This Wicked Sin

Chapter 4: Gabriel

I was bored out of my mind. Really, truly there were about a thousand things I’d rather have been doing than sitting in silence from across my father. Awkward and uncomfortable couldn’t begin to describe the air between us. His goons were also with us but sat a distance away having their fun with some omegas that were provided by the Tower.

I watched them in lieu of having my eyes in my father’s direction. Rowan sat beside me like a silent tower. He had busied himself with reading a journal he had whipped out of somewhere. He paid no mind to any of us.

My eyes cut to my father; the scene before me made my stomach roil. He had taken advantage of the Tower’s offer of entertainment and refreshments by ordering a few omegas for our party. He had two currently on either side of him running their pretty hands all over him and giggling at whatever bullshit he was saying. He was a disgusting man with disgusting habits.

Everyone was used to his antics, even my mother. He didn’t care about her, not that she cared about him either; she didn’t really care about much if I was being honest. Theirs was a marriage of pure business interests and convenience.

My patience waned when one of the omegas squealed from my father groping her ample chest.

I wanted to think about anything else. Unbidden, thoughts of him came to me. That topic wasn’t any better but my mind latched onto it. His dark eyes watched me in my mind. This was a dangerous game I was playing.

I got up and approached the refreshments area of the room. Despite the fact that he’d been intent on his book the entire time here, I could feel Rowan’s piercing gaze on my back as I was reaching for the hard liquor. I sighed, looking at the selection of alcohol forlornly. I couldn’t believe I was being forced to go through this night completely sober.

I think this was the soberest I’d been in a while. This whole situation was reminding me of all the reasons I’d chosen oblivion over clarity for so long. But oblivion was off the table for the foreseeable future. The clarity made me realise that I was close to being no different from my mother who was always doped up on ether; oblivious to the entire world. It was an uncomfortable truth.

I was broken out of my depressing thoughts by the door opening. All eyes in the room turned to the intruder. It was the hostess who’d welcomed us before.

“My lord,” she bowed slightly to my father. “The meeting will begin in five minutes. I shall be your escort for the night.”

It was time.

…

The syndicate consisted of the seven most powerful crime bosses in the country, or at least it should have. Only five Clan heads had been attending these meetings from the time I was a child.

One of the Clan heads preferred to keep to themselves and was always locked away in one of their hideouts and compounds. I had no idea who they were or what gender they presented as. All I knew is they were referred to as The Hawk and they were the leaders of the Harpys. Somehow their family and gang still operated unhindered in the shadows beneath the shadows; their seat at the Syndicate ever empty. None of the leaders seemed to be too concerned with the situation as they were most likely privy to some information most of us were unaware of.

The other seat was empty for an entirely different reason. Years ago, during a time I was too young to remember well, one of the families was purposefully erased from existence. As a punishment for breaking one of the sacred rules that kept the syndicate running, the entire clan was raided and methodically killed in a group effort by the other clans.

I was yet to find out what sin was so grave that even the worst of the city would find it deplorable enough to erase an entire clan. Especially considering we had a human trafficker sitting right at one of the seats. The only ones who knew were the heads of the families and they made sure to never speak of it.

The walk to the meeting space was filled with a checkpoint that made completely sure all weapons were confiscated. The Tower was serious about this place being a violence-free neutral zone.

We were then led to a large oak double door that was opened for us as we approached. The room was dominated by an impressive round table at the centre. All eyes in the room were drawn to us as we entered. They were all here, the crime lords of the underworld.

My gaze swung over everyone as they did the same to us. There were three people from each clan; the head of the family and two of their most trusted. The heads were the only ones who got a seat at the table while the two clan members of their choice stood at a slight distance behind them.

Pheromones of aggression and distrust filled the room.

My father took one of the seven seats while my brother and I stood behind him on either side. The table was finally complete. Right across from my father were the Dakas. I tried not to make direct eye contact with them.

The head of the Jackal clan was a tall female Alpha who was as formidable as she was beautiful; Nelia Daka. She wore an asymmetric white pantsuit that matched her long platinum white locs and contrasted perfectly with her dark skin.

Behind her stood Dane Daka and Rayan Hirano which was no surprise to me. They stood intimidatingly, looking like they’d already thought of a million ways to kill everyone in the room.

I tried to keep my eyes off Dane even though he looked positively delectable. My eyes couldn’t help but sneak a quick look at the angular planes of his face. His eyes flicked to me and I looked away.

He looked dangerous, even though we were all disarmed before the meeting, because he was. He was one of the few shifters in the room; he needed no weapons to lay waste to this room. His friend Rayan was the same.

Every family I’m sure had brought at least one shifter with them; Rowan being my father’s. It was a rare yet priceless trait, especially in our circle.

Father had married my mother specifically because her family was known to produce mostly alphas and had a high prevalence of them developing the shifter gene. It was an extremely rare trait yet he had two. Of course, he was disappointed it had not been three.

“You’re late, Corvin,” Alano Pavel, the head of the Vultures growled out. He already had a glass of whiskey in his hand, his face and jowls slick with a sheen of sweat.

“Well I’m here aren’t I?” my father shot back in a bored voice. “Which is more than I can say for some of us.” He gestured to the seat that should have been taken by the Hawk.

Nelia scoffed before leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs.

“Have something to say, Daka?” my father called out to her.

“You’re not worth my responses, dog,” she spat out. I sensed my father gearing up for a fight but there was a sharp bang on the table. It cut through the simmering tension like a knife. All eyes turned to the head of the table.

Klaus, the unofficial leader of the syndicate sat looking at us with exasperated eyes. He did not have any territory and was instead the leader of the neutral body that was not part of the crime families. He and his family ran the Tower with most of their job consisting of making sure the others didn’t kill each other or start a war.

“Gentlemen,” he said with a look to my father, “Ladies” this time at Nelia, “As much as I enjoy your stimulating… banter, we have more pressing matters to discuss.”

There were nods of assent around the table.

“Someone has declared war on us,” Nehemiah Olaka said darkly. “They have declared war on me, personally.”

Nehemiah Olaka, head of the Coyotes, was a distinguished older man with salt and pepper hair. Behind him stood Karina Volkov, his right hand, and his nephew Jeremiah Olaka.

“For weeks, this f*****g organisation, whoever they are, has made fools of us. I lost a month’s worth of shipments in a single afternoon. No one takes from me,” Alano Pavel said darkly. No one mentioned the fact that the shipments he spoke of contained mostly women and children.

He was a man who looked close to death’s door; everything about him looked like it was withering away in sickness and decay. His life of vice and excess was reflected heavily in his decrepit looks. He had been accompanied by his son, Alphonso along with his second-in-command Edward. His son was an obnoxious man who enjoyed his vices as much as his father. It was rumoured neither of the two Pavels was actually in charge; some people claimed Edward was the one actually leading the whole operation while his bosses enjoyed the fruits of their unofficial retirement.

“This afternoon,” my father began, “Someone took four trucks worth of my ether in the blink of an eye. They were highly organised and efficient.”

Looks of reluctant shock crossed the room. My father continued before anyone could cut it with their smug remarks, “We, however, managed to apprehend one of them.”

Noises of interest were raised around the room. Even Nelia looked grudgingly interested.

My father continued, “He’s not been very forthcoming. My son is working on getting him to talk as we speak.”

Had things gone differently tonight, I would have been the one my father was referring to. If he would have even done that much to acknowledge my existence. The thought made me swallow past a lump.

“f**k all your shipments and drugs! Those fuckers took someone from me!” Nehemiah said with a bang on the table.

“We’ve all lost someone, Olaka,” Siofan Shahin said, speaking up for the first time since the meeting began. He was the head of the Scorpions and was by far the youngest Clan leader at the table. He didn’t look that much older than me. His long hair hung in waves around his shoulders as he blinked lazily at us.

He looked like he’d rather watch paint dry than be in attendance. He didn’t look up at anyone when he spoke, his golden eyes languidly looking at his long, bony fingers. “It’s not a secret these people have been taking our people for weeks.”

“Except this wasn’t just anyone,” Nehemiah said through gritted teeth, “My granddaughter was taken right from her school.”

There was a stunned silence around the room, mine included. I didn’t blame them one bit. What could you possibly do with the fact that someone so close to the Syndicate was taken right from under our noses?

“It is quite clear that whoever this is, has some considerable power backing them up,” Nelia said. “They’ve been careful not to leave any clues to their identities but even they can’t be that meticulous. There are always clues to be found.”

“Do we have any idea who it could be?” Someone questioned.

Rowan and my father shared a look after which my father subtly nodded at him.

Rowan spoke for the first time, “The man we picked up. He has some interesting markings on his body. He has a symbol in the middle of his back; it looks like it was etched right into him. A skeleton snake eating its own tail in the shape of infinity and two daggers stabbed right through it.”

It was like everyone stopped breathing in the room. The stabbed Ouroboros. It was an infamous symbol in our circle, always spoken of in hushed whispers. The symbol of the Amerys family, leaders of the Serpents; once members of the syndicate and owners of the seventh seat. The fallen clan.