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THREE YEARS LATER
Huling Na-update:
2025-03-23 02:31:45
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Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance IRON AND STEEL
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD I have spent my whole life climbing the ladder of power. It was all I was raised to do from the moment of my consciousness by my father, and from the very moment I understood enough about my environment to know that there was a hierarchy, and men ruled over men in that hierarchy. That those at the bottom suffered while those at the top enjoyed it, and that it took being made of steel to reach the top of that hierarchy and even stronger stuff to remain there. Weak people never remained there for long, but were thrown off for the stronger ones to remain. I have heard from a loudmouth once that I believe this because I had no mother to pamper me, with mine dying while she strove to give me life, leaving me with no one to look up to but my father. Whatever it was, I made sure the lips that uttered those words were struck, that they bled, and I promised they would never speak any words again if such were ever said. For who would dare to speak against my father, who rai
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-24Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance FIFTEEN
DAMIAN BLACKWOODI like to think of my turning fifteen as a peak for me.Before that, my father wanted me to be fearless, to be strong and to be wise. But on my fifteenth birthday, there was something new for me to see. It was an arc that would change my life forever.That night, he called me—not into his room as he usually would, but into the basement of our house, the Blackwood house. I walked into the darkness without fear and did not shudder when he suddenly spoke in the dark. I had seen the glow of his cigarette and knew who it was.“Damian Blackwood. You must know what your name means…” he spoke up, his voice echoing around the room.I stood, my legs at ease, feeling my muscles drawn taut over my chest as my arms spread from my body. It was how I was raised to stand, to show any staring at me that I felt no fear at whatever would happen.“Yes, Father.” I answered. “You named me Damian because the name means to master, and overcome. Just as your name is Victor, and you have never
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-24Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance DARING
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD In the three years that passed, I showed more and more of my Blackwood character.The basement became a second home to me, and I navigated the place so often that I could make my way through with my eyes shut. The other room it ended in was only one of the many Blackwood storerooms to hide our weapons—I was told that it was the oldest of them, connected to the Blackwood family home when it was built a hundred years before, yet it was my favourite. It filled me with a kind of spirit that made me feel as though I was fulfilling history and about to make some of mine. It always had a damp smell, that and something else, which I suspected was the drugs. Still, my father had given me a strict warning never to use drugs. “Anything that causes you to become a slave to it is dangerous,” he would say. “Be it drugs, love, or a woman. A Blackwood is never a slave, but is born to rule.”From the moment of my first kill, I knew I wanted to own it all. My father was not dead yet,
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-25Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance DEAL
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD Again, the man who whispered to him as I entered the room began another series of silent discussions with him, and I waited for them to finish. A minute later, they were done.“And what is this business proposal of yours, young Blackwood?”I rose and cleared my throat. I wanted to convince him.“I love my father, Victor Blackwood,” I began, and saw the old man before me raise his eyebrows. Still, I was not done. “He is dear to me and has taught me everything I now know. He has raised me to be a man, and I want to do him a favour back. He is growing old and fails to see how many opportunities that our locale, Vieuti, carries. I can see them, however, and I want to use all of them.”“What do you mean?”“Vieuti is a place that has been home to the Blackwoods for years. We rose from among them to serve them, and have carried out their murders and brought them the drugs they want for their euphoria. The only thing is, my family has sold the same kind of drugs for the pas
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-25Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance A Father's Tale
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD That night, on my return, I had a very long talk with my father. We sat on either side of a table in his room, father to son, and there remained quiet for so long that I wondered if we were going to say anything at all. “You didn't tell me a deal with the Blacks was what was on your mind. I hate that family.” He began looking me over.“I did what was best for us to do. You'll see it in a few months, and you will know that I made the right choice.”“I trust you, boy. I know I raised you well, and I feel pride over what you did. But I still hate the Blacks,” he said, bringing out a video recording of me speaking to Michael Black and playing it. There was a look of pride upon his face, but I could only think of how someone had recorded me without knowing. I felt an inner surge of rage over this, that one of the men I went with would do this without telling me. How dare he—whoever he was- undermine my power. To consider me a boy who needed to be watched by his father…
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-26Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance THE BLACKS
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD I watched his face assume a sour expression that had disgust written all over it. “While I waited, Oliver came a number of weeks later to me,” he continued, his voice hardening. “He told me Vanilla had already been promised to someone else by their father to secure an alliance. When I asked if she had agreed to it, he swore that she did. I did not want to believe him, as I was sure that his sister was in love with me, but I trusted him as my friend and let go by stopping my visits and even asking about her. I buried it all and told myself I’d been a fool to fall for her, to think that she could love me as a Blackwood.”I watched him closely and found myself annoyed by the emotion that showed on his face. Only weak men let emotions get to them as far as I was concerned, as far as he taught me, and I could swear he was becoming weak.“A year later, I found out the truth,” he continued, now closing the fist that had held the cigarette. “I started raising the Blackwood
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-26Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance CLOSE SHAVE
DAMIAN BLACKWOODMy business with the Blacks took off quite well.Vieuti responded just as I said they would. Our supplies were hurried so quickly, and I made sure to sell them at a price that would put the others out of business. By the end of the first month, I returned to Michael Black with a mouth full of success.I sat before him in that chair with a smile on my face, confident of how successful I had been, and sent one of my men with the records of my sales for him to see. He went through each page carefully until the very last one, and shut the book in the end so hard that it made a sound that echoed through the whole room. No one said a word, waiting to hear what he had to say, and then he started to clap. One clap… two claps… three claps… until the whole room was going off in a round of applause. It lasted, and I sat still, taking everything with a smile on my face.“A eighteen-year-old-boy just pulled off sales that I haven't seen from many older men.” He announced. “Look a
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-27Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance BLOOD
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD A week would pass since that meeting with Michael Black for something to happen.Within that time, I felt that I had gone several steps up the ladder of power, and the world was going to be mine. The alliance I had forged between myself and the Blacks was the talk of every corner, and my name, Damian Blackwood, was whispered with a mix of awe and resentment as was reported. They said that at eighteen, I had climbed higher than most men twice my age. That was when I saw why I needed Michael Black's blessings and advice. The alliance had allowed for me to tighten my hold on the fiends in Vieuti, and with Michael Black giving me so much priority that he made sure my supplies were on time, I was tightening my grip on the neck of the competition. For us Blackwoods, the men worked tirelessly under my instructions, loyal to me not just because of the Blackwood name but because I’d proven myself. Before I knew it, I was in control of half of all Blackwood properties. Just
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-27
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Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance THE SEED
VINCENT MOREAU Damian Blackwood stared at me, his eyes narrowing.I knew he was coming to terms with as he processed my introduction. It was almost always daunting to my listeners when I told people I was the Spider, and I loved to watch them lose themselves to my spell and what I meant. The name hung in the air like smoke, curling around his thoughts, and he watched me with wariness lurking beneath his eyes. I only smiled.“You have to be French.” He observed.“I am.” I agreed. It was the hardest thing for me to deny, not with how often my accent gave me away, making it clear to everyone that English was not my first language. It did not matter to me either—as long as those who I had my eyes on were being affected by the poison of my words, I cared less for the accent.It was working on him, and I could see the battle between hesitation, caution, and need being waged in his mind, all three weighing the implications of partnering with a man like me who operated in shadows, who someh
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance A TIMELY WORD
VINCENT MOREAU He made sure to down the contents of his cup before returning his gaze to me.“My men should know about it. They would know from the moment Wesley Black snaps a finger.”“Wesley Black isn't as stupid and naïve as you think,” I corrected, recalling that it had taken far more sophisticated arrangements to figure the boy out. “His plans are elaborate. He has men who have been there since the time of his father and grandfather guiding him. You seem to have doubts.”“Of course I do. Wesley is too sweet a soul to plot against me. He loves me.”“I believe your men can find me for as long as I am in Vieuti. You have spies.”“Why do you ask?” He questioned, a scowl on his face.“Because in ten minutes, your wife will be kidnapped from the house she is staying in, the one in which your grandfather lived before his death. You have no time, and even now you might be too late to rescue her. If you go fast enough, you will find that the Lone Wolf has been sent to get her. Right now,
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance A NEW CATCH
VINCENT MOREAU It would take years before I found another worthy catch. By then, my little circle and I had long gone apart, each deciding that it was time for them to do something worthwhile with what they had earned. I gave them all my blessings—did they not call me Father, anyway—and watched them build empires with what they owned.We paid good memory to Marco, a friend who was our favourite when he wasn't injecting himself with heroin. I never forgot that each time I looked at him, I saw nothing but a man who could have flown over the world but who found himself pulled down by his own weight. He could have escaped the night of Ricci's attack if he wasn't so laden with his addiction that he could do nothing to save himself. We knew it was why he truly died. It was why the words we put on his tombstone were clear:“A DEAR FRIEND WHO COULD NOT FIGHT HIS DEMONS.”We also gave half of his share of all our money to his mother and family. Of course it was more honourable to give her a
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance BLOOD IN THE CITY
VINCENT MOREAU With them, our first big play was a heist.It was not the kind New York was used to, and the target was a man who laundered money for half the city’s elite. His security was top-notch with every kind of security that could be thought of—from biometrics to secure firewalls and armed guards.We were hard pressed to find a weakness to prod, but I figured it out anyway.His arrogance and the number of skeletons he had hidden in his cupboard.It was a game of chance we were playing when Lila breached his system, planting a backdoor that let us steal away $10 million during a crash into his systems. The skeletons in his cupboard, which we determined as his weakness, was the reason why he could not report it without exposing his own dirty deals, and he could only watch as we funneled the funds through shell accounts. The account was soon empty, and he almost went bankrupt.The heist put us on the map, but it also drew angered eyes who could not identify who it was. Everyone s
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance THE TRINITY
VINCENT MOREAU The time then came when the Spider found the web he had cast over Paris a bit too small.Something about the Parisian Mafia felt minor and small scale. Nothing much except bank robberies here and there, and a few drugs being sold about. I thought that if I could play the same game somewhere else, I would be far bigger. So I gathered all that I could and moved to America. In Paris, my network had become intricate, but it was limited as well.It struck me that I wanted more power, and a delicate web spun across petty thieves, small gangs and their occasional rivals was nothing. As far as I was concerned, the city’s underworld had grown stale—or I had rather grown past it—and its opportunities had become too predictable. I wanted to be bigger and better. I wanted to be a legend.In America, with its bawling population and rising powers, I thought I was promised a larger river to cast my net over. The continent called to me like the gold rush—a haven of men with greed and
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance THE SPIDER
VINCENT MOREAU I would earn the name ‘The Spider’ three years after that, when I turned twenty.It was mostly because I learned the one thing my father did not. To kill. The test of the story was because of something I did, something that brought my name to the Parisian slums. One lesson I learned just as early was that people liked smart people. When you did things that would ordinarily not come to their minds, they liked you and lived in admiration of you. For the gangs, they thought I was smart because I knew everything about everybody. I knew who was plotting to kill his boss. I knew who had done something to attract the Police. I knew who was sleeping with who’s woman. I knew who was going to die next.It made me highly covered, indeed, and in danger of death all the time. They would want to sneak up on me and beat what they wanted to know out of me, which was why I had to learn two skills I found extremely important.How to escape, and how to kill. I made money from both.I r
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance ON THE SLUMS OF PARIS
VINCENT MOREAULooking at Damian Blackwood as he told me about the problems that had arisen between himself and his wife, telling me the details just as he had from the very first instance of their saddening scenarios, I knew I would like him.Oh… do I need to introduce myself as Vincent Moreau, his friend?Maybe tell you a little about myself too…Paris is easily one of the most beautiful cities in the world, so they tell me, but it is hard to say it as a Frenchman myself, especially as one born in the densest slums of Paris, where the eyes refuse to see and the air stinks of rot and every shadow hides a blade. It was where I realised that watching my father, Édouard Moreau, was my first lesson, and it showed me how life chewed up hope between those rugged, closely packed houses we lived in. He had been a smuggler without much traction—a small-time criminal that always went chasing the next sourcd of his jobs—cigarettes, booze, fake watches, whatever he could move. For the longest t
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance GOING CRAZY
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD The more I thought about it, the angrier I got with myself.And the more I thought about it, the more I started to despise Eleanor. She was a villain seeking control over me, and I was determined to stop her. The day then came when I found her holding up one of my shirts and inspecting it, her hands trembling. The brown stain on it caught my eye, and we both knew it was dried blood, and it was from a human. “Damian,” she began, the tears already gathering in her eyes so that they sparkled.“What?” I asked, fixing an eye on her. “We talked about this,” she said, in a manner that made it look like I was a child who needed correcting, and not a man who had been escaping death for so long. “We’re going to have children who need to be kept safe—”“Or who will learn how to keep the Blackwood name high, Debbie,” I shot back, stepping closer. “Like me. I killed my first man at fifteen and have lived on the edge ever since. I built everything you see around you with blood.
Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance LOSING MY BALLS
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD At first, the world was mine. Then, and all of a sudden, it wasn't.It started with rumours of a plot against me, and from the ones I expected in the least, from the eldest of the three Black grandchildren Victor Black had left in my care when he died. I had allowed them to have the rights to their property piece by piece and as they advanced in age, and cared for them as I would have with my own siblings. Yet, the eldest of them, Wesley, had somehow nursed hatred and resentment for me all that time, even to the point of wanting to take me captive.Someone must have advised him against it, seeing that I would not be easily taken because I soon set a number of spies on him and the influx of information soon changed. He was no longer setting his eyes on me, deeming me too big for him to catch. Next, he set his sights on the one person he thought he could take to get at me. My wife, Eleanor.I prepared well for him, setting a few men to watch over Eleanor, and asking t
