Monsters in the Night
Jarred Delmar walked up to the front door of his house as the evening insects chittered and chirped, the moon high in the sky providing illumination for the calm night. He unlocked the door and stepped inside letting out a tired sigh after a long day.
While the war with the horde had ended years ago, Si:7’s work always continued onward to protect the people from threats unseen. Which meant constant investigations, scouting, reports, and filings, things that dragged on and wore one down.
As he entered the kitchen, he slowly unbuckled the dagger sheaths attached to his belt and set them down before spying a note from his wife. He picked it up and scanned through it, she was sorry that she wasn’t awake to greet him but hoped his day had gone well. It was past midnight, so he wasn’t surprised she’d gone to sleep he’d have to catch up with her in the morning.
The human turned and headed into his study, wanting to look over a few notes before turning in himself despite his own weariness. As he entered the darkened room Jarred moved to turn on a light before two fel green eyes opened in front of him making his heart skip several beats.
A gnomish lamp on the desk came on and illuminated the red skinned Eredar that was now staring back at him, a small crossbow in one hand and aimed right at his chest. His hands instinctively reached down for his daggers. “They aren’t there, they’re in the kitchen where you left them,” The female Eredar remarked coolly even as her eyes wandered to a picture of Jarred’s family that he kept on the desk. She picked it up with her free hand looking it over. “How’d you get in?” He asked his body tensed though he doubted he could dodge a crossbow bolt at this range, eyes looking over the red hued woman’s features. Her relatively young looking appearance, several faded scars on the left side of her face, curled ram like horns. He knew he was looking at the legion assassin Zepira who he’d spent a long time trying to help SI:7 find and eliminate.
“You have a nice family,” She remarked before looking back at him. On seeing his lips curl downward into a frown, she continued, “They’re fine. Alive. Asleep.” She gently set the portrait back down on the desk.
“Are you going to kill me?” He asked rather calmly given the situation, like any good SI Agent his mind was trying to figure out how to turn this current conundrum to his favor.
“If I was going to kill you I’d have done it already.” She stated rather plainly.
“Then why is a demon like you here?” His eyes narrowed a bit.
“To talk, but if you do make me kill you, then you will not go alone,” Zepira spoke coldly, knowing that he’d understand her threat quite clearly, “Now have a seat.” She motioned with the crossbow to the chair in front of the desk.
Feeling like he didn’t have much of a choice Jarred sat down.
“Are you a good person Delmar?”
“I think I am, yes.”
“And yet you’ve killed people.”
“Yes, I have,” He replied calmly
“Let me ask you then, Delmar. And the answer to this question will determine how this night ends.” Zepira stated lightly before she leaned forward and spoke slowly but very clearly, “How, does a good person decide, when to kill?”
Jarred was silent for a moment before he spoke, “If I think someone means to do me or my family harm, then I will do whatever I can to stop them. But beyond that, it’s a crapshoot.”
“With the Legion, it was always a crapshoot as you would term it Delmar.” The eredar remarked her green eyes briefly darting to the side as if in a brief thought before returning to the human.
“You chose to be a butcherer, I only try to protect my people and my family from monsters like you.”
She eyed him coolly, “Not all of us actually had a choice Delmar. When you’re just a kid and your parents choose for you, then you get raised by monsters to be a monster.”
He scoffed, “Is that suppose to make me sympathize with you? Woe is your terrible plight; I know your record Zepira at least what SI:7 is aware of. How many you’ve killed, and just how you’ve done it.”
Zepira shook her head, “Of course not Delmar, I’m a monster. I was a monster that was kept on a very short leash. But now thanks to the -heroes- of Azeroth my leash has been cut. Now I’m a monster without a cause and for the first time in my life, I have a choice.”
“And what are you going to do with that choice?” Jarred asked rather pointedly while crossing his arms.
She stared at him silently for what felt like an eternity but was really only several seconds before she replied, “I, don’t know. Killing is all I know, but without a reason, it’s pointless. What I do know however, is I want SI:7 to leave me alone.”
“Just like that?” He almost laughed but restrained himself as he didn’t want to inadvertently wake his family up and complicate this situation further.
“Yes, if SI:7 backs off then I can promise I’ll be…good, as you would say. I will also from time to time supply SI:7 with any information I come across regarding actual threats to your, Alliance.”
While Jarred didn’t have the authority to authorize such a thing, even he had to admit that was a very tempting offer. Of course it could be a trick, an in so that she could spread false information to hurt their efforts.
“I would have to bring that to my superiors, but I certainly can’t guarantee what they would decide. As while it is a good offer, legion agents are known to dabble in deception.”
“Yes yes of course, I’m a monster, there’s always the risk that I am lying, and I certainly can’t say anything that would completely prove that I am being straightforward with you given our sordid history.”
The floorboards creaked from behind Jarred, the man whirled around anticipating the ambush as he cursed under his breath. Only to find himself staring at his daughter who was rubbing her eyes looking rather drowsy, “Daddy who are you talking to?”
“Nadia!” He exclaimed turning back around only to see that Zepira had vanished, his desk chair empty. However a moment later he heard the whisper of her words in his ear.
“Take it to your superiors…I’ll be in touch.” The soft words faded into the gloom of the dimly lit room as Jarred shook his head and smiled down at his daughter reassuringly.
“No one Nadia, Daddy is just tired, let me tuck you back into bed.”
Jarred sighed mutedly to himself, he wasn’t going to get very much sleep tonight at all.