Prologue - Harold White
"I am Harold White, son of Herman White and CEO of the Valentian Distilleries as you all well know. Through my leadership, I have lead our distilleries to greater heights than once realized by my father and by the enigmatic founder of this great company---" I paused for a moment a little after I began my speech at a promotion event. I... could have sworn I saw someone familiar in the crowd, but when I blinked, she was gone. I know I have seen her before. I had to continue my speech! I felt panic insidiously crawl up my spine as I knew something was wrong, but the people were waiting! "This little promotion dinner is to announce a new endeavor to our amazing company! We are moving into champagne! We will sell the best champagne in the world as we have already conquered the red wine business almost effortlessly!" The people at this little gathering my genius put together clapped and celebrated our new endeavor!
I paused again. I felt as if my air was being drawn from my lungs! Was I having a panic attack?!
I had to pull myself together! I'm sure I looked like a sweating pig at this point! I saw everyone looking at me, some with concern, some with interest in our new endeavor, some still clapping... I felt the room was spinning or I was. I felt large hands on my shoulders: My bodyguard, Tony Palucca, just caught me as I was falling and with others, got me to sit down. In fact, he took the stage and finished my speech, abruptly. He said something along the lines of, "And with that, enjoy your dinner everyone and expect good things in the future." It wasn't the best line, but it wasn't the worst and it was above and beyond his duties as a bodyguard so I couldn't complain, not that I had the air to do so. I looked around to where I was carried. The stage was a semi-circle, the flat side facing the curtains behind the stage---of course the color of a wine red with gold trim as was the theme---with the round side facing the people. Everything was built around that semi-circle and I was to the left of the stage if facing it, sitting at a very nice table with red table cloths and cloth napkins folded in the "French Pleat"---of course with the same gold trims---one reserved for those with money. Those like me.
I braved another search of the room and there she was again! In the shadows! Her eyes didn't look human! I tried to speak when I saw her, I even tried to scream, but I made no sound!
Some people were looking at me with that terrified expression on my face like I just saw a ghoul in the shadows and even followed my gaze, only to see nothing at all! Why did she look so familiar?! I turned to see men took the place of the previous patrons surrounding me. Gambini's men. Did they know who she was?! They must've seen her as well! So I wasn't going insane! Gambini's men pulled me to the back with relaxed demeanor so as to not cause any sort of panic. The woman... she was following us! Slower than we were moving, but unsettling enough to get through the crowd unimpeded! It was as if no one saw her, but us!
Then it hit me. I know who she is! But how is that possible? She'd have to be over 96 years old! Sure, many strange things have been happening in this city lately, but this was another thing entirely!
Gambini's men along with my bodyguard, Tony Palucca, got me into the kitchen in the back while the rest of the people continued to party in the main room. I had a show-runner that goes by "Paza" to take care of the festivities while I ran for my life! Why was I running? I found myself wondering this, but the urge compelled me! I knew I needed to run! We turned and when we looked to see if the woman was still following us, lights were going out, progressively, the darkness slowly moving towards us! We began moving faster and now. I looked at the faces of Gambini's men and they looked like I must've looked when I tried to scream earlier; even Gambini's men were scared! We got through the kitchen, but not before I grabbed a whole chicken leg!
What...? I was hungry! Stress does that to me!
Finally, we were outside. The cold, New York air briskly whipped my face. It felt as if my sweat froze in my pores! A white limousine pulled up quickly, the tires prepared for the snow and to get grip on the black ice. We were in an alleyway behind the loft event center. Gambini's men weren't gentle, heaving me into the limousine, uncaring how I landed! I protested, "Hey!" I was cut off by the door being shut---no, slammed---before I could say anything else...
What I heard next was terrifying: The one that threw me into the car slammed into the car door that I was thrown in, the window shattering on impact. His butt entered where the window was, before he was snatched away and thrown what sounded like down the alleyway. My bodyguard was next! Tony Palucca was struggling to attack the woman that was following us, Palucca throwing a double-jab combination, followed by a haymaker and the woman would move so fast that she would be flanking him or behind him! She was laughing! What an intoxicating voice, yet somehow, sent chills down my spine. She snatched Palucca up and then, I could see how tall the woman was. She was at least 6 feet, 4 inches with heels! She had Tony by his face, holding him up like he weighed nothing! She held him there until he passed out! My eyes wandered and I saw the other five of Gambini's men sprawled out like they had a bender the night before! I returned my gaze back to the woman and she was in my face! Yes. This was her. Not a day older than she looked in that picture my father had of her. She had perfect, slightly tan skin, raven black hair, but it was her eyes that reflected with light that didn't seem to be there! The men were growning in pain, pain enough to resist the stupidity of redoubling their efforts to subdue this strange foe. Me? The limousine now smelled of eaten chicken and urine. I'm shocked number 2 didn't come out with it!
The woman got into the car and sat down. Luckily, piss wasn't on that side of the limo. I had to say her name to confirm if this was truly the woman I saw in that picture...
"Asuya?" I spoke her name, my voice quivering just as much as my lips, still slathered with grease and bits of chicken. The woman looked at me incredulously, perhaps shocked that I knew her name. After all, I never actually saw her when I was little, but my father had dealings with her, dealings I knew nothing about. "Interesting," the woman spoke, her beautiful voice cutting through the terror I felt. "I knew your father as we had dealings, but you? A little boy, but two or three..." When she spoke, she didn't even bother looking at me. She was too busy fixing her dress. What a refined accent, one that must've been from somewhere in England. She knew I was no threat---heck, all of those men out there were no threat either! I couldn't help, but stare a little as her body was something out of a swimsuit magazine or something more lewd. She had fitness where it needed to be, in my opinion, and voluptuousness where it should have been impossible to be!
"What do you want?" I asked in that same scared cadence I did before.
"You used my company, a company built almost a century ago, to cater to mafia interests? Did you not expect me to return to set things right?" She stared at me with this disappointed gaze. Why would she say that like it was something possible for her to return in the first place? She should be decrepit!
"How did you even return? Are you some sort of ghost?!" A valid question with my lacking knowledge.
Some of the men were getting up and when they did, they saw her in there with me and didn't know what to do! Gambini's men finally thought to leave, perhaps to return to Bobby Gambini himself... and my bodyguard stayed put as he must've heard us talking while coming back to the land of the conscious. She watched them with interest, wondering what they would do and smiled when she obviously thought they did the right thing. She turned her gaze back to me---damn it, why was she so beautiful?! It was as if she let me take it all in, being silent and scrutinizing my gaze with her own. After a few moments, she spoke again.
"What I am doesn't matter. I will give you one of two choices, Harold. The first? You will continue to run the distilleries with me as secret advisor, giving me access to money I've earned, all Gambini stocks, which is now 74% of the company, and other luxuries and I would deal with the Gambini Family for you, as they have you hook, line and sinker. The catch? This would be your last year as CEO. You will resign after that grace period of a year, with benefits. The alternative? I expose you all. Not just the Gambini Family, but the White Family for stealing my company and believe me, I have mountains of proof."
...She did that on purpose. I stared at her "mountains". I couldn't help it. It was the way she said it, so seductive, so---she was now in my face again, staring at me with those glorious eyes. I gave a quick nod, the fat in my neck, jiggling with the gesture. Her soft hand adorned with claws that looked cut at the tip, claws that were at least 2-3 inches long, depending on the finger used, ran up and down the fat of my belly and all I could do was watch in awe and fear! "What say you?" Her voice broke through my reverie, snapping me back to my very surreal reality.
"Wh---what if you're bluffing?" Why did I ask her that question? I looked down and her claws became sharp! I yelped, but my bodyguard didn't move to help, even if he looked to see what was going on through the shade of the limousine window! She moved her index claw to my chin and I reared away from it!
"You would like to find out if I have the proof I claim to possess?" she asked, looking at me, now straddling my rather large belly. She was so hot! Literally! She felt as if she had a temperature! "Fine. Tomorrow morning. 8am. Distilleries 7th Avenue Penthouse that you so casually allowed Bobby to take over payments for." I went to answer her, but she continued, "Don't be late, Harold. If you are, I will get antsy and what I did to these men tonight will look like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn..."
But she didn't kill them. It was the first thing I thought, before she gave me a knowing gaze. "Alright, alright... I won't be late."
She continued to stare for an awkward few moments, before she somehow phased through the car door, the glow of her eyes being the last to leave as she began her walk down the alleyway like nothing ever happened! The way she moved... no, she was not human. I had to go to Bobby Gambini to get some answers... and I had a feeling I wouldn't like any of them.
Prologue - Bobby Gambini
I hate this city. It's fulla nothin', but pain. Partially pain I cause, but I'm not gonna stop. Not now. I got things ta do and money ta make. I been hearin' rumors of supernatural cazzate goin' around in the streets, but I ain't buyin' it. Even my own men are spooked by some broad with claws and glowin' eyes. She ain't the only rumors of da supernatural goin' around, which ain't makin' my life easier. I always think like this when I wake up in the mornin'. It was 7:34am on the dot. I had minutes ta get ready and meet this broad in the 7th Avenue Penhouse that was plopped on top of the museum of the Distilleries. Thas where Harold was stayin', but apparently, this broad was gonna get in there widdout his or my consent.
Spooky.
I had a nice house on the outskirts of the Bronx, the Villa Charlotte Bronte. I always thought it was beautiful, like some old vampire use to live here or somethin'. Now, it was my home.
I had to get dressed ta see if this broad was the real deal---and perhaps to beat some sense into'er. That fictional crap may work on my men, but it ain't gonna work on me.
Prologue - Harold White (Again)
He told me to wait at the penthouse until he got here. Of course I got hungry so I made a triple decker club sandwich to keep my belly company. My club sandwich was epic! I had Japanese milk bread for mine---or shokupan. I had a chef make it for me. I also had him make a Garlic Basil Mayo which is incredible and simple. I used green leaf lettuce, tomato, turkey, ham, smoked cheddar, pepper jack, smoked bacon, a tiny bit of avocado and of course, salt and pepper. I almost wanted to stack a fourth layer, but the sandwich was already leaning like Piza.
I love this penthouse. It was big and on top of a shorter building erected for the Distilleries. Kind of like a small museum of it's history. Asuya managed to avoid most pictures of her and instead, had CEOs from the past taking precedence in the museum. It seemed she liked her privacy. The museum was three floors of history, then on top of that, the fourth floor was the penthouse. The penthouse was so big that it had a living room, kitchen, theatre room, gym and an office. The only room not visible to every other room was the gym, but then there was the second floor visible from the first, with a jacuzzi outside on the balcony. The balcony was covered by shaded glass, so no one could see what was going on. Finally, there was the open bedroom on the front side facing the opening for the second floor and the open bathroom on the other side, facing away.
Soon enough, the woman came out of the shadows of the morning! The eyes first, then her perfect silhouette. She almost made me fling my sandwich out of fear, but I held steady due to starvation. She was wearing a shorter dress now, one with more decor on it, sky blue this time, but something was off. She seemed more angry this morning. Before I could say anything, she spoke. "...So. Bobby Gambini. What made you bed with such scum? Did you gamble away company money and had to pay it back before anyone suspected, Harold?" I paused before I answer. I had to pick my words carefully with the woman---Asuya, why was I scared to say her name, even in my own head?! She gave me a look... was she reading my mind?!
"How do you know all of this?" I had to ask. I also had to do so while I devoured my delicious sandwich! I do my best thinking when I'm eating and come to think of it? This was too surreal to avoid asking about, even with her strange glowing eyes almost burning holds in my head. Figuratively of course... I don't know if she has those powers.
"I don't," she responds---which absolutely answered my thought! "However, I can read surface thoughts." I paused again, before giving an exasperated scoff, "Well that's useful. Can't cheat you at a poker table..."
She frowned, staring at me. Even frowning, the woman looked inhumanly beautiful. "Bobby will court disappointment this morn." Her words confused me, but the meaning of them would come right after she spoke. Bobby had arrived and he wasn't alone. He had almost all of his men here it seemed! Was he going to take on Asuya like this?! To be fair... that's a lot of guys this time and if she held back like she did with me last night---I did not mean that how it sounded in my head---these guys would chew her up with bullets, bats, knives, anything they can!
Bobby came into the room after his men took strategic positions in the penthouse. He was pulling out a cigarette out of his jacket as he looked the woman over, focusing on her eyes after eatin' eye-candy. "So, y'got some sorta contacts or somethin' on? B'cause I'm not buyin this---" Before he could even finish his sentence, we all had to have blinked, because Asuya was in his face, standing right in front of him! She was all the way over there where I was! Nothing can move that distance that fast! Even Bobby stood there with his mouth half-open and with it dropped his cigarette upon the floor, to which, Asuya stepped on it. "Haven't you heard? Smoking is bad for you, Bobby." The strangest thing? His men didn't move a muscle. They too, seemed frozen!
Asuya's beautiful face curved into a wry smirk as she broke the silence her little stunt caused. "Are you going to stand stalwart and continue to gawk or will we get down to business?" Bobby looked as if his legs were gonna give out when she asked that, but he had to confirm what she was speaking of, so he braved a question of his own. "Get down to business? ...Whaddayamean?" Asuya's wry smirk was now coupled with a little squint and a cute nose wrinkle. "Don't worry, Bobby. You and your men can relax. I plan on doing this the legal way, regardless of what I can do. I have evidence of you and your crime family---" She paused, because Bobby went to protest and she clasped his lips with her index and thumb claws, something that he could do absolutely nothing about. I must admit. Seeing Bobby like this kinda made me smile in side. The guy was a bully and now he was the one being bullied.
She continued her thought with such eloquent Englishwoman speech, "---taking my company little by little from Harold here, using coercion and bone-breaking of investers and their families. Sometimes bribery. Sometimes even cross-trading. I have it all here..." Bobby looked around to see where she had it. She was holding nothing!
At first.
Then she procured the documents in one of those vanilla envelopes, holding out her clawed-hand and some sort of strange powers made it appear within her grip! "You see, Bobby, everyone you ever bribed or strategically coerced? They are folding, testifying and making sure you go down for this. These documents and their testimony? You're stuck, Bobby. The only way you can stop it is to kill me and I can guarantee, that will not happen, Bobby. Their families are safe." She got closer to him and in his face, her gaze growing in hostility. "However... I want you to try something. I do."
The tension in the room was heavy. I don't even think one of those fancy chef's knives could cut it. There was silence, perhaps the sound of men fidgeting, the sound of Bobby pacing and staring at Asuya every now and again, before he just pulled out his desert eagle, loaded with high-quality 50AE rounds and fired one at Asuya as fast as he could! He was standing not 5 feet away from her and to his surprise? She didn't stop him from drawing, she didn't stop him from turning off the safety and she didn't stop him from firing the gun... but she did stop the bullet. She caught it, now flipping it like a coin so it could cool off in the air. His men, at least half of them wanted to run. I could see it in their faces! The rest were in awe at what they just witnessed.
Asuya had this look on her face. As if even she was deciding what to do with Bobby in this moment. Use the envelope of evidence or just kill him and his men out-right! The tension got heavier, as if it was becoming more difficult to stand---the same feeling I had at the promotion last night! Bobby and all of his men were on their knees now. I'm so glad she spared me, my knees were still hurting from last night! Asuya spoke with actual disappointment in her tone as she approached him, fixing the collar of his well-tailored suit with no tie and open top three buttons, "Bobby... Bobbo... Bob. You just had to test the waters, didn't you? I really want to hurt you, but I will give the justice system a chance. Pray it works, Bobby." With that, she headed to the penthouse elevator. She didn't even look back at them all, who were still on their knees! Well, I didn't get any answers, but it seems the Gambini Family and Asuya have history. I felt compelled to follow her down, but that feeling was fleeting as I was too scared to attempt it... besides, my knees wouldn't carry me there due to last night and I was hungry. Again. Nothing was ever normal in this city, but this? I've heard the odd rumor and whisper, but it seems Asuya is shaking things up.