Selena was impressed.  She knew the boy named Shinra would be worth watching.  He seemed shy and sweet, but the thick stench of death clung to him like an after-shave.  'How does a Zombie build such an aura of death?  Was he a soldier, or perhaps some depraved murderer?  Either way, it is interesting to watch him.'   She did watch him, and saw him scythe through the more powerful assassins like a farmer.  What really impressed her though was the branch family mage.  He kept downplaying his connection to the Emperor, but he casually used spells that were at least two orders of magnitude greater than anything these so-called assassins could muster.  "Who is this Sardi Heartsigh?  That knockback spell is exceptional.  It turned the tide of battle all on its own."   "Both these little snacks are interesting.  Especially since they shouldn't be part of the diplomatic ass kissing party in the

Sardi made an incredible target and distraction.  Shinra couldn't believe how easy it was to take out the 4 assassins.  It was like plucking flowers from the roadside, one moment they were vibrant and alive, and the next they were scattered on the ground. He looked down at the man bleeding out beside his friend.  They were both in the middle of casting spells, and the first one died without knowing what happened.  This one got off a fireball type attack as Shinra struck.  Shinra did more damage with the sword than this guy did with magic, but he was definitely hurt.  He was a little worried to look too closely at the wound in his side, but it didn't seem to be bleeding too much. Unfortunately, Sardi was going to die if Shinra didn't hurry.  'Come on Sardi, where is that secret Imperial magic of yours?' Shinra thought.  He couldn't think about his injury, and started towards Sardi.A quick flash

The room was tense, very tense. Selena's smile slipped as she looked at Lord Cardual. Even Eltast and Mimi went still, sensing the tensionShe dropped to one knee and lowered her head, a knight before a king. He looked down at her waiting, and the room was absolutely silent. Vampires didn't need to breathe, and their hearts didn't beat often, so nothing broke the silence.Cardual stood before her, a stony expression on his face, but he didn't move, or prompt her to speak. He was not the type of ruler who loudly asked for respect and obedience, he just expected it."My lord…" Selena started, her voice a little shaky. "I won't make excuses. The boy, Shinra, is dead. I attempted to turn him, and his Zombie body couldn't handle the process." Her voice was calm and deferential, but even she was worried. They all had enormous autonomy in their own lands, but Cardual made it very clear that they would be nothing but perfect guests in the Tardel Empire. The Emperor even let her eat

The weight on his back wasn't heavy, but it hit hard.  Shinra was flattened to the alley floor before he knew what happened.'What? I thought we killed all the assassins.' He didn't know who attacked, but it was an entire guild of assassins, maybe they already found out about the massacre.  Shinra wasn't at his best right now, it had been a long day of fighting and he was spent.  He didn't think about that though.He pulled his knee up under his chest, then explosively tried to stand. It turned into more of a roll, as the attacker held onto his shoulders, so he twisted his torso and launched a spinning elbow strike as he fell over onto his side.Shinra wasn't an expert at fighting mages yet, but this was the first one he'd hit that felt like a brick wall… 'Shit, did I break my elbow?' he thought as he continued the roll.  He doubted how effective the attack was, but the hit and the roll were enough to dislodge the person from his back,