Fantasy Careers: Witch Assassin

Fantasy Careers is a blog series where I interview characters from fantasy books about their interesting jobs and unusual careers. Interested in taking part? Drop me a line through my contact form.

Elise: Today, I like to welcome Yvette Sangre to Magic Writer. Yvette lives in Hell Bent, PA, and she’s a witch. So, Yvette, tell us a bit about your job?

Yvette: Well, I work as an assassin. As for what it entails: eliminating certain targets and those that surround them, while making sure to eliminate any and all evidence that someone else was there. Well, save for the body.

Elise: That’s pretty hardcore. Do you have any specialist skills?

Yvette: In my team of three, I am the best with a gun. I’m also the one responsible for having created our uniforms and magically erasing any forensic evidence.

Elise: Who are your other team members? Do you get on well with them?

Yvette: There are two others on my team: first is my sister Ivy. She doesn’t know magic, but she does possess both telepathy and telekinesis. She also drinks all the time and can be a total pain in the neck. But she’s family… And then there’s our friend Beast. Beast is…unique… Part human, part feline, part machine. She may seem like an imposing cyborg, but she has a major soft spot for children.

Elise: Wow, you sound like an interesting trio with very varied skills. So, what do you do on a day to day basis?

Yvette: Well, I’ll generally check to see if we have any new jobs on the agenda. Upon finding one, I’ll inform the others and we’ll discuss it as we gear up. If the target turns out to have any immediate family, however, we’ll turn it down. After we’re ready, we’ll either get a bus, walk, or in a pinch, I’ll teleport us there. That takes a little outta me, but the other two can cause plenty of damage without my input. We’ll usually fight whatever goons a target might have if they happen to get in the way. And then one of us will eliminate the target. I’ll use that one cleansing spell that I’ve mastered, and we’ll be on our way. The money for each job is deposited right to a joint account.

Elise: Sounds like you have a very efficient setup. What’s your favourite part of the job?

Yvette: I love the feeling of having rid a community of a harmful element. Particularly human traffickers…those types, in particular, REALLY irk me. So to take some of them out, it’s my way of giving back to the community.

Elise: Yeah, I can see that being pretty satisfying. How did you get into this job in the first place?

Yvette: That all goes back to when Ivy and I were twelve. We grew up in a lab. They kept her in the Psionics Unit, for the most part. I was being taught magic at that point in time, just to see how a young child could retain that knowledge. There came a day when Ivy couldn’t take their treatment of her any longer and had gone on a rampage. Of the 21 doctors in Psionics, there was 1 survivor. They had her slated for execution. I tried begging them to reconsider, and they ultimately decided that she might make a good candidate for the Young Assassins’ Initiative. Since I’m her twin, but my training was entirely different than hers, they pushed me into joining, as well.

Elise: Good thing you managed to save her. What did the training involve?

Yvette: In the lab, I was with Ivy, Beast, and Beast’s sister Serena, and three of us were enrolled in the Young Assassins’ Initiative. The YAI training was…tough. Quite tough. We had this instructor named Crimson…could never see her face or any of her skin. But she was quite merciless in her training…like the time she had the three of us handcuffed to a railroad track for the sake of seeing how long it took to get out of the handcuffs. See, she had this habit of forgetting that we weren’t really that far past puberty… The three of us were her “Remedial” class because we apparently hesitated too much, and she continually drilled one message into our heads: “Hesitation is death!”. She did that so much, Ivy even managed to imitate it PERFECTLY.

Elise: No wonder you guys are such a good team now! It sounds intense. Is this your dream job, or would you have preferred to do something else?

Yvette: It’s not my dream job, exactly. If I had the choice, I’d probably go into fashion design. I’ve always had an affinity for it.

Elise: Well, I have been admiring your uniforms! On a lighter note, do you have any funny or embarrassing stories about your job?

Yvette: Oh…oh, there was this one target. I forget the guy’s name, but I could never forget his wardrobe. It was almost a jumpsuit…but the collar resembled—are you ready for this one—it resembled the WAISTBAND of a pair of pants! Complete with belt loops, and fly… It was basically a giant pair of pants, save for the sleeves sewn to the sides. I felt so embarrassed for this poor guy, it was essentially a mercy kill. And then there was the first job we ever did together…the guy’s last name was Toker, and he lived on 420 Stoner Ave. In APARTMENT 420. We all cracked up over that one.

Elise: *laughs* I’m glad to see there has been some amusement along the way. Thanks very much for stopping by today, Yvette.

Learn more about Yvette and her world in the Hell Bent series by author Kayla Matt.

Kayla Matt

Kayla Matt is a graduate of Philadelphia, PA’s University of the Arts. Her interests in sci-fi, fantasy, horror, comics, and anime have inspired her to both write and illustrate her own work.

The books in the Hell Bent series are a combination of prose and graphic novels and tend to be a mixture of (somewhat soft) sci-fi, urban fantasy, and horror. It is something of a pet project for her, a pet that she feeds with time, and that feeds on her sleep.

Her artwork can be found at: kaylamatt.webs.com

or more currently: https://kaylamatt.wordpress.com

The Hell Bent Series

Visions: Dr. Spencer Abbot has been searching for the ideal anniversary gift for his wife. When he and his friend Travis meet a woman that claims she can help, they accept. 

The pair are led to Visions Studios. But instead of the boudoirs photos they’d intended to get, they stumble upon something far more sinister: snuff films. 

Before long, it’s up to Travis to resolve their situation, no matter what tries to get in his way. 

Retribution: It’s been 5 months since the Visions Incident. 5 months since the Abbots/Malones had dealt with sadistic murderess Jesse Lynn Belle. Over this time, Travis and Spencer have been undergoing therapy, trying to cope with the trauma. 

But signs of Jesse’s presence begin cropping up. And it’s beginning to take a toll on Travis. It soon comes down to him, his aunt, and her friends to track her down, before it costs them the rest of their family. 

Destruction: Jesse Lynn Belle has not made contact with Travis and Spencer’s family in four months, and things couldn’t be better. The nightmares have been happening with less and less frequency, and Spencer is now a father. 

But then an evil they hoped never to encounter again turns up, and Travis soon finds himself taken from all he knows and loves. And it’s Jesse’s intent to utterly break the young half-monkey. 

Deception: Sick of being the universe’s punching bag, Dr. Spencer Abbot begins to look into self-defense training. His search leads him to Slade McManus, a powerful mage who is more than willing to teach Spencer the ways of magic.

But there is something very off about this mage, and before he knows it, Spencer and Travis find themselves in trouble yet again. 

Apparition: Dr. Spencer Abbot: there was once a time that he was (mostly) at peace, living with his family. But for the past couple of months, he has had to hide from the law. As if that weren’t enough, he has started to experience nightmares and see ghosts of those he feels he has failed to save.

He and his support system know who is behind the sightings, but not where Slade McManus is.