#assassinsguild

Here’s some recent art I completed. The green one is Swiftstrike before she was a Samurai, back when she was known as Dancestep.

The purple and pink is Delirium as she transforms into the Dark Queen.

Giles wrapped another loop of the cashmere scarf he wore around his neck, pulling it up over the bottom half of his face to cover it from the nose down.

“Jesus,” he exclaimed as a shiver of cold wracked through him. The northern winters were still something he hadn’t acclimated to, missing the mild ones of his southern raising. He ran from his car in the parking deck to the elevator that would take him to his apartment.

When the doors slid closed, he reached up and pulled the scarf down and filled his lungs with air that was much warmer than that of the open, grey and frigid parking deck. He slipped his fingers from their gloves and brought them up to his face where he blew the now even warmer air into them and rubbed them together as if he were trying to start a fire with the friction between them.

A stylish overcoat was draped over his shoulders and fell to a length that stopped just above the knee.

“Coffee,” he said to himself as he slid the key home in the lock and turned it. As he swung the door open he stood frozen by something more than the cold of the winter that seeped into the building. Laying on the hardwood floor was a single card, larger than a regular playing card. On the back was scribbled a time and place, nothing more. His eyes scanned the visible parts of the apartment before he reached out a hand and the card floated up to meet his grasp. He turned it over and was graced with none other than the Queen of Swords from a tarot deck.

“Dammit.” he clipped out a quick curse. He strode forward and the door slammed shut behind him by a mental nudge. He shrugged off his coat and it danced over to the coat rack where it hung itself up neatly. He threw the card on the counter as he busied himself with making a warm cup of coffee.

As it began to brew he turned around and leaned against the opposite counter and bore a hole into the Queen of Swords with a steeled expression. He crossed his arms and then covered his mouth with a rubbing hand, feeling the scratching stubble over his chin. This wasn’t good. This was worse than not good.

There was nothing that she could want that would be good. She was as deadly as the poison she was named for. The coffee maker dinged and he snatched up the steaming cup without taking his eyes off the card.

“Dammit.” he clipped another one just before he sipped the steaming liquid, letting its sting bite into his tongue. He took some solace knowing that if she wanted him dead he would already be that way, there was no doubt about it.

He flipped up his wrist to look at the time. Just enough, he thought. Thank god he came back home when he did, or he would have missed the mandatory invitation. Then he would have been dead... He let go of the coffee cup and it followed him as he traversed to the bedroom and threw open the door to his closet. He walked inside and let his hand trail over the sleeves of jackets and shirts that hung neatly in a row of color coordinations. He picked red and maroon, their house colors, as it were.

He stripped out of his current clothes and donned the suit. A tie snaked out of its hiding place and wound around his neck, expertly tying itself into a crisp knot. He snatched the coffee and downed the remainder in a few gulps. He looked in the mirror and found that he liked what was staring back at him. It was put together, and striking. He was sure that she would have preferred the red eyes of his father’s to his own… but she hadn’t called on Remy. He huffed a sigh and returned to the living room where the coat from before was waiting for him, floating in the exact position that would allow him to sling his arms into it hastily.

He left the scarf, finding that his adrenaline would supply the warmth he was lacking earlier.

***

The restaurant was lush and high profile. It wasn’t foreign to him, as Giles always had loved expensive things. His suit and jacket were designer, and everything in his closet had been custom made or altered to fit him, and him alone. He wore stylish boots that weren’t just for looks…. One never did know when they were going to be in need of a sturdy pair of boots.

On his left wrist twinkled an expensive gold watch that had diamonds at each time point.  She would expect nothing less of him, than for him to be in her attendance with his most expensive attire.

He surveyed the restaurant with his telepathy, and found what he was looking for… an impenetrable void, a steel wall that his mind could not slip past.  He began walking toward their table and she put down the menu that masked her face.

She seemed younger than the last time he had seen her. But for her, that was something not unexpected. She could get whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted - including youth.

A smile split her beautiful face and she leaned back into her seat. “Guillaume!” she proclaimed and gestured for him to take the chair opposite of her.  “How nice of you to accept my invitation. And so prompt, as well.” She took up her wine glass and sipped, her eyes watching his every move.

“Did I have a choice?” Giles answered as a greeting and tucked himself into the table.

“Of course not, but it’s fun to pretend, is it not?” Her eyes twinkled with delight as she turned her head at him.

“Hmm.” Giles tutted with a sardonic smile. He motioned for the waiter.  “I’ll have your top shelf whiskey, on the rocks.”

“Ah, just like your father-”

“I inherited his abilities, nothing more.” Giles cut her off. He and Remy had made progress, but not that much…

She gasped, mockingly. “Such animosity you harbor for him. He’s not that bad once you get to know him, really.”

Giles rolled his eyes and looked at his watch, wondering where his drink was.

“Why have you graced me with your presence, Bella Donna?” Giles asked blatantly just before the waiter brought his drink over on a platter.  Giles watched her as she eyed the man and was silent until he left their proximity.

She sighed deeply, then shrugged. “You’re needed.”

Giles couldn’t help but laugh, then looked around, wondering who among the crowd was a part of her brood.

“I cut ties with the Theives Guild years ago.” He took a drought from his drink and sat it down rather harshly. “They won’t give you an old, dirty penny for my ransom.”

“My dear,” she placed a hand on the one of his that held the drink, “I don’t mean to ransom you. I mean to employ you!”

Giles blinked.  “I don’t do dirty business, Bella Donna.” His expression was hard, bordering on menacing.

“Oh?” she said. “Then tell me what affords you those nice clothes, that handsome watch?” She smiled and her teeth sparkled from the myriad candle lights.

“Business that was done long ago…” Giles growled as he yanked his hand away from hers, causing some of the liquid to slosh over the edge and on to the table.

“Giles,” she tsked, “We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, now, do we?”

“People watch me now. SHIELD. They scooped me up a long time ago and have everlasting sights set on me. One wrong step and someone will pull a trigger.” He shrugged.  “Sorry, toots.”

Her smile dissolved and Giles felt his heart skip a beat. She was one of, if not the most, deadliest people he knew.

“The Master of a Guild can do many things. I don’t think you should be worrying about any pesky SHIELD agents anymore, darling.” She picked up her wine glass and lazily swirled its contents.

“You’ve been drafted. Remy moves against me, and I will match his firepower and snuff out his reign and reunite the guilds, like it was in the olden days.” She laughed to herself, seemingly thinking she was amusing.

Giles gasped. Remy had taken the Theive’s Guild?  What a stupid move, he thought… and more than that, how could he have not known about it?

Giles suddenly snapped his fingers and everyone around them stopped moving.

“I’m not the boy you met in the Guild all those years ago, Bella, that could do parlor tricks with cards and only hear people’s thoughts...” he gestured around him at the stilled people.  “I’m stronger than I was then. And I don’t do those things anymore. You can just find yourself a new pawn to use on the Assassin’s Guilds’ play.” He pushed back from the table and stood, whipping out the tarot card that she had slid under his dear earlier from under his sleeve. In a fluid motion he pushed a charge into it and slung it toward her face where it stopped suddenly.

“I am greater, and above thieves and assassins, now.” The card exploded and she jumped back only slightly, not wanting her lovely eyebrows to be singed.  He turned and bega to walk away when she called after him.

“I know.” She opened a pocket mirror and fixed her displaced hair. “You are a great deal stronger, with a couple new tricks.” She snapped it closed. “And that’s why you’ll be my new gambit.”

The word gambit made his blood boil and he saw red. “The next time I see you, I’ll kill you.” Giles defied her. He turned deftly and walked away as the people in the restaurant began to move again, never knowing they had had moments of time stolen from them.

A dark expression colored her face as she watched him go.