The predators were silent, not breathing and unblinking when they entered, not making a sound.
The floor shone, its opaque blue tiles in the designer kitchen reflecting their murky shadows. Marble countertops and sleek shiny metal were now coated in sweat as they continued, grunting groaning, unaware of the intruders.
Maximilian did not hear anything, nor did Mary Sue when they entered. He kept going, pulling her long brown hair and screaming various racial and misogynistic epithets at her, which strangely made her even more aroused.
"Disgusting," Nymphadora sighed. "Even the meatsuits are disgusting when they fuck."
Screaming and covering themselves, they suddenly noticed the four of them standing inside his suite, waiting patiently for them to finish having sex.
Mary Sue ran off to the bedroom and Maximillian grabbed a gun out of one of the blue kitchen drawers. He pulled so hard, the entire drawer was pulled out, and he dropped it onto the floor.
"Why are you in my house," Maximilian bellowed.
"This isn’t your house," Nymphadora corrected him.
"Get out!"
"Yell at my mother again and I’ll eat your tongue," Dante promised.
Maximillian pursed his lips, knowing that he was indeed serious, and very capable of executing his threat.
"Why are you here," Maximillian asked.
Maximillian was sweaty and still breathing hard, still erect. He was no longer aroused, but the adrenaline in his body from the home invaders kept his blood rushing and he was alert and terrified.
"You know why I’m here," Nymphadora said coolly. "Give me my husband."
Maximillian shook his head rapidly and put the gun on the countertop.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he told her.
"The meatsuit thinks we can’t tell when he’s lying," the secretary chortled. "I’ll check him."
Before Maximillian could blink his own secretary grabbed him by the jaw and slammed his head into the countertop.
He smelled Maximillian's sweat, listened to his heartbeat, and other telltale clues of lying.
"I smell only fears and not lies," he told his mother. "He doesn't have the body, nor does he know that it was even stolen ."
The entire family was thrown into chaos and disarray by this information. They had already pushed their problems onto Maximillian. It was quite easy, as everyone already detested him, but without an enemy to put their anger out on, everyone didn’t know what to do.
"You really don’t know that he’s gone, " Nymphadora exclaimed.
"I know he’s dead," Maximillian shouted. "Get him off of me!"
The secretary released Maximillian and he glared at him, wondering how long he had been turned and how long he never noticed. Nymphadora, for the first time in her life, was empty. Her husband wasn't dead, but she couldn't find his body. In essence, he might as well be dead, and she knew that she had to scour the entire Earth to find his body. All her children felt her sadness, and they began to cry.
Confused and terrified, Maximillian watched as three grown men and a pregnant woman burst into bloody tears.
"Give me my husband," Nymphadora cried. "Give him to me!"
She cried softly, blood pouring out of her face and onto the floor. Maximilian softened, and he was empathetic, for one of the few times in his horrid life. Nymphadora and her children missed her husband, and without him, there was a hole where their souls should have been.
Maximilian left to get dressed and Nymphadora cried on Kato’s shoulder as he rubbed her back and her pregnant belly.
"It’s going to be okay," he mumbled. "We still have each other."
"I want him," she cried. "Only him."
Kato said nothing because they all wanted their father. Without him around their eternal life no longer felt like a blessing but instead a curse.
"They broke their promise," Nymphadora cried. "They didn’t protect our family. They used us! "
Abruptly, everyone stopped crying.
All her children stopped what they were doing, wherever they were, and they knew she was right. They didn’t agree because she was in charge during their father’s absence, but because it was the truth. The Slaters had taken advantage of Santos’ love for Michael, long after he had died, and had broken their promise. Santos had a soft spot for Michael because he looked like his deceased dead son. He had met him when he was a child, and many times in his life had extended the gift of immortality to him, but each and every time he said no.
When Michael had his first child, Santos promised to protect his family for the rest of his life, and Michael said he would protect Santos as well. Each and every person in Michael's family respected Santos except for Maximillian.
Fame and money had clouded his brain and morals, and no longer was he the bright-eyed and optimistic man he used to be.
Santos had died, had his corpse stolen, and Maximillian had no idea.
No one in Santos's family could believe that Maximillian didn't know. Maximilian knew about everything and everyone. His power and money were all-consuming, like a plague, and they still believed that he was lying.
When Maximillian returned, fully dressed in a red polo and jeans, he was interrogated. Maximillian insisted that he didn’t know where Santos's body was. Nymphadora was enraged. She grabbed him by his wrist and dragged him to her car. Maximillian went through the most uncomfortable car ride in his life. He felt like it was hours long even though it was a ten-minute drive to the graveyard. There he saw the corpse of a stranger, but he thought it was Santos.
"He’s right here," Maximilian screamed. "He looks just like him!"
"No, you imbecile, " Nymphadora screeched. "This is not him! We can smell it."
Them and their smells bullshit, Maximillian thought.
"I know you’re in grief but-"
"Don’t correct me you filthy meatsuit! You are no longer protected! "
" What? "
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"Until you return my husband’s body, your family will no longer reap the benefits of our agreement."
"I didn’t do anything!"
"That’s the problem," Nymphadora replied. " You did nothing. You ended a wonderful arrangement that lasted around 74 years. Congratulations ."
The entire clan Dominus felt a surge of power and happiness as the look on Maximillian’s face slowly turned from anger to complete horror.
"You live a nice life from the promise we were proud to keep," Dante smiled. "You breathe now only because our father loved you."
"Your wealth comes from centuries-old businesses that our family owned and invested in yours," Kanto added. "Very soon you will have nothing. "
"You have taken everything from us," Nymphadora boomed. "You will pay the price by having what is most important taken from you. Money. "
They walked off leaving Maximillian next to an open grave, in the middle of the night. He was truly terrified, not for his life, but for his lifestyle. Maximillian had known nothing other than pure opulence and freedom. He shuddered at the very thought of having to clean his own bathroom and do his own grocery shopping.
Maximilian called a taxi to take him back to his empty suite inside a glass spire.
Maximillian did not sleep that night.
He did not want to see the morning, and the horrors daylight would bring. He lay in the bed of his suite, head swirling in anticipation of an early grave instead of losing his fourth-quarter revenue streams. Maximillian would rather die rich than live as one of the poors.
He did not get his wish.
Around 9 AM, he received many phone calls from many important people, asking what he had done. Businesses overnight had pulled all their investments from Slater Enterprises, the Defense Program, and the private academy that Maximillian owned in various locations, in many different galaxies.
Overnight, Maximilian lost 70% of his wealth, and his reputation as well.
People feared Maximillian, but they also respected him for his business savvy. Maximillian believed that he was good at interpreting the market, but he was average at best. The entire clan Dominus had kept their promise of protecting his family so well, that Maximillian did not even realize when they did.
They had thwarted many attempts on his life and the lives of his family. They had secured his wealth, and sometimes they would even do small things for him, such as cleaning his various houses. They tolerated Maximillian because he respected their father. They tolerated him because they loved Michael and Santos.
Now both of them were dead, and Maximillian was no longer tolerated.
Half of his staff in the building were gone. They didn’t leave because of the sudden devaluation of his assets. They left because half of them were from the Clan Dominus, and he never knew. They had protected him from financial liabilities from the many illegal things he had done and stopped many instances of corporate espionage. Without them around, the next few months would be hard, not because of a lack of proper staffing, but because many underpaid employees would readily betray Slater Enterprises for money.
Maximilian left his suite at the headquarters of Slater Enterprises and returned to his actual home, with no other choice but to face the consequences.
His wife Delilah was panicking. She was surprised that after the October Massacre that their stocks had risen. Apparently, children strong enough to survive a massacre made their military academy look strong, and enrollment skyrocketed. Now she was utterly confused as to why they had lost all their money. Maximillian found her in bed, in shock, staring at the ceiling and wondering if death was a good option.
"What did you do Max," Delilah asked.
Maximillian tried to choose his words carefully. He knew he had done something wrong unwittingly, and he knew that Delilah wouldn’t believe him even if he told her the truth.
"Santos’s family said they’re not helping us anymore."
Delilah sat up from her bed and glared at her husband. Her eyes were red from crying, her blonde hair unruly, body odor strong, as she had not yet showered. She laid in bed all day wondering if she was going to see tomorrow, still in her oversized red shirt worn as a nightdress.
"Why," she asked.
"Santos died. We didn’t keep our end of the bargain."
"Oh, my god. They’re going to kill us."
"They said they would just take our money…. Which is worse…"
"I would rather die, " Delilah shrieked. "We’re nothing without our money! Nothing! Apologize! Do something!"
"What can I do Delilah!?!"
He walked over to the old, brown dresser and picked up a picture of his son, Levi. The picture was from his first piano recital, and it showed him with the uncertain smile all children gave when faced in front of a camera.
Maximillian raised it over his head to throw it at her, but Delilah’s eyes pulsated a soft blue.
"Try me," she whispered. "I’ll kill you and take whatever’s left."
"I left you nothing! I left it all to the little queer. If I die, you'll just be a fifty-five-year-old woman with no work history that lives out of a fucking box!"
Delilah cried and shrieked as Maximillian threw things at her, and she covered her head as he blamed everything on her. Gifts, accessories, and pictures of their children crashed into the wall behind her, and glass rained down on her, covering the white sheets and cutting her fingers.
"You want to keep all this," he screamed. "Then it's time to step up, Delilah!"
"I don’t know-"
"You think helping me run this business is helping? Do you think that’s all we really do? " Delilah shook her head rapidly, sobbing and still covering her head.
"You’re going to do a lot more from now on," Maximillian whispered. "You’re going to help me kill a lot of people."
"I don’t want to," she cried.
"I don’t care! Get in line or else I’ll trade up for a woman that will!"
"You’re not human," Delilah screamed.
"Shut up!"
"I’m sorry," she said. "That was wrong of me."
Maximillian relaxed and smiled. "We should-"
"Santos’ family isn’t human and they have more integrity than your horrible self! Monsters are better than you! They keep promises and have a real family! You’re not even a monster! You’re worse!"
Maximillian had enough of Delilah. She had become bold after the October Massacre, telling him how she felt about his actions and talking about her feelings unprompted. Maximillian approached the brown dresser to get out his gun when a knock came at the door.
Delilah froze, knowing that Maximillian was planning on getting his gun, and that the next few seconds would decide if she would continue to breathe.