killer's delight

[temptingly-blair]

That kind of goes hand in hand with the fairytale bit, if you think about it, happily ever after and all that jazz. I believe the conspiring thing with your siblings, but why would Bea be conspiring against you? There was no indication of ill will when I spoke to her. She's a daddy's girl through and through.

[cutthroatxramiel]

Nice you still see it as a happily ever after fairytale ending, darling. I may have overstepped my boundaries and disobeyed a direct order from our son after I, you know, attacked the little asshole dhampir Bea has chosen to spend her time with. Now, she and the rest of my family on top of Sterling are working on a way to drive me crazy. He pisses me off, Blair, I don't like him.

[kaniel-thebutcher]

It sounds to me like you somehow manipulated the part of her that used to be free and tricked it into liking you. A succubus exhibiting monogamy is like trapping a free bird and claiming it likes the indoors– cruel, brother, even for you. Just why would I tell you and ruin the surprise? Rammsy, you really are no fun anymore. Oh, wait, you never were.

[cutthroatxramiel]

That is not what I meant. If you should know for a fact, I actually enjoy a side that her uncles did nothing but force her to control. This wasn't an arranged marriage, I didn't force Blair to say yes, monogamy is her choice. You know what...I've decided anything you, Ari, or even Sterling throw at me will have no bearing on my life. In fact, I'll personally request the First Mother to rescind permission allowing you three entry into this house. Go bother Mother or whatever it is you do these days.

[temptingly-blair]

Sounds sad, but it's funny when a lockdown in a castle sounds like the old times with a fairytale twist.

[cutthroatxramiel]

Simpler times. Minus the fact you now have a husband and children, of course. Speaking of our children, dearest...our daughter and my siblings are conspiring against me.

[kaniel-thebutcher]

Yeah, yeah, so I know. It's not my fault that you didn't get with a woman who loves the same thing as you do and let you go on little murder sprees, as I know you're itching to do. You want to stop the jab hurling while continuing to insult me, oh the irony, brother. Let me guess, is the annoying cockroach Sterling? He's just a gem, and he's rather susceptible to suggestions when it comes back at people he wants to fuck with.

[cutthroatxramiel]

Excuse you, Kane, but have we forgotten Blair's succubus nature feeding from the men she used to fuck before I became her one and only true love that she enjoyed the more they once flocked to her like a game? It doesn't exactly turn bloody, but don't underestimate my wife's twistiness. Tell me, how did you manipulate the boy this time? What suggestions were you, and let's include Ari in this, feeding him?

[gianna-foxwood]

You know people and their hubris– Bellora needs to think she has all the winning cards before it all comes tumbling down when she least expects it. My brothers will look out for Marina, it's true, but Marina will soon have a secondary job that has nothing to do with Bellora, and that's saving Azriel's life. There's an alternate version of him about to breach his mind and take control– the one where the other Emilia came from a while ago, Samael's father. He's the one who's supposed to kill Bellora.

[cutthroatxramiel]

That's her main issue, love, arrogance and I call it when I see it. You know Marina could not resist tackling the opportunity to save Az's life the moment you offered her part on a golden, First-infused platter. I'm very familiar with that version's little shit son who clearly spent far too much time suckling his mother's breast as a child, but low and behold, it takes a turn for the worst. Yet another problem hitting a personal note. I'm sorry, Gianna, truly. Azriel and I didn't have what you claim as a friendly relationship. I'm already stuck with Cael, I'd personally prefer ignoring both father and son entirely. He is your brother, though.

[kaniel-thebutcher]

Everything you do is provoked, Ramiel. Stop kidding yourself. Have you seen Naomi? She is a captivating angel of a vampire, and you know, now that I think about it... I wasn't sent on a mission to kill her. Nor am I married to her. Wow, looks like you're still the worst one out of the two of us. Keep trying to spin this on me; I can go all night.

[cutthroatxramiel]

Just as I was taught. I have seen Naomi and I also saw the massacre you two left to a couple at the diner a while back, must say, I'm not impressed. Alright, we aren't stepping on this merry-go-round and hurling jabs at each other all day long, Kaniel, I have bigger problems than my asshole little brother behaving childishly. If we're being honest, I already have to deal with one annoying cockroach.

[gianna-foxwood]

The last thing I want is for people to start resenting me or me to turn into some tyrant in the name of safety. Marina will make it through, I know.

That's not your job anymore, Ramiel. Though you are skillful in all assassin trades, your job now is to keep yourself and your wife safe, and that means not throwing yourself into the claws of a goddess. Kai has always been susceptible to darker urges, but his need to protect his family and the people he has come to care for has always brought him back. Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that he doesn't have the luxury of going to the 'dark side' when our other brother may very well be on his way to that destination against his will.

[cutthroatxramiel]

Sometimes, raising a little Hell keeps everyone alive, but I see how that doesn't benefit us as a family.

I wouldn't be just doing it because you asked it of me, love, I'd do it to keep her safe as I would myself or my wife. Bellora cannot possibly think she can snatch someone we care for and believe she can get away with it. However, I'll stay put for the time being. The trust you possess for your brother is enough that I will take your word. Well, I did not like the way you said...that. Gianna, what happened?

[gianna-foxwood]

I know everyone has their own will and motives, but all I wanted to do was keep people safe, and now she's out there.

No... she's with Bellora now. The last thing I need is for you to get hurt or captured trying to get her back. My brothers are with her, and despite their bad choices, they will protect her as much as they can.

[cutthroatxramiel]

You have kept people safe, Gianna, you cannot control everyone without watching them all resent you. She's a smart girl.

Doesn't deter me. The threat of getting injured or captured is my job, darling. I can place my trust in Azriel to keep her safe from harm, but I'm partially skeptical Kai will under Bellora's tempting dark influence given his history.

[gianna-foxwood]

Barely into the lockdown, and I already lost track of someone I'm caring for. Not very First Mother of me.

[cutthroatxramiel]

It's a big house, love, and Hartley's akin to a squirrel. It was bound to happen, but not your fault.

I will track her down and drag her back myself if you wish.

[kaniel-thebutcher]

The look is because I heard on the grapevine that you got chewed out by your own son. Which is so delicious for me to hear, by the way.

[cutthroatxramiel]

Right, and did you also hear how this chewing out developed from a situation that was unprovoked? Then again, I heard on the grapevine apple doesn't fall far from the tree in our family when it comes to our very dangerous sexual escapades. A vampire, Kaniel? That's a new low.

[beau-baird]

Beau crossed his arms, letting Ramiel say his peace as he promised– not interrupting, merely listening. His grandfather strived to mold Beau into the diplomat of the family, preparing him from a young age to take the throne, and Beau did his time. Still, his father, this version of him, was testing every bit of training he'd endured. He simply raised a hand when his father was done speaking, taking a long moment of silence to gather his thoughts before leveling his blue gaze on the man. "Okay, I hear you. Now it's my turn," Beau replied low, evenly. "You weren't protecting your family, you were protecting your ego. I sympathize, I really do– the timelines merging messed up everything and introduced us too early when my version of you, my father, had already done the raising. Had already gotten this... hyper-masculine need to protect everything that's his like a caveman out of his system." The Prince took a step closer, his voice not raising in pitch– remaining steady despite the person he was reprimanding was his father. The simple fact, however, was that this Ramiel was not the man who raised him. "You need to reflect on the fact that you let someone's words affect you to the point of physically attacking them when I had blatantly asked you to stay out of it. The moment you decided to go after Sterling was the moment that you deemed me incapable of keeping my sister's safety in mind. I have commanded more people than you have ever dreamed, and no one has dared to turn their back on a direct order that I have given them. You do not get any leeway just because you share my DNA. Here's what you need to understand." Now his voice was tinged with the heavily masked anger, but he would do anything for Bea just as she would do for him. They were a team; he was her protector, just as she was his blade, and pledged her life to protect his. "My sister is not your property to keep from being defiled. She is an adult who has had her choices ripped from her against her will, and she deserves autonomy and respect, especially from her family. We will come to you if we have a problem we cannot fix. I give you my solemn promise on that, but when we tell you something, you listen. There is at least one person who would miss that dhampir, and it's Beatrice. She loves him, and before you even dare to get all high and mighty about who she chooses in the name of being a father, you should take a long and hard look in the mirror. No more going after Sterling. No more vendettas against someone you, yourself, have appointed as an enemy on behalf of the family. I have bigger things to worry about than having to rein you in like a child. We should not have to parent you, and that ends now. Do I make myself clear?"

[cutthroatxramiel]

Ramiel knew he was in for it the moment he stopped speaking and his son began talking. A spiel, a reprimanding between a son and his father as if he is a mere child who misbehaved. It was utterly humiliating, really, and had the person giving him a good dressing down was someone outside of his family, he would not be standing there and taking it without spitting a sarcastic quip. Who knows, though? Judging by the undercurrent of barely concealed rage emanating from the other male, he wouldn't be surprised if Beau slit his tongue out for disobeying the 'not interrupting' rule. Ram stood deathly still, his expression reading stoic, and wishing he lived in the old version of him era where his emotions were toned down and concealed. The centuries he spent stunted by calculation and well-organized rage directed at marks on missions now had nowhere to travel, instead he funneled it all into Beatrice and her choice of men. Yes, perhaps he should take a hard look in the mirror, but he was not Sterling. He did not intentionally take time out of his day to harass Cael, in fact, he chose avoidance in order to eliminate conflict. And Cael's end...he disapproved of who his family member developed feelings for just the same as he did. "It's possible I may have overreacted." Ramiel stated after a long pause waiting for Bea to finish. "I might have overindulged on my ego, but I stand by doing what's needed protecting my family. I know I'm not your father, I didn't raise you, I never shared the small moments where your version of me proved he was leagues better than the version you are now stuck with. I'm sorry for stepping on your toes and ignoring a demand, Beau, that being said, I don't want to turn into my mother. Pushing and pushing her children away until they resent the very sight of her." Sabina ruined any life she touched, including his and his siblings. Her influence didn't touch Beatrice and Beau, at least, they were pitted against each other. It's clear where Beau his overprotection from. "Of course, she's in love with him. From what I remember, however, Bea hated his guts two seconds ago." Ram exhaled a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, collecting his thoughts and working through how to ask his next question sans irritation. Truthfully, after pummeling Sterling and briefly duking it out with Beatrice, the assassin was exhausted. After a minute, he dropped his hand and directed his gaze on his son. "Why are you protecting him? Why are you and Beatrice so insistent to keep the son of an enemy safe? I'll make no hopelessly naive argument I am ever the perfect angel once seen as a foe as well, but his father has done far worse than I have ever managed." He's killed before, he maimed, cut down targets and left their families without their loved one all in the name of his King. If what Ramiel even believed the kernel of truth and the brief bits Robin revealed, Henrik was the true monster. Killing when necessary and expanding his brood among the realm. At least he can say he never would take more than a woman is willing to give in terms of consent. What are the chances Sterling inherited his father's ability wrapping the female species around his finger? "Fine, I'll stay away from the little shit and pretend he isn't sucking face with my little girl. What not-really-her-father would I be?" Ramiel's lips pressed together at the wince that came through him with the ever-present sarcasm. "Crystal clear."

[beau-baird]

The option for you to not get chastised went out the window the moment you disregarded what I specifically told you. I don't care if you're my father– you blatantly disrespected my sister and me, and I will not stand for it. So, here is how this will go. I will give you one chance to explain what went through your head, and then you're going to listen to what's going through mine, quietly, without interrupting, and we'll be done with this unpleasant interaction.

[cutthroatxramiel]

The promise I made went through the window when the little asshole deliberately defiled your sister and then actively chose to keep doing it for the innate fact I'm her father. Disrespect, please, Beau, I am only protecting my family. Fine, though...you want to know what went through my mind? I told him to stay away from Beatrice and he practically laughed in my face, said he would allow your sister return at his side likely to spite the fuck out of me. So, I did what any father would for his daughter and used any means necessary until he understood the point. No one would mourn Sterling if he was dead.

[cutthroatxramiel]

I know why you're here, Beau, I am not in the mood to hear it.

[fiendishly-sterling]

Last I checked, she survived our last encounter. I count that as not harboring ill will. Just pointing out the obvious since you're always so full of yourself, wanted to point out that there's someone better than you, even if it's your daughter.

I'm going to have to invest in earplugs if you're going to keep popping up like this, aren't I. Now, Rammy. You're not a father. You're a jail warden thinking you can strong-arm anyone into staying away from your daughter because you don't like them, but let me get one thing straight. I didn't go to her in the first place; she came to me, and you know what... I'm willing to bet money that she'll keep doing it, and now that we've had this conversation? I'm going to let her. Over and over again. I think my sister would really love a scavenger hunt to find all my body parts– it really works up an appetite in order to murder entire families, which she will do to you and yours if you lay a hand on me. Now, it's my turn for advice. You really shouldn't let someone under your skin so much; it gives them too much power over you.

[cutthroatxramiel]

"Even I know killing on the first fuck destroys the purpose of the long game. Understanding who your father is and the fact he did not hesitate slitting your mother's throat, children are technically supposed to be better than their parents. I never said I was better than her."

"Oh, please, you think me so incredibly petty this has all to do with my personal opinion. A father protects his children from an outside tornado of destruction blowing into a city and threatening to take down the daughter of a man whose buttons he'd rather press than consider the consequences." Ramiel's barely contained facial features contorted into a mixture of furioso madness and the eerily calm before a raging storm. His mind flashed back on the beatdown of Aemon, how he reacted when the little prince laid a finger on Blair. Now, here he is again, seconds from repeating the past for his little girl. "She will lose interest in you swiftly, kiddo, and then nothing would stand in the way of Beatrice disemboweling you. Don't worry, Sterling, your sister will lose the scavenger hunt and join your pieces herself if she fucked with my family the same as I'm about to fuck with hers." The assassin pulled back an arm and rammed his fist straight into Sterling's face, not giving the other male a moment before sending another punch across the jaw, "Another piece of advice, boy," Ramiel maneuvered himself behind Sterling and wrapped an arm around his neck, flipping the boy's body over his shoulders and slamming him into one of the tables set outside the cafe where Sterling likely snagged his coffee from. The wooden pieces splintered under the force, obliterating the furniture. "When someone unflinchingly capable of razing the earth does not hold qualms blinking you from existence, shut the fuck up." He straddled the other, fingers curling through the dhampir's hair and utilizing it as leverage to slam Sterling's head against the ground. "Funnily enough, I'm having a strange case of deja vu. Care to know how another fight just like this went, Sterling?" Ram smirked, his free hand finding a nice long piece of the table. A nice makeshift stake. He didn't hesitate plunging the sharp point through Sterling's stomach as deep as it could go before he snapped off the sliver used as the handle. The scent of blood wafted in his nostrils, turning the assassin ironically bloodthirsty. "My son thinks killing you is an insult, but Beatrice will move past it." Flipping the piece of wood snapped off from his previous weapon, he hovered it just over Sterling's heart. One move, one small jab, and he could end this. "Say good night, kiddo."

A sudden whooshing clipped his ear as a throwing dagger whizzed past, shattering the window of the establishment and forcing his head in the direction it came from. "Beatrice-" Ramiel barely rose to a standing position before his daughter pressed him to the wall, fury masking her expression, "What did Beau tell you, Father?" Her brother was quick to give her a forewarning about their father's verbal satisfaction going after Sterling, deciding trailing the dhampir was the best option. Beatrice utilized her forearm to pin the older man down, ensuring he stayed put. Ram parted his lips to speak, but she wasn't about to let him say his piece. "I do not need you coming to my rescue and seeing a threat when there is none. You trained me as an assassin yourself, taught everything you know, to prepare the day when I swore allegiance to my future King. Your son. I'm not your little girl, I'm not some princess needing her daddy defending her honor, I am a killing force our enemies tremble to hear me coming from miles away." Ramiel slowly shook his head from side to side, brow furrowing, "I've taken it into account, but that does not matter when you are still my daughter." Bea released a scoff, noticing the slight difference between this man and the father who actually raised her, "who can fuck anyone she likes. And right now, that's him." The Princess shot a glance in the dhampir's direction, "Get your ass up now, Sterling. We're leaving."

[fiendishly-sterling]

Beatrice is your daughter. Oh, now this is delicious– I sorta see the family resemblance now, but I gotta say. She's a lot hotter than you.

It was after, and we know each other very, very well. Just not in a way where we were talking about our family trees.

[cutthroatxramiel]

May not have raised her, but she is my blood and I bury those who seek to harbor ill-will towards my blood. Cliche with your insults, aren't we?

Spare me the details of where you stick your dick at, boy, I just need you to listen. I know my daughter is a grown woman well-versed in assassinating her own problems, but you will stay away from her. I'm aware of who you are to Robin, to this Henrik moments from terrorizing the city, and her involvement with you will get her killed. She is nothing to you, Sterling, but a one night stand. You hold no claim despite what you were in her timeline. And if you fail staying away, it will take beyond eternity for your darling twin to find every piece of you I'll have scattered to all corners of the realm.

[fiendishly-sterling]

I always love watching people scramble around while I drink my coffee.

[cutthroatxramiel]

As long as your hands are preoccupied and away from my daughter, we won't have a problem.

Tell me, Sterling...did you know Beatrice before or after we met?

[beau-baird]

Beau would have grimaced at the thinly veiled insinuation his father mentioned if he were from any other family. There were just some things that demons were able to gloss over without getting embarrassed, and the sex lives of their parents was one of them. Especially when living with the sin that was passed on in his veins. "You tend to be right in a lot of things, not just in fatherly duties. That's definitely a lot faster than how my version of you and mom got engaged, but you two weren't on opposing sides in my timeline." The prince watched curiously as the emotions flitted across his father's features. Ramiel was not one to show his heart on his sleeve, but to his family, it was like reading a book. That and the tightening of Ram's fingers on Beau's shoulders were a dead giveaway. The moment that Ramiel's hand left his shoulder, the prince smoothed out his jacket lightly before shaking his head. "Father, no. He is not yours to kill." His tone had a finality he often used with errant soldiers in his army, one he learned from his grandfather as the crown prince. "I appreciate you wanting to swoop in and be Beatrice's savior as a good father would, but she is not a child. She is a grown woman. The Heir to House Gluttony, my future assassin, and the one person I trust my life with. You killing the dhampir without her permission would be an insult to her."

[cutthroatxramiel]

Even the thoughts of his wife and the delicious first meeting could not calm Ramiel when his mind locked onto a new target. It's been sometime since his obsessions found another who was not Blair or his Queen of Envy, but the feeling arrived like an old friend that never quite left. His previous King and Sabina shared equal parts blame drilling the all-consuming target approach that made him fierce and deadly on a battlefield. Ram prepared himself mentally for the hunt tracking Sterling as quickly as possible, his fingers already needing to reach for a knife, yet his own son dare stand between him and one dhampir no one will miss. "That is not fair, he started it-" Ramiel realized he was raising his voice, hands slightly lifting in defense. "I need to calm down. Everything's fine, I'm an adult. One little half-breed hybrid is not worth getting riled about." Even as he spoke the statement through clenched teeth, the assassin released a slow exhale, "I ran into that boy long before I knew who he was and he behaved like a spoiled child shooting off his mouth where he should not. Please, Beau, it would not be an insult." The man shook his head furiously as he looked away, catching the gaze of the goddess his son arrived with. "Fine, but the little shit better stay far from me or I will slice him in half."