Chapitre 1

While keeping a kind smile, I look at the children in front of me. They all look at me with curiosity since their teacher, sitting at her desk near me, told them that I am a graduate executor of the school. Looking at them, my heart aches. Because I know what is going to become of them. They all wear clothes that belong to the school, a cleverly mixed bag of high sweaters and pants whose only common point is the number hung on them, which determines the student’s place in the ranking.

I dressed soberly, turtleneck, pants and black boots.

“Hello everyone, my name is Aiden, and I’m delighted to meet you. Everyone knows what an executor does?”

Several students shake their heads.

" I am hired by clans to deal with enemy attacks, rebels, or humans who revolt. It’s very varied. I’ve worked all over the world. "

“So you don’t belong to any clan?”

" Indeed. It means working as a freelancer. It’s not like clan enforcers, who have more stable salaries, live on their clan’s estate and are more protected by their clan. I get paid per mission if I succeed, and since I travel a lot, I don’t really have a house. "

"What do you like most about your job?"

"I like to manage crises, the thrill of action, of battle, success, glory. I succeed in all my missions."

“And what don’t you like?”

"The loneliness of this job when you’re freelancing. That’s why I want to join a clan."

“And to be better protected? It’s a job where people die a lot,” says a student.

“Yes, that’s one of the reasons. Now, it’s up to me to ask you a question, and see if you’re doing your homework. Can someone tell me how Everfall was created?”

A boy raises his hand.

-Everfall was built so that werewolves could have a place of their own, without having to hide from humans.

“Do you know when it was built?”

"In the 16th century, when humans began to organize more and more to hunt down werewolves, with werewolf hunts across Europe. We lost many people in this sad manner. Alexander Voge created a kind of refuge, a city invisible to humans, to save us from extinction and preserve our culture."

"Bravo, these are very good answers you have. Do you know how the role of executor was created?"

"At the beginning of creation, there were constant battles between the different clans.

So the council created the role of executor to maintain order."

They ask questions , and I continue to answer them with a smile, looking at their cheerful expressions.

And to think that they are bred to be killers.

Like me.

At the end of the lesson, Mr. Winsley, the headmaster of the school, is waiting for me in the corridors.

“You’re a good teacher, you know!"

He is leaning against the wall of the corridor, in the middle of the students who are shouting and running to go to recess as quickly as possible.

He is always dressed in a white shirt, grey trousers and jacket, black loafers.

He has invariably always worn the same clothes since I have known him, which is almost my entire life. And he apparently hasn’t changed his appearance since I was five years old, his face devoid of wrinkles but his eyes old, as if he had lived a thousand years, and maybe he’s older than his age makes him seem. After all, it’s not surprising. Isn’t he a werewolf?

We don’t age like humans. His features are nothing special, regular although without charm. He is someone you could meet in the street and forget immediately.

His hair is gray, and tousled. He looks at me with a big smile, as if he is going to burst out laughing at any moment. I hate that smile. This smile looks mocking.

I don’t like people who smile excessively.

I shrug my shoulders.

“What do you want?”

"Congratulations on your class!

You are an incredible speaker.

You wouldn’t want to become a teacher instead of a murderer?"

“And teach a new generation of people like me? No thanks."

He bursts out laughing.

“Why?”

“Because they’re not here by choice. Like me."

He laughs. But this is true. Since its opening, the school has welcomed the children of rebels and renegades who supposedly threaten the balance of our megacity, as well as orphaned children, street children, children without anyone, and trains them to be out-of-clan enforcers.

Each clan has enforcers, to protect its clan and its interests.

But in general, for the most dangerous jobs, clans prefer to preserve their enforcers and employ people from outside the clans. That’s our usefulness. We’re the most expendable.

“I heard that since you got out, you make the school very proud.

You succeed in all your missions!"

"It’s easy to succeed when you know that a failed mission means death."

“You say that, but many of your friends don’t succeed.

Listen, I have a mission for you. You told me you needed a job, didn’t you?"

We walk to his office. It's is always the same.

While the rest of the school is austere grey, his office is simple but spacious.

A mahogany desk, state-of-the-art lamps, a computer, a few books, a huge leather chair raised to make it look bigger. I remember the first time I walked into that office. I was terrified.

I sit down in front of him without asking. I feel him amused by my impertinence.

He doesn’t say anything. Because obviously, I’m one of the killers who brings him the most money.

When an executor graduates, he is always tied to the school by the training fees.

So his first salaries don’t go into his pocket, but into the pocket of the school.

Silly old me, I say first salaries as if there are graduates of the school who don’t spend their lives paying back. For many, it’s a never-ending cycle, knowing that they can of course inflate the numbers at their ease. The only way out of this is simply if they decide you don’t need to pay them back anymore.

And I’m on my thirtieth mission. Without having finished paying off my debt.

“Aiden. You’re 25 now. How long have you been working, already?”

“Since I was sixteen years old.”

“Oh yes, eleven years of training. And ten years of work. Without having managed to repay your debt."

“You must have inflated the figures of my debt."

His smile widened. If only I could hit him. But it would be one of the only things I do that he couldn’t pass up.

“What if I told you that your next mission can repay your debt and make you a free man?”

“ I’m listening to you. What price?”

"90 million "

In general, a mission is paid 5,000.

“Yes. It’s one of the best proposals I’ve ever been sent. I thought it might be good for you. Obviously, we’re going to take almost the entire figure to pay your debt. You’ll only have 10 million left."

I don’t care. All I want is to stop being an executor.

“There’s a catch."

The higher the price, the higher the difficulty.

“Who should I kill?”

"Liyah Voge."

“Liyah Voge. Liyah Voge, the daughter of Megaville’s chieftain, Alexander Voge?

The most powerful man in Evarfall?

You mean the one who owns almost all of Everfall?

I must kill his daughter, and if I succeed, I shall have enough money to never work again?”

He smiles.

“Yes. What do you think?”

“What do I think? I’d be stupid not to accept.”