City of Blood and Iron

The Price of a Contract

The glowing red paper in the man's hand burned with a harsh light that hurt my eyes.

Step away from the asset, the lead man said again. His suit was clean, his hair was combed, and his smile looked like a knife.

I did not move an inch. My boots stayed planted on the broken wood of our living room floor. In my right hand, my iron gun felt heavy and real. Behind me, Elena breathed hard, her obsidian wings casting long shadows against the shattered wall. She was terrified, but I could hear her mind working. She was not just crying; she was looking for a way out. That was my sister. She never gave up, even when the floor fell out from under us.

You are not taking her anywhere, I said. My voice was low and steady.

The man in the center laughed. It was a dry sound, like dry leaves scraping over concrete. "Kyle, do you really think you can fight the entire system? You spent ten years stamping papers in the basement, thinking you were a big hero. But every time you stamped a monster, you added power to this contract. You built the cage yourself.

My grip on the gun tightened. Every word he spoke hit me like a physical blow. The municipal office, the secret basement, the red ink, it had all been a trick. They used my own magic to bind my sister.

I am asking you once, I said, raising the barrel of the gun. "Leave now, or I will use the stamp.

The three men did not blink. Instead, they raised their glowing red papers higher. The magical writing on the pages began to lift off the paper, floating in the air like burning snakes.

"The debt is real," the leader said. "Your father tried to break this contract five years ago. Look where that got him."

My chest tightened. The memory of that night hit me hard. The cold rain, the flashing lights, the blood on the pavement. I had pulled the trigger on my own father because the bureau told me he was a rogue threat who had turned dark. But standing here right now, listening to these corporate thugs use his name like a joke, the truth hit me with brutal force.

Our father did not turn dark. He found out the truth about the system, and they forced me to execute him to keep him quiet. They turned me into their weapon.

"Kyle," Elena's voice broke through my thoughts. Her hand touched my shoulder, her fingers warm and steady. "Do not listen to them. They want you to break."

I looked back at her. Her amber eyes held no fear anymore. They held a cold, sharp anger that matched my own. She reached down, her fingers digging into the broken floorboards, and pulled out a jagged piece of wood with a sharp metal nail sticking out of it.

"If they want a contract," Elena said, her voice hard as iron, "we will show them how we sign."

The lead man sneered and flicked his wrist. The glowing red papers shot forward like arrows, aiming straight for our chests.

I did not wait. I raised my left hand, pulled my red wooden stamp from my coat, and slammed it down onto the coffee table in front of us.

THWUMP.

A wall of golden light burst upward, meeting the red papers in mid-air. The impact shook the entire apartment building. Windows on the upper floors blew out into the street. The red papers hit our golden shield and exploded into a shower of hot sparks that burned the carpet.

The three men stumbled back, their professional masks slipping for a second.

"Now, Elena!" I shouted.

My sister did not hesitate. With a powerful beat of her dark wings, she launched herself into the air, flying straight over the table. She moved faster than any human could, closing the distance to the lead man before he could raise his hands again. She brought the jagged piece of wood down with all her weight, driving the rusty nail straight through his shoulder.

The man let out a sharp cry of pain and dropped his papers.

I was right behind her. I crossed the room in two long strides, grabbed the second man by his expensive silk tie, and slammed his head against the concrete wall. He went limp instantly, sliding down the paint-peeled surface into a heap.

The third man backed toward the broken window, his face pale. He reached into his jacket, pulled out a small silver remote, and pressed a flashing red button.

"You think you won?" the man gasped, blood trickling from his nose. "Director Thorne already updated the global register. The moment you fought back, your security clearance was canceled. You are both public enemies now."

Before I could grab him, the man threw himself backward out the window, falling into the dark, rainy street far below.

I ran to the shattered window and looked down. There was no body on the pavement. There was only a puff of grey smoke and a single piece of red paper floating away in the wind.

I turned back to Elena. She was standing by the broken table, breathing heavily. The glowing amber in her eyes was fading back to warm brown, but her wings were still spread wide, pulsing with restless energy.

"We cannot stay here," I said, grabbing my bag from the floor and shoving extra ammunition and my spare stamps inside. "The whole city is going to be hunting us by sunrise."

"Where do we go?" Elena asked, walking over to me. She picked up one of the glowing red papers that the first man had dropped. Her face hardened as she read the symbols written across it. "Kyle, look at this. This is not just a city contract. This is signed by the main board of directors."

I looked over her shoulder. My eyes locked onto the signature at the bottom of the page. It was written in familiar, neat handwriting—the exact same handwriting as the transfer orders on my desk at city hall.

It was signed by Director Thorne, but beneath his name was a secondary approval code.

My own employee ID number.

I stared at the numbers, my blood running cold. I had unknowingly signed the paperwork that gave them legal ownership of my sister's soul three years ago, disguised as a standard health insurance form for municipal workers.

Before I could speak, the sound of heavy boots echoed from the hallway outside our apartment door. Dozens of them. Sirens began to wail down on the street, accompanied by the mechanical hum of armed drones rising past our windows.

"Kyle," Elena whispered, grabbing my arm as the apartment door began to glow with a bright, cutting laser beam. "They are outside."

I clicked my pen, pulled out my notebook, and looked at the hallway door as the metal began to melt.