Chapter 19Nix
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Nix
N ix had never been so blue-balled by a family reunion in his life. It was frustrating to the point of maddening, considering how much pain and resentment he knew Ivan harbored over his middle brother.
If Nix hadn't recognized the vampire with him, he might not have known the man was Ivan's brother at all. Alexei looked nothing like Ivan or Sascha, his features more rugged, his hair a dirty blond rather than the icy color of the other two, his broad frame packed with muscle.
A swell of emotions had filled Ivan at the sight of Alexei at the door, strong enough that Nix could feel all of it—the shock, the tentative hope, the familiar bitterness, the ever-present suspicion—but not a bit of it had shown on Ivan's face. He'd been placid as ever, and the brothers had only given each other the barest of nods, Ivan murmuring, "Alexei," as if the man's arrival hadn't been a complete surprise.
And that had been it. The tall, man-bunned figure Nix had heard so much about had simply joined the fold with his partner, who'd waved shyly at all of them, miles away from the exuberance the little vampire had shown over their FaceTime call.
It wasn't like there had been time for much else, not with the men arriving, but still.
What the fuck?
When this damn meeting was done with, Nix would be making sure there was more between Alexei and Ivan. He'd tackle the burly middle brother himself if he had to.
But for now, they were all gathered at the front of the restaurant, an open area that must have been used as a stage for live music some nights. Ivan was facing the men, Nix at his side (as he damn well should be). Sascha and Kai were off to their left, with Cooper and Chaos beyond them, and Alexei and his vampire, Jay, were to Ivan and Nix's right, with Eric and Wolfe close by.
Jace and Tag were with the men but off to the side toward the kitchens, ready to bring in their cargo when the moment was right.
There was a heady sense of anticipation all around, and Nix drank it in. It was clear the men recognized Alexei and that his presence was a surprise to them.
The men were giving off a lovely perfume of nerves and fear and confusion as well. Not enough for Nix to gather what was innocent anxiety and what was more nefarious in nature, not all tangled together like that, but that would come as Ivan spoke.
Which he seemed ready to do now. Ivan didn't say anything, didn't ask for quiet—he just looked on in much the same way he had been. But the men sensed it anyway, their nervous murmurs quieting until there was nothing.
Nix had meant what he said about true loyalty trumping fear, but he supposed fear did have its perks.
"It's come to my attention that we as a business—as a family—are at a crossroads," Ivan said, his voice quiet but firm, looking out at the small sea of faces. "I admit the recent years have been…messier than I would have liked, and I take responsibility as your leader for any unease you might have been feeling." Not one of the men was stupid enough to confirm or deny, and Ivan continued, "But doubt does not allow for betrayal. Not in a business such as ours."
One of Ivan's main lieutenants, one of three Nix hadn't met before, emitted a thick tendril of fear at those words. Nix kept track of his face, aware the others in their group would be looking to him for guidance. Although, that fear had been strong enough he was sure even the other demons and vampires had sensed it.
"What do we do with men who betray us?" Ivan asked, his voice deceptively mild.
Not a single man answered.
Nix's human was magnificent like this. Immaculate in his appearance, poised and ice-cold, not a chip in his armor to be seen. Whatever Ivan thought about his shortcomings, he had the makings of a leader in him. His father had twisted and turned around his better instincts, but they were there.
Nix would make sure they were straightened out.
Ivan nodded to Jace and Tag, and they went back to the kitchens, returning with Sergei, gagged and bound once again to a steel chair. The man had certainly seen better days—he was bruised and battered, a makeshift tourniquet around his arm where Kai had presumably sliced into him. Nix loved to see it. He'd have loved to seen him torn apart by wild dogs, to be honest, although he didn't think that sort of punishment was quite the rage anymore.
Nix had no sympathy for the one who'd hurt Ivan so, both as a child and as a man.
Sergei's appearance finally lifted the silence, the men murmuring among themselves. There were several more sharp spikes of fear, some tinged heavily with guilt. Nix clocked them all .
"Sergei here didn't like the direction I was leading us in," Ivan announce coolly. "But we're making changes, heading toward the future. We no longer have the time or patience for small-minded bigotry holding us back." Ivan's hand came to rest on Nix's lower back, and Nix slid an arm around his waist, settling in close, grinning sharply at the crowd as he nuzzled into Ivan.
He scented the shock coming from the crowd at the little display of intimacy. No surprise there. There was some disgust too, and Nix kept close track of where that came from.
"I'm giving those who haven't acted in secrecy a chance to walk away if we're no longer a fit," Ivan announced, his hand stroking Nix's back. "For those that remain, my new priority will be making sure we're all well provided for. Secure and safe. But for those who went behind my back, who thought to betray my family…" He narrowed his eyes, the first sign of his anger. "You may have thought we were weak and fractured, that it was a good time to strike. But as you can see, my brothers stand beside me still, and we've gathered new allies, ones I doubt any of you have the gall to cross."
That was the signal. All those among their group who could change forms did, Nix included. There was a cacophony from the crowd of men, curses and shouts. Nix supposed it was to be expected. Kai was a giant blue monster, after all, and even the vampires were intimidating, with their black eyes and fangs. And while Nix personally thought Chaos was adorable in his demon form, with his black feathered wings and monkey-like tail, he supposed others might find it…intimidating.
"What the fuck is this, Ivan?" one of the men Nix had clocked as a traitor yelled, his gun drawn.
"Why, Gregor," Ivan purred, still stroking Nix's back, Nix's tail curling around his calf. "What the fuck does it look like?"
"It looks like fucking—fucking Halloween tricks," Gregor protested, all indignation and false bravado, even as Nix breathed in the ripe stench of fear off of him. "A smoke screen. You think this is enough to scare us off?"
"For fuck's sake," Wolfe murmured. In a flash, he was off into the crowd, grabbing the dissenter and tearing his throat out with his teeth, leaving the man to bleed all over the floor. Before human eyes could register it, he was in front of Sergei's chair, serving him the same.
Well.
Apparently Chaos hadn't been the loose cannon to worry about.
There was a sliding sound and a thump, and there was Sascha unconscious. Kai had him over his shoulder in an instant, growling curses at Wolfe. Meanwhile, the crowd was registering the dead men in their midst, and the blood all over Wolfe's fanged face.
There was a surprisingly high-pitched scream. "What the fuck was that?"
Wolfe ignored the crowd, turning back to his companions, blood all over his bespoke suit. When he found Ivan and Alexei glaring at him, he arched a brow. "Wasn't that the point of identifying the traitors? So we could do away with them? Eric and I have places to be."
His words served as a cue for another one of the traitors to attempt to flee, and then it was Chaos leaping into action, knocking him on the floor and slicing through his chest with his talons.
Cooper yelped at the sight, shutting his eyes behind his glasses, but he didn't pass out, so Nix had to give him points for that.
And then all was pandemonium.
Guns were fired. Men were screaming. Chaos was cackling like a fiend.
Nix kept Cooper and Ivan—their two vulnerable humans— behind him once the guns started going off, and the rest of their supernatural companions worked to corral the men. Those Nix had already identified as traitors were disarmed and held by Wolfe and Eric, with Alexei sternly informing Wolfe to "keep your fangs to yourself for five fucking minutes."
Nix had a hard time containing his smile.
Who knew Mafia meetings could be such fun?
The rest took time.
An annoying amount of it, in Nix's opinion, as Ivan worked to convince the rest of the men that they truly could leave if they wished it.
"Only those who've already acted against us—those who already conspired to take my brother's life," he said, in a pointed reminder, "have been punished. The rest of you may leave, or you may stay. I simply ask that if you go, you remember what might happen should you try to turn against us."
With three demons and four vampires standing in front of them, it seemed unlikely anyone in the building would forget.
In a surprise to absolutely no one, not a single man was willing to say he wished to go. It was Nix who had to work through them one by one, to suss out who was afraid because they'd seen a vampire rip out someone's throat, and who was afraid because they wished to leave and worried their throat was next.
In the end, the numbers came down to this: they had four rats besides the two already gone, and ten more men who wished to leave, or who Nix had decided would be more trouble than they were worth if they stayed.
Those who left were allowed to keep their memories intact. The rest of the men in Ivan's organization who were staying were subjected to vampire compulsion, courtesy of Wolfe, Eric, and Alexei. They would remember the violence, that those men who'd betrayed the family had been dealt with, but they wouldn't remember the monsters.
That had been Ivan's suggestion, and their supernaturals had agreed. In Ivan's words, "I'd rather the rumors swirling around us come from the outside. Those within won't be able to confirm or deny. It will keep things vague and threatening, and no one's identity will be at risk."
It was surprisingly thoughtful of him. Nix was proud.
When they'd separated the wheat from the chaff, and adjusted those memories in need of adjusting, Ivan had more work to do. He held a more…generic meeting, one in which he explained in further detail what he expected from his men, the changes that would be taking place within the business.
As delightful as his first speech had been, it hadn't exactly been a plan of action.
It seemed a little strange to Nix to be holding a real business meeting with two corpses and quite a few bloodstains on the carpet right next to them, but he supposed Mafia members were used to such things. Kai, meanwhile, had taken Sascha to the kitchens so he wouldn't be subjected to any more blood sightings when he woke up.
When the meeting was finally over, and the loyal men had gone back to wherever they'd come from, Ivan glared at the stains in irritation. "We'll have to buy the restaurant off them now. We've ruined the carpets. It goes against our agreement."
"You wanted bloodthirsty creatures to instill fear in the hearts of men, did you not?" Wolfe asked, clearly unapologetic. "Just remember you owe myself and my mate a favor, to be determined at my discretion." Then he grabbed Eric's hand and took him away.
Apparently they had a dinner reservation.
That left the traitors to be dealt with .
Nix watched, unmoved, as Jace and Tag took them out back to be executed. Chaos bounded after them, having agreed to incinerate the bodies with his powers afterward. Less work for the cleanup crew.
Alexei and Jay made their way to the kitchens, Alexei murmuring that he wanted to be present when Sascha woke.
Nix wrapped his arms around Ivan's neck, pleased to be alone, if only for a moment. "Did it all go as you hoped, darling?"
Ivan lowered his forehead to Nix's shoulder, letting out a sigh. "It was a fucking mess," he mumbled. "But I guess that's about what I expected."
"Mm." Nix tugged his head up gently by his hair, meeting his icy blue eyes. "And now I get what you promised me," he reminded. He wasn't going to let a few deaths and bloodstains distract his human from what was important.
"A bond," Ivan agreed. But his gaze flicked to the door to the kitchens.
Nix sighed. "I suppose you want to speak to your brother first."
Ivan arched a brow. "You say that as if you're not dying for me to do so."
Nix was, in a way, although not in the same way he was dying for a bond. He was aware Ivan had a certain fear that Alexei would disappear before they had a chance to really speak. That Ivan wanted to speak to him at all showed how much he'd grown.
Still, Nix couldn't help teasing him. "Will there be hugging? Or manly claps on the back?"
"We'll be fortunate if there aren't any more gunshots."
In a case of perfect timing, there were four subtle pops of a silenced gun, and Nix felt the four traitorous souls being snuffed out in the back.
That was all the betrayal dealt with. Sergei was gone, as were the men he'd managed to turn. The grunts, as Ivan had called them, would have to be parsed through at some point, but Ivan's core group was loyal now, and those who hadn't been would be replaced with better models.
It gave Nix a funny feeling, a strange tugging in his gut. Which was odd, considering he didn't care much about human lives.
It took the shock emanating from Ivan, now stiff in Nix's arms, for Nix to realize the strange feeling wasn't about the deaths at all.
His arms around Ivan's neck had gone transparent. Ah. That explained the tugging, didn't it?
Nix was being pulled back to the Void.
"Oh," he could only say dumbly. "I guess we met the conditions of the contract after all."
The last thing he saw of the human realm were Ivan's pale eyes widening in horror, and then Nix was taken away.