Lewis stared at the mess that was his room, and it slowly dawned on him that if all of her stuff was in his room, that would mean all of his stuff was in her room. Without wasting a second, he marched down to her door, and tried to enter the room. Only the door was locked.

Yet again, the poor door of Simone Auclair was busted down, knocked clean off the frame as Lewis stomped in. “What the fuck is actually wrong with you!?”

Again, Snowball intervened, and Lewis rolled his eyes. “THE WOMEN!? WHAT WOMEN!? THE THREE WHO SAT THERE AND GOT COMPLETELY WASTED AND PASSED OUT? THE ONE THAT ALMOST CHOKED ON HER OWN VOMIT!? OR HOW ABOUT THE ONE THAT DECIDED TO HANG OFF THE CHANDELIER AND SCREAM AS SHE NEARLY KILLED HERSELF!?” He threw up his hands.

Snowball chirped more.

“WHAT….I mean..yeah, I would bu-”

More chirps.

“Okay, but that does-”

And yet again, more chirps.

“….you…make a valid point…”

Simone had this look on her face as she watched the man and the bird fight. It was terrifying how they communicated and she was actually pretty jealous right now. It sounded like Snowball was scolding Lewis and winning. She popped more snacks in her mouth and crunched on them like a slob. The mess was getting all over his shirt and it was clearly being done on purpose.

She hopped off the bed and closed the book. It sounded like Lewis and Snowball were done. She tossed the book and came over to him. Once more she started to poke at his chest. “The. Next. Time. You. Take. A. Job. Like. That. Please. Tell. Me.” She was mad and she felt like she had a valid reason to be mad. “I. Don’t. Want. To. Find. Out. From. The. Other. Acolytes.” She crossed her arms and gave him a very, very stubborn look.

“Next time just tell me. It hurts my feelings to hear people gloating about women being all over you and how jealous they are of it.” So she had destroyed the tower because that was the only way she felt like she could convey herself.

Lewis sighed, “Fine. But just so you know…” He picked her up suddenly and pushed her hard against the wall. “I’m getting my revenge on you…right now…” He kissed her hard, and pressed up against her. “Better not complain too much…”

—

Lewis walked down into Jack’s room, and gave the apprentice a look. “I need…to put in a work order for-”

“A door,” Jack replied. “Again. I’m surprised.” He didn’t look surprised.

“Two…doors…”

The apprentice stared at Lewis. “You are unbelievable, you know…”

A Day at the Races

“And I caught him with a bouquet of flowers and he got flustered… It must have been a surprise.” One of the female acolytes was sighing over the boy she was dating.

Simone looked up from her book, “Sounds to me like he’s cheating on you.”

“What?” The woman looked at her and Simone shrugged.

“Whenever Lewis brings me flowers he doesn’t hide it and he doesn’t get flustered about it. If he got flustered about it and you’ve been dating a while… He's giving those flowers to another girl.” She brought the book back up to read more.

“THAT SON OF A BITCH,” the woman yelled and stormed out.

“Since when the hell is Lewis Dusk a romantic?” One of the male acolytes in the room sneered.

“Since if you say anything like that he’ll probably slit your throat,” Simone waved it off. They had worked a lot on their relationship. "Mostly because it makes it sound like you're insulting him and he's pretty prideful. He'd probably take your hands off though… That would be hilarious." She was just recounting the ways Lewis would say he would punish people. She didn't really like it but he did.

Lewis rolled his eyes at the two women talking about romance. He barely had any stake in the matter, but it was QUITE weird that he was being called a romantic. It didn’t really matter to him all that much in the end. He motioned for Simone to follow him as he finished up in the library, and the two left.

Later in the day, Lewis was busy cleaning his weapons and armor, carefully oiling the blades and wiping the blood splatters off of the leather gauntlets he had. So, Simone decided that she would go down to the kitchen to get herself some food.

They still hadn’t found a replacement aide to order them food…

“I’ll be down shortly,” Lewis said with a half smirk. “Once I’m done here…”

The kitchen was dar as it usually was during the off hours. Food had been left for those who wanted it, as well as bowls and silverware. Normally at this time of day, there were few people around, but today there was one particular acolyte that Simone had seen before. One of the male acolytes from earlier, who had joked about Lewis being a romantic.

It sauntered up to Simone as she started to dish out her food.

“Hey…you’re uh…here alone, this time?” he said with a sly grin.

Simone obediently followed him without protest, which happened a lot now compared to before. “Okay, you better. I won’t forgive you if you don’t eat.” She kissed his cheek and left for the kitchen.

She knew she had the habit of attracting unwanted attention. It had happened more than once in her time with Lewis. “I’m sorry do I know you?” She looked up at him. “Lewis told me not to talk to other acolytes.” But she talked to them all the time, this time she was using it as an excuse.


“Oh come on! Lewis isn’t here and we all know I’m better than him.”

“Says who?” Simone quirked an eyebrow. “I know you!” She bopped her fist into her palm. “You’re the one Lewis beat the shit out of at training. Yeah, I remember you because he told me all about how you sniveled!”

The guy took her wrist with an upset expression. “Take that back.”

“I’m going to give you a second or two to let my wrist go,” Simone was getting a bit stronger because of how rough Lewis could be with her. Sure, he was a lot more gentle with her now but he was still rough.

“I’ll show you,” he twisted her wrist and pushed her against the nearest wall. “We’ve all seen how Lewis pushes you around. I can do that too for you.”

“Yeah, no. You smell and need a bath,” Simone rolled her eyes as he reached to touch her. “Did I say you could touch me?” She grabbed the nearest thing which was a frying pan and started to hit him upside the head. “Did I say you could touch me?!” She screamed at him again.

Blood was splattered on the ground from how hard she hit.

Lewis had walked into the kitchen to see Simone pinned to the wall by one of the acolytes. Instinct was about to take over when suddenly a cast iron pan seemingly appeared in her hand and slammed into the side of the man’s head, flooring him immediately.

“Huh..” Lewis sheathed the dagger that he had drawn. “I…” He glanced over to Simone, who seemed to be shaking as the pan dropped from her hands. Her walked over and pulled her into his arms, holding her as she shivered in his grasp. “You did well…” He wasn’t sure if it was comforting, coming from him, but he could only hope.

“Simone, let’s…go.” Lewis quickly got them two plates of food, and carefully lead Simone out of the room, leaving the probably catatonic man in his own pool of blood.

Lewis would make sure that he would never wake up again…later though.

When they got back to the tower, Lewis wrapped a blanket around Simone and ordered her to sit in front of the fire and eat.

Simone immediately let her guard down when she saw Lewis. She met him partial way running right into his arms as he held her. She nodded and put her head under his chin. Everyone was looking at the couple to the acolyte. They were probably never going to see him again.

Now that she had time to be afraid she was shaking more but she was comforted by the large blanket around her. She gave Lewis a smile and nodded as he handed her the food. “I told him you didn’t want me talking to other acolytes but he didn’t back down so I insulted him.”

She looked up at Lewis, “That just made him mad but I think he was going to do it regardless.” She was just happy he was there with her now. Immediately she dropped her spoon and started to cry. She had been really scared and now that Lewis was here she could show that.

Lewis stared at Simone for a moment when she started to cry. He wasn’t entirely sure what he should do, but something was telling him just to hold her. And so that was what he did. He held her as she cried, until she couldn’t cry anymore. And when she fell asleep, he held her for a moment longer before carefully standing up. He threw a few additional logs into the fireplace, and then made his way to the equipment room.

There were only a few things he needed, and when he left for the healer’s wing, he knew that the acolyte was in for a night.

“Let me see,” Lewis said as he sat down next to the sleeping acolyte. “A drop of this…mixed with…” He grinned evilly. “A hint of that…” And within minutes, a strange smell filled the air. “Perfect…” He held out a vial of liquid, looking at the color through the light. “And now..”

The acolyte woke up to a strange taste of something in his mouth. When he noticed that it was Lewis who had given him the substance, his eyes widened.

“Now, now,” Lewis said with a grin. “No need to panic. It’s just a sedative. A really strong one. So strong, that it’ll stop your heart in about…oh say, two hours. But here’s the neat thing…it won’t kill you.” He stood up, and walked over to another sleeping patron. “It’ll only make everyone think you’re dead.”

The sadistic assassin clapped his hands together. “Tell me…do you…remember if we burn bodies? Or just bury them?” Lewis thought for a moment. “Never can remember. But I do know it happens fast. Within hours of declaration. Lord Raith hates keeping bodies around.” He shrugged. “Regardless…you’re in for some suffering.”

As Lewis left the wing, the acolyte tried to struggle against the sedative.

He would never be seen again…

A Great Hand

Simone was sitting in the kitchen dining area with three other acolytes. She had a twisted look on her face. “Simone… Your poker face is horrible,” Jack was laughing.

“Shhhh,” Simone frowned. “I’m trying!”

Lewis had gone away for a three-day job. Snowball was resting on the table and watching her for Lewis. Soon he would be back. Actually, it would be really soon. Jack had come to get Simone and wanted to know if she wanted to learn a new game. She was bored so she agreed.

“Poker is really hard okay! I’m not a good liar!” She yelled at Jack as he laughed at her again. She folded because her hand was bad. They had piles of birdseed that they were using since Simone didn’t have any money.

Once they started to play again her face lit up. “Simone your face.” Jack was laughing again. “How does Lewis teach you things.”

“He… Um…” She blushed and threw down her hand. “ROYAL FLUSH.”

“That’s… not how this works…”