KING OF THE UNDERWORLD (Earthbound Book 1)

I can’t stop myself from going over the conversation Aria and I had when I escorted her from the room and left Scarlett waiting. She’d completely lost her shit.

“You’re going to keep her here?” She asks through clenched teeth, shooting daggers at me with her eyes. Her body is tense as she paces the floor, waiting for my reply.

“Yes,” I answer her with a raised brow, eyes meeting hers. I wait for her reaction, knowing it’s coming. Her expression changes, darkening with displeasure and annoyance before being replaced with a blank stare.

“How long?” She moves towards me, pressing her slim body against mine and running her long fingers down my chest.

“How long what?” I shoot back. Most never dare to question me. Aria has always been the exception to that rule and it’s something I’ve allowed to some extent. But if she goes too far, I have no problem putting her in her place.

“How long are you going to keep her here?” She practically whines at me.

I can’t tell her the truth about my intentions. It would send her into a rage. I knew the moment I laid eyes on Scarlett that I’d wanted her. Hell, I’d known before that from the dreams I was having, even if I hadn’t realized it. I tried to avoid her, but as each day passed, my need for her only continued to grow. I want to binge on her body. I need another taste; she’s turned into an addiction I cannot stop and cannot deny. My demon is relentless in his demands to seek her out, to claim what belongs to us.

“Are you planning something you haven’t told me about?” Aria questions with feigned curiosity, her fury barely hidden beneath the surface. She tips her head to one side, her fingertips running down to my belt and back up, her nails dragging across my chest. I feel them digging into my skin through my shirt. I know what she’s trying to do, but it isn’t going to work. I used to keep her in the loop, telling her all my plans. Knowing she has an informant in my ranks, that she’s been having me watched, has made me more careful than ever.

“What, my love, are you planning to do with her?” She demands, her lips drawing back in a sneer.

I give her a hard look and catch her wrist, tightly closing my fingers around it. She’d been going for my cock, as though she could seduce the information out of me. “I haven’t thought that far ahead,” I reply, somewhat truthfully. I really don’t know what I’m going to do with Scarlett, I just know I feel a desperate need to keep her close to me at all times.

Needing to put Aria in her place, I harshly pull her arm behind her back and pull her close.

I yank myself from the memory as I reach the door I was headed for. Aria has become a significant problem; one I know will need to be dealt with sooner rather than later.

Scarlett has somehow managed to mesmerize me. Even her name tastes like decadence and feels like silk as it rolls around in my mouth. It’s fucking with my head, and I need to get my shit together. I wasn’t lying when I told her I had an appointment. Eddie Marshall has been causing problems and it is past time I handled him.

It’s been brought to my attention that he hasn’t paid back the money he borrowed. Though that isn’t something I can overlook, it isn’t the primary reason he’s here. I’ve given him two warnings about not paying on time, not something I would normally do, but a foolish exception I made with him. A decision I now regret. It is never good to mix business with pleasure and he granted me permission to fuck his twenty-five-year-old twin daughters a few years ago. I’d gone back for more several times. My demon enjoyed the taste of them.

Now I’ve found out about his disgusting habit and it’s something I cannot tolerate. I know I’m an evil fucker, but the things I’ve learned about him have turned even my ironclad stomach.

“Help! Help me, please, someone help me!”

I tilt my head to the side, cracking my neck and rolling my shoulders to release some of the tension that built up with Aria and Scarlett volleying back and forth in my head. I walk down the long hallway, Damien by my side, until we reach the door on the end. Pushing it open, we walk inside, and I let satisfaction roll through me at the sight of my victim bound to the chair, naked as the day he was born.

Eddie Marshall is a little piece of shit. He likes to molest little girls, the younger the better. How he thought he could keep this disgusting habit a secret from me, I have no fucking clue. Fucking despicable. I hate monsters like him. I’ve put the word out about his vile addiction and warned everyone in his circle that to do business with him would be to suffer his same fate. I didn’t have to threaten, even criminals draw the line somewhere. Marshall is the lowest of the low.

As soon as he sees us enter the room, he crumples, tears streaming down his fat face, and I haven’t even touched him yet. Fucking coward. I unbutton my navy blue, tailor-made, double-breasted jacket, sliding it off and hanging it on a hook behind the door. I’m not keen to soil it with this fucker’s blood, sweat, and tears. The damn thing cost far too much money. I ignore his begging as I walk over to him, the putrid smell of shit and piss hitting my nose. I’m glad the little bastard is sitting directly over the drain. Once I’m done with him, one of my men will hose him down and all evidence of the fun we’re about to have will slide down that very drain.

“I can get you the money, Lucien. I swear,” he sobs as he pulls at the binds around his wrists. “I just need a little more time.”

“How much time do you think I should give you?” I ask him with a blank expression, meeting his terror-stricken gaze. I can’t resist the urge to toy with him, make him think he might get out of this. I unbutton my cuffs and roll up my left sleeve. “Damien. How much more time do you think I should give him?” I ask, not taking my eyes off Eddie.

“I think you’ve given the dirty little fucker plenty of time,” Damien sneers from behind me.

“Please Lucien. Please, just a little more time,” Eddie pleads, imploring me with his tear-filled eyes, as though he has a chance of swaying the outcome of this meeting. “Damien, man, please. Please, you know me. We’re friends.”

Damien laughs cruelly and I glance back as he leans against the wall, arms crossed over his thick chest, his legs crossed at the ankles, looking as though he’s settling in for the duration. “You’re no friend of mine,” He replies with a disgusted look on his face.

I roll up my remaining sleeve and walk over to the tools hanging on the wall.

“You know how this works,” I say, taking the hammer down and holding it up the light. Setting it down, I look back at Eddie. “It’s quite simple. You do not fuck with me. You play by my rules. If you don’t…” I let the rest of the sentence hang as I hold up a set of heavy-duty pliers, examining them.

“Please, Lucien. It’s not that simple,” he argues, his voice shrill. “I’ve been trying to get the money together. I’ve asked everyone I know, but nobody will even consider helping me.”

I let out a roar as I approach him, my leather shoes splashing in his piss and shit. I’m so enraged, I don’t even notice. I’m sick of his whining, it makes me want to end him right now. But that would be too easy. Dealing with this motherfucker hadn’t been on my agenda for the day, and if he weren’t such a revolting piece of shit that I had to deal with, I could be balls deep in my little witch this very moment.

“I promised Damien here a souvenir,” I offer a feral grin as I turn my head in Damien’s direction. “What would you like? A finger? A toe? Maybe his tongue or even his little pencil dick?” Damien smirks at me.

People think I’m the worst there is, but they’ve never seen Damien in action. He exists on an entirely different plane. Whereas I do what is necessary to maintain order, Damien loves this kind of shit.

Eddie trembles, struggling against the ropes holding him to the chair, eyes wide as saucers. I tighten the rope around his wrists and make sure it’s secured to his ankles and that they’re attached to the legs of the chair. Lifting my leg, I place my soiled shoe on top of his tiny limp dick and press down hard, crushing it against the chair. He howls in pain, and I push further, smashing his balls as well.

“Please. P-p-please. D-d-don’t cut off my dick,” he begs, snot dripping from his nose onto his chin. Repugnant little fucking bastard. He can beg, plead, cry, and scream. None of it will change his fate. Eddie Marshall is a dead man. How long it takes for him to die is up to me.

I slap his face playfully. “Oh, Eddie. You’re not going to talk me out of what I have planned for you. Nobody can save you from me. Besides, you and I both know nobody cares what I do to you.”

“Pleeeease?!? Lucien. I’m so sorry. I have the money. It’s in a safety deposit box,” he cries, his face blotchy from sobbing. “Take everything I have, just please don’t hurt me anymore.”

Is this motherfucker for real? “You think this is just about the fucking money?” I roar in his face. I remove my foot from his crushed genitals and step away. Pulling a burner cell from my pocket, I bring a picture up on the screen and hold it in front of his face. “This isn’t about the fucking money you owe me. You like to fuck little girls, don’t you? The younger, the better. How old is this girl? About the age of your youngest daughter, do you think?” I shake my head in disgust and push the phone closer to his sniveling face. “I showed your beautiful wife these pictures. She didn’t believe me at first, not until she saw all the evidence with her own eyes.”

I press a button on the phone and his eyes widen with horror when he sees the recording of his wife. She went bat-shit crazy when she saw the pictures, the evidence of her husband’s heinous proclivities sending her into a rage. She flipped over the table we were sitting at and demanded I inflict as much torture and damage upon her husband as I could, insisting that I make sure he suffers as much as his victims had.

“As you heard, she had some pretty explicit instructions for how I am to deal with you. I’d really hate to disappoint her. Oh, and after I stopped recording, she kindly told me where to find your money. She gave me everything I needed, so now, you have nothing I want. Everything I do to you will be because I want you to suffer excruciating, agonizing pain.”

I turn back to the toolbox and pick out the piece I’m going to start with. Turning to face him, I see that his face is purpling as he hyperventilates in terror. I hum, not having a care in the world, as I make my way back to him. Squatting in front of him, I push his tiny dick to the side and grab hold of his hairy balls, yanking them up. He squeals like the dirty fucking pig he is as I wrap the thin wire around them and twist. When will people learn not to fuck with me. I own this fucking city.

I attach the pliers to the ends of the wire and continue to twist, his testicles bulging and turning a dark mottled purple. He screams louder the more I twist, and I grin as I stand up.

“Someone will come by each day to give that another twist or two.” Slapping his face, I walk over to the toolbox and toss the pliers down into it. “In case you weren’t aware, at some point, your balls will just pop right off.”

As I rinse off at the sink, he cries and begs for me to listen. “You’ve got the wrong guy! I’m not into little girls, I swear!” He screams.

I give him one last look as I stride for the door, grabbing my jacket off the hook. “I can’t promise that Damien here won’t cut your dick off and feed it to you. He really hates revolting little weasels like you,” I tell him before walking out and closing the door behind me. Damien’s wild laughter follows me down the hallway. Crazy bastard.

I roll my shoulders. Fuck, I’m on edge. I need to release some tension and there’s a little red-haired witch who can help me with that problem. I’m done denying myself the taste and feel of her sweet flesh. There’s also the matter of the bomb she dropped on me about her family of witches practically living right on my doorstep. I need to know how long they’ve been there and how the fuck they managed to remain hidden. I intend to get answers.

LUCIEN

^{SEVERAL HOURS LATER}

Fuck. This isn’t at all how I envisioned my day going. I’m still vibrating with sexual tension and if I don’t find a way to release the pressure soon, I’m going to explode. I can feel my demon trying to claw himself free, and I know my hold on him is slipping.

Just as I’d been going to find Scarlett, I received word that Aria had attacked one of the women who works for me. Alison has been with me for years and is a single mother with two young children.

I ordered my men to take her to my physician immediately. By the time I’d gotten back to my quarters, news of the attack had reached Damien and sent him into an uncontrollable rage. I had to restrain him to keep him from doing further damage to my office. I didn’t think his loathing of Aria could have gotten any worse. I was wrong. Once I got him calmed down, we went together to check out the situation.

We arrived at Alison’s room to find utter devastation. Her furniture was flipped over, the floors and walls covered in her blood. My men were in the room and filled us in on what they found when they arrived. Her arms and legs at an odd angle, blood matting her hair where her head had been repeatedly bounced off the floor. I’m amazed she survived the attack. It only shows how strong she is. I’ve since arranged for her children to be looked after by a relative and once she’s healthy enough to be released, I will ensure that she and her children are well cared for the rest of their lives.

I had to fight hard against my demon to contain my temper. I’ve seen a lot of death and destruction in my long life. Hell, I’ve caused most of it. But to hurt someone like this, for no reason other than a desire to vent rage, it’s beyond monstrous. Not to mention, attacking one of my people is the same as attacking me personally. Alison has been loyal to me for years. Thank fuck she wasn’t human, or she never could have survived.

Once I felt confident I wouldn’t behead Aria immediately upon seeing her, I asked my men to bring her to me. I demanded she tell me what the fuck happened and was enraged by her response. She told me that Alison had looked at her the wrong way before going on to rant and rave about Scarlett. She was angry that I didn’t intend to share the witch with her and that I wasn’t making plans to wipe Scarlett and her whole family off the face of the earth. If it had been anyone else, they wouldn’t have lived long enough to explain, let alone survived that explanation.

I was unable to deal with her shit any longer, so I asked my men to take her to a room and lock her in. Hurting a member of my staff, someone under my protection, could not be left unpunished. Until I figure out what the fuck to do about Aria, she will remain locked in her room like a spoiled child, which is exactly what she has become. A dangerous, spoiled-rotten child who acts out when she doesn’t get her way. The only reason I stopped myself from ripping her apart was so I could find out who she has spying on me. I do not tolerate moles.

I left Damien to deal with the mess and Alison’s room and went to handle arrangements for Alison’s children, check on Alison’s status, and do damage control with the rest of my staff. Before I walked out of the room, Damien gave me a look, his demon just below the surface. I could make out the shimmering dark purple scales. I know what the look meant. He was telling me that if I didn’t handle Aria soon, he would take matters into his own hands.

I must find out who her mole is before that happens.

DAMIEN

I don’t know what the hell is going on with Lucien. His fucking head has been all over the fucking place since the witch came on the scene. It was a surprise to everyone that he allowed her to stay, but even more of one to find out that witches have been living so close without any of us knowing about it. How long they’ve been here remains a mystery.

The witches of old were unstable; I remember them well. They’d been unable to control their powers and were aggressively violent. They would attack anyone in their path for no reason whatsoever. We thought they were extinct, as nobody had seen or heard from them in generations. Apparently, we thought wrong.

Lucien has an unpleasant history with them that few know about, which is why I’m even more shocked than the others that he’s keeping her here as his guest. This new witch, Scarlett, does seem different, but only time can tell how different she is. I cannot understand Lucien’s attraction to her, though. Sure, she’s beautiful, but she doesn’t in any way resemble his usual type.

I can tell she’s holding something back, can sense something lurking underneath the witch. I plan to find out what the fuck is going on with her. Something doesn’t sit right, and until Lucien manages to pull his head from his ass, it looks like I’m the only man for the job.

More than all that, though, is this situation with Aria. I never hid my feelings about that nasty bitch. My loyalty to Lucien is the only thing that has kept me from acting on them. Aria’s beauty is skin-deep, and underneath she is hideous, malicious, and unstable. I never understood what he saw in her but at least he used to have some control over her, kept her on a short leash.

She’s gone too far this time. She attacked Alison out of sheer spite. She knew there was never anything between her and Lucien, but she also knew that Lucien regarded Alison as a trusted employee. She hoped to leverage this attack as a way to get in closer and I can only hope that her plan fails.

Aria has attacked someone I care about, and I will not stand for it. I would hate to go against Lucien’s wishes, but if he doesn’t handle her, I will.