Author's Note: Okay..I am thoroughly ashamed of the third chapter. Thoroughly. But, instead of re-writing it like any sane person would, I have decided that I am too deeply involved in this story to revise it. I also want to see what happens with Ryn and Seamus, because even I have only a vague idea. You'll notice that I've explained "Halo-dreams" in this chapter. I apologise for the inconvenience of that particular phrase, but I took for granted that the people who read the story, back before I was active as a member, knew what they were. So here it is, and I hope it's more up to snuff than the last chapter, and quite a bit longer. Enjoy.

A Touch of Death

Chapter Four

Seamus watched the raven-haired beauty walk into the bar from a distance, smiling to himself. His little chase had started out much better than he had thought it would, and in the gentle glow of neon lights hanging high overhead, he prepared himself for another encounter.

He had never thought that finding her would be so easy. He had planned on a long search, only ending in an encounter that would surely lead to his death. Instead, he had ended up standing behind her in the ticket line, and had followed her from there. At first he thought that he had had the upper hand, until she sat down next to him on the shuttle. That was when he realised that things were going to be a bit trickier than he would have liked them to be. It only took Seamus a few moments to understand exactly how smart she was, and that she could do a great deal of damage to his psyche if he let her. So he had pulled out his own card, saying a name that no one was supposed to know about. Sure enough it had distracted her. Much more than he thought it would, at least. And while she had her head turned, contemplating whatever it was that assassins contemplate, he had slipped a very small tracking device in the shape of a toothpick into the bottom of her bag. So he wasn't in the least bit upset when she had run off of the shuttle at the landing bay.

He waited for about an hour and then set off after her, following the trail marked on his computer. Occasionally the trail would switch direction, forcing him to alter his own course until he caught up with her. And there she was, across the street, with her bag slung over her shoulder, about to walk into a bar. Seamus waited a few minutes and then followed her in.

The outside of the bar, which had appeared to be a small, down to earth sort of place, had been very deceiving. Inside the amount of noise and lights was outrageous. Seamus frowned as his eyes were overwhelmed with vibrant fluorescent lights and his mind was boggled with loud techno music. He strained his eyes and did his best at taking in the scene around him. His eyes scanned the room as he moved forward amongst the sweaty bodies, searching every face for the cold-blooded killer.

"Hey, mister. Would you care to join me in a halo-dream? My treat." A sultry voice attacked Seamus' ears and something soft was pressed against his back. He turned quickly, and standing in front of him was a girl of about sixteen. Her heavy eyelids were covered in paint and her lips were pursed expectantly.

"Excuse me?" He replied, confused. He had rumours of "halo-dreams" but legally they weren't supposed to exist. The whole idea of them was to go into a room, request a certain situation (and they were usually sexual) and a hologram would pop up and act it out with you. They were said to be very realistic, created with the latest technology, and some of them were nearly solid. The slang term for this invention was "halo-dream" and some of the side effects were rumoured to be ten times worse than that of any drug produced. Seamus shook his head. He thought that if they existed, they would at least be underground.

She laughed a cute little laugh and pushed herself closer to him. "You know, yer cute. C'mon, go into a halo-dream with me. We can have a threesome, with another girl if you like."

Seamus shook his head again and pushed past her, continuing his search for Saryn. And then, in the flashing lights, he saw her, sitting at a table by herself and holding a drink. He approached her silently, curious how she would react. "So," he said, "Fancy running into you here." She turned around slowly and, for a moment, he thought that he saw fear in her eyes. But almost instantaneously the fear was replaced with malice. She stood quickly, her hand flashing to her boot and back up again, and pushed him against the wall. Before he knew what had happened, there was a dagger against his throat, and Saryn was whispering harshly in his ear.

"Yes, fancy that. Now why don't you tell me exactly how you found me here before I cut out your tongue and you lose the power of speech altogether?"

Seamus did his best to feign innocence, knowing that to keep up an act would be the only way to get anything done. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just came here for a good time. Isn't that what you came here ?" He felt the blade press into his skin as he said her name and inwardly quailed as a warm trickle of liquid slid down his throat.

"Shut up." She said, her voice dripping with venom. "How do you know that name?"

Seamus glanced around him, hoping someone would come soon to break up this little meeting. But nobody seemed to notice them. They were all probably too hyped up on drugs to even realise that anyone else existed. "Don't you think that there's a better place for this?"

Ryn backed away slowly, holding the blade out in front of her with the tip still pressed against his throat. She looked contemplative for a few seconds, pushing her hair back behind her ear, but her eyes never left his face. Finally she moved, reaching forward and grabbing him by the arm. "Follow my lead," she said, and dragged him towards a darkened hallway. A door opened at the end of the hallway and a man with bright orange hair and metallic clothing stepped out and smiled at them. "Hallo," Ryn said, and the pitch of her voice had changed distinctly. "I was wondering if we could have a room."

The man eyed them, the fake smile still plastered on his face. "Of course. That is, if you have the money."

Seamus opened his mouth to say something and felt the tip of a blade begin to dig into his back. Apparently following along was the same thing as not speaking. He took on his better judgment and let Ryn handle the situation. She reached down into her bag and pulled out a small roll of bills and giggled. He almost did a double take; she had actually giggled. He didn't know her, but he knew her type, and her type did not giggle. "Yes, silly." She continued, "I wouldn't be coming here if I didn't have the money!" She handed him the roll of bills and they were escorted into a large room that was peculiarly plain. The walls were gray and the only piece of furniture was a small bed shoved into a corner. Ryn shoved Seamus onto the bed and slammed the door behind her.

"Where are we?" Seamus asked, braving a few words now that the knife was away from his back.

"Shut up." She said again, the same venom dripping from her voice. She turned to the back of the door where a small screen was, and pressed a few buttons. The gray on the walls was transformed immediately to a startlingly vivid image of the night sky, with stars burning brightly and the moon hanging in faint retrospection against black velvet. A hologram of a young girl with vibrant red hair popped up in the corner by the bed. To say she was a bit voluptuous would have been an understatement, and to say she was scantily clad would have been a crime. Seamus, startled at her appearance, moved towards the back of the bed. The hologram smiled and crawled towards him, making soft, indiscernible noises. Ryn turned toward them, an annoyed smile on her face. "I bet you'd like to do her, wouldn't you?" She said.

Seamus, who was being attacked by the hologram, simply shook his head. Ryn punched a few more buttons and the hologram changed from a girl into a dog. "Okay, now we can talk." She sat down on the bad, pulled out her dagger, and smiled menacingly. "Here's how it works. If you don't tell me everything, I'll simply have to cut your tongue out."

Seamus pulled himself upright, forcing himself to put an act on. Dealing with her wasn't going to be easy, and he had to lie as best he knew how. "You know, that threat is getting kind of old. Can't you think of something new? Besides, you're going to need my tongue in case I decide to talk. That is, assuming I have anything to tell you."

"Well," she said, glancing at a specific, private, region of his body, "If I can't cut out you're tongue I can always cut off something else."

"Saryn, don't be so cruel."

Her eyes blazed at the sound of her name and she stood, holding the dagger as close to him as she dared. "Where did you hear that name?" she asked angrily.

Seamus shrugged. "Around. Hey, how about you put that little knife away."

She held the knife closer, leaning into the wound that she had created earlier. A little drop of blood appeared. "I'm not afraid to torture you if that's what it's going to take. Now, tell me," She pressed a little harder, "Where did you hear that name?"

"Okay, okay, calm down. My boss told me. A while ago, like three or four years. He was thinking of hiring you for something, and I was supposed to arrange the meeting, but he changed his mind."

"Who's your boss?"

"A Mr. Lanta..you might know him.......

Ryn arched an eyebrow and smiled. "You're lying. I don't know how you know about that particular person, but you're lying. I can tell. And I have the feeling that you're not going to tell me the truth no matter how much I torture you." She pulled the dagger away from his throat and sat down again on the bed. "That's fine. I can just kill you if I need to. But I won't. At least not for now. What do you want?"

"Why, Saryn, ho.."

"Don't you ever, ever call me that. Call me Ryn."

"Okay, sorry. Ryn, how could you think that I want something from you?"

"Because you wouldn't have bothered to come all this way if you didn't want something."

"There's nothing, really, except the pleasure of your company." He smiled, what he hoped was a charming smile, as Ryn snorted. "Okay, fine, maybe I do want something." She pushed her hair back from her face, and for a moment, Seamus was distracted by her beauty. He shook his head and cleared his mind, trying his hardest to think of something. Then, an idea struck. "I want you to teach me how to kill."

"What?!"

"Teach me how to kill. I want to be an assassin."

She stood again, an amused smile on her face. "What makes you think I'm an assassin?"

"Please, let's not play these games. Do you think you could?"

"Killing isn't the type of thing that you're taught. You're either do it or you don't, and those who don't usually get killed."

"Yes, well, it's sort of a vengeance thing, if you get my meaning."

"Vengeance is the worst reason to be an assassin. It makes you emotional, and that makes you clumsy."

"I can pay you."

She arched an eyebrow again. "I'm listening."

"Just let me observe you for a few months, and I'll give you a hundred grand." Seamus was amazed that he was pulling this off. If anything, he thought he would have been dead long before now. Subconsciously, he rubbed the small nick on his neck, relieved to find that it had stopped bleeding. Ryn was definitely dangerous, not the type of person you would like to catch you with your pants down.

"That's all? Observe me? How do I know you're not with the police?"

"You'll just have to trust me."

"If that's the only comfort you can give me, then I'm afraid that you're making a sour deal."

"Well, I don't know what else you want from me. Really, Ryn, I only want to learn from you. As far as assassins go, I've heard that you're the best in the business." That last line had been a risky one for him, but also necessary. Hopefully she was the type of person who could feed off of their own ego.

"How about this. If you can get a car, and book a hotel room in another town out of New England, without using your real name, then I'll find you and let you know." With a seductively secretive smile, Ryn turned and walked out of the room, leaving Seamus alone in a room that looked like the night sky and a hologram dog that had spent the last twenty minutes chasing a falling star.