A Master's Ring: Book 03

"Enough, Robert," Anna said quietly. "I have children, but they were not allowed near the Brotherhood. Of my grandchildren, only Roderigo and Stephanie made it back to us. Bad instincts, like reaching for a weapon with a gun pointed at your head or thinking your child is adequate when they are not, get people killed. If we are lucky, it's only the Brother with the bad instincts that dies."

"At least Roderigo seems to be showing good ones," Robert said.

"He is my grandson," Anna replied.

"He has severed the ties to his old allies," Robert said thoughtfully. "Your plan is working perfectly."

"Roderigo wants many of the things I do," Anna said looking away. "He is just too young to understand sometimes waiting for the target to come to you is better."

"I thought you did not want anyone to know the Ekaterina Brother was the Enforcer," I said to Robert.

"The Foot as a cell are almost as isolated as you are," Anna answered for him. "At least, they are supposed to be."

"I think you're going to set a new standard for isolation," Robert told me. "It's not very social of you to kill Brothers you don't care for. I want you to keep doing it, but I'm not going to put myself in front of you very often. I think after you're done with the Foot, most Brothers will take up the same policy."

I looked at Anna.

She answered my unspoken question about her visits with; "My granddaughter lives here."

"Plus," she continued "I won't protest a bullet when the time comes, though I would prefer the knife. I always preferred using a knife so it would be nice to go out that way."

"Are all of you insane?" Robert asked.

"You waited two decades to kill your rival," Anna pointed out. "A knife in his gut and drinking a scotch as you watched him bleed to death would have done as well. Enforcers can sometimes be persuaded that a Brother, especially a Council member, was simply trying to be helpful."

"It would have served no purpose other than my eternal satisfaction," Robert said dismissively. "This was better; a lesson driven home about the selection committee, David sees we don't mind the occasional freelance removal of a Brother who shouldn't wear a ring anymore, Roderigo got to watch how quick our new Enforcer is to pull the trigger, and I still got my satisfaction. If I had done it your way, Anna, I would have needed to find other ways to accomplish those worthy goals. There is a limited use for a corpse once it begins to rot."

"There's plenty of idiots to make a new corpse out of, Robert," Anna responded smartly. "Even in the Brotherhood, there's always an extra idiot or two lying around."

"There's four less now," Robert told her happily.

"Four?" I asked.

"The two Brothers you killed," Robert answered. "Kyle's soon-to-be dead father, and the Brother who so carelessly exposed a Sibling to the curious nose of a reporter. Four less breathing idiots."

"You see, it's started already," Anna said leaning over to pat my arm. "I told them bringing you in would solve our pest problem."

"We're not out of the woods yet with Roderigo," Robert told her.

"As with David, the Ekaterina will provide a more permanent solution," Anna said.

"Well," Robert said standing up. "I need to get ready for another Brother's ring viewing."

"A ring viewing?" I asked Anna after Robert left.

"The rings of sanctioned Brothers are displayed to Council members," she answered. "Robert will enjoy having his rival's ring served for his eyes to feast on."

"What about keeping my identity as an Enforcer a secret?" I asked.

"We're releasing the information slowly," she said. "First the full Council members, the Council heirs, and now your Foot. Hopefully, Robert's little fish will strike while the information flow is still in our control."

"He or she has to be smarter than that," I told her.

"You assume the smartest possible enemy, David,"

I shrugged.

"Leave room for lucky fools in your planning," she advised.

I thought about that and nodded.

"So this is politics in the Brotherhood?" I asked her.

"Vicious assholes, aren't they?"

I shrugged again.

"What do they really want from me?" I asked her.

"My grandson is right, he is the path to our future," she told me. "To ensure our survival, he was willing to discard the past. The Council did not intend to stop Roderigo. They simply disagreed with the idea that what we used to be should be cast aside so easily to guarantee what we will become."

"That doesn't answer the question."

"Roderigo has high standards for a Brother," Anna said. "He would have purged Brothers like Kyle and lost support. No one will doubt the two of you do not get along, so if you kill those Brothers who should never have seen a black ring then my grandson loses nothing. Of course, he has to avoid crossing your delicate sensibilities."

"You are using me."

"The Brotherhood has made many mistakes since the Ekaterina was lost," Anna said. "I'm not of those ninnies, who think it was because we lost your Bloodline. Our resolve simply weakened, David. I have not been in your seat for over thirty years, but I do not think retiring would stop you. I am old, and I choose not to leave this world thinking I did not have the strength to do what needed to be done. If what it takes to correct the errors of our recent past is to set a killer among the wolves to destroy the sheep that only think they are wolves, then my resolve is strong enough for that. The Brotherhood has stood for millennia; when I die, it will be standing stronger than ever."

"So you expect me to kill the sheep?"

"No, I expect them to come bleating at your door," Anna said with a laugh. "In that situation, I don't think there is anything wrong with serving lamb chops to your family. I prefer a raspberry jelly with a hint of vinaigrette sourness; Leonard has the recipe."

I sat outside for a half hour after Leonard guided Anna's wheelchair away. I replayed what had happened over and over to find weakness in my actions. The reporter's autopsy described the wounds how I wanted them seen; a panicked thief cornered, with no way out except to kill. I would not have chosen that if there were time, but I did what I could.

The two Brothers died for their inadequacy; they did not bear thought.

I made my way through the house and into the living room. Melisa and Doris Alex sat on the couch kissing. They broke apart and turned to look at me.

"Welcome home, David," Melisa said leaning towards me.

I leaned down to kiss her. Doris Alex touched my face so that I would kiss her also. I took a seat across from them and settled back to watch as they returned their attention to each other.

=====Chapter 51=====

I stood in a corner of the chapter house with a wall of Siblings and candidates between the party and me. The sorority rarely opened their doors to people outside a tight circle of friends making their one public party a semester an important campus event.

Normally, I would have avoided attending, but Stephanie scheduled a night with Samantha. I did not care to watch that train wreck so I planned on spending the night in Emily or Luanne's room, only to find I had to suffer through the party first.

Suffering is the best description for someone with my senses attending a college festivity. The sisters did not tolerate even the relatively minor excesses that occurred at parties thrown by Michael's fraternity; but loud music, alcohol, and college students were a mix that always put me on edge.

"We can go upstairs," Doris Alex whispered to me.

To whisper in a college party, you need to stand close to the person and yell.

I shook my head but grimaced making her frown. Doris Alex should have known there was no need to yell; I could hear a breaking branch while running through an artillery barrage. To me, Doris Alex yelling in the middle of a party sounded like Doris Alex yelling in an empty house.

She leaned forward and gave me a kiss that turned heads. It was easy to understand the curiosity considering the number of girls who had kissed me in a similar fashion since I took my post.

I arrived fashionably late because I waited until Samantha entered my house before leaving. Emily jumped into my arms at the chapter house doors and wrapped her legs around my waist. She pointed to a corner of the main room where Melisa sat in a high back chair. My First stood up when I approached with Emily in my arms, but I walked behind the chair instead of sitting in it.

Emily wanted a long ride so I pressed her against the wall. Her lips and the motion of her hips were a welcome distraction while I adjusted to the environment. She started the trend of inviting me upstairs when I set her down. I maneuvered her so that the chair hid her lower body and stuck my hand into her pants.

Emily had a tight little pussy that always made me feel like I was using excessive force when I tried to get a finger inside. She pressed her ass back and grabbed my arm with both hands. Her head fell forward as she prepared for an orgasm. The kissing warmed her up so it was only a minute before she dug her nails into my arm.

It seemed silly that she tried to hold in her cry of pleasure when I was the only one that could have heard her.

She pulled my hand out and licked my fingers clean before turning around. We enjoyed another long kiss that was lazy with the aftereffects of her pleasure.

The wall of interference was up and pushing anyone I did not know away when Emily went to get me bottled water. I tried to relax by leaning back against the wall and letting my senses further acclimate to the chaotic environment.

Melisa sat in the chair like a queen as people stopped by to say hello to me or talk to her. Most of them got the message that I was not interested in conversation so kept things brief, although each gave Melisa plenty of attention. The polite thing to discuss seemed to be the new chapter house, especially with Melisa having taken tyrannical control of the project after Michael let the design fiasco out of the bag.

Not everyone was fascinated by my corner of the room; Caroline and her cronies looked at me with obvious distaste but made sure to avoid my eyes. Siblings were a growing power block in the sorority and with the Brotherhood's money backing them were rapidly taking over the chapter. There was the usual male competitive dislike, which maxed when the Sarahs spent fifteen minutes trading my lips between them during another argument about who was going to get my dick inside them first.

The presence of the Taus was an unnecessary distraction in my opinion.

The sorority did not exclude anyone from their open parties, and the Taus enjoyed the opportunity to thumb their noses at the sisters. They did it in small ways guaranteed to be noticed but that it would seem boorish if the sisters reacted to. They misjudged my tolerance, although nothing might have happened had they chosen to express their capacity for being dipshits on a different girl. The Taus were smart enough to understand some girls would trigger a renewal of hostilities between us, but were not aware that the list had expanded.

They chose Lee as the recipient of their malice.

Lee was Doris Alex's preliminary experiment in using Sibling pledges to manipulate normal pledges. Doris Alex had explained that the next school year would bring the first influx of Siblings who wanted to attend a university with a Brother living within walking distance of the campus and a Brother teaching there. A sorority with a growing number of Sibling sisters was a powerful third incentive to choose the school, quite possibly the most powerful incentive considering how much Siblings preferred to be around each other. Those Siblings would be in the pledge classes and could pull normal pledges with certain inclinations in deeper by treating some sexual behaviors as perfectly natural. No one would know until afterwards that the Sibling pledges were Doris Alex's ringers.

The Sarahs were not Siblings yet, but no one doubted where they belonged. Lee was the Sarahs' best friend and had slowly been affected by their behavior to the point where she accepted what happened in my house as normal.

Lee had dark hair, dark eyes, and wonderfully upstanding large breasts. The rest of her body was deliciously curvy, but her breasts stood out almost defiantly.

The Taus found those breasts a little too bouncy to avoid commenting on. Lee gave them a withering look, which they must have thought should not go unanswered. The pledge's shyness rated only slightly below the Sarahs so the Taus and her were embroiled in harsh words within seconds. One of the maggots decided to reinforce his position by grabbing her arm.

He let go when I grabbed his. The music and conversation died as the Taus turned on me.

"Let him go, asshole," the drunkest said.

I opened my hand to let the fool that touched Lee take his limb back. The drunk was about to continue speaking but stopped when I put a finger in his face for silence.

I turned my face towards Lee and nodded towards Melisa's chair. She obediently walked over to sit on the arm. The sisters and pledges surrounded her protectively making sure to keep a clear view of what was going on between the Taus and me.

"You've had your fun; it's time to go," I told the Taus.

"Nobody tells me what to do, asshole," one of them replied angrily.

"I just did, and you're going to do it," I informed him.

They took a step back when a few of Michael's brothers moved to stand behind me.

"You don't have to worry about them," I told the Taus. "There won't be enough time for them to get involved."

"Fuck you!" the drunkest yelled. "You don't own every bitch in this house."

"No, but the ones that I do own get really annoying when something happens to one of their sisters," I said reasonably. "Do you know what it's like to have to ask for a morning blowjob? My morning ritual is extremely precise; I get out of bed, brush my teeth, wash my face, cum down a willing throat to clear the pipes, get dressed, have breakfast, and start my day. Whenever some Tau shit-stain gets in a sister's face, my people forget to do their job. It gets worse if I let it go for too long, then I have to remind them that their ownership papers ensure I get a threesome a week."

"Two threesomes a week," Melisa yelled.

"Two?" I asked turning towards her.

Every Sibling and candidate nodded making it clear who was in the owned category.

"That can't be right," I said loudly. "Otherwise, I'm owed and you're too good a bookkeeper for that, Melisa."

"Three girls and David equals two threesomes," Doris Alex replied.

I snapped my fingers as if I were disappointed.

"Would you like to renegotiate?" Melisa asked seriously.

A feather could have been heard hitting the ground while I thought about it.

"Two threesomes is four girls and me; a foursome is three girls and me," I pointed out.

"He does have a point," Sarah-M said to Melisa.

"Poor David is being cheated of a whole girl," Sarah-D added.

"Robbery!" Lee shouted supporting her friends.

"Your position has merit," Melisa told me smothering a giggle. "Do you have a suggestion for how to alleviate this injustice?"

"I'll get back to you," I said turning back to the Taus.

"You see!" I told the drunkest. "Usually they're reasonable, but when you fuckers get involved in my life, shit gets ugly quick! I'm a very habitual person; I need my morning blowjobs, my bi-weekly threesomes, and critical to my sanity is that when the words 'Spread 'em' come out of my mouth someone grabs cheeks and happily takes my dick up their ass. You wouldn't know anything about that though... wait, you're a Tau, the jerk-pie initiation frat, maybe you would. Were you the loser in your pledge class?"

I caught the fist he threw and squeezed. Everyone froze when he discovered alcohol did not dull that much pain and screamed.

The brother behind him moved towards me so I kicked him high on his back leg. He took a header into the floor and would probably never realize had I kicked the front leg, a dislocated knee would have been the best he could have hoped for.

I ground the hand of the Tau causing him to yelp in pain. Pointing at the rest and generating another scream of pain made the Taus hesitate.

"I'm going to hurt one of you badly if this goes any further," I said clearly. "Tell you what though, you can pick which one of you goes to the hospital tonight."

All of them avoided my eyes.

"In that case, it's time to go, gentlemen," I said politely.

I released the hand of the Tau and waited for him to join his friends. He cradled his hand looking at me venomously.

"Would you like to try it again?" I asked him. "I'll break your shoulder this time."

The Taus considered whether to take me on so I smiled encouragingly.

"We'll get you later, asshole," the drunk said.

He tried to scream when I wrapped my hand around his throat. Watching their brother be picked off the ground by one hand duly impressed the rest of the Taus.

"Threats are bad," I said tonelessly. "Threats frighten me, and when I'm scared I hurt people until there's nothing for me to be scared of anymore."

"Let him go!" one of them yelled as their friend's color changed.

I opened my hand dropping him. He fell to his knees and coughed uncontrollably as his body tried to take in oxygen. I waited until he recovered before speaking again.

"So we're going to go outside, and I'm going to beat the shit out of all you until I'm not scared anymore, right?" I asked.

No Tau answered, even after a few snickers cut the silence.

"It's time for you to go," I told them. "Tell Gerald that I would like to have a conversation with him about this incident."

I walked back to my station behind the chair and watched them gather themselves through the window; a couple even did a good impression of wanting to come back inside. Someone filled the Tau fraternity with harmful idiots, and the University was letting them run roughshod. I nodded thinking it would not be the last confrontation between us; I had everything they wanted and no Tau could forgive me for it.

"Hello," Lee said handing me the bottle of water I had put down to get between her and the Taus.

The noise level was rapidly approaching its previous height and I grimaced again.

"Are you okay?" she asked putting her hand on my arm.

The thought that nothing was wrong that could not be fixed by playing with her breasts flitted through my head. She noticed the glance at her cleavage and raised an eyebrow.

"Would they help you feel better?" she asked wickedly.

"Yes," I said honestly.

She sighed and shook her head at me.

"Not as adventuresome as the Sarahs, huh?" I asked.

The comment got me thoroughly kissed; Lee's ass was pleasantly more than two handfuls, and she knew how to rub against me in the right way.

More people decided they had to talk to me after the minor altercation with the Taus. Melisa let them say hello and quickly distracted them; eventually my wall gained a gauntlet of sisters that cut down the number of people I had to talk to.

I leaned against the back of the chair to watch the people around me. They kept an eye on me, but as time passed and the alcohol worked on their systems, most began to ignore me.

I admired Luanne as she ran the gauntlet of sisters and through the wall. She was wearing a tan wraparound skirt and a tight gray top that showed a nice expanse of her tummy. She gave an annoyed look behind her when she stopped next to me.

"Are you okay?" Sarah-D yelled.

"The boy is here," Luanne yelled back.

"Oh!" Sarah-M yelled in commiseration.

"He's not bad," Luanne answered. "I didn't need to see the new girlfriend though."

Melisa got up, waved to me, and walked over to talk to the sorority president.