Xerxes
"Your son…The prince of grave has been rumored to have auditioned and signed into a human music band…" He delivered the final words that broke my shell of resolve. The explosive fire in me however didn't blow off. I didn't snap his neck in half like a frail twig on the side of a deserted road on a bad winter. I took a deep breath, a really deep one. The gasp from my lady only helped me to confirm that I wasn't getting too old and started hearing voices of my ancestors calling me with the wake of an oak dust. I was still sharp as ever and with that came its detrimental side.
Like hearing the son of Xerses, the Supreme Lord of the dark and the beast of age, The millennial warrior and the breaker of curses had his son in the play group of short lived humans playing dress up and fame.
Was this all his fault?? Was Cleopatra right? Did I break them more than they needed to be broken or was I just that unfortunate that the ancients had to deliver two unworthy offspring into the bosom of the woman I dear loved for over a century and now this…a band.
"This is rumored right??" I asked in a low voice that hopefully, it would sound less shameful than it sounds out loud. The elixir was definitely having its toll on me because I was feeling too calm and it was starting to irritate me, but then, wasn't this the so-called grace I had…the ability to stay in control and remain unpredictable while my subject trembled in front of me with an unknown faith. The cloud of despair hung over my head but it felt light. Light enough for me to decide not to end Doran for being such a barrier of bad news.
"Yes, You're Gracious. It is still all rumors and there haven't been official steps taken to really know if this is true or not." He replied quickly, nerves alternating the melody of his voice as he coated it with faux reassurance that it was just a rumor but deep down, I knew this could be very true.
A flashback plays in my head as I remembered my little Ivan Hakeem making somewhat melodic sounds with silver wares and some of the guards moved to it. For a second, I remembered feeling my head bop to the rhythm he was making as he calculatedly hit them at different intervals which made it to some certain level listenable. Of course I ordered all the guards there beheaded because it didn't just go against my rules and the ethics of the royal guards but it was a stain and a disrespect to him. The little boy was merely fooling around, they could have cautioned the boy to know his worth and reason why he was there. Now, it's different because he is choosing to do it for the minimum of all creatures and make melodic noise for them.
The prince of grave darkness and the apprentice of death, a soul reaper…now part of a band. What will the other families say?? The Philons, The Emeralds and The Pakilioc. The anger I initially thought had been kept at bay by the lavender was now gone. The pure savagery rage was teasing the tips of my emotional lead. Before I could restrain myself, my staff took a swing at the giant window in front of me bring it all down with an ear screeching sound making Doran yelp and Cleo skillfully move back into the corner while I let the blades pierce through my skin feeling ever sharp cuts tearing my skin, the pain doesn't register just yet, instead I absorb the broken glasses and healed the torn wounds that were opened up by the glass cuts..
Like my father once said
"Absorb the shreds, they make you a whole piece,"
"Careful Lord, you don't want to be seen losing your shit when our clan is already going through a trial right now, move away from the window and take a seat," Cleo ordered in a clear voice. She was an anchor who I couldn't believe stayed all these years to support me. She had a perfect way of talking with the most utter respect and at the same time speaking with the confirmation that she knew who she was talking to and she did well to not over-talk when she had the chance.
I moved away from the window and moved to the office chair, a huge brown leather seat made and customized for my 6'6 features. Balancing and letting it's comforting leather relax my skin, I turned to him as I finally knew the next move I needed to make.
"Listen to me Doran and listen like your entire life depends on the next few words I'm about to say because it does." I took a deep breath placing the staff in front of me taking every second I needed to collect myself.
"Send a message to Isis because I know they are together and Hakeem wouldn't leave her. Tell them that I'm done with whatever game they are playing and there is no other play here. Tell them that if they do not come here at their own accord, I would make sure to kill a million humans including their human friends before taking their asses back here. It's almost time for the meeting of the families and they know this." I lent over placing my chin on the cane staff.
"Send a group of the best night crawlers to go after every and any human person they have made contact with in the past three months." I gave the second order and he recorded it in the chain.
"Last, tell Hakeem…I don't approve of whatever he is trying to drag the family through and I rightfully suggest that he declines the human playhouse and brings himself here. He must face coper—"
"That's about it Doran…You are dismissed, if this message is heard by any other audience asides the original targetted audience, you are aware that you would be kill by the poison Ivy snaked in the message chain, Don't do anything stupid," Cleo interjected cutting me off right before I said my crucial judgment on Hakeem. I knew it wasn't a mistake getting cut off like that.
Doran left immediately and she turned towards me fluidly giving me a slightly disappointed look.
"We are trying to get them to come back and you are threatening him??" She asked looking at me like I lost my mind, a look I have seen on her face a little too much to not get used to it. It is something that she still hadn't gotten used to, making bad decisions.
"He needs to be scared…he's still a kid,"
"He needs to be coaxed. You forget your birth to children with your blood!!! Your character and all. You really think you can use fear to tackle him back here?? How did that work out last time for you huh?? Didn't he leave with a whole bottle of day cloud," She tackled me with words and I knew she was making sense but raising her voice at me was unforgivable.
My staff took a swing at her, hitting her in the face and sending her to the ground.
"Don't raise your voice at me…" I walked out.
—
Anderson
"Okay, now please explain to me or to us rather, The whole contract is written to keep him here and away from his family so please can you explain to us if this deduction of mine is valid," Isis rested her back looking deep into Darla's eyes and she didn't even get slightly comfortable. It was at that moment I knew they were up to par. They both heard the fire and drive and their communication skills were impeccable.
Slowly but gradually I zoomed out of their conversation which was something about Hakeem's housing status living with the band.
My attention fell on him. He also looked like he was zeroed out of the conversation and he kept looking straight ahead. When the time finally came for him to speak up, he just looked towards me, locking our eyes together. That familiar feeling of nervousness and increased heart beat immediately colonized me as his gray plates kept grinding me in my seat.
A little smile appeared on his lips before it disappeared, it was a curious smile and it left as it came but for those few milliseconds it lasted, my heart did a flip and a stop. I swallowed my spit a little too dramatically because he made my throat dry. Only then did I realize that the whole room was quiet and everyone was staring at me expectantly.
I hated situations like this where I risked losing my credibility. I was the center of view and they all were expecting me to say something when I had no idea what the hell they were on about. I looked towards Haleem and he just sent me one of those irritating smirks before tying his lips together and flipping the contract for me before eyeing it and looking at me again, then the contract. I wasn't dumb, I caught on to whatever he was trying to tell me but what I didn't understand was that I needed to bask in the feeling of him trying to help me out, He was trying to help me.
"Uhm.." I cleared my throat.
"As we have all seen, even though the contract was issued the same way from the last drummer, I think we can make some changes for Hakeem. The only reason we needed to stay here is so we can all work together and create a sync with him, when we are in sync and our line of melodies are all linked perfectly then we can cut his days of staying here, so just see this as his few months of training." I clarified and Isis gave a satisfactory nod.
"I think that's cool and very professional but one more thing I need to add is that he is a very private person so please can y'all uphold to the fact that he wouldn't be ridden of his privacy because that's something he doesn't joke with.." She said looking between me and Darla but I had already thought it all through. William's room was on the third floor where my private quarters was and he was the only one there. I planned to give it to him so that we could have our personal fights without Darla coming to intervene.
"Of course, That's something I already noticed. I mean, he kicked me out of his apartment when I tried visiting and making things right between us considering we started off on the wrong path," The genuineness in my voice made them send him annoyed looks and now it was his turn to be thrown under the bus.
"My apologies Mr Anderson, I was feeling under the weather and tired from all the day's hassle," He apologized again but this time, it didn't give me a satisfaction I was looking for…I instead felt stupid for making him apologize when it must have been actually true that he was tired from all he did that day.
I was actually feeling bad…
"Sorry, it's my fault too for being insensitive to your current situation." I apologized quickly and Darla didn't hesitate to snap her neck towards my direction.
"There are quarters occupied by a previous band member. It's isolated on the third floor. You can have it refurbished if you please," I said also with a calm smile and he looked at me weird when I was just trying to fight throwing up after Apologizing.
"Oh yes, It's located just beside my quarters."