Swan Song

Painting The Roses Red Part 2

"You see," Lock started, facing the other two boys, "I've been given the task of hunting down the Head Hunter. I'm sure you've heard of that. To get anywhere, I'm going to need certain information, which I can only get from the Karma family, and we're not exactly on friendly terms."

"Yeah," snorted Allen. "You snot nosed great house people can be assholes to the servant families. No wonder they hate you."

"Well, I wouldn't really say hate."

"I saw Ted drawing a blonde kid being decapitated by a guillotine today."

"Point taken."

"Just get on with it!" Crispin snapped, scowl increasing. "Why did you ask me here?"

"Because I need you to testify that what's about to happen did not really happen, should he try to turn on me." Lock gestured toward Allen. "You see, to get the Karmas to cooperate, I need them to hate or fear the Head Hunter. Thing is, they really only care about their own family members, and none of them have been attacked yet. Allen here is gonna pretend to be the killer, and try to kill one of them using a sword."

"Allen is what now?" asked Allen, trying to blink away his confusion. "Why would I do that?"

"I could always reopen the investigation into your dealing habits," Lock replied calmly, a smug grin on his face. "Yes, I know all about that."

"You wouldn't," the redhead countered. "That's blackmail. I'll just tell someone, and you'll go down with me."

"Ah, but you haven't been listening; Crispin is going to testify, saying this conversation hasn't happened at all. Now do you see why you would do that?"

Grabbing a fistful of the shorter boy's shirt, Allen pulled him close, getting into his face. "Maybe I just kill you both right here."

Crispin was instantly on guard, reaching into his jacket, but Lock remained calm, and spread his arms.

"Go ahead. I won't fight you."

Allen frowned, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist even harder. "You're a sick son of a bitch, you know that?"

"Correction: I'm a sick son of a bitch who's going to put a stop to a series of murders. The means here are well justified by the ends, no? You can't honestly say I'm doing a bad thing."

"To me, you fuckin' are! What if I get caught?! The twins have really strong angels. How the hell do I counter that?"

"You don't," Lock replied, gently tapping the other boy's arm, wordlessly telling him to let go. "That's why you go after Lily."

"You want me to attack a girl!?"

"Would you stop yelling? This is a secret meeting for a reason."

"Yeah, so you can't have any witness contradict Crispin!" A light seemed to turn on inside Allen's head, because he smirked victoriously. "Actually, who says I can't just get one of my friends to lie for me - have them say I never left the group?"

"Because," Lock said, "that still leaves me with the option of having a knave permanently tail you. You won't be able to deal anymore, and once you can no longer offer anything, you'll stop being someone worth lying for. Good luck earning money then, and good lock staying out of The Looking Glass."

"You... You vicious little..." Allen mumbled incoherently, shaking with anger. His shadow widened, and a white lion jumped out if. It had a pair of bat wings on its back, and instead of a regular lion's tail, it had a scorpion's stinger. "That still doesn't explain why I shouldn't kill you both right now - end this mess before I get into it." His angel, Manticore, growled dangerously, easily towering over the three boys. By now, Crispin was running several scenarios in his mind, deciding whether to fight or flee. "You can't use Samael yet, after all," sneered the redhead. "How're you going to stop me?"