The Wrath of the Daemon Ch. 03

"Are you ok, Anais?" She looked at Francisco as he sat next to D. The garden was truly breathtaking, she tried to remember how long it had been since she had been in this part of the house. She would have to remember it if she planned to stay there. She had hoped that D would have more obvious signs of trouble, but his demeanor was much as it had always been.

"I am well, thank you," she needed to keep playing her part. The last pieces would soon fall into place, part of her felt bad about what would come next, but sacrifices had to be made in order to get ahead in life. Only the weak and the foolish allow small things like feelings to get in the way of their destinies. Her sister had taught her that. "Both of you look exhausted."

"Its been a long few days," D replied while moving his head and neck. "I am sorry that I have kept you inside the house like a prisoner, but it could not be avoided. I knew I would be far too preoccupied to keep an eye on you. Please, forgive me." He signaled for her to join them, already a pitcher of Mimosas was waiting for her.

"Thank you so much, D," she would miss this man. For all his flaws and shortcomings, he was a gentleman. In another life, perhaps they would have gotten together and ruled this Family. She would take little pleasure in what her plans for him would be, but she again reminded herself of the folly behind feelings. "Where is Edith?"

"She is resting," D replied, "it has been a rough couple of weeks for her with all the tracking down of money she had to do." He looked down at the papers that were resting in his lap, "but thankfully all's well that ends well. How are you getting along, Anais? It is a nice change to see you out of your gloomy mood."

"I just guess its true what they say about time and wounds," she replied, "I will never be able to forget your brother, Francisco, but I think its time that I start moving on with my life and continue living. It is what he would want, don't you think?"

"He always was the jealous type," Francisco replied, watching him cringe at her mention of his brother, her former husband, brought more satisfaction. He too had been a sacrifice that she needed to make in order to reach her destiny, there had been little satisfaction with his death. But watching his little brother suffer over it did bring her some sense of joy.

"I don't think I ever saw that side of him," Anais replied as she took a long sip of her glass.

"No," Francisco said, "he usually kept that side of him deeply guarded. Buried even, in those parts of his brain that were like prison cells." She looked at him for a moment, that was a strange metaphor he had used but it made sense.

"My brother is like that as well," D continued, he rarely spoke much about his brother. "He is careful about it though, but Cesar, he seems to have inherited father's temper..." She again had to fight hard to hold back her pleasure, if he only knew the truth about his... half-brother.

"My phone has not been working well," Anais said, her phone had lost all signal. She could not use the house phone out of fear that D would find the numbers.

"Yes," D replied, "we had to put in a jammer in the property. Those signals can block any remote detonated bombs, we have to be careful with how things have... become."

"Why?" She had practiced that exact inflection in her voice to make them think that she was under stress and panic. This usually made men rush to her, to try to comfort her in any way. Regardless of her inability to get a hold of anyone, she had kept her timeline as planned. It would just be a few more hours and she could claim victory over the Daemon.

"Well," D began, "there is some news regarding Angel that..." he tried to act strong but was just barely holding it together. She had to bite her tongue to prevent her laugh from escaping. She moved her hand out to try to touch him, to comfort him. Before she could touch him, D suddenly moved and reached for a cigarette. The sudden movement caused her to jump back. "Oh, I'm sorry," he responded to her actions.

"You scared me," she replied, there was something odd about the conversation. Francisco always avoided looking at her out of fears that she would think less of him. Anais had always thought it was cute the way he tried to avoid looking at her body. But this time, his eyes had remained fixed on her since she had come out.

"Francisco," D continued as if he had not heard her comment, "do you have your lighter?"

"No boss," he replied, "I think I dropped it by accident at the prison."

"Why were you at the prison?" Anais asked, anxiety was beginning to take shape in her mind. There was something off about this conversation, she was sure of it. She tried to remember her sister's teachings, patience was a virtue that Anais did not share with her. "Is everything ok?"

"No," D replied sadly as he continued to pat his pockets looking for his lighter, he was far more distracted than she had anticipated. It was almost impossible to think of D being careless enough to go around without a lighter, once again her sister had been correct. D's biggest weakness was his feelings, he carried those things around like a well-worn jacket that needed replacement. "There was some issues with Angel's case..." a lighter flew from behind her and D caught it midair.

"You're always losing those," a voice said, she had heard that voice before but it had been a long time. It felt like years but in fact it had been no more than a few months. "Its like you are single handedly keeping the Bic company in business." Her eyes widened, she was sure of the person's identity. But it could not be him. she was certain that he would be dead by this point, her planning was perfect.

"You look like you just heard a ghost, Anais," Francisco said.

"You two know each other, right?" D said, "Anais, you know my brother Angel, right?" She almost dropped her glass at that moment. Anxiety had now become panic.

"I don't think she wants to see me, little brother," Angel's voice continued from behind her, "remember that I'm the one responsible for her husband's death."

"I...I..." she was having trouble formulating any words. Francisco's hand managed to take a hold of the glass that she had almost dropped to the ground.

"Well," D continued, "maybe this was not the best way to introduce you two then, but it could not be helped. Oh, have you spoken to pops yet, Angel?"

"Cesar dropped by their place on the way here," Anais could sense that Angel was moving around behind her, from the way D's eyes moved she could only guess that he was pacing back and forth. "I like what you've done with the place, bro."

"Had some help from good friends," D replied as he looked at her, "ever since Elvis took down that woman, his star is rising."

What woman? She asked herself. Her mind was now racing, was D speaking about her sister? Is that why she had been unable to get a hold of her all this time? She was trying her best to hold back the panic, but this was a losing battle. She moved her hand to drink out of the glass that was no longer there. D's cold eyes froze her in place.

"Where is CeCe? I thought she was in town?" Angel asked, she had heard about CeCe, that woman's reputation almost matched the reputation of any of the men sitting around her.

"She went over to check on Jose," D replied, his eyes still on her. "Seems like she had some trouble, but she managed to take care of it. Which reminds me," D pulled out a small remote from his pocket and pushed a single button. Immediately, her phone sprung to life as a flood of messages that had been held back by the technological dam.

"Wow," Francisco remarked, "that's a lot of missed calls and unread text messages."

"Yeah..." Anais replied absentmindedly.

"Maybe you should take a look at some of those," D replied, "it could be something important."

"Yeah," again she replied, her hands moved of their own free will. She recognized the number that had been frantically sending her messages before going completely silent just a few hours prior.

"Oh, that reminds me," Francisco broke the silence, "D, the boys did an outstanding job at the raid. No casualties whatsoever, and the remains of those traitorous Acosta and Castellanos are now little more than history." Her eyes again widened, she had been so careful to make sure that she stayed behind the shadows. All of that could be little more than responses to attacks, nothing that could be linked to her.

"Pops says that we need to start thinking about where we are going to be putting Cesar's boy in the Family," Angel continued, she had missed some part of the conversation in her panic. "He is still his Grandson and a member of this Family..." Her mind was moving in circles, the world around her was beginning to blur. All of her careful plans had just been spoken about openly, each of them had failed monumentally. For the first time in her adult life, she began to pray.

"Elvis just called," the last of the brothers had joined their conversation, "it seems that someone tried to kidnap a pair of women near Washington D.C. There was a number of well-trained men that showed up to an empty house, Elvis had already moved them into protective custody before the men showed up."

"Any injured?" D had not stopped looking at her this entire time.

"None of his men," Cesar continued, "out of the group of would-be kidnappers, only three made it out alive."

"That's a shame," D replied, finally taking his eyes off her. "I am sure that Casper could use some sniper training. He can be sloppy with his long distance shots. You think you could take him out to the range, show him how it's done, Angel?"

"I think CeCe's got that handled, D," Francisco said as the men laughed.

"How could I have forgotten," D mockingly replied, his eyes returned to her. "So, we have come far, little sister. Very far, don't you think?" She nodded. "I know everything, Anais, every little plan, scheme, trick. Everything that you and your sister planned out, everything is undone. Francisco is foaming at the mouth for a chance to get revenge for the death of his brother, my brother Angel for his incarceration. My brother Cesar for your attempted blackmailing scheme. Its over, Anais."

"Now its really just a matter of who hates you more, and who has more to avenge. Well, except you, D," Angel commented. "You seem to have come off scott free, and you already got payback on the man that took a shot at you."

Anais was trapped. She had failed, but there was one more move she had, she could take some small measure of victory with that. Even if all her other plans had failed, this last one would allow her some solace. In her increasing madness, she began to laugh as she saw the time display on her cellphone. Even if he tried to get her help, it would already be too late. As her laugh turned into a cackle, the men looked at her. She snapped out of her madness for a moment, "D, you just can't seem to be able to take care of your women."

"Rebecca and Martha are safe, you stupid bitch," Francisco's anger surprised her, "you fucking lost."

"Oh shit..." D began to run into the house. "Edith!"

...

"D found her. She had been given a massive dose of cyanide that had been hidden in what would be her last meal. There was a note beside her, she had been reading it as she ate. The note made it seem that D had cooked this meal for her." Elvis again looked around the room, "she died thinking that D had poisoned her."

"Agent Presley," the Secretary continued, "what happened next?"

"I don't know," Elvis replied, "Anais' body was never recovered. D refuses to speak about it. Shortly after that was when we approached D."

"Very well," the Secretary spoke, "thank you for your time, Agent Presley, and for your testimony. It was truly eye opening."

"We're not done here," the Chief said, "there is still the matter of finding a responsible person or persons for the tragedies that took place because of this violence. Are you telling me that you are going to turn a blind eye on a known criminal like this Daemon!" He was passionate about his little speech, Elvis almost pitied the man.

"Agent Presley," the Secretary said, "is this man, D, still an active member in his Family's affairs?"

"No, sir."

"Do you really believe that bullshit..." the Chief had began before being interrupted by the Secretary.

"Why is he no longer associated with his Family, Agent Presley?"

"There was a falling out between Angel and Daemon, sir."

"Can you please inform the other members of this panel as to the reason for their falling out, and the nature of your investigation into D's Family, Agent Presley. No need to dance around the more classified aspects of it, the panel members will learn about it soon enough." The Secretary stood up and gathered his things, "do relay my sincerest condolences to your friend, Agent Presley."

"Yes sir," Elvis replied, "thank you, sir." As he left the room, the Chief continued to look at him, almost afraid to ask. "The reason for the falling out and the reason for my assignment are the same. Because of the information received from the mole, the CIA Director along with the Secretary of Defense felt it necessary to begin an internal investigation into all ties relating to this mole. Because of my background in counter-intelligence, and the success of my initial investigation that led to the apprehension of the mole, I was the first choice.

"However, there are very little people in the world that possess the same amount of training that I do, and from those few there are many links that connect them to the mole. It would be impossible to find a completely clean individual to assist me in the investigation within any Federal Agency. The CIA has made deals with criminal groups in the past, these deals have allowed us to infiltrate a number of criminal cells that otherwise would have seem impossible to investigate. My investigation into D's Family was not to bring him down, but to recruit him."

The silence in the room was resounding, it would take a few seconds for the reality to hit the Chief, but eventually it did. "You wanted to recruit him?"

"At the end of the day, sir, D is a patriot with similar training as me. He is far superior in other areas, such as tactics, infiltration, and planning. The offer was simple: He would join me in conducting this investigation in exchange for all crimes committed by his Family being essentially forgotten. However, this would cause the falling out with Angel. Angel felt that his brother was betraying the Family, and D took that as a personal insult. After all he had sacrificed, all the obstacles that he had overcome, he had one last obstacle before him. If he accepted my proposal, he would lose his Family."

"What was his decision, Agent Presley?"

...

Angie would still be asleep by the time I would reach the Interstate. This was the best way, to walk away instead of dragging it out. I loved her with all that was left of me, and not a day would pass by that she would ever doubt it. But I understood, I had to understand for her sake. Love is not always enough. She had fallen asleep last night in my arms, her eyes smothered with tears. She had begged me to stay the night, our last night as we lay together in what once had been our bed as I finished telling her about my past. About my life. About all those secrets and tragedies that I had carried with me over the years. When the tears came, I was unsure if they were because of the story or because of what we had killed that night.

As I kicked my leg over the seat, I looked up at the stairs leading to her apartment one final time. She stood there, her eyes on me, even at that distance I could see her tears still flowing. She moved her hand to her mouth, blowing me a kiss before I started the engine. It is a blessing to go about life never knowing the taste of a final goodbye kiss. I had tasted many of them throughout my life, hers would be no less bitter than previous ones.

My phone chirped, with a small click of the headphones I managed to answer it.

"Are you on your way?" Elvis' voice boomed from the other side of the ear buds.

"Yes," I replied, "Angie and I are done."

"That sucks man," he replied, "you going to be alright, you fucking softie?"

"Yeah," I replied. I appreciated his attempt at humor, but Angie had gotten too deeply inside of me. This would take some time, the only thing that I had plenty of anymore.

"Good," he replied, "because we got work to do."