Harris balled his hands and slowly released them before stepping into Sonya's office once again.
She was dressed in cool peri blazer with a blouse with a plunging neckline which showed her long beautiful diamond chain that sparkled whenever she moved, even in the slightest.
The sight of those jewels excited Harris.

Oh, he had so many things planned out for himself once Lily found the right spell to put Nicholae down for good. This, this was the life he was meant to live, God was righting his previous mistake.
Or was it the devil? It confused Harris to whom to give credit to for such a blessing.

'My Lady.' He greeted.

'I allowed you back into the Manor, but I have not lifted the exile. I believe I already mentioned this.'
This bitch really did like flaunting her power in everyone's face.
Harris kept a cool and collected attitude and respectfully replied. Damn him if he was about to rock this boat before he got back to where he needed to be.
'You did My Lady.'

'And it was in the account that you divorced Valentina, correct?'

He confirmed her condition.
'I sent the papers but she burned them, she doesn't want the divorce and isn't ready to listen to reason.'
He was surprised that a family as powerful as the Tchkovsky had to still go through lawful channels when dealing with this divorce. Harris just wanted to drop that pathetic witch like yesterday's news and a bag of rotten apples.

'I don't believe that.'
Her cool stare held knowledge in them.
'Maybe because you dissociated yourself from the divorce she's not taking it seriously.'

Harris frowned. He wasn't even ready with an excuse as to why he shouldn't meet her face to face. Not yet at least.

'I heard she asked to meet you personally. To iron out some ... uh wrinkles. I want you to meet her and let her know you're no longer in love with her that the marriage was a mistake and you never want to see her again.'
Harris raised a silent brow at the intensity behind Sonya's voice.
'You'll talk to her alone.'

'You want me to meet her alone?' He asked.

'Of course not. Don't be daft.'
Harris bit the insides of his cheeks at the casual insult flung his way.
'The moment she gets you alone she might dig her talons deeper into you. No. You can go with Erik and a few others. But they'll be behind the scenes. She has to know that no one is forcing you to do this.'

He gave a slight bow.
'I'll do as you have instructed.'

'Good, now get out.'

Harris pulled his lips in a brittle smile which he shattered the minute the doors closed behind him.

'My Lord.' She curtsied.
Harris was glad to discover Lily waiting outside the door of the guest bedroom Sonya put him in until his exile was over. He was hungry and he was sure as the sun would turn him into ash that the other witches wouldn't be willing to give an innocent taste.

'Good thing you're here Lily. Do you know how much I missed you?' He leaned in moved her hair out of the way and caressed the side of her neck.
'I'm hungry.'

'My Lord.'

He eventually acknowledged the male standing on the other side of his door.
'Oh, it's you, what's your name?'

'Edgar.'
Harris didn't like the way the boy looked at him.

'Whatever you have to tell me I'm sure it can wait.' He quickly dismissed him.

'Lily, this time instead of a regular feeding we could include some extra activities.'
Honestly, Harris thought it was a very good idea, Lily was a pretty young thing, attractive enough to make him want her as a plaything for the night until he grew tired of her. And by Harris' standard that could be less than a fortnight.

The Edgar person grabbed his hand away from Lily and placed it at his side.
'I don't believe that's a smart decision. She's not your whore.'

'She's not your whore... my lord.' Harris corrected him with a dark gleam in his eyes. He recognized jealousy when he saw it.
'Then again, is she yours?'

'She's not a whore.' Edgar ground out.

Harris laughed, the poor fool didn't even know it yet and Harris wouldn't enlighten him on what emotion leaped into his eyes when he spoke. But the boy had to know that Harris would soon be in a position to take what he wanted because Sonya's approval and reinstatement of power automatically meant he'd gained the mistress' as well.
Honestly, in this case, Sonya and the Mistress might as well be the one person.

'I'll advise you to back off loverboy. You wouldn't want to get on my bad side so early in the game. Now let go of my hand and let's get back to business.'

Lily sent Edgar a scathing look openly telling him she didn't appreciate his butting in.

'So what did Sonya want?' Lily whispered.

Harris opened his door and gestured that they go in.
'I won't pounce on you.'

'Papa.'
The voice and the name were like stone grating on metal in the effects they rendered on Harris' nerves.
And the rotten abomination called Rex's incessant growling and sporadic barking wasn't helping the situation much either.

'Rex, no.'
The dog paid no heed to Niko and attacked Harris.
Harris screamed in fear and jumped back.
To him, in that second, it's wasn't one animal attacking him, it was six dogs. And he was back in his office in Shepherd's Creek.
But this time he didn't have a limp and he wasn't old and so he fought back and kicked and stomped down on every last one of those demon spawns.

'Stop!' Someone screamed.

A lightweight clutched his foot with claws prohibiting him from killing those mutants.
He pulled the body away and struck him down onto the ground.
Even after he realized it was Niko, he still kicked the child.
He would have landed a few more blows had it not been for Edgar who quickly grabbed his fists.
'My Lord.'

Harris looked up and saw he had an audience: the guards, servants and Nicholae's parents.
His mother looked mortified, the father not so much.

Fauna broke through the crowd running to collect Niko's quaking body.
She said nothing but her eyes possessed a burning desire to kill him.

Erik the butler carried the beaten puppy, he cleared his throat once sending the staff scurrying back to their duties. Even the Tchkovsky relatives disappeared down the hall.
He glossed over Harris and followed Fauna out of their presence.

'How dare you disrespect me in front of the help.'
He stepped closer to Edgar.

'You were making a fool of yourself.'
Edgar arrogantly responded looking over his shoulder.

'Consider this a warning.' Harris growled.

'My Lord. You're bleeding.' Lily told him handing him a kerchief.
He lifted his head to curb the nose bleed.
All of a sudden he didn't feel too good.

Lily ushered him into his room and performed a spell which would Nicholae quiet for some time.

The cool water on his face did little to cool his temperature.
Harris rinsed his mouth, splashing palms full of water once more before turning off the faucets and facing the reflection in the mirror.

The sound of his deep breathing was all he focused on otherwise his stomach would get the better of him which was starting to make him feel that Lily hadn't made whatever witchcraft she performed strong enough to keep Nicholae from fighting to get control.

'What are you doing? You already gave up so sit tight I'm in the driver's seat now.'
His queasy stomach tried to tell him otherwise.

'You won't be able to win. Just think about your son.'
When his nose started to bleed again and the pressure behind his eyes intensified he popped a few tranquilizers to knock him out for the day. After he was rested he would track Lily down and tell her of Sonya's orders. And maybe they could hatch a plan to have the Valentina killed. The fact that she was still breathing had the Mistress in a sour mood. She couldn't make any moves yet because of the damned den of wolves that protected her.

But this meeting would be his chance to right his mistake of failing to kill Jeffery, he'd make this right.

He smiled at his reflection, dark circles were already starting to form around his sunken eyes. The toll of a demon possession had started to show, casting a hauntingly dark look on the charming good looks of Nicholae.

'We need our beauty sleep.'
He dropped onto his bed and slept like a baby effectively shutting the world out until dusk when the manipulation could begin.