Veiled Deception

chapter 6

Fear twisted in the depths of Leila's stomach as the world tilted violently sideways. She fell onto the worn leather couch, unaware of the furious pounding of her pulse echoing in her ears. Could this be some kind of test from God?

Recognizing that name was as real as the devil walking on earth. Knew it belonged to the most vicious, far-reaching criminal empire to have ever plagued mankind - incorporating dark practices and black magic into their evil activities like a cursed family lineage.

The Famiglia was only mentioned in whispers by street urchins and madmen who claimed to have seen their savage rituals, leaving others frightened. Tales so evil they cannot be spoken.

Leila didn't want to believe it. Couldn't fathom the possibility that her husband, her lover... could be the diabolical commander of such a sadistic operation. However, the sacrilegious symbols and ancient weapons scattered on his table provided strong, undeniable evidence to that belief.

What fresh hell had she stumbled into?

In her growing terror, barely aware of her surroundings, Leila did not instantly sense the looming figure forming behind her.

Before she could even gasp, a strong hand covered her mouth, while the other arm held her tightly against the strong male figure behind her. Surrounded by the cloying aroma of incense, she knew who it was without looking at him.

"Going somewhere...wife?"

Leila's body became stiff when Damon pulled closer, How could she be so blind? Too naive to believe?

"I see you have made yourself quite at home in my private affairs," Damon whispered against the nape of her neck. With each reverberation, she felt a creeping sense of fear run through her veins. "That curious nature of yours is going to be the death of you one day, sweetling."

Leila let out an uncontrollable whimper, muffled against the calloused palm covering her mouth. She closed her eyes tight, trying desperately to block out the truth: her husband was in charge of a kingdom full of unimaginable evil, obscene wealth, and brutality for no reason.

She had been chaining herself to a monster covered in sin and darkness the whole time. Damon's rough chuckle gusted over her sweaty skin, and even though she tried to free herself, he wouldn't let go despite her feeble struggles. "Not that now. You brought this upon yourself, prying into matters that didn't concern you."

With a deft twist, he spun Leila to face him at last - and the darkness glittering in those endlessly deep blue eyes took the breath from her lungs. He was totally devoid of the gentle and tender passion that had seared her from the inside out mere hours ago, absolutely eclipsed by a feral, savage menace.

"You'll obey me without questions from now on, "Damon growled in a tone brokering no argument, or I'll be forced to take... Disciplinary measures."

He allowed the vague threat to hang between them, watching her face intently for any reaction - however Leila could do nothing past remain frozen in his merciless clutches, quailing before his sheer fury. How had she not seen this side of him lurking just beneath the civilized veneer?

Yet a tiny, deeply buried part of her identified the cold, implacable look reflected through the hardened men prowling her old haunts on the streets - a look totally without conscience, without remorse. The look of a killer.

"Damon, sir!"

Their standoff shattered on the thunderous footsteps at the bedchamber door, certainly one of Damon's men barking an urgent call. With a final lingering look dripping with unstated promise, he released Leila and stalked from the room, the very photograph of coiled danger.

A fresh wave of shivers plagued her as soon as his crushing presence vanished, leaving Leila huddled and shaking on the plush divan. Tears burned on the corners of her eyes, the load of her irredeemable situation crashing down in waves.

How had it all gone so wrong?

The shattering of glass from the bedroom pulled Leila from her panicked reverie, her pulse jackrabbiting anew on the unmistakable sounds of a dispute erupting beyond the secret room door. Metallic clicks and cruel shouts rang out, fast observed through bone-jarring blasts that would easiest be gunfire.

The shattering of glass from the bedroom pulled Leila from her panicked reverie, her pulse jackrabbiting anew at the unmistakable sounds of a fight erupting past the examine door. Metallic clicks and harsh shouts rang out, quickly followed by bone-jarring blasts that could only be gunfire

Dread swamped her in icy waves, paralyzing her limbs whilst the animalistic roar of her husband giving orders reached her ears. More shots boomed in deafening cacophony, joined by a panicked chorus of barked orders she could not quite understand.

Until one thunderous voice cut through the chaos - surprisingly not Damon, but a stranger, chillier and totally without pity.

"Kill them all and bring me the wife! Vitale's family bloodline dies tonight!"

Leila's breath stopped in her lungs, as those words made her body freeze in pure fear. She hid against the far wall, she barely noticed that she was stumbling and dropping papers and objects all over the place. Even though the only thing that was there to protect her was a big heavy oak bookcase that stood as a scant shelter at the far end of the wall, she hid in the back of it pitiful sanctuary anyway. The war was going on in a hellish cycle beyond control. The air was filled with the mentallic smell of blood and smoke. She put her hands over her ears clamping her ears, but the noise only got worse. The gunshots turned into human screams and the sickening crunch of bones breaking apart.

A heavy object hit the other side of the door with force Leila closed her eyes tight and prayed in vain for the nightmare to end. She wished she hadn't left her old life behind.

A loud rumbling echoed as the door was finally blown off its hinges with a force that sent the heavy door flying, causing the walls to shake. The room was illuminated by flickering tongues of fire, creating a strobing red glow that caused shadows to dance across every surface like haunting spirit

Leila cowered behind her pitiful barricade, quietly begging whatever demonic forces that orchestrated this disaster to overlook her, to spare her from sharing Damon's fate. But there was a bad presence in the fiery vortex that separated her from the chaos. It was a tall being covered in black smoke that was swirling around.

More monster than man, stretching out one taloned hand, it gnarled claws encompassing most of her slender wrist grabbing and lifting her up. That was when she glimpsed the logo stitched onto its tattered robes - a distorted cross adorned with twisting snakes and creepy skeleton head. Her blood became ice in her veins at the insignia's meaning.

Lucchese crime family

The Lucchese syndicate.

One of the most cruelest rivals in Damon's ruthless world, believed to owe their sick-begotten strength to an ancient Stregian curse.

The demon's gaping mouth twisted into a grin showing sharp teeth, its foul breath taking the little air left in Leila's starving lungs. Finally, it seemed to detect her complete sadness and spoke in a voice that was dry and sickening, resembling decaying flesh..

"We'll make you watch as we eat his black heart, little one. But do not be troubled... Once Vitale is gutted, you will join him in the shadow realm soon enough."

And Leila knew with profound, existential reality - that this was no man, but the twisted emissary of something far, far worse.

Every muscle in Leila's frame locked in paralytic fear as the sulfurous presence of the wraith suffocates her. This was no mere mobster - she was looking at the bottomless pit of the abyss itself.

A soul-rending bellow pierced the inferno consuming Damon study shattering what left of Leila's tattered composure. Her husband burst thru the hellish inferno, eyes blazing with airy purple light and a ferocious snarl.