(3.1) A New Chapter

The entire car ride back was spent in a comatose state for the poor boy. It was only when the car jerked to a halt that he was roused.

“Dmitri welcome to your new home.” Yuri got out after his chauffeur opened the armored sedan door.

The teen opened his own door. When he sat up his dry blood clung fast to the leather seats. The driver made a comment about not cleaning up the mess.

After climbing out Dmitri was greeted by an enormous manor. Its vast yard, amazingly green in the dead of winter, stretched out across the gated compound. The pair stood in the midst of a round-about drive way with a fountain as its center piece. The manner itself stood a strong four stories high with large windows gazing across the yard. The metal bars protecting those windows contrasted the elegant stone facade.

“I do hope it meets your approval,” Yuri mentioned as the two proceeded towards the entrance.

“Stone pillars are so overdone these days,” Dmitri jested as he hobbled alongside the elderly man.

“Even so,” Yuri paused to touch fingers to a small hole in one of said pillars, “they are great at stopping bullets.”

Dmitri hadn’t noticed the generous sum of similar bullet marks that pocked the building’s face.

“Did you have a little trouble with the neighbors?” Dmitri crested the top of the troublesome stairs.

“Yes,” Yuri responded candidly.

Two men in matching black suits opened the dual doors into the manner’s foyer.

The foyer opened up to a smaller fountain in the center. A chandelier hung all the way at the top of the four stories. The two wings that connected here shared a view from each floor down to the ground. The manner was both beautiful and intimidating at the same time.

Another nameless man in a wholesale suit took Yuri’s overcoat. Yuri walked over to Dmitri, who stood with his mouth slightly ajar.

“She’s a real glory, the culmination of all my efforts,” he held out his arms as if presenting the manner to an audience.

“It echoes too much,” Dmitri was very sarcastic when he was tired, and the day’s events had been very tiring.

Yuri rapped the teen’s back with his cane. “I’m sorry but I wasn’t under the impression your opinions mattered.”

“Still a little tender there, ” Dmitri grimaced under his breath. “Sorry boss.”

Dmitri tried rubbing the ache but gave up.

Yuri started to head into the main room of the manner and motioned for another suit to come.

“Take the boy here to one of the rooms and clean him up. I want him ready for a meeting in the morning, one that doesn’t warrant him looking like a sick, beaten dog.”

Suit nodded and walked over to Dmitri and guided with a hand towards the left wing.

Dmitri and Suit walked in relative silence, save for the echoing of their footfalls.

“You people never speak much do you?” Asked as he followed the man up a set of stairs at the end of the wing.

“That’s because we’re not new guys anymore,” replied the man as he kept his head forward.

They stopped at a door on the second floor. The suit unlocked it and ushered Dmitri inside.

“I guess I’ll just make myself at home,” said to the closing door. “Bunch of stiff neck assholes here.”

Apparently the wings of the manner were much similar to apartments. The room was a touch classier than a one of a hotel.

“Oh my,” Dmitri walked around the room, “this is much nicer than the flat.” There was even a television set!

It was when Dmitri found the bathroom that his clothes came off as fast as his enfeebled fingers could manage.

Water, hot, glorious water poured from the shower head over the boy. Dmitri suddenly felt a wave of fatigue flush over his muscles. He laid down in the bath and watched the steam waft around the room. His dry blood made the water look murky and muddy. The water stung when it hit directly into his wounds but he was far too torpid to care. The bust of the holy mother on his chest starred up into his eyes until he finally closed them.

“What a day,” said sluggishly as he succumbed to sleep.

For the next hour Dmitri lay in his watery bed dreamless. The shower hadn’t cooled off and made for a wonderful release. The day was quickly turning to night and eventually there came a knock at his door.

Roused from his pruning slumber Dmitri threw on a cloth bath robe that hung from the bathroom’s door. Another impatient knock came.

Dmitri cracked the door open and peered into the hall. The previous suit that had escorted him up was standing outside with package of some sort.

“Oh the cleaning service is here,” Dmitri opened the door for the man, “I was wondering when you would get here. The bed sheets need changed.”

The suit shoved the package into Dmitri’s chest. “You better learn to watch your mouth new guy.”

“Watch my mouth? You should watch it for me,” the teen then mouthed the words fuck you.

The suit then rushed towards Dmitri and pinned him against the wall by the neck. The package fell to the floor.

“Learn your fucking place here boy,” the man shoved harder, “You might be Yuri’s new project or something but your still a lackey. Got it?”

Dmitri gave a thumb up to the man and replied with a rasped voice, “Got you Mr. Suit.”

The man released him and started to walk out. He turned back with a smirk on his face.

“I hope you like the suits. There’s one just like it in there for you,” pointing at the package. “Wear it tomorrow and show up downstairs at six.”

Dmitri rubbed his neck, “What do I do until then?”

“I couldn’t care less,” suit left with that.

The new recruit took up the package and opened it. For the night he’d wear his old ragged clothes though. After he dressed himself Dmitri took to roaming around the manner. For being his proverbial thirty pieces of silver the place was very nice. Everything here held a class to it that Dmitri had never imagined being a part of. As he walked around heated outdoor pool in the back he couldn’t help but feel eyes following him. It wasn’t the several cameras that adorned the perimeter, rather it was the eyes of the handful of people in idle talk around the villa. Their faces shared both distaste and curiosity. It made Dmitri feel less than comfortable. Gossip also proceeded when Dmitri’s back was to them. Apparently news of his explosive initiation had trickled its way through the grapevine. Dmitri didn’t mind having people talk about him, he just wished to know what their conclusions about him were.

“Dmitri!” A comfortingly familiar voice called, “You have no idea how good it is to see you alive and breathing.”

“Ivan you never told me you stayed in a place like this.” Dmitri smiled.

The two old friends met each other with a handshake.

Ivan draped an arm over Dmitri’s shoulder, “Well it never really came up.”

“Does everyone in the mafia live here?” They walked alongside the pool to the terrace ahead of them.

Ivan chuckled, “Not really, most of us only enjoy staying here a couple of nights.”

“It’s not entirely a bad thing to be boarded up here I suppose,” Dmitri leaned against the balcony that overlooked the exterior yard.

“You only say that because you don’t know what it is like to live at the place you work.” Ivan offered Dmitri a smoke. “Still want to quit?”

Dmitri took the cigarette with welcome and replied, “I don’t think it’ll be that easy for me to stop.”

After a drag Ivan asked, “Is it true about what happened at the warehouse? You killed everyone there?”

“Depends on how you look at it,” Dmitri basked in the buzz of the smoke.

“I knew there had to be more to it,” Ivan spat into the darkness of the yard.

“Ivan I didn’t do anything in there. Hell, I was just trying to run for my life. Never even saw the man I was supposed to kill, he might not have even been there.”

Dmitri’s oldest friend grimaced, “Don’t let that slip into Yuri’s ear. Best to just play along with the way things unfold.”

“I wonder how they’ll unfold then,” Dmitri turned to rest his back against the terrace and continued, “So I take it you’ve given up trying to have two jobs?”

Ivan smirked, “I see it as taking up the opportunity of not stinking like fish every time I have to meet the boss. It’s incredibly hard to cover up that smell.”

The two enjoyed a laugh and after a pause Dmitri change the subject to a more serious one.

“Do you know what Yuri is going to have me doing here?”

Ivan wiped his nose in the cool air, “Probably small stuff, maybe enforcement, maybe not. Honestly I’ve given up trying to figure Yuri out.”

Another pause fell on, “So, what does Sof’ya think of you joining up with the mafia?”

Dmitri retracted into himself then, “Sof’ya is dead Ivan.”

“Oh mother of,” Ivan stumbled over his words, “Dmitri I didn’t know. I… Did it have anything to do with today?”

Dmitri held up a hand, “I’d rather not Ivan.”

Ivan nodded and turned back to the view. The two sat in possibly the most uncomfortable silence the two had ever shared.

Dmitri wasn’t thinking about the silence that hung over head. The only thing running through his mind was how someone was supposed to act in this situation. Should he be breaking down and crying his heart out? Or was it better to let others allay the pain? But it wasn’t a feeling a pain that filled him, it was more an overwhelming regret. She was gone and there was nothing he could do to change that. Dmitri put out the cigarette. Sof’ya was just like the embers that dwindled slowly away. Dmitri snuffed out the embers with his foot.

His trance-like state was broken by the sound of a splash from the pool. Breaking the surface of the now disturbed water was a beautiful young woman’s head. Her bright hair slicked back down to her slender shoulders. She called to one of the suits that held a towel for her.

Ivan noticed that Dmitri was caught in some sort of mesmerism and placed a hand on the teen’s shoulder.

“That’s Ashaka. Don’t get any bright ideas though.” Ivan leaned closer to Dmitri’s ear, “She is Yuri’s granddaughter.”