Page 52 of The Mafia Bloodline
Runa’s face flashed in my mind, soft and glowing, the way she’d looked the night she told me she was pregnant. My chest tightened. I couldn’t let that kind of innocence exist in a world where Caesar still breathed.
As the vehicles pulled up to the docks, the air changed. The metallic tang of salt and iron filled the night. Shadows crawled along the edges of stacked containers, and somewhere, a chain creaked in the wind.
Lucien was the first out, signalling with two fingers. Draugr and Viking followed, spreading out. I took point beside Roman.
And that’s when I saw him.
Caesar.
He stood at the edge of the pier, coat flapping in the breeze, silver hair gleaming under the floodlights. His posture was regal, arrogant, the same poison that had always lived in his veins, but it wasn’t just him.
Malakai was there too.
The demon’s presence was unmistakable, black veins snaking up his neck, eyes burning with that molten hunger. He smiled when he saw us, sharp and wrong.
“Well,” Caesar said, his voice carrying easily over the wind. “The Dragic princes, all together. How sentimental.”
Viking snarled, but Roman raised a hand, he was calm, steady. “You’ve been playing with fire, old man.”
Caesar smiled, slow and cruel. “I built the fire. You just inherited the ashes.”
“Where is he?” I snapped. “Where’s Malakai’s handler?”
He chuckled. “You’ll see soon enough.”
That was the only warning we got. The air cracked open. Demons poured from the shadows, crawling over the containers, their eyes glowing like coals. We moved as one.
The night filled with the sound of snarls and screams, the sharp metallic tang of demon blood coating the air.
Viking went feral first, his roar echoing over the docks as he tore through three demons with his bare hands. His tattoos burned with power, his eyes wild. He was a storm made flesh, unstoppable and terrifying.
Lucien covered him with gunfire while Draugr and I flanked left, slicing through the demons that tried to encircle us.
Then from the corner of my eye I saw Malakai. He moved like smoke, blades in both hands, eyes locked on me.
We collided hard, sparks flying as steel met steel. His grin widened as his blade glanced off my ribs. “Still protecting your little human, Volken?” he hissed.
My rage was instant, blinding. I drove my knife into his side, twisting until he screamed. “You’ll never speak her name again.”
He laughed, blood spilling down his chin. “I have a gift for you…” Malakai says with an amused sneer, “Your woman’s father is inside, I believe she has been looking for him.”
He slashed again, and I caught his wrist, breaking it with a snap that echoed. He staggered back, clutching the wound, and for a moment, victory surged in my chest, until the shadows shifted behind him.
Something…no, someone grabbed him.
A rift opened, black and burning, swallowing him whole. His laughter echoed as he vanished.
“NO!” I lunged forward, but it was too late. The rift closed, leaving only the stink of brimstone behind.
At the same time, Caesar’s voice cut through the chaos. “Until next time, nephews.”
We turned, but he was gone too.
When the fighting ended, we were standing amid bodies and smoke, the docks painted red. The demons had been slaughtered, but their master’s had slipped the leash again.
Roman wiped his blade on a corpse’s coat, jaw tight. “He knew we were coming. Again.”
Lucien’s eyes were hard. “Someone’s feeding him live intel. We didn’t leak this time.”
