DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

THE MAN TAKES A step closer, and I can't help but take a step back as I feel my heart beating faster. Catalina immediately lets go of my shoulder as she says, "Chance, what are you doing here?"

Chance looks at his sister, and then he glances at me before looking back at Catalina. "Aunt Camilla said you were here so I wanted to check on you. But why do you two look so serious?" He asks.

Catalina was supposed to answer, but then Chance walks towards me and suddenly touches my lip seductively, "Don't tell me my friend Hans here doesn't have the money to pay for his bid last night. Well no worries, I think he can do something for me in exchange."

I awkwardly laugh and grab Chance's hand.

"I appreciate it master Chance, but I was able to pay in full." I answer, and Chance pouts and aggressively pulls his hand away from me as he replies, "You're no fun. And I was so ready to do something naughty with you."

"That's enough Chance. Stop scaring the guest." Catalina says as she takes the mask that I removed and handed it back to me.

"Why don't you entertain the guests outside instead?" She asks, and Chance rolls his eyes in annoyance.

"I've been sitting on those old geezers' laps for hours. Someone even tried to kiss my lips without my permission. That makes me very upset." Chance says as he walks towards the desk so he could lean on it.

I wear the mask and got ready to leave the two, but then Chance says, "So, who made a deal with the devil?"

I stop walking and exhale heavily.

"So you heard, and you've been pretending like you didn't?" Catalina asks. I turn around to face them again, and Chance just shrugs his shoulder and answers, "Where's the fun if I don't play around a little?"

"This doesn't concern you," Catalina answers, but Chance wasn't a bit intimidated.

"Oh, I think I do. I'm more involved than this than any of you. I was the one who brought Vincent here. I deserve to know what he's up to." He says, and Catalina just sighs and massages her temple from frustration.

"You just revealed our family secret to a bodyguard. How do you expect me to trust you with this now?" Catalina asks, and Chance just laughs.

"I think I'll be able to help. Remember, I'm good at pleasing others. There might be something that I could do that would ease your problems." He says with a grin.

Catalina didn't say anything, but I look back at Chance and seriously ask him, "Then can you please Cyrus Delton?"

Chance's grin instantly fades when he heard my question. He stands from the desk and immediately asks me, "Who the hell made a deal with him?"

I was about to answer his question, but Chance must have realized that he just broke character, so he clears his throat and tries to return to his slut act. But it's obvious that he isn't able to keep it together anymore.

"I told you. This doesn't concern you." Catalina says. She walks back to her desk and takes out a pack of cigarettes and a vintage lighter that has a gold lining. Like earlier, she starts smoking again.

"What was he thinking? That idiot. Everyone knows that the last thing you want to do is strike a deal with Cyrus." Catalina says as she exhales the smoke, the frustrated expression visible in her face.

"Why? Why is this a big deal?" I ask, and Chance looks at me with a smirk and answers, "Oh you haven't seen Cyrus's true identity yet Carter. You've seen his gentleman side, his saint side, his boss side, or maybe even his slut side, but never his devil side. That side of him...is what makes all of us fear him. That side of him...is the real Cyrus Delton."

I don't know why but I suddenly felt nervous. If even Catalina is scared, then this may be something that I should really be worried about.

"So, are you now going to tell me what this is about?" Chance asks.

Catalina finishes off her cigarette in one go. When she exhaled the dense smoke, she finally answers him, "Tobias was asked to kill Luis. And our little Tobi passed the favor down to Carter."

Chance was surprised, but it looked like he already expected something like this to happen.

"The bodyguard killing the butler. What a story." Chance says with a chuckle before sitting down on the seat in front of the desk.

"Does our big brother know about this?" He then asks.

"Heavens no. Cyrus would never allow it, which is why Tobias is an idiot. If Cyrus finds out that the favor is passed down to his precious bodyguard then hell could break loose." Catalina answers.

Catalina referring to me as Cyrus's precious bodyguard bothered me more than everything that they just said, but I brush the thought away and tell them, "I just have to kill Luis right? Then no one will get hurt."

"Except for Luis." Chance says with a grin, making Catalina throw her cigarette at him. Chance gets startled and looks back at Catalina angrily, but Catalina ignores him and says, "Luis is the head of this household. Removing him will greatly damage the system."

"I know. He explained how he's like the rank one here because he's under Cyrus who is the eldest of the family." I say, and Catalina's eyes suddenly widen as she tells me, "And you're currently rank two."

Chance finally gets the picture as well and blurts out, "He's making you the head of the household!"

I don't know why but I suddenly feel my legs weaken, so I take the seat beside Chance and take a seat so I can be able to sink everything in.

What the hell are you doing to me Cyrus Delton?

"What the hell is going on? My head is seriously going to explode." I say, and both siblings look back at me like they pitied me, when in fact, I should be the one who should pity them.

"Seriously, why did you even want to be a Delton bodyguard? And to make it worse, it's to be Cyrus's bodyguard." Chance asks. But he wasn't expecting an answer because he was already on his feet.

"You're right sister, this doesn't concern me. This is too complicated for my liking so I'll see you outside." Chance says. Then, he suddenly moves close to me and kisses my cheeks, "Good luck big guy." He finishes off with a wink before heading out.

When he was gone, I look back at Catalina and say, "There's nothing that I could do now do I?"

Catalina was about to take another cigarette, but she decides not to and slams her lighter on her desk, "My brothers are idiots. Do they really want to get punished so badly?" She asks.

I waited for her to calm down. And when she does, she instantly looks back at me and says, "You have to kill Luis and accomplish your saint role."

I sigh heavily and brush my hair back with my fingers. They're acting like killing a person is as easy as killing a fly.

"And then what?" I ask.

Catalina walks towards me and hands me back Tobias's knife. I look down at my hand and realize that she handed me her lighter too.

"Let me ask you Vincent Carter...what comes after saint?"

...

"Would you like some champagne sir?" a waiter asks as I enter the area of this underground world where gentlemen rules. I take one of the glasses on the tray and drink it in one go before putting it back.

"Thank you. And do you know where Cyrus Delton is?" I ask the waiter.

"Master Cyrus? Well, he's with a few guests at the smoking room, so I don't think he's going to allow you to-" I don't let him finish as I start walking towards what the man referred to as the smoking room.

"Sir wait! You're not allowed to go in there!" The waiter shouts as she chases after me. I continue to ignore him as I push the door open. Inside the smoking room is Cyrus, and two surprisingly beautiful women. Cyrus was surprised for a second, but then he realizes who I was and instantly smirks.

The waiter catches up to me and quickly grabs my arm.

"I apologize master Cyrus. I was trying to stop him but he just barged in here. I'll immediately dispose of him." The waiter says, but Cyrus simply lifts his hand, and that alone makes the waiter let go of me.

"Leave him be. He's my guest." Cyrus tells him, and the waiter looked back at me with shock.

"Oh dear, I sincerely apologize sir." The waiter says as he starts bowing as a form of apology.

"Enough of that. Please leave us." Cyrus says back, and the waiter immediately leaves the room with no question.

I look back at Cyrus and glance at the women who are sitting on both of his sides. Cyrus notices me and chuckles before saying, "You too girls. I'll chat with you again next time."

"Not fair Cyrus. We just started." The girl on the left says as she carelessly touches Cyrus's chest.

Cyrus takes the woman's hand and gently kisses it, "Next time," he says again. And the two women finally stand from the couch.

"Next time then." The other woman says before walking pass me so they could leave the room.

When they left, I immediately remove my mask and look back at Cyrus with a serious expression. Who am I facing now? The gentleman? The slut? The boss? The saint? Is he going to lie to me, or is he going to act something out so I could believe everything that comes out of his pretty mouth?

"Looks like you're done paying your debt," he says.

I take a step closer and answer him, "Not quite yet."

Cyrus looks at me curiously, but he doesn't ask me anything. He doesn't even say a word. He just waited and stared at me, like the time I went to his room after he asked me to kill Boris. He's observing me; a trait that I realize belongs to the slut role. He's seducing me with his stare. I only realize it now because of how similar it is with Chance.

The others are right. Cyrus is dangerous as everyone says he is. He mastered all roles, which is why he can shift from one personality to another. The problem now is that I don't know what the sluts actually do. Gentlemen lie, Saints act, and the Sluts? What do they do?

Well, it doesn't matter because for now, there's another role that I have to master next.

"Let me ask you Vincent Carter...what comes after saint?" Catalina asked me earlier.

"Boss," I answered her.

"Well then. You're looking at the person who mastered that role more than Cyrus Delton." Catalina added, "And you know what the bosses are good at?"

"What?"

Taking control.

Gentlemen lie, saints act, and bosses take control.

I don't know what Cyrus is planning, and I don't really know why he asked Tobias to kill his own butler. But there is one thing that I do know, and that is the fact that I'm not just a mere bodyguard. So you don't have to worry Luis. Because I'm not going to let my feelings ruin my reason.

Not anymore.

"What are you even planning Cyrus Delton?" I ask as I walk closer to him while removing my necktie.

"What do you mean?" He asks back.

When I got a few inches away from him, I kneel my left knee on the couch, locking Cyrus with both of my arms so he could be in between them. I can tell that Cyrus was a bit surprised by my action, but he doesn't stop me. Instead, he leans a little closer until his face was only a few inches away from me.

"Are you drunk Mr. Carter?" He asks with a smirk.

I shake my head to answer him, but the smell of alcohol coming from my mouth betrays me. I'm not going to lie. On my way here I drank as much alcohol as I could. I needed courage for what I'm about to do.

Catalina was trying to help me, and if she thinks doing this will give me answers, then what do I have to lose?

"Let me ask you a question," I say as I finally sit on top of his lap.

Without saying anything, Cyrus holds my waist and continues to stare at me, not daring to remove his gaze from mine. I can tell that Cyrus is trying to take control, but I don't let him. I start removing his tie as I ask, "When you said that I was the last person that you wanted to pick when you were receiving your gentleman punishment, were you saying the truth?"

Cyrus wraps his arms around me and pulls me closer to him.

"Why would I lie about that?" He asks back with such a low voice that it made the hair on my skin stand.

Catalina said that she mastered the boss role better than Cyrus, but that doesn't mean Cyrus isn't good at it. I don't know if I'm right, but I feel like Cyrus caught up to what I'm trying to do to him, so he's starting to remove his slut façade and starts shifting to his boss façade because his dominance was no doubt oozing out.

I gulp and I look down at him.

"Cat got your tongue?" He teases. "You're trying something, aren't you? But I'll let you do it as my apology for making you cry earlier," he adds.

I bite my lower lip and grab a handful of his hair, "How many lies will continue to come out from this mouth of yours Cyrus?"

"Oh darling, I haven't lied to you yet." He suddenly says. And just like that, my reasons shattered in front of me like thin ice.

My hand that's grabbing his hair slowly snakes down to his neck. Everything that I learned today started flashing before my eyes.

Lie.

Act.

Take control.

Trust.

Don't Trust.

Kill.

Don't kill.

My head's going to explode. My eyes start to burn. I know tears are going to pour out of them again, so I look down at Cyrus and press my forehead on his, "Prove it to me then," I tell him. "Show me the demon inside you."

I close my eyes and let the tear finally drip down on my cheek as I whisper, "Shower me with all your fucking truths."