Shoot Your Shot

Chapter 13

Waking up the next morning was difficult to say the least. It seemed like it always was, when he was wrapped around the arachnid. The sound of rain on the roof caught his attention, as well as the low rumble of thunder that he felt vibrate through him. Getting anything done today was going to be hard, if he was lucky. Impossible if he wasn't. Turning his attention to the spider in his arms, he sighed in his contentment. Arackniss was still fast asleep, curled up against his chest with a leg casually thrown over his tail. Watching the other man sleep was a treat, since his lover had a habit of waking up first usually. Maybe it was the rain that kept him at peace. Lightly petting a finger over Arackniss' cheek, he marveled at how soft he was and took the opportunity to revel in it all. Thinking about the night before, he thought of all the things his lover had told him, all the new secrets they shared, that is, until his mind caught up with him. 'A shadow. "No pictures, no friends, nothin' but family." Just a rumor, at best.' Pentious' heart sank and he carefully slipped from the bed, giving his lover a minute to adjust when he handed him a pillow to hug instead. Once he was sure Arackniss was still asleep, he left the room and headed downstairs to the study.

He rarely used the room, despite having it, because it felt lonely most days. Today, however, he needed to be alone. He needed to think. He and Gregory had had countless conversations of the last few months about the job, both pretty much agreeing that everything pointed to Henroin being the Overlord, but there had always been tiny inconsistencies. Things like the phone call where he'd gotten caught in the first place. He'd all but forgotten about it in his panic, but now he'd not only heard the man on the phone, he'd had long and personal conversations with him for hours. It had indeed been Arackniss that Henroin had been on the phone with, and the subject matter had been iffy. Despite only being "Project Manager", his lover seemed to do just about everything, whether he should or not, and he clearly worked much more than anyone else ever did. He knew everyone, and nobody contested him which, now that he thought about it, was strange for Hell. He had a lot of pride in the Family business, kept tabs on other people, and had lived a life worthy of greater things than what he had. Combining all of that with the spiders distaste for being in the spotlight, confidence and ambition, and Arackniss made the perfect hidden Overlord. Out of sight, out of mind, simply giving orders through phone calls, so no one could see him, or hear him, and the comparison between him and Henroin was hard to ignore. Just describing them, anyone would think Henroin was the Overlord. Of course they would. The man was massive and had the presence of a born leader who carried himself with more than a little bit of pride.

And then there was Arackniss. While the man held his head high and had a lot of pride, he lacked his father's stature, size, and daunting reputation. Nobody had known who he was in life, and they still didn't know in death, which gave him the freedom to wander around as he pleased. Pentious cringed. It gave the man the freedom to go to dinner with him publicly, and make out in an alleyway, and come and go from his house at all times of the night. The freedom to have a relationship without the rest of the world chronicling it like they did with everyone else. But even the little secrets he'd told Pentious the night before were clear indicators that he had the makings of an Overlord. He'd been on the FBI's most wanted list for the atrocities he'd committed, and when they finally came after him he was the last person to die in the house. Not to mention he'd taken his own life just to spite them; for his own pride. A story Pentious knew that nobody alive had ever been told.

His lover was also incredibly smart, as most Overlords were. They had to be here, because there were no second chances if they failed. Not that Overlords failed; they were notoriously good at what they did, and that was what they provided for Hell. So, Valentino was good at sex, Vox was good at all forms of media, Velvet was good at cooking and service, but you couldn't be "good at drugs". You had to be good at Business. Since the drug trade was so time consuming, based on material farming, production, advertisement, packaging, distribution based on needs, profits, the works. Finally, the nail in the coffin, was the first call itself. The first time he'd ever heard the spiders voice, and it had enraptured him instantly. In that first interaction, Henroin had done nothing but sit on the line while Arackniss gave orders, issued the warning against him, and hung up. It had been Arackniss that had called Henroin when he'd come in and had the scorpion send him down stairs to meet him. And Arackniss had had all of the files and information, even on Pentious, in his office. As though all of it were completely natural. So to them, it was, because the one in control of everything would have all of the information, all of the trust, all of the power. His lover had even said once before that the Family couldn't function without him sometimes.