CHAPTER 44

CHAPTER 44
Mary-Ann
Bruno Carvelli bowed low to both of them before trailing the demon women as they obeyed the command, scampering from the throne room. Vincent DeLuca's gaze remained locked on Mary-Ann Rossi’s, cool and domineering. It didn’t matter that she once harbored an insatiable hunger for the Lord of The Underline Club. He’d brought her nothing but a gauntlet of agony and ecstasy.

Mary-Ann saw the angel blade. Leaning against his chair, sheathed in a new jeweled-encrusted scabbard, it had been carelessly left. Going up the stairs, she sat on the Throne of Bones, her head held high.

She was consumed by rage.

It drove her.

It seared in her veins with such beautiful rage she was surprised it didn't reduce to ash the flesh that held it.

Mary-Ann knelt to no man.

Not the demon spawn who had borne her, Salvatore Greco, nor the Devil himself.

Cocking her head to one side, she observed him from her chair. Could he see the empty chasm shining in her eyes? The blackness he had unleashed? She was now what she was supposed to be. Death would open its arms to him before the day was over if she had a say in it.

"How lovely you look there on my throne," Vincent DeLuca stared.

"Her throne now, Mary-Ann meant? After everything she'd done, she felt she could have it. And now she still had to live with the guilt of what she's done."

"Your mistake, my Flower. You may not need me, but you'll never be rid of me. We are twins.".

"Your sick game of shadowy chess is up. Your entire roster of fancy schemes and plans foiled. My daughter inherits The Underline Club, and we don't require you anymore." Gripping her hand tighter over the hilt of the sword, Mary-Ann drew it slowly across her lap.

Rules were meant to be broken. She would no longer be his hunting prey.

You're not all hard edges even when you're trying to be." Vincent said very softly, but Mary-Ann could feel the tension in his chest.

The knife slipped easily out. Its sharpened metal glinted in the light.

"You don't know me at all."

Stepping, Mary-Ann made her way deliberately down the staircase. She was going to get this done for once and once only. Now it was his turn to play her game too. He was a mistake she would not run from again. Instead, she would kill him.

Palms outstretched like a magician, Vincent plucked a sword from thin air. “You, my darling, are both breathtaking and terrifying. Deadly and divine. The perfect blend of Heaven, Earth, and The Underline Club with no rules or boundaries to confine you.”

Closing the distance, Mary-Ann flicked her wrist, raising the tip of her weapon. Hissing, Vincent DeLuca reared back as the metal sliced through his forearm. It hurt. It should. He knew as much as she did that what she clutched slayed angels, and even if he could be fallen, at heart, he was still a creature of the heavens. The corners of Mary-Ann's mouth curled upward, her eyes snapping onto his blood falling in quick succession to the floor.

"I've endured enough for you. My family's endured enough for you. Now it's your turn," Mary-Ann spat insults as she and her assailant danced around her.

Prepping for her next onrush, he parried.

"I'd rather have you naked, bound, and spread-eagled on my bed while I indulge you until you yield to me." He snarled lustfully.

Thrusting his own weapon aside for an instant, Mary-Ann jammed the hilt of hers into his forehead. Blood exploded where they collided. Catching up with a flash of surprise, he took a step back, smearing the red into his face with his off-hand. Their swords clashed one more time as she pushed on, but the man was not fighting. He was just playing with her.

"You have no hold over me. Not anymore," Mary-Ann told him with a slash that he barely dodged.

She had finally gained the Devil's equal. She was going to be the reason for his ruin as he of hers. A glint of terror ignited his hypnotic eyes. They had no grip over her will. She was a loose card in his ill-disciplined command.

Really, do you think I still want you after all this you've done to me?" Mary-Ann continued, her voice cold and brittle. "All the things you put Teresa (Romano) through, just for your own sick amusement?

I bet and I came close to losing the both of you. I am not so foolish as that. Teresa foretold your coming. A woman whose darkness would be darker than any woman I had known to that point in time. She would kill my foes in a blood ocean which I would wade through to obtain a prize greater than any other.

"You're not having her.".

The distraction of his words cost Mary-Ann a blunder. He shed the pretence and displayed his real talent. With the ease of an old soldier sharpened by centuries of war, he disarmed her, casting aside the tool she had been employing.

"You're thinking I'm talking about our daughter?" She was merely a good result of my plan, but she would be loved. You, Mary-Ann Rossi, are better than great. It did not take long for you to hook your hook in my darkened heart." Vincent's voice dripped with confidence. He did not step back; he stepped forward, overpowering her with an aura of alpha male that forced her to give in.

A mad laugh frothed on Mary-Ann's lips. "You don't love. You destroy."

He was black and evil. That was just another step in his evil plan.

"No, that word is too gentle for us, isn't it? What we have is more primal than that. What I feel for you cuts deeper. It's in my blood. My bones. My cock.". I would burn the world for you if you wanted me to." There wasn't any question in the hunger or desire in his green eyes as he dropped his own sword which clattered loudly to the stone floor. "You think because I'm the man who is considered the man of utter evil that I am unable to love? I, who once relished the greatest love of all and dashed with all the other Heavenly bodies before me ahead when I was ejected for having the temerity to question things.

The snarling face he had bore memories that moved Mary-Ann beyond her will. He grasped a hand at the nape of her head and pulled her close, thrusting her face into his chest.

Right and wrong? Good and evil? Would you even know if you hadn't been taught them? Why should I bear the blame for everything evil mankind does? They, at least, had free will to make their decision. After all I've done for you, are you going to abandon me too?

Warm and secure, Mary-Ann pressed her cheek against the hardness as she shuddered. "You took advantage of me. Cut my baby out of my belly. Teresa was almost raped because of you."

Tragedy and suffering—she had experienced them both since he came into her life.

No. That was never my intention. All of it had depended on Salvatore Greco believing you were nothing to me but a means to an end. That's why all of this had gone down the way it did, and then I made a mistake, and it almost cost me all of you.

Sarging the knife from its hidden place in the rear pocket of her jeans, Mary-Ann plunged it into his ribcage, twisting it to inflict the same burning agony she felt in her heart.

"I was nothing but your puppet."

The Underline Club wasn't furious when they were the ones who were betrayed, but a woman scorned was a different story altogether, and he would discover that soon. She would strip him bare for his betrayal. Growling through his teeth, he took everything she offered. His jaw clenched, he didn't strike back.

"You want the truth? You've always been more than that, Mary-Ann. From the first moment I laid eyes on you nothing has been the same.". I had planned to use and take advantage of you. But the more I got to know you, the more I found a loneliness inside you, a loneliness that was the same as my own. In a matter of days, I knew that I could satisfy your every desire, every perversion, and make you mine. At every move you proved your worth by overcoming my enemies.

"When I tried to take your brother's soul as collateral, it was self-evident he had a demon inside of him. I did not know it was Salvatore until he left you dead on the battle field. We made a pact that day. I got you resurrected.". Hired half-breeds to guard you so your father never would have any idea what you actually meant to me. I told him you were just a vessel for our child. Another female I'd been used and discarded. Still, he tried to turn you against me.

I went so far as to have my friends pose as enemies; Father Dominic Varela, Bruno Carvelli, Marco Santoro, and me. Told my shadows to give you a helping hand because I knew you were too strong and stubborn to take cover. I even set you up with the half-sister whom you had no idea you had. Were you truly just a toy, do you think I put you through all of that?

Steely eyes stared into her blue ones.

"You went against me every step. Disrupted every scheme I had going to keep you safe from harm on its head. Refused to stay where I could keep you safe from harm no matter how hard I worked. I needed time to track down Salvatore's other children. I slaughtered them to make it even. I couldn't afford to let him get away.". You had to be the one to destroy him in order to fully come into who you've always been. My purpose has never been to destroy you, but to reveal to you who you are.