The Broken Assassin : Chapter One

Uzriel gave the knob a quick twist, yanked open the door. His right foot rushed
into the room, his left chasing. The slender man's target was entirely aware of
his presence, giving him a fierce glare. He edged to the left, boots scuffing
the forest green carpet. The other, much shorter, mirrored his action, wearing
only soft slippers.

Uzriel lunged forward, but a table in the middle of the room blocked a
direct charge, allowing his prey to circle around it. He roared, moved even fa-
aster, bringing his left hand around with deadly precision. Uzriel grinned, a
perfect strike.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle!" he said cheerfully.

"D-dad..stop..it tickles!" the girl giggled. "Of course it does," he ch-
uckled as he said this. The next moment she had a fistfull of his long, silver
hair. His large hands froze, a warm smile eased onto his lips.

He whispered, "You win, Jenn. Let's drink some of your delicious tea."
Uzriel lifted Jenn, eased her chair from the table, both the color pink. He
set his daughter down, she released her father's hair. Uzriel stood again,
easily three times her height.

Taking a few steps, he grabbed a plate Jenn hadn't seen him bring into
her room, from atop her cherry wood dresser. Uzriel placed it on the table, near
the center. He took his own seat, looking quite out of place.

With a smirk he said, "Yoinked four of your mother's cookies," he removed
the blue cloth from the pure white plate. The tempting scent of freshly baked cho-
colate chip goodness wafted to their noses.

"Yeee!" squeaked Jenn. "You brought enough for everyone," she continued. He
nodded to the toy bear to his right, then the toy turtle opposite. "I wouldn't dare
forget about our very best pals," he said calmly. Jenn puffed out her cheeks, set her
blonde head to a tilt, then gave him her best scolding look. "You better not!"

Jenn poured tea from her kettle into four cups that matched the table, each
cup sitting on a plate. Uzriel served a cookie to all three, and himself last. "We may
eat now," she said. Uzriel sipped tea, pinky extended. To drink it any other way
would incur Jenn's wrath.

"Chamomile, hum, I thought one only pretended to drink tea, " he raised one silver
eyebrow.

She gave him that all too ladylike look, the one that said, "You're stupid."
"Really Dad? That's just dumb, you can't have a tea party without tea!" Uzriel
shoved the cookie into his mouth, he knew when he was beat.

"Dad?" she asked.
"Mmmhmm?" mumbled the cookie-munching dad.
"Oatmeal cookies next time."

He drank some tea to get rid of cookie bits and said, "Happy seventh birthday,
my little angel."