Internally, Millina squirmed as her stomach fell. She was busted. Since the drop off time that Fabian's kidnappers had arranged was still a day away, the plan had been for Millina to track Luke from the shadows and ensure that he did not find Fabian before they did, and to attack him if he did. But Luke had spotted her and there was no going back. She was going to have to lie and hope he would buy it. Fortunately, if life in Flowave had taught Millina one thing, it was never to let her true feelings show. Composing her fear under a mask of neutrality, she folded her arms under her breasts and returned Luke's gaze as she said, "Looking for you, as a matter of fact."
"I'm a dangerous person to track down." He said as he broke out into a terrifying grin that did not come close to touching his eyes as he bounced on the heels of his feet, and Millina felt doubt spring that he would be easily deceived, "So whatcha doing that for?"
"I need to sharpen my skills." Millina said as she watched him carefully, "Word got around that you're the only one who might prove a challenge for me. So I want you to teach me about what you do so I can get better."
"What makes you think I want the competition?" Luke asked. Millina could not get a read on whether or not he believed her.
"Who said anything about being competition?" Millina asked, "I'm just looking to sharpen my skills, not to be an assassin for hire."
"Yeah, and how do I know you won't slow me down in the meantime?" Luke asked.
"Laphas Seed!" Millina cast, throwing a volley of magical ropes at him. To her surprise he brought his sword up and managed to snare them around it. Millina blinked in surprise. Such a move should not have been possible!
Luke dropped his sword and pulled another one from his scabbard and charged at her, and Millina grabbed her sword and deflected it and delivered a blow of her own which he defended against. They stared at each other for a moment as the feel of each other's strike seeped into their bones. In that moment Millina truly appreciated that Cosette had not been exaggerating. Luke was a league above most of the people she dealt with in this town. Several leagues in fact. Skilled enough that Millina wondered if she had finally met her match, and then some.
Fear spread like ice within her as she wondered if she had bitten off more than she could chew while Luke grinned as he sheathed his sword, "You can tag along. But don't expect a penny of the money I'm getting from this job."
"The experience is payment enough." Millina stated. She knew she should follow his lead by sheathing her own sword, but a growing sense of disquiet grew within her, and not even the fact that his expression was no longer hostile soothed it. No, now that he looked as though a fire had been kindled in his heart so that it lit a genuine warmth in his eyes, and she was even more distressed. He was looking at her as though he had just found the woman he wanted to marry!
"I'm Luke." He said casually as he smiled and held out his hand, "What's your name?"
"Millina." She said as she sheathed her sword and, despite the way her instincts were screaming at her to run, managed to curtly shake his hand.
"Millina." He repeated, and Millina had never heard someone utter her name so majestically before. He moved closer to her, and she had to remind herself that, if possible, she wanted to avoid a confrontation with him. Dying in Flowave was not an option as far as she was concerned, and while every assignment she had taken had been risky, Luke's skill unnerved her. She'd never met anyone who could negate a Laphas Seed spell like that. That it should not have been possible worried her. Sometimes people simply weren't what they seemed. There were stories of demons who appeared to be humans, and while Millina had never known whether or not to believe them, at the moment she decided not to err on skepticism. She had a job to complete, a job that would get her out of this damned town. Otherwise she would have ended his aspirations with a firm punch in the face.
"What a beautiful name!" Luke crooned, "Are you seeing anyone by chance?"
"None of your business." She snapped, "Now are you going to show me the ropes?"
"Sure." Luke said as he smirked at her as he started walking down the street, "But I don't know what it is you have against me."
"Your hair is the wrong color." Millina muttered against her better judgement as she followed him as the gooseflesh rose on her skin. Walking down one of the most grimy streets in Flowave with him seemed high on the list of stupid decisions she had ever made. It was the sort of place that not even the most desperate of prostitutes dared frequent because no one asked questions about the dead bodies that were found. And she didn't need to make it worse by feeding him information he could later use against her.
Luke ran a hand through his fiery hair as a look of confusion spread across his face, "Huh?"
"I don't like redheads."
"That's…that's rather shallow." Luke said as he looked at her despairingly.
Millina shrugged and hoped to dampen his ardor by saying, "I'm a shallow person."
"Oh that's not true, Millina!"
"Don't we have a job to focus on?" Millina asked as she cringed in annoyance. Granted, she realized plenty of people would have told her it would be in her best interest to encourage his intentions to lead him on. Men turned into idiots over a pretty face and she could use sex to her advantage to save Fabian Hermitage and get the hell out of Flowave. But Millina couldn't bring herself to do it. As it was too many jealous men attributed her success to her non-existent ability to seduce the enemy. The only thing that gave Millina comfort was that she knew those stories were lies. She couldn't give them sustenance, not even if it guaranteed her safety.
"All we're doing right now is walking." Luke pointed out as he smiled and puffed his chest out. "You should give me a shot, I'm not like other redheads."
"I'm leaving town tomorrow." Millina said firmly, certain that it would end his aspirations.
"What do you mean?" Luke asked.
"I'm getting the hell out of Flowave!" Millina said.
"Why?" he asked.
Even after all the time Millina had spent here, she was still shocked at how the natives of Flowave were always stunned to hear that people would want to leave it. She would have thought the reasons were readily apparent! But to the people who were born here, it was normal. And since she wanted Luke to hate her, she was more careless than usual as she said, "I hate this cesspool."
"What makes you think life outside this cesspool is any better?" Luke asked, "Humans are pathetic."
"It's different in other places." Millina said as she started to wonder again if he was a demon. Surely demons weren't born in the human world, but at the same time if there was ever a town that would be a haven for demons, it would be Flowave.
"What sort of pipe dream has someone got you high on?" Luke asked.
Millina glared at him, "I'm not from here! No one told me anything. I remember a life that was better than this one!"
Luke looked at her, "You weren't born here?"
"I was born on a farm outside of Webron." Millina explained. "Where the air was fresh, the water clean and you can see the stars at night. Where kids have homes and families to grow up with. It wasn't perfect, we didn't have much, but what we had was enough."
Luke took a left turn as he was blissfully silent for a minute before saying, "It sounds nice. I'm not sure I buy it though. If it was so nice why did you move here?"
"It wasn't my decision." Millina said as she started to regret that she had even brought this up. In her effort to make him hate her she'd given him an opening to grab onto instead. "Wherever you go, though, life is hard for widows with children."
"Let me guess, then your mother married someone and moved to Flowave with him." Luke said.
"A red haired someone, yes." Millina said.
"But isn't it possible that you just remember life being better than it was because you were so young?" Luke asked.
Millina glared at him, "No. Life is better outside of Flowave. People are kinder. And I am not staying here one minute longer than I have to."
"It sounds nice, I have to admit." Luke said, "Maybe I'll go with you."
"I travel alone." Millina said quickly.
"You could use someone with my skills. I can be more than an assassin."
"How arrogant of you to presume you know what I need!" Millina said.
"I'm quite the card shark." Luke bragged, "Playing cards isn't just about getting money, you know. It's where I track down my leads, find where my targets are kept. And get a little extra money on the side."
"I can make my own money just fine." Millina snapped.
"Yeah, that's what I've heard." Luke said as he came to a stop.
"What?" Millina said as she jerked around to look at him as the mood changed. In the dim light obscured by the fog, Luke was gazing at her with an intensity that made Millina feel undressed and exposed.
"I learn a lot of things by playing cards." Luke said ominously as his expression became unreadable once more, "Like how news that I'd been hired to kill Fabian Hermitage had been leaked and how Marcus Hermitage had hired some private bodyguards to protect his son. So, I know you're just using me to find Fabian. I know you plan to stab me in the back as soon as I lead you to him. And I knew you were coming before I heard you outside the pub. But what I didn't know…"
Millina's hand dropped to her sword as the fog seemed to grow thicker as it took on an orange hue as Millina wondered if she was doomed to die in Flowave like her mother and sister before her as Luke drew closer, but something was off. Luke's expression was softening, "Was that I would fall in love with you in a mere matter of moments."
Had she heard that right? He had to have been playing some sort of game! Millina shook her head in disbelief, "Is this some trick?"
"This is no trick!" Luke insisted, "I know I'm in with a bad crowd and that I do bad things! The redhead thing is a cop out because I'm a bad man, isn't it? But I can change Millina! That love of a good woman can change a bad man."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Millina yelled.
"It can!" Luke insisted, "It already has! I'll prove it to you! Fabian Hermitage is being held in that building there."
Luke indicated a building that Millina could barely discern through the fog on the corner of the street. "Fabian is in there."
"How do I know you won't take me down the moment my back is turned?" Millina asked.
"Because I'll turn first." Luke said as he turned around and walked over to the building.
Millina could feel the stress pumping through her veins, weighing her muscles down as she took a deep breath and followed him as her stomach twisted in knots. This had to be a ruse to reel her in. She should attack him now while his back was turned. Given his skill it may be her best chance of getting out alive. But given his skill, it could also be the last thing that she did.
Cautiously she followed him, her senses alert for any sign of an ambush. But Luke stopped in front of the dingy building, right before a window and indicated that she look into it. "He's in there." Luke said. "Now, I've got to turn in my resignation and tie up some loose ends. But I'll track you down tomorrow and we can talk then. I'll pay!"
He smiled winningly at her as Millina still struggled to believe this was happening as he took off down the street. She spent a few minutes standing there, waiting for an attack that never came before she finally worked up the nerve to peak into the window. What she saw confirmed that there was indeed a hostage situation. There were four people inside and one of them was tied to a chair. They still had ten hours until the drop off had been arranged and only one appeared to be awake. It felt too easy.
Bracing herself for a betrayal, Millina cast a Damu Brass and charged into the room and threw a few Icicle Lances to subdue the kidnappers. In the end, it had been that easy. Millina turned to look at the boy strapped to the chair, who was looking at her with terror in his eyes. And at once Millina knew he was the Hermitage's son. He looked too much like Marcus to be deceiving her.
"Fabian?" she asked.
He nodded at her dumbly, and Millina grabbed her sword and cut the ropes that were binding him. "Come on, let's get you home. Your mother is worried sick about you."
Millina had been certain that she would be attacked as she escorted Fabian Hermitage home. Why would anyone make such a dramatic change for someone they knew for less than an hour? It had to be a trap! But the attack never came.
Still reeling from disbelief and expecting an attack, Millina watched as Fabian ran up the steps of his parents' mansion as she followed him, convinced that the other shoe would drop. Luke would attack and try to kill the whole family. Or it would turn out that the boy was not Fabian Hermitage. But the door flew open, and Diedre ran out as she wailed, "My son! You're home!"
"Mother!" Fabian cried as they held each other.
"Let's get inside." Millina said as she gently grabbed Fabian's shoulder to nudge him forward.
Millina felt dizzy with relief as the door closed behind them as Marcus came down the stairs, the relief evident on his features, "Fabian!"
Millina was silent as she observed their reunion as Rufus joined them from the parlor, where he must have been coordinating the efforts to drop off his ransom. Rufus's greeting was casual, and as Millina watched as Marcus and Diedre ecstatically embraced their son, she found herself missing the days where someone would have been that happy to see her. And for a moment she thought it would be nice to believe there was something so powerful within her that she could turn the heart of a hardened criminal good. Ever since her sister had left, she'd been so lonely. A terrible yearning to feel loved rose within her, and she let herself indulge it only for a moment. Love always led to pain. Afterall, her sister had been foolish enough to believe she'd changed a bad man into a good one. And look where it had gotten her.
"You did good work," Rufus said as he handed her a sack of gold, "Go on home and get some rest. I'll stay here with a few other bodyguards just in case. We'll contact you when we have a new job."
Millina opened the sack and counted out the money, and then smiled slightly. This would be more than what she needed. She tucked her bag of gold away and was about to leave when there was a knock on the door. Millina tensed. She knew this was too easy! "I'll open it."
Millina cautiously opened the door, but it was not Luke who was on the doorstep. Whoever it was, Marcus recognized him as he broke away from his family and walked to the door, "Edward?"
"Marcus! It's your brother." Edward exclaimed.
"What?" Marcus asked as everyone turned to regard the man on his doorstep.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but he was just knifed down in the street! By a man with red hair! He's dead."
Millina sat on the pallet that served as a bed in her room and counted her money. No matter how many times she counted it, she still couldn't believe that she finally had enough to leave. So often it seemed as though she would never make it, that she would be trapped in Flowave forever. But she wouldn't. She was finally leaving. Now if she could just get the hell out of town before Luke tracked her down…
Unease settled within her. What sort of man continues to pursue a woman who rejects him? Other than a dangerous man? One who won't stop till he gets what he wants? Millina shuddered. She'd seen it before with her stepfather. But not even her stepfather would have killed someone who'd hired him if he decided he didn't want the job. While hiring an assassin to kill one's nephew was deplorable, so was killing someone you had made a contract with when you no longer decided you wanted to do the job. And what truly disturbed Millina was that Luke surely thought it was evidence of his change of heart!
Millina took a deep breath and started to frantically pack her bags. The faster she left, the better. She couldn't give Luke the time he needed to track her down.