The Bloodhound

Challenge

Well, I just dug my own grave earlier today. Why? Because I had a spat with a freaking Prince earlier at the entrance of the salon. This just added some unnecessary spice to my day. I sighed in frustration and waited for him to notice me because he was still busy with his phone. When he was finished with his call, he lifted his head and you could see the surprise in them upon looking at me. Maybe I should tease him. What do you guys think?

"You?!" he ask-s***h-screamed.

"Yes, me. You wanted to see me?" I ask him innocently.

"You were the woman earlier. What are you doing here? Where is Henry?" he asked?

Well, that soured my playful mood. He noticed the sudden change in my mood and that compelled him to ask me again.

"Where is Henry? He is the one I want to talk to." he insisted.

I scoffed and answered, "Well, you can't. Not now or ever. Henry is dead. He was murdered in his diner back in Louisiana. You said you wanted to talk to the owner of the house, correct?" I asked him, to which he nodded.

"Then you can talk to me. I am now the owner of this property and several more that Henry owned. It was written on his will. Why do you need to talk to Henry?" I asked him and that made him clam up.

He is hiding something. I just know it. I need to know more. My curiosity is burning as bright as a freshly lit torch.

"What do you need to talk to with Henry? And I heard from Gus that you wanted to use my training area to train for your annual tournament, am I right?" I teased him.

"And what of it?" he snapped back.

"Ooh, feisty little prince." I teased him again.

It is quite comical to see a prince losing his patience with me. He is slowly turning the color of a rotten tomato with all the anger that he is currently suppressing. This is so fun.

"I am the crowned prince of Monaco and I deserve respect fro-" I cut him off before he humiliates himself.

"Yes, you are. I am not questioning that. But you are not in your country, no. You are on foreign soil and MY territory. I decide to pay my respects to whoever I wish and when I wish. Plus I will give it to those who give theirs. Respect is earned and should not be given freely. You either roll with that or you can find another place to do your so-called training. I have more important things to do than entertain a pig-headed prince who thinks highly of himself and no one else." I told him as I folded my arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

That shut him up. He was beginning to become annoying. One that I do not like. I was about to turn it back on him when I heard another voice said, "Wait. Please, can't we talk about this?"

I looked at the guy and he was the one that stopped the prince and me from fighting earlier.

"Exactly what are we going to talk about? Your prince won't tell me why he wants to talk to Henry and he thinks he's the boss just because he's a prince. If he won't adhere to my rules in my own territory, you can say bye-bye to training at my training area. Like I said earlier, I have more important things to do besides entertaining him and his whims." I haughtily told him.

"I know, I heard you the first time. It's just that nobody told us that Henry is dead. We did not take that into account before coming here. We usually come over this time of the year to have our new recruits train under Henry." he explained.

I nodded but something doesn't add up. "Train recruits? I thought you'll be training for an annual tournament or something? Was that your cover?" I asked them.

The guy froze when he heard my question. Bingo! They really are hiding something. "If you are hiding something, better tell me now," I told them.

"Or what? What will you do if we don't tell you?"

It was the prince who answered me. He recovers fast. "I won't do anything to you guys but you just gave my inner cat its curiosity and it will not stop until it is brought back with the satisfaction of knowing what you're hiding." I gave him a mischievous grin that seemed to have pushed several of his buttons.

"No wonder Henry disappears during the first few months of winter," I mumbled to myself when they didn't say anything after what I said.

When the other guy, let's just name him minion number 1. When minion 1 was still frozen in place, I snapped my fingers in front of him several times before I lightly slapped his face to bring him back to reality.

"What? What happened? Why did you slap me?" he asked in confusion?

"You were frozen in place, Claude. And you just gave away our cover." the prince told him.

Claude, minion 1, looked to me for confirmation and I simply nodded my head in confirmation. His eyes widened like a pair of saucers and he slapped his forehead.

"Yup, you did. So, care to tell me why you have Henry train them when you could have another person train them to be... Whatever you want them to be. Why Henry?" I asked them.

Do they know that he is an assassin? Or former assassin, whichever you want to use.

"Because he trained all of my elite guards. And he trained me ever since I was a kid. He doesn't train me full time but he trains me during this time of year, every year. And when I was announced as a crowned prince, I had my guards trained under him." he carefully explained to me.

"Oh? Well then, crowned prince. Why don't we have a little showdown in the arena to see if you really are, as you say, trained by Henry since you were a kid? Or are you afraid that you will get your feisty little ass kicked by a woman?" I dared him.

I like doing little and harmless dares to people who I know are telling the truth but are easily dissuaded by a mere play of words. Take this feisty, little prince for example. He knows he is saying the truth yet he easily gets riled up whenever someone doubts him. It's pathetic getting riled up by someone you just met. And he doesn't even know my name yet. Such is a pity.

He scoffs at me and asks, "You? Do you think you could beat me?"

I rolled my eyes and turned my back at him and signaled him to follow me. "That includes your new recruits. Let them see their precious prince get his ass beaten by a woman."

I looked back and saw his face flush red and he immediately ordered all of the cars to go inside and park the cars near the arena. I smiled to myself and ran inside the arena. I decided to wait for them there. Oh, this is going to be so much fun.