“Wow, nice plot twist Mister!” the little girl said.

“I know right, gets me every time.”

The little girl swung her legs back and forth. “What does he do now?”

“Jacob?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmmm, it was during his first mission.”

<><><>

The ride was slightly bumpy on the way to the first stop, a random office building by the name of “The Johnny Co.” At first, the name put Jacob off from the job, but he felt it was necessary.

“Alright Jacob,” Mr. Gardener said, “Here’s the rundown. While we are doing our runs, I’m gonna give you some tips on gunslinging.”

“Why?” Jacob asked.

“Because you’re my student still. Think of it as extra credit.” Jacob nodded his head. “Now, you always need to wear a kevlar vest.”

“Why?”

“Do you know how to make a mana shield?” Mr. Gardener asked.

“No.”

“There you have it. Another reason we wear them is that a lot of the taxpayers fight back when they think they are in danger.”

“Makes sense.”

“Yeah, sometimes we get into nasty brawls, but I digress. You will also be taking a different gun for every stop. For this stop, you will be using a sawed-off Blaser F16 sporting shotgun with no stock.”

“Why that?” Jacob asked.

“Because I felt like making you use it. Now, get loaded up.”

Jacob nodded, grabbed the gun he was given, and holstered it.

<><><>

The group entered the building and Jacob was immediately hit with a strange smell. He looked around and saw a bunch of men working on computers. One man looked up and his blood left his face. He rushed out of his chair and ran into a room.

“Welp, now we wait,” Lucas said, rubbing his chin from under the mask.

After a couple of minutes, a man in a leather jacket.

“Ah, the tax collectors, just in time.” The man had a suitcase in his hands and handed it to Lucas while he opened it and made sure the money was inside.

“Boss,” Lucas said, “They’re 200 short.”

Mr. Gardener nodded his head. “Nick, care to explain.”

The man named Nick shrugged. “You know how business is, it's hard to find the right people for the job.”

“Ok Nick, I’ll give you this one chance.” Mr. Gardener waved his hand and the group followed, all except for Jacob.

“Hey,” said one of the workers, “Did you get the film done?”

“The one of the 12-year-old?”

“Yeah, how'd it go?”

“She tried to run away, but I eventually got the job done.”

Disgust started to shroud Jacob, he almost exploded. ‘So this is what this shit is,’ He thought. Jacob closed his eyes and opened them again to a row of locked boxes in front of him. He turned to his left and saw that one of the boxes had a key sitting in front of it. He walked over to the box and unlocked it, smiling as he saw what he needed. The formula for his first spell.

Jacob closed his eyes and opened them again to the office. He put his hands in the air and yelled so that everyone could hear. “Boss, are you sure you just wanna let them off?”

Mr. Gardener turned around and stared at Jacob. The rest of the group looked at Jacob as well, their stares telling him to shut up.

“What do you mean?” Mr. Gardener asked.

“$200 is a lot of money, are you sure you wanna let that go?”

“What do you suggest we do?”

“If you can’t pay in money, why not in blood?”

Mr. Gardener rubbed his chin. “That seems reasonable, I’ll leave it to you then.”

Jacob tip-toed his way to the man he had just eavesdropped on and put his hand on his shoulder. “What’s your name?” Jacob asked.

The man started to shake. “Jimmy, sir.”

“Jimmy, can I ask you a question?” The man nodded his head. “Do you know what happens when a human’s blood flow is reversed?” The man shook his head, and Jacob smiled. “Let’s find out why don’t we! Reverse.”

The man began to shake violently before blood started to flow out of his eyes, mouth, and nose. Internal hemorrhaging began to riddle the man’s body before he fell to the floor, dead.

“What just happened?!?” Lily yelled

Jacob turned around. “This man died due to his veins rupturing. This was due to the fact that they could not handle the blood pressure that the arteries can handle, therefore rupturing them.”

The entire group stared at Jacob with a mix of astonishment and fear. They had never seen someone do this before; it was baffling.

<><><>

After a while, the group left and went to finish the rest of the collecting. The rest of the stops weren’t really anything special, just a bunch of people asking for money. After about a couple of hours, The group dropped Jacob off close to his home and said their goodbyes. He waved his hand and smiled only to run into his home and cry. Killing someone for the first time really took its toll on Jacob. The thought of killing a living being was something Jacob would never imagine he would do. The only reason he was able to do it was because of the type of person that man was. It disgusted Jacob to his inner core. This moment in Jacob’s life is what gave birth to what he is now. A little speck of his type of righteousness.