What Would You Give

The Amulet

There was something about spending the summer with friends that Roe could never get over. It was full of beer, pizza, burgers, and fun at the beach for most college students. That wasn't her at all. A couple months ago she had run into Dante again and now they were rekindling their friendship again, slowly but surely. 

"What are you doing out here?" She looked up from where she sat on the steps outside of Devil May Cry as Dante was pulling his hair back into a short pony tail. "I was looking for you." 

"It's a lot cooler out here than it is in there." She smiled up at him as he sat down next to her in his white tank and bluejeans. 

"Yeah I guess so." He rubbed his forehead and realized he was sweating pretty good. "Damn it is hot." He fell back, laying down and putting his hands over his head. 

"Maybe you should look into fixing that AC." Roe told him not moving from her spot and watching as he just blew air from his mouth. He was lazy by all means and while he had grown up from the mean little boy he was to her back in the day, he was more closed off. 

"Maybe." Dante seemed to be bored again. "What I would give for a breeze or a dip in a cold creek somewhere." The answer to that question was probably something along the lines of forgoing pizza for a day, but she knew for sure she was grasping at straws on that one. She never knew what Dante was thinking. "I'm bored." 

"Teach me to shoot." She said and he looked over to her with a raised eyebrow and she gave him a serious look. 

"What brought this on?" He sat up and got closer to her to get a good look in her eyes to see if there was some sort of trauma. Some hint of memory that caused her to want to learn something like this. She knew what he was looking for. 

"I just want to know how to defend myself if I need too. My parents were anti-gun remember?" Roe gave him a smirk and he smirked back at her before standing up and walking back in the shop with a purpose. He came back out a few minutes later with a backpack full of empty beer bottles and his guns. 

"Come on, we can't shoot here." He handed her the backpack and walked towards his motorcycle parked on the sidewalk and she stood up to follow him. "I know a pretty good place to go that won't attract attention." 

Roe ran her fingers over the pistol strapped to her thigh as she sat in the little dive bar in Capulet years later waiting for Nina Lowell to make her appearance. She wasn't well versed in martial arts like Dante was, but because he taught her how to shoot, she was a very good marksmen. She sat at the end of the bar in silence while sipping on a dry martini waiting for the blond woman she had followed from New York. She was also sure that Nina knew she was following. 

When the blond woman walked in and sat down three seats down from her, Roe kept her distance. She waited until the woman ordered a drink before moving closer and sitting down with a bar stool between them. Now was the time to have a good talk with Nina Lowell. 

"Give her whatever she wants, it's on me." Roe told the bar tender who nodded in return and saw that Nina had looked at her with wide eyes. 

"You don't have to do that." The blond said and Roe could see the resemblance between her and Patty. It made sense that Nina was Patty's mother and it was clear as day. 

"It's the least I can do since I've been following you." Nina nodded and somehow understood what Roe meant by this as the bar tender brought a glass of whiskey and set it down in front of her. "I apologize for it, but it seems I am not the only one following you." 

"You're right. I've been followed my entire life all because of this." Nina held up the necklace that hung around her neck seeming to know that Roe wasn't there to hurt her in any way. Roe was able to get a good look at it and honestly, she really didn't want to take it from the blond.