Snake Eyes

Chapter 1

The air hung tense in the room as the small group of men watched the large scorpion behind the desk. A massive fist slammed to the desk top and several of the men jumped, but the shortest in the room, the darkest of them all, stood perfectly still. Hands behind his back, head held high, perfect posture while he simply waited for his orders. "Does this son of a bitch think I'm some kinda moron?" The heavy accent cut through the silence. The others looked at each other, but none answered.

"He's new here, and we clearly didn't make the perfect impression the first time, Don. I'll go talk to him and make sure this doesn't happen again." They all glanced down at the small spider. Standing to the scorpions hips at best, he held the most confident air in the room besides the Don himself. "I also intend to make sure we get that back pay." Numerous red eyes watched as the scorpion slid into the leather chair fit for him. The bigger man eyed every other person in the room.

"Who caught this gross miscalculation?" The low growl was menacing and demanded an answer. All of the men looked down at the small spider. "Of course you caught it, Niss." The growl was more docile now as he relaxed into his seat. "I can always count on you to fix these mistakes. Who did the books to start with?" The spider turned and set all of his eyes on the man to the far right. In the back of the group. "You, stay. Everyone else, leave. Arackniss, go fix it." The spider nodded and turned on a heel, leaving the room before anyone else could. Outside the room, the two giant brown spiders waiting for him fell in line. They didn't question, they weren't allowed, but they knew that he'd received orders. He always received orders. The three of them left the manor without being stopped, though they got plenty of looks. He was used to this by now, the stares. Some were merely jealousy, others hatred, and a hand full were curiously waiting for him to mess up. He spent so much time cleaning up other's screw ups that if he ever made a mistake of his own, the family just might crucify him. He dreaded the thought of what would have happened had he missed the oversight in the books like the first, but only because he knew how hard his father's fists were. The two guards slid into the front seats while he slid into the back of the town car and handed the passenger the address of the shop they needed to visit. Without a word, they set off and he watched the city pass by the window. Time to fix everything...again.

"Please, I'm sorry. I know it was wrong, but-" God, he did not want to listen to this gremlin grovel anymore. If it didn't involve business, he would have shot the creature already, but since money was involved the poor thing had a use still.

"The Don don't like being made a fool of, Kartik." He fingered the trigger on his revolver, which he currently had up against the man's head while he laid on his stomach on the floor of the shop. It was a quaint little dispensary, and Arackniss already had ideas for it, so all of this was just process. He definitely didn't want a repeat from this man, so the scare tactics would work until the debts were paid, then the profit would make him valuable. "Do you know how much you owe? Cause I do, I did those numbers personally." A small part of him reveled as the man shook with fear.

"I...I think I do." Stammering, avoiding eye contact, shaking, the pathetic creature was about to wet himself, and that fed a malicious little piece of Arackniss' Mafioso heart.

"You think you do? Do you think I'm okay with you maybe knowing how much money I found missing?" He stood and started walking around the shop, running a finger over the counter top. "I need a little bit more than maybe's, Kartik." He was waving his gun as he spoke, carefully gripping it so his finger was resting against the side instead of on the trigger. "I need assurance to take back to the Don, to make sure that you're worth the time and effort we've already spent on you."

"I can get you the money, I swear. I'll get you anything you want, please." The smile that curved Arackniss' lips, revealing the sharpened fangs, was one of amusement. "Please, Arackniss, I'll do whatever the Don wants." Hiding the smile, he gave the man a sympathetic look and nodded.