SEVERUS VINDICTA, NINE ♛ FIN

I.

Cross the lion, pay the price.

It was the word of Leo Vindicta, her father. In the house of the Vindictas, and in their gang, no one was to break the rules. If you did — she used to flinch at the thought. Severus remembers growing up in that house, a fragile and timid girl, but with a dark desire burning deep within the bottom of her heart. She would fantasize about her father's death, dream about all the different ways it could happen. Her favorite of all of the possibilities was one of his daughters firing a bullet through his skull. It would be an ironic way for him to go — he had always seen women as weaker than men.

She would love to see a woman's hands covered with his blood, she thought when she was a girl.

Despite Leo's disdain for women, he allowed them into gang, though they never held power the way that men did. And they never would, something that always infuriated Severus. She and her sisters deserved more than those men Leo favored — disgustingly barbaric, brutal without reason. Leo always wanted her to be a boy (and the same with all of his many daughters), telling her over and over that when her mother was pregnant with her, he had hoped she would be the Vindicta heir. He picked out her name, Severus, before her conception — but when she turned out to be a girl, he was too disappointed to choose a new name.

Leo always criticized her for her "softness" — she did enjoy violence and blood, but only when it was justified.

"It doesn't have to be justified, Severus. Killing is meant to be fun."

"When I take a life, I want it to mean something."

"You're too weak to take a life. But that isn't shocking: you are a woman, after all."

"And? Someone should knock you off your high horse some day —"

"You're lucky you're my daughter. That's one strike, Severus, don't you dare push me again."

She didn't, for the time being.

II.

She and her sisters bonded over hatred for Leo. Perhaps that is why they are still so strong together, because they took him down together. All of her sisters knew of Leo's disdain for them — he wanted sons, not daughters, and he was not secretive about his disappointment towards them. His need for a male heir was the reason why Severus had so many half-sisters. When her mother couldn't have more children, Leo turned to other methods to conceive a male heir. (To little avail.)

Severus had always known that someday her father would fall — her mother was training the oldest, Malia, to lead the Vindicta gang. Their mother told them that they would do it together, for they could stand up to any force with their combined strength.

Their mother was right, in the end, and the downfall of their father did come. They had promised that they would always put each other before anything else, a vow that was sealed forever when they took down Leo as one. Since then, they had taken more members into their ranks, each treated as if they were family. Malia has decreed that all lionesses of the Pride are family, and so Severus accepts them as such.

Although Severus is a selfish woman, she values the bond of her sisters, blood and not, over even herself. She supposes that no matter how terrible she may be, she will always have that one redeeming quality.

Her father had none; that is why he fell.

III.

In the old days of the male-dominated Vindicta gang, about four years ago, a young girl came along. She was sixteen, absolutely beautiful, and full of a fierce fire unlike any Severus had seen before, so it was no surprise to her when the men's eyes followed her nearly everywhere she went. The girl wasn't just pretty — she was strong and skilled at combat. She proved to be worthy of the Vindicta gang, and so she was accepted into their ranks.

The girl's name was Calypso Delacroix, a name Severus knew she would never forget.

Although Calypso was popular among men, their advances seemed to disgust her. She was not all too pleased about women being subordinate, and subtly showed these feelings through sarcastic remarks and refusal to listen to any man except for, of course, the leader. Severus admired this about her, and she soon learned that she wasn't the only one who did. Calypso stunned the Vindictas, and many Pride members didn't know how to respond her. To add to that, Leo seemed to take a liking to her, which infuriated Severus — he had never been so kind to her or her sisters. But of course, at the end of the day, despite her strength and Leo's approval, Calypso was a woman; she would never hold power in the Vindicta gang.

Something she seemed to learn early on — but why would she stay if she knew, Severus wondered.

It was no surprise to Severus when Malia, like many around them, fell victim to Calypso's charm. Severus noticed the way they looked at each other, that dreamy glint in their eyes. She even caught them kissing once, but she quickly turned away back into the hall before they noticed her.

For once, Malia was happy. Severus had never seen her smile like that before, and so she decided that she liked Calypso Delacroix, for all of her strength and stubbornness, and for bringing something good into Malia's life.

But it was all too good to be true — she wondered if just wasn't allowed to be happy. Calypso, after many long months, betrayed Malia and the Vindictas. She had gained a great deal of influence among the Vindictas, and even managed to steal some female members, earned the loyalty of many of the Vindictas' associates, and learned skills she didn't have before. Some of the Vindictas own gang members helped Calypso take territory from right under their noses, and she was soon rising as a leader of her own gang.

Calypso didn't have an old, established gang the way the Vindictas did — surely she couldn't keep her power for long, they thought.
But oh, how wrong they were to assume so.

In the trail behind Calypso was Malia's broken heart. Severus didn't need to be told that her sister was torn by Calypso's betrayal — she could see it in her eyes. She doesn't think Malia will ever be the same after that; it certainly changed her. Malia had, like the rest of them, always sought out vengeance, but after that day, revenge seemed to have a new meaning to her.

They vowed, as one, that they would make Calypso Delacroix pay the price.

(No one crosses them and gets away with it.)

IV.

She remembers that Leo would take most of the money from the Pride's income. It was why the Vindictas lived overly luxurious lives compared to their loyal followers. Severus always looked down on Leo's treatment of his own people — she too was selfish, but not to that extent.

"Mom, someday when he falls and Malia rules, things won't be this way."

"If all goes as planned."

"It will. It has to. You can't get away with being a dick forever."

"You believe in karma or something?"

"Maybe. Something like that."

"I assure you, it isn't karma that will help you conquer the Pride."

One of his men once said, years ago, that Severus would end up just like him — cold, unfeeling, ruthless, full of greed. ("An you've got the looks, too, those empty blue eyes and fair hair. 'Least you've got more of your mum's face though, she's prettier than your dad.")

Severus swore that she would never be like Leo. (She isn't — she is alive, isn't she?)

V.

To kill your own father is not an honorable thing to do. Not even Severus can dispute that. But her mother had always taught her that power was more important than honor, and Leo deserved what he got.

The day he died is sacred to Severus. She remembers his blood pooling on the ground beneath Malia's feet, the shadows draped around her body, how his blood sputtered and bubbled from his wounds. She had always thought her father would look good in red. (He did.)

A grin curled up the side of her face at the sight, and she said to Malia, "Cross the lioness, pay the price." It is the altered motto of Leo's Pride, which Malia coined before the coup against their father was staged. Severus didn't kill sorry as she kicked Leo's body aside and walked out of the room, triumph radiating through her entire being. Victory showed on her face that day, and in the blood glistening on her fingertips.

They constructed a new Code after their victory, scratching out over half of Leo's and altering many more —

I. The Code shall not be broken.
II. The Pride comes first, over anything and everything.
III. To fraternize with the enemy is to betray the Pride.
IV. The needs of many must come before the needs of the few.
V. Power over honor.
VI. The Pride is a sisterhood — never again will weak men hold power.
VII. Kill only in self-defense or in pursuit of revenge — to kill innocents for no reason is a crime punishable by death.

— and Malia was to rule the new Pride with Severus as her second.

Cross the lioness, pay the price —
Leo Vindicta paid the heaviest price of all.

VI.

Leo was always a selfish man.

He didn't care about anyone but himself, not his daughters, not his loyal lions. Severus came up with the theory that he had no heart at all when she was younger, one that she still believes in to this day. But even a man without a heart can die.

It was his utter heartlessness that lead to his downfall. His most loyal men were not willing to die for him — they were loyal, only for the money and the power. But once the Vindicta girls came after them, they ran with their tails between their legs for their lives, leaving Leo almost defenseless.

That is the wrong kind of loyalty, Severus learned. If you want true power, your followers must be willing to die for you. That is why Malia was able to rise — her sisters, Severus included, would do anything for her. Their bonds are by love, not greed.

In the end, Leo Vindicta was weak. Men like him would never rule again.

VII.

The day they conquered the Pride, Severus made her first kill.

It wasn't Leo, though, no; that was an honor reserved for Malia. She did, however, slit the throat of his right hand man. He had made the mistake of attacking one of Severus's sisters, and so she came up from behind him and slashed her dagger across his jugular. She froze there, holding his crumpling body by the shoulder, letting his blood run down her hands in a thick rush of crimson.

And then she let him go, let his head slam against the floor. She turned away, leaving the bloody mess she made behind her; she felt nothing, no pity. Severus had prepared for her first kill, but something about feeling his blood on her hands shook her to the core.

At first everything was numb, but then there was this rush, as the blood grew sticky on her fingers, of pure ecstasy and flame. I killed a man, she grinned, and remembered what she said to Leo all those years ago —

"When I take a life, I want it to mean something."

And it did — it was justice, it was vengeance. The man she killed deserved everything he got: he was almost as barbaric as Leo himself and had no regard for anyone else's life. (As Severus had no regard for his.)

Baptized in blood, Severus was a changed woman. She doesn't know how, but she feels different, like she has grown a pair of wings.

After it was all over, and Malia and her sisters stood over bloody ground, they took a new vow for vengeance: Calypso Delacroix and her Wolf Pack. They were an all-female gang, like the Pride, who had recently risen in a great deal of power. But they were also a threat — Malia and Calypso are bound to clash at some point, and the lionesses should be the first to strike if they want an advantage. Now that they had conquered their own Pride, it was time for everyone else who owed them to pay the price.

Starting with Calypso Delacroix and her wolves.

Malia ended a war and declared another in one day.

Cross the lioness, pay the price.