"Have you completely lost your mind Mila?" Mila had placed her arms on the bar and was banging repeatedly her head on the counter. "Stop it, you lunatic," Leyla tugged at Mila's arm and Brooklyn placed herself with a stern look on her face in front of her. "Leyla's right, we'll have to extend a helping hand, it can’t go on like that. You're never gonna get close to Shane behaving this way. All you do is playing him into the arms of another, fussing around like some crazy woman. Why did you say that there were no hot guys in here?" Mila looked unhappy after Shane, who was talking to a blond, busty waitress. Mila banged her fist on the counter and the glasses clinked dangerously. The bartender gave her a hard look. She raised both hands apologetically, "I'm so stupid, every time I talk to him he just makes me so angry, and I don't even know why then, once he is gone, I can’t think about anything else than him. Damn, what’s wrong with me?” Leyla and Brooklyn both put an arm around her. "You're in love, these feelings are totally normal," Brooklyn said. "I'm not in love. No, I don’t even like this sarcastic devil, but everything about him just turns me incredibly on, even though he isn’t my type and I don’t like him at all. Today, he smelled so nice, I could have licked his face."
Leyla patted her arm, "No, you definitely shouldn’t lick his face, believe me. This is not good. Guys don’t like that. Besides, you are not a dog," Mila sighed. "At the same time, I have this mad desire to clobber him," Leyla laughed. "That he annoys you is nothing special, I felt the same way about Gregory some time and could have hit him in his smug face at times. He could be such a provocative asshole "Mila looked at her with big eyes, "My God then I'm really in love, but what do I do now, I mean, that he gets it?" Brooklyn chimed in, "First, you might try to be a little nicer to him and don’t tell him to get lost." Mila nodded contritely, "You are certainly right."
"Hey guys Shane and your problems in all honor Mila, but our snogging Vultures have hit it." Leyla pointed to the spot where Gabe and Angel had been sitting at the bar earlier. Mila and Brooklyn looked up alarmed. In fact, Gabe and Angel had vanished. Brooklyn got up, "come on girls we have to tell Aiden."
Aiden stood together with the Akando guys and Shane in the back of the Crowd and listened to James, who attempted to rhyme a battle rap song to unite the Akandos and all of their sympathizers who wanted to rush to Gregory’s aid. Here in the back the music was barely audible, but the beat was perfect for James and his rap attempts. He bobbed up and down like a wild man touching the floor with the tip of his Vans giving away the rhythm flicking steady. "We’ll do this Eminem song changing it a bit ok guys?" Aiden looked skeptically, "But if it sounds lame, I’m not doing it. Finally, I have a reputation to lose. Who knows in who’s hands the video falls and it could end up on YouTube or some other platform." No one listened to him, seemed this scenario didn’t scare them off, quite the contrary as some of them already saw themselves performing their rap at the MTV VMA's. So, Aiden's objection got lost in general bawling. "May we have your attention please," James got it going and Shane created a beat that was quite catchy. Who would have thought that Shane had it in him to do some beat boxing?
"Hey yo Gregory, we can't leave you homie,
By your side till the end, yeah believe it homie."
Aiden shook his head, if Gregory hadn’t lost it so far, he certainly would, hearing those rap rhymes.
"The black vultures are far too strong.
We are not gonna let you get caught, no harm,
The Akandos fighting, following you in the battle,
The toughest gang in the whole earth, will make you rattle"
He turned away quickly. Just cut and run!
"Hear the shit we came from the shadow,
So Gregory, we are coming, no matter what"
Ana and Saul watched the three girls as they passed by and followed them. They listened to James for a while and had to admit that his rap didn’t sound so bad after all and if they sent it to Vine, You Tube or any other platform it could possibly hit the charts under given circumstances. But, it was not supposed to by a hit, but a Cheer Rap to give Gregory courage and let him know that the Akandos were standing behind him. He would understand that they couldn’t be retained and supported him under all circumstances, no matter what the consequences. They stood behind him. Their origin demanded absolute loyalty to the Savior. Their future depended on it. Brooklyn went to Aiden pulling him down to her, "Did Shane tell you about Gabe and Angel?" He nodded and she continued, "They have disappeared." Aiden looked at her, «Well, then I think we should do the same." He raised his arms to indicate James he had something to say. "People let’s get the hell out of here and meet at my place" Brooklyn admired once again Aiden's authority, no one was asking questions, and no one questioned his authority. All of them reached for their jackets and left the Crowd one after another. All of a sudden, it became very clear to her, there was no doubt about it Aiden was a natural leader. It was of utmost importance that Gregory had someone like Aiden at his side, someone who was able to lead and hold them together. She was incredibly proud of him, even if these properties didn’t make their relationship necessarily easier, she loved him all the more for his loyalty and his strength. She put her hand in his. He looked at her and smiled. There were moments in life when everything made sense and everything was exactly as it should be, moments when time should stand still. This was one of those moments for Brooklyn, when she felt Aiden's hand and followed him outside. Aiden's small apartment was packed. Ana and Saul had retreated into the tiny kitchen trying to make some coffee.
Saul grinned, "The guys are pretty good, the rap rhyme is not bad, but James is not exactly gifted in terms of raping and that screws it a bit."
"You could do the rap part and lend your voice to them in the video message, which would be great," Ana said. She was really in a high-spirited mood and wished that this night would never end. Tomorrow she would get back in her boring hometown and possible never see Saul again in her life. So, basically her life would be over by tomorrow, but she didn’t want to think about it tonight. He laughed, "Yes, that is not such a bad idea."
"What isn’t a bad idea?" Aiden came stumbling into the kitchen. The living room was so crowded that he had fled to the kitchen. Ana told him about her idea and Aiden was thrilled. "How do you get ahead with the lyrics?" Saul asked. "Quite well, I think Shane has got some hidden Poetry Slam talents. I think they are on it soon. At least I hope so, otherwise my landlord will throw me out probably, as even my very tolerant neighbor Evan hammered against the wall five minutes ago.” Saul grinned, "Well, let's hope that the cops don’t show up, I can do without a picture of me in the local press."
Aiden nodded, "Aspiring pop star arrested for night time disturbance, I can see the headlines in front of me," he made his way back into the living room, "you're right, we definitely don’t need any presence of the cops. The guys can give me the final version and you’ll do whatever it takes."
The case was settled with a handshake and then Aiden was gone. Ana and Saul remained in the kitchen, and it was already midnight, so the farewell got relentlessly closer any minute. Ana was in search for coffee filters. She opened all the cupboards, but Aiden didn’t seem to take his house holding issues that seriously. Eventually, she found the filters in the refrigerator, where she honestly wouldn’t have suspected them, next to a pink nail polishes that sure belonged the Brooklyn. Anyway, she couldn’t imagine Aiden to wear pink nail polish. She smiled to herself finding sugar and a coffee can in the fridge. Aiden had a strange storage system. She wondered where he kept his clothes, in the oven, perhaps. "What's so amusing, beautiful?" Saul stroked her hair back kissing her neck, and she shivered.
Sometime later when everybody had some coffee they all got on their way home, leaving Aiden’s Apartment. Finally, it was a regular weekday and they all had to go to school in the morning. Leyla exceeded her curfew for more than an hour. Mila and Brooklyn didn’t get so easily in trouble, but she knew her Mom quite well. What was she supposed to do? She decided to
text her the truth for once. She wrote her that Ana would leave tomorrow and that they had lost track of time. Besides, school started one hour later tomorrow, so she could sleep in. The answer came immediately. Damn, did her Mom sit all the time next to her phone? She read, «Young lady, this is the last time that you're out that late on a weekday. Starting tomorrow, when Ana is gone, I don’t intend to hear any of such lame excuses. I expect you to be home in half an hour. Sleeping in or getting up early is not an issue. I don’t want to stay up all night out of sheer concern. You certainly are familiar with the word grounded! I assure you that you are very close to being acquainted again to it. This is your final warning. I'm waiting for you."
Damn, why did she always have to write novels, if she could just write, come home immediately? She seemed to be heavily pissed and Leyla didn’t want to risk to get grounded again. "Folks I have to go, if I'm not at home in half an hour, I am screwed!" She hugged Ana wishing her a safe journey back home. They vowed to remain in contact. Ana nodded bravely, but it was clear that she was close to tears. "Wait, I'll give you a ride home," Aiden came towards her with his car keys in hand. He drove her home quickly, so late in the evening there was virtually no traffic the streets were empty and Leyla was at home in a quarter of an hour. Her Mom was sitting on the sofa waiting for her as one of the archangels. Leyla turned her head down and hurried past her, she didn’t feel like getting lectured. "Good night," she murmured, disappearing into her room. The sermon would decelerate somewhat, until she saw her Mom next time. She had to go to school one hour later and her parents usually left the house quite early in the morning. So, she had a reprieve and with a little luck, her Mom would have calmed down by then.
PGabe lay satisfied in his bed. Today, was the first day in a long time that he really felt good for once. In fact, it had been a successful evening, and he was sure that none of the Akandos or their friends had seen him. The camouflage as a couple making out at the bar with Angel was an awesome idea. Well, maybe they had overdone it a bit and it became a little too realistic, He still felt kind of hot just thinking of it. Angel kissed like a goddess, if you refrained from the fact that she was a calculating bitch. However, the making out had worn him out and he had to focus on his priorities again. These idiots planned to go to Sicily and were about to create some kind of battle song. He overheard them talking about it while Angel was going to the loo.
A wicked smile played on his lips. This guy, Leyla’s friend, who was rarely around, participated in this ridiculous rap which would guarantee him a seat in the front row, when it came to get rid of someone. Aiden however possessed as much brains to avert from that ridiculous rap. Still if he should get in the way, he would not hesitate for a moment to kill him family or not. First, he would have to take care of his old man. He closed his eyes and fell asleep with a satisfied smile on his face.
Sliema / Malta
Ubana Nirros looked out at the turquoise sea. Lost in thought, he drew on his cigar. Life couldn’t have been any better until yesterday. As the oldest of the local Milan, he was truly blessed. Now the times of his ancestors were over, earning a living from fishing or agriculture by doing hard work and still being poor, full of sorrow and distress. Working like a dog, day and night and on top of all having a dubious reputation on the island. He was satisfied being able to offer a better life to his sons and his daughter. Life without any dubious pleasure caused by the powers his clan possessed, but was suppressed as long as he could think by the leading families from the neighbor island. Until the day he had made a deal with them and they had left them in peace ever since. The Sicilians stayed away from their beautiful island since 1980. The tourists, the vineyards and the schools had done further contribution to bring health to Ubana and his family, as well as to the other families of the Milan. Ubana had built a veritable hotel empire. The Ognias kept a restaurant chain. The Abris were well known for their international language school and the Oldons were doing well with their travel agencies.
It couldn’t have been any better for Ubana and his three brothers. The Sicilians had cut their own flesh and for now, there was no way for them to break the deal. Anyway, as long Ubana and his relatives remained on the island and didn’t break the treaty. Strictly speaking, the people of Malta did a lot better than the Sicilians themselves, except for the fact that Malta depended on water from Sicily. Ubana had wondered several times, when the Mafia would break their part of the contract and stop the water supply out of pure envy. But they also knew that this would trigger a Cold War. Milan against Vulture- Mafia and that this probably would harm them more than they cared for. It would harm the tourism on both sides. He sighed and pulled away from the banister. He took one last look at the bay and the breathtaking view. His stern face, with its sharp features and its tanned skin took on a determined expression. He had convoked a first meeting immediately after the events of last night. He didn’t want to make a big deal about it until he was sure what was going on. But ultimately, he knew that the time had come. The prophecy would be fulfilled, even if they were in denial about it. The signs could no longer be denied. First, one of his employees had reported that a tall mysterious stranger, on which the description matched and could be no other than Keanu, had appeared with a boy in his shop asking about the amulet bargained for it and finally bought it. The boy hadn’t taken off his sunglasses during the bargain, acted kind of nervous and left while the bargain was still going on. Ubana was certain that he hid bright blue eyes behind the sunglasses.
Ever since the spectacle during the Blood Moon, no one could deny anymore that Keanu must have brought the savior to Malta. The lightning was seen all over the island and all of the Milan knew what it meant. Damn, why did Keanu have to do it? The prophecy could have been fulfilled in Sicily and it wasn’t clearly written in the ancient scripts that the Savior imperatively needed Alawa’s amulet to break it. He got into his dark blue Alfa Romeo 'Giulietta' and drove at tearing pace through the narrow streets towards Valletta, where the crisis meeting took place at Yaros, one of his brothers, Restaurant, one of the trendiest places around the harbor. The room was fully packed. Mostly young men were sitting on long benches at wooden tables. Now and then, a few young women were among them. But the men were in the majority. On the front side of the room there were two tables occupied with some older sun-burned men who had a bottle of local red wine in front of them and some white bread topped with dried tomatoes. Waiters hurried back and forth between the tables to serve them.
After a few minutes in which there was a murmur of voices, one of the older men stood up sending the waiters out. He closed the door and stepped in front of the present crowd. The murmur of voices died away. “Dear families of the Milan,” he looked at the table with the elders, where an elderly couple was sitting apart from the others at a table, he nodded towards them, "and we also bid welcome to our Sicilian allies." Curious looks roamed the elderly couple. The young men twisted their necks to see whom he was talking about. They had heard a lot about the Iron Sicilian Lady, but had never actually seen her. Any kind of information about the Sicilian concerns and the contract that was not to be broken was sparse and mysterious. The contract had been issued after an event about 28 years ago, when a young girl named Morena, tried to escape from an impending marriage with an unloved man and fled to Sicily. She there fell for some local guy, but was retrieved by the Milan clan and brought back to Malta. The young man 'Emanuele Garibaldi' had resisted them, as he didn’t want to lose Morena and this had provoked quite some conflict back then between the families and Emanuele had been killed in the process. What exactly had happened back then, no one ever told them. The information was sparse and passed on within the families. Therefore, the gossip factory was working overtime and there were the wildest speculations about the legend, as nobody really knew the truth about the events back in time. The only thing they knew was that after a pact the Milan concluded with the Sicilian, they had to keep away from their island and that the Sicilians in turn would do the sam
e. If that pact was ever broken from the Milan, water supply would be interrupted, which could have catastrophic consequences. If the Sicilians in turn broke the pact, the Milan would use their powers causing storms and flooding, which would keep the tourists for sure away and harm the population all the same. As the local Onendas in Sicily who called themselves 'Vultures' a fraction of the Akando clan, usually had no powers at all.
Just occasionally in rare cases, there were a few exceptions, but they were no threat to the Milan. The elderly woman with the turban, who sat with her companion at the table of the elders had to be Tiziana Garibaldi Nucci. The sister of Emanuele Garibaldi, the man Morena had fallen in love with a long time ago. The Garibaldi was one of the most important families in the Akando Vultures clan. No one had ever seen Tiziana until today, the woman who had broken away from her family to follow the well-known Circus owner Giacomo Motta after she became a widow a few years ago. Giacomo Motta's interest in the Mafia or the Vultures was very limited and confined to an absolute minimum, but since his Circus was a flourishing business the important families tried to get protection money from him and blackmailed his family.
The Circus Motta produced many well-known artists, who traveled around the world. They all were under contract in other well-known Circuses. The families Di Benedetto and the Genovese fought downright about who was allowed to blackmail Giacomo alternately. But, Giacomo was a stubborn man. He had seen too much and knew no fear. On the contrary, he played the two families against each other, getting the Circus and himself more than once in danger with his attitude. After the death of his wife - a Benedetto - he lost it pretty much, and started drinking and playing cards, the Circus was going to go down the drain. His sons and his daughter didn’t know what to do and it was only a matter of time until the Motta family became puppets of the Mafia, the Vultures or both.
Elementary Virtue: The Prophecy Page 22