Darkus Knight by Ashon Thadon (best romantic novels to read TXT) 📕

Prologue

Mark Lucas knew that he fucked up. He gripped the cell phone he was holding, already knowing what he was about to hear.

“You failed the mission,” said the voice on the other line. “You didn’t kill the objective.”

“I’m not the kind of killer,” Lucas stated with venom in his voice.

“You are any killer I fucking tell you to be!” the voice snarled. “I paid you to do a job and you didn’t fulfill it!”

“Take your money back, then,” Lucas responded. “And after that, lose my number and put on some chap stick so you can kiss my ass.”

The voice on the end laughed.

“You have two choices,” the voice said back calmly. “Either you complete the job I paid you to do or you become the job.”

Lucas laughed at the threat. Lucas wasn’t a small time hit man that you find in the local weekday newspaper. He was a professional assassin and a superb marksman. He had arranged hits resulting from common drug lords to high ranking political figures. His clientele knew he was the best at his profession and they paid him his quota because of it.

“We have to make this right,” the voice said.

“We are,” Lucas replied. “We cancelling the contract and you can go fuck yourself.”

It was the voice’s time to laugh. Lucas just wished he could see the person on the other end that was making these idle remarks and threats. But that was one of his rules. No visual contact just monetary. But for this one time, he wished he could break that rule so he could break the guy’s neck.

“I’m trying to be reasonable but I see you’re not trying with the same effort,” the caller observed. “This phone conversation is the only thing keeping you alive since you failed to kill the objective.”

“Look I don’t take kindly to threats,” Lucas warned. “Now I’m being a good employee and telling you ‘I quit’ and I don’t want the severance package. “

“Ok but you making a grave mistake,” the voice advised. “I hate to be disappointed and right now, you are disappointing me.”

“Well sorry for being a bad boy but I must insist on reminding you that I’m longer employed by you and if you still want to, I do have a nice juicy ass for you to kiss.”

“I really like the work you do so I’m still trying to be reasonable here but I’m going to lose my good manners unless I hear what I want to hear,” the voice cautioned. “Now for the last time, what would it be?”

“Okay, you twisted my arm,” Lucas smiled. “Here goes my choice. Fuck you!”

Lucas clicked the end call button of the cell phone and the other line became vacant. He dropped the cell phone to the floor and stepped on it breaking it into pieces.

Lucas looked around his apartment. Well it wasn’t really his apartment. He was using it while the current occupant was tied up in the closet. Lucas knew it was time to disperse. His contact may not know where he was but he knew that there was only one way to deal with a failed contract, termination.

Lucas gathered up all the cell phone pieces and stuffed it in a small plastic bag that he got when he brought a soda from the local bodega store. The soda can was already finished and inside the bag already. Lucas planned on dumping all his sanitary contents outside in a garbage can a couple of blocks away. First, he had to wipe down all evidence of him being there. Then he grabbed his suitcase from under the bed. His suitcase was actually a holding case for his two prized weapons. The inside of the suitcase had two indented folds to put both weapons in. He checked the champers of both weapons before placing them in the case.

He knew a failed contact might bring bad news once told but he wasn’t worried about it. He was about to retire anyway. The jobs were getting too risker and much more dangerous. Not to mention this last job had affected his moral code. He had done a lot of jobs in his life and killed a lot of people, even as his time in the Marine Corps. But even he had a code and rules that you just don’t break, no matter how much medals or money you can get from completing the mission.

He put on his rubber gloves and proceeded to check the last spec of the apartment to make sure he left nothing to chance before he left. When he was satisfied, he put on a ski mask and walked to the bedroom closet.

When Lucas opened the closet door, the woman inside the small space tied up in a chair with a rag in her mouth flinched. She looked at him with pleading eyes.

“I’m not going to kill you,” Lucas said behind the mask. “I’m just telling you I’m leaving but like I told you, if I hear you want to the authorities, I will come back and then we’re going dancing.”

Lucas left the closet door opened and walked out the bedroom. He looked around the place one last time then went to open the front door. He took off his ski mask because he didn’t want no stray next door neighbor getting suspicious seeing a man with a mask coming out of an apartment.

Lucas just off instinct never put his head out first when he walks through a door frame. That one instinct move saved him a bullet to the head. He was about to hear the pssst sound of a silencer weapon as a hole appeared all of a sudden in the door frame he was about to walk past. Lucas shut the door fast and started crawling back inside the apartment. More hissing sounds can be heard and three more small holes appeared in the door. Lucas crawled a few more inches and got up and ran into the bedroom.

Lucas spotted that his hostage had already rocked herself out of the chair and was crawling on the floor too still tied up. She looked at him as Lucas closed the bedroom door behind him and put his back against the door.

“Looks like I won’t be leaving you just yet,” Lucas said.

Lucas didn’t know how they found him but they did. Lucas tried to control his breathing to make it steady.

He needed to be focused if he was getting out of this alive. He looked back at his captive whose eyes were big as saucers. Oh shit, Lucas didn’t have his mask on. She’s looking at his face. She remembers him from somewhere. She should. Lucas had been following her for a minute once he found out she was single and leaved alone and her apartment could be used as his base of operation.

“Don’t worry about me,” Lucas assured the frightened woman. “We got men worse than me trying to come in here.”

She mumbled something through the rag still placed in her mouth. Lucas was about to say ‘what?’ when he heard the front door of the apartment being kicked in. He heard footsteps. Sounded like a two-man sweep from the sound of their shoes hitting the floorboards. Lucas could picture them in his mind. They would secure the living room first then check the bedroom and finally the bathroom. Each man was back-up for the other one. Lucas moved away from the door and placed his suitcase on the floor.

Lucas entered the combination code to the two locks on the suitcase and it popped open revealing his deadly babies. He picked up the two Colt Anaconda .44 Magnums from their folds. Six bullets were in each gun and ready for use.  He was wondering should he used the silencer when a brief jiggling of the bedroom door’s knob started indicting the hit man was right outside the door.

Lucas waited for any other movements. His waiting was answered with the hit man shooting at the door three times. They knew he was in there now. Lucas was ready to let his ladies of death talk their language if the bad men decided they were coming through that door.

“How the fuck did he find me?” Lucas asked himself tense.

His back was to his hostage who was still mumbling something through the rag.

“Shut up, will you,” Lucas whispered. It was about to Showtime.

Lucas heard more shuffling behind him but didn’t pay it any mind.

“Are you prepared to die?” a very deep baritone voice asked from outside the door.

“Not yet but I haven’t checked my horoscope,” Lucas snapped back. “But I got some going away presents if you decide to come through that door.”

“Hmph!” the deep voice expressed.

Lucas heard one of the assailants make sniffing sounds like he was smelling the air.

“You’re not alone,” the other killer informed. “You have brought an innocent mortal into this.”

“They all innocent,” Lucas reminded.

“Except you,” the second hit man said.

“Well, I’m a different story,” Lucas smiled.

There was quiet for a minute. Lucas let his other senses take over.

“Nice try but that’s not going to work, Skywalker,” the baritone laughed.

Lucas had a confused look on his face. If he couldn’t absorb their energy that meant…

“Yes, you fucked up now,” the baritone let out another hearty laugh followed by a low growl.

Lucas turned to his hostage whose eyes were still wide open scared to death.

“Now that we all know what we really are, can we stop playing games?” the baritone suggested. “Come out or I will huff and puff…”

Lucas knew he was trapped. The two killers outside was just toying with him. Lucas knew he wouldn’t get out of this unless he fought or maybe…

He looked at the window. It was a seven story drop. He could survive it but he would be hurt a little. Whether fight or flight, he needed energy.

“I’m getting tired,” the baritone gnarled. “Either come out now or we are coming in.”

Lucas looked at his captive one last time.

“I’m sorry,” Lucas said placing one gun down on the floor and inching towards her.

The lady tried squirming away as Lucas neared her.

“I need to,” Lucas pleaded and placed his hand on her head.

As the woman started to shake and go into convulsions, Lucas started breathing heavier. His eyes turned red and then his mouth started to tingle as two sharp fanged teeth began to grow.

The hit men busted open the door as soon as they heard a window being smashed.

The baritone killer looked around the room. The female hostage was still laid out on the floor but her eyes were tilted back only showing white. All the veins from her body was protruding out as if her bodily fluids had been drained out. All the life force was driven out of her. Then he looked at the smashed open window and the fact that Lucas was gone.

Baritone sniffed the air and his eyes turned from brown to yellow. He could smell Lucas. Lucas had left his essence behind and it was the most intoxicating aroma that Baritone had ever smelled.

“I