Ch. 42: 'Real or Fake'

"A date?" Adrian asked, his mind going blank. He hadn't expected Rosy to make this offer after insisting that they couldn't be together as long as their feelings for each other were fake.

"Yeah. Our relationship is fake. Our feelings are fake. I think that we should learn more about each other. Either way we cut it, those fake feelings are going to cloud our judgements. If our judgements are clouded, then we need to use the 'cloud' for our benefit." She explained.

"What are you talking about?" Adrian asked, confused.

"When my bloodlust clouded my judgement, I became an assassin. I learned to use my nature to become an 'enemy' of the resistance, so that they'd grow stronger. If our heads are going to force us to notice each other, then we need to totally understand each other. The more we can trust each other, the better." She explained. It made sense. Most of the resistance's fighters had originally joined because of some horrible thing that Rosy'd done to them while her judgement was clouded by her bloodlust.

By being evil, she'd helped good people grow. Now, she wanted to look for a way for the feelings that their blood bond gave them to come in handy. Adrian agreed, "Okay."

...

"Are you sure about this?" Adrian asked Rosy. They were walking through a nearby park, chatting normally. Rosy even had her hood down, despite the risks.

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. We're not going to be attacked in public, it'd give all the other bounty hunters free range to take their prize from them. Some will wait until tonight. Some will attack us in alleys, and some will wait until we leave the city, but we'll be perfectly fine if we just walk around in public." She explained. Adrian didn't have much of a choice other than to let it go. Despite the fact that Rosy's bloodlust had been suppressed, she still seemed to like fighting... at least to an extent. It was probably a vampire thing.

After a nice walk in the park, Rosy put her hood on and took him to a bar. Apparently, she'd stayed in this same city last time she'd been to Griffon Mountain, and she knew a bit of the area from back then. 

Naturally, neither of them were willing to drink, but they made conversation with a few people who were boasting about the fact that they'd once gotten past the first mountain. Technically, Reese and the others were also gathering information on any geographical shifts that'd happened in the last five years or so, but Adrian was the thorough type.

"I had a good time today, Adrian." Rosy told him once they left the bar. Unfortunately, the bars got a lot more popular at night, and they were starting to get nervous about bar fights. Those could get rowdy, and it was possible for Rosy's identity to become known due to some drunk idiot if they accidentally got into one.

"This alley's a bit out of the way, Rosy..." Adrian was nervous. She'd volunteered to lead him back to their inn, but she'd begun to take him through the back alleys instead of the main streets. Back here, the chances of getting ambushed were nearly 100%, and he knew it.

"I'd rather deal with that idiot now. He's starting to get on my nerves." Rosy whispered into Adrian's ear, using their bond to draw attention to the man who was discreetly following them.

"How long has he been there?" Adrian asked. From their tail's angle, it must have looked like they were kissing.

"Since the park." Rosy told him, before she backed off, smiling a bright, fake, 10,000-watt smile. She put her arms around her waist, faking vulnerability in order to draw their tail out. Luckily, her fake-out worked.

"Hey. Just face your death quietly, Princess." Their tail finally came closer. The alley that they were in ended just up ahead. It was the perfect ambush point for anyone dumb enough to walk into it. After watching their date, the tail must have thought that Rosy and Adrian had gone into the alley to kiss out of the open or something, but that wasn't the case.

"Finally! You're pretty annoying, you know. Watching someone follow me everywhere I go without showing themselves really gets under my skin." Rosy goaded. Neither she nor Adrian even bothered to reach for their swords. The person in question was a large, muscular man holding a dagger the size of Adrian's forearm. Adrian couldn't tell if he was a threat or not, but nothing could threaten Rosy.

"I figured that you'd noticed. But so what! I know your weakness, Princess." The muscle man gloated, seemingly assured of his victory. Meanwhile, Adrian raised an eyebrow,

'Weakness?' He mouthed to Rosy, who shrugged.

"Don't know what you're talking about." Rosy said. She wasn't lying.

"Oh really? I paid quite a bit of money for a certain magic catalyst. It's engraved with a certain type of blood magic!" The muscle man explained in a gloating manner, pulling a fairly large gem out of his pocket. Adrian could sense Rosy's mood instantly plummet... was that fear? Rosy was actually afraid of something? He instantly put his guard up.

"No!" Rosy shouted, throwing one of her hidden knives at the man. Unfortunately, she was too unsettled by the 'weakness' that the man was talking about. She choreographed her motions a bit too much, and the man was able to pull his hand back in the last moment. Instead of knocking the catalyst out of his hands, it hit him in his rock-hard abs instead, not going deep enough to do anything other than annoy the beast of a man.

"You bitch!" The muscular man shouted, activating the magic gem.

The effect on Rosy was instant and shocking. Her face went white, and she fell to her knees. Her will to fight, which had defined the girl since the moment that Adrian had met her, seemed to completely vanish like a ghost in the wind.