Tuesday, October 19, 2010 Chapter 25

It was inevitable, he would come for Nicholas soon enough. Zachary knew that he’d do anything, ANYTHING, to make sure that man didn’t get his hands on his son. He had only seen the man three times, and it didn’t take him more than a minute of his company, to start hating him. Lucifer Drake, the mafia legend, one of the richest men on this planet, one of the most feared and yet he was the father of the woman he loved.

The first time he saw Lucifer was at the family house, he walked through the corridors dazzled by the shining golden that filled the corridors, famous portraits hung upon the walls of the long corridors, yet the place sent chills down his spine. The only source of comfort in this whole mansion seemed to be the loving woman, holding his hand, leading him up the staircase. They were only halfway up the staircase when they were stopped by a little girl, her angry gaze pointed towards him.

“Sweetheart why don’t you go play in your room?” Lucia said holding out her hand as an invitation.

The girl merely looked at Lucia before turning back to glare at Zachary. “Zach this is Lara,” Lucia said giving the little girl a hug. She only looked a few years old, she had short blonde hair which was neatly tied into a pony tail with a red ribbon. “Let me go,” she said and struggled out of Lucia’s arms.

Lara was Lucia’s first daughter, she was Edward’s daughter and this made Zachary pity her even more. He swore to Lucia that he’d love her as if she was his own child, if only she ever gave him a chance.

“You’re the reason that father is dead!” she screamed and hit Zachary with her small fists. “I HATE YOU!” She yelled as she stomped on his feet then started beating his chest with her hands again. Soon a servant ran in and picked up the little girl, she was still screaming and crying, yet the servant took her away leaving Zachary filled with sorrow for the small girl.

“She- she’ll be alright?” Zachary asked Lucia who looked back at him sadly.

“Hopefully, she usually doesn’t live here, her father didn’t want her to, but she must’ve come by to visit her grandfather.”

“Why doesn’t she live with you?”

“Edward’s will said that If anything were to happen, she would be looked after by servants.”

“But how can you-“

“We can discuss this at a later time-“ she cut him off.

She led him up the staircase and to a large wooden door. He stood there looking at the doors, and had it not been for Lucia’s presence, this would have been hell’s doorway. He gulped, he had never met the man inside and would’ve preferred to keep it that way.

“Are you nervous?” she asked him.

‘Ha? Nervous? How about I’m about my heart is beating so fast it’ll probably kill itself faster than the man inside could!’

“I’m fine,” he lied. She turned him around and fixed his collar and tie a little, then wrapped her arms around him.

“I love you,” she said quietly.

“I love you too,” and with that they walked in. The room was dark and he was greeted by the gaze of middle-aged man, he sat in his arm chair reading a book and looked up when he heard the two walk in. He smiled at Zachary and Zachary felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He expected the man would be older, and more aggressive in nature, but no, this man was worse.

“I presume this is the Zachary whom you have spoken of for such a long time?” he asked, still smiling.

“Yes father, this is Zachary, we have come here for your permission to wed,” she said and Zach could sense that she was just as nervous as he was.

“Ah, my child of course, but I haven’t even heard the man talk, would you mind leaving us alone, I am just dying to speak to this charming young man.”

“Yes father,” she nodded and Zachary shot her a desperate look, a look which said ‘don’t leave me here with this crazy murderer’, but Lucia just smiled at him nervously and left the room.

“Take a seat son,” the older man gestured his hands pointed towards the two cushioned chairs in front of his desk. “Tell me, Zachary, do you know who I am?”

“I know of what Lucia has told me.”

“So I’m assuming you know what it is that I do?”

“Yes.” Lucifer got up from his seat and walked over to him, sitting on the edge of the desk only inches from Zachary.

“Do I repulse you?” he asked mischievously.

“No, not at all,” Zachary lied again, “You are the father of the woman I love, you are like my father.”

“That is good to hear, I can see that my daughter has chosen a good man, I am just upset I wasn’t able to choose the right man for her in the first place,” he walked towards the window, standing there while looking outside, shading the only light in the room leaving Zachary feeling suffocated.

“You knew?!” Zach asked, “You knew what he was doing to your daughter yet...”

“Now my son, do not accuse me of causing my own daughter pain, the matters that Edward was harming my daughter only came to my attention very recently. It is in my nature to destroy anything that hurts those whom I love; Edward would’ve been taken care of had it not been for the incident.

Lucifer turned to face him, “You must mean a lot to my daughter... for her to be able to do such a thing.”

“I love her.”

Lucifer smiled, “I know...” he turned to face out the window again, “She’s a flower isn’t she, innocent and young, nothing like her own father, she’s like her mother I tell you,” he looked back at Zachary once, “Just like her mother,” he whispered to himself.

He walked over to Zachary again and held out his hand, Zachary got up and shook it, and they paused in that stance, “Zachary, you are like my child now and I have a proposal for you, how would you like to join me, in my business.”

Zachary took his hand away, “I’m sorry but I have a passion for my own career, I promise to love your daughter though, till the day I die.”

“Till the day you die,” Lucifer repeated and turned to face the table. He then smashed his hands on to the table, holding on to the edges while he stood bent over, “You have my permission to wed Lucia,” he said in an emotionless tone.

***

Though one day he did come for Nicholas, he was 12, and when he did come, Zachary made Nicholas run. Zachary abandoned Nicholas on the streets, he told his son that he loved him and it was for the best, that he would see him from time to time. Zachary couldn’t protect Nicholas while he was with him, no, Lucifer would find him, this was the only way. But there’s only so much a child could take...

“Why do you want me to live out on the streets when you’ve got a home? Am I that much of a pain dad?”

“No son please understand-“

“I’M DONE WITH LISTENING TO YOU!”

“Nicholas, son there is no one in this world that loves you as much as- “

“Yes! There is! I’m going back to mom!”

“Nicholas you will do no such thing!”

But he did, and now seeing his son like this, he felt that all his attempts were useless. Everything he had done to protect his child had gone to waste. Now all he could do was protect his youngest daughter, she was the only one he hadn’t gotten to.

“Papa I got some pancakes!” she beamed at him. He smiled, got up from his seat and walked towards his daughter. “Thank You,” he said placing a kiss on her head then pulling her into a hug.

“Hey... No need to get all emotional it’s just some pancakes old man!”

“Who are you calling old?!” he said and began tickling her.

***

“Shae I apologize for my behaviour earlier,” Carden walked into the room.

“Fuck off Zicarelli,” she replied, clearly not interested. She sat on a large sofa, polishing her favourite gun.

Carden still stood there and Shae finally sighed and looked up at him, “What do you want?”

“You.”

“And what makes you think I want you?”

“I know you want me.”

Shae walked over to him, standing just inches from him, she traced his jaw with her finger slowly, “Even after you got beaten up by a freak?” she said as she pushed him into a wall.

“You’re even worse than him,” she smiled her usual wicked grin.

Anger boiled up in his veins, how dare she, how dare she insult him. He could kill her in a second, if he didn’t desire her so much.

“Forget that happened,” he said as he spun her around, his arms around her waist, “Forget everything.”

“Like the fact that you slept with that slut.”

His eyes widened. How did she know?

“I knew you were low, but to sink that low...”

He smiled, his eyes bored into hers, “Jealous? There’s no need to be... I’m all yours now.”

That’s when she kicked him where it hurts most. He backed off, hunching over and squinting in pain.

She walked over to him running her fingers messily through his gelled back hair and she lifted his head to hers, “I don’t forget, neither do I forgive, and plus, I want someone who’d be loyal to me, and someone who is equal to me, not a weakling like you,” she spat.

He looked up at her, lost for words when she placed a chaste kissed on his lips and walked off.

***

The alarm clock started ringing and Nathaniel, annoyed that he was awaken, turned the alarm off with a careless fist. Only later did he notice that the clock had been smashed to pieces. “Shit,” he said and turned around, lying on his back and facing the ceiling. He placed one hand on his forehead and lay there; he knew his temperature was high again. He sighed and lowered the covers, turning on the fan. It wasn’t a hot day, in fact winter was just settling in. Yet due to his condition, he found it hard to even survive this. What was the point of his survival though? He asked himself that all the time. Why did he want to continue living this dreadful life, guess it was basic human instincts?

Human.

No, he was not human; he was just an experiment, a prized possession, an achievement, a noble prize perhaps, had his existence not been illegal. Edward Kronj; how he hated that name. It was his fault, all his fault that Nathaniel was who he was. Edward had always been into research; yeah that’s what he called it. Truth was, Nathaniel was a clone, and what was worse; he was genetically modified. It was another one of Edward’s passions, to create a super human. All Nathaniel knew was that he had a sister, Layla, he was Layla’s clone. And however impossible it seemed Nathaniel was created and Edward had broken all the rules of science and law.

To his dismay, Edward could not share his success with the world; they wouldn’t see his work in the same light as he did. They would see it as revolting, as unethical, and that’s what it truly was. If people had come to find this, Nathaniel would have been locked up for analysis, in some laboratory or zoo, and that was probably the only thing Nathaniel could thank Edward for, for hiding his existence.

As a child Nathaniel suffered many heart conditions, his body was relatively unstable. He spent most of his time in labs, looking up at masked men who treated him as if he were a disease. They still haunted his nightmares. They would slice him with small metal knives and wouldn’t bother with any anaesthetic. Why? Because to them Nathaniel was even inferior to an amoeba. Those men didn’t have any feelings; the screams that would burst out from Nathaniel’s tiny lungs wouldn’t strike any sympathy from them. But Nathaniel screamed because it was the only thing he could do.

As Nathaniel grew older his condition got better, he was able to walk and talk. He used to see a little girl every now and then, she had blonde hair and would usually come to mock him.

“You’re a monster,” she would say but Nathaniel could not take any offense, he did not know what a monster was.

One day as the young girl tormented him an older woman approached her and told her to be quiet, she told her that it was rude to say such things. The older woman then held her arms out the young boy, but Nathaniel didn’t know what to do. What did she want? Nathaniel held out his small hand and touched the lady’s arm, hoping that she would leave now. Instead the lady smiled, she had long wavy red hair, something Nathaniel had seen for the first time. Nathaniel smiled, her hair was pretty; she was pretty. “What’s your name little one?” she asked.

Nathaniel looked up at her blankly, “Name?” he managed.

“Yeah, what do I call you?”

At this Nathaniel realised what she meant, he dug inside his shirt and pulled out a tag which was attached to a chain around his neck. He then showed the tag to the women.

“E1,” she read out.

“That’s not a name,” she laughed and picked him up, “I’m going to call you Nathaniel.”

Nathaniel put his little arms around her slowly; he wasn’t sure what he was meant to do.

“Do you know what Nathaniel means?” he shook his head slowly.

“It means a gift of god.”

“What’s that?” he asked innocently. The woman just laughed.

“My name is Lucia,” she smiled, looking at him, “You can call me mom if you want, you’ll be living with me from now on.”

Nathaniel smiled again as Lucia held him close. From the corner of his eye he saw the little girl with blonde hair sitting there, watching the whole situation take place. She looked up at him angrily as Lucia carried him away.