Arriving at the doors of Roxanna’s apartment, the doorman greeted me before entering through the building. It didn’t take too long to get to my ex’s apartment. Walking down the hallway, I stopped to see Roxanna was already standing outside of her apartment room, waiting for me. Reading her body language and red tomato face, it was no surprise that she looked pissed.

Taking a deep breath, I asked, “What the hell happened, Rox?”

The woman turned her face away from me, huffing in frustration and crossing her arms. She leaned close to the wall, then used her hands to brush her brunette hair through her fingers. Roxanna was such a drama queen, but the one thing I learned about the woman was that she hated failing. Failure wasn’t even in her vocabulary, and neither was it in mine. Putting my hands on my hips, I waited impatiently for Roxanna’s answer.

“I’ll ask you again, Rox. What the fuck just happened?!” My annoyance was emerging when repeating my question.

The diva waved her hands then snapped at me, “ I don’t know what happened?! All I know is that portal mage pissed me off! I couldn’t get that band to come join the cause!”

Portal mage? I didn’t know that the Hexes were harboring a portal mage, but then again recalling this extreme amount of aura coming from that group before I left the club. It was not a surprise that Master Barton wanted them. Still, those two bitches had one job and they couldn’t even complete this one fucking easily. It looks like I will have to take over this task again! So much for my free time.

Crossing my arms, I asked, “What did that mage do?”

“He mentioned my sister….” She muttered, twisting the ends of her hair.

This again? This woman is obsessed with her dead sister! I couldn’t stand her non-stop grieving and thank gosh, our relationship was short term. The woman opened the door and allowed me into her apartment, escorting me to the kitchen table. I watched the diva brew some tea as she leaned on the counter, waiting for it to be finished.

 “So now what?” I said nonchalantly, pulling out my phone to check some messages.  

Roxanna responded angrily, “I don’t know! All I know, they aren’t taking any offers. You should do it yourself. I’m done! I have my hands tied with recruitment at Eternia Supernatural Sector and dealing with Mr. Travolo right now!” she complained then followed up with a comment, “Croceia Supernatural Sector is supposed to be your area, if you remember! Do your own shit!”

There was a beeping noise coming from the tea brewer, then the diva hurried over to it and poured two cups of green tea. Roxanna brought the cups to the table and handed me one. Despite this chick being the most annoying bitch I ever met, she knows how to make guests comfortable. Sipping my tea, my mind wandered to think about a better plan to get this Hexes band to join our cause.

“Fine then, I will do it myself. Maybe you aren’t explaining their offers well. Your skills are getting rusty, Rox.” I grinned.

“Excuse me?! I explained my offer to them well!” Roxanna almost slammed her cup of tea down on the table.   Hearing her muttered some German under her breath, she continued, “If it wasn’t for Electra Star or Amelia, whatever that girl's name is. I would've got the entire band to join us in no time.”

“Wait, what girl again?” Glancing at Roxanna, barely paying attention to what the diva mage was talking about.

Roxanna restated what she had said before to me once more. A light bulb came to me, realizing the biggest roadblock to completing this mission was this main vocalist: Amelia. We both needed to offer something big enough that this girl can’t say no to not joining the Rise of Light.

“Listen, let me try to work my ‘magic’ on my end. Then, I will report back to you,” I told the woman who was fixing her hair in a bun and giving me a side-eye.

“Fine. Let me see if you can do better, Mr. Asshat. In the meantime, I have work to do,” Roxy said.

With that, the two of us continued on our tea and chatted, working together and not chewing on each other. After our chat, I made my leave once Roxy’s girlfriend came into the apartment, bidding the music mage goodbye. While I walked past the dark-skinned girl wearing a business suit, her eyes cued in on me suspiciously. Not saying a single word to this woman, my body language mimicked her behavior right back at her. If this chick wanted to start something with me, I was ready to pull out my magic against her. Once walking outside into the warm summer rain,  it was now time to get to work on getting these rebels into our cause.