Viper

I wait until I hear her breathing even out, before I lay flat on my back. Looking up at the ceiling I think of my actions tonight. I meant what I said to her earlier. I want that piece of shit to come here. Let him try to take her from me. I guarantee he will not succeed. I didn't spend all this time looking for my Alley Cat just for some rich, powerful, little boy to come and take her away.

I have heard stories about Drake Stefano. He is a whiny twirp, in a fully-grown mans body, trying to play mafia boss. From the intel I have gathered these last few months, trying to learn about the pure evil bastard that has an unhealthy obsession with my girl, he hides behind his families name.

I don't think I have seen anything about the idiot even knowing how to fight. Instead, he usually lets his gun do the talking. Whereas I'm smarter than that. I'm a calculated bastard. I think about what I want to do before I take any action. It took me weeks to plan out the right way to go and pick Alley up. I knew where she was, who she was with, and where she was working for a good four weeks before tonight.

I only had to find the weak link in the syndicate before I made my move. The things I have learned about her uncle, are laughable actually. He was at the lowest of the entire family. Doing all the dirty work for everyone else. Hell, I wouldn't have been surprised if Hector, the man in charge right now made that selfish, spineless man lick his thousand dollar shoes that he walked on.

Reading into the information, that Hammer was able to get from his hacking abilities, we found out the older man was looking for a way out. It was easy really, get in touch with him at one of his many demeaning jobs in the middle of the night. Have Raptor slip a note in his pocket, one that entails how to reach me.

Knowing full well it wouldn't take him long to do so. Being the cocky bastard I am, I was delighted when my phone rang the next morning with an unknown caller. Answering it, the gravelly voice I've never heard before told me all I needed to know. He was interested in what I had to say.

I offered him three hundred thousand dollars for Allison, with an additional one hundred grand when I found out about Lilith. He agreed immediately, asking for one last thing, a vehicle that wouldn't be able to be traced to him. So, he could take off after our exchange, and never be found. Well, if he's smart he won't. He could change his entire identity. Move on from the harshness of that life.

Don't get me wrong the biker lifestyle isn't a picnic either, but it's better than any mafia syndicate out there. In the club, once you're sworn in you are family for life. The only way out is death, or if someone decides to shame the family. By turning on us, leaking information that goes on under this roof, or doing anything bad to children. We don't play those games, nor do we tolerate any pieces of shit like that.

My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of little feet hitting the floor on the other side of the bed. Lifting my head up, I can see the top of Lilith's little head, as she looks around the room. Probably trying to figure out where she is right now in her haziness from sleep. I sit up, hoping not to scare her, when I make a light noise to gain her attention.

She looks over at me, her eyes widened, as she rubs them with each hand. Without a word, she stands up, one of the dogs following her as she walks around the bed frame. Once she makes it to my feet, she tilts her head to the side, studying me. I have a feeling she is either sleep walking, or still half asleep she's trying to place all her thoughts of tonight together.

I open my mouth to speak when her little voice fills the space. "You will take care of us now right?" She places her hands in front of her little body, biting her bottom lip just as her older sister does. I don't know what to say, I haven't been around children since I was one. So, I simply nod my head at her, hoping it's enough of an answer.

A bright smile forms along her face, "Good. She needs someone to take care of her for once. She's spent my whole life taking care of me. Never having a moment of peace." She looks over at the sleeping beauty still on the bed. Causing my eyes to follow hers, I study the woman I once knew only as a child. A little younger than the one standing in front of me now.

"She would tell me stories about you." That earns my attention. My head whips around to look at her. With one eyebrow raised, I study her, hoping she will tell me more. "She would come home from a rough night, I always knew when she saw him..." Lilith looks down at her feet at the mention of that scum.

I want to stand up, pat her shoulder to give her comfort, or open my arms for her to walk into. However, she barely knows me. I'm afraid she will think I'm creepy if I do, and scream her head off. "She would come into my room, gather me up until my head would be over her heart. Thinking I was asleep, she would run her fingers through my hair, as I would feel the tears fall from her eyes."

She looks back up at me, holding back her own. "She would tell me stories of the boy who was older than her, and would scare her demons away. The boy who would get annoyed with her, but at night he would lay on her floor to be there during her nightmares all the same. Chasing them away with just his presence." She gives me a sad smile.

"I think it would help her work out the demons she was going through then. After each story, she would calm down, lay further into my pillow and her breathing would even out." She looks at her older sister once more. "Once I knew she was sound to sleep, I'd bring the covers to just below her chin, hold her in my arms in return, and fall back to sleep. With the dogs at our feet at the end of the bed."

"Did she ever tell you what demons she was struggling with?" I keep my voice soft, hoping I won't scare her. I'm not even certain she knows what I'm asking, on one hand she is only seven years old, but on the other she seems more grown then that. She doesn't speak, she simply walks closer to me, until she's standing directly in front of me. Bending down close to my ear she proves how right I am about her being more grown up than her age. "Drake Stefano."

When she stands back up, she has a sadness in her eyes. Tears are welling there, and I don't want to frighten her, but she needs this right now. I wrap my arms around her, dragging her down into my lap. I rub the top of her head with my hand. "I will save her from that demon." I whisper into her hair. "You have my word little one."