Chapter Thirty-Five

2 years ago

Romeo sat down at the bar and drew the bartender's attention with a raised hand, a silver coin held between two fingers.

"Hey there! Name's Zachary. Welcome to my restaurant. What can I get for you?" Zachary spread his arms wide.

"Surprise me, but make sure it's strong." Romeo set the coin down on the bar and slid it towards Zachary. The bartender held it up to his eye.

"Dumas, yeah? You're a bit of a ways from home," Zachary said as he pocketed the coin and grabbed a bottle of dark blue liquor. He poured Romeo a short glass.

"Exploring the world before I have to settle down. You know how it is." Romeo said with a shrug before taking the glass and downing it in a single gulp. He signaled for another. "So, what is exciting around here? This place seems more dead than the last town I stopped at."

"Ah, you just missed the lunch rush actually." Zachary poured another glass that Romeo took down easy. Zachary refilled the glass. "But this is a pretty quiet place. Cept for the guild, we don't have much to see around here. People mostly keep to themselves these days."

"Guild?" Romeo paused, the glass at his lips. "Like a magic guild?"

"Used to be," Zachary said. "Not much magic going around these days, but they get still get some interesting jobs from time to time."

"Well that's something at least. I guess." Romeo drained his glass and glanced around the restaurant. Beside him, there were only a handful of patrons, most of them old, and likely boring. He almost dropped his head down in despair until the front door opened and a slender young woman walked in, a black scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face. Zachary gave her a cheery wave that she returned with a curt nod.

Romeo straightened up in his chair.

Finally! Someone worthy of his interest.

"Excuse me for a moment." Zachary bowed out from behind the bar and made for the kitchen. After a moment he returned with a plate of berries and a large bowl of whipped cream that he placed before the girl.

"Just got them in today from Verla. Just like you asked," Zachary said, rapping the edge of the plate with his knuckles. "Whipped the cream fresh for you too. Thanks for taking care of that issue for me."

The girl gave another silent nod and Zachary returned to his place behind the bar.

"So," Romeo allowed Zachary to pour him another drink as he watched the girl dip one of the plump berries into the cream. "What's that ones story?"

"Lexi? Ah, she's a member of the guild."

"Really? Well, she looks interesting."

"Ah, you'll want to be careful there, friend." Zachary gave him an uneasy smile. "She's a… well, let's just say she is a feisty one."

"Perfect." Romeo grinned, pushing off from the bar and tossing Zachary another coin. He ran a hand through his tawny hair and swaggered over to Lexi's table.

"Hey there." Romeo gave her his most striking smile. "Sorry to bother you, but I saw you come in and I just had to tell you, you are without a doubt one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, though I'm sure you hear that a lot."

Lexi looked up. She had loosened her scarf to eat, but it still hid her face, leaving only her large, dark eyes exposed. She stared at Romeo for a moment before dropping her eyes back down and continuing to eat.

Romeo's smile didn't falter. "Would you mind if I sat down?"

Lexi looked up at him again before giving a non-committal shrug with one shoulder.

"So, you're part of the guild," Romeo said, trying to start any form of conversation with the girl in front of him as he slid into the chair across from her. "What do you do?"

Lexi sat back and stared at Romeo for a long time before answering. "Hunter."

"Like animals?"

"People.".

"Oh." Romeo ran an eye over the girl. "You seem a bit delicate for that line of work."

There was a glint in Lexi's eye that would have sent most people fleeing in terror from the table.

Romeo was not most people.

From the bar Zachary sent Lexi a pleading look.

"The guild has given me adequate training." Lexi managed to say, though it came through clenched teeth. She grabbed another berry and slowly ate it, her eyes closing as she relished the sweet and tangy flavor.

"Really now?" Romeo said, leaning forward. "You know I've been traveling for almost three months since I left Dumas. I stopped over Gorin, then Romiatii, and this is the first guild I've heard of that still operating. I would love to see what someone trained by a guild can do."

Lexi blinked, her hand pausing as she lifted another berry to her mouth.

"That is to say…" Romeo rested his chin on his hand. "I wouldn't mind a sparring session. Just to see how your guild stacks up to the Dumas standard of training."

Lexi blinked again before a very small smile formed on her lips, hidden beneath the scarf. She popped the berry into her mouth and chewed on it a length before answering. "I believe that can be arranged."

Without another word, Lexi stood up and made for the door. Romeo watched her for a moment before throwing Zachary a roguish grin and chasing after her.

"Welp, there goes another customer," he sighed as he went to retrieve Lexi's plate.

xXx

"So this is it, huh?" Romeo said, looking up at the building. "Looks more like city housing than a guild."

"A guild is a home, the form does not matter," Lexi replied, leading Romeo through the doors and into the guild. He followed her to a table where a dark haired, and extremely tired looking, young man sat alone at a table with a plate of untouched food sitting in front of him. One hand rubbed idly at his temple as the other drummed against the table. He looked up as they approached.

"Lex," he greeted. His eyes flicked towards Romeo, but they did not linger.

"Cross," Lexi replied. "Up for a sparring match?"

Cross let out a scoff. "Not with you."

Lexi tilted her head towards Romeo. "Him."

"Him?" Cross gave Lexi a blank look.

"Him." Lexi said with a touch more force.

Behind Lexi, Romeo's eyebrows rose. "Wait, I thought I was going to be… with you… or something."

Lexi turned to face him. "Beat him first, then you can try me."

Romeo looked at Lexi, then at Cross, then back at Lexi. Lexi was staring down at Cross and Cross had gone back to staring at his food, hand on his head.

The two didn't seem particularly fond of each other.

Romeo leaned down towards Lexi and lowered his voice. "Do you uh, want to see this guy beat up or something?"

"Very much so," Lexi replied before turning to Cross. "Cross?"

"Right, then, let's get this over with, princess." Cross sighed, pushing himself up from his chair and ambling away from the pair. Lexi followed after him with Romeo in tow. The trio made their way down a flight of stairs and into the basement sparring area where Cross broke away and headed to a rack holding training equipment.

"Don't hurt him too much," Lexi called as she walked over to the wall and leaned comfortably against it, tilting her head to the side.

"Don't worry, I won't," Romeo gave her a cocky grin and cracked his knuckles.

Cross didn't say anything as he took a pair of sparing gloves and threw them to Romeo. Romeo caught them deftly and pressed his fingers against the leather padding. They weren't particularly soft. Nothing like what he had trained with at home. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, which must have been mirrored on his face as Cross let out a sniff of amusement.

"They're designed to keep your hands from breaking," Cross said as he pulled his own gloves on and cinched them in place. "Getting punched hurts pretty bad still."

"Perfect," Romeo said with more bravado than he felt as he pulled his gloves on and stepped onto the sparring floor. He tossed a look towards Lexi and gave her a wink. "How about after I finish up here, we do some more private sparring? I'm sure I can show you some things you've never tried before."

Lexi tilted her head slightly and lifted a finger, pointing over Romeo's shoulder. Following her gesture, Romeo turned his head just in time to receive a brutal punch to the face courtesy of Cross.

He was sent down to the floor with a curse.

"What the hell was that?" Romeo cawed as he staggered back to his feet.

Cross dropped down to one knee and tapped the padded floor. "Fight starts when you step onto the mat."

Romeo glared at Cross before brining his fists up. "Alright, fine. I'll give you that one. Call it a handicap."

"Whenever you're ready, then." Cross rose back to his feet and spread his arms wide.

Romeo took the bait and charged forward. Cross easily blocked Romeo's first punch with his arm, then ducked under the next wild swing. With a quick punch to Romeo's side followed by a kick to the knee, Cross sent Romeo to the mat again. Before Romeo could get up, Cross cracked him hard across the cheek with a devastating punch. Romeo let out a whimper as he hit the ground.

Cross stared at the downed male for a moment before lifting his eyes to Lexi. With a sigh and a shrug he started to undo his gloves when Romeo let out a groan and slowly pushed himself up. Back on his feet, his fists came up, and he took an unsteady step towards Cross.

Cross sighed and stepped forward. Dazed, Romeo threw a weak, poorly timed punch and Cross pushed away with an open hand before slamming his fist into Romeo's gut. Romeo doubled over, but remained on his feet. He staggered back, his face a dangerous shade of white as he looked up at Cross and forced a smile onto his face before throwing another punch that Cross caught. He twisted Romeo's arm behind his back forcing the joints to crack grotesquely, but Romeo didn't yield. With surprising flexibility, Romeo twisted his body around and managed to break Cross's grip. Lashing out, he land a glancing blow to Cross's cheek, forcing Cross to take a step back.

Romeo tried to push his small advantage, but Cross was quicker. As Romeo went for a knockout punch, Cross moved in close and, with a series of quick jabs to Romeo's head and stomach, sent Romeo sprawling back. Unable to fully regain his balance, Romeo was powerless to stop Cross's foot from connecting with his stomach. The strike lifted Romeo momentarily off the ground and forced all the air from his lungs, but he refused to fall down again.

"That… that all you got? I thought people in guilds were supposed to be tough or something." Romeo wheezed as he clutched at his stomach. Eyes half closed from pain he stumbled towards Cross.

Cross raised an eyebrow and took a step back to avoid Romeo's weak jab, then blocked the next two attempts before driving his knee into Romeo's already bruised stomach. Again, Romeo wavered, but didn't fall, as he bent over and gasped furiously for air.

He looked up at Cross, blood dribbling from his open mouthed smile. "I said that all you got?"

Romeo lunged forward, his shoulder crashing into Cross's chest. The pair stumbled back a few steps, but Romeo was unable to knock Cross off his feet.

"It's over," Cross said as Romeo went all but limp against his chest.

"For… you…" Romeo's fist came up and weakly knocked against Cross's side. "M'still… standin'…"

Frowning, Cross brought up his fists and slammed them against Romeo's exposed back with a considerable amount of force. Romeo slipped down, but did not fall. Cross's frown deepened and he repeated the action, this time with almost all of his strength.

With a soft grunt, Romeo dropped down to the padded floor, unconscious. Sighing softly, Cross rolled him over onto his side with one foot before glancing up at Lexi.

"He's tough, I'll give him that. Probably would have done better if he had been taking it seriously from the start. There is potential there, though."

Lexi didn't answer as she pushed off the wall and left the room.

xXx

Banksy sighed as he saw one person exit the training room despite seeing three people enter. As Lexi ascended the stairs towards her room, he headed into the training room where Cross was silently returning the used equipment to its proper place. Unsurprisingly, sadly, there was a knocked out person on the floor, gently snoring. Banksy nudged him with his foot.

"Who is this?"

"Romeo." Cross shrugged. "Lexi brought him back."

"Is he…?"

"Don't know."

"Well did she…?"

"Not yet."

"It's crazy, right? What she does?"

"Very."

"Shouldn't she just ask?"

"That would be the normal thing to do, yes."

"So, is the Mistress going to let her?"

"Eventually."

"Soon?"

"Doubt it."

"So this still isn't even official?"

"Not at all."

Banksy started to reply when Romeo let out a groan and his eyes began to flicker open. Cross gave Banksy a pat on the shoulder and headed out of the room without another word.

"Oh, sure." Banksy said to Cross's retreating footsteps. "Why don't I just do everything? You're just as bad as her."

When no reply came he let out a sigh and reached down help pull Romeo unsteadily to his feet.

"What… What the hell was that?" Romeo said, groggily as he leaned on Banksy for support.

"Call it an initiation." Banksy sighed. He dragged Romeo to one of the benches and deposited the taller boy onto the bench.

"For what?"

"The guild? Friendship? A curse that you can never escape?" Banksy countered off his fingers. He leaned over and pulled an icepack from a waiting cooler and tossed it to Romeo. "Here."

"Thanks," Romeo grunted as he held the icepack up to his face. He held out his free hand. "I'm Romeo, by the way. Romeo Lovejoy."

"Nathanial Bank." Banksy took the offered hand with a firm grip. "Everyone calls me Banksy though."

"Banksy." Romeo nodded, twisting his jaw around gingerly. "You're friends with them?"

"Yup."

"You gonna punch me too?"

"Not planning on it any time soon. Not much a fighter to be honest." Banksy grinned. "Sorry about that. Try not to take it personally. You're not the first person this has happened too. Lexi must like you, though."

"Well with this face, who wouldn't?" Romeo managed to crack a smile through his pain. "But how do you figure that?"

"She had Cross fight you. If she had fought you, you'd still be unconscious. Or maybe dead." Banksy explained.

Romeo raised an eyebrow. "So what's the point of all this?"

"Test you. See if you're worth keeping around."

"Worth? What?" Romeo shook his head, wincing as he did so. "Hey, I'm just passing through here. I'm not looking to, like, join a… a freaking magic guild!"

"That's too bad." Banksy shrugged. "It's not a bad deal, you know? They give you a place to stay and you get paid by how risky the jobs you take are. Not many places can offer that. Not that I've seen."

Romeo perked up slightly. "Define risky."

"Collecting debts, repossessing items, guard duty and…" Banksy listed off before casting a cautious eye on Romeo. "Ripping."

"You're Rippers?"

"To the general public, no, we are not. In fact, if you ask, we don't even know what a Ripper is."

"Why are you telling me all this? I could just go and tell the authorities."

"You haven't left yet." Banksy shrugged. "If Lexi brought you here, it means she thinks you'd be a good addition to our team. If Cross fought you, it means he didn't disagree."

"It's that simple?" Romeo asked with a bemused smile.

"It's that simple." "Well, did you go through all this too?"

"I did." Banksy nodded. "Lexi actually knocked me out, right over there. Kicked me in the head so hard I blacked out for a few hours. When I woke up, she asked me if I would join her team."

"And you joined."

"And I joined."

"Do you regret it?"

Banksy grinned. "Not for one second."

"Well then." Romeo stood up and stretched out his sore neck. "Where do I sign up? I want a rematch with that Cross guy."