Lukas had made himself at home as he wandered around the pool at the middle of the tower, completely intrigued by it. As I approached he turned so sharply I feared his head would fall off. He rushed up to me, grabbed my hands and asked.
"You have to tell me, how were you able to achieve so much in the short span of time you've been here. You even have a pool!, water is so scarce in the pit. And the architecture, even though it looks so simple, the precision would have needed someone at the level of a great mage to achieve, do you have a great mage in your employ?"
I couldn't really keep up with his barrage of questions and demand. He was way too excited than I expected, so I really had no idea how to deal with this. Fortunately Asha was there to help me with such a situation.
"Lukas, you know we really can't tell you, after all what's a relationship without secrets. And since everything you see here is our secret, you're going to have to pay a really hefty price to know how all this came about." She said as she casually swept his hand out of mine.
"Well of course, forgive my exuberance, but I was sorely tempted by the sight of something new and quite exquisite. I hope you would all forgive me for such a gross misconduct." Lukas said, as he bowed his head in apology.
He sounded sincere, but why was it that, somehow, I found it really hard to believe. It was as if the prim and proper act was just a front for his greed and covetousness. This devil was really not as simple as I thought he was.
"Please permit me to introduce my companion, this is....." Lukas tried to speak, before he was cut off by Xaseah.
"Shamir the unsealed. You have some nerve showing your face in front of me" Xaseah said as she brought my attention to the pale skinned man standing beside Lukas.
I think it's at this point I remembered that I was supposed to keep the fact that I was no longer in a coma secret, but now Lukas has brought a stranger to the tower, a stranger who seems to have a really bad history with Xaseah, danger bells were ringing.
"I thought I told you told you come alone Lukas?" I asked with an emotionless voice, bland enough for him to know I was upset.
Lukas gave a short bow as he turned with a flourish, pointing at his companion.
"the night wraith gang, is only a subordinate force to the power my humble friend answers to. And as we've become partners in a previous venture without their due knowledge, I had incurred the wrath of the master. Which is why, I did not really have a choice and had to come with him as a witness to our future deals. Besides I believed it was a wise choice, as this will give you a chance to come in contact with the people behind the production of Nirvana."
Well if he put it like that, there was nothing I could say in protest. I did have every intention of making a deal with the night wraith gang, utilizing their power and connections, without a doubt, I also had to answer to the person above him, if any sort of lasting relationship is to be formed. I didn't like it, especially since this Shamir guy, rubs off the wrong way on Xaseah. I turned to her an said.
"Xaseah say the word and we will call it off and look for another solution. We don't have to go through with this if you don't like it"
Xaseah shook her head and said to me.
"No! We can't trust anybody else. Let's just get this over with, every second I spend in his presence is revolting." I nodded my head, about to speak before Shamir finally spoke up, talking directly to Xaseah.
"My love, has it come to this? Do you really hate me that much?" he asked, sounding very pained.
But that was when I understood who he was, or more like remembered what I've been told about him. He was the vampire who turned Xaseah, loved her to the point of obsession, and tried to kill her grandfather because of that obsession. She told me he was a psychopath, a sadist and a madman. I couldn't reconcile the person who she described, with the person in front of me, because he looked rather normal. Except of course the glaring fact that he was devilishly handsome.
"I'm no love of yours Shamir, and you should be careful what you say in this tower. I'm already bonded, and the man I love would leave you a broken heap of flesh with all your bones grinded to dust.....literally!" Xaseah replied with a tone dripping with pure malice.
"Oh is that so, he sounds like a real badass." Shamir replied not at all bothered by her animosity.
"Why thank you for that compliment, I think. Why don't we get down to business so that some unsavory people can crawl back into the deep dark hole they've crawled out from." I said trying to diffuse the rapidly getting out of hand situation, but all the while letting Shamir know, that I didn't like his face, or his guts.
"Please let's do so. We're all friends here right Hahahaha, please let's get along." Lukas said with a light tone.
I nodded my head and led them both to apartment. After offering them seats, I observed them both. Particularly Shamir, while I did not feel threatened by him in regards to his past history with Xaseah, I was worried by how affected she was of his presence. Because without question, her emotions were bleeding through the bond, and it was affecting me, instilling the same hate she had for him in me. Either way, the only way to keep it at bay was to get the conversation moving, so we can be done with his and everyone can leave.
"I need weapons from you Lukas, any and all kinds, and I need a lot of them." I said to him.
Lukas looked at me, then blinked his eyes in surprise as he jaw fell. He looked at Shamir, then turned to look at me, then Xaseah and Asha.
"you guys are really serious about this. What are you trying to do, cause a riot, or a revolt?" he asked with a shocked tone.
While Lukas was too unsettled for me to be comfortable with, I had to give an answer. So far every character trait he had shown today, was nothing like the cool headed devil gang leader he was when I first met him. Something was going on here.
"A riot or a revolt, hmmmm, well it can be anyone of those two. Or it could be something entirely different than that" Asha answered instead.
"Are you aware of the risk that come with owning that much weapons, and not just the risk, the effort, and funds required to transport it?" Shamir asked, looking at me. It was Asha who still answered.
"Oh we're aware, we know all about the risk. But that's your problem, you've taken a substantial amount of our money, and even though we've had a steady supply of you wonderful cocktail, it still doesn't come close to what we've invested. Now; we can pay for the smuggling no problem, you guys just have to pull it off without a hitch. Now the question is, are you guys capable of pulling this off." Asha said to them as she leant back and crossed her legs.
Shamir did not even pay her any heed as he turned to me an said.
"do you always allow your women to speak for you?, are you even a man?" he asked.
My eyes twitched in annoyance, but I quickly wiped it up and spoke with a smile on my face.
"Well that's the wonder of having such wonderful women by my side, I find that they're capable of saying what's on my mind down to the gritty details. The bond between us is just that strong, it's why I always feel for people who never had the opportunity to be bonded, it's a shame about them, all so lonely."
My words were suggestive, and the wisps of darkness that escaped from Shamir's clenched fists, was enough to show that my words had stung a little more than he would have cared to admit. If he was going to insult my manhood, then I was going to...âŠI was going to.....well I'm not sure what I just did. I only said the first thing that came to my mind and made sure it hurt as much as possible.
"I advice you to pick your words carefully Lord Kael, I'm not someone who you can afford to offend." Shamir threatened.
"Or what!" It was Asha who replied back, and as she did so, she released the restraints on her strength as a fearsome aura descended into the apartment. A small earthquake began around our vicinity, as black veins began to stretch out from the side of her eyes, as her eyes themselves turned black.
There was a stalemate, as we all proceeded to stare at each other. Shamir was unwilling to back down, and neither were we. The power behind him might be really powerful and one we can't afford to offend at the moment, however, I'm not going to bow my head to the bastard who's hurt someone important to me.
"Let's all take a deep breath and calm down. It wouldn't do for negotiations to go awry, and with it our good relationship."
It was Lukas who had spoken, and this time he was not the bumbling, inexperienced devil he pretended to be. He was back to the gang boss he truly was, seems everything he's done so far has been nothing but a test.
The very thought of it annoyed me, but there was nothing I could do about it. He probably acted that way to see how I would react, depending on how that turned out, he would have known how much of an advantage he would have gotten in this negotiation. Stupid, it was obvious he made more than one mistake since coming here, chief among them was underestimating me and the people around me.
"Smuggling weapons into the pit isn't easy, because of the humans paranoia and the fact that numerous times in the past the vampires had tried to fight back and grabbed the weapons of the guards to start a revolt, there's a heavy ban and restriction of weapons in the pit. I can get you at least two shipments of at least 400 individual cold weapons made from the finest metallic ores. But after that you either have to get another gang to smuggle it in, or hire a blacksmith. Also I can't get you any hot weapons, so things like guns and grenades are out of the question.
Those genre of weapons are so rare even among the guards that only the warden and his personal squad has access to them. You would have to make do with the cold steel of swords and spears. Is this good enough for you, you don't even have to pay. You can take it as a gesture of goodwill from your partner."
I wanted to answer, but I was to angry to do so, and so was Asha and Xaseah. It was Asare who was able to stay clear headed, but that would probably be due to the fact that he was not a part of our bond (thank God for that).
"That works fine for us Mr. Lukas. That will be all for today, please let me see you out." It was rather abrupt, but Lukas knew such a move was necessary, before Asha and Xaseah decided to tear Shamir to pieces.
As they left, I gave Lukas a simple nod of acknowledgment and escorted them out with my eyes, this meeting left a rather sour taste in my mouth we got what we wanted, but I don't think our relationship with Lukas or the now revealed higher power behind him improved. Instead, we just added a new name to our long list of enemies, oh well, what else is new. Just another simple day in the pit.