"Feeling okay?" I asked.
"What did you do?" His eyes closed.
I lugged his heavy ass in the house as his feet dragged on the grass and up the steps. I dropped him on the couch and propped up his legs with a pillow. Wolf dog followed, whining at me.
"Oh hush, he'll be fine.”
Kaja sniffed around Zak’s limp form.
“It'll wear off in about thirty minutes."
I smirked and rubbed Kaja behind the ears. "You saw me put his ass out, didn’t you, boy?"
I stood by the stove and tossed a few scraps to Kaja, helping him form bad habits. Chicken sizzled on the pan as I flipped it over and the aroma wafted across my face.
Light groans made their way into my ears. I turned and looked at Zak as he sat up on the couch.
"Sleep okay?"
"You're funny.” Zak rubbed his temples. “How long was I out?"
"Oh, it was only thirty minutes."
"Feels like hours. What'd you use?"
"A little secret I found in a book."
"Bashura?" He smiled.
"How do you know that?"
"It's my book. I've used it many times."
"Shit works."
"When did you get me?"
"Remember this?" I shut the stove off, walked over, and placed a hand on his shoulder.
I flashed him a quick wink with my hand still on him.
The corners of his mouth curled into a wide grin.
"The rabbit?" He looked puzzled. "You tripped over it on purpose? Why?"
"You are too fucking cautious. I'd be here forever if it were up to you. Part of me thinks you don't want me to leave. I've been doing little things for weeks to piss you off. To the point you finally dismissed the whole idea of me going out on my own."
Beaming at me with pride, he walked toward his bedroom. "You're ready. Follow me."
I followed Zak into the one room I'd never been. I was often curious, but never entered it, out of respect.
Pictures of an older couple hung on one wall. I assumed they were his parents. I looked over at the bed and there was a masquerade style mask on it. It was a gorgeous, black gothic design with lace filigree that flowed around the face.
"It was my mom's. It was made for a customary celebration in Golem. The tradition was lost over time."
He turned back to me.
"You must be a symbol for the people. You must protect them. In nature, there is no greater protector than a mother."
He looked like he might just shed a tear as he stalled in the middle of the room and stared at a picture of his mom on the wall.
"A mother," he said. "A mother is the greatest protector in world. She makes children feel safe. In the ancient world, the mother was the leader. She was the matriarch of society." He stared deep into my eyes. "You will be the mother for the kids who don't have one."
A giant wave of heat ballooned in my chest as he took the mask and placed it over my head. My hair flowed out the sides and fell on my lean, muscular shoulders.
"Now you're ready."
I wrapped my arms around him and he gripped me tight, holding me close to his solid chest. I pulled back a little and looked up at him through the mask.
"Thank you. For everything."
His warm palms pressed into my cheeks.
"You're welcome." His face beamed as he stared at me. “I’m proud of you.”
We sat around the dinner table, both of us picking at our food. My leg twitched. Zak looked up at me.
"What's wrong?"
I tried to play it off. "What?"
He stared back at me. I knew the look. "Just nervous. Going out on my own."
"There's a bag under the table for you. There's money to help you get started." He smiled.
"You don't have to—"
"It's done."
I knew better than to argue.
"What's your plan?"
"I'm going to go to get an education. Have a normal life during the day."
"Really? And what are you going to do in this 'normal life'?"
"Business. Finance."
"Well. I think you'll be very good at that."
"It will give me tools other than my fists to fight Kiril."
"How so?"
"I can interrupt his infrastructure, buy companies, give him legal problems. Are you sure you read the business books?"
Zak sighed. "Money is boring. You don't need money if you know how to hunt rabbit."
A knock at the door jarred me from my sleep. I must've been napping hard. Who the hell is here? Nobody ever came to the house. I stretched my arms above me and yawned. Rising from the bed, I heard voices through the ceiling. I closed my eyes and focused on the sounds.
Then I heard his voice. My fingers began to shake and the room closed in on me.
"Zak."
I'd never forget that moment. All the air in my lungs escaped me and I gasped, praying my brain was playing a cruel trick. The voice grew louder. Footsteps pounded the floorboards above and I could hear him clearly. Kiril.
I crept up the stairs, positioning to strike if it came to that. How did he find us? Why was he here?
I watched through the small hole I'd drilled in the floor. Zak knew it was there, and backed slowly into view. He never looked to me but I saw his index finger wag on the side of his leg, warning me to stay hidden.
How the fuck does he expect me to sit here and not do anything?
"Why are you here?"
"To visit an old friend."
I'd had enough at this point. Zak's eyes were trained on Kiril's bandages, staring at him with contempt. His neck was tense and his hands balled up into fists. It was no exercise. This is what I'd trained for. Zak's lessons played over and over through my mind. Justice not revenge.
"We had a deal. You don't look for me. You don't bother me."
"You don't watch the news, friend? You didn't hear? Things change."
I closed my eyes and focused, making out the position of three other men. One was near the door, probably to watch wolf dog. I could hear his familiar panting. The other two were just out of view.
"What has changed?"
"The United States. I made a deal."
Zak's face tensed even further, his breathing labored, and his index finger wagged at me once more.
"What deal? What about our arrangement? I should've known better than to trust the word of a coward."
Kiril chuckled. "It was a business deal. A closed border is no good for Golem. There is much prosperity on this side." The bandages around his lips turned up to a smile. "Oh, I made one other deal with them."
"What's that?"
"This.” Kiril sank his serrated blade into Zak’s throat. Blood gushed from his mouth and arterial spray painted the wall. I bit my forearm. Hard.
Kiril slowly pulled the blade out and held Zak by the back of his hair.
"It was a personal matter." Kiril let Zak crumple to the floor.
His lifeless gaze stared at me through the hole in the floor. My teeth dug into my flesh as rage coursed silently into my arm. Blood dripped to the stairs.
I heard wolf dog struggle and growl. Kiril walked toward him, leaving my field of vision. I heard the knife whistle through the air and then a whimper. Kaja went silent and a thud echoed through the room.
A moment later the door closed and a vehicle retreated down the dirt road. Silence.
I threw open the door as soon as I was certain they were gone. Why hadn't I done something? I should have ignored Zak's warnings. What if his signals were calls for help?
I dove on top of Zak, running my hands over his cheeks, bawling. My tears and blood dripped onto him, and I caressed his face. My one friend, my mentor, the one who had saved me from a life of prostitution and doing anything I could to survive. Kiril had already taken my blood. Now he’d taken a piece of my soul, too. I screamed with rage until my voice failed and turned into deep sobs.
I ran my hands through his hair and kissed his cheek before gr
abbing a pillow off the couch. I set his head on top of it, covering my mouth with my other hand.
Wolf dog lay by the door, a single gash of red over his heart. My hand still covered my mouth and salty tears streamed down onto my lips as I walked to him. I knelt next to him and stroked his fur, waiting for him to spring back to life. Eventually, I used my thumb and index finger to close his eyelids.
"Rest easy, boys."
I leaned against a shovel at the edge of the tree line. Zak and wolf dog were lying on the ground in front of me. I'd cleaned both of them up. Zak wore a traditional business suit from Golem that I had pressed. I grabbed the shovel and walked a few paces from them.
I struggled to get the words out.
"One last training exercise with my boys watching?"
I sniffed and rubbed my eyes on my shoulder as the shovel jammed into the Earth.
"How to honor those you love."
I finished the holes and my spirit finally broke. I fell to my knees and wept uncontrollably into the graves. Crawling over to them, I ran my fingers along each of their heads.
"I love you so much...both of you...and..." I started to choke on my words but managed to stutter through them. "I'm going to m-miss you both so much. So very much. I'm going to make you so proud of me."
I stood and hoisted wolf dog up into my arms and kissed his fur, pressing my face into it to smell him one last time before placing him in the ground. Then I picked up Zak's heavy body. My muscles strained but I fought through it, intent on setting him gently next to wolf dog. When I finished, I said one final goodbye and covered them with dirt.
I packed the graves down with the shovel, staring around at the forest and the house. It was quiet and serene, lifeless now. I wiped the tears from my face and picked up my bag, the mask dangling from its side. Anger raged in my blood.
"Justice my ass."
I walked toward the truck packed with the rest of my belongings. The lace from the mask flipped in the wind as I climbed in and fired up the engine.
"Time to go home."
MATRIARCH PROVES THORN IN THE SIDE OF "THE FAMILY" ONCE MORE
BY: JIM BRISTOL
BATHORY CITY - The masked vigilante crime fighter known as "The Matriarch" has struck again. Reports are that she killed nearly a dozen men and freed as many as 10 captives from a Family compound. Sources indicate that the crime fighter — known also as "Protector", "Temptress," and "Black Mantis" seduced Damon Sabbath to gain entrance to the heavily guarded location.
Investigators remain quiet as they collect information, but with the rumors of police collusion and political corruption, citizens seem to have embraced this real-life superhero as one of their own.
Salzberg Industries, the rumored business arm of the Family, has denied knowledge of the captives or the break-in. The CEO, Kiril Salzberg, was unavailable for comment, but the web site had the following statement:
"Salzberg Industries, in order to protect the proprietary nature of its operations, and due to the private status of the company regarding the laws that govern how legal entities operate, does not disclose information of its holdings to the public. We strive to create jobs for working people, provide products and opportunities to the public in order to foster an environment necessary to maximize the standard of living for all citizens, help to build a thriving middle class, and serve the poor citizens of our nation through various charities and private foundations. Any rumors that Salzberg Industries has ties to illegal or unsavory ventures are simply that — rumors. These allegations are libelous and patently false.”
A source described the scene at the compound as "a complete bloodbath" while another stated that, "it was like a whirlwind of knives and kicks and she was gone, nothing left but a pile of bodies."
The identity of "The Matriarch" is still unknown. According to authorities, she is listed as number one on their list of top ten most wanted criminals. The identities of the girls and the manner in which they escaped is also unknown. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Mike Sharpa at the Bathory City Police Department.
"How long until it's complete?" Kiril’s voice was so cold it made my skin crawl.
I pushed my glasses up my nose, fingers twitching. My right arm trembled as I lowered it from my face. I'd worked for Kiril the last five years in his secure lab back in Golem.
"It's difficult to say. We have a lot to do. Controls, review, rigorous studying of side effects."
"This is a top priority. It needs to be done, soon."
We stared through the observation window that had tortured me the past five years. Young girls were hooked to IVs. Some of the girls vomited, some had skin lesions. It was horrifying, unethical, wrong. Kiril made it known he cared little for the cost, as long as the goal was reached. The girls he trafficked were cheap test subjects who yielded immediate results.
I never thought that my training — studying to make lives better — could have led me down this dark, twisted path.
"What are they capable of now?" His soulless eyes burned into my skull.
"Follow me."
We walked down a long corridor. My heart raced every time I heard Kiril breathe through the shrouded mask. I couldn't pinpoint what it was about him that evoked such dread. He could have been a scholar with his naturally scientific mind of inquiry. Completely lucid at all times. The fact that he was sane made him even more frightening. His wrapped face didn't help.
He knew exactly what he was doing, and that scared the hell out of me. We stepped into an elevator and my heart dropped into my stomach. I glanced to his face and wondered what traumatic event created such a monster.
After the brief trip down, the door couldn't open fast enough and I sped through it, pretending to be in a hurry.
We moved briskly down another long, cold hallway that was bright white, the tiles squeaking under our shoes. We turned into a training room with weight equipment and a sparring mat. A girl stood with an employee near a large punching bag. I nodded to the employee, who stepped away.
The 14-year-old girl stared at Kiril and me with her pink, bloodshot eyes.
The employee nodded to her. The girl twirled and screamed. She exploded the training bag with her lower leg.
Dust fragments and debris rained down around us, powdering the floor. Once everything settled, the girl stood staring, her chest heaving up and down in sharp, fluid contractions.
Kiril grinned as we looked up to a large monitor that read 1.2 tons.
"That's the force on the bag." My eyes darted to his.
"Is it good?"
"The average elite fighter punches with roughly 775 pounds of force. Her kick was 2,400 pounds."
Kiril's smile grew when the girl grasped her stomach and screamed in agony. She fell to the floor and vomit splattered on the mat. She started to convulse. The employee called for medics as Kiril strode to her and knelt down. He cocked his head sideways and gazed into her pinpoint pupils.
She was barely breathing and bubbles were coming out of her nose as the medics rushed to her.
"You're making a great sacrifice." The medics hauled her off on a stretcher as the monster turned to me.
"Why were her eyes so small?"
"The serum, in its current state, heightens senses dramatically. The body naturally reacts and her pupils contract to limit the light they take in. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to see."
"Ahh." Kiril's head tilted back and he nodded to me. "Fix the problem. I have a meeting. I want this done soon." He turned and walked across the mat and disappeared through the door.
Kiril always looked out of place at our strategy meetings. I glanced around at the nervous men in suits sitting at the conference table. Kiril surrounded himself with the brightest minds in finance, marketing, and operations. We all twitched as he breathed through the linens, none of us daring to look him in the eye.
Mark Taylor sat next to me. He was VP of Marketing. "You have to tell him," he whispered.
"He's going to kill m
e." My hands trembled on my legs as I looked at the mummy, afraid of what would happen when I broke the news. I gulped and raised my voice. "Mr. Salzberg." Kiril turned slowly and looked in my direction.
"Yes?"
"I'm umm...I'm afraid I have some bad news."
"What's that?"
"Three of the small pharmaceutical companies we were courting were acquired earlier this morning."
Kiril's head perked up.
"Is that so?"
"Yes, sir. I'm sorry. We're working to find out what went down. None of them were actively seeking outside capital. We don't know how this happened. Our department is baffled."
"Yes...it is, baffling."
There was an awkward silence. I wasn't sure how to respond.
"We had term sheets ready to present and were informed just before our meeting that they had accepted offers. The offers were for controlling portions."
"Who acquired them?"
"They wouldn't comment. But our due diligence teams observed high-level employees of Balfour Capital leaving their buildings this morning."
Kiril's fists clenched, but his demeanor remained calm.
"See what you can do. These companies are of importance."
"Y-yes sir."
Kiril rose to his feet and disappeared down the hall as two large men followed. One of them reappeared in the door. "Meer. Come with me."
I was led down the hall toward Kiril's office. I'd heard stories of the shit Kiril did behind closed doors. None of it was ever confirmed. I knew I never wanted to find out, yet here I was.
I turned the corner into the mummy's office and he stood there staring at the wall. Pictures hung all around. It was surprisingly professional, not the torture chamber I'd envisioned.
I watched him at the wall, seemingly deep in thought. His arm raised from his side and drove a hole through the sheet rock. A crack hurtled for the ceiling. My knees quaked under me. I'd never seen anything like it.
The Matriarch: An Erotic Superhero Romance (The Matriarch Trilogy Book 1) Page 8
