Merek
Merek had the Gods damn book, it didn't mean he wanted to keep it. Oh no, the girl, that witch, she was right, the pages— the whole damn thing, came out of the fire untouched. Coated in ash, his throat thick from the grey air, him and his men brought it back with them from the estates remains.
Going back to that place, the white marvel coated in dirt and ash, wood sticking up out of the ground like a ribcage— what remained on the grounds was a skeleton of all the Crime Lord built up and what his mistress took away and stripped him of. Now they lived here, a place the Crime Lord would marry his bride and get it all back and more, or so he thought.
It had been a fools errand, maybe it still was but Victoria had warned them it wouldn't of burned. She had also warned them not to open it, not to read it, and that he had no problem with.
"It's very nice to meet you all," Victoria had a manicured hand wrapped around the Crime Lord, and hugging her waist strapped the oldest damn dagger he had ever seen. Merek had pondered why he hadn't been sent to fetch that instead of a fucking wizards diary. But, he thought, the Crime Lord had never let the girl bear weapons, how close had she gotten to him?
Oh, she was most definitely a witch, but when this was all done, he would leave her be despite it. Never mind it, Merek bowed along with the rest of the staff. The personal cooks and healers Merek knew personally, but only his guardsmen and women knew about their contract to kill the Crime Lord.
Sayter Hamel never changed his staff, unless they betrayed him or sold him out to someone would he rehire, after dumping their remains into the Elk River. Or if they quit, but Sayters staff never quit, they were required to live among the premises, to be his things, and Merek didn't particularly like being owned. They were paid well and fed for free, it was a good job for the lower class, and Merek and his watchmen hadn't realized they would get so much more with what they were offered.
The Crime Lord muttered something in Victorias ear, and she nodded vaguely.
She squeezed tighter to his side before letting go, and the Crime Lord had only said,
"Brom, please come see me."
Come to see Brom? The witch wouldn't of sold them out, he had her book and she had hated him furiously. Though he wasn't in her position, and had only known they were about one of the same. She would sell him out for sheer pleasure if she didn't need him. Brom only nodded, she could run if the Crime Lord attacked, but to run now would be..
That was not an option. Brom found her way to follow Crime Lord, Victotia stuck at his side.
Up his sleeve, Merek fidgeted with a small roll of torn velcro, and waited for the order to have them all killed.
He always felt like it would come one day.
Brom
His office was smaller, and with no windows. But Brom doubted the Crime Lord cared for size. Not with the size of Victorias tits.
"I would like for you to be Victorias personal guard while I am away,"
Brom's attention snapped back to the Crime Lord, his expression thick with scorn. She looked to Victoria, who smirked wickedly at Brom with her legs over the Crime Lords lap. Brom knew better than to contradict the Crime Lord, "Yes, sir."
"Of course," he laid a hand over Victorias, "That also comes with a heavy weight to you. Know that if she is ever severely hurt, kidnapped, raped, anything, if anything happens to my wife," The Crime Lord went on to explain a method he most often used known as hamstringing, a way of crippling a person so that they cannot walk properly by severing the hamstring tendons in the thigh, a crueler alternative to tying someone down to torture them. Then he explained how he would go on with his other methods, whipping, beating, skinning, force- feeding rather unpleasant substances, flaying, impaling— really Brom could of dosed off with him had going on for the while. She didn't have the nerve.
"Am I understood?" Said the Crime Lord.
"Of course, sir." Brom visually fidgeted in her seat, and not all for show.
"Good,"
Brom had been with The Crime Lord longer than he'd been successful. Well, before he rules the entire continent, really. She was reliable and he showed her praise for it. He was cold towards her now, nothing deep in hate, but stern so she would know to keep the girl safe. He valued the girl more than he valued himself, she saw that. She also saw, with quiet ears and quiet eyes, a weakness. A highly profitable one, too.
Thea
Thea's job was the same, and she hated it all a little less. But with a new task, guard the living areas and armory as usual, but now, guard the book. So she hid it, and in the Crime Lords own house. She just waited for the command from either Victoria or Merek and she would give it up. As long as the Crime Lord didn't find it, along with the death sentence if he did, they were safe.
Speaking of the Crime Lord, actually, she acknowledged him with a tight grin, one he ignored, as he walked out of the estate, alone.
Alone, finally without that bitch at his side, probably to go back to terrorizing those in his debt. Even the look of him, if he had been anyone else that sort of face would have most people thrown into a room with soft walls and thick silver locks. Perhaps even a deep hole which one could only hoped led straight to hell. Either worked, really, but she let him be. They all did, you just had to, so Victoria, she supposed, was a special kind of futile.
Something hit her in the back if the head, and at that very same moment a bullet dropped to her side. She hadn't been shot— what moron had thrown a bullet at her? She whirled around, "Rowan? Rowan, what in all blue hell!"
"Merek needs you, and that book." Said Rowan, twirling another bullet in his palm.
"So you went and popped a silver in my neck?"
"I was being assertive."
"You were being an ass."
Rowans eyebrows perked up, and it was the moment Thea confirmed that Rowans eyebrows were very thin and his face very ugly. "Are you hungry?"
"I'm always hungry." Thea grumbled, mentally shoving the bullet in his palm exactly where he deserved it.
"Me too. I think when we're rich, I'll take my share and buy every cow and pig in the continent for every day I'm alive."
"You'd cook and eat a whole damn animal every day?"
"It may sound impossible, probably because I'm not rich, because people like you wont do what you're told when you're told, like when I tell you to come see Merek and bring the God's damn book so we can kill the damn Crime Lord and get rich."
Theas face crinkled into something undesirable, ignoring Rowan and heading to the east wing to the armory.
"I'll be there in five minutes."
"Good girl,"
She ignored that too, even as Rowan helplessly opened his mouth again.
"Oh, and Thea. When I say every cow on the market, I wont be meaning you."
"Maybe a pig like it then, I heard the Crime Lord's marrying to one." She strolled off, smirking at Rowans howling laugh.
Angmar
Angmar's best friends were all in this room, they just didn't know how important they were to him. Angmar was sadistic, not as bad as the Crime Lord or his fiancée, but on a level that when he delivered the bodies Sayter Hamel dehumanized he stayed at the door to hear the families reaction. He thought maybe this behavior was a result of his loneliness, and when the Crime Lord was dead and they were all rich, they would forget about him.
But Angmar had his own plan. That girl, Victoria, she would be forgotten and was not part of the share of cash they were offered. Angmar was sadistic, not as pretty as the Crime Lord but not terrible looking, so he would take the girl for himself.
He just needed to sit through this damn meeting and get to gutting the Crime Lord.
Merek finally entered, and all conversation in the room died. Rowan and Thea and Brom and Alys and Angmar, all their heads turning to Mereks.
He said, the book in his hand, "Where is the girl?"
"She's intoxicated," Brom went on, "It didn't take all too much convincing, actually."
"How so?" Mereks brows furrowed, Angmar copied the gesture.
"I told her the Crime Lord wouldn't like to see her drunk off her ass when he got back."
"Perfect, and she's locked in the room?"
"Passed out as well."
"Perfect."
Thea cut in, "What are we going to do, then? The plan was to get her to preform a spell on the Crime Lord so we can kill him, now we've gotten her fucked up and locked in her own room."
Angmar decided this room was his as well, and he had a say too, "It's smart, actually. The drunken mind tells you a lot. Have you asked her any questions?"
Everyone was silent, and Angmar blushed a bit. He had said something wrong, he felt, he just didn't know what it was yet.
But Merek only collapsed into his chair.
"She's in love with the Crime Lord, according to Brom." Mereks fingers rustled his eyebrows, which had made an odd sound like a dog dragging its paw.
Brom said, "Oh, yes. Gods, she doesn't shut up about him."
Alys had her elbows on the table, leaning into the group of six, "Anything else she shared? Anything vital?"
"Someone, a Briar, has more resemblance to a toad than a tadpole."
"I meant anything important."
"Sayter spanks about as hard as he fucks?"
"No."
Mereks hands slammed onto the table, "Enough. I'm about done. We have been here for years, dammit. I will not be owned or treated like a dog anymore, we are here to get his head and get rich. We leave, and I never want to see any of you again."
The words stung in Angmars chest, enough he made a small groan that nobody regarded. Merek reminded him in a way of a Father, and it was a freakish thing to see him as. Maybe he was a freak, but it felt better to push the thought away then to ignore all the others that made him feel that way. Would it matter at all when he had the girl and he was living off all he was paid for this job?
Would it matter when he locked her in a cage and tortured her in a way Mereks words tortured him?
Merek said, "Now, here is what we do with the girl before that bastard of a man gets back,"
A/N
Wow.
:)
I freaking swore this chapter was only going to be like, 1,400 words. Well fuck me.
Anyway we're nearing the end of this book. I'm working on Mercy and Victorias story as well as another story.
I know it's been two weeks since I've updated lol isnt it funny the same two weeks its cold as fuck I lose all motivation for literally anything?
Anyway, hope yall enjoyed this, I know it's different from what I usually write but yknow..
January 28th