Simply Wicked

CH 1: Time To Make A Deal

The clock was mocking her. She could feel her patience and her sanity slowly slipping away with each tick it gave. Oh! If that blasted thing didn’t stop soon she was going to throw it against the wall! She vowed to herself and when the clock gave another tick she got up from her seat to fulfill this self-made promise. “Juliet? What are you doing with my clock?” Mr. Wicked entered into the room at the moment, to see his tiny desk clock in the clutches of his daughter.

“Oh, nothing..” Juliet stuttered out a bit sheepishly as she placed the clock back down to its original place on the desk. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress before sitting back down on the sofa, watching as her father moved to his chair on the other side of the desk. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” she asked holding back her impatience. She had been sitting here for the past half hour waiting for him and the room has slowly begun to close down on her to the point of suffocation, she yearned to leave the room and breath in something other than the lingering scents of whiskey and cologne.

“Ah, yes.” Her father nodded, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and a glass cup from a small cabinet in his desk. “My dear, I think its high time you prove your worth in the family business” he said to her as he poured himself a cup of the golden alcoholic beverage.

“Prove my worth?” Juliet frowned, taking a tad bit offence by his choice of words.

“I think its time you made a deal,” her father further explained, sitting down the whiskey bottle and taking a quick sip from the glass cup.

“A deal, you mean like the ones you and uncle Max make?” Juliet gulped nervously when her father nodded.

“Don’t look so pale,” her father laughed at his daughters expression, “You’ve been trained for this day since you were born,” he reminded her, and Juliet’s nerves lessened a little for his words rang true. She’d been taught everything and anything that had to do with her family’s special business, and she was more than capable of doing whatever deal her father wanted her to make.

“What deal do you want me to do?” Juliet asked her voice holding more confidence this time.

“That’s my gir.l” her father smiled proudly, taking another sip of his liquor. “Since this is your first time, I’ll give you an easy deal,” Mr. Wicked paused for a moment as he took another quick sip of his Whiskey before continuing. “I want you to make a deal with sir Liam Wolfram,”

Juliet found herself pausing at the name, trying to recall if she’d ever heard it before but when no bells rang at the name she found herself asking her father who this man was. “The alpha of a moderately large pack covering all of Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming”

“That all?” Juliet retorted back a bit sarcastically. She couldn’t believe her father found this pack to be only moderately large, for heaven sakes it covered most of the north west corner of the United states.

“Yes, for now, I’ve heard rumors he’s planning on merging with the pack in charge of British Columbia,” Mr. Wicked failed to notice the sarcasm in his daughter’s voice.

“Oh,” was all Juliet said, truly not interested in the topic. “So what is this deal you want me to make with sir Wolfram?”

“Its just a basic one,” her father said, “You offer him the magical protection of his territory for the rest of his life and in return, lets say, he has to be your lackey for the next ten year,s” Mr. Wicked conjured up.

“What good would that do for us?” Juliet frowned. Her father had always taught her that the number one rule of a deal was to only make one if she came out with the better profit in the end, and with this deal she couldn’t see how she would profit.

“Its not all about the money Juliet,” Mr. Wicked tsked at his daughter. “Its also about the power, which is what Mr. Wolfram is slowly gaining a lot of, and having him as your lackey would give you all of that power for the next ten years, which would be very good for us.”

“Oh,” Juliet nodded sheepishly, now understanding. “This deal seems a bit big, wouldn’t you rather uncle Max or yourself handle it?” Juliet found her nerves acting up again as she pondered over how big this deal was.

“I think you can handle it,” her father reassured.

“I’ll do my best.” Juliet tried to put as much confidence into her voice as she could but it lacked, her nerves quickly squishing any confidence that surfaced up.

“Atta’ girl, go get em.’” Mr. Wicked encouraged with a grin as he handed her a plastic blue folder labeled with Mr. Wolfram’s name. Juliet took the folder into her sweating hands and gave a quick nod to her father before hurriedly exciting from her father’s office. Half of her brain praying she wouldn’t screw this deal up and the other part wondering what to wear.

Mr. Wicked just watched as his daughter disappeared behind the closing doors, taking another swing of the golden colored alcohol. “That’s a bit cruel Everett, sending your daughter off to her doom like that” his brother Max Wicked suddenly appeared next to him a puff of black smoke, making Mr. Everett Wicked sputter out his drink in surprise.

“Damn it, Max!” Mr. Wicked cursed at this brother Max, slamming the cup down onto the desk as he began to pound at his chest.

“Now, Everett, is that anyway to talk to your favorite brother?” Max teased, sauntering over to the sofa where he laid down lazily. “Now, as I was saying. Why are you sending your daughter, and my favorite niece-”

“Your only niece,” Mr. Wicked cut in.

“Nonetheless, my favorite, niece off to her doom?” Max continued despite his brothers interruption, “we both know fully well Mr. Wolfram isn’t going to say yes to that deal, there’s nothing in it for him,”

Both the brothers knew fully well that Mr. Liam Wolfram would be more offended by the offer than interested. He had a very large pack that was more than capable of defending its own territory without the help of magic, but what Max Wicked didn’t know was why Mr. Everett Wicked was sending his daughter off to try and make this deal anyway despite the fact they both knew it would result in nothing. “Because,” Mr. wicked spoke slowly to his brother as he leaned back slightly in his chair. “The best way to learn is to fail,”

Max Wicked frowned slightly at this statement. “So, you want your daughter to fail?” he confirmed and Everett Wicked shook his head.

“Its not that I want her to fail, I want her to learn early on that your not always going to succeeded-”

“You just worded what I said in fancier words,” Max Wicked cried out throwing his hands up in the air for added exaggeration.

“I want her to learn not to quit the game just because she lost one match,” Mr. Everett chose his words more carefully this time so that his brother couldn’t use them against him.

“Okay, I guess that makes sense,” Max agreed, “But your still a terrible father for doing this.”

“I’ll live.” Mr. Wicked said with a grunt as he drowned away his guilt with his whiskey.