasped recognizing it as a target picture.
She began to run thru the crowd, towards the target to warn him.
Damiaan felt himself panic, he was suppose to maintain stealth.
The target would likely quickly surround himself with guards.
Leave immediately.
Then he'd fail the contract.
He'd never failed a contract before.
Suddenly there was a scream.

Damiaan focused back on the target.
He'd unconsciously maintained the target's blood.
But his panicking had caused the blood to react rather violently.
The target looked like he was breaking out in a horrible purple rash.
Looking at the target's blood though, he knew blood vessels had bursted.
Such a thing wasn't deadly, if in a small cluster.
But an all over action, would certainly cause damage.
Mainly destroying all the blood in the target's body.
Damiaan felt surprised, he'd never done something like that before.
He focused intently, as the woman made it to the target.
Suddenly the target fainted, his whole body being covered in the purple rash.

The screaming woman and the one who'd run over quickly tried to help.
"There's an assassin after you.
You must get to safety." the woman with the picture explained as they tried to help.
People were beginning to circle about.
More enthralled in by the fact that he was turning purple.

No one seemed to realize the target was actually dying.
The woman dropped the picture, and another picked it up.
"This is an assassin target photo...
That's-
There's an assassin!" the person shouted.
Suddenly the crowd panicked, realizing what was happening.
All fearing for their lives.
However the guards stopped them from leaving.

A doctor came over, but Damiaan knew the target was gone.
A man announced, "No one leaves, until invitations are checked."
The guards began checking invitations, against a list.
Slowly people were allowed to leave.
The doctor examined the man.
"He's gone." the doctor said with sorrow.
The woman who'd screamed began to weep.
Likely the target's wife.

The host came over, "How did he die?
I see no wounds, and he was fine moments ago.
Was it poison?"
The doctor shook his head, "No.
He died from purpura."
Damiaan's interest peaked.
"Purpura? What is that?" the host asked.
"It is a purple rash, caused when blood vessels burst.
It is rare, but can happen naturally."

The woman who'd first found the picture protested.
"No, it was an assassin.
There was a target picture.
Some assassin must have killed him."

The doctor shrugged, "Well, if one did.
I have never seen such a method."
The host nodded, "I agree.
I have contacts with various assassins.
I've never heard of such a method of execution.
It is sad to say, but it was likely natural."

Damiaan thought on the word, purpura.
Perhaps he should practice the technique more.
Certainly wouldn't hurt.
But that would be after he figured out how to get out.
Suddenly a shadow opened up and swallowed him in.
Everything became pitch black and cold.
He felt like he was everywhere, and nowhere, at the same time.

It was extremely unsettling.