A Gothic City

A Gothic City

By Robert Desilva

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2010

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my good friends Sue Schaumburg and Arlys Korynta for all the support they provided to me.

LICENSING NOTES

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without expressed written permission.

All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is coincidental.

DEDICATION

This book is also dedicated to the memory of Patrick James Wilkie who without hesitation, volunteered to help with this project. Thank you.

God bless you forever.

COVER CREDITS

Cover Art: Consuelo Parra Perez

Model: Yarrow. Photographer: Marcus Ranum

City by: Almudena-stock.deviantart.com

Stairs: by wolfc-stock.deviantart.com

Professional digital artist: digitalconsuelo@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/consuelo-parra-Digital-Art/30986326239089

Dwayne Valdis is rebuilding his Empire, which he believes will catapult him into global domination. Alexis Nokovic, Queen of a rival gothic family, stand between him and his quest for world power. She took an oath to destroy him after he betrayed her sect during a battle against the Romans in the 3rd Century. After years of separation, their inevitable clash reignites and leads to a final conflict for civilization. To complicate matters, her son the prince, develops a pivotal and forbidden love affair with a mortal female as these two extraordinary factions renew their war in modern day Europe.

CHAPTER ONE

Raymond repeatedly hounded his brother, Duncan, who demanded to know why Jonathan hadn’t shown up yet. He was tired of waiting inside the car. Raymond hated the arrangement with the associates they dealt with. Duncan and six other men also waited in their cars on a cool, damp morning at the city’s waterfront just before dawn. They weren’t there to work or to have breakfast with friends or anything that was remotely legal. They were members of the notorious Valdis family. They were as deeply associated with organized crime as any group in the country. Raymond had sixty million dollars in the trunk. The money was payment for a long list of narcotics being delivered to them by a soldier from the Scarpelli crime family.

They had a reputation for being less than honorable in their dealings with other underworld associates at times. This type of supply and demand was arranged by Dwayne Valdis, Lord and Master of the family that bared his name. The millennium had just arrived and was accompanied by a host of bad elements. Until recent, organized crime in New Holland had been kept under control for years. That all changed when Dwayne took over a large portion of the city’s underworld. Most of the other families avoided challenging them because they possessed a huge supply of muscle and high financial status in the city. Regardless, the syndicate wanted them out of the way because they operated independently, which was outside of the Executive Board. This panel included the top Bosses and under-Bosses from seven of the most powerful crime families in the world-bar none. They were even feared by law enforcement and rival crime families all over the world.

A short time later, a silver sedan slowly drove down the street towards the men. Raymond was relieved the transaction was almost complete. But he planned to give Jonathan a piece of his mind. He felt there was no excuse for being late. All eight men stepped out of their cars as the sedan drew to a sudden stop, which made them a little suspicious. Jonathan explicitly told them he would be driving a black Mercedes, not a black BMW. An unrecognized vehicle meant undercover cops or an attempted robbery by another outfit. Raymond and his men slowly approached-ready to draw their guns. They stopped thirty feet in front of the strange car. They couldn’t see the driver clearly because the front windshield was tinted. No normal person drove around with their front windshield tinted black unless they were begging for an accident.

Raymond looked at his men, not knowing exactly what to do or what to expect. Duncan took the initiative and approached from the driver’s side. He yelled and asked who they were and what they wanted. He received no reply. He looked back as the other men stared on with curiosity. Duncan repeated himself as he moved closer. He stopped when the headlights suddenly flashed on and off. He took a few more steps toward the sedan. Again, he paused when the headlights flashed on and off, which now made the situation very tense. He reached inside his black, leather blazer and placed his hand on his pistol. Corbin, a top hit man for the family, slowly approached the passenger side with his revolver drawn. He remained at least two or three car lengths away. After an eerie pause, the driver’s side door slowly swung open, which drew all their attention away from the passenger side for a brief moment.

Duncan ordered the driver to step out or face being riddled with bullets. Before he could utter another threat the passenger side door quickly flung open. At first, all they saw was a black, thick, heeled boot step down on the ground from behind the door. A sawed off shotgun suddenly appeared between the car and the door frame. Before anyone could react, the driver fired and blew a hole in Corbin. Dazed by what happened, the men returned fire. The unknown gunman fired through the front windshield, striking and killing Duncan instantly.

The mysterious stranger stepped out-dressed in black, including a full length duster. He hurried to the rear of his car as the Valdis men returned fire. The stranger darted out and moved sideways across the road blasting away. His bullets found their mark in a few of his targets. He himself was hit multiple times, but for some reason wouldn’t go down. And he wasn’t wearing a bullet-proof vest. When he emptied his shotgun, he pulled out two black, automatic pistols and opened fire. One by one they fell. Raymond was struck in the thigh and hopped away. The gunman caught up with him when he fell to the ground-unable to run any further. He looked up into the eyes of his executioner. He didn’t know him. A distinct red and black mask hid his identity. He didn’t understand what the gun battle was all about. Regardless, one fact was certain, he was going to die. The unidentified man raised his gun as Raymond pleaded for his life, which fell on deaf ears. His demeanor was that of a cold machine whose only function was to kill. He fired two times in succession. Raymond’s head snapped backward as his lifeless body fell to the ground.

The gunman retraced his steps back to the seven remaining corpses. They were scattered all around him. His body language resembled the Grim Reaper-cold and merciless. He approached Raymond’s car. He used his fingers to pierce the trunk. He pulled upward and tore the lock out as easily as one rips a piece a paper. Who or what was he? He reached into the trunk and pulled out a stainless steel briefcase, which he opened. Inside was sixty million in cash. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small container of flammable liquid. He struck a match and tossed it into the briefcase, which ignited. Hemorrhaging from multiple gunshot wounds, he just stood there and watched sixty million dollars go up in flames.

CHAPTER TWO

Kerri heard someone upstairs in one of the bathrooms in the enormous estate she resided in. She detected the sound of water running in the sink and yet, she failed to hear anyone enter her home. She didn’t let that stop her. She climbed the beautiful staircase that led to the second floor of the three story residence. The corridor was dim but light illuminated from under the door as she approached. There was a dangerous killer inside her home. She slowly pushed the door open as the person inside looked at her with wide eyes. The killer was Xavier, her younger brother. He stood over the sink after cleaning the blood stains off of his wounds and his coat. He looked silently into the mirror. Kerri in her obnoxious way, demanded to know where he had been. After he told her, she immediately flew into a short rant about how dangerous going out alone was when taking on the Valdis family-their sworn enemy for the last seventeen centuries.

Kerri and Xavier Nokovic were not just participants of some blood feud that their ancestors fought in the past. Many of their current relatives had been embroiled in the conflict from the beginning. However, they were not ordinary beings. Neither were they witches, warlocks or vampires. They were immortals. Unbeknownst to the people of New Holland, super-human beings lived right in their midst. Xavier and Kerri were the children of Alexis Nokovic. She herself was immortal and queen of a large, Teutonic sect known as the Ostrogoths. For over fifteen centuries, they were locked in battle against the Visigoths-a sub clan headed by their ancient and present day king, Dwayne Valdis.

Xavier turned to Kerri and complained that she worried too much. But that was her way. She was extremely close to her brother. She had watched over him from the time he was a new born baby. And they did what most siblings do; they argued and picked at each other constantly. But they were as loyal to each other as a brother and sister could be. Knowing him like a book, she asked him how much money he confiscated. He informed her that he burned the tainted money and killed eight men.

At that moment, Gabriella walked up and joined the conversation. She and Xavier had been childhood sweethearts from the day they could breathe. They were also born immortals on the same day. She and her family lived with Alexis and the rest of the Gothic Royal Family in their palatial residence. This privilege was reserved for Gabriella and her family, and those who were Alexis’ best friends long before she ever became an immortal. She stood opposite Kerri in the bathroom doorway. All Xavier wanted to do was lay down and rest. Both women insisted on knowing why he repeatedly attacked the Valdis and other crime families alone. His excuse was always the same; he didn’t want other people to get in his way. For those who didn’t know him, they would’ve considered his remark arrogant. To the contrary, he didn’t want to chance losing a close friend or family member.

Million dollar deals that involved the exchange of numerous vices, the worst being narcotics, took place all over the city each month. The Nokovic family had countless associates, informants, and street connections. They also had a pipe line to a few people in high places in the federal government. Xavier often disrupted those corrupt deals between the underworld factions. Each time he shattered their transactions; he executed the men and destroyed their cash and their narcotics. Dwayne had no idea who was cutting into his illegal operations. None of his men ever lived to give anyone else a description of their attacker. He was frustrated. For over a half a year, Xavier was single-handedly responsible for billions of lost revenue generated by Dwayne’s family.

Xavier belonged to a squad of executioners known as the Skeletons. He was the leader and under him, they became the largest and deadliest squad in the Nokovic Empire. Second in Command was his best friend Cullen Sanborn, also a member of the Royal Council. However, no one ever called him by his given name. Instead, friends and family called him Colt, because ever since childhood, he could run very fast. His mother use to boast about the time he outran a horse as a young kid. She teased him by saying that maybe he was half boy and half horse. As a result, everyone started calling him, The Colt. Although the remark always made him laugh, his new nick name stuck. He liked the comparison so he actually added the moniker as his legal middle name. Unlike many others, his generation never tasted death in order to discover their immortality. Alexis attempted to keep a tight rein on Xavier because he was her only son and the prince of his people, although he was never comfortable with such a title. As the heir to her throne, his power was second only to hers, which was absolute.

She governed her people with the help of her sisters, Jacqueline and Lazette, and her niece, Darcia, who was Lazette’s only child. They, along with Kerri, Xavier and Colt, made up the seven seats of the Royal Council. She married once, but lost her husband in a war against the Salian Franks in the 5th Century. She was very over protective about her children. Kerri was easy, but Xavier was a bit harder to contain. No one knows how or why, but he grew up and became physically, the most powerful immortal on earth. His strength rivaled mechanized engines. This gave him a feeling of invincibility, which she felt would someday get him killed.

After resting, he later rose that afternoon and prepared to act on a tip he received from a street informant. His evening was about to take a turn in an unexpected direction. The events of that September night altered his life forever.

New Holland was the second largest city in Europe and the world. The huge metropolis was home to over twenty-five million residents. Only St. Viktersburg, located just hours away to the north, was larger. Xavier headed to a location downtown where the Valdis family and some of their associates were scheduled to have a sit down and decide what to do about their business problems. Dwayne believed that law enforcement was behind his troubles. He made powerful enemies within the city’s police force to warrant their aggression and crack down on his activity. Xavier stood atop a three story building across the street from St. George hospital, one of the largest in the city. He waited to see who entered the Tiger’s Claw, a secretive lodge. The ‘Claw Fraternity’, as it was commonly referred to, was supposed to be an organization similar to the Free Masons. But unlike the Masons, the Tiger’s Claw was more of a haven for criminals who met to form ways to launder their cash rather than perform civic duties. The lodge gave crime bosses the look of respectability. In truth, most people had few illusions about what and who they were. Xavier went downstairs and decided to get a closer view. He watched for members of the Valdis family but saw none. He was already set to enter the lodge and execute anyone related to their activities. After an hour passed with no sign of any major crime figures, he realized he was waiting for a confrontation that would never come. He contacted his informant and was given bad news. The meeting that was scheduled to take place at the Lodge was a decoy. The real gathering was held somewhere else and no one knew where.

St. George hospital was located one block down the street from his location. Xavier slowly strolled toward the front doors of the fraternity but remained on the opposite side of the street. Members entered and exited constantly. He looked for the faces of any recognizable gangsters, but didn’t see anyone that gave him reason to take action. All of a sudden, he felt that old familiar sensation that penetrated his body each time an immortal was nearby. His ears tingled and his other senses were heightened. He wasn’t sure who or how many there were but he’d soon find out. His senses drew him to other immortals like a magnet. Unfortunately for his rivals, they had no such warning