The Rose Mafia

14

Nikolai makes his way over to the Petrollini vehicle. He makes their guards put away their weapons and keep watch. He opens the door and enters the vehicle. "Dogs should know their place." Nikolai with a snap of his fingers releases them from their mesmer.

They look at Nikolai with shock and fear. Nikolai smirks darkly. "You should never have interrupted my lunch date. My fiancee and mistress needed to talk about the wedding with Ivan." Since Ivan only looks about five years older telling people that he was Nikolai's father just causes more trouble than it's worth. Most have only the idea that Nikolai is Ivan's relative. They look too much alike for it to not be remarked upon, but they don't know what their relation is.

"You have two choices," Nikolai allows his fangs to show and very much enjoys the fear that causes. "You can become my pets, like the dogs you are or die. The choice is yours but I will be deciding if you don't." There is no doubt as to what his decision will be either.

Nikolai focuses on Alessu, waiting for his decision. "What do I need to do?" Alessu finally says after licking his dry lips and swallowing several times.

Nikolai smiles darkly, "That's a good puppy." He looks at the other two, "Well?"

"We wish to know as well." Both men reply just as unsteadily. They have all prepared to die for the family but never by confronting a myth.

Nikolai smiles darkly, "I'll be drinking from you, but for you to survive you need to drop your pants." Their terror turns incredulous and they stare at Nikolai in horror. "Last chance dogs. My patience has just about run its course." Nikolai's eyes turn from their mesmerizing blue to red as he lets his fangs their freedom.

The men rush to drop their pants. First Alessu then each of the others cry out as he takes their blood.

Nikolai sneers at the mess. "Clean up your mess. Return to your kennel. When the time is right take out Petrollini and take over the mafia. Once you have done that contact me. You are not to contact me until then is that clear?"

"Yes, master." All three reply already busy cleaning up the semen.

"You are to act natural around your former comrades. No one is to know that you are now mine. Understood?" Nikolai is pleased. This will take out many of their problems.

"Yes master."

"Good. Now I need to get back to my lunch date." Nikolai drinks more from each of them before he leaves the SUV. Blood is far preferable to the human food. 

Finished he climbs out of the vehicle and decides to taste the body guards. By the time he's done they all are light headed by blood loss. "Return to your base. You've seen nothing out of the ordinary and you don't know why you all feel sick." The men nod and enter the vehicle. 

Nikolai doesn't wait for them to leave. He returns to the restaurant and to his women.

What he sees stops him in his tracks. Natalia is holding in her hands something he hasn't seen in a thousand years, his mother's hair comb.

"Father? You've given Natalia mother's comb?" Nikolai says forgetting everything else.

Ivan looks at Nikolai with hooded eyes, "Not so much as giving as letting her borrow. You know the saying: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. I gave her a new sapphire and diamond bracelet and I've asked her to accept borrowing Lisbet's hair comb, that would satisfy the requirements would it not?"

"Yes."

Natalia looks up in horror, "This was your wife's?" Her hands start shaking. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have touched it like that."

Ivan is no longer relaxed and leans forward looking at her intently, "If I hadn't wanted you to I wouldn't have given it to you to wear. Lisbet would have been honored if you would wear it. She always wanted a daughter to fuss over. She would have loved you very much."

"It is alright, Natalia. He's right, you never would have seen it if he hadn't wanted you to. Mother would be proud for you to wear that at our wedding."

"I carved that for her it was to be a gift for when our daughter was born. I worked on it for weeks just hoping it would be done in time." Ivan stops now lost in his own memories.

"He would work on it after coming in at night. Carving slowly and painstakingly in the poor light of the hut. It was the last thing he ever carved."

"The craftsmanship is breathtaking." Samantha finds her voice.

"He was the finest woodcarver in the region. Even the lords would come to him and occasionally commission a work. It helped to supplement our income. But it all ended the day mother died."

Nikolai lightly runs his hands over the box that once more holds the hair comb.

"I couldn't bare to carve anything after I lost Lisbet. Had I been vampire then I would have created so much destruction. She was my mate." Ivan says softly still lost in memories of the past.

To the two humans there it is obvious that he is still very much in love with the woman that died more than a thousand years ago.

The food arrives and the three eat while Nikolai turns back to the days when his mother was alive and he was a young boy.

"What was she like?"

Natalia asks diffidently, unsure if her question would be welcome.

"Spring time. She brought life to those around her. When she was there I always knew that everything was going to be okay. She was never happier than when she realized that she was with child once more."

Ivan cuts in, his voice broken, "She wanted to give me another child and she desperately wanted a daughter. She never complained and always had a smile for others and did what she could to help them.

"She was a midwife for the village. She knew more cure's than anyone, but she couldn't save herself that night. The other women couldn't either." The somber words of Ivan silence the humans.

"When they lit her funeral pyre I wanted to be on there with her." Ivan says before calling for the check and after paying leaving.

"Don't, Natalia. Father has been in mourning for her and will continue to mourn her for the rest of his life. In all this time he has allowed no other children."

"You mean he hasn't taken pets?" Natalia asks in confusion.

"No, he's had hundreds if not thousands, but he never allows children to be born. And he never acknowledges my children."

"What?" Natalia and Samantha look at him in shock.

"He'll only acknowledge those of my mate." Nikolai's words drop like bombs before he helps the two stunned women up and escorts them from the restaurant.