Keep one eye open

Romeo’s handwriting had been questionable at best, causing the woman to wonder who had taught him how to write. Her mind was quickly distracted, however, as it seemed he requested her to go to an even more questionable location. If it hadn’t been for the fact that she had been there once before, she would have worried for her safety. She did, however, doubt that the owner of the villa had any plans to harm her, even though he wasn’t the biggest fan of her husband. Perhaps the fact that she was longing to leave Brightwater Keep for a few days, did not exactly help either. So, she decided to take her stupidity for granted for once (or perhaps she did do so more often) and had planned a trip to the lovely city she had been invited to for a second time now.

As per usual, her attire was questionable for someone of her status. There would not be a day where this wasn’t the case, however, so those who had met her before weren’t quite surprised anymore. She did notice the strange look she got from the guard who walked up to her, but managed to keep that permanent smile on her face. One she had been practicing for longer than she could remember. A fake smile was a strong weapon, after all. Being able to hide your true intentions behind it was something not everyone could do. Calmly, she pulled a hand through her long, brown hair as the guard walked up to her, taking her attire in as if he was planning to judge. “Allison Lenier,” she introduced herself, with a gaze that could kill, yet that same smile still on her face. “I suggest you show me where I can find mister Haris.”

The woman was a mess, that much was clear if you knew her well enough. On the outside, however, everything was picture perfect. She looked as neatly organized as she always did, from her long hair to the short dress she wore. The make-up seemed to hide most of the exhaustion, though it would be noticeable if you paid enough attention. The smile on her face didn’t seem to shimmer in her eyes, but there was no other emotion found in them either. She was tired, but planning to get everything together. There was a plan and for that, she was happy. Because it meant that there was a chance for the future to be bright.

The name didn’t seem to ring a bell with the guard, which was no news to her. While the news of a new Grand Duchess and Grand Duke was getting old, their names were still not that widely known. Soon, those would spread too and she would start to get recognized on the streets, but for now she quite enjoyed walking around the other cities, avoiding the life she led at the castle and instead being the woman she once was again. Sitting in a tavern and being approached by men who thought she would ever lower herself to their level.

To say that Romeo seemed different, would be an understatement. Immediately, the woman frowned, wondering what could possibly have happened. But, she knew that patience was key and that he had probably asked her here to explain. For once in his life, he didn’t seem hostile at all. A change she would gladly accept, though it bored her in a way. Romeo had been an interesting one, after all. He nodded towards the chair and she sighed softly, before taking place and crossing her legs, back straight and eyebrows raised slightly, wondering what was going to be next.
“Wine sounds good,” she responded to his question, ignoring his earlier words for the most part. He did not need to be aware of the fact that she would take any opportunity to avoid the castle at the moment. “You look like you have been through a rough time,” she calmly stated. What was it with men and getting themselves into trouble? Kaz, Mort, Romeo… Did she need to look after all of them? Miserable, truly.

Romeo looked like shit, yet seemed to do better than her husband. Having no clue what had happened to the pirate made her incapable to judge. For all she knew, he could have either gouged his eye out himself, or he had pissed off a lady friend. Neither possibility would come as a surprise, if she were to be honest. But, she could still feel how annoyance slowly settled, how she could feel her blood starting to boil. Because Romeo worked for her, and with that, had become her responsibility. Something he wouldn’t like to hear, but was nonetheless very true. Unless he had gotten into this fight by himself, on his own responsibility, she realized that she would make sure the wrongdoer would get punished accordingly.

Pushing the glass back a little as he placed it dangerously close to the edge, she listened to the words he was speaking. “You are clearly unfit to do what I have asked of you, at least for the time being,” she calmly agreed, not giving an answer to his question just yet. The answer to that would differ, depending on how the rest of their conversation would go. “I would like for you to explain what happened,” she stated, shifting her legs and taking a sip of the wine he had poured. She was well aware that he was probably not willing to tell the story, yet she needed to know. For she needed to know who did it and why they had done so.

‘Of course,’ were two words she hadn’t expected from Romeo. Yet, he seemed willing to surprise her today. A pleased smile pulled on the corners of her lips as she took another sip of her wine, staring into the glass as she had done for these past few weeks. There had been days where she would shiver at the sheer taste of alcohol, yet now she barely tasted it in the wine, having drank so much of it that it was as if she was drinking juice. A habit she needed to quit, but one that had helped her deal with the mess that had been her life recently. She sighed softly, glad that Romeo pulled her out of her thoughts again once he started speaking.

‘So naturally I stabbed the man,’ the idiot explained. One day, she would learn to understand how the non-functioning part of the brain of men was capable of causing them to do something as stupid as that. Today was not that day. She couldn’t help but smile and shake her head softly at the thought of Romeo stabbing someone in a bar, though she knew that it was nothing new for the people of Seere. A part of her felt bad, as it was still a city under her reign. Yet, she knew that there was nothing she could do about it. Seere would always be Seere and if she tried to change anything about it, it would do more harm than good. Plus, there was still money coming in from that part of the land, from the thieves that still functioned as they were supposed to. Another reason not to bother.

Some fucking vampire bounty hunter type. Well, that was oddly vague yet specific. She raised a brow when he made clear that it had been a woman. A female vampire that had stabbed out his eye. “Sounds like we’re not the only one dealing with a problematic vampire lady,” she noted, taking a sip from her glass as she let the information settle in her brain. “Did you happen to catch her name? Or a description?” she asked, after a short silence. As expected, she showed little remorse for what Romeo had gone through. Instead, she was more interested in making the vampire who had done this, pay for her crimes.

The description Romeo gave, caused the Duchess to raise a brow. Even though the chance was small, she could not keep herself from comparing his description to the woman who had tortured her husband. The woman who would soon pay for what she had done, no matter the cost. While Allison was strictly business with Romeo, only angered by the woman’s behavior because she took it as a personal insult when one decided to hurt someone working for her, things were different with Kaz. He was hers and for that, everyone who hurt him, was going to face her wrath. Isabella had made the mistake of thinking she was invincible, simply because she was immortal. Forgetting about the fact that the Duchess had spent most of her life figuring out how to mass kill vampires. Isabella would die. Simple as that.

Long brown hair, check. Not that tall, check. But, those were all quite common. It was when he mentioned the tattoo, that Allison finished her glass in one go, putting it back down on the table. “Isabella Lennox,” she stated, annoyance dripping from her voice as she spoke. “I will have her head on a spike soon,” she went on, that same smile on her face. So the woman had not only hurt Kaz, but also Romeo. How fucking great.

The fact that it had been Isabella once more, disturbing her business now as well, caused the blood of the woman to boil. There was only so much one could do before she was ready to rip their head off their useless body. With Isabella, that point had been reached as soon as she had laid eyes on her husband. After torturing him, she wasn’t going to let the woman down as easily anymore. No, she was going to suffer. And she was going to suffer badly. While she didn’t take what had happened to Romeo personally, she did take it as an insult to her business. Which was more than just a slight inconvenience. And such, the woman would feel another stake through her damned body, before she would have her head ripped off.

Romeo agreed with her words, clearly sounding satisfied. “She has hurt my husband,” Allison calmly told him, though the annoyance was still dripping off of it. For once, she decided to be wise and leaned back in her chair, trying to avoid the temptation that was wine. She had had plenty of that these past weeks, it was for the best if she tried to stay away from it. At least for a solid ten minutes.
“So, what is your plan now, Romeo?” she asked him. He didn’t ask her here to complain about the hurt he had, that much was certain. He wouldn’t be Romeo if he did, even if he didn’t quite seem like himself to begin with. Understandable, as her husband was going through the same problem at this point. He seemed to be worse off than the pirate, however. But then again, the torture had probably been a lot worse.

While Allison was well aware that Romeo and she would never be friends, she somewhere respected the man. He worked for her and while he had proven to be useless for quite some time, he had also done what he had asked of her for as long as he could, respecting her wishes and still being arrogant enough to talk back if he felt like it. An interesting character, which was exactly the kind of people she liked to surround herself with. Not the smartest, but absolutely not dumb. He acted as he wished to at the moment, often forgetting the consequences. A completely different mindset than her own. Something she appreciated, as it was refreshing. Especially after hanging around the people in the castle for quite some time.

When he said that he was going to retire, however, her eyebrow shot up again. “No you’re not,” she told him immediately, sighing in clear disappointment. Romeo did not seem like the man to retire in his young years, simply because he had one minor setback. Was he stupid? Had the woman hurt his brain? Because even if so, that was probably recoverable. With a lot of effort, but doable.
“You’re not going to tell me that you truly wish to sit in the Governor’s yard for the rest of your life?” she asked him, frowning as she did. At this point, it was not about him working for her anymore. Because she could accept that. She could work with the person who now owned his ship. Perhaps that would be easier, or perhaps she would have him beheaded and find someone new all together. But, in this moment, she was more surprised because someone with Romeo’s… usually such fiery personality, seemed defeated. It reminded her of Kaz, and she did not enjoy watching someone else give up because of that same woman.

For a while, Allison herself had been doing quite bad. She tried, however, to not get swallowed by this endless sea of self-pity that she could be feeling. Because she was well aware that if she allowed herself to, she would be stuck in this for a long time to come. Dante had pulled her out of it once, or attempted to, when he had found her at the grave of the man who meant so much to her. At that point, she had truly hit rock-bottom. Something she never allowed herself to share with the man she was supposed to share everything with, simply because his life was worse. He had been through so much and everything she wanted, was to be to him what she knew she needed in her life. Because his happiness was hers. Which meant that at this moment, her happiness was hard to find. But, that was something she was working on.

And because she was going by this new form of optimism, she needed others to do the same. Not just Kaz, but Romeo too. The thought that the asshole pirate was giving up, did not help at all. So, she sighed softly as he told her that he did not have any choice. Finally, she seemed to not be able to keep herself from drinking more wine, pouring herself a glass and checking if he needed a refill as well.
“Look,” she started, taking a sip from the glass, “I am completely okay with having your replacement do whatever it was you did for me.” That was not the problem here, after all. “But you are not telling me you’re giving up because of one mentally challenged vampire, now, are you?” For the love of all that was holy, she did not like the sound of that at all.