Vengeance For A Scorned Partner

Tanya Balencia hid in the shadows outside of the house that her target resided in. A fellow mercenary versed in magic lived there, a mercenary she hated with all of her heart, despite having never met her. Her partner Vance stood by, looking slightly pale. Tanya wore her battle gear that consisted of a hooded cloak, full body armor, and spiked wrist and ankle bands. Vance chose more casual attire with a Harry Potter T-Shirt and blue jeans.

"Are you ok Vance? You did bring me this job, after all."

"I'll be fine." Vance replied with resolve. "It's just a lot to take in. Being outside of my old house again after so long. My colleague preparing to go in and murder my ex-partner, not to mention ex-fiance....."

"They always say never sleep with your co-workers." Tanya smirked. "Too bad for you though Vance, I'm sure I could show you a better time than this bitch."

"I could say the same thing, but that was our arrangement when we began taking on mercenary work together. To keep it professional."

"Anyway, are you still OK with me slaughtering your old flame? The money is good on this hit, but I don't want you to resent me later. I can bow out if you prefer."

"Like I said, it's just a lot to wrap my head around. But no, ever since she cheated on me with one of the lieutenants of the Cabalistic Syndicate, and kicked me out of my own home using their goons, she's been dead to me. So not only do you have my permission to take the job, but you can feel free to do so with as much sadistic glee as you wish. After all, you're the one that seems to hate her the most."

"Well, anyone that hurts the best partner anyone could ever hope for automatically becomes my enemy. I would have killed her sooner, but I was hoping for an opportunity to get paid to do it. And just think, this is our first assassination request for a Cabalistic Syndicate member."

Vance smiled at Tanya's rare compliment before replying.

"Yeah, those guys are no joke, even their sworn enemies are too afraid to challenge them. Callina got in though through unconventional means, so she won't likely be as strong as their other members. Still, she is a formidable fighter and mage, so I would be careful. I haven't been in contact with her for over a year, so I have no idea how much she's grown from being in their group."

"If someone is putting a hit out on her, they are probably doing so figuring she is weak enough to take out now. Like you said, I despise this woman that broke your heart, so I'm sold. Taking out a member of the syndicate for street cred is a nice bonus. But to be safe, I will scope out the house with an astral projection spell."

Tanya's right index finger started glowing, and she twirled it over her head. Her spirit then floated out of her body and through the window that Vance advised led to his old bedroom. Tanya floated to the ceiling of the spacious room, and noticed a chair in the corner that held golden armor in the form of a short dress with thigh high slits at its bottom. On top of the outfit was a long handled blade. Another corner held a book shelf that appeared to be full of romance novels, but one spell book was present. The rest of the room seemed typical, but Tanya was more concerned with the mission than the interior decorating choices of a person she didn't even like to begin with. Sure enough, Callina was asleep in a king size bed, wearing a white night shirt.

"I'll give you this Vance, she's easy on the eyes. Too bad her inward self isn't the same. Not that my personality is likeable, but then again, we aren't dating anyway."

"We would be a deadly romantic concoction." Vance replied sheepishly, using a telepathy spell to communicate. "Is she asleep for the night, and soon to be forever thanks to you?"

"Yeah, she's got a cute little snore too. What a waste...."

The bedroom door suddenly opened, and a young man wearing a leather jacket, black jeans, a spiked collar and spiked wrist bands entered the room. His mouth was noticeably missing from his face.

"Vance, a jawler just came in here!"

"Wait, those creatures that eat by punching and kicking things?"

"Yeah, those guys. They really love devouring anyone versed in magic too. I'm guessing a rival group created him and had the same idea as us."

"Didn't you kill ten of those things earlier?"

"Sure did." Tanya grinned. "It was a perfect warmup for this job."

"So what's the plan? Are you gonna let the jawler take out Callina? Our client wanted a kill, and by not stopping that thing we'll be giving them what they want. You can kill that thing after it's done with its meal, and no one will be any wiser of what went down tonight."

"Well, I don't mind letting him start things off. I'll teleport my body up here if needed."

The jawler approached Callina and pulled her off the bed, causing her to land on her back with a loud thud. Callina woke up, staring at the jawler in wide eyed horror. The creature then punched her in the chest. Invisible to Tanya, a mouth appeared on the fist that was lodged in Callina's chest, and it chomped a piece of her flesh off before the jawler pulled his arm back. Callina began screaming and crying from the fear and pain of her predicament.

The jawler then kicked her right leg and bit another chunk of flesh off. It then punched her left arm and took another bite of flesh. It rotated attacking both appendages until both were gone.

Tanya laughed gleefully as Callina continued screaming in agony. She was grateful for the sound proof spell that she had cast before entering the house, which kept the rest of the neighborhood oblivious to what was happening. The jawler proceeded to punching and kicking Callina in the chest, removing more flesh from her body in the process.

"Body.... Reunite!" Tanya called out as her standing body appeared next to the door. She then floated back into her body, and summoned her staff into her hand by thought. She then ran to the jawler and clubbed it in the head.

The jawler turned to Tanya, its eyes dancing with delight. It then rushed at her and took a swing at her head. Tanya stepped aside and hit the back of the jawler's neck with her staff. The jawler fell to the floor, but rose back up quickly.

Tanya made her staff disappear by thought, then her hands began glowing red. She held her hands in front of her like a cat baring claws, then rapidly swiped the air in front of her repeatedly. With each air swipe, a new scratch formed on the jawler's body. The jawler twitched and squirmed in pain, unable to counter Tanya's assault. Once the creature was unrecognizable from all the scratches, its body crumbled into thousands of pieces on the floor.

Tanya summoned a small 20 oz bottle that contained a neon liquid into her hand, and walked over to Callina. She had stopped screaming, but she continued to tremble while tears rolled down her face. Her white shirt was soaked and stained completely red from the jawler's bites. Tanya tenderly held Callina up and offered her the bottle.

"Here, drink this. It will heal your injuries, and restore your arm and leg that got devoured."

Too weak to question it, Callina accepted the drink. She then sat up immediately on her own, staring at herself with wonder as the missing flesh returned to her chest, and her arm and leg reappeared on her body. Callina stood up, grinning ear to ear. The only sign that she had been mortally injured before was the blood drenched night shirt she was wearing.

"I don't know who you are, but thank you for saving me." Callina said gratefully.

"Oh, there's no need to thank me sweetie." Tanya replied in a condescending tone. "I didn't actually come here to save you. I want the credit for killing you to be all mine."

"I should have known, an enemy of the syndicate, eh?" Callina smirked.

"Not exactly, but business all the same. Although you did break my partner's heart, so that does make you my enemy for his sake."

"Ha ha ha ha, you must be talking about Vance!" Callina giggled. "To be fair, he was a really sweet guy. But he has nothing on my man from the Cabalistic Syndicate. He couldn't offer me the level of power and clout that the syndicate does, so I had to leave the poor bastard. Every time I sleep with my new lover, I become more powerful. Vance could never offer me anything like that, so of course I would accept it!"

"Bitch please, whoever you're fucking in the syndicate isn't making you stronger. You really are a piece of work Callina. You cheated on a man that gave you all of his loyalty and love to be a syndicate member's plaything. Well I'm going to call your bluff. Now that I've completely healed you, gear up and face me with all of this power you've gained from being the syndicate slut!"

"I should have known you were with Vance, you nobodies are perfect for each other. You're going to regret healing me, because I'm going to show you just how out of your league you are against an elite Cabalistic Syndicate member!"

Callina pointed at the chair holding her gear, and the golden dress flew towards her and spun around her like a tornado. The bloody night shirt flew out of the tornado and smacked Tanya in the face. Once the tornado faded, Callina stood in her battle outfit, smiling ear to ear once again. She then offered Tanya a malicious smirk before pointing at the long handled blade, causing it to fly into her hand.

"Well you look hot, I can see why the syndicate gentleman wants to bang you. But when I'm done with you, no one will ever want you again. Come at me with your best effort Callina!"

Callina made a gleeful battle cry before charging at Tanya with her blade. She ferociously swung at her multiple times, having no luck against Tanya's quick dodges. Tanya swung her own staff upward and hit the handle of Callina's blade, causing her to lose her grip on the weapon. The blade lodged itself into the ceiling out of reach.

"Vance said you were a formidable fighter. Not seeing it yet sweetheart."

"The blade isn't my only skill, allow me to demonstrate!" Callina screamed as she pointed at Tanya with a glowing orange finger. A great blaze shot out of her finger and completely enveloped Tanya. Callina laughed excitedly as her opponent burned. An icy blast that shot out of the flames ended her gloating, as her right leg was now encased in ice. Callina shivered from the cold and looked on in horror as the flames completely faded, revealing a completely unscathed Tanya.

"I think your fuck buddy lied to you Callina, your skills are truly pathetic. Vance would have made you stronger, and also given you more love than those goons ever could. Sadly, you appear to have burned your bridges. Let me show you some of the magic Vance was able to teach me through the spell books he acquired. You can get a front row seat to what you could have been able to do had you stuck with a real man."

Tanya pointed at Callina's frozen leg and sent a shockwave into it, causing the ice to shatter and leave Callina without a right leg once again. Tanya then put her right hand out and lifted her arm, causing Callina to levitate into the air. Tanya motioned with her hands how she wanted Callina's body to move, causing her arms and remaining leg to stretch out to the side. Callina screamed as her arms and leg were pulled out of their sockets. Tanya's arms then glowed red, and she made claw like scratching motions again, leaving painful scratches on the exposed parts of Callina's body that weren't covered up by her dress armor.

"How did.... you know.... that I.... didn't.... gain any.... power..... from them?" Callina struggled to say through the pain.

"The jawler." Tanya said triumphantly. "I killed ten of those things on my own earlier, something I can do in my sleep. You couldn't even handle one. Once I witnessed that thing nearly kill you without any resistance, I knew your claims of great power were bullshit. Unless all of you syndicate people are actually really weak."

"No.... I'm weak.... but they're not.... Once I'm dead.... they'll find you.... and kill you...."

"Well, they're welcome to try. I'll take that chance. But first, time for my new favorite spell, another one Vance found for me actually. Death by chocolate!"

A small piece of milk chocolate flew out of the palm of Tanya's hand and into Callina's mouth. Despite the pain she was in, Callina smiled from the delicious taste of the sweet. Moments later she grimaced, looking down and watching her stomach expand. Her groaning turned into agonizing screams as her stomach continued to grow. The rest of Callina's body puffed up as well. Once her body could no longer hold the massive amount of chocolate within, Callina burst into pieces, leaving chocolate and blood splatter all over Tanya.

"Well Vance, we have something else in common now. We've now both had Callina's bodily fluids on us."

"You are so crass Tanya, you know that? But hey, thanks for sticking up for me back there."

"I meant everything I said." Tanya grinned as she made a small notepad appear in her hand. The cover of the pad had the words "DNA Pad" printed on it. Tanya opened the notepad, and a brilliant white light engulfed the room. Once the light faded, Tanya looked at the page and saw confirmation of Callina's death printed on it.

"Did you use the DNA pad and get evidence of the kill for our client?"

"Sure did Vance, I'm going to head back to you now. Are you sure you're ok with what happened tonight?"

"I wouldn't have taken the job if I wasn't. Like I said, she was already dead to me before you killed her."

"Very well, but if you ever want to talk about it, let me know."

"Where's this coming from? You've never offered to be my venting buddy before!"

"Well unlike Callina, I know a gem when I see one. I know our partnership is much different than what you had with her, but I want you to know that I may be a sadistic bitch, but I'm your sadistic bitch. You never have to doubt my loyalty to you, ever."

"This sweet side of you is honestly scarier than when you're toying with an enemy. But thank you. I appreciate it friend."

Tanya left the scene not knowing that everything that went down that night had been recorded. And the footage went straight into the hands of the Cabalistic Syndicate.