"Sir?" Adrian bit back a laugh. "You don't have to call me that. It makes me sound much more important than I am." He shook his head slightly. "Anyway. Our main goal is to get the Queen's Men out of The Bad Part Of Town. I'm sure you know that. But… if we get far enough, and get enough power, I'm hoping to eventually get rid of the queen." Adrian paused for a few seconds, wanting to see Rose's reaction. Most people looked at him like he was crazy when he said that, but he said it with such confidence everyone usually agreed in the end. "And, I suppose you should find out now, though you might already know, so… I made a deal with a demon. Jahtal, the demon of blood and the soul. It's the only reason we've gotten this far." Adrian reached up and pulled the eyepatch off, revealing a red iris underneath. There was something about it that made anyone who looked at him uneasy. Thanks to the demonic nature of it, most likely.
Rose seemed a little surprised when Adrian said he didn’t have to call him sir. That was quite a shock to him. “Oh- ok,” he replied softly with a small nod of his head. He listened closely as Adrian explained the goal of the group. He wanted the Queens Men out as soon as possible as well. They terrified him, obviously, in more ways than one. He would be quite happy if they just up and left. But dethroning the queen? “Is that even possible?” he asked in a surprised sort of manner, his head tilting a little bit with interest. He wondered what Adrian had planned to do so.
When Adrian brought up demons, Rose almost thought that he was joking. But Adrian seemed completely serious, and it sunk in that it was no joke at all. When Adrian pulled back the eyepatch to show his bright red iris, his lips parted in a shocked way as his own eyes widened. “Oh my gosh..” he mumbled softly to himself. Should he be scared? He certainly felt a little scared. “Wh-What kind of deal?”
Was that even possible? Adrian asked himself that question every day, but he was determined to make it possible. "Well, she's only human." He shrugged but didn't elaborate on that statement. That wasn't the main goal at the moment anyway. There was plenty of time to figure out how to take that evil queen off her throne later. "Heh." Adrian laughed lightly at Rose's reaction. Every person reacted to his demonic eye differently and he was always entertained by their various mutterings and faces. "Well, I didn't literally give her my soul, but I may as well have. In exchange for the blood of a whole bunch of people, I got the power to control blood.” He leaned back in his chair, wondering what Rose would say about that. Most people started giving him a wider berth. He wouldn’t tell Rose about the collecting souls part just yet, though. Hardly anyone knew about that part of the deal, and he wanted to really make sure Rose was trustworthy before revealing it.
Rose nodded his head slowly. He supposed Adrian was right. The queen was only human, but she was a human with a whole army behind her to protect her. They’d have to get rid of every one of the Queens Men before even beginning to plan an attack on the Queen herself.
Rose’s eyes stayed wide with surprise as Adrian explained the details of his deal with the demon. It felt like some sort of fairytale made to scare little kids into listening to their parents. Controlling blood, though? What even did that mean? And did he really want to know? He guessed he most likely had to know if he were to be working under Adrian. “What do you mean by controlling blood?”
"Hmm. It seems a demonstration is in order." Adrian reached down and grabbed a small knife from inside his boot. He would much rather have someone else be the supplier of blood, but getting someone down there would be too much work and take too long. Adrian looked up at Rose for a second, then carefully pricked the tip of his middle finger. A dot of red swelled from the wound, looking quite unimpressive. Adrian raised his other hand, and a slim stream of blood followed his movement, collecting into a tiny ball in the air. "I can literally control blood," He explained, swishing his hand back and forth. The sphere followed, not losing a single drop as it moved. "I can also stop people's hearts, though that's more difficult and requires physical contact." Adrian shrugged. "It's messy, but it works."
Rose scooted forward a tad in his chair, feeling hesitant yet curious. He watched with amazement as the blood formed into a small sphere and floated in the space in front of them. “That’s amazing..” he breathed out softly. While it did scare him a bit to think about that being used on someone, little tricks like the one Adrian was pulling at the moment. But the thought of being able to stop hearts was much more darkening, in his opinion. “Do you use that sort of thing against others often?” he asked, wanting to get a feel of how hostile Adrian could be- for his own safety.
Adrian felt his lips curve into a slight smile. Rose probably wouldn't think it was amazing when he actually used it against someone. "Well, yes. The blood-controlling thing I use all the time, at least against people who deserve it. The heart-stopping thing I use less, but that's because it can be difficult to get that close to someone when they're shooting at you," He said calmly. While he waited to see what Rose would say to that, Adrian carefully guided the sphere of blood towards the drain in the center of the room, under the table. He didn't want to get anything unnecessarily bloody.
At least Adrian only used it against people who deserved it. While Rose didn’t like violence of any kind, he guessed that it was at least slightly necessary when defending yourself against the Queens Men or other threats. “Can you do anything else? I don’t want to be suddenly surprised by anything..” he hesitantly asked, biting at his bottom lip softly. It was a habit of his that he did when he was nervous. He needed to quit that habit- it was a bad one that was quite annoying.
Adrian looked up at Rose, the blood safely out of the way. "Well…" The word was drawn out as Adrian considered. Should he or should he not tell Rose about the souls? Probably not. Definitely not. He'd tell him later. Or not until he actually fulfilled his deal in full, even. "I'm an excellent shot." He said finally, pulling one of his trusty revolvers out of its holster and winking at Rose. "But nothing else supernatural, if that's what you were asking." He stuck the gun back into the holster.
Rose noticeably tensed when he saw the revolver, biting the inside of his cheek sharply. Guns definitely made him anxious. He guessed he would have to get used to them, though, if he were to join this group. He tilted his head away in the slightest as his face grew warm when Adrian winked at him, shifting in his seat a tad. Adrian was attractive, but was more intimidating than anything to Rose at the moment. “I don’t know how to use a gun or fight. Nothing like that. Is that a problem?” he asked.
The other people of his group would think he was crazy when he introduced them to Rose. They'd probably ask about the name first– anyone who did that would be 'gently' reminded never to bring that up again– and then about the aversion to violence and the inability to fight. "Well, I'm sure you'll pick some things up along the way. For now, you can just help with planning and all that." Adrian decided, pulling his eyepatch back into place. Not being able to or willing to fight would actually be an upgrade from the last few lieutenants he'd had. Maybe Rose would get the "longest life as the Crimson Lord's right-hand man" award.
Rose nodded his head a little bit at what his job would be. While he wasn’t too excited to learn how to fight, he liked the idea of planning and keeping things organized for the group. That was something that he was good at- using his head. Adrian did seem to be trying to make him feel comfortable, at least. “Thank you, I can definitely do that,” he confirmed with a small nod and smile. He still didn’t quite understand why Adrian would want some scrawny, easily frightened boy for a second in command over some tough older individual, but he guessed he was lucky to be off the streets.
"Perfect." Adrian clapped his hands, standing up in a fluid motion. "It's time for the tour. This place," he waved around them, "is more the reception/intimidation building. We have several other buildings scattered around The Bad Part Of Town, and you need to know where each of them is and what their purpose is. Come on." He stepped to the side of the table and walked towards the door. "And if anyone gives you dirty looks, their names are probably Timothy, Alexander, or Eliza. They're glaring because you took their job." Adrian glanced back at Rose, a smirk on his lips. "But don't worry. They wouldn't dare attack you with me around."
Rose’s brows raised when Adrian was suddenly on his feet and heading towards the door. He stood up quickly and followed after Adrian obediently. He nodded his head in acknowledgement, feeling a bit excited about getting to have a tour of the buildings. When Adrian informed him of the ‘dirty looks’ he may receive, his brows furrowed and he looked down for a moment. How did he already make enemies from this? But he was relieved to know that as long as he stayed close to Adrian, he would be ok. “I’ll stick by you, then,” he said, making a little smile to try and give himself some confidence.
"Perfect." Adrian nodded and turned back towards the doors. He opened them and looked at both the guards. "If anyone else comes with a piece of paper, tell them they're too late. If things get ugly, you're free to do whatever to get them to go away." Adrian grinned at both the guards, then started down the street. Where should he take Rose first? Maybe the weapons house, or the place where most of the people stayed– no, he'd take him to the planning house first. Rose seemed to like that sort of stuff. Adrian turned onto a narrow alley, walking with amazing confidence for someone in a place where murderers probably lingered.
Rose made sure to hurry to keep up with Adrian. Adrian had longer legs than he did so it was a bit difficult to keep up when the other went a bit fast. He stayed decently close to Adrian, feeling wary of the sketchy alleyway. He would normally avoid a place like this at all costs, but Adrian didn’t seemed bothered at all. It wasn’t surprising though, him being the Crimson Lord at all with blood bending powers. Rose wouldn’t be surprised if Adrian had almost no fears. “What if one of the Queens Men or someone else sees us?” he asked.
"They probably wouldn't recognize me. They're looking for a guy with red eyes, and that's not me. And as long as you don't look too suspicious, you'll be fine too." Adrian tapped his eyepatch and turned onto a bigger road. "And if they do recognize us, then we're going to get to go for a run." He smiled at Rose. As long as Adrian and Rose didn't draw attention to themselves, they would probably be fine. Adrian took a few more turns and ended up at a dead-end in front of a short, run-down building. "Well, here we are."
Rose swallowed sharply and nodded his head. “Right, right,” he said softly. He could easily do his best to act natural, and running was something he could do. He used to run on a little track team as a kid. It had always been a bit of a passion of his. Thankfully, he had kept it up so it would definitely come in handy in case something went wrong. When they arrived at the building, Rose seemed confused. “Is this the place?”
"Yep." Adrian nodded, laughing a little at Rose's confusion. "We have to make sure they don't look too interesting, or the Queen's Men might decide to investigate." He walked up to the door, which appeared to be nearing the end of its life. Adrian had to wrestle with it a bit to get it to open. Behind the door was a narrow, slightly crooked hallway that turned to the right after a few feet. "Someone is going to need to fix that door up a little." He muttered to himself as he walked down the hallway. Around the corner was another door, though it appeared way less dead than the first one.
“Oh..” Rose said softly. He thought that made sense. Something flashy would catch attention of the Queen’s Men and that wouldn’t be safe for any of them. Once they were inside the building, Rose felt more concealed and safe. He could finally relax a tad more and not cling so close to Adrian. He paused when he saw the new looking door. Was this really it?
Adrian pulled a ring of keys from the pocket of his dark-colored jacket and flicked through them. "There we go." He stuck the correct key into a lock on the door and turned it. The door opened smoothly, nothing like the first door. The room beyond was small, with stairs that led upwards. A large table dominated the space, covered in books and various pieces of paper. More pieces of paper were pinned up on one wall, along with photos and strings. Three people were standing around the table, and they looked up when Adrian opened the door.
"To what do we owe this pleasure, Sayel?" A slender woman asked, a teasing smile on her face.
"Just showing our newest recruit around," Adrian answered, nodding towards Rose. "Everyone, this is Rose."
Rose followed Adrian into the room, lips parting when he took in the interior of the room. He stayed a tad close to Adrian, eyeing the people hesitantly. He was introduced by Adrian and straightened his posture a bit more. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you all,” he said with a friendly little smile, fidgeting with his sweater sleeve.
Two of the three people smiled back at Rose, but the woman who'd spoken first just stared at Adrian.
"Sayel… is this your new second?" She crossed her arms, a slightly disapproving look on her face.
"Yep." Adrian gave her a blinding smile with a warning edge on it. "If you see Alexander, Timothy, or Eliza, try to placate them." He turned to Rose. "Ignore her. This way to the library." Adrian crossed the room to the stairs, then started up them.
Rose was pleased when two of the people smiled back at him, but it faltered when he saw the look the woman was making. He knew that look of disappointment and doubt. It was familiar to him, thanks to Malachi. “She doesn’t seem to think me being the second is a good idea…” he murmured softly as he followed Adrian up the stairs.
"Yeah, she also thinks every problem can and will be solved by violence. Don't worry about her." Adrian opened the door at the top of the stairs and stepped into another room. It might have been spacious once upon a time, but now it was stuffed to the brim with bookcases and books. There was a single solitary chair, but every other surface was taken up by books. "So, this is our library. Most of these books were stolen, and most of them are about the Queen's Men or battle strategy. Feel free to look around– we also have a few 'how to fight/steal stuff successfully/perform surgery' books." Adrian grinned. The library was the result of a lot of time, and he was quite proud of it.
.jpg)
