Chapter 2

Elias watched the door shut behind John with a troubled frown. Something had changed, but Elias wasn't ahead of it this time.

The fact that John had come to him, instead of Harold was the most puzzling. He hadn't heard much from his chess partner is quite some time, but he attributed that to the recent rumblings about Decima waging war against Vigilance. Harold definitely had some hand in that.

But now, with John apparently working with the cops and Harold nowhere to be seen…something else was going on – something he needed to get ahead of before it became a problem. Perhaps he could send Anthony out to do some digging.

"I know what you're thinking," Elias said, and he did, even without the poorly-concealed wince that told him everything he needed to know.

Anthony had always been irritated by Elias' association with John. Of course, he was also under the impression that Elias wanted to hire John, and that just wasn't true. No, Elias only cared about John to the extent that it allowed him to figure out Harold. After all, the puppy is merely a reflection of its master.

"I know you do," Anthony replied, resigned, as if waiting to be punished.

"It was an interesting offer," said Elias, changing the subject. "That John would come to me says a lot about the shifting tides, don't you think?"

"If you say so," Anthony said, shoulders tense, and eyes cast to the side.

Elias narrowed his own eyes and changed tactics to a more direct approach.

"Anthony, look at me," Elias commanded, pleased when Anthony's obediently snapped to attention.

He reached up to cradle his lieutenant's face, rubbing his thumb carefully over the scar on his right cheek. He watched as Anthony's face leaned in to Elias' touch. If only all of Elias' men were so submissive.

"Anthony, my friend, jealousy is such an ugly thing, and you are too beautiful to be consumed by it."

Elias leaned in closer to his second-in-command and brought their faces close enough to let their breaths mingle. He watched closely as Anthony's eyes slid shut in pleasure.

"The world is changing, Anthony. More than you know," Elias whispered, voice ghosting over Anthony's face in a smooth caress. And it was true. There were things moving into place that Elias didn't necessarily have control of. "It might benefit us to have John directly on our side."

Anthony scoffed and blinked his eyes back open, missing Elias' noticeable wince at the wrongly-timed phrase.

"Your side, maybe," Anthony said, drawing back from his boss' embrace. Elias frowned, slightly lost, but stayed silent, allowing Anthony to continue.

"I'll always be on your side, Boss."

"Yes, I suppose you are," Elias grinned, exposing his shark-like teeth. Once again, he reached for Anthony's face, but this time, he finally pulled him into a kiss. The kiss was tender, but insistent that Elias needed Anthony. John he could live without, but Anthony was irreplaceable. Slowly, Elias felt the coiled tension and defensiveness bleed out of his lieutenant.

"There now. See? All better. No more green marring those pretty features." Elias gave Anthony's face one last touch, before backing away and returning to business.

"Now," said Elias, every inch of him radiating the fearless crime-boss persona that struck fear into half the city and kept his crew in line, "I believe, that you should go and pay this Dominic fellow a little visit from me."

Anthony smirked, allowing himself to be drawn into his role as the devoted lieutenant. Elias was confident that he understood what needed to be done and could handle it efficiently.

Just as Anthony was retreating, Elias called out, "Oh and Anthony…I hope you know that I consider you to be by my side, not just on it."

This finally turned out to be the right thing to say, as Elias was rewarded with a scar-splitting smile from his right-hand man, before Anthony bounded out the door to do his boss' bidding.

The times might be changing, but at least there was one person who Elias could always rely on to get the job done.

A/N: This was supposed to be a one-shot, but I wanted to get out a second chapter done from Elias' point of view, so here you guys go. I had most of this second chapter written before "The Devil You Know," but that episode made me so depressed that it took me a while to finish this. RIP Anthony. You will be missed. Hopefully, he will show up in flashbacks later like Nathan does.