MARIEL

21~ Son of Cain ~

Thursday, February 13th, 2020: Moscow, Russia

For the last couple weeks, during his stay at the Kremlin, Mariel Nadier received the treatment of a king. Or, perhaps he merely felt like a king because he hadn't lived such a life of luxury before this. The food was delectable, the service incredible, and the women - oh, the women. Aleksey Petrov ensured Mariel was shown the most popular locations to meet women, watch women, and play with women. Continuously, Mariel told himself that he would play along with Aleksey's game. He would kill Aleksey Petrov... but not yet.

He wanted to enjoy himself first.

"If you do well training," Aleksey told him, one evening while they watched a dark-haired dancer glide gracefully down a silver pole, "I will take you to a place where they allow anything."

"Anything?" Mariel thought of the online videos he'd always saved.

"Anything."

Aleksey had kept his promise regarding the surgeries as well. By February 13th, the night Mariel finally met his sister, the surgeons had nearly restored the majority of his face, leaving a reasonable level of scarring that they assured would fade over time. His arm still hurt, but they'd regenerated the majority of his cells using advanced technology that mended his fracture at a cellular level. It was ironic how advanced science had become. There was almost no need for the supernatural element of healing and resurrection.

Science was very close to obtaining the position of God.

Tonight, as he watched Aleksey Petrov's daughter battle Agent Lipovsky, Mariel felt incredible. Feeling the excitement of the evening, he requested another glass of wine as Lipovsky smashed Tira against the cage with his leg. This reminded him of the UFC fights he used to watch after his father went to bed. Normally, he would sneak out of the room to watch a fight, primarily because he always thought the priest would object to him watching the violence. It wasn't until Jerome confronted him once and said: "You know, maybe I want to watch people punch each other with you. Ever thought about that?" that he realized his dad might not have been as uptight as he'd assumed.

But, this one would have likely enraged Jerome. This fight was not remotely close to the UFC. Someone was supposed to die violently in this fight, and Mariel was looking forward to it.

So, when his sister, Olivia, let out a wail and fled from the ballroom, he was disappointed. He wanted to see the aftermath of the serum. He wanted to see how Tira would kill herself. He wanted to see how much of her body she would show, and how bloody she would get. Would it be a clean kill? Or, something humiliating? What would be her definition of humiliating?

Thinking about these things sexually excited him. For the first time in his life, he felt no remorse for it.

The crowd roared. Mariel's eyes followed Olivia as she fled from the room. Aleksey had given him a simple task: ensure Olivia's compliance with Project Savior. He needed to follow her. Hopefully, she would simply flee the room, get a hold of herself, and return so Mariel could return. But, as he followed her from a distance, he quickly realized that would not be the case.

Her cries broke through the silence of the massive hallways and echoed through the chambers. The sobs were nearly pitiful as the woman ran past the guards, past custodians, and other servers.

Mariel kept a close distance. He watched as she collided with a server carrying a tray of wine glasses. The tray flipped into the air. Glass shattered. Red wine exploded into the air, spattered, and ran like blood across the tile flooring.

"Olivia!" the server yelled. "What's wrong?"

Casually, Mariel continued on, watching as Olivia went to a coat room and snatched a black peacoat from a hanger. Sobbing uncontrollably, Olivia exited a side door and ran into the snowy night.