Rose Of Game

Chapter 2

   R   O   S   E OF  G  A  M  E

  "The evil that men do lives after them;the good is oft interred with their bones."-William Shakespeare

"Am I supposed to say thank you?" My strained voice was starting to take a toll on my throat, itching to be scratched. I needed to sleep. And the disapproving look this woman was giving wasn't making me very satisfied. I was excellent at reading faces, it comes with the job. And all she wanted to do was punch mine.

   "Whatever. Just try not to get someone killed. I'm certain someone saw us leaving together." Amaris said through gritted teeth. I raised an eyebrow. Even though I knew this answer I still asked, "What does this mean?"

   "People will start coming after you. Fans and otherwise. You'll be in the public eye for at least a month or two."

   She said it so casually, so comfortably it almost sounded rehearsed. How long and how many times has she said this? I tried to focus myself back into the conversation but it was becoming difficult. I was outside the car leaning towards her through the window, with my hands in my pockets. I felt the tip of the blade poke my palm ever so often. "Are you telling me I'll have to deal with a million of desperate girls throwing themselves at me?" I grinned as my imagination took over. She snorted and rolled her eyes. "I take it you could care less about the people trying to kill you. So what you're just some type of unfeeling hit man?" I understood her curiosity, its human. But she was asking me too much. "You couldn't pay me enough for me to answer that," I said calmly straightening my spine. "You should go home and lock all of your doors. I will let you know if there is something more about the new information I found out."

   Amaris bit at her lips. She wanted to say more. "What?"

   Whatever she was close to telling me vanished and her smile took its place. "Nothing. Talk to you soon." I grunted in response and took a large step back. With one final look she leaned back in her chair and mumbled something to the driver. Within seconds her limo was far from sight. I looked in the direction of the where it had left and frowned. She was getting too comfortable. Would it become a problem?

     It's her brain loss is she decides to do that to herself, my mind thought.

      I shut my front door behind me. My home wasn't traditional. And if anyone looked at my bank account and saw this place they would probably faint.

       It was an ordinary flat and I adored it. The walls were dark and the furniture matched it well. Because of the roommate, the only one who wasn't in the business, there were paintings in every section of the apartment. It was better this way. If anyone was out to chase after us they would find nothing but casual Van Gogh paintings instead of dead bodies. Ekon however would gladly prefer the latter.

       There were footsteps coming from down the hall. Hard and hostile. Speak of the devil.

       Ekon appeared wearing a blood red shirt and dark faded jeans. Ekon was a mixture of black and white. Although he'd gladly take his grandfathers ethnicity, Hispanic. He spotted me, lifted his head in the air, and sniffed dramatically. 

         "You smell like the blood of a woman." He commented gruffly.

          I smirked. "Well I wasn't going to say anything but we should really go to CVS and stock up on--"

           "Oh shut up. I just ate." He groaned. Ekon was a rather large guy. A bouncer, a wrestler, and a satanic demon all wrapped into one human male. But he was also his best partner. "I'm assuming you went to the banquet. How many kills this time?"

              "Just one."

               "Really?" He asked surprised.

           "... In a half." Ekon rolled his eyes and I laughed darkly. "It wasn't for spite. It was a message to any other who wished to go after Amaris. But before you get all judgey on me, I found out some news you be interested in." I craned my neck behind him.

             As if answering my mind Ekon said, "Paul and Chale are out. There isn't any food in this house."

           Perfect. "Before I politely asked the woman to tell me the information I wanted to know about the men after Amaris she told me that the men wore all black and had tattoos all over their bodies."

          "Great. Now all we have to do is scoop out a shady looking bar."

           "Not that easy. These men had scriptures on their bodies. Not your average love notes engraved in the skin. Remember the things Chale was babbling about? The thing about the group of people that are actually more goons to the higher people. We're one step closer to getting rid of him." I almost choked on the last word. I had so much hatred for him it was lethal and all I wanted was to rip as many heads as I possibly could to get there.

               "Before we go out on a killing spree, which would be perfect fine with me," He stuck a finger up and pointed at himself. "I think it'd be best if we wait for Chale to come home with Paul. We can go into his room and search things on his computer. If we can't find anything there we could always go to the institute."

                  I groaned. I despised going there. So many orders and so many rules. If it wasn't for the fact that I'd been forced to join the league years ago I would have never looked at that place again. I felt like a child again. "Do we have to?"

              "Stop acting like a baby. Would you like to know what I found out?"

              "Not really." I said ignoring the glare he was giving me. "Not because I don't care about you but I need to shower and rest. So this is going to have to wait."

                When I passed him I heard him mumbling about it not being fair and I smiled to myself. Ekon was the brother I never had. He saved my ass way more times to count and I was forever in debt to him. He looked at me with his emerald colored eyes. They were blank and emotionless but I could tell he was at least a little bit hurt. I sighed and started to make my way towards the hallway. "In the morning I promise. My attention is completely on you. You are the apple of my eye."

            He cracked a smile. "You're such an ass. Have a nice rest."

            "You know that's not possible." I said my voice much darker than I wanted to reveal. I quickly walked out the room and into my large master suite. At first glance yes, this apartment was plain. But in each of our rooms our personalities showed the most. My room was a dark red and the furniture, from the bookcase to the bed, was completely black. I relaxed my muscles once I shut my door.

           I can be calm now.

           At least that's what I can tell myself.

            I stripped down and walked into my bathroom that connected to the room. I looked at myself in the mirror. The scar under my chin vanished and left a thin white line. Good, his face was the best thing on him. And he wasn't going to have that ruined. His eyes trailed down his toned chest. They were covered in various scars. From the fights from the past and the present. Each of them containing a memory either painful or admirable. Both forever to remain on his skin.

           His finger traced the biggest one that was on his back. If he concentrated hard enough he could still hear the wind of the whip rush past his ears.

            "Hey Paul and Chale are here. Do you want to see Chale or should I just do it myself?" Ekon shouted from the other end of the door.

             I tensed at the sudden interruption at such an intimate moment but I regained focus. I pivoted towards the shower and turned the water on. "Do what you want. I'm too busy to care right now." I responded in a low voice.

        There was silence on the other end for awhile and finally footsteps started to fade away. I automatically walked into the shower the heat droplets hitting my skin hard and trailing down my body. This is what I needed.

        All the  negative thoughts can go fuck themselves.