“You want more money?” Taking a step away from me, he nods.
“Just give him the money, Nicholas.” I spin around to watch Adair walk in smoothly. He looks over at Dwayne, “Leave, all of you.” Dwayne leaves, followed by Terrance and my other guards follow them, they all leave, with no fight.
Ryan, however, steps to him with his chest out. “Who the fuck are you?” Ryan snaps at him.
Adair’s jaw drops and stares at Ryan wide eyed. Sensing the tension, Nole runs and hides behind some of the crates in the warehouse. “What are you doing here, Adair?” I ask him.
“It’s simple, I wanted to see how truly great you are.” Adair turns his head quickly towards Ryan and sends him crashing into the wall. I run after him, and Adair fights me face on. Fire pierces into my skin, like volts of electricity, bringing me to my knees. I try to get up and he sends me flying across the room, sparking a nearby gathering of papers. The sprinkler system reacts soon after the flames begin to spread. Adair comes at me again, fists ablaze and slamming me with even more force. I stumble to my feet and face off with him again, but the result ends up the same. More fire, more rain and more of Adair tossing me into one wall after the other. It’s a struggle to breathe, but again, I get back to my feet and face him. Adair laughs as if he is playing a game, he taunts me as I eye him down, but my body has little left and he easily slams me on my back again. All I feel is pain and all hear is him coming at me.
With his laughter echoing in my head, I stagger back to my feet, exhausted and my vision blurred. Adair causes shooting pains to strike my spine so sharply that I cannot even fall to the ground. He holds me out in front of him like a trophy. I try to search for Ryan, but his lifeless body is too hazy to see clearly. Adair walks slowly towards me, smiling wide and easing his coat off, “You did say to the death, Nicholas. I can’t have you running around with the woman meant for me. You are nothing compared to me. You’re an embarrassment. I don’t know how your father killed mine, for there should have been no possible way for that to happen. We assumed your father was more powerful than we thought, therefore, my grandfather believes that you might be more powerful than me. Now I can’t gain his full respect until you are gone.” Adair turns towards Ryan as he slowly approaches us and throws him back into a wall.
Ryan screams out in pain, “Kill him Nick!” He yells before screaming again.
“And whoever he is, he must go too.” Adair comes closer eyeing me down, “Don’t worry, I will take care of your family, your sons will have to die of course, but Kayla seems to be a good fuck, I will enjoy making our own children with her. Then I will kill her too once I have what I need.” He takes out a knife, “I will slit all their throats.” He seethes. “You know I saw her tonight, your wife. I tasted her lips and then I drew blood, to remind myself what it will be like.” He motions his knife across his neck, enjoying every second of his taunting.
With every word he speaks, my body heats up more and more, he doesn’t realize what he is doing to me. He doesn’t realize that my energy has not only increased to full form, but to an even higher level. He comes at me waving his knife, but for some reason decides to toss it and grab my neck with both hands and squeeze. I close my eyes for an instant before reopening them and focusing. With his hands wrapped around my throat, I stand stiff and stare into his swirling eyes and damn him. The ravaging screams between us overpower everything around us. His skin reflects mine, his body begins to vibrate, and his eyes weaken, while mine find new levels of control. I am afraid to move, afraid to break my focus on him. I begin to feel the low rumbling growl emerge from my chest and then I toss him backwards, launching him across the floor and into the wall. Ryan acts quickly and wraps a chain around Adair’s neck and pulls. Adair wrestles for control, battles Ryan and me both, but in the end, he doesn’t have enough to overcome Ryan’s hold and my focus.
His last words are a low whisper. “You don’t know what he will do to you. What he will turn you into when he gets his chance. You can’t say no to him.” I flinch sending Adair screaming in pain to his last breath.
Ryan collapses while my body quakes to an exhausting exhale. When I regain my full breath, I make my way to my brother and check him over, “Are you all right?” His breath is still a struggle, but he nods. A small noise awakens me to the other live person in the room, Nole, who is quietly trying to crawl away through the smoke, broken glass and falling walls. “Nole!” I yell.
He immediately rolls to his back like a defenseless dog and begs, “Please, I am good. I don’t need any extra money. In fact, I am not doing enough for what you are paying me to do now. Oh, please, can I go? There is a shipment of jewels coming in next week I am sure your wife would love …”
“Leave and do not speak of this night to anyone,” I say to him.
“Who would believe me?” he mumbles and runs away.
I slide down the wall next to Ryan and finally breathe normally again. “What the hell was that, Nick?” Ryan asks.
“I have a terrible feeling that was our cousin trying to kill us.”
“Oh. Well I don’t care for him too much,” Ryan says spitting the blood out of his mouth. “In fact, I liked Connor better than him, and I hated him.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“So what do we do now?” Ryan asks, looking at me for some kind of answer. I don’t think he realizes how many questions that there actually are.
“I think I need to take you and Eddy, to Dad’s refuge and figure out exactly who we are before it is too late.”
Chapter 35
~Nick~
The debate on what to do with Adair’s body has troubled me since Ryan posed the question. Do I make him disappear and hope his disappearance never leads back to me or do I respectfully deliver his body back to where it belongs and let it be known he failed? I chose the latter, and with my men in tow this time, I deliver his body to Savage with only these words, “Whether you knew it or not, he was out to kill me. Now I am returning his body out of respect for you and you alone, I owe him nothing.”
Savage walks out to meet me on his ruby-eyed dragon, his breath echoing in my ears. When are eyes meet, I am unsure if he is angry or elated. “I suppose I will have to plan a new party, a masquerade perhaps?” Taking in a deep breath he exhales with a wide sinister smile. “The job is yours now, Nicholas, congratulations you are finally ready.”
“No thank you,” I say plainly.
He moves slowly until he faces me and sees directly into my eyes, “I didn’t give you a choice. It is your responsibility now, and you will finally live up to your birthright,” he demands before sitting back on his heels, “For now, I am sure I should probably grieve and bury him, or something. Damn it, tomorrow is going to be a busy day,” he says walking back into his home and waving his hand to have Adair carried away.
“Wait! I have no desire to work for you. You are going to have to find someone else.” I call after him.
Savage looks down with a low growl before turning to face me. “You are the most frustrating of them all, even more so than your father. All right Nicholas, if you want to talk then let’s talk. Come in here,” he says, walking in ahead of me. The last thing I want to do is go back inside his house, but something tells me I don’t have much of a choice. Before I step one foot inside, I look back at my men and their terrified expressions and realize I am going in alone. I walk back through his chilling house and apprehensively sit down in front of him within his office. “What are your concerns about joining me, Nicholas?”
“I don’t think you understand. I am happy with the way my life is. I am not looking to change it at all.”
“Life changes drastically sometimes. I don’t think you would feel the same if your life was much different. No wife, no children to worry about, how would you feel then?” he asks with a glare. I don’t speak, as my hands begin to burn. “Your family is nothing to me. What I want is for you to finally take the place your father left and do the work that I need to be done. I ha
ve no desire to handle things alone simply because, you don’t feel like it. This is your heritage, Nicholas. This is where you belong.” He sits at the edge of his seat folding his hands in front of his face as he leans in on his desk closer to me.
“Tell me, Nicholas, do you ever feel as if there is something missing in your life, that there is that piece of the puzzle that just can’t be found? Of course you do, that is because you are trying to force yourself to be something that you are not. You belong here, you belong in this family. I can give you everything, all the power you could ever want, and you will never have a lack of respect again. It will not be just this city, Nicholas, but you can control so much more, as much as you desire.”
His voice continuously flows into my mind, I cannot focus or tune him out. I feel confused and dizzy, so I close my eyes and think of them, my family. “No, that’s not what I want. I have what I want. I’m not missing anything.”
Savage slams his fists onto his desk, jarring his assistant, Rabbie, into a trembling mess. “Damn you! You do not understand who you are, what you are.”
I stand to meet his rage one on one, “Who am I then? Tell me what gives me this power over people. What is the name of this demon that I surely am?”
“You are looking for a name that humans use when they fear the dark. You are looking for a name people scream when hell comes for them, but how could there be such a name if they don’t know that you exist? They don’t know anything about you until it is too late,” he says with a prideful calm.
I stand back, looking him over, “If there is no name then how, why?”
“Well, that is something you will learn over time, too much history to explain in a few sentences. You would know it all now if not for your father shielding you from it.” Savage turns to his artwork on the wall. “Asmodeus, one of the princes of the seven hells.” He turns back to me as an understanding begins to form within me. “The most powerful prince of them all, the lust demon is your roots.”
In an instant, I find my back against the wall staring at him in anguish, “Are you telling me that I am …?”
“A demon, the devil’s helper, the son of the devil for that matter. Name it whatever you like, Nicholas. The fact remains that you have inherited a power that you must learn to use and use it well.” He says, and I immediately shake my head. “Do not shake your head at me, you fool. Do not say no to me! I allowed you to have the life you have had as an experiment as a chance for you to grow stronger beyond the others, and you did. You achieved beyond my greatest expectations for you, but now, I need you here by my side,” He demands with hardened fists.
“No!” I yell back at him. “Kill me if you must, but I will not be any sort of demon monster for you. I will not subject my family to such horror. I am not what you want. No matter what you say, I am not what you want me to be. I will never be what you want me to be,” I say, racing out of the house ushering my men to remove us quickly from this house.
~
Thoughts race through my head, memories become clear, and the voice of my father is louder than ever. I have felt uneasy since I left Savage. I have yet to hear from him or see any sign of him, but I know it is only a matter of time. As we sit down to dinner, Kayla laughs with Nicky and kisses Brayden as she helps him eat. He is still so small Brayden, he is always getting sick. He needs protection just from everyday life. Nicky is stronger, but still only a child. Kayla … “Kayla.” She smiles at me, still laughing with our sons until she notices my expression.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
I have avoided talking to her, but I can’t any longer. She has to know. She should be allowed to run, take our sons, and run even from me. “I need to talk to you.” I begin with what I know, and then move on to what I think I know, but I end with, “I don’t know what is going to happen if I don’t work for Savage.” Kayla looks over our sons with fear in her eyes. “I am learning as much as I can, I found my father’s work, but there are a lot of notes, and I haven’t had time to go through it all.” I clench my eyes shut, wishing for a different life for them and when I reopen them, all I can do is see the love in her eyes. “I love you, Kayla.” I whisper hoping to try and comfort her somehow.
“I love you too, Nick. Don’t worry we will figure it out. We will do it together, just like we always have.” She reaches out and takes my hand, instantly setting me at ease. “So who is he, Savage? What is he capable of?”
“I think I can answer that question better than him.” Savage walks into our dining room as if he were invited. I stand up immediately, “Sit down, Nicholas. I am only here to meet the family. I thought joining you for dinner would be a good start.” He takes Kayla’s hand and kisses it respectfully, “You are a wondrous beauty.” Kayla picks up Brayden, puts him in her lap and calls Nicky to her side. Savage sets his cane aside and sits down at the table waiting to be served. “No servants?” he asks looking around. “No problem, I will use my own.” He waves his hand in the air, “Rabbie, please assist me.” Rabbie rushes instantly to gather him his food and wine. “So tell me, Kayla, how did you meet my, grandson?” Kayla looks my way with a reality neither of us wanted to believe.
Kayla speaks to him carefully while he watches her every move, and I watch his. “Princess, I think maybe it’s time to put the boys to bed, I will see to our guest in the meantime,” I say, kissing my sons and gripping my wife’s hand briefly before I face my grandfather one on one.
Kayla takes Nicky’s hand, while Brayden lays his head on his mother’s shoulder. “It was nice to see you again, Mr. Savage.” Kayla says, looking at me with fear in her eyes.
“It was lovely to see you too, dear. Take care of those boys, although one doesn’t seem to need nearly as much care as the other, tragic news I must say,” he says heartlessly. Kayla rushes them upstairs and hopefully to a place they won’t be able to hear a thing. “You have done well, Nicholas. I am impressed, although your home lacks the right ambience for my taste.”
I grow impatient with his game. “What do you want?”
“I was thinking you didn’t seem excited about your new position. I wanted to make sure you understood fully what your responsibility is going to be now, which is fairly simple. You do as I say and represent the family properly.”
“I am not working for you.”
“Again, Nicholas, I don’t think you understand. You killed your cousin, which puts you next in line. I wish I could say I am disappointed, but I was hoping for that outcome,” he says fisting his hand near me.
“I am sorry, but I am sure there is someone else much more suited for your needs. I have a family I need to be concerned about and a flourishing business and …”
Savage growls, getting up to meet me face to face, “And, and, AND! Nicholas, enough of this. I gave you time, like your father requested, but now I need you!” I stand my ground until pain spears into my veins and forces me to my knees.
“Nick!” Kayla rushes in after me, and Savage grabs her by the throat.
“Let her go! AHH!” I scream, falling back against the wall with his cane holding me securely by the throat. The more I struggle against it, the more I am paralyzed by the pain racing through my veins. Kayla’s screams escalate while I fight and try to rip my way through the pain to find her.
“Stop please!” I beg.
“I will give you two choices, Nicholas. She dies here and then your son Brayden. Then you, and then I will take Nicky with me to take your place. Or you accept your responsibility, and I will spare them for now, giving you a chance to prove their worth to me.”
Savage’s voice cuts through my pain and releases me, allowing me to finally see again. To see Nicky hiding under the table, crying for his mother while Eey stands guard in front of my son with a ferociousness that even I wouldn’t dare go near. But it is Kayla, that begins to weaken by his hands, slowly closing her eyes and beginning to near death while I can do nothing, but watch. I have no choice now … “Okay. Okay, I will accept the responsibility.??
?
Savage inhales releasing Kayla to the floor and smiling supremely as he takes hold of his cane once again. “I will give you thirty days to get your affairs in order, and then you can learn your duties before your acceptance party, your masquerade ball.” Savage smiles joyfully, “Oh what a wonderful idea, Nicholas, I can hardly wait. It is going to be amazing.” He turns towards Nicky holding out his hand, but pulls back when Eey intensifies his stance. “I always hated dogs,” he sneers. Savage begins to walk away before turning back again, “Invite your Police Chief friend. We could have some fun with him. Welcome back to the family Nicholas, it’s about time.”
The moment he leaves, I crawl to Kayla and Nicky, holding him in one arm while I try to wake Kayla. “Mommy!” Nicky cries reaching for her.
“She’s okay, Nicky. She’s okay, she’s just sleeping,” I say, caressing her face and fighting my own tears.
Chapter 36
~Nick~
I brought them all, Ryan, Elijah, Terrance, Dwayne, Reginald, Eddy, and even Bo Sirra. Lena was also able to help me talk Brady into coming, of course he wasn’t about to say no when she agreed to come to. They all look nervous, but Ryan stares at me constantly, vibrating with questions. “Is Kayla doing any better?” He asks.
“She is stronger, but she hasn’t woken up yet. I am not sure when she will.” I say staring away from them all.
“I am still not sure I understand exactly what happened.” Brady says breaking the uncomfortable silence.
“I don’t either, and in addition to that, I don’t understand why I am here?” Elijah asks looking as awkward as they all do. I am not sure how to explain it, so I tell them it was hundred times worse than Adair with no chance of survival, if he had not allowed us to live. “Oh, well that sounds lovely, I am so happy to be here then. Thanks for inviting me, Nicky.” Elijah nods sarcastically.
“You are all here to help me get stronger so I can kill Savage. Eddy has been helping me go through my father’s notes and if we follow his instructions then … maybe.”