Hunters Hideaway

Baxter massaged his back lightly as he spun back to face her. "And you're just a child." he said with narrowed eyes. "I've forgotten more about killing assassin's than you even know." he said nodding his head firmly. "You're scouting. You wont have time to 'back me up' if you're doing your job properly." he said simply.

He moved after her as she swept into the corridor. He muttered under his breath as he looked at the recruits before turning and locking his office door. "Anyone steps foot into that office, I separate their body parts from one another. Do I make myself clear?" he said the recruits went silent.

"Good." he said before he marched to the main door, pulling it open as he walked down the corridor. "Take your time, Claudia." he called behind him.

Claudia smiled a little to herself. "We'll see," she called to him sweetly, stringing the bow and arrow on her back properly, before following after him, looking to the recruits. She grinned in their direction, before winking amused. "Wish me luck," she waved, before hurrying after her Father.

She walked after him bemused, exiting their hide out. Once they were in the light, she stretched her arms above her head and yawned loudly. "It's a nice day too huh," she smirked a little and stepped up onto a higher level of the floor, walking along and her hair swaying as she moved.

She ignored the looks from people she got as she walked along happily.

As they entered the light, Baxter blinked his eyes. Having only had the candle light for the past few weeks. He cleared his throat before looking to her. "Once we get to Benedictus, we don't know each other." he said simply. "Because you're embarrassing." he said with a laugh, grinning at her.

"Pick up the pace, we've got to get to Benedictus as soon as we can." he said rolling his neck. He slid his hand into his pocket, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. He unravelled it, reading it from her sight. He then slid it back into his pocket.

"Come on." he said as he quickened his own pace.

Claudia glanced to her father idly, raising an eyebrow before waving her hand side to side. "Yeah who are you again?" she asked amused, before striding on ahead. She ran a few steps ahead of herself, her long hair brushing up with the sudden gust of wind also with a bright smile on her face.

She spun around to her Father then amused, waving a hand above her head. "Come on old man," she grinned, noticing him unravelling paper, but not questioning it. She walked ahead a little more. As she walked along, she hummed merrily under her breath, knowing it wouldn't take too long to get there.

-TIME SKIP-

As they arrived in Benedictus, she sighed out heavily at the drawing in night sky. However, it now meant night was coming.

Baxter looked to her plainly. "The best man you will ever meet! Fact." he said with raised eyebrows. "Old man!?" he repeated shaking his head. As he pushed past her. "Old man my back side." he said with a smirk.

As they entered Benedictus, Baxter stopped in his tracks, making sure no-one was around. "5 streets away, there's an inn. Book yourself a room for the night. You're a traveller. Nothing more." he said, his eyes looking up to the sky before he pulled his hood up.

"You don't know me." he said as he moved off into the oncoming darkness.

Claudia nodded once as she suddenly swept past him and walked down towards the inn where he meant. She pulled the cloaks hood up over her face with a smile, ducking below a low hanging sign that said the Inn was still open, before pushing it open. As she did so, a woman who looked around her age, came out.

Claudia glanced after her a moment. She was definitely beautiful. Pale skin, long black hair, and the most extraordinary eyes. Shame about the long scar, she thought to herself as she came into the inn, towards the desk and waited patiently.

Larina however, glanced over her shoulder to the girl that walked into the inn when she exited and her eyes narrowed a little, before she continued to walk down the streets. To anyone else, she seemed a delicate rose, unguarded and alone in the night.

Baxter pulled out the paper from his pocket. His eyes scanning over it once more. He stopped beneath one of the street lamps. His face in total darkness, merely his cloak being lit by the lamp. The darkness was sneaking in rather quickly, the streets emptying. He heard footsteps coming from the direction he had just sent his daughter.

He stepped back from the light of the lamp, into the shadows of the night.

Cairo lounged on the rooftops yawning quietly. He peered over the edge to see Larina. He then leapt down from the rooftop, landing in a crouch in front of her. "Boo." he smirked to her before standing himself up properly.

He titled his head at her. Tutting under his breath "Such a delicate rose shouldn't be walking.." he began before he burst into laughter. "Sorry, I couldn't even finish that sentence." he grinned at her.

Larina tilted her head and however, didn't jump when the man leaped down before her. Her eyes narrowed slowly at him before he straightened. "Please, don't you call me Rose," she sighed, rolling her eyes to the man in front of her bemused. "And don't jump like that. If you were anyone else, I would've ran you through," she murmured lowly, before she continued to walk a little, her dress moving as she did, a deep red silk gown.

She paused however, looking over her shoulder. She seemed to stare straight into the shadows, her eyes narrowed slowly. "Mm," she murmured, before turning back around once more, her head lifting to look at him with a sudden soft smile.

"I booked a room for our friend, Sir Ronald, for next Shine," she announced, Ronald being a man Larina had to kill soon, posing as a visiting guest.

Cairo smirked to her. "I just find it amusing.. I'd call you more a venus fly trap." he said honestly. "Oh yes, of course." he said nodding mockingly. "Ran me straight through." he grinned at her. His eyebrows came together as she stared into the shadows, the smile disappearing from his face.

"What?" he whispered to her before she proceeded. "I'm sure his stay will be.. most enjoyable." he said with a grin.

Baxter breathed a sigh of relief as she looked directly at him. It seemed he had found two assassin's when just trying to track down the one. It seemed the mystery tipper had given him a good lead after all. The male seemed to be the more experienced of the two, so he'd wait until they separated before making his move.

"A venus fly trap?" she asked with a pout on her face, looking up towards the man gently, rolling her eyes a little. "Perhaps. Or maybe poison ivy," she said softly under her breath, before she shook her head. "Maybe just a fox I saw," she smiled idly, nodding her head as she continued to walk gently.

She glanced away again, her eyes ahead of herself as she walked onwards. "I'm sure of it," she beamed happily, brushing a lock of her thick black hair behind her right ear, letting the rest fall down her body towards her waist.

She waved a hand to the side at him a little, her eyes flickering in his direction. "Haven't you got somewhere to be, Father?" she asked with a singing kind of voice mockingly.

Cairo smirked at her lightly. "Perhaps some form of weed.." he mused. "I'm joking." he said patting her head lightly. "Maybe.." he said as his eyes moved to the same spot. His eyes fixed on a specific spot, inches from where Baxter was stood. Cairo's attention was then brought back to Larina. "Hm?" he said before smiling.

"Of course, somewhere in this city, there a buxom young wench that's got my name written all over her." he said wiggling his eyebrows. "Stay out of trouble, don't get lost, all that fatherly stuff." he said lightly, before disappearing into the darkness.

Baxter wiped the sweat from his brow as he watched Cairo disappear into the darkness. His eyes now transfixed on Larina. He followed her closely, sticking to the shadows as he did so. Waiting for her to get to an area where it would be safe to confront her.

Larinas eyes narrowed a little as he patted her head and she swiped his hand away harshly. "Pest," she muttered, before her eyebrows shot up and she looked to him almost disgusted. "You say words that could make the Queen blush," she sighed, rolling her eyes as she stepped ahead a little and turned back around to him.

"Don't make any women cry now," she smiled, before her smile disappeared the minute he did. Her expression turned serious a little, her eyes looking ahead, before she turned and continued to walk softly, her feet barely making a noise on the cobbles she crossed. She glanced down a dark street ahead, before to a more abandoned one.

"Oh dear I'll be late," she murmured to herself, her eyes looking to a large church nearby, before she took the less cluttered street, into the darker one.

Baxter watched her move silently through the streets. If he wasn't so concentrated on what she was and how much pleasure he was going to take from killing her. He'd see what every other male see's when they look at this beautiful rose.

As she moved down the dark street, he stepped from the shadows. He unclipped his axes from his back, holding them out at his sides. "Assassin." he said clearly for her to hear him. His tongue moved over his lips quickly, moistening them as the last hint of sunlight disappeared in the sky.

His eyes flashed with hatred as he gazed upon the assassin before him.

Larina continued to walk ahead, before she paused upon the word assassin. She turned around slowly to look over her shoulder and as the sun disappeared, the moon shone down on them both, illuminating her pale skin and highlighting her dark hair. Her hands were by her front, and she seemed innocently beautiful.

"Assassin?" she asked, turning around in her step, her eyes went to the axes and she seemed to tilt her head in feign concern. She dropped her arms to her sides then and stared at the man, the moonlight filling the deep scar on her face.

"And whom are you, Sir?" she asked slowly, her voice being soft and curious.

Baxter snarled under his breath as the moonlight swept over them. "You're a murderer of innocents. You're an assassin whore." he said the snarl becoming slightly louder as his grip tightened on his axes. "Me? I'm the one who'll be separating your limbs from the rest of your body." he laughed under his breath, but no amusement reached his eyes.

"Just call me the.. assassins assassin. The murderer hunter.. whichever you prefer. You wont live long enough to use any of them." he grinned to her. "Enough with the innocence act Larina. I know who you are. But the question is, who was the other assassin?" he inquired with a tilt of his head.

Larina didn't even blink as she listened to him, before she smiled and tilted her head to the side. "So you too, are an assassin," she continued to smile, before she closed her eyes with a sigh. She leant her hand down towards her dress, before pulling it up her thigh to reveal her long legs, but also the deadly blades along it. Her eyes opened when she withdraw one from her thigh and into her palm, before slitting her dress right up the side and her eyes rose to his.

"The other? You'll have to ask him yourself," she said softly, shaking her head a little, twirling her blade in her hand, before she pointed it directly at Baxter and her voice dropped, losing its sweetness and suddenly having a deep, almost seductive tone.

"Care to entertain me for a little while, hunter?"

Meanwhile, Claudia was searching back on the streets, her eyes darting around gently. However, she blinked in surprise to see her Father. She was about to call out to him, but quickly held her breath when she saw who he was facing. Wasn't that the woman from earlier? She kept her body against the building and refused to almost breathe.

"I like to think of myself as a civil servant, cleaning up the human waste that is the assassins." he said simply. He watched as she moved her dress, his snarl deepened as his eyes landed on the blades, the moonlight glinting off them perfectly. "As soon as I've killed you, I'll be sure to hunt him down as well."

His eyes narrowed across at her. "I provide no entertainment. Unless you think pain and death is entertaining, in which case I would be more than happy to entertain you." he said bowing his head mockingly. His eyes moved to the church.

"Why were you going to the church..?" he muttered before his eyebrows shot up. "The head quarters."

Larina rose an eyebrow softly towards the man, a blink coming from her finally, before a gentle laugh moved from her lips. "Eh, a civil servant?" she asked mildly, cocking her head to the side before she laughed sweetly. "We'll see who kills whom, dog of the Lords," she snapped, holding her blades up infront of herself.

Claudia kept holding her breath from the other side of the building, not wanting to be seen at all by the female assassin, and she knew her Father would be angry if she came out, putting herself in danger and compromising a promising position. She didn't even know whether the girl was a student, master or a Dux.

Larina tilted her head slowly, before she laughed once more. "The head quarters, eh?" she smiled, before she rose a finger tauntingly beckoning him forwards. "Let's see your blood, hunter."

Baxter looked to her with a plain expression. "Cleaning the filth from the streets." he cracked his neck to the side, before to the other. He moved a hand through his beard, scratching it slightly. "We will."

His eyes then transfixed on the church. "The head quarters is in the church." he said in a tone that could be heard by someone that was stood near by. He knew Claudia was there. Of course he did. He just hoped to keep the assassin focused on him.

A smirk moved over his lips. "I'll enjoy watching your head roll onto the floor."

Larina blinked a moment, before she smiled again, leaning her hands to the other side of her dress and suddenly tearing upwards, so both sides were slit big enough at both sides so now there was a strip of material by her front and back, allowing her legs to move freely. However, hearing about the Head Quarters, her eyes turned to the building Claudia was stood behind, holding her breath.

"Ehh... I see," she said more to herself with a smile, before her eyes turned back to the man across from her. "Come cut it from my neck then, hunter," she smiled, running a finger across the front of her neck to symbolize a head being cut off.

Both of her hands were now holding blades in either, and her eyes narrowed, the silvery blue eyes and long jagged scar glinting in the now bright and misty moonlight that shone upon the two of them.

Claudia heard about the Head Quarters, but also that Larina spoke after it. She didn't breathe. Didn't even blink. He wasn't going to leave the assassin be, and she him.