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Dark Blood

The study was silent and cold

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The study was silent and cold. Just the way Keres liked it. As he sat behind the daunting mahogany desk, it reminded him of the world he lived in and the role he played in it. It was a heeding combination; his tyrannous image and the ruthless deals he'd made in this intimidating study nursing the same neat serving of Vintage Malt Scotch Whisky.

But now, it was just his twin brother who kept him company in his disarming study in his towering mansion.

'So you are telling me that the innocent little Olivia Summers was peeking into our conversation?'

Keres asked Thànatos who was pouring his drink from the whiskey decanter across the room. There was silence as the slosh of the expensive drink was only to be heard. Keres took a drag at the dark liquid and relished the burning sensation when the drink scorched its way down his throat. He watched his brother take his time to leisurely walk across the room to stand near the French window overlooking his neatly manicured lawn.

'I believe so.' He finally answered, 'An ambitious... passionate woman.'

'As expected.'

Keres added in as he thought of the attractive, feisty woman he met examining the worst manifestation of death with cool professionalism. She was intriguing to him, a different breed of woman altogether.

Again, as was expected.

'Do you think she would bring down our plans so early into the game?' Keres asked as he lit a cigarette and took a long relaxing drag.

'It is a possibility.'

'A possibility we should curb.'

The men were silent for a moment. The lighter Konstantinos stood basking in the dying sunlight as the other sat behind the shrouded desk, taking long drags of his cigarette in the dark as both contemplated the scenario of the platinum-haired beauty interfering the dangerous affairs the brothers treaded on. They didn't speak until the sun sunk behind the horizon for the night to spread across the heavens and the soft artificial lights of the study switched on.

'I agree, brother. We didn't get involved only to not get what we want.' Keres nodded, agreeing to the comment made. 'More than the legal complications, the---'

Thànatos was cut off by the irregular flicker of light in the study. Keres stiffened in his easy chair, leaning forward slightly to crush his cigarette in the ash tray while his midnight eyes scanned the room.

The twins' eyes zeroed on the dark wood door that opened as the flickering lights finally coming to a rest at its lowest brightness.

In the twilight that descended in the study, a woman's silhouette stepped in. But the men saw her clearly, their eyes more sensitive in the dark more the light and the one who stepped in was one woman they could identify even if they lose their vision altogether.

'Mother.'

Thànatos' addressed the sharply dressed woman in pencil skirt and navy blouse; her raven hair down in waves against her porcelain skin. Keres continued to study her from the dark niche he sat as his twin walked up to her. She looked barely in her late twenties.

'Ah, Thànatos.'  

She cooed as he bends to place a reverent kiss on the back of her hand. Her ebony eyes lifted and stared right at Keres past the darkness that shrouded him. With fluid, confident steps she glided towards his desk, making him raise to his full height.

'Mother.' He greeted and bent to place a whisper of kiss behind her smooth hand. 'What brings you such long way from home?'

'My sister's son had escaped prison.' Her voice had a bite to it, a strenuous edge. 'What makes you think I would remain in the palace?'

'The fact that this could get infinitely more complicated.' Thànatos ran his hand through his brown locks, 'The last thing left for a disaster is your sister's maniac son getting to you, mum. We already have a woman to stop getting involved.'

'Themis. You had found her, didn't you?'

The men's mother hummed. The men remained quiet, knowing that nothing would keep their mother away from a prospective bloodshed and power play. As much as the woman commended both the brother's respect and love, they enjoyed the limited expression and interference their mother had towards them. Some would call them a distant and cold family but their nature melded well with their family structure which was rooted firmly on honor over love.

The children of darkness didn't need love. They needed power.

It was one of the reasons why the old family was more stable and uneventful than the clan of Gaia, their mother's sister.

'Yes, mother. We had.'

Thànatos broke the silence that descended. Their mother's eyes were intense and calculative as she looked at both of them.

'And when do you plan on handing her to defend the war?'

Keres answered. 'As soon as she recovers fully.'

He briefly hoped that his mother would not know where Themis actually was. But he knew that she already knew. She was, after all, one of the first of the genealogical tree. Her eyes glittered in the dark.

'Brilliant.' Her voice was low. 'We are Primordial and hence unconfined of any loyalty outside our family and that of the Cosmos. And the since they rely on both of you to keep the Crown, the clan of Gaia will have to play by our clan. And once the rebellion is squashed, we shall make our move.'

There was a knowing pause, charged with the rush of power monopoly.

'This squabble shall be fought under the Dark Clan's terms.'

NEXT UPDATE: 14 June 2019

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NEXT UPDATE: 14 June 2019

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