We moved out of the apartment complex quickly, rushing towards Elijah's car parked outside. Zanel dropped her bags in the trunk before taking a seat next to me. Her expression was pensive as she looked at me. "I have to ask, why the mask?" She finally spoke after a few minutes of silence as we drove through the city.
"Why did that guy break into your home?" I countered her question with one of my own. Our eyes met, and I could see both frustration and exhaustion settle in.
She looked down at her shaking hands before meeting my eyes again. "I did a job for them, in exchange for protection." Her eyes began to dampen as she averted her gaze. "I guess I did it a little too well. At first, they asked politely. But the more I refused, the more aggressive they became." I could hear the pain in her voice as she spoke.
The backseat of the car began to grow unnaturally cold; my aura was flaring up in my anger. "Did they hurt you?" My voice was as cold as my killing intent, turning my already inhuman voice into something monstrous. She could not meet my gaze as she looked down at the floor. Her silence said more than words ever could. "What did they do, Zanele?" The death mana in my body was reacting to my emotional state as the smell of rot began permeating the car.
She clenched her fists as she looked down at the floor. "They took, Dima. I tried to stop them, but I have never been physically gifted." Her voice cracked as she uttered these words, and tears began streaming down her face. If I remembered correctly, Dima was her lady in waiting, as well as her closest friend.
"I want their names," my voice came out a bit harsher than intended. In an attempt to console her, I placed my hand on her shoulder, squeezing slightly.
—-
Storm clouds rumbled in the heavens above, a light drizzle falling to the world below. I stood on top of a roof opposite the main headquarters of the Bloody Fang. They were the gang that had been harassing Zanele, as well as one of Baron Liam's shadow organizations. Their role within the Black Euphoria was minor. They were but one of the many gangs that sold their product, but this was personal. They had the nerve to stand against my people, and for that, they would all burn. It was already past midnight when I made my move.
Dropping down from the roof where I was perched. I infused mana into my bones and leg muscles, weakening the impact from my fall. Not a single sound was made as I landed; the month of training under Mandla had changed me significantly. I was forced to learn how to operate quietly when inside enemy territory; soloing rifts was no easy feat. Especially when they could surround you with superior numbers. Stealth had been a necessity then, and a requirement now. I was dressed in all black clothing, the only exception being my marble mask. I had switched out my usual angel mask for one depicting a smearing demon.
The Bloody Fang had an estimated thirty active members, most of whom were currently within the building infront of me. They were famed around these parts for their cruelty. A hollow chuckle escaped my throat. These fools knew nothing of cruelty, but no matter tonight, I would be educating them. The rain began pouring down heavily from the clouds above. A flash of light illuminated my surroundings for a second, followed by the deep rumble of the clouds. The world itself was mourning for the death that would soon follow.
I still remember Simon's reaction when I brought his sister home, his joy at seeing her vanished quickly when he saw her reddened eyes. Zanele had always been a strong person, so when he saw her defeated, he was almost consumed by rage. The only thing that stopped him from rushing towards the gang was my own promise to handle it. He trusted me completely at this point; my word was my bond, and he knew I would not disappoint. I stood infront of a window on the left side of the two-story building. I timed my strike at the exact moment when thunder rumbled through the sky, drowning out all other noise.
The inside of the building was… dirty. It looked like a druggies den instead of a gang's home base. But that was exactly what it was: the addicts would pay not only for the product but also for a safe place to use. My thoughts drifted to the fate of the female addicts who found themselves here. They were so out of it under the influence of euphoria that the gang members used them as they pleased. My mouth tasted bitter with disgust as I looked around at the addicts lying on mattresses on the ground. They did not even register the outside world; they just lay there with drool hanging out of their lips, with their eyes hazed over.
I was many things, but this was too much for me. I could kill without a problem, I could destroy families, but this, this was another level of depravity that disgusted me to the core. Stepping over drugged bodies, I made my way through the building in search of stairs leading to the basement. If my intel was correct, that was where the majority of the gang members would be found. The building itself was just a drug den with a few guards patrolling every now and then. They would suffer for their complacency. I turned a few corners when I finally ran into the first guard on patrol. He was standing at the edge of the hallway, a cigarette in his lips as he looked at his phone in boredom. He wore a light long-sleeve shirt with dirty jeans. I watched him for a few minutes, deciding on my next course of action. When he began moving, he turned into a room to his left, still smoking his cig.
Following behind him into the room. I was just in time to see him loosen his belt while looking down at a female druggy lying on the floor. She was emancipated with light brown skin and dirty clothes. But the guard did not seem to care as he took off his pants, but before he could do anything, a soul sword pierced his throat and vocal cords, rendering him incapable of screaming. There was a soft gurgle that left his lips as he began falling down. I caught him before he did and left him on an empty mattress. After the first guard, I began systemically purging the building of this filth. Most never even had a chance to react before they were killed, and those that did were too weak to stand against me. After two hours of this, I finally found the entrance to the basement when the last guard opened a hidden hatch and vanished inside.
I waited for a few minutes before following him down below. I had killed about ten people within the building, meaning they only had twenty left, including their leader. I knew that there were only a few weak gifted among their ranks; the leader was the strongest. But calling him strong was just incorrect. The only reason they overpowered Zanele was that her magic takes time to set up, and even then, it was far more specific than most. My main focus was to find Dima first. If I attacked now, I risked them using Dima against me. They may not know my connection with her, but I still could not risk it.
The basement looked more like an underground bunker; there were many hallways and doors that I could see. For the next hour, I went from room to room in search of Dima. I killed five more gang members along the way until I finally found her. There was a group of people shackled in a room; they looked emancipated and beaten. Blue and purple marks covered their bodies; the bruises were both fresh and old. But in the back of the room was where I spotted her, she was huddled in a corner with a bleeding wound on her forehead. Her clothes looked to be intact, so I hoped they had not defiled her. The same could not be said for some of the women present, but they were not my concern. I decided not to approach them; I just watched for a few seconds before leaving. Now that I knew where she was, I could move on to the next stage of the plan without worry. There were only fifteen gang members left, so I saw no reason to hide my presence anymore. I wanted them to see the man who killed them. I wanted them to wallow in fear as I drained their life.
The angel had taken a backseat in today's operation; it was time that death claimed its due. My aura shot out of me like a gaseous cloud of death. It hung low to the ground like a deadly mist promising a painful death to any who drew its ire. I was only a few short meters from the main room of the gang headquarters. They reacted quickly to my aura as I burst through the door into an open room. The gang leader sat on a pathetic throne made of wood, as if he were some kind of noble. I would not stand for such a mockery, so the first thing I did was form wings from my soul mana. It was invisible until I wreathed it in my flames; it served no purpose other than intimidation.
I had already decided to lean into the moniker of the angel, but today, they met the demon instead.
—-
Kaydeen was on top of the world as he sat on his wooden throne. It has only been a few months since members of the syndicate recruited his small gang. It was, without a doubt, the best decision I had ever made. Their help allowed me to conquer all the other gangs within the neighbourhood and even some territory outside it. And all we had to do was sell some black euphoria. My thoughts traveled to the black beauty I have been pursuing. She was a powerful sangoma, and she was just stunning. Speaking of her, where the hell was Drummer? He was supposed to have brought her to me hours ago, but he was not answering his phone.
All thoughts left my mind as they were replaced by a primal fear. The same feeling as being watched by a predator that could kill you with a single swipe of its claws. The presence was so suffocating that I began to shake in fear. Cold sweat marred my back as my breath caught in my throat. The unmistakable smell of rot and decay began emanating through the room. The door burst open, and a demon from myth emerged. Wings of black and blue fire adorned its back; it wore a demon mask, forever trapped in an expression of absolute wrath. Its every step was calm, its every move precise. For every step this creature took, heads would roll to the floor. Blood and bones were flung into the air as invisible forces ripped his men to shreds. I was completely paralyzed by fear. The realisation that today would be my end struck like a hammer tempering steel as all my strength left my body and I accepted my fate.
—-
Even though the gang members were weak, it still took a lot out of me. There were simply too many of them; my mana began to plummet as a light headache formed in my head from mana exhaustion. I looked down at my work, and it was disturbing to say the least. Every single one of the gang members had been cut apart, their limbs removed from their bodies and arranged into a spiral. Upon the wooden throne sat the head of the gang leader, his face eternally trapped in abject terror. I had not used my fire aside from my wings because otherwise, there would have been nothing but dust left of my enemies. Written in blood above the throne 'mene, mene, tekel' as well as the image of a demon above it. It was an ancient Aramaic saying from a story within the bible of the Christian people. Its meaning was quite interesting. It read as such, 'god has numbered your kingdom and finished it. You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting.' This was my message to Liam; of course, I did it so no one would know it was me. But this was only the beginning, and soon all members of the syndicate would learn to fear the mark of the demon.
A deranged smile wormed its way onto my lips as I walked out of the room and back into the long hallway of the bunker. I walked back to the room filled with prisoners. When I entered, they all stared at me with fear evident in their eyes. But I paid no attention to them; my eyes were solely focused on Dima. She had very light caramel skin, marking her as a halfbreed just like me. Her curly hair was long as it trailed down her back. If not for the bruises on her face, she could have been considered attractive, but captivity had a way of changing a person. Stopping directly in front of her, her eyes lifted up to meet mine, and what I saw was a hollow soul wanting for death. I know not how I knew, but she desperately craved the sweet release of death. My gut told me that it had nothing to do with her current captive state. I was intimately familiar with pain, and her pain was an old wound devouring her slowly.
Without saying a word, I broke her shackles before grabbing her by the arm.
"Come with me if you want to live." I have always wanted to say that; I could not suppress the chuckle that escaped my lips.
"Who are you?" She asked after we had walked outside the basement. The second the other captives had noticed me saving Dima, they began begging me to save them as well. I just ignored them, of course, their lives did not matter to me.
"Zanele sent me," that was all she needed to know as her body began to relax slightly. She tried to hide the fact that she had released her held breath, but I noticed it nonetheless.
As we exited the building, I made a beeline directly for the rendezvous I had established with Elijah earlier in the day. Once inside the safety of the car, I took out my phone and called the cops. "10111 what's the emergency?" asked a female voice from the phone.
Trying to summon my somewhat decent acting skills, I pretended to be a scared civilian with a tremble in my voice. "Ther…there has been a murder. So many dead… oh my god please help!"
"Please calm down, sir, and tell me what happened." The operator on the phone tried to calm me down.
"At 11 Woodland Grove, there was a mass murder." Before the operator could reply, I hung up. The coming weeks promised to be very interesting; the smile on my lips had not faded since I killed the entire Bloody Fang.