Chapter 1:76 The Fate Preview
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Faithfully Yours, Sir Lucian Gaines
I may respect Giovanni and have a fondness for Rourke, but both have seriously and egregiously dropped the ball in Georgianna’s care.
Fortunately for them, patience is something I have in spades. Unfortunately, for the people I have held and considered family, tolerance is entirely different.
I may have given the original Mercutio my word that I would watch over the families. Ensure the success of his heirs. I just could not anticipate all that came with that vow, and never revel in being forced to take matters into my own hands.
Bemusing and utterly apart from any being I’ve met in all my ages, so long as as she is associated with that cad, I will not have Mina, no matter how surprisingly agreeable, with my Georgiana.
I have no qualms with the fact that Miss Mina is a Hollow. Commoners are people, the very backbone of our society that allows us the luxuries of our noble status. I fully intended to take my Dear Georgianna’s place as a person for the guttersnipe to leech in her stead.
Until I learned of her association with that cad. That villainous snake.
No matter how lovely, how surprising, how utterly shocking as Mina is…… I simply cannot overlook that association, and while I am forced to provide her with care and consideration, no true engagement will move forward without full and absolute severance from that filth.
I still need to secure her, and for that, I have chosen the best.
With how defiant and otherwise, endearing Mina had feigned to be with Giovanni, and evasive she’d been with Vincenzo, it was rather anticlimactic that she’d so willingly fallen into my trap.
Even if he won’t spring for it himself, Luca appreciates the finer things, and is every bit the spoiled pet Yurik can be. I wonder how deeply I can secure him in my pocket prior to his awareness…….
I will deal with it in the morning.
I have no doubt in Luca’s abilities to keep Mina occupied as well as satisfied, and I won’t have to worry about her disappearing under the genius’ thrall.
Instead, I focus on the lithe brunette, who looks particularly fetching in his bloodied state............
7 am. *Good Morning, Miss Murray, I trust that you slept well after your festivities? - Count Dracula*
7:05 am
7:10 am
7:15 am
7:30 am
7:45 am
8 am. *I was hoping that you might join me for breakfast - Count Dracula*
8:01 am. *If you want Mina Murray out of your way, back off and let me seal the deal, Drac. - Mangy Cat*
Nothing would please me more, I growl, moving past my suite and down to the exit. Fully intending to replay the tapes and watch Luca in action with the troublesome woman who landed in my clutches.
Nice Try.
Confounded! It would seem I’d made yet another mistake in selecting Luca for this task. Even if he has no compare in the ways of torrid and tawdry seduction, I forget just how well he knows me.
How easily he anticipates me, and how cruel he can be in his cat and mouse games. Far as I’ve come in the blasted technical age, all of that is thanks to him, and he has a master pass on the feeds I keep in every location.
It’s clear that Luca has not regained his memories, and I truly do dread that day as much as I anticipate his true self coming round again.
I try to appreciate the softer side of him, but really find myself sick with how easy it is to manipulate. Utterly clueless, helpless, and otherwise oblivious, is not how I favor my oldest acquaintance.
For as long as I have lived, Luca is by far older. Strange that I am Death among the Nine, while he is Light, and yet no name he’s ever had suits him more than his current one.
Grimm.
A harbinger of death, whose mass wealth ferreted away rivals my own, with every other dime of it being blood money gained through contracts of the former assassin. We both know that neither of us can truly end one another, but the danger of the game I play with him is half the fun.
I see more and more of the mangy feline I know, breaking through the doddering puppy he’s been since waking.
Offended if not jealous, it was not me he chose to care for his body as it reknit. I can’t say that I have no regrets in the way that things unfolded, and have awaited the day that I can make amends.
He hurt me just as badly, you know.
Choosing some peasant, and putting me in a compromising position I scarcely recovered from. I suppose it depends on the age as to whether we are enemies, friends, lovers, or simply counterparts in our understanding.
In many ways, I am using Luca’s vulnerability to pay him back in kind for the slight.
Knowing that we will always be.
Kindred souls, and the only other member of the cursed Tribes I had met until recently. I trust that he is simply securing his freedom so that he can pursue Rourke once more. Surprising as it is, I am warmed rather than opposed to them coupling.
Given the past, no matter how much favor or fondness I gain towards the families, I never hold anyone above suspicion. Luca is perhaps the only exception.
Well, when he is himself and not the innocent simpleton he’s been playing.
So long as he preoccupies the guttersnipe attempting to sink her claws into my family, I’ll let it pass.
I have grown harder, colder in my nature towards women. Understanding the true depths of the treacheries they will sink to. No, I can never and will never lay a finger on one.
I also prefer an emotional rather than sadistic deviousness in dealing with them. Still, some things cannot be helped. I have people to do what I cannot.
Thus far, it is only her interference and Miss Mina saving my future Bride’s life that has kept her in my good graces. I cannot say what has brought her to our doorstep.
It is a very common practice in spy craft to indebt someone. She has saved the lives of every person I cherish, but there is no coincidence to be had in the fact that she’s ingratiated herself to every one of the ruling families.
I am undecided on her fate, as I am her point and purpose. I play the possibilities, considering she could be quite lovely if polished.
Once her true nature and intentions are revealed, I will make my decision on how best to keep Mina in check. I refuse to bow and bend. To be fooled by her warm compassion and disarming naivety.
Even if I was entirely unprepared for that mouth…….
Damn him.
If I could simply play out the fantasy. See her beyond the tantalizing slips she has given me, I could put this matter to rest rather than remain torn.
Luca has an excuse for his split personality. She, on the other hand, does not. I huff, reassuring myself that it is better she remains out of reach, and I am far too busy to deal with it anyhow.
Other than Rourke, Luca has never failed to land whatever mark I set him on, and Miss Mina Murray will be no different. I go about my day, resolving a hefty number of tasks before daring to gaze upon my personal messages again.
Nothing.
What on earth could be taking him this long?!
It is nine pm. If he’s failed to secure her by now, I must rethink everything I believed about the man.
Charging into my suite, I find it utterly spotless. Not one single sign of use, nor word from Miss Murray other than the phone she left with my messages presumably unread.
Just a simple note on her bed that brings a forgotten fear to absolute fruition,
*Anyone who so much as thinks about breathing in Mina Murray’s direction is dead. - X*