Chapter 67: Home Invasion

Razia only saw Quentin right before he left for the night. It was late afternoon, a couple hours before they opened. Before that, he’d spent the entire day in his room, which wasn’t unusual when he was upset or troubled. What could be more troubling than what he was about to do? Razia couldn’t blame him for it, but she wished that he would let her in and help, even if it just meant being there and hurting with him. In the end, he chose to be alone with it and left without a word. The Moonlit Garden was her responsibility alone for the night.

Their night started as many of their nights did, with Samantha cooking up something light but tasty for dinner, which all of them sans Kelli ate together while talking about nothing in particular. They didn’t always eat together, but on nights Samantha went the extra mile, it was an excuse to enjoy each other’s company before they had to deal with people. It was as they were finishing up that Razia heard a knock at the door.

Lucy came in shortly after, pointing towards the entrance. “Hey Razia, there’s two men here to see you. They say they’re friends of Mr. Q.”

Razia took one last bite and washed it down with wine. “Mm, good, they’re right on time.” She hopped up off the couch and met up with the two in the office, now remodeled to have a counter to work behind and a series of chests on the wall big enough to hold the weapons customers often carried with them. That was new, and she expected more than a few people to complain about it, but it wouldn’t be too hard to wear them down and get them to accept it.

“Demetrius, Jonas, welcome!” Razia said, beaming at both of them.

Jonas smiled right back at her and craned his head to try to look past her to the room beyond. Demetrius’ eyes slid off the wall of chests and over to Razia. He let out a grunt that could charitably be called a greeting and said, “Still working on a list of people to help out here,” he said. “But for tonight, we’re here.”

The look in his face said he still didn’t like her, didn’t trust her, didn’t want to be there. “I really appreciate you helping out on short notice like this. I know you don’t like to miss any matches.”

“Yeah, well,” Demetrius growled, “definitely don’t mind missing tonight.”

It was hard to be upbeat and diplomatic when she thought too hard about why Quentin was gone. Razia promised she wouldn’t judge him for it, and she wouldn’t, but that didn’t mean she wanted to think about it too much. The difference between her and Demetrius is that she’d embrace every opportunity she had to distract herself and focus on what she could actually do. If he was anything like Quentin (and she suspected Quentin had picked things up from him), he’d wallow in it until he was numb.

“Well, let me show you inside and maybe get you something to drink?”

“Not necessary, I --”

“I’d like that,” Jonas said brightly. Razia motioned with her head to follow her. Jonas followed after, oblivious to the dirty look Demetrius sent his way.

Outside of the office was one of two areas of the villa that opened up wide and open. On this half of the property was the bathroom, the kitchen, and a couple of very small quarters for servants they used for storage. It was the last buffer before business became a home, and they deliberately blurred those lines. There were more of their potted plants and flowers there, with a walkway through the center of the room to the atrium where the couches surrounded the skylight and pool. Where they now stood were a series of loveseats far apart from each other, there for clients who wanted to negotiate in relative peace and quiet away from the common area. Jonas craned his neck all around, obviously impressed with the place while Demetrius nodded begrudgingly.

“Lucy,” Razia said, “would you kindly get a couple of glasses of our finest wine? We’ve got some very important visitors tonight. They’re going to be watching out for us while Quentin is out for the night.”

“Hey, I remember you two,” Lucy said, getting close to Jonas. “You were there that night we got attacked and Mr. Q cut that guy open for trying to kill us!”

Demetrius sighed. “Yeah, that was us. Let’s hope no one dies this time, huh?” He shot a pointed look at Razia. Okay, that one was fair.

“Is Isa still with you?” Jonas asked, peeking over to the other side.

Razia bit back a grin. “Yeah, she’s right over there, should be finished up with dinner. You should go say hi,” she said. Most of the time she didn’t do anything to intentionally provoke Isa, but sending an eager and pretty teenager was harmless enough.

“I’ll do that,” he said, flashing a grin at Razia as he walked by her.

Lucy remembered she was supposed to be getting them drinks and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Razia with Demetrius. This was not a position either one of them wanted to be in, but neither was willing to run away from the discomfort or clear dislike there. On Razia’s part, at least, it wasn’t hate, but she was under no illusions as to what Demetrius thought of her. So she started by saying, “Again, thank you for being here.”

He looked away. “I promised Quintius. Just like I promised to get him some personal help. He’s a good kid, even if he doesn’t think things through and seems to love things that are bound to get him hurt or killed. He needs someone watching after his stupid ass.”

“I agree,” she said. “I’ve been trying to do that, but you should know that he’s really the one in charge here.”

Demetrius snorted.

“I mean it,” Razia insisted. “I help run things and keep things smooth because I’m a people person and he isn’t, but when it comes right down to every major, impactful decision, we’ve been going with what he wants. He’s really coming into his own lately and it’s been wonderful to see.”

Demetrius looked like he wanted to argue, but Lucy came back with two of their good glasses filled halfway with wine. She handed one to Demetrius and then followed Razia’s finger over to Jonas, who was talking to an unimpressed Isa. Sighing, Demetrius took a sip and looked back at Razia. “I suppose you want the credit for him doing good?”

Razia shook her head. “Not at all. I showed him a possibility, but he fell into it on his own. You’re much more responsible for him being the way he is, I think.”

“How do you figure?”

“He talks about you all the time,” said Razia, smiling fondly. “Well, he talks about the Colosseum often when it’s just the two of us, and it always comes back to things you’ve said to him or taught him. He talks about you more than he talks about his father.”

The short, grizzled man’s face froze in surprise. Then it was gone, replaced by the same grumpy disinterest he kept feigning. “His father’s a bastard for abandoning him,” he said. “A real father’d at least stick around an’ try to understand him. At least try to keep him alive. I watched out for him the same I would any of my kids in the arena. What I don’t get is what do you get out of it?”

Razia sighed. It always came back to this. It was like no one thought she could enjoy something for its own sake. “What do you get out of helping Quentin?” she asked. “Seriously. Do you need to get anything out of it, or would you do it because you care about him? It’s the same way with me. Well, probably not exactly the same,” she said, smiling wickedly.

Demetrius made a face, but there was a ghost of a smile under. It wouldn’t fix things between them, but it was a good first step.

Razia laughed, and took him by the arm and brought him into the atrium with the other girls. He sat next to Samantha, who immediately turned on her charm and fawned over him. Demetrius didn’t seem to mind, and after a few minutes even looked comfortable and happy on the couch next to the red headed beauty. Razia hung back, content to let the two gladiators mingle with her girls and let everyone get comfortable. It was almost like a do-over for the time Quentin invited them, before that went tits up and ended in death.

For the next while she held back, sitting along the edges as everyone else chatted with each other. Samantha fawned over Demetrius while Lynne watched with a frozen rictus smile on her face, pretending that she didn’t mind. That could be trouble down the road. Isa stared off into the distance feigning disinterest as Jonas eagerly recounted the last match he’d been in and how he’d been hoping to celebrate. Lucy stayed quiet but drank wine while staring at Jonas the entire time. Razia could hardly blame her.

The next couple of hours passed in an instant, and the good time was ruined by none other than Kelli, who came up to Razia and said, “Who the hell are they?” with a concerned look.

“Friends,” Razia replied without turning to look at her. Of course she’d want to know who they were, so she could pass the info along to Cicero. Joke’s on her, there was a better than even chance he already knew who they were. “Quentin asked them to step in for him tonight while he attends to something personal. Is that going to be a problem, Kelli?”

Kelli winced and shrugged. “No, no problem. I just don’t normally see strange men in here before we open. It’s weird enough seeing male whores with us instead of in their own house.”

Not this again. “There was a demand, so we had to supply it. Tenchi and Cullen are going to be fantastic additions to the Garden.” Razia smiled. “Come to think of it, we may have too many girls working here. We’d really be better off axing one of you and replacing you with a guy. What do you think?”

She stared at Razia, as if she needed time to process what she said. Kelli looked away, face reddening. “Sorry,” she muttered.

Razia didn’t respond. Instead, she enjoyed silencing the little shit and asserting herself. While she wanted a better working relationship with Mr. Cicero, she had few qualms about pissing off his little spy. Honestly, she expected someone more subtle and less of an ass than Kelli, but the girl seemed to get on well enough with Jenna and Lucy. Lucy in particular needed more friends. She’d get rid of Kelli eventually, but not tonight.

Cullen showed up not too much longer after that. He was a tall, well built man with close cropped blonde hair and a smoothly shaven square jaw. Instead of a shirt he wore crisscrossing leather straps that showed off his muscular body. She appreciated his style and how quiet he was. Unlike Tenchi, who could be downright bratty, Cullen was quiet, polite, and straight forward. Razia welcomed him in with a kiss on the cheek that made his somber face brighten.

Tenchi came later, bringing a client with him already. Tonight he wore a traditional Mooran robe and painted up his face to look bright and beautiful. He sauntered in, shooting a wink at Razia as the man on his arm set a handful of shards down on a table. Conversation stopped as everyone watched them go into a room together and close the door.

That was the signal that it was time for everyone to get to work. Lucy brought Jonas back into the entryway with her. If they didn’t end up spending some time in Lucy’s room after work, Razia would be surprised. Demetrius got to his feet with a groan, stretching out his back before going up to a wall and leaning against it with his arms folded over his chest. He didn’t appear to be a stranger to guard work and knew how to be invisible.

Razia greeted people in and found out what they were after that night, guiding them to the guy or girl who would be most likely to serve them the best. People went in and out of the rooms, shards exchanged hands, Samantha took a man to the bath with her, and Cullen brought someone out to the garden for a bit of fun under the moonlight. All in all, it was shaping up to be an average, if decently busy night. The only thing missing was Quentin.

“This really is a better place’n I was expecting,” Demetrius said to her, coming up after almost everyone was in a room. It was quiet, just them and Kelli, sitting alone on the couch away from them. “Clean, quiet, and your girls are…” He failed to find the word and just grinned instead.

“Thank you,” Razia said, bowing her head. “A lot of that is Quentin’s doing. When he saw how things were on the streets and in taverns, he said that if he was going to do this he was going to do it better than the other pimps he saw. Have you ever known him to look after others?”

Demetrius’ eyes flickered over to Kelli, who was fiddling with a ring on her hand and looking away. In a low, hushed voice he said, “Prisoners. He’d do what he could for last requests and not let the guards smack them around too much. I’m not surprised he’s still helping others. Especially that pretty little thing with the blue eyes. I bet he’s super protective of her.”

Razia’s face lit up. “He is. He’s incredibly fond of Lucy. We all are, but he’d never let anything happen to her.”

Naturally, that’s when Lucy let out a scream. Razia was on her feet immediately and Demetrius put himself between her and the entryway. Jonas flew through the door, landing on the tiles and rolling to a stop. Out from the entrance came six men, pouring in one after another. Jonas scrambled to his feet and drew his knife. The other men drew their knives as well, moving to flank him.

Razia recognized the man in the front. It was Simms, one of Christophe’s favorite lieutenants. He wasn’t especially big or strong, but he was fast and always well armed. He was good at keeping a group on task. Her heart skipped a beat and thumped hard when she realized what this meant. The Warlords were here for her, and Quentin wasn’t there.

“Stay back,” Demetrius warned her, moving up close. Jonas backed up until they were standing side by side, each holding up a good steel blade. Together they could block off the thin corridor that separated each half of the villa. “Get out the back, now!”

“I can’t leave you and the others,” Razia protested, even as she wanted to immediately take his advice. Fear was good. Fear was useful. Fear was a gateway to panic, and she could already feel panic gnawing away at her common sense.

“Stand down,” Simms called, drawing a short sword of his own. He pointed it right at Demetrius, smiling pleasantly. “There’s no need for you to die tonight. Just give us that fork tongued bitch and we’ll be on our merry way.”

Demetrius spat on the floor. “Gonna have to pass. Promised someone I would keep her safe.” He and Jonas bounced on the balls of their feet, weapons at the ready. The Warlords edged a little closer.

“What about you, kid? You’re too young and pretty to die. Why don’t you stand aside?” Simms leered at Jonas.

Jonas just grinned. “You’re looking at the next big Colosseum champion. You’re nothing.”

Simms sighed theatrically. “I tried. Kill them.”

His men descended on Demetrius and Jonas. Razia took a step back as the first attacks came. Jonas dodged out of the way of one sword and then another’s knife, losing ground. Demetrius blocked a downward stab and thrust his blade into one’s gut. That Warlord let out a gasp, but it gave Simms time to jab his sword into the older man’s back.

Demetrius' back arched and he let out a cry. Simms pulled the blade out and swung it at Jonas, who managed to send his other foe sprawling to the ground with a well placed kick. The teen tried to pivot out of the way in time but Simm’s blade cut into his left bicep. Jonas stumbled to the ground, clutching his arm. Simms flourished his blade, splashing the tile with blood. He smirked at Razia, taking a step forward before Demetrius tackled him from behind. Razia let out a joyful cry as Demetrius put his knife to Simm’s throat, forcing the man to freeze. From the entryway one of the men yelled out, “HOLD IT! Kill him and she dies.”

He had Lucy by the arm, sword crossed over her chest and close to her throat. Lucy’s eyes were wide with terror and she was already starting to hyperventilate. Gods, not her, not again. Razia held up her hands and cried out, “Stop, stop! Fine, I’ll go. Just…Just don’t hurt her!”

Demetrius looked up at her, a look of anguish on his face. Not for her, she realized. For Quentin. Simms took the man’s distraction as a cue to get a hand on Demetrius’ arm and pull the blade away. He sent his elbow into Demetrius’ face and threw him off. The older man rolled onto the floor, leaving a smeared trail of blood behind.

Simms stood up, brushing himself off. He pointed his sword at Razia and motioned for her to get closer. He looked up and barked out, “Stay in your rooms if you know what’s good for you!” The clients and girls peeking their heads out from their rooms disappeared. Razia held her hands up and felt herself moving closer as if in a dream. This didn’t feel real. They couldn’t be here, this couldn’t be happening. But it was.

The moment she was close enough Simms grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer and slammed the pommel of his sword against the back of her head. The impact shook her and the world went dark.