Thirty-Two

London UK, the 1870s.

“Come on, Baxley, you know how these things work. Don’t give me a hard time. Just sign the papers, you’ll end up with a lot of money in your pocket, and I won’t need to play rough with you.”
“I’m not signing, Vlad! I don’t take threats too well.”
“Neither do I! You didn’t know with whom you messed by sending those men to raid my office,” I hissed, giving him a few hard punches in the face. It was about two in the morning, and my men had taken him to my private room underneath our company. It was right there, where we usually resolved the hard to get businesses. “Anton, give me the papers.” After a while, I shoved the selling deal at Baxley’s face. “Now, sign!” I growled, my voice booming through the small room.
The man was hard to break, and he didn’t move a nerve in his body, staring at me in defiance and giving me a ‘screw you’ look!
“Make me,” the son of bitch spat at me, pissing me off even more.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You will...” I said with a slight shake of my head. Anton, you can start the show. I told him through our mind link. He nodded and left. A minute later, agonizing screams came through the walls, filling the place with dread and tension.
“Who is that?” Flinching, Baxley’s face paled, getting a sickly complexion. He wasn’t stupid. He had a clue who was on the other side.
“Do you wanna know? That is the pervert who lurks around my territory, raping girls! We had a deal. I kept the port district and you the rest of the city. I take good care of the people under my protection, I don’t tolerate intruders misbehaving in my district.” My voice was rough but calm, listening to the excruciating screams.
“If I take this deal, you’re going to put me and others out of business!”
“You should have thought twice before you double-crossed me. You sent people to snoop around my business, and they couldn’t keep themselves in their pants!” I warned him. “You should take the deal and the money.”
“I’m not signing it. Make the screams stop!”
“Is it so hard for you to understand? You’ll end up with a shitload of money, and go somewhere else. You should have come to me first, but you’ve taken your chance to put ME out of business! Grave mistake. Besides, I hear a lot of atrocities happening to good people on your side. Your son is a pervert, and it’s time for me to put an end to the problem.”
After what seemed an eternity of terror, I asked Anton to bring our guests of honor in. He came inside, dragging an almost lifeless body as two of my men dragged his friends. Not an inch of the men were free of blood. Arms hanging from shoulders, deep cuts all over, and one couldn’t even see their faces behind the swelling. Satisfaction came to me, seeing Baxley’s eyes widen in terror to the bloody pulps on the floor.
“What have you done, you bastard! My men will kill you!” he yelled at me. “John, John, are you ok, sonny?” The only thing coming from his son on the floor were whimpers of pain. “You’ve almost killed him!” screaming, he flung himself at me, as I got him by the throat, my nails lengthening and pricking at his jugular, making pressure.
“That’s only the beginning if you don’t sign the deal and convince the others to do the same. Now, sign it.”
I hated when these things took longer than necessary. Baxley was one of my enemies, one of the most feared mobs, and he controlled half of the business in the city. But the sea was my business. I controlled everything inside my district on a tight leash. I’m no saint, but I take care of the people under my wings. They didn’t need to leave in fear. Everyone on my side of the town knew the rules. Behave! Don’t do shit you don’t want people to do to you, and I won’t pass my judgement on your head. Simple and effective. When he winced, I had it. My eyes glowed golden, and my demon showed his face.
“What are you?” he asked in a whisper, as a heavy trembling washed over him. I squeezed his throat a little more and brought him closer.
“You don’t want to know…” I grunted back in his ear. “It won’t be good for your business when every corner of this city gets to know that the big Baxley shitted his pants today.” I chuckled as my teeth lengthened, and with no care I pierced his neck hard, ripping skin and flesh. Howling in pain, he struggled to break free from my hold, but once I had my fill, I licked his neck, letting go of him. He sagged to the floor like a rag doll.
“What are you doing, Vlad?” Anton chastised me. But I didn’t listen to him. My patience had flown out of the window. Dragging the bastard from the ground to the chair behind the table, I sat him there, putting the papers and the pen in front of him.
“On the count of three, Anton will pull the trigger on your rapist heir.” Anton racked the gun and aimed at the lying man’s head. Baxley signed the papers just as I imagined.
“Here you freaking asshole, you’ve got what you wanted, now let us go!” hissing at me, he stood up, going to his son.
“But before you leave...” In a flash of a second, I was on top of him, tilting his head up so he would look straight at my demon’s orbs. His heart stuttered and almost came to a stop. “You’ll convince Abbott and Finley to come to me and offer their docks. You have two days. My men will monitor you, and if you betray me, people from your family will disappear, starting with your son’s body parts. Don’t think about running. Your blood is in my veins, and I’ll find you even in hell! Do we have a deal?” I could see he was about to pass out. “One more thing. I don’t want to hear from you anymore. Don’t. Come. Close. To my business or this city. Understood?” I let go of his head with a jab.
After that encounter, the other two pebbles in my shoe came forward and offered me their business. I didn’t underpay them; I paid the full price, and they ended up with lots of money in their pockets. On the following days, I closed a deal with Wenman and his railroad would serve at my dock at the port. In about a month, I started the demolition and construction of the new Dryden & Trescott Dock at the Port of London. It took a few years to finish, and I took down with no mercy anyone who posed threats to me, my business or my people.
We were one of the first to have a dock 1.5 mile, in over 100 acres. It had hydraulic systems, cranes, and a railroad connection. Three years later we were receiving and shipping tons of goods a year, and money was showering at our doors. I had to keep myself busy until I found her again.
People were coming from everywhere to work at the port. Every morning we had a ‘call on’ by the entrance of all docks as we recruited people to work at the port for the day. It was an unstable job and at lower pay, the ones who worked for me got a few more benefits, but that was how things were.
One morning, I was in my small private office, having one of those meetings with Anton, where the bargaining chips were kidnappings, torturing, and sometimes killing. When I felt a surge of power coming from the ‘call on’ site a mile away. The wave, so intense; I staggered. Anton looked at me with a worried expression, since we couldn’t get distracted from the deal in front of us.
Anton, she is here! I told him in my mind.
Are you sure, Vlad? Concern showed on his face.
Take care of this. I need to check it. She’s by the docks, and once you’re done, come and meet me. I walked out of the room. No, I ran out of the room. I had to go there, to see it with my own eyes.
Like always, the chaotic mess of shouts and crowded people trying to get a job for the day made it hard for me to see anything. I followed the disturbance in the air, and suddenly her perfume hit my nostrils like a blow.
She was here, somewhere! My control of the situation ran thin, and with all that multitude around, made it difficult for me to get to her. As much as I told myself to relax, lots of cursing would escape from my lips. I couldn’t take a hold of my breathing and a sheen of sweat coated my forehead.
“Quiet!” I yelled to the crowd, my voice reverberated raw and primal. Silence fell upon us like a blessing. Everybody turned their heads, staring at me. “I don’t want one more word until I leave this place!” I thundered at them.
“Excuse me, sir.” My heart skipped a beat. “But you can’t treat us like this, we’re not cattle.” A melodious and feminine voice with a heavy accent came from behind me.
“Alya! Be quiet, we don’t want to anger him, he’s one of the owners.” Another tender masculine voice scolded her in Russian. As I faced them, I had those lavenders sparkling fire at me, and my blood raced in my veins…