The Mafia's Bride and Groom's (fxmxmxm)

Flash Back: The Hounds

Nya, a day before her seventh birthday, still had yet to meet the Helgrim boy. 

After her first meeting with his mother, Nya had not left the Helgrim household once. Her father had found her for a brief moment after the parlor room, and he had instructed her that she would live here for a bit. Just a bit. 

She was given her own room, her own bathroom and closet and desk area, and a day later, everything she had ever own arrived within two medium-sized boxes. They contained clothing and books. 

Nya had never even been given a stuffed animal or a toy. But she was okay with that. She'd never been given toys in her old life either.  

She spent her days roaming the house, meeting the staff and the caretakers and cooks, and every day she was required to meet with Ms.Helgrim for tea. 

Macy Helgrim, when they met, spent the entire time talking. Nya was never allowed to get a word in -sign language or otherwise- and for the half-hour they did spend together, Macy Helgrim was usually very angry. 

Macy spoke of many things, things that went right over the six-year old's head. Things surrounding the government, the weather, the law. Macy Helgrim was an impossibly smart woman, but she was also very mean. The time she spent not talking about random things, she spent correcting Nya. 

"Sit up straighter"

"That's not how you hold your cup"

"Use your god damn words Nya, I won't tolerate anything else"

And so on and so forth. 

Macy Helgrim was not a kind woman, and from the limited amount of time Nya was forced to spend with her, the little girl could only imagine how young Lucifer Helgrim was able to even breathe within the confines of the mansion. 

Maybe she would ask him if she was ever able to find the little boy. But he eluded her. 

Apparently he wasn't the only one. There was talk of two others, young boys around Nya's age, who had been roaming the house for weeks. One was the son of Dexter Reed, Ms.Helgrim's personal bodyguard. And the other was the only child of the Viceman family, who was staying with the Helgrim's for a short visit, most likely business-related. 

Nya hadn't met, let alone seen, any of the young boys, and she was beginning to think they didn't even exist. 

The day before her birthday Nya decided to walk, for the first time, through the massive garden that surrounded the mansion, the one that stood between the mansion and the stone wall that looped the entire property. It was all very old fashioned. 

Macy Helgrim had an affinity for classical things. She liked being the queen, having servants, having a castle with a wall and a moat. She liked candle lighting, ball gowns, sword fights. It was almost like they were living in a completely different world. A different time. 

Nya walked through the garden, through tall trees and flower beds and hedge mazes, but there was something different about the garden on this particular day. Because while Ms.helgrim took a liking to the classics, she also had an obsession with the classical guard dog. 

Nya, walking calmly through the beautiful garden one moment, heard the barking when it was too late. 

***

Lucifer Victoria Helgrim, at the prime age of nine, decided that he was done with people.  He was tired of the way the maids looked at him, the way the cooks gossiped, the way his tutors kept their distance. 

Being the son of Macy Helgrim was like a sickness, a thick layer of illness that separated him from the rest of the world. And while it was lonely and boring, Lucifer supposed that it was better to be feared than to be ignored.