Note from the author: This story is made for fun and with the intention of entertain the readers. The author doesn’t condone many, if not all, of the activities depicted here. Just come, have fun and that is it :3 And, of course, don’t do these things in real life!
***_***
The night had been murder in the end. Being angry was not really good for the body when you went in a situation like a hothead, even if that situation was simply training while you thought of someone’s face instead of the punching bag. I ended up messing my left arm up a little, nothing that would need too much rest, much less medical assistance, but fuck did it hurt. It did get me down to earth though, and I managed to calm down enough to go back home and find the oh so big surprise: My wife wasn’t back. At that point in the night, hurt in more than one way, I just didn’t give a fuck, so I went back to my room, locked it from the inside and went to bed. If Naomi wanted to get inside she COULD, she was no idiot and she could very well fly through the window if she really wanted to.
Color me unsurprised when I woke up to be alone, her side of the bed cold as a damn corpse.
Nearly ten in the morning and not even a peep from anyone. I was hardly surprised, though I had expected Tabitha to pull some shit to mess either my night or my morning, but I was sure she wouldn’t tell a soul. She had no proof to give, other than maybe my fingers on her face, and that was not too uncommon since, as I said, most kids in this place were fucking brats. Nine months in that school and I had seen a kid with sore asses or aching faces every day, and while I was already thinking that there could be more than one reason, I knew when it was from a hit and when it wasn't. At least some of the parents knew that being physical at least send their message across.
Now, I know this sound horrid to many, but I grew up with that, and when I meet Naomi I found out how right my parents were to give me some ‘scoldings’ here and there. Once I calmed down I saw why they had hit me or why they had given me a stern talking to here and there. True that in some cases it was just because they were pissed, but once you calm down and see things from someone else’s perspective you get to understand what they did, you know?
Right now I didn’t see either my wife or Tabitha’s behavior as something I could excuse.
If my wife was bored of me, then I could understand it, hell, I would have given her permission to have some fun around if I was granted the same privilege; I wasn’t a fucking monster to her, I never wanted to. Cheating on me like that? I would be a monster if she didn’t come clean, that was a fucking fact that would be shown soon enough.
As for Tabitha? I knew where she was coming from, having a family that prided itself for their strength, to be the ones on top and all that. Losing sight of your surroundings and the people around you just for that? That wasn’t smart. Even when I was basically a bully I knew when to have respect, when to have honor, when to have friends and many other things. It wasn’t the healthiest or smartest lifestyle ever, but unlike Tabitha, whom cared none for others she seemed to see as ‘lesser than her’, I knew when too much was too much.
Did I really hit only once? Of three things I had made; my life, my love and my kids, I only hit once… No, scratch that, I only scored HALF a fucking hit TWICE.
I managed to turn my life around to get a degree, have a decent job, enjoy said job and have a very nice child I loved more than anything in the world. Eve was my little sunshine, my only ray of hope, and she was dimming so fast that it scared me. I had tried to not focus only on her, showering every girl in my life with love, only to find out that two of them were squandering it while the third, and the only one to care, was getting into a hole so deep that I wondered if she would ever get out.
Fuck it, I need a shower.
***
Rats like cheese, dogs like to howl and sharks love water. Racist or stereotypical much? Maybe, but even if it wasn’t the sea I did love water, and a good shower got my spirits up quite fast, and one of our neighbors could really do with shutting the fuck up during a full moon. But I digress, so let's get back on topic: I was clean, I was relaxed and I really, really, REALLY wanted to talk with my wife, clear this out… or plan how to get a divorce and hurt her as much as I could.
Vengeance was something that most people said brought no closure, nor did it bring any happiness whatsoever, but unless you are a vengeful person you do not know how the feeling goes, do you? Think of a smoker: Is it unhealthy? Yes, it can kill you by inducing cancer or just destroying your lungs or/and throat, and it harms those around them. Could the person stop? Probably, but an addiction does NOT heal, an addiction just recedes until it has another chance to hit again. Vengeance was like that: I calmed down for years, only to have my trust destroyed, my love squandered and my patience shattered.
I am a shark, and if there is blood, there is frenzy.
Still, I could relax a bit, I wanted to relax at least to the point of being coherent instead of snarling like a feral animal. What does a shark do when they want to relax? Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but me? I got into a nice shirt, got a pair of pants, decided to go around commando because fuck everyone else in the planet, made my glasses fucking shine because I cleaned them to kingdom come…
And I made waffles.
Square waffles with vanilla ice cream, small drops of it, enough to fill every little square within the already squared out delicacy. I have a sweet tooth, so not only did I pour the vanilla, vanilla that was already melting, but also chocolate and cream. I may have cared little for the money we got, but fuck you if you think I wasn’t going to get at least one vice out of this whole ordeal, and my vice was ice cream… with waffles.
Then again, I would’ve been in no mood for this if it wasn’t for Eve. She had been awake by the time I went back to the ground floor and she was looking at what to do for breakfast. Eve had looked maybe a bit shocked to see me, which she later explained since she thought I had gone out with her mother.
Heh… I had never been more thankful about making breakfast than today.
“So, how are you feeling, my little sunshine?”
Eve smiled at me as I handed her two waffles, crispy and ready to eat as they melted everything atop of them. I would’ve handed her some milk, but I think healthy eating could go to hell today, so better allow my little princess to enjoy one of her meals without someone nagging at her for once in her life.
“Much better than yesterday, daddy.” I returned her smile, feeling sincere when doing so after quite some time with a frown on my face. “It was… nice to wake up with some peace and quiet for once.”
Ah, yes. Naomi had taken Tabitha with her, so of course Eve had been left behind. I see where their sudden bonding came from, and now I wish I hadn’t learned how Tabitha and Naomi had gotten so chummy with each other. True that they had shared a bond much like Eve and I did, but it hadn’t been as tight as it was now.
“I was going to read a bit, but I hadn’t had much to eat yesterday, so I came down to nibble at something.” She picked one of the waffles and bit into it. I had to admit she was beyond cute when she blushed and shivered at the taste. She had my sweet tooth too, and she made sure to savor every bite before she swallowed. “I didn’t think I was going to be allowed something this nice today.”
“Everything for my princess.”
I grinned at her as I took my own plate with my little mountain of vanilla and cream on one side, a bottle of chocolate on the other, and four massive waffles in the middle. Good thing about being huge and having a fast metabolism? This. That I could regenerate teeth was also the best plus, ever. Eve just gave me a pout as she saw how big my pile and waffles were when compared to her. I countered with a little wink, making her chuckle. One day she would be as big as me, so she wouldn’t need to envy that much.
It was wonderful to eat alone, simply with my daughter, for once. We could talk, she could smile and we were quite happy, unlike how this past year had been. The only one that ever felt left out, and she didn’t seem to care, was Tabitha, at least before we came here, and now it is both Eve and me the ones that are singled out whenever we four sit at the table.
Was it really that bad to feel like it would be better for Naomi and I to go our separate ways? I promised to love her always, and I did, I would ever bear it if she said she wanted to just have some space, meet new people and see how it went. I would do the same and if we had fallen out of love, then so be it. But there was a massive damn line between ‘falling out of love’ and ‘fucking you over until you break’, which was what she had expected to happen if she decided to hide behind any kind of lie. The one problem was that I wasn’t going to be exactly ‘subtle’ about it when I asked her, not like some master charmer would anyway.
“Daddy.”
Eve was munching of the last of her waffles after half an hour of enjoying ourselves. “Yes, princess?” I was almost done myself, but for some reason I felt like the last waffle was going to taste sour. “You seem to have grown quiet.”
“Are we going to go meet mom at Phoebe’s?”
I swear my fork was crushed under my hand.
Oh, look at that, it was.
Eve didn’t seem to notice as she took one hand to her pocket. She could’ve had fashionable things, but she prefered it all like I did: Practical over anything else. Her skirts aren't exactly beautiful, but they weren’t ugly either, and she still had pockets where she stuffed anything she deemed important, necessary or simply useful. This time I wished she hadn’t thought the note had any value as she handed it to me.
You know those superheroes or mutants that can fire lasers through their eyes? I felt the need of such a power as I read the simple line that basically said ‘Phoebe has invited us over for breakfast. Come whenever you feel like it’. It was this close to say ‘Don’t bother, but if you want, you can’ since she had never said anything like ‘Be there if you want’ or ‘If you wish’ unless she was pissed at me and didn’t care about what I did. I knew because we had loved each other for years, but every couple has spats, so I knew how to read between lines, and this one was very simple.
“Dad?”
I looked up to see a worried eve, so I did my best to offer her a gentle smile and a nod. “Sorry sweety, I was wondering why your mother didn’t take you with her.” Which was, admittedly, true. “I could have read the note on my own and you could’ve stayed with her instead of alone.”
Eve gave a little shrug. “Mom knows I don’t like Pandora all that much, so I suppose she allowed me to enjoy a quiet morning.” I wasn’t sure if she believed that, but I was thankful that she didn’t need to suffer through both her sister and Pandora at the same time.
Personally speaking here: I didn’t want to go see either of them, but it presented a nice opportunity if I caught Phoebe and my wife together. I could ask my wife about her feelings, see if she had the guts to be sincere about something, and gauge just how much Phoebe would stick with my wife to mess with me. If I didn’t like what I saw, then I could start working on what to do next, though a cold head I would not have if they said something they shouldn’t.
“How about this, then?” I offered my little one the sweetest smile I could. “We go check on them, and if they had their breakfast I’ll ask about their plans. If we don’t really like the idea we can go on our own, go down to the city and enjoy our day with each other. Sounds good?”
Eve seemed to ponder for a moment. “Will we go to the gym?”
A strange question coming from a bookworm, right? I DO know what my daughter is, and sincerity is the best flattery, so if I tell her she doesn’t mind; she knows she is a bookworm. But yeah, strange of her to ask, isn’t it? Well, do you know why I got a membership? Because the gym over here is nearly empty ALL the time. There are a few people that come here, but most memberships are there just to show off. The owner doesn’t mind, but he is one of the nicest guys I could ever have the privilege to know in here. It made him very sad that his gymnasium was empty almost every single day, though it had made him enough money to open another in the city, and that one was full 24/7, so in the end he couldn’t complain.
Good man, good man… and good place to relax too. Eve had found it to be the perfect place to be calm, and the pool that was there was big enough for her to have a bath whenever she wanted if she came with me, while the rest of the time she could play a game or read a book. She wasn’t going to be as physical as I was, but at least she liked the same places I did. Weird, I know, but she was sometimes the only company I got over there, so I wasn’t going to complain.
“Do you have a new book you want to buy and read?” She nodded eagerly at me. “Well, if I don’t enjoy what mom has to say.” And I was sure as fuck that I wouldn’t. “How about we go to the bookstore, you get the book you want, and we go to the gym afterwards, eh?”
Eve squealed and clapped her hands together. For as mature minded as she could be sometimes, she was mostly a kid, unlike her sister, and it was fun to see her behave as such, despite being a teenager that should, should, be more mature. I sincerely liked this side of her: Happy, outgoing enough, and caring. It was so hard to see it nowadays.
“Okay my dear. I’ll go get my bag with a spare set of clothing, my card and we’ll go out.”
Eve nodded and devoured the last of her breakfast, telling me she was going to clean her teeth before picking a few things. I looked at my remaining waffle and ice cream, grimacing at how unappetizing they had turned in the end. The only thing that brightened my mood was how much my daughter still loved me as well as how much she liked to spend time with me. At least with that image in mind I wasn’t going to hurl while I finished what had started as a wonderful breakfast.
***
I fucking hated this house.
Made of mahogany and marble, it had the ground floor and the first floor, both of them sporting more space than they would ever need with around twenty rooms in total. Not only did it look Victorian and was it richly decorated in every way you can imagine, but Phoebe’s house had a massive pool area, a perfectly kept lawn and there was not even a speck of dust or dirt anywhere. With how many servants the damn moth kept around it was surprising that there was anything at all, because I would’ve taken both mother and daughter out with the trash after I got to know them enough.
For a woman that was already the antithesis of her species; colorful and very vivid in ways you should not know, she was all but candid. Whenever someone was going to visit she dismissed the servants and made sure to have everything PER-FECT. She went to such lengths so as to fire people at random if something wasn’t up to snuff, be it for visitors, her own taste or her daughter’s whims. With that, her expensive tastes and other little things here and there, which included her damn fashion sense, Phoebe burned through her money with ease, only to recover all her loses in ways I had yet to understand.
Phoebe was, in essence, as different from me as it could get. She liked things if they were pretty, she would’ve been great as a politician because she could spin the yarn until you forgot what you had asked her, and she made sure to get cash however she could, which probably meant that she wasn’t working the archives just because it paid well, but because few people bothered her there.
Take it however you want.
“Nergal, my darling.” Speaking of the devil. “Come in, come in, Naomi is inside. She can’t wait to see you.”
Yea, called five minutes ago, had to wait until someone decided to lift her butt from her seat to the entrance so she could press a button. That sweet tone of voice was always used when she talked with me or with Eve, or some people I noticed she didn’t like. It was pretty obvious how much she liked buttering up those she wanted to screw over. Either that, or she was just a condescending bitch, though she hardly did that to other women.
I looked at Eve, only to see her fidgeting. She wasn’t comfortable and it was as obvious as a kick to the nuts, but it was quite funny to see her try to hide it when she noticed I looked at her. Eve wasn’t the toughest girl out there, but she had always tried to look the part when her daddy was paying attention.
Giving her a pat on the head and ruffling her hair was a sure way to get her to pout at me, which always made me smile. I did need that, and despite her mock anger and the nip that DID hurt (Come on, she may be a bit of a pushover, but she is still a shark), I was in better spirits when I opened the gate so we could head inside. The good mood was quickly dropped though, because I was sure that we wouldn’t remain around for too long, nor would we have anything good to say of this short meeting.
I didn’t fault Eve when she recoiled back after I opened the main door either. It was as if the two girls had planned to let out a quite eerie laugh when we went inside the house, and while I couldn’t see my daughter or Pandora anywhere I was more than sure that the two of them were spying on us while we both headed to the living room.
It was quite a surprise to see that Naomi was up and about, she even came to me and gave me a hug… A half hearted hug that she broke within less than five seconds and that she also gave to Eve, maybe allowing for the second one to be more heartfelt, more sincere, but it was darn impossible to miss the disappointment on my daughter’s face when her mother stopped said embrace and went away with little more than half a smile in her direction. It was impossible for me not to wonder where that motherly love of hers had gone if nothing else, after all I could, COULD, understand her not loving me, even cheating on me, no matter how fucking pissed I was… but what about Eve?
What I didn’t wonder about was the other woman in the room. Not only was this place lavish in decor, coloration and pristine in how well kept it was, but it seemed to be tailor made to fit the vibrant moth woman like a ring. The only difference that the well dressed moth had when you compared her to the room was very simple: Everything in the room was genuine, from the lamps to the curtains, the silverware on the table, the little bust on the corner… Phoebe’s smile was only genuine to some, and her demeanor was caustic once you learned the difference between disdain and a real compliment.
Just a heads up: If you are a guy, she is worse than a black widow.
Right now Phoebe wasn’t even hiding that frown from me, not as much as she once did anyway: Narrowed eyes, thin lipped smile, crossed arms and sash in every inch of her body. She seemed to have a strong disdain for me and I still don’t know why. Was it because I had done my best to be a good husband to my wife while she wasn’t even sure who had knocked her up? She was known to use men like tissue paper even before then, and I seriously had to wonder if she had been a good parent, because Pandora was on her own almost all the time. It didn’t excuse her child’s behavior, but fuck me was the woman so darn scornful that she would probably have done her best to mess with her daughter just because she had been without her father.
To be sincere, that was just speculation. I wasn’t sure if she disliked me and Eve because we tried our best to be nice, while it was obvious she enjoyed Tabitha’s company because my daughter had quite the ruthless mind, even if she wasn’t as smart as she really thought. Tabitha was STILL a kid, and just like she had admitted that she manipulated Naomi, I was sure that Pandora had done the same with her. The only problem here is that Naomi wasn’t as young nor as inexperienced, so I really had to wonder WHY Phoebe had gone to screw with her and WHY my wife had allowed her to do so, because while Tabitha was not as street smart as her mother, Naomi had to see Phoebe coming a mile away.
“I really thought you weren’t going to come.” Naomi’s voice was as gentle and warm as ever, but damn it if I couldn’t help but find a hint of tiredness in her voice, as if she really didn’t want to talk to us right now. “I came back a bit early than expected yesterday and found the door to our room was locked, so I thought you had quite the tiring day and wouldn’t wake up until lunch.”
It wouldn’t have been the first time that happened, I would admit that. Sometimes it was very tiring to work as a teacher. People think that when you write, draw or do other brainy jobs, you don’t get tired, but that is a fucking lie. If you overexert your brain you end up so mentally tired that it can rival any physical work you can ever imagine, and passing out thanks to that isn’t as strange as you may think, because it has happened to me a couple of times.
“You could say that.” I gave her a little nod. “By the way, when did you get home?”
“Umm…” Naomi blinked a couple of times, as if I had asked the hardest question ever. “Around one and half in the morning, I think.”
“I see.” Fucking bullshit. I arrived nearly at three in the morning. “I suppose your meeting was quite… tiring then, if you didn’t even try to fly your way to the room to check on me or sleep on the bed. I doubt the couch is as pleasurable as one may think, when it comes to resting.”
Phoebe blinked at that, and I swear Naomi gulped. “You could say that, yes. It was a very intense session and I had to take many notes.”
“I am sure you got every square inch worth of detail you could.” I narrowed my gaze and made sure she would see my frown growing. “I suppose you’ll have more… sessions until you get all you need out of that particular meeting.”
“Eve, sweetheart, can you wait outside?”
I looked at Eve, she looked at me, neither one of us liked that Phoebe asked us for anything, not even in her own house. I was pretty sure she wanted something said without my daughter present, and that already sounded bad. Still, this WAS her house, so Eve nodded and went out with a simple wave, promising to wait for me.
“Okay, Nergal, what is the problem?” Phoebe crossed her four arms as she fixed her gaze on me, Naomi looking pale all of sudden. “It seems like there are quite a few things unsaid in here.”
Tell the truth? Bullshit my way through? I think they didn’t deserve the first one. “Depends. Does my wife have anything interesting that she would like to share?”
“...” She did take a few seconds, but in the end her answer was simple. “No, why?”
I don’t know how I didn’t snap. “I went to the gym yesterday, and one of the few regulars told me that you went to Rudy’s house.” At that I let my voice drip with some venom. “Alone.” Naomi gulped. “No meeting, no group work, no nothing. I am pretty sure you had nothing to do with him, that I know of, since you told me you had cleared everything with him the last time you had a reunion with him.”
“Now, now, wait a second.” Phoebe got in front of her friend with a harsh glare directed at me. “I assure you that Naomi wasn’t alone with him, I was there too.” More bullshit added to the pile. “And whoever is telling you this is lying.” Oh yeah?
“Let’s say I believe you instead of whoever told me this, and no, I am not going to tell you their name.” Phoebe’s face was priceless when I took no time to counter her. “I just want to ask my wife two simple questions, so get out of the way.” Her face showed just how much fury was brewing underneath, but at this point the one that had to fear from someone was the moth from the shark, still she looked ready to make me mincemeat, or try anyway. She did get out of the way though, none too happy, but she did. “Naomi, would you cheat on me?”
Naomi looked at me, her body language telling me just how much she wanted to avert her gaze, yet she couldn’t. “No, of course I wouldn’t.” Her voice did break though, and it would’ve been way too obvious even if I hadn’t seen her.
“I see… Do you still love me, then? Because I have seen you grow distant lately, everyone at home has seen it.” And some of them fucking know why.
My wife didn’t seem to notice how much my voice deepened with those last words, not even Phoebe did, as she was focused on how in thought her friend was. It was as if she wanted to tell Naomi what to say, or if she wanted to reassure her, but my wife looked weak, shy and maybe even guilty. I really thought she would tell me the truth, but then she looked up at me in a different way. She wasn’t shy, she wasn’t afraid and she was beyond determined as she gave me the most fake answer I had ever gotten from her. Not even when we were angry at each other had she the gall to baby me with that tone of voice you use for someone you want far away as fast as humanly possible so they don’t bother you anymore.
“Of course I still love you baby, that is a stupid question.”
I was this close, THIS close, to smack her so hard I would’ve looped her head off. I suppose sharks are good at hiding their bloody fucking rage though, because I was able to just nod and be as polite as possible.
“Thank you for your sincerity.” I was sure that I didn’t exactly sound thankful, though. “It does lift a weight from my shoulders to know the truth.” But as I looked at Naomi I was sure she didn’t get what I was meaning. “Now though, what are your plans today?”
“Oh nothing much.” She waved her hand with a smile, thinking everything had passed over. “I thought of staying her for the day, if my friend allows me. Our kids are playing together, there is no more work to be done and it is pretty calm outside, so just relaxing seemed quite darling to me.”
“Of course you can stay, you don’t need to ask.” Phoebe did sound sincere and nice enough, at least until she turned to me once more. “What about you and Eve?”
I put one of my hands on my chin as if deep in thought. In truth I wanted to say ‘Fuck you, bitch, I am leaving, and I am taking my daughter with me’, but right now it wasn’t the smartest idea I could come up with if I wanted some time and proof to shove down Naomi’s throat. Instead I went for the more ‘diplomatic’ route.
“Eve wanted to buy a new book, and I was planning to go to the gym once more. Naomi, I am sure you understand how worked up I was, and now I both want to go to get my stress out of my system and to meet the person to make a few things clear.” Both women nodded, Naomi more eagerly than even Phoebe, whom seemed more than happy to hear I would be leaving promptly. “Since Tabitha is playing with Pandora I’ll leave her here, she doesn’t like how quiet the gym is anyway.”
“We’ll take good care of her, don’t you worry.” This time Phoebe’s smile was real, and I knew very well that there was something vile behind it. “Do give a call if you plan on coming for lunch, okay?”
Once more I looked pensive. “You know what? I think I’ll take this day and enjoy it with Eve, give us some time to relax so you girls can have a fun day with each other and I can cool my head. I am sorry for being such an ass.”
“Don’t say that, dear, it was just a misunderstanding.” Naomi looked like she was ready to go and hug me again, but she stopped at the last second. “But do enjoy your day with Eve, okay? The poor dear has been looking so haggard lately…”
I couldn’t help but mentally scowl at her. What kind of mother would really ignore her daughters’ problems? It was beyond obvious why she was like that, and yet Naomi acted like she either didn’t know, or she had stopped caring. Truth be told, it was obvious she had stopped caring. If she didn’t stand me anymore, how could she stand the daughter that so vividly resembled me? I don’t know what hit me harder, sadness or anger. Still, I nodded, gave them a half hearted smile and a wave, then went out of the room, only to see Eve wasn’t there as I closed the door.
Since my little girl wasn’t anywhere to be found I did have an idea: To peep on these two. I just went ahead, rested my head against the door and let my ears do the rest. Underwater creatures have better hearing that you may think, more so those that are evolved to our level since we need to hear both in land and underwater with no problem, which means we may not be as precise as, say, Naomi, but it was hard for a wall to truly stop us from hearing if we wanted to spy on someone, much less a door.
“He knows! He knows, he knows, he knows, HE KNOWS!”
That was a more appropriate reaction coming from Naomi.
“Will you calm down? He may suspect, but I am sure he doesn’t know.” Phoebe sighed with disdain. Poor bitch, you don’t know as much as you believe. “If he did he’d try to murder you, and we could milk that no problem.”
“I would prefer to keep my face intact if my husband found out, thank you very much!” Naomi growled. I heard a few stomps and heavy breathing. “What am I going to do? I don’t want to stop… I thought that living with Nergal was going to be paradise back in the day, only for him to calm down and give me the life he thought I wanted.” What? “Instead of that I found myself in a ‘nice daily routine with a loving husband and a nice family’. I swear I didn’t hate the idea, but…”
“But you found something better, and your husband didn’t provide.” It was impossible to miss Phoebe’s smile all over her voice.
“It is not that! It is… it is complicated.” Naomi sighed. “I loved his wild side, and I loved it when someone pushed his buttons so he would come back home and ask me how he could stop them from doing what he thought was wrong. It was so entertaining to see him mow down parents and kids alike, showing them that if you go against the bull, you get more than the horns.”
Phoebe cackled at that. “Well, he got horns now, that is for sure.”
“Heh, he sure does.” It was baffling to hear Naomi being so nonchalant about that. “And he hasn’t done anything yet, anything. I thought he would go for something, but no one of our friends has heard of any escapade or any venture… I… I hate to say this, but I regret marrying him so much.”
I am not sure what made me stop myself, because I wanted to tear down that door and rip someone apart that it was physically hurting me.
“From such a loving monster he turned into a… doormat. Nergal could rip someone’s throat out back in the day, and once we had Eve he was worse than a dog. Tabitha managed to get him to crank up a little, but only because my daughter at least has some of his old fire on him, she at least knows how to live up a little, while her father just forgot.” The disdain on my wife’s voice was so real, so intense, that it hurt more than the anger I felt. “But as far as he doesn’t find out he won’t do a single thing, he is way too mellow now to go above just a few shouts or maybe a cold glare.”
“Relax my dear, relax.” I could hear Phoebe head to one of the expensive chairs, only to rest her ass without a care in the world. If she broke something or damaged the floor, her servants would worry about it. “He will not find out, and if he does, so what? We can always find a way to rein him in if needed be, just leave it to me.”
I just couldn’t hear anymore. I scowled at the door as I pushed away from it, only to look at the entrance.
Marble, mahogany, beautiful curtains, expensive furniture, a golden fucking candelabra hanging from the ceiling! Everything in this house was made to hide how fucking corrupt the owner was. She didn’t mind hurting others, and she sure as hell loved the idea to toy around with whatever feelings she could so others saw things her way. The fact that Naomi sounded so sure, so regretful of even being with me after I changed for HER FUCKING SAKE, made me even more furious.
But that was alright, that was all good, because now I would make sure to turn things on her and make my… Make Naomi regret the shit she had pulled. I just needed proof of her adultery and/or a way for her to step down. I get the house and part of the money, as well as Eve, she goes the fuck away with Tabitha.
The objective was clear, the plan not so much, but I knew what I wanted to do.
As I was about to go out to find my daughter it was made very clear to me that it wasn’t going to be so easy. Why else would Pandora just happily stroll in front of me with a shit eating grin until she stopped in front of the exit?
“Did you have fun with mom?” For a petite, cute girl with equally cute dresses, Pandora was a cheeky little bitch, and she was very much aware of it. “She likes you in such a special way, you know? Since you came here to be our newest neighbor she had her eyes on you…” For one moment I wondered where the girl was going. “Such a big, nice, dumb, idiot” Then I felt my knuckles cracking. “Devoted daddies like you are the easiest to mess with, and you guys ALWAYS make a mistake, like hitting your daughter.” She chuckled at that, and I had to admit I paled. “Tabitha is none too happy, and I am quite angry myself.”
“Listen you little shit…”
“Oh! Is the cold and calculating Nergal losing his marbles?” The young moth gave me a big and wide grin. “A bit too early, don’t you think? We aren’t in class, you can’t do anything to me, and mom and YOUR wife, are within earshot. Don’t you think that being a bit… physical with this widdle little kid wouldn’t be seen as too nice?” What was with kids in this fucking place and being scheming fuckers? Pandora looked ready to burst into laughter too, which didn’t help any. “Let me be clear here, mister.”
“Don’t push your luck.” I snarled at her, which she didn’t seem to care about.
“I’ll do what I want because I can, and if you mess with me my mother will get you kicked out of here faster than you can say uncle.” I growled, but she was right. Phoebe had a lot of cash and she obviously knew her way around. “You won’t come back to this house unless you are called or offered to come by my mother, and you won’t lay a hand on Tabitha again.” Admittedly I didn’t feel like I should have hit her, it could come to bit me on the ass again, and if I went too far she could’ve been hurt… She was my daughter, despite how much I was learning to hate her guts. “And you’ll lay off of us if we want to play with Eve…”
Now that was a fucking ‘no’. “No.”
“No?” And Pandora seemed surprised that I went and refused her.
“If you mess with me or my daughter, you are chum, got it?” I took a few steps forward and placed a finger on her forehead. “I am growing tired of everyone’s shit, from adults to children, so do not push your luck, kid, or even all the money in the world wouldn’t get you from the hole I can dig for your remains.”
Pandora just chuckled, slapping my hand away. “You think you are so tough, fishy? What can you do? You don’t play the game everyone plays here, you don’t know the rules and you’d get mobbed the moment you do something stupid. Try to go against the flow and you drown, whether you are a shark or not.” She gave me a smug little grin. “We will do as we want, and you can’t do shit against it, mister. My mother may not be the best gamer there is here, but she taught me well. If you mess with us, we’ll make your life impossible, so let us play with your daughter.” She batted her eyes at me. “I am sure she’ll learn to like it.”
I simply placed my palm on her cheek. “Move the fuck away or you’ll need a new face.” I said it in such a sweet tone that Pandora shivered. I was more than calm when I assured her that I was going to disfigure her pretty face that even this young bitch knew better than to push her luck. “And if you push my buttons you may find out that I can be worse than you think.”
Pandora frowned, but she did move away from the door. “Talk big all you want, men are all the same. You won’t do anything.”
I just gave her a look that could probably make any person that knew me recoil in fear, but this girl just stayed put, crossing her four arms, looking at me as if I was beneath the dirt she stepped on. Ironically enough, I bet she thought I was worth less than a bug.
“I’ll see you on Monday. Don’t be late.” I turned again and I left her there. This Monday was going to be so fun.
***
I found it surprising that Eve had decided to indeed wait me outside the house, in fact I thought she would’ve waited for me within the house, but I misjudged just how much she wanted to go away from the moths. At least it was easy to calm her down, since she didn’t look as happy as one would expect after seeing her mother, when we went out and bought the book. She even tried to say she was sorry, but it was obvious that whatever desire she had when it came to her mother was waning as fast as Naomi’s love for us, so I couldn’t really think any less of Eve for just leaving the house as quickly as she could.
But now she was much better, relaxed even, as she read her book. It was a pity that this place was so devoid of activity sometimes, but for Eve it was perfect, even if she too thought this place deserved more than ghost customers.
Bulba’s Flex was the twin gymnasium of the city, true they weren’t the only ones, but Taurus and Bulba were maybe the most renowned. In part this was because those that knew the name ‘Taurus Bulba’ would think back to the old show: Darkwing Duck. Taurus Bulba, or his actor; Clive Barton, was the father of Angus Barton, the large blue furred, incredibly muscular and bright red eyed bull that owned this place.
Clive Barton had helped design part of the old Darkwing Duck story, but he was more an actor than a writer or a director, he was also filthy fucking rich, and when he retired, around twenty years ago, he left everything to his first son: Angus. Clive hadn’t been around for years though, and many said he was disappointed on his son because Angus was the ‘manliest gay’ you could ever find. Meaning? The guy wanted no one near his bed unless they could AT least beat him in arm wrestling, which, I tell you, is nearly fucking impossible for me, and it would’ve been really hard for my father. Unless this was one of those cartoons I doubt anyone would’ve managed to down the man and get his attention.
Sadly, Angus wasn’t around today; he had left someone in charge and, as was expected, his aide was passing away these hours by just reading away, or, in this case, playing with his phone.
It just meant that I could punch away to try and relax, but thinking that the bag was my wife’s face wasn’t helping as much as I thought.
I ended up stopping mild punch when my phone decided to scare the shit out of me. The Imperial March was all good and all, but thinking that Emperor was going to fucking force choke me wasn’t exactly the best thing ever.
Shut up, it was my favorite trilogy when I was a kid.
I picked the phone, not even bothering to look at who was calling. “Who the hell is it?”
“Wow man, okay, I didn’t think YOU’D be here.”
The voice came from behind me, so I turned quickly, almost slapping the person by accident.
I really don’t know what I was expecting.
The man was a gryphon, you know, the result of birds and felines mixing together? He was traditional in look, so that meant eagle beak and feathers as well as ‘clawed hands’ while his lower body was that of a lion. My thought about him being from one of those elitist families that liked to show their kids around as trophies went down the hill quite quickly though: No spoiled family would be caught with the mixed blood this guy was sporting.
Not only was he quite short, and by that I mean one meter fifty or so short, maybe not even one fifty at that, but his eagle heritage was only obvious thanks to his beak, because while it had its regal appearance and all, his feathers were purple, with those on his head, fashioned to emulate hair, ended up in magenta tips with white underside to them. His lower body didn’t fare any better, exchanging the traditional lion skin for one with dark grey coloration except the front, which was pure white, with the last hit to the image of a proud old school gryphon being the magenta tipped tail. The wings had the same coloration as the rest of the body, though I couldn’t see them very well, while his eyes were hidden behind a pair of shades, so I had to go by his nearly shocked expression to know he had been truly scared of my reaction.
“Dude, had I known you were this jumpy I would’ve decided to take a hike instead of try and catch you.” He quickly changed from scared to jovial though, his voice rough for his size, but quite sincere. “Name is Seth, and you know me, if you check the number.”
I did so and found out that yes, he was one of the two people I could call friends here. His nickname could use some worth though… “You could have texted beforehand. I haven’t had a very good day. Nice to finally be face to face, though.”
“Likewise.” He nodded, giving a smile. He, much like me, was clad in training gear. For his short stature he looked fit, or at least in decent health, not at all like most ‘men’ in this place. “What irks you, though? You didn’t tell us much about why you were giving texting much less time.” I gave her a look that made him raise his hands. “Not trying to be pushy, just curious. People around here are all but fond of being upfront.”
Sighing, I just tried to discharge another load of anger by punching the damn bag once more. I looked to see my daughter was still in her own little world, so I decide to be brief. “My wife is cheating on me.” And man, did it feel good to just let it out. It still stung like a bitch, but it was better than to keep it bottled down.
“Oh… so you guys found this place’s little ‘game’.” I turned so fast that my tail cut through the air. “What?”
“Come again?”
“You mean to tell me you didn’t know about this fucked up place?” I shook my head . Seth rubbed the back of his neck as if looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here. “Man, you got fucked up too, eh?”
“This happened to you?” I arched an eyebrow at the man, to which he just shrugged.
“Not the same I suppose. See, I ended up meeting a very nice girl that was trying to reveling against her dad and his controlling ways you know?” Oh boy, this was going to end badly. “Feisty, with a big mouth and willing to fuck some shit up, she was also a looker and not dumb like one would expect from a purebred gryphon gall, so I was quite smitten. We end up fooling around for a year or so, I learn she got knocked up, her father decides to come with a good deal of goons, tell me that I can either marry her and come back or I get neutered AT BEST, or as mince meat if I dared break her little girl’s heart.”
“I guess you chose to keep your family jewels” That made Seth chuckle. “I would’ve done the same, plus, I couldn’t leave one of my kids…” Without a good enough reason, like the one I had now when it came to Tabitha.
“Well, yeah, I couldn’t either. Not only that, but my wife wanted to see if we could mess the place up a bit. Twelve years later and things have changed quite a lot.” Seth grumbled as he relaxed against the nearest wall. “Wife is still not happy with how things go, and she dislikes the fucking game of corruption that goes around, but they get everyone around here. Me? They got me drunk and made me fool around with one of the kids from one of our neighbors, and now they have shit on me. My wife? More or less the same, only they ended getting her to a gangbang with some other ‘purebreds’, idea of her father no less. Luckily it didn’t take, but we are pretty much pissed at everyone here.”
I was flabbergasted at that information. “Why don’t you leave then?”
“And do what? I would be considered a pedophile, my wife would be disowned and our daughter would even be taken from us if we are unlucky. Everyone that comes here is doomed to get involved, and those that don’t play by their rules end up getting kicked out sooner or latter, as well as on the street, if they are lucky.” Seth let out a low growl. “I really wish I could do something to get back at them, but it would just encourage everyone to mess with us more, or use their shit they have on us to fuck us even worse.”
I frowned. “You could at least try something. No one should just mess with you and get away with it.”
Seth blinked. “Are you kidding? The school has soundproof walls and the cameras there don’t work.” What. “Once the kids reach their teen years they get pulled into it, they are told when they can finally understand it, and they start playing the game or do their best to leave once they grow old enough. Stay around for long enough and you’ll see what I mean.”
I rubbed my face in exasperation. “I think I know more than enough already.” I grumbled as I thought back at my first months and some of the actions that kids and teachers alike had taken. “But this shouldn’t stand.”
“And what would you do?” Seth looked at me intently. The question wasn’t rhetorical. “The police seems to not care for shit, so unless you had definitive proof, you could do little. The only way I can think of is…”
“Is…?” Though I saw what he was probably thinking.
“Fight fire with fire.” Seth uttered after a few seconds. “Did your wife at least confess she was the one cheating on you?”
“Fuck no.” I bared my teeth at the fucking memory. “My own little girl had the balls to show me that Naomi was cheating on me, she even had the fucking brass to tell me to go away so she and her mother could do as she pleased.”
Seth whistled. “Man, she sounds as bad as my wife’s mother, and she is a fucking bitch.” He chuckled, much to my chagrin. “Look man, everyone here is messed up, so you can either endure it, let it go or try to fight against the system, but you can see how it ended for me.”
I narrowed my eyes, not at him, but at the thought of just letting this happen. “You don’t know how much of an asshole I can be.”
He looked at me with utmost seriousness. “You think you can be so low as to step to their level?”
“Would you allow for any of them to use your daughter, your wife, or you again?” Seth didn’t say anything that time. “If they keep messing with me, I’ll snap, and if I snap, I’ll go for blood. I may not be about to kill anyone, but I have lived in the streets my whole life until I meet my wife. Having my family was hardly any better than being a delinquent until I reared myself in: I know how to mess people, and I have the cold blood to do it.”
“Hey! Think I am any better?” Seth smirked, but it soon died down. “But I can’t get my kid or my wife under my ‘lovingly’ family’s little radar. However, if we found a way to get the videos of me and my wife out of the way…”
“If I snap you are with me.” Seth nodded. “No matter how fucked up this gets?”
“Fucked up? In twelve years I HAVE seen fucked up.” He snorted. “Whatever we do won’t even equal one fucking percent of what I have seen. I may be small, but I have one of the biggest pairs of balls you’ll ever see.” He offered his clawed hand with a smirk forming on his beak. “If you go on a fucking frenzy, then let’s clean the waters of all this chum.”
“Oh we will.” I chuckled as I felt a thrill very similar to what once invaded me just before I went on a chase back home. “I can assure you that this Monday will change many things…” I took his arm and offered a good shake. “Just try to get our third friend to meet us here; this is going to be messy and three heads think better than two.”
After a shitty night a new day arises, only for a certain shark to find himself alone, with his daughter left behind and an invitation to a place he doesn't want to go. In two days his ire has grown more than the past twelve years, and little by little, word by word, it is reaching the breaking point of his patience... How long will it last before something ends up changing forever?
***
This work is commissioned by Proteus o3o/! Go give him a poke, a hug, and probably something else ^^ He also will, from time to time, draw scenes or characters belonging to this story, so check him regularly :3!
Please tell me that he will fuck them up so bad they can't walk. You make eveeeeeery frikkin part of this a feelstrip. I just want Nergal to rip them all apart! You are a real frikkin' artist.
Please tell me that he will fuck them up so bad they can't walk. You make eveeeeeery frikkin part of
Give it around 24 hours and you'll see how things start to fall apart for certain characters *snickers* Cos I promise there will be an update tomorrow >:3
Give it around 24 hours and you'll see how things start to fall apart for certain characters *snicke
