Lucius pursed his lips as he watched the servant leave, wishing he would not have to face Damien's devastating glare again, but he couldn't look away forever.
So he drew a silent breath, turning his head and using every inch of defiance he had in his body to glare back.
"Someone sent you here to do their bidding, I assume?" Damien's voice was as commanding as the last time they'd spoken. "Who was it?"
Regretfully, Lucius would have little success with threats at the moment or he would have made up a lie about reinforcements.
"No one sent me," he therefore muttered, and Damien laughed through his nose.
"You came here on your own volition? Not very bright then." He leaned back against a table with his arms folded. "So, who are you?"
Lucius clenched his jaw. As things were, his best option was by far the worst in his opinion.
"Lucius," he replied, hesitating before continuing. "I'm a friend of Anthony."
Damien scoffed.
"And why would a friend of Anthony break into his organisation's headquarters?" His phrasing of friend offended Lucius, implying the idea was highly unlikely. "Doesn't sound very friendly, does it?"
"I..." Lucius averted his gaze. "... It's complicated."
"I imagine." Damien's voice turned dry, and his eyes narrowed. "What exactly is your relation to him?"
Lucius wanted to sigh. It was such a sore subject at the moment. What was his relationship to Anthony, anyway?
"I used to work for him, and we got to know each other in the meantime."
Damien's intense glare remained.
"What kind of work?"
This caused Lucius to hesitate, but he couldn't risk Lucia's identity to be blown by claiming he'd worked with that part of Anthony's life as well.
"I was in charge of guarding the storage down by the harbour. "His voice was lower than intended. "My group and I."
Damien's eyebrows arched in an offended stare.
"You're that lowlife criminal who stole from us?"
"Ah, so you heard about that." Lucius grimaced, having figured as much. "Still, he hired me for a reason and I did my part without issues."
"He really has no regard for orders or reputation, that one," Damien muttered, staring into nothing as if talking to himself. "First the Lucia incident and now there's a Lu—"
He interrupted himself, a now exasperated stare falling on Lucius' face again.
"Oh... You're a Cromwell too, aren't you?"
Lucius didn't feel the need to reply, and much like he expected Damien continued anyway.
"Mr. Featherstone did say there were two of you." His lip curled enough for Lucius to feel insulted, but he actually let out a sigh. "And that he'd seen you with Anthony."
A victorious smile began to spread on Lucius' lips but Damien glared him down again.
"Didn't think you were low class filth though. One would think a Cromwell could do better than that, but then... Perhaps it's a dying family name for a reason." Damien shook his head. "Haven't met a single capable one after all."
Lucius was not amused.
"Hurtful."
"I don't owe any politeness to an intruder."
To Lucius' great dismay the door was opened then, and Derek Kilgrave stepped into the room, carrying a large, leather roll under his arm.
"I was just about to head off to bed," he complained as he walked up to them. "Didn't think he'd go for two nights in a row—"
He paused as he noticed Lucius, proceeding to look around the room and finally turning to Damien with a confused gesture at the aforementioned.
"Who's this?"
"It seems yet another Cromwell has been snooping around the manor," Damien informed him, nodding in Lucius' direction as well. "Apparently Anthony's involved with this one as well."
"Yeah, well..." Derek glanced over his shoulder. "... I've got a sneaking suspicion Anthony's not the only son of yours to associate with him."
Damien's eyes narrowed. First at Lucius but soon switched to glare at Derek instead.
"That's odd, seeing how I only have one son."
Lucius frowned at this, and Derek rolled his eyes while dropping the leather roll on the table.
"Sure."
"I called you here because much like I expected, he won't tell me his reasons for breaking in." Damien folded his arms again, and then looked at the person behind Lucius. "Thank you, Hauke. You may leave now."
Lucius didn't let any acknowledgement show, but his chance to escape had finally arrived as the now visible, large man left his side to exit the room.
"Yeah, I wouldn't get my hopes up," Derek then said as he unrolled a bunch of tools on the table, not even sparing Lucius a look. "Trying to run has never benefited anyone."
"I know that's not true," Lucius replied, being rather experienced in running away, and he only needed a glance to know how to get out of the manor from the room they were in.
Before he managed to even shift his weight on the chair however, Derek had pulled a knife from the roll and sent it carving through the air in Lucius' direction without bothering to look.
The impact was instant, but after a disorientated search Lucius realised he hadn't been hit. The knife had instead lodged itself deep into the chair's armrest, pinning his sleeve down right beside his wrist.
He couldn't move. Just how deep could a knife be buried into a chair?
"For the love of Dinthia, Derek." Damien sounded tired, yet not so upset to imply this was a rare thing. "Why the chair?"
Despite the undesirable circumstance of being stuck to a chair, Lucius had to wince at the sudden mention of Dinthia. As if the people surrounding him hadn't been scary enough already, now he was dealing with worshippers of the archon of purge?
"It's what happens when you make me work in a parlour." Derek walked forward to slam his foot down on the chair, right between Lucius' thighs, not breaking eye contact before impaling the other armrest to pin the other sleeve down. "So? What can I do to him?"
Lucius wasn't thrilled by that question. They wanted him to spill his intentions, but what could he tell them? What reason would be good enough for him to have looked through Damien's office?
"Well, we know how Anthony feels about these things." Damien shrugged. "Better just start with enough to make him tell us why he's here, and then we'll see what happens after."
"So what, just tear off his fingernails or something?" Derek looked disappointed, but then a revelation seemed to hit him. "Or I could get the chest splitter."
Oh, no thank you.
Lucius tried to shut the man's voice out, refusing to let the threats get to him. He'd just have to hold out. Either Ethan would show up at any moment or he would have gone to get Anthony.
Damien didn't seem to care much for the suggestion either however.
"Bit too drastic for starting slow, don't you think?"
"You never let me have fun." Derek rolled his eyes at him before turning back to Lucius with a look of 'can you believe this one?' on his face, as if expecting Lucius to sympathise.
Then he grabbed hold of Lucius' chin, tilting his head upwards to get a better look at his face.
"Or... How about I connect the dots?" Derek suggested, grazing a knife over Lucius' skin, specifically his moles.
Lucius clenched his teeth to stay calm even with a knife so close to his eyes.
This, unfortunately, seemed like a decent option to Damien who nodded in approval.
"I think we could work with that."
"No, wait, let's... Let's talk then." Lucius had to stop any cutting of his face from happening. Regardless if he made it out somewhat unscathed the time he spent on hiding his moles with makeup almost every day was bad enough. He wasn't even sure if he could hide large scars stretching between each and every spot.
A face full of scars was probably not a look he could pull off either.
But what would he say? That Anthony dared him to break in? Would that be believable? He wasn't much of a prankster and had repeatedly told Lucius not to go there for good reasons. They wouldn't buy it.
"Well, go ahead then." Derek's voice was eerily cheerful, and Lucius pursed his lips together as the cold knife remained against his skin.
Coming clean was not an option. Admitting he wanted dirt on their family and the BBT would earn him that aforementioned chest splitter for sure, if not worse.
He ground his teeth, the tingling sensation ever so familiar against his ribs as frustration pulsed through him. He'd come too far. He knew he was close to something, if only he had a little more time to investigate. It was all connected to the BBT somehow. Mabel's disappearance, the 'Larkspur' thing, random people disappearing from their homes, werewolves, not to mention the immortality mystery.
But even if they miraculously spared him they knew about his existence now, and would be prepared for future attempts at breaking in.
"Yeah, he's not doing anything," Derek finally said, smile widening as if he'd been hoping for that and Damien clicked his tongue, icy stare as heartless as ever.
"Better get carving then."
"I want to join," Lucius blurted out, sucking in a breath immediately after. There was no going back. "I—I want to join the BBT."
Both Derek and Damien stared at him in disbelief, but Derek hadn't cut him yet so it was a momentary win.
"I... I told Anthony I wanted to join, because it could be beneficial for both of us," he continued, face still tense to stop any possible trembling. "But he turned me down, saying I wasn't suited for it."
"And your logical response to that was breaking and entering?" Damien's forehead wrinkled in continued confusion.
"To prove myself," Lucius continued the lie. It was that or nothing. "My expertise is, aside from keeping valuable connections and knowledge of your trade, the ability to not let a locked door stop me from achieving what I want. I figured getting away with something from his own organisation could show him that."
"And how is that working out for you?" Derek patted the handle of one of the knives pinning Lucius down, crooked smile ever so present.
"Well... Normally, being captured is not so much an issue since few live long enough to succeed with that," Lucius bluffed, turning his head in Damien's direction as he had a feeling Derek was close enough to discern the lie in his eyes. "I have no intention of harming anyone in this manor however."
Damien still didn't look impressed and Lucius could guess why. He was immortal as well, and if he was anything like Anthony he never had to worry about injuries.
"Or incapacitate them in general," he therefore added, uncertain if he wanted to reveal what he knew. It could be an asset, but they could also consider him too big of a threat. "No need to worry."
Derek glanced in Damien's direction as well now, possibly picking up on the implication of knowledge, but Damien didn't return the look.
"I'm not asking for some high rank position, but no one can deny that any affiliation with the BBT is a big asset," Lucius continued as no one else spoke, and he had a façade to keep up. "I won't be blamed for my desires. Especially since I know I would be of value to you as well."
"You talk a lot," was Damien's response at last, making Lucius sigh in resignation. "But that doesn't make you qualified for what we do here, and I won't reward such a thing as an attempted robbery."
"Will you at the very least consider it?" Lucius pressed on. "I know I can prove Anthony wrong."
Finally, the two men looked at each other with expressions Lucius found hard to read.
"Hauke!" Damien then turned his head to call out. "Come in here!"
As Lucius got a closer look, the man who'd captured him before really had the frame of a boulder, and seemingly the personality of one. He showed no expression whatsoever, and said nothing as he entered the parlour.
"Send for Anthony, will you?" Damien gave Lucius another cold, condescending look. "Tell him to come pick up his pet worm."