Walking through the doors there was only one thing that crossed his temper. This particular group was causing a ruckus in the streets of Crison, the only way to simmer their attitude down was to show them who actually ran this city. The place smelled of cigarettes and booze, in his line of work was understandable. He ran most underground casino rings and underground brothels, Aphrodite 23 was popular since it had both. He walked further, passing closed doors until he got to a large room where most of the people were.
“Greetings, Gentlemen,” he said in an even deep tone his silver grey eyes stared coldly to the lounging men.
“What do you want, Junkie?” one man spoke up almost hard to pinpoint where they were since he wasn’t all that focused on one particular person.
“I’ve come to ask you nicely to refrain from ruining businesses around Dark Hall.” He started to play with his left cuff-link as he spoke this, also undoing his black suit jacket in the process.
“Ha! Why should we listen to a piss-pussy like you? Since you’ve brought up Dark Hall we may as well start causing even more trouble and it will be all thanks to you.” A man stood up, he was strong looking and started making his way towards him.
“Yes, I believe Dark Hall will thank me for bringing them up, they were pretty scared and asked for my help even though it wasn’t my area to protect.” He stopped playing with the cuff-links and took off his jacket and handed it to one of the men standing at his side. The gathered men stared at his holster of two Smith & Wesson .40’s on both his sides, the silence that followed was all that he needed to know that these men were thinking of how easy he was. He was slim and weak-looking with his medium black hair in a bedhead style, his tired grey eyes were dim and no longer held the coldness they had before.
“You think you can scare us with a few cheap words?” The man asked calling the bluff as he saw it. There was no way this weakling could do anything, not if he threw a certain name out. “We’re friends with the Dragon King and he allowed us to mess with Dark Hall.” The man grinned folding his arms. He knew it, the kid lost his nerve at the mere mention of the Dragon King. He figured why stop there? Why not throw the Dragon Prince’s name out as well? Anyone would be terrified of the young Prince who was the gatekeeper of Hell’s Gates.
“You know my father? I highly doubt he would want to put the people under his protection in harms way. Let me call him to make sure I’m not making a fool of myself.” He took out his A21 Samsung phone and dialed his father’s number.
“Yes, son? I’m busy at the moment, someone made a scene in my area and I’m hunting them down.” he put him on speaker phone.
“I was in the area and found some bad hat on your turf, they said that they knew you and said you allowed them to pick fights with Dark Hall.”
“WHAT! Who are they? Where are they?” The men were starting to become uneasy, rethinking their strategy. “Two incidents in one night just my luck.” The Dragon Prince’s eyes returned to their cold stare at hearing his father’s words.
“Sir, we are the Diamond Thrush our leader is Eric Carr and we are residing in the warehouse by the docks.” One gained their courage and proudly announced who and where they were.
“Son, thank you for finding them, take care of this Diamond Trash and I’ll worry about the clean up. Oh and Dragon Prince, make sure to leave no trace of yourselves behind. You got in trouble last time because you let one of your bullets roll away.”
“Understood Dad,” Dragon Prince took out his weapon and started shooting, the two men beside him also started shooting the Diamond Thrush and began searching the place for their just rewards. The Dragon Prince stepped towards the so called leader Eric Carr, “Lying gets you killed faster, telling the truth gets you a few minutes of life. Tell me, what did you plan on doing with my fathers precious protected people?”
“Selling them off,” the leader was trembling now after witnessing the scene of flying metal and blood before him. This truly was the infamous Dragon Prince. The cold-hearted killer of Crison. The Gate Keeper of Hell’s Gates. If this man were to have his way, he would create rivers of blood and paint the sky in crimson clouds.
“Human Trafficking?” he stated and frowned, “disgusting, drugs I can let slide, weapons is a maybe, running a gambling ring is a possibility. But you just had to go that route, you know, this is the last time you cross me, Eric Carr. Lying that you knew my father, lying that he let you do what you want, trying to pick even more fights to tear this family apart. Tsk. You know what happens afterwards don’t you?” he had plans on making this mans life a living hell, until one of his men walked up and whispered in the Dragon Prince’s ear. There was no second guessing at what was said. The Dragon Prince looked horrified and shot the leader in his forehead. “Kill everyone and release the victims. Be sure to tell them to speak nothing of their rescue.” He practically growled, rage seething under his skin until his hands trembled with the effort on holding still.
“Yes Sir,” The Dragon Prince looked down at the filth at his feet, he suddenly felt that one bullet wasn’t enough. He rose his shaking hand and pointed the gun at the heart of the deceased leader of the Diamond Thrush and started firing until there was no more bullets left in the clip, the sound almost the only thing that was heard in the dimly lit building. The words that were whispered to him running on repeat: ‘The back rooms are filled with naked doped up girls, I believe they were the missing women that went missing this month. Some of them looked to be taken advantage of, we shot a few men that were still in the act and gathered the others. What do you want us to do with the rest?’ They repeated until only a few words stuck to him, then changed. ‘Back rooms... Naked Girls... Taken... Naked Girls... Taken... Naked... Taken.... Kidnapped and Raped...’ He took out another clip and put it in the gun and started shooting the heart of the man all over again, he repeated the act even after there were no more clips to put in and bullets were no longer firing from the pistol.
His mindless actions were finally stopped when the Dragon King stepped forward forcing the gun down and held his son close, “They’re safe now son, they are going home.” The Dragon King whispered to him then motioned for one of his sons men to take him out of the wretched place. He could only guess what was going through his mind and he knew it wasn’t a good thought. Triggers were almost invisible unless his son shows what bothers him and getting him to talk was a difficult task on it’s own.
“What was that all about?” One of the newest members of the Dragon King’s men whispered.
“None of your business, if you want to keep your life you’ll keep that trap shut!” The Dragon King roared. “Now get on with the clean up.”
“Ugh this is gross, why couldn’t he just shot him once?” one of the men kicked a dead man’s leg, seeing the carnage of the Dragon Prince’s temper tantrum. Dead bodies were everywhere blood seeped into puddles and stained some nice looking white shirts. The messiest one was the man that was repeatedly shot. Flesh hung from the chest and the face had teeth showing from a few miss shots, the skin hanging off like lose clothing.
“This is nothing compared what happened last time. Imagine that guy but everywhere and every inch. We couldn’t even burn it down, best not to upset the Dragon Prince he was practically raised to kill without warning.”
“So, have you chosen death?” The Dragon King stood before the men, they looked down and said nothing more. If the Dragon Prince was like this then the Dragon King held the elegance and poise of killing and tormenting in the palm of his hand. It was no wonder why they were on clean-up duty after the Dragon Prince. “Clean this shit up.”
The Dragon Prince rested in the back of the car staring at nothing, “Gates,” he said numbly and the driver started driving through the night, the neon lights flashing by. The North was his and it was more active at night, one of the reasons why it was called Hell’s Gates, Gambling. Brothels and Nude bars were in second, Drinking and Smoking were third on the list of the reasons why. Loan company’s and Fake I.D’s were in the last running.
His Father’s was in the East called Dark Hall. It was a respectable little area locally owned businesses, nothing too fancy like his son’s but still a nice place to carry out his own retirement. He had given Hell’s Gates to his son saying that it was getting to quick for his tastes.
The Dragon Prince’s rule isn’t only in the North in Hell’s Gates but the other areas as well.
Eden’s Garden in the West also has some locally owned businesses plus some schools. The Knighthood keeps this place in check also home of the Dragon Prince who also helps keep the place clean. The Knight’s are a neutral party and only defends their own territory.
Heaven’s Entrance in the South is guarded by the King’s Castle. The only real rival to Hell’s Gates, everything is so good and proper in the day and at night dirty dealings like Hell’s Gates. A real Tourist trap of a location too.
His driver stopped at the office so he can finish some paper work that he left unattended to when he went to his dad’s rescue. The Dragon Prince dragged himself out of the car and towards the daunting building that was like a personal prison. He hated it. Everything about this building. It looked old and run down, he knew it would fall apart soon. He didn’t have enough energy to try and fix it, he knew that painting it up would only a cover to the mess it used to be. He shuddered as he seen his office door. It was a solid wooden door, nothing else. Opening the door was a hollow block of a room, zero window’s whatsoever and was dark with a very dim light. He preferred it dark, that way when a light does comes on he can quickly extinguish it. Now he knows that he’s been in the darkness for far too long that this was slightly like a home.
“I deserve this,” he muttered to himself and walked in and started shifting through the loan papers that were due soon. He shifted his gaze to a box of untouched food and tried not to vomit at the similarities of earlier incidents. The very thought made him nauseous and the smell made him feel even worse.
His driver returned and the two walked out of the building, as he passed by he handed a few papers to one of his men. No words were said but they understood what was being implied. He wanted them to find these people and get them to pay back the loan.
The Dragon Prince slid into the backseat of the car and drifted from being awake to dozing. He noticed after a few minutes that the car had stopped at a 24 Hour Diner called Lucky Duke’s. “Chicken,” he said as his driver was stepping out. It’s what he felt like he was craving plus it was light and won’t be too taxing on his already sour stomach. Yawning he closed his eyes and got a bit more comfortable.
The Driver heard him and said nothing, she knew that he was a simple worded person at times. It took a bit to understand what he wanted and in the end the simple commands were only suggestions to be taken vaguely and however she wanted. Something with chicken, it could be a salad or a full meal with chicken. Maybe even soup. He didn’t care all that much to what it was, just that it had that one ingredient in it.
She looked over the menu and figured that something light was in order but still fattening that could hold him through the night. “Chicken Alfredo to go,” she concluded and waited for the order to be ready. She glanced around the interior of the building it is was like the 70’s threw up on modern furniture. It was terrible.
Taking out her phone she dialed ‘Girlfriend’ and waited.
“Hi, Danny, how did he like it?” the voice on the phone asked excitedly.
“I’m sorry, Miss Coldhand.” Danny said.
“Are you serious, Danica? He threw it up? Why does he keep doing this?” Miss Coldhand sounded frustrated.
“I don’t know, I made sure to keep an eye on the food this whole time, maybe you missed a step?”
“Like what? Cooking it? I expected this from critics! But not from my own boyfriend! Why does he have to be so god damn picky? Such a fucking insult! You know he wasn’t like this when I was there making my terrible food for him. He ate every single bite! But now? Now he hates it, saying that it’s not good enough. I’m one of the top chefs in Paris! PARIS!”
“He seems to be craving Chicken, so why not give a few of those dishes a try.”
“What if I had just stayed in that dump? Why didn’t he make me stay? It would be so much simpler if I had.”
“Would you have been happy? Letting you go to follow your dreams and supporting you financially-”
“Arrg! Why do you have to make so much sense? I’m happy here of course but my boyfriend isn’t even enjoying the food I make anymore.”
“To be fair he hasn’t enjoyed any food anyone makes, not even his own.”
“I bet he thinks we’ve broken up or that I found a new boyfriend or something. I’ll make a trip down there soon, oh you have followed the proper heating methods correct? I thought so, so he just hates my food. Well ta-ta!” the line went dead just as her order was called. Sighing she picked it up and delivered it to her boss.
Returning home felt like a chore, his driver was no pushover she would pick him up and throw him in her car just so she can call it a night. But the food made it worth it this time. The texture was right, the seasoning was divine and the sauce was rich and creamy. It felt like he hadn’t eaten in years, in a way it reminded him of his mom’s cooking. How he missed her, how she would let him help her cook, how gentle she was. He wanted to cry at the memory of her laying in that hospital bed a few months after she gave birth to his little sister.
He was still young but he knew that he made a promise that he would look after her and do everything and anything he could to keep her happy and healthy.
He finished the food and felt alive again and suddenly tired. When was the last time he had slept properly? Not for quite some time if the nightmares were anything to go by. The car stopped and he stumbled out in a rush to finish his nightly routine. The small energy he has was just enough to finish in the bathroom and make a call to ‘Lovely Goddess Aphrodite’.
The phone rang once and went to voicemail.
“I’m sorry I missed your call love, leave a message and I’ll get back to you soon. Kisses!”
“Evening, guess I am calling pretty late, sorry. I miss you. Nothing eventful happened but I did remember my mom, er step-mom. I wish you could have met her, she would have loved you. Greenbell my driver slash secretary is still bossy as ever and my dad is... well him. But-”
“End recording...” he pressed a button and hung up before the voice could speak more.
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