Red wine from the countries far to the West filled his mug to the brim, the finest he had ever been offered. He could smell the strength from leaning back so very far away, a tangy but also brutal scent he knew would wreck him in an instant. He felt the smile growing on his lips as the pretty, half-naked woman serving him walked away with a sway to her hips, and he reached over to grab the mug with his right hand. He needed to be wrecked tonight; if not by the wine, then by the woman whose bare chest would be hanging over him, with a dainty grin that hid her rotting teeth.
He would have already been long drunk had he not come to the whorehouse with a bright intention on his mind. A pact, one that should have come from the Catalina man and his plain looking daughter, was still on the table, and the dark, long haired negotiator sat beside him, ignoring the brewed ale in front of him-Claude would find time to drink that too. A pact, which would gain him the quickest way to king, where he could have all the prettiest women and darkest wine and finest foods that he wanted. He wanted that now, his patience already holding thin from the thought of having to wait for his own title.
The negotiator, who had remained silent the entire time the women had served him, turned to face the incredibly delectable woman by his side to whisper something. Already he'd been told to keep his hands off of her, but at any right chance, Claude would lunge and devour her body bit by bit, starting with the red tattoo nestled right above her breasts. The negotiator moved more suddenly, and the woman was hidden from his view. With a curse under his breath, he turned his attention to the other sight at the table; a fat man who seemingly couldn't fill his stomach enough. Already he had torn through an entire turkey glazed with gravy, and was on a large mutton leg. The glutton.
The negotiator had sworn to him when they'd met in an alleyway that there would be more to join them, but he wasn't so sure anymore. Still, the man named Envy had promised him a gift he couldn't reject; the chance for the throne, and for revenge against the bloody Catalina girl who had rejected his advances as if she were too good for anything. And then, when he'd been so drunk that she had actually appeared pretty in his eyes, she'd thrown a candle onto the clothes he'd borrowed from her rich father and burned him to the core. A bitch that couldn't control her own actions is what she was.
Still, with the money he'd managed to salvage from the burning vault, he'd been able to get the medical attention he needed to heal the burns. His face had been preserved, something he would forever be thankful for, but the rest of him was scarred beyond max. For a month he had spent healing and, though he still wasn't the same health wise, his intentions were more than need be. A ranking, higher than most. Money, women, sex, oh, he was greedy. His eyes moved to the petite little girl who was attending to another customer, her hips leaning over and shivering at the winter breeze that lifted her skirt. He felt his lower body stiffening with anticipation.
"So," Envy started, his voice pitchy. The attention of the two others caught Claude's gaze and he sighed grumpily. Two more minutes and he could have scheduled another appointment and left to wreck the waitress. But, duty called. He relaxed with a large gulp of his drink, staring at the dark haired man with a hazy gaze. Ooh, so this wine was slow moving. He liked that. It gave him more time to make rational decisions. "Our brother, the poor old man, will never live to see the greatest king in history, it seems."
Ah, that was right. Envy's 'brother' was the king himself, or so he'd told Claude. Claude hoped he wasn't lying. He really hated being lied to… led on…. Stupid girl. Stupid Catalina. He pushed his mug closer and swallowed a deep gulp, then another, before slamming it back onto the table, the stray droplets falling onto his hands and making them sticky. Gods, he couldn't wait for that change for revenge, to snap her neck with a simple twist of the hands. Or maybe he would burn her, so that she could feel the same blood curdling pain he felt as the fire tore at his skin, desperate for the taste of blood. "Shame." He slurred. So the wine wasn't so slow working? He didn't care now. The more he drank, the thirstier he grew.
"We only need one thing from you." The devilishly beautiful woman said, staring at her fingernails as if the proposition was nothing of true importance. Her voice, like honey to his ears and mind, lulled his mind, the wine matching nothing that her voice could do to his body. He felt his pants tighten around his aching lower abdomen at the thought of watching her squirm underneath him, like a puppet that moved and breathed and fucked like a traditional whore. He frowned as she moved forward, her wavy black hair hiding his view of her luscious chest. "We know you're quite familiar with the eldest Elric boy, am I wrong?"
Wrong? How could she ever be wrong? "Nah," He said, trying to peek around to catch the smallest sight of that red tattoo on her chest. "Nah, we know each other quite well." The kid had saved the bitch when she'd been attacked by his idiot subordinates. The woman smiled and slipped back in her chair, and he nearly groaned watching her chest bounce, rubbing his aching lower half.
"Lust," Envy grumbled, rolling his eyes, seemingly disgusted. What, did the guy not fall that way? Was it because of his so called 'sister' that he didn't think she was beautiful? Either way, Claude didn't care. The waitress he'd been watching before Lust had appeared returned with that same bottle of wine. She wasn't near as pretty and petite as she had seemed before. Her nose was too big, and her breasts didn't sway when she walked. She was not what he wanted anymore. "We need the Elric boy. If you can get him, you can get anyone, and the crown will be yours the minute we have him in our hands. That, and the Catalina girl you despise so much will be vulnerable, and you can torture her for doing what she did to you over and over and over again.
"Sure. Sure." The wine was getting to his head and slamming him into a painful numbness. The scars on his body began to tingle like his hands, and Gods, he just needed to jump the waitress before he said anything else. "I'll get your Elric boy. Might take me a while to find him." The waitress seemed to realize that the meeting was coming to a close, because she hadn't left the table and her hands were slowly going down his chest, making the scars on his body tingle even more, though this time with agonizing delight. "Give me a time an' a place, and your stupid Knight of Fullmetal will be in your hands."
"Excellent." Envy said, standing as the little waitress' fingers began going lower, finding the button on his pants. Claude's grin hitched at the sound of it. "We'll be in contact, Mr. Franz." Before Claude could even think about giving a reply, the three of them had stood in sync and were walking out of the door, as small hands were about to give him release.