Chapter 147 - Black Rose (1/2)
”Ahh...” Suddenly some things made sense to Laz about this strange girl and why she was called Ruby. He was told this would happen, although he didn't expect to run into someone so quickly.
”Did she have a message?” Laz asked as Ruby slide back in close and started dancing with him. To her surprise, Laz was actually following her steps and moving with her. It almost seemed like he knew what she was going to do before she did it.
”She just said to tell you they left almost two years ago.” Ruby repeated the message that she had been told.
”Fuck.” Although Laz continued to dance with her, his mind was somewhere else. When they first separated, Laz had hired Jade, who he also knew as Yumi, to find his parents in D.C. since they were both coming this way. Laz wasn't going to stay in a city since he figured he would be easier to find and she agreed. Due to this deal, Laz gave Jade a large sum of the money that he had and had been left to him from Bill. The idea was that she would use to money to start her business and she would look for into where his parents were in the capitol. Since he was also funding her some start up money and because she recognized his ability and she wanted to keep him close, she also made him a silent partner in the business. As such, once she started making money he would get a share of it, but he wouldn't have any control over the business itself. He would still be able to use the services of the company for free assuming he had need of them, but he would in no way lead the business. This was something Jade wanted to do on her own and he agreed. He had no desire to run this merc/assassin for hire business she was going to make anyway.
Although Laz didn't know it, Jade had worked pretty fast. She had some contacts from her time as a freelancer and it didn't take long to get a group together. At the same time, each member of the inner circle had their own contacts, allowing everything to expand from there. They went from being a no name start up group to being recognized internationally in the course of only a year based solely on their success. When important people needed a job done, Jade's group was in the first list considered.
The other thing that Laz didn't know was that the group of assassins for hire was made up entirely of women. Although this didn't seem to make any sense, Jade and her inner circle insisted on it for their own reasons. Since everyone agreed, that's just how it was. As such, they also scouted talent that they could bring into the group, hence how they had found Ruby. This job at the club was only a cover and meeting with Laz was by accident. In truth, all members of the group had seen a picture of Laz so that they would know who he was, but the picture was from before his skin had turned it's much paler shade. Due to this and how much he had grown up, Ruby wasn't sure it was him at first. But after his eyes lit up, she knew it in a heartbeat.
”So what are you going to do now?” Ruby asked as she was grinding her ass against the front of his pants.
”No idea. But since I don't have anywhere to go, I will probably stay where I am for now.” Laz responded honestly. Although she was tempting him with her dancing, his mind was on other things so he wasn't overly sensitive to it.
”I will let mistress know,” Ruby responded in turn. As the latest song ended, Laz made his way off the dance floor and Ruby followed. Although she was technically still working, Laz wanted to talk to her more at length and the dance floor wasn't the place to do it.
As they sat down at the bar, Laz called over the closest bar tender and ordered a couple drinks. As they were at the end of the bar closest to the wall, it was a somewhat private area where they could talk. Laz was able to ask his questions and Ruby answered as best she could. Since she wasn't a part of the inner circle, she only had the most general information to share. But even that was more than enough for Laz currently.
He found out that Jade had been very busy as of late and that's why she hadn't gotten the chance to come find him. After finding out that Ruby was based somewhat close to where Laz was living, it was actually going to be her job to contact him soon and pass him the information she had including some contact info for Jade's group which she had named ”Black Rose.” When Laz asked Ruby if there was some meaning behind it, Ruby just smiled and said that when they used a black colored rose as a calling card of sorts after performing a hit. This allowed other's to know of their success. It was actually just something they were doing for now with high profile targets, but they would stop soon. As Ruby explained it, it was just plain stupid to leave your group's calling card for police to be able to link you with the crime. Soon enough, they would be well known and have no need to advertise.
After a couple of drinks and a bit of back and forth, Laz felt like he had gotten the whole story. Yumi wasn't ignoring him, but what she was doing currently was extremely dangerous and she didn't want to implicate him in it. As such, she hadn't found a good way to get in contact with him since he had changed phone numbers a few times since New York. She only knew where he was headed and not where he actually was. With her new system in place though, they could reach each other safely from now on thanks to the internet.
Just as Laz was getting up to leave, he remembered one thing he forgot to ask about. It was clear that Ruby knew he was an infected which Yumi must have told her. Laz knew that Yumi was also infected, so he was wondering if Ruby was as well. The reason for his confusion was that Ruby had energy signs from her, but they were very faint and well hidden. If Laz hadn't developed his spiritual sense as much as he did, he would have never notice. This either meant that Ruby didn't know about it just yet, or that she was hiding it. He had previously assumed the former was the case, but now he wasn't so sure.
”Are you... like us?” Laz asked, making it a general question as though Ruby would know he was talking about himself and Yumi.
”I am,” Ruby replied without hesitation.
Hearing her reply, Laz looked over over once again. He had gotten out of the habit of using his spiritual sense on people who were considered friendly since Vivi had warned him that although his sense was powerful, he wasn't skilled enough to use it without other's noticing and doing that would be considered very rude. Towards an enemy or in a large group setting though was fine since and enemy was already an enemy and within a group setting, it would be hard to figure out who had done it.
Looking her over, he couldn't see any of the trademark red beads that he knew blocked the energy signals.
Ruby seemed to understand what he was doing and laughed before showing a rather naughty smile.
”You show me yours and I'll so you mine,” was all she said. Laz figured out what she meant right away.
”I don't need to use them,” Laz responded.
”You don't?” Ruby asked in amazement, although it made some sense. While she was dancing with him, she had actually managed to touch, rub or pat every area of his body and she wasn't able to find any of the magic beads. This was originally one of the things she was trying to confirm to verify his identity.