I jerked the parking brake hard, swinging the wheel around and skidding the truck to a halt at the base of the steps which led up to the house I hated more than any other in this world.
“Wow,” Brooklyn breathed from the backseat. “It looks like two mansions got together for an orgy with another two mansions, and then all of them had quadruplets and then they all bought really big dogs and then they all kinda squished themselves together to become a mega mansion.”
I cleared my throat, glancing at the imposing structure which my father occupied alongside a whole host of staff, and I nodded.
“Yeah, and in each and every room of it is a bastard born of sin, built perfectly to raise more bastards within its walls and coat our skin in darkness, ready to unleash upon the world,” I muttered.
“You hate it here,” she whispered sadly.
“It’s no home,” I agreed. “Just a shell built for breeding evil little clones.”
“But you’re not a clone,” she pointed out, reaching between the seats and running her hand down my forearm, her fingers brushing against the Devil I had tattooed there. “You broke the mould, Hellfire.”
I grinned at that remark and nodded firmly, taking a cigarette from the door pocket and placing it in the corner of my lips before lighting it up.
“Then let’s go remind them of that, shall we, love?” I offered, exhaling a cloud of smoke as her eyes lit with violence and my heart began to beat faster in anticipation of this game.
I rolled my shoulders back, checked the Desert Eagle which was sitting snug beneath the smart jacket I wore in its holster, and I drew in a lungful of smoke before opening the car door and getting out.
I moved to open the rear door next, offering a hand to Brooklyn and she took it, letting me draw her out to stand before me in the long blue dress she was wearing which had tiny silver skulls stitched all across it. She’d paired it with some killer heels which brought her a little closer to my height, but I still dwarfed her even in them. I reached out to tuck a lock of ebony hair back behind her ear while I looked her over.
“Last chance to escape this hell without having to look it in the eye,” I offered, toking on my cigarette as Jack got out of the car behind her but she just giggled, booping me on the nose and shaking her head.
“I want to see her tits deflate, Hellfire,” she said firmly. “I want to watch all the air zip out of them when she realises she can never have you.”
I smirked at that, nodding my head in acceptance of what I’d known had to happen anyway, and exchanging a look with Jack that warned him in no uncertain terms to protect her with his life.
I took a last inhale from my smoke then flicked it aside, moving around the truck and taking the leash attached to Brutus’s new collar and whistling for him to jump out of the truck as I opened the back of it.
The big bastard snapped at my fingers as I jerked on the blue diamante leash and I laughed as I managed to escape his jaws with all my fingers intact then handed the leash to Brooklyn.
“Hold on tight to him in there,” I warned her. “He’s a good boy, he’ll protect ya. Only let go if you gotta run and he needs to attack.”
“I’m the fastest runner ever,” Brooklyn swore. “But we won’t have to run, Hellfire. They won’t dare attack us.”
I grunted my disagreement because I really wasn’t certain how this was about to go. I planned on making it quick, that was for sure. I’d lay out the facts, let them see my new bride then fuck off sharpish before anyone had the chance to get too murderous with their intentions.
“How fast can you run while carrying a tiny scrap of a girl, big fella?” I asked, lifting my gaze to Jack as he moved up close behind Brooklyn, his chest pressing to her back and making her inch towards me so that she was sandwiched between us. Brooklyn bit her lip like she didn’t mind that at all and I took a step forward myself with a grin, making sure she really was trapped between us.
“Fast,” Jack said, his tone serious and the look he gave me swearing it.
I wasn’t sure what to make of the big fella, but I was becoming more and more convinced of his feelings towards Brooklyn, and for some reason that made me trust him with her safety. He also seemed to respond pretty well to orders, snapping to attention if he was given a nice clear one and making me think he liked it when someone focused his mind for him like that. I happened to enjoy bossing people about, so we would likely get on like a house on fire once we were given a little bit of time to warm up to one another.
I reached out to wrap my fingers around Brooklyn’s throat, caressing the racing pulse point there and giving her a light squeeze, which made her moan softly between us, her fingers releasing the leash and allowing Brutus to wander away.
She liked that, falling into the thrall of my power, but I was pretty sure we both knew she was the real one in charge around here now that she’d gone and shattered the last of my resolve and made me fully hers.
“Come on then, love,” I said in a low tone. “Time to show my family that I have a new master now.”
I released her abruptly and turned to walk up the white steps which led to the front door, feeling the two of them and the dog close at my back as they followed in silence.
The door swung open before I made it there and I nodded at Martha as she looked between me and the uninvited guests I’d brought with me on this little excursion.
“Find yourself something to keep busy with in the kitchen for a while, eh Martha?” I suggested, not bothering to hide the darkness in my eyes as she looked up at me.
She nodded seriously, quickly taking note of the way this meeting was going to go and doing the sensible thing in heeding my word.
I placed a hand on her shoulder as she quivered before me, giving her a squeeze of reassurance.
“I’m not looking to spill any blood if I don’t have ta,” I assured her. “Just keep outa the way and you’ll be dandy.”
“Dandy as a cotton candy,” Brooklyn agreed as she spun past me and opened her arms wide, tipping her head back to look up at the obnoxious mural my pa had gotten painted on the ceiling above our heads and cooing softly. There were angels and clouds and all kinds of heavenly things which I very much doubted he would ever experience in any form of afterlife. I’d always assumed it was some kind of twisted joke.
“You ready, love?” I asked, reaching out to snag Brooklyn’s attention back and she nodded brightly as she obediently moved to stand beneath my arm.
I drew her in close, whistling to Brutus who still lingered outside and ignoring Martha’s shocked gasp as the big brute lumbered through the door with a low growl.
Jack stepped inside last, moving to stand on Brooklyn’s other side and looking to me like he favoured instruction over the freedom to act of his own accord. That worked well for me. I bobbed my chin toward the long corridor we needed to take.
“Just keep your focus on our little psycho, big fella,” I told him. “Stay close to her and get her the fuck out if things go to shit. Got it?’
“Yes,” he agreed solemnly, shifting even closer to Brooklyn and haunting her steps as we began down the corridor.
Martha turned and hurried away after closing the front door behind us, heading towards the kitchens as I’d told her and calling out to the other members of staff to join her for a meeting as she went. Clever old gal.
The sound of bullshit conversations and the scent of expensive aftershaves blended in the air as we closed in on the dining room. I rolled my shoulders back as I prepared to head through the gates of hell and tell the Devil who had fathered me that I had chosen my own path without him.