Blood

“And then she had the audacity to hit me over the head with my grandmothers candelabra!” The bandaged jackal gave a huff as he studied the back of the large swivel chair. The occupant of the chair slowly turned around the ghost of a snarl on his lips. “How unfortunate, huevón. I see you still have not recovered from that blow, eh? Looks like a nasty cut.” The bear feigned concern and the jackal fell for it, he placed a scrawny clawed hand on the large teak desk. “She took me completely by surprise, the sneaky hussy.” “What a shame.” That was the only thing that was said before a swift motion caught the attention of the majority of the occupants in the room. Quick as lightning the bear had whipped out a small dagger and drove it in between the second and third knuckle of the jackal. The scream of pain that left the victims mouth only made the bear angrier. He gave a sharp flick of his wrist and the dagger twisted, the screams died down to a steady stream of whimpers as the bear gave his warning. “I don’t know who you think you are dealing with mutt but no one, I mean no one steals from Santiago Valencia. Jacks, this is your first strike.” He lifted the dagger and freed the jackal, with a nod of his head he dismissed Jacks, the injured party had no qualms about getting out of there. “My deepest apologies Sapo, the next shipment is free of charge, of course.” Jacks turned to leave only to be startled by the sound of a revolver. He only managed to squeak as the bullet pierced through his chest. Jacks fell to the floor, clutching his chest with a look of anguish on his face. Sapo rose slowly from his chair, taking the half smoked cigar from his mouth as he loomed over the dying jackal. He leveled the revolver and gave a small smile. “Ah, I should have told you, Colombians don’t play baseball.” Sapo didn’t even blink as he fired one last shot between Jacks eyes. Sapo slowly turned back to his desk and tossed the (still loaded) revolver at the one of the looming figures that stood at the outskirts of the room. They wasted no time in gathering the lifeless body of one of their minor suppliers. They then filed out of the room one a time, the last with Jacks’ body slung over his shoulder. The only other person in the room was a short panda bear who was flipping through a worn book. “Lanfen! I think it’s time we paid our pal a visit.” Sapo snuffed out the cigar and gathered his coat. Lanfen slowly closed the book with a sour look on her face. “I was just getting to the good part.” She grumbled as she followed her boss out of the door. Sapo gave a loud shout of laughter before fixing Lanfen with a confused look. “Of Dante’s Inferno?” He couldn’t help the smile that inched across his face. His cohort was one of the most peculiar individuals he had ever encountered. She had her quirks but there was no mistaking her performance, she always got the job done. While Sapo had been referred to as a monster for the majority of his ‘professional’ career he wasn’t as bad as most made him out to be. Even though the chilling tales of some of the things he did in the name of his empire were true, everything was done for a reason. He wasn’t an irrational being, he didn’t let his feelings rule him. He couldn’t afford to have his judgment clouded not when there was such a big target on his back. He controlled 45% of the illegal hooch that flowed into New York and the slightest misstep would whip his rivals up in a frenzy. It was this reason that he could not let Yury get away with this, if Sapo let this slide it would cause irreparable damage to his image. No one stole from Santiago Valencia. ----------------- Working on fleshing out my side characters/villains. 'Sapo' is Colombian slang for a snitch, so his name is Santiago 'The Snitch' Valencia.