Love thy Enemies

The Devil Was Once An Angel

Part One

"GET IT RIGHT VALENTINO!"

"DO IT LIKE ANTONIO!"

"BETTER PUT YOUR GUT INTO IT BOYS!"

"PROTECT YOUR HEAD ANTO!"

"I DIDN'T RAISE NO BITCH!"

"UPPERCUT VAL!"

"SHOOT THEM BEFORE THEY SHOOT YOU BOYS!"

"DON'T GO SOFT ON ME ANTO!"

"GET HIM VAL!"

"TAKE HIM DOWN ANTO!"

"FIGHT LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT BECAUSE IT DOES!"

"WIN! WIN! WIN!"

When they didn't get it right, it was into the prison hole. There they'd be whipped till they stopped crying. The bandages on their young bodies would embody the color of their humanity. They'd vividly show pain. The pungent scent of blood they grew accustomed to. With each passing day of their youth they were groomed into a being unlike the rest of their millenia who had a chance to be normal. He and his brother were denied a childhood. They were assasins. Beasts. Monsters in human flesh and bone. The souls of angels. Pure hands now covered in blood they will never know where it came from.

"If your mind isn't a fortress, they will break you." the father said to his sons. They worked long through the day, moving through the streets as though they weren't the sons of wealth. They scavanged in the nights for intel. As the days and years passed they were forced to watch as the man they idolized as toddlers revealed his horrid endeavors before them. It was that night when he dragged the boys by their hair down to the basement. He threw them into the dark abyss, down the wooden stairs and told them they were to figure a way out by morning otherwise the room would flood and they would drown. Five years old at the time the two boys were scared out of their minds. The water on the floor of the basement reached their ankles and an instant panic attack began. He looked at Antonio who smiled weakly at his brother.

"Marcello where are they?" Maria yelled at him grabbing him by his shirt.

"Where are my babies? What have you done to them ?" Maria was distraught. It was that night he truly revealed his motives and having sons was the worst thing to happen in Maria's life. She loved them dearly but this was a life she didn't want for them. There is no light in this kind of darkness. She knew that but it was too late to leave.

"Mama! Mama help us please! S’il vous plaît maman (Please mommy)" they yelled as they banged their small fists against the door.

"Have your lost your mind Marcello!" she screeched and repeatedly punched and slapped at Marcello's chest.

"Calmez Maria. Ils iront bien, je sais ce que je fais." (Calm down Maria. They'll be fine, I know what I'm doing.)

"Je suis calme! You're the one who's mad! Release my sons now!" she yelled as the door began fracturing. The boys found two axes and took turns at hacking away at the door. It finally opened up the two boys pants were soaked to their waists.

"You must never put my babies through that ever again." she said threatening Marcello. It took months of pleading and going behind her back to train the boys into men. They were sworn to secrecy. Their mother was to never know about this at all but Maria was no fool. She found out eventually. The scars on Valentino and Antonio's body were not natural or the usual scars teenage boys would get. It had to be something greater than the normal.