The Royal Flush (Knights of the Darkness Chronicles(Book Three))

by Simmons, D. N.

  “Natasha, are you all right?” Sergio asked concerned.

  “No... I’m stuck!” she whined. She could hear Sergio laughing softly to himself on the other side of the door. “Stop laughing and come help me!”

  “Okay, okay, here I come... are you decent?” he teased, opening the door.

  Upon entering, he caught first glance of Natasha and laughed boisterously. She had managed to entangle herself inside the dress so badly that it actually looked painful. The top of her head poked through one of the arm sleeves, her right arm jutted out of the collar, while her left arm was stuck inside the dress, only her fingers were seen dangling through a slit. She looked like a complete mess. He continued to laugh holding onto the door handle for support as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

  Natasha groaned.

  “I hate you for this. Stop laughing and help me!” she pleaded.

  Sergio felt pity for her and fought to regain his composure. Walking over to her, he began unzipping and unbuckling some of the straps, freeing her head and arms.

  “How did this happen?” he asked still chuckling. “When I bought this dress, I didn’t see it as a torture device. But now… ”

  “Oh, shut up. I thought I was putting it on right, I should have stopped when I put my arm through this hole here, it didn’t feel right,” Natasha said innocently.

  “Yeah, it doesn’t look right either. Are you in pain?” Sergio asked, then he laughed again. “You should have unzipped it first.”

  Natasha grimaced as she raised one foot bringing it down, stomping Sergio’s toes, knowing it wouldn’t hurt him.

  “Hey! Now, behave yourself… or I’ll leave you this way,” Sergio taunted. His laughter trickled as he looked at her. “All right, all right, I’ll stop laughing, but if you could see yourself, you’d see why it’s so hard to look at you and not laugh. Here, slide your arm through this end.” He helped her slide her arm out of the dress. When her arm was freed, he stepped back. “You have the dress on upside-down, or sideways… shit, I don’t know what the hell’s going on.”

  “And you bought the damn thing! You’ve got some nerve making fun of me. Plus the dress is tight as hell,” Natasha said in her defense.

  “I made sure it was one size too small so that your breasts would sit on top of your chest like two mountains.” Sergio smiled wickedly.

  “I’m telling Elise.”

  “I bought her a red one just like it. Now, I trust you can take it from here, or do you think you’ll need the ‘Jaws of Life’?” he teased.

  “You want me to stomp your other foot?”

  “Let me give you some privacy.” Sergio chuckled as he walked out of the bedroom.

  Natasha stuck her tongue out at the closed door then slid the dress off, turning it right-side up and climbed back into it. The second time was much easier than the first. Sergio was right, she should have unzipped it. She would have had she known that was an option. Next, she slid on the six-inch spiked heel boots, rising unsteadily then making her way to the mirror to look at herself from head to toe. To her own amazement, she never thought she could look like that. The dress accented all of her womanly curves, making her look all the more voluptuous and sexy. She ran her hands down the length of the dress and smiled wickedly. A girl could get used to this, she thought. Sergio might have started something. The dress itself was high above the knee, way higher than what she was used to. The sewn-in bustier lifted her healthy bosom high on her chest, which she did like, and they did look like two mountains.

  “God, if they were up any higher, I wouldn’t be able to see a damn thing,” she mused.

  The dress had revealing peek-a-boo slits across the midriff and back exposing her flesh. She liked the ensemble in spite of herself. It was something she would never have bought on her own. She turned around to get another view and thought about her lovers. She wondered if they would like to see her in something so daring and decided that she would ask Sergio if she could keep the dress afterward. She didn’t think he would say no. After applying make-up much in her idea of a harlot, she left the room, confident that she could pull off the look at least.

  “Oh, sweet Jesus,” Adrian said breathlessly when he laid his eyes on Natasha scantily clad in the black leather dress. “Now, I wish the whole mobster boyfriend gimmick was my idea. Well, at least I found the dress.”

  “Yeah, but I paid for it.” Something dawned on Sergio. “Hey, I thought you were gay?” he asked, shocked by Adrian’s appraisal of Natasha.

  “Bisexual,” Adrian corrected, never taking his eyes from Natasha.

  Sergio rolled his eyes, mumbling something about people being “greedy”.

  “Do I look passable?” Natasha asked.

  “You have my vote,” Adrian said, Justin nodded in agreement. Nagesa simply looked on, remaining silent.

  “I’m going to have fun today,” Sergio said. “You look ... delectable.” He grinned feigning a lust-filled pant.

  “Oh stop it before I tell Elise,” Natasha joked, though she wouldn’t admit it, she loved the attention.

  “Tell,” Sergio said with a mischievous grin.

  “You behave yourself.” Natasha pointed her finger at him like a scolding mother.

  Sergio nodded with a wicked grin.

  “Shall we?” He raised his arm and Natasha slipped hers through his. They left the mansion heading towards the drop location.

  They pulled into the parking lot and climbed out of the car. The entire drive over, Natasha had been listening to them give her pointers on being a seductress. She practiced, hoping to be in character by the time they reached their destination. She looked at the other car parked in front of theirs. A man climbed out of the Boa XL32, he was African-American, about six feet four dressed in a dark blue suit. A strong breeze blew his blazer open, causing a “cape-in-the-wind” effect. Natasha hated to admit it, but she thought he looked pretty cool. Just like the first night she met Darian. The wind playing in his hair, and blowing his coat made Darian look completely delectable to her then, too.

  “Do you have my merchandise?” he yelled across the parking lot. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses, though Natasha suspected that the shape-shifters could still see his eyes as clearly as if he weren’t wearing any sunglasses at all.

  “I do,” Sergio said, thickening his Italian accent. “Do you have the money?”

  “It’s right here.” The other man held up a black briefcase with gold-plated locks. “Let’s do this, shall we?”

  Sergio was wearing an all-white linen suit. A jacket, slacks and white t-shirt completed the ensemble. He reminded Natasha of a really cute vice cop from an old popular eighties television show. The others were dressed in similar outfits, different colors, all but Justin who wore jeans with a t-shirt and Natasha who was beginning to sweat under her leather get-up. They walked over to the man, making sure to keep eye contact.

  “What’s your name?” Sergio asked.

  “Why do you want to know?” asked the man, a sneer on his lips. “As a matter of fact, I do believe that’s my line. By your accent, I can tell you’re not the same person I spoke with last night.”

  “Does it matter?”

  “That depends. Who did I speak to last night?”

  “An associate. Now, are you going to tell me your name?”

  “Does it matter?” Adam retorted.

  Sergio snorted. “I just like to know who I’m doing business with.”

  “Brian,” Adam lied, giving him his alias. “and you?” he asked, placing the briefcase on top of the trunk of his car, he worked the combination locks, opening the case to reveal the two-hundred thousand dollars.

  “Cicero,” Sergio gave him a fake name as he glanced at the money lined perfectly in the briefcase.

  “Looks good.”

  He gestured to Adrian and Nagesa to bring over the trunk with the ammunition in it.

  Natasha was so worried about the deal at hand, she almost forgot to perform. She swallow
ed hard and sashayed up to Sergio, who slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer. She was thankful that her eyes were hidden behind a pair of very dark sunglasses because she didn’t want this guy who was now staring at her to see the fear that was really there. She was so nervous, she thought she might vomit, but that would just be disturbing and disgusting so she forced herself to calm down. She gathered up her senses. If she was going to be of any use, she was going to have to overcome her fear. She took a look around, the four men standing near-by made her feel protected. She took several deep breaths, preparing herself for the performance of a lifetime… her lifetime, that is.

  “Is it enough, baby?” she asked in a soft voice. By golly, she thought she might just pull it off.

  “It’ll do,” Sergio said as he stared at Adam who returned the glare.

  Now, is the perfect opportunity to make my move, Natasha thought. She prayed that she could walk over to him without falling face first. The height of her six-inched heeled boots was about three inches more than what she was used to. Natasha never understood how women could endure such pain for the sake of fashion. That was, until she looked at herself in the mirror. The boots did make her legs look longer, sexier. Still, she wasn’t going to make a habit of wearing them, already her feet and calves were starting to ache. Slowly, she sashayed closer to Adam who began to grow nervous.

  “What are you doing?” Adam asked suspiciously.

  Natasha walked over to his car running her fingers over the trunk.

  “Don’t worry, she just likes to get a little... personal. Shouldn’t bother you, unless you detest a woman’s touch?” Sergio goaded.

  Adam’s expression tensed, but to prove Sergio wrong, he allowed Natasha to touch his sweet ride.

  “No problem on my end. In fact… ” He turned to Natasha. “ …Hey sweetheart, when you get through playing with my toy, I have something else you can ride a lot longer and harder.”

  Appalled, Natasha turn towards the man.

  “Careful now, didn’t your momma teach you not to play with dangerous things?” she warned masking her revulsion successfully. Adam, disturbed her greatly and she really wanted to be as far away from him as quickly as possible.

  “Ooh, I like her,” Adam said, giving Natasha a wicked, lustful glare.

  “What’s not to like? I’ll tell you one thing. You say one more word to her, I’ll rip out your fucking tongue,” Sergio threatened with pure menace.

  “Yeah, whatever, she’s not my type anyway. Let’s just get this over with.” Adam watched Adrian and Nagesa as they opened the trunk. He looked inside inspecting the merchandise.

  Natasha used that opportunity to touch the hood of his car. Immediately she sensed something, but the sensation was more powerful than it had ever been in the past. A vision flashed in her mind relating to the car. A woman was tossed on the hood, her clothes ripped from her body violently. Nails scraping across her flesh, thin lines of blood flowed from the fresh wounds. She screamed, cried, and begged for mercy. The man, the one who called himself Brian was on top of her, a gun in his left hand which he pressed underneath her chin. He told her to keep quite if she didn’t want her brains splattered over the car’s hood. Fearing for her life, she acquiesced with tears of desperation and overwhelming despair streaming down the sides of her face. Adam raped her over and over and when he was done and she was sore, terrified and ashamed. He pulled the trigger of his gun, splattering her brains over the hood of the car. He took great care to shoot her through her chin so that the bullet would exit through the top of her head, not through the hood of his sweet ride. Natasha yelped as she snatched her hand away from the car’s handle.

  Adam turned around sharply, looking at her. Pointing rudely, he asked. “What the fuck’s going on with this bitch?”

  He turned around to address Sergio and was knocked down by the shifter’s right hook. He looked up at Sergio from his prone position on the ground; blood trickled from his nose and mouth.

  “What the fuck?!” He spat the blood that had gathered in his mouth onto the ground then rose. “This meeting is over with. Close the trunk!”

  “I don’t think so. See, we’re going to be taking the money and the merchandise,” Sergio said.

  “What is this, Cicero? Are you trying to double-cross me?!” Adam laughed harshly. “You fucking idiots!” He looked at the others. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you have some pretty huge brass balls. Unfortunately for you, there isn’t a brain rolling around in that noggin of yours. You see, I don’t get scammed. Look around you?” He pointed towards the few abandoned buildings that surrounded the area.

  “What exactly am I looking for?” Sergio asked sarcastically.

  “My men are all around this area, one signal from me and you’re fucking dead. I will be taking the money and the merchandise… that is if you want to live.”

  “Oh, do you mean the so-called hit-menslash guards you had stashed in those abandoned buildings? Give the signal, I dare you.” Sergio smiled arrogantly.

  Adam didn’t hesitate, this ‘Cicero’ guy was just too confident. He looked at Sergio’s bodyguards and noticed that they weren’t concerned at all. He waved his hand, signaling for his men to shoot them down. When the bullets didn’t come, he panicked. He grabbed Natasha who was still in shock from what she saw and confused as to why she had the clairvoyant vision, and now terrified that she was a hostage. She had been putting the pieces together in her mind. Darian had increased her power the night before, this must be the result. She was coming to grips with that as well as the threat of the current situation when Adam placed a gun beside her temple.

  “Back the fuck off or I’ll kill this bitch, I fucking swear it!” Adam threatened.

  Natasha screamed as she was being dragged backwards. Her right ankle twisted as he dragged her forcefully towards the trunk filled with ammunition.

  “Grab it, now!” he ordered.

  Natasha grabbed the trunk’s handle and tried to drag it back to Adam’s car but couldn’t. “I can’t! It’s too heavy,” she protested.

  “Shit. Get the briefcase, then,” Adam said as he cocked the gun, keeping the barrel pressed against her temple.

  Natasha reached for the briefcase on the hood. It was then that Adrian appeared behind Adam, startling him. Adrian’s hand caught Adam’s gun, crushing it into a small metal ball. Adam was at a loss for words, too terrified even to scream. He released Natasha and she ran into the protectiveness of Sergio’s arms. Adam had just witness the awesome strength of a shape-shifter, of that he was certain, it had to be, everyone knew vampires couldn’t survive the sunlight.

  “Remember we don’t want him dead,” Sergio said, speaking in Italian to Adrian, who nodded and released the man.

  Adrian took the briefcase full of cash from Natasha’s trembling hand. Nagesa reached for the trunk and carried it back to their car with Justin. Sergio began to back away from Adam then he turned, taking Natasha with him as he walked back towards the car.

  Adrian watched Adam with the gaze of a predator. “Don’t fucking move, if you do... I won’t hesitate to kill you. Be a team player and tell your boss if he harms any of the people he has imprisoned, I will make him wish he was never born.” He turned and walked away, leaving Adam standing alone in the parking lot.

  Immediately, Adam climbed into this car and sped off, heading towards the Esquire Hotel.

  Adrian climbed into the back seat; he looked over at Natasha who was sitting next to him. “What did you see that had you so freaked out? You had me worried back there, I’ve never seen you so zoned out or that frightened?” he asked as he put his arm around her, holding her close.

  Natasha could no longer hold back the tears that welled inside of her and she began to cry. Sergio drove the car back to Xander’s mansion as Adrian held her in his arms, comforting her as best he could. She remained silent, not wanting to talk about what she had witnessed, not at that moment, at least. It was still too fresh. All she wanted now wa
s to be held and that was just what Adrian did.

  Sergio pulled in front of Xander’s mansion and they all climbed out, bringing everything with them. Adrian assisted Natasha to a seat in the den once they were inside the mansion.

  “Are you going to be okay?” he asked. He was concerned for her.

  “I saw what he did to her.” Natasha began to cry once more, she closed her eyes tightly and shook her head rapidly as if she could shake the memory from her mind.

  “Natasha, what did you see?” Adrian asked, he knelt down in front of her, grabbing her by the shoulders.

  Natasha fought to get herself together, she was never one to break down and she didn’t want to start now. If seeing random visions like what she witnessed was going to be a part of her life now, she needed to regain control. She was going to have to find a way to deal with it. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard.

  “Natasha, speak to me, are you all right?” Sergio asked, both he and Adrian were looking at her when she opened her eyes.

  Xander and Tatiana entered the room.

  “Give her some room, darling. Let the poor girl breathe,” Tatiana said to Adrian, who rose to his feet, stepping back from Natasha.

  “Go and get her a glass of water,” Xander told Justin, who left and returned quickly with a tall glass of ice cold water. He handed it to Natasha, who took the glass and quickly began to drink pausing only to catch her breath between swallows.

  “Leave us,” the Alpha ordered.

  Tatiana looked at her husband and nodded. She ushered everyone out of the room, leaving Xander alone with Natasha.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Xander asked. He looked at her clothes, and knew the outfit was Adrian’s idea. It had his son’s taste written all over it. He fought the urge to smile. Smiling now, would be completely inappropriate, he thought. he sat down in the chair opposite Natasha and waited for her to feel comfortable enough to speak.

  After five minutes passed, Natasha placed the empty glass on the coaster that sat on the end table. She looked at Xander.