The Initials | Nanowrimo 2023

11| Conquering The Flame

Cillian Black is the seventh son of a seventh son, descending from a lineage that predates even the first settlers in the Everwood forest.

He's traditionally handsome, blue eyes, tall, built broad and muscular and apart from a few forehead creases and permanent bags around his eyes, he still appears youthful. His age only really shows in his hair with his greying tips and dark roots.

He reached his mid forties by presenting himself as a kind soul to everyone, handling the local towns needs quickly and effectively as soon as issues arrived. He did so well that for four consecutive terms, he has been voted in as mayor.

Unfortunately for the citizens living in the Everwood Forest, the true Cillian Black is anything but kind. In fact, everyone that really knows the man would probably call him a wolf in sheep's clothing, of course, not to his face. Never to his face.

Cillian Black doesn't flinch as the passenger side door of his car is flung open and a pistol is shoved in his face and although Dinah Pope sneaking up on him does come as a surprise, his expression remains neutral.

"It's a crap show out there Dinah." he tilts his body towards her and in return she pushes the gun further into his forehead.

"Kill the engine."

He does as he's told, demonstrating his every movement to disarm her, even going as far as to throw his keys on the dashboard.

"You sent men to my home?"

"You don't need the gun Dinah."

"Are you kidding me? I was the one who delivered the kid to your son before someone ripped the skin off his back and hung him up on a cross!"

Cillian Black sighs, choosing to close his eyes as he starts counting on his head. "Dinah, please get the gun out of my face."

"I know you, Cillian. I've seen you take out guys for much less than, than-" Dinah suddenly struggles to move any of her limbs, her body feeling stiff from the inside out.

Cillian calmly reaches over and retrieves the weapon from Dinah, emptying the chamber before tucking the pistol into her coat pocket. "There's no need to behave like savages just because our enemies do, Dinah, you know that."

Dinah has no option but to listen to Cillian speak with her mobility limited to being able to move her bloodshot eyes as he reaches for his keys.

"The way I see it, people are simple. We like to pretend that we have multiple reasons for existing when usually we only have one...that's what I like about you Dinah. You don't pretend, you just follow the money, doing whatever for whomever."

Dinah feels blood trickling down her nose, and tastes it on her lips before he releases her from under his influence. She gasps for breath, coughing up dry air as he starts the car. "Because we're easier to control. Is that why?"

Cillian leans over her seat and reaches for the seatbelt. "Because you don't screw up." he replies, strapping her in before pulling out of his driveway.

She knows the real reason he hasn't killed her and had her buried under one of his churches is because he has a thing for her.

She, just like everyone else, had fallen for his charms when they first met two decades ago, catching his eye at a bar she had no business being at.

And although it's been years since she's seen him the same way, that hasn't stopped them from making the mistake of sleeping together every now and then, usually after another recent divorce on his part.

He's always been obsessed with her and she's just the right kind of messed up to keep letting him in.

"My son was stupid for getting you involved. I'd warned him we weren't ready to move things forward."