Lucia V
"You're happy cooped up in this tower?" Lucia asked, amazed anyone could function with so little room to move.
Lugh nodded. His lab, which functioned as his room as well, felt smaller than Lucia's chambers. Her rooms were bigger than one of the most powerful people in the world. The thought was disconcerting.
All of the Reinheart's alchemy equipment laid spread out on the wooden table. In one hand he had the concoction Lucia had purchased, and the other Volke had found.
"So why do you need to see if these are the same?" Lugh asked. Lucia had deigned to tell him as little as possible.
"The full bottle is one from my private stores," she lied. "The empty one is remnants of what killed your father."
"And you think these will prove who killed my father?" Lugh frowned, not looking up from his work.
"If I can ascertain the kind of poison, I can track it down." Lucia flashed him a smile. "Find the weapon, and the murderer usually isn't far behind."
"Fair enough," the youngest Reinheart replied. The alchemist had fires burning, and poured the contents of the full bottle into a vial. He dribbled water into the empty bottle, and replicated the process. "Have you received any word from my brother?"
"Which one?"
"Stefan. It's been a few weeks since he's left."
"I got a letter from him a few days ago. He seems to be doing fine," Lucia said.
Lugh smiled. "Good! I hope he comes back soon."
"Yeah," the spymistress replied.
Lugh looked up at her for the first time. "Why the lack of enthusiasm?"
"I'm just tired, little prince," Lucia rubbed her eyes. "I wish he were back. I could use him right about now."
"I'm sure he misses you." Lugh went back to his work. Within moments, the alchemistic process finished. "Well, there you have it."
"Oh?"
"An identical match."
[X]
"This way," Volke murmured.
"I don't understand," Lucia said, attempting to keep up with Volke's long strides.
"Who do you go to when you're hunting a wolf?"
"A hunter?"
"Another wolf. This person is at the head of the criminal underworld in Grisstal," Volke revealed. He led Lucia through winding streets and buildings around the Port. "If something as blatant as a Reinheart coming into town occurred before the ball, then they'll know."
Volke stopped in front of a shabby building built over the water. He moved to knock.
I'm the spymistress here, not him!
Lucia stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Let me." Volke stepped aside, and the aqua haired woman knocked.
The door opened, and a tall woman stood in her way. Her hands clasped an axe.
"Titania, come now," a husky voice spoke from further in. "These two are our guests. Let us treat them as so."
The redheaded giant of a woman stepped back, though no less as intimidating. Lucia and Volke slowly made their way into the room, not taking their eyes off the guard.
"Titania, wait in the backroom," the woman in the center of the room commanded. "I'll be with you once I finish up here."
Titania huffed, but did as she was told. Lucia took the seat opposite the remaining criminal in the room. Volke stood behind her, arms crossed.
"My name is Heather," she introduced. "And from the look on your face, am I right to guess I'm not what you expected."
It was true. Lucia did not expect a young, yellow haired woman to be the head of Grisstal's underworld.
"I did not expect to be meeting a woman today. It's uncommon for a woman to be in power," admitted Lucia.
"Look at the Empress, or you for that matter, spymistress. Besides, with tits like these," she pointed to her own chest, "and a pair of open legs, a woman can get anywhere."
"Really?" Lucia asked, an eyebrow raised in skepticism.
"No, but a poisoned dagger works just as well." A wolfish smirk accompanied the remark with glee. "Now how can I help a spymistress today?"
"I'm trying to figure out who killed Emperor Reinheart."
"An interesting venture." Heather leaned onto the desk that separated them. "What's in it for me?"
"I won't act upon knowing your location," Lucia offered.
Heather threw back her head and laughed. "The moment you leave this building, I'll never take another step inside it again. And if you try and kill me now, you'll offend the dozen archers aiming crossbows at you now."
Lucia did not need to turn around to know that Volke was on high alert. Lucia leaned forward to match Heather, "How does a spymistress owing you a favor sound?"
"It does sound nice. But I'm a spoiled girl, I'll need two favors," Heather winked. "Though if you accompany me to bed, I think I could be persuaded down to one…"
Lucia shook her head. "Two favors it is."
The criminal chuckled, "Can't blame a girl for trying. I'll look into your matter."
"You mean you don't know who did it?" Lucia remarked, surprised.
Heather batted her eyelashes. "I know I look to be a woman who knows all, but unfortunately I'm still human, darling. I'll know by the end of the week. But first, I'll need to know everything you've discovered."
The spymistress spoke of all the evidence she'd found. She mentioned her suspicions of Heath as well, including the sleeping potion she'd given him.
"I'd watch out for Heath Reinheart, spymistress," Heather warned. "Though I assume that advice would be redundant."
"Somewhat." Lucia smiled.
"Personally," Heather began, turning back to the matter at hand, "I don't mind a few more dead Reinhearts."
"Oh?"
"The people dislike their warmongering attitudes as of late. Here in the city, you don't see it. The fruits of the wars are ripest in Grisstal. But the country? Much less so," Heather said.
"A criminal who cares for the people? Today is a day or revelations, it seems," Lucia chuckled.
Heather rolled her eyes. "I'll be in contact with you when I have your answer." A slow grin appeared on her face. "Last chance to forgo that second favor for me and get an unforgettable night in return!"
Lucia paused. With a similar grin of her own, she replied, "I'll think about it."
Heather's mouth dropped open. "Are you being serious?"
A laugh. "Maybe."
Together, she and Volke exited the building.
[X]
"Was it worth it?" Guy asked, scaring Lucia into pulling a knife on him. He stood behind the duo, arms folded.
Volke let a rare bout of laughter loose. Though in truth, both were on edge from their recent meeting with Heather.
"Guy Reinheart, what are you doing here!?" demanded Lucia.
"I'll admit I have a rather vested interest in who killed my father," Guy chuckled darkly. "Volke mentioned where you two were going when I asked. I decided to follow in case I could help."
"That's rather dangerous, milord," Lucia said, falling back into etiquette.
Guy glared. "Cut the bullshit, Lucia. There's no need to put on ceremony for a friend."
"As you wish," Lucia said. "We're heading back to the castle. Would you like to escort a defenseless spymistress?"
"I'd be honored to." The duo became a trio and their walk through the dark alleys became just a bit lighter.
Until, that is, Volke held up a hand to stop them.
A moment later, a crossbow bolt struck the alabaster cobblestones where Lucia would have been had Volke not stopped her.
Guy's sword materialized in his hand. It gave off a green light that illuminated the four thugs in front of them.
It especially reflected off the Emeraldguard's armor.
"Watch the roofs!" shouted Volke. He engaged two of the thugs with knives in both hands. Guy tackled the Emeraldguard while the fourth man took on Lucia.
Resisting the urge to run and quiver like a little girl, Lucia gripped her knife tightly. Thankfully, her opponent had a knife in his hand. If it had been any other weapon, the reach would have killed Lucia before the battle began.
Screams erupted from one of Volke's enemies. But that did not slow the man attacking Lucia. His knife shot forward, seeking to end the fight before it began.
While Lucia had no confidence in her skills as a fighter, she did know some self-defense. Her knife batted the other away. But the man's next attack came sooner than she anticipated.
Lucia leapt back out of reach, also dodging the crossbow bolt that struck the ground near where she had been.
The fourth thug jumped at her, only to fall over. One of Volke's knives protruded from his back, killing him.
Guy's glowing sword stabbed through the Emeraldguard's armor like jelly. His corpse joined Volke's other opponent.
"The shooter!" Guy pointed at a figure running across the rooftops against the moonlit sky.
"Leave him." Lucia breathed, adrenalin calming.
"You sure?" Guy asked with a flicker of a frown.
"This affirms that I'm on the right track," Lucia said. "We need to get back to the castle."
Author Notes: For the alchemy part, I apologize. I don't know shit about those kinds of things.
This is actually the last Lucia chapter in Part I. We have one more Stefan chapter in this Part, and then that's one down! Two more to go!
This is also actually the halfway point of the fic, as far as chapters go. These last two parts are far shorter than Part I.
I hate August in terms of fanfiction. There are hardly any posts due to people feeling the pressure of school coming. Ergo, there's less writing happening. Especially with college students moving in and getting settled.
Ha, that'll be me very soon. Off to my first year of college! In case I don't get another chapter up before then, there might be a delay while I figure out all my affairs. After all, this is a big change for me. I merely ask that you all be patient on this fic. I don't want to rush it and ruin the good I have going.
I don't have trivia today, but instead I have a cool little fact about my life that happened recently! So many of you know I manage a movie theater, and sometimes we see celebrities come through our doors since we're on of the most highly regarded theaters in my state. Most of the time it's just sports related stars, and mostly ones who aren't super well known (Or at least to me, someone who doesn't follow sports). Well, we had a movie star come in the other day!
One of my friends sold Woody Harrelson tickets to a movie. It was so cool.