The Abyss Stares Back - 11

A clenched fist impacted Sloan’s face, nearly throwing her to the ground. But she had been hit much harder than that in her life and as she pulled herself back up to look at the hoodlums that now surrounded the room was filled with their raspy laughter.

“Well would you look at that.” Said Luther Tillbone, the gang’s leader. “She can take a hit. Guess we’re gonna be here for a while.”

Sloan had been forced to kneel on the floor and while her hands were unbound at the moment, she was still surrounded by armed hoodlums, and thus didn’t dare defend herself.

The second floor office of Lucky Finn’s was remarkably stylish for a criminal headquarter in Tollstock. The wallpaper was a dark green with golden filigree and the walls themselves were adorned with various paintings and even a few lithographs. The mahogany desk was hand crafted and engraved with beautiful floral patterns. Mr Tillbone himself sat in a maroon leather chair that looked quite comfortable. Even the wooden floorboards were expensive and well maintained. Which only prompted Sloan to spit a gulp of blood onto it before grinning her bloody smile at the head of the gang.

“Oh we’re gonna be here for a long, long while.” Said Mr Tillbone before motioning for one of his goons to hit her again.

The gangster nodded, clenched his fist and then slammed it into Sloan’s face. But this time she anticipated it and angled her head forward so to catch the blow with her forehead. She didn’t hear his metacarpals fracture but his wail was amusement enough. The other gangsters laughter louder. With his hand and ego wounded the hoodlum opted to next kick her in the head, and this time she fell to the floor. Laughter continued.

There were six people in the room with her. Luther Tillbone himself sat behind his desk, smoking a cigar while next to him stood large and imposing man of goblinoid descent. His skin was grayish blue and his eyes were a deep crimson. She had heard Luther call him Tom and he seemed to be the man’s bodyguard.

The designated beater remained unnamed but given his thick mutton chops Sloan had already named him Choppy.

To the side stood two men and one woman, all of whom were enjoying the show with cigarettes and glasses of bourbon in hand. The woman had a shock of red hair and deep scars that sculpted her face and her partner in laughter was a lanky fellow with thin moustache. She had heard the others refer to him as Brick. A humorously unfitting name.

But with them stood a fellow who did not join in the revelries. The man who caught her skulking outside. His hair was thinning and he had a nasty scar the ran down from his forehead, over his left eye and ended carving through his upper lip. His left eye was made of glass which gave his steely gaze an unnerving quality. But he was clearly not built for brawling and given how he had been posted outside in the rain, guarding the back, Sloan got the impression that he wasn’t very high in the chain of command. This theory was backed by how often the others seemed to make jokes at his expense.

“I bet Hitch could even beat her up.” Said Brick before barking with laughter.

“Fat chance. She’d eat him alive.” Said the woman.

Luther motioned for Chopping to pull Sloan back up to her knees, which he did, unkindly.

“So, I ask again. What are you doing here, blackguard?” asked Luther.

“Just enjoying the scenery.”

Luther chuckled.

“My patience is limited tonight so I advice you to answer as truthfully as possible.” He continued. “You see I’ve had a very busy day. First we get raided by Inspector Tiege and his watcher stooges. They came waltzing in here, claiming we had some infernal connections. Preposterous! And then, get this, and then we hear of a massacre downtown. A blackguard went berserk up in Lindon and done killed some fifty people, claiming they were possessed.”

“You’re well informed.”

Luther puffed his cigar. “My little rats tell me much. Now imagine my surprise when this same blackguard comes to my neck of the woods, skulking around and trying to get inside this fine establishment. MY fine establishment. One might think she came here looking to place the blame on someone.”

Sloan blew some bloody snot out of her nose. “Well you got it partially correct. But I didn’t come here to place blame on anyone. Cause I don’t think you had anything to do with the demonic infestation I found in Lindon.”

“Oh? Then why are you here?”

“Well, you and your group do have a demonic rune as your main insignia. I want to know where you saw it?”

Luther furrowed his brow. He didn’t seem to understand what she was talking about.

Sloan cast her dark eyes upon the group, looking at each and everyone one of them. Tom remained stoic as ever. Choppy, Brick and Red continued to grin like idiots. Hitch kept his eyes on her. None of them seemed to offer a hint of suspicion. That wasn’t ideal.

“You came here, ready to infiltrate our sanctuary, because you wanted to know how we got our sign?” Luther laughed. “You really think we’re that stupid?”

“How long ago did you start using it?” asked Sloan. “Tiege didn’t seem to think it was that long ago.”

Choppy seemed infuriated by the mention of the inspector’s name and pulled out his knife. In one swift motion he grabbed Sloan’s collar and put the knife to her throat.

“Or maybe we should just bleed you here and be done with it, pig.”

“Stand down, Marius.” Said Luther.

Marius?! That was a horrible name, didn’t fit him at all, she thought. Sloan, despite the knife at her throat, decided that she would continue to refer to him as Choppy.

Choppy, staring Sloan in the eyes, slowly pulled away the knife. Sloan couldn’t help but notice a hint of confusion in Luther’s eyes at the display. This was out of character for Choppy.

“I don’t know where the sign came from. One of the men drew it up and I quite liked it. That’s all.” Said Luther, still keeping his eyes on Choppy.

“Who was it?”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re not leaving this place alive.”

Sloan scoffed. “Just tell me, I’d hate to fetch an arcanist to pull the answers out of your corpse.”

The room erupted into laughter. Even Tom seemed to smile.

Luther, grinning widely, leaned over the table to get a better look at her. “And how do you intend to do that? We have you outnumbered.”

“I’m a blackguard, idiot. I’m always outnumbered and I typically fight monsters and demons. A bunch of wannabe gangsters are nothing to me.”

“I’d like to see you try.” Said Choppy as he pulled the knife up to her cheek and cut it. It was a very shallow cut.

“Marius!” barked Luther. “What did I tell you?!”

Choppy looked at his boss and then back at Sloan with conflict in his eyes. He clearly wanted to kill her but there was a sense of nervousness to him. Though Sloan didn’t get the feeling he was hiding anything and was simply afraid of her, it wasn’t how it looked. And Sloan intended to use that.

Choppy let go of her and backed up. Sloan made a point to give him a questioning look before returning her gaze to Luther.

“How about this? You tell me where your men found this rune and I’ll leave without hurting anyone. Hell, I’ll even tell the watchers that you had nothing to do with the demonic infestation in Kirkholm.”

Luther pondered the situation for a moment. “I’d rather not. I think I’ll just kill you and dump you into the ocean. Simple. Easy.”

“Well then the watchers will be knocking down your doors and putting you all in cuffs before you know it.”

“And how do you figure that?”

“Because one of your men has been feeding them information. Why do you think they’re always snooping around?” said Sloan.

Luther’s eyes, while trained on her, did a quick scan of the room and its occupants. This was something he had already suspected.

“Yeah.” Said Sloan with a malicious smile. “You already know it. You just don’t know who it is.”

“Shut it.” Said Choppy.

“You think it might even be someone in this room, right now.”

“Boss, she’s playing you.” Said Brick.

“Yeah, the men are all loyal.” Said Red.

“I may have seen a photograph on their wall of evidence yesterday. I may know who it is.”

“You fucking cunt.” Said Choppy as he stepped forward, grabbed her collar and raised his knife.

“Marius!” Luther commanded, halting Choppy before he could stab down at her.

Sloan looked up at him with fierce determination in her eyes. “Oh come on, you’re making it so obvious.”

Choppy’s eyes widened as he looked at Luther. “No…no she’s lying!”

“Marius, put the blade down.” Said Luther as he slowly got up from his chair, his hand resting on a revolver that lay on his desk.

“She’s lying, Luther!”

“Put it down!”

This was her chance.

Sloan suddenly stood up, grabbed Choppy’s arm and pulled it towards himself, forcing him to stab himself in the throat. And as he released a shocked gasp, stunning the entire room, Sloan gripped the knife, pulled it across his throat and then wrenched it free. And as the blood cascaded from his opened neck Sloan threw the knife across the room and successfully embedded it into Tom’s eye.

Out of all of them he had seemed the most ferocious fighter, so taking care of him soonest had been her top priority.

The look of shook drained from Luther’s expression as anger engulfed him. He raised his revolver and pulled the trigger. Sloan yanked Choppy towards her and positioned him between the two of them. Six bullets were fired in rapid succession, each of them plunging into Choppy’s dying body. Only two of them managed to fire through him and only one caught Sloan in the side.

But with Luther’s revolver empty she attempted to throw Choppy’s body at him but was rushed and tackled by Red and Brick. She was thrown into the opposite wall where she hit a nice chair and knocked it on its side.

Brick now pinned her to the wall while Red quickly gripped Sloan’s head and pummeled a surprisingly heavy fist into her face. Sloan kicked Brick in the groin and pushed him off before throwing a flat hand into Red’s throat.

The scarred woman gave a gargled wheeze as she tried to catch her breath. Sloan tried to throw a closed fist at her but found herself hit with a lamp by Hitch, who had snuck his way to her without her noticing. The blackguard kicked him in the knee and he immediately collapsed.

For a brief moment Sloan was able to take in the current situation. Brick and Red were getting back up while Luther Tillbone scampered behind his desk, frantically reloading his revolver next to Tom’s still twitching cadaver. This fight would quickly come to an end if she couldn’t reach Tillbone before he reloaded. Sadly she had no weapon with her, she had intended to sneak in, get the information she needed and then get out. However, Hitch had a revolver of his own when he had caught her.

She kicked Brick in the face and then lunged after Hitch on the floor. He screamed something before she slammed his head into the floorboards and the fished after the gun in his coat pocket. And once she felt the touch of its cold steel she grinned.

In one swift motion she pulled out the revolver and placed the barrel up to Brick’s head, sending a spray of blood over Red as she pulled the trigger. And while the woman struggled to wipe the blood from her eyes, Sloan took aim for the gang leader, shooting him twice. One bullet caught him in the shoulder and the other caught him in the chest.

His body was thrown over his dead bodyguard and in some instinctual reaction he aimed his half loaded revolver at the blackguard woman and pulled the trigger wildly. At first there were two empty clicks but then four bullets flew across the room. The first one hit Red in the head, the next just barely grazed Sloan’s arm. The third hit only the far wall and the fourth and final one hit Hitch in the leg.

The glass eyed man fell back to the floor and screamed in agony. Sloan, after making sure she hadn’t been hit anywhere vital, turned her attention to the gang leader. Luther Tillbone lay on top of his bodyguard, the light slowly draining from his eyes.

“Shit.”

This had been a fool’s errand. And, like so often before, she’d only made a bigger mess. The only thing to do was to leave before things got worse.

She turned and place the gun up against Hitch’s forehead.

“No wait! I can show you where we found the sign!”

He held his hands up in resignation and his body shook.

“Please. Just don’t kill me.”

Sloan considered her options for a moment. “You lying to me?”

“No I swear!”

They heard a rattling chuckle from the other end of the room.

“It was you…wasn’t it…” said Luther, barely conscious. “You were…the rat…”

Sloan sighed. “There was no rat, idiot. I just said that to get the drop on you.”

“…I always knew…you were…no good…”

“Shut up.” Said Sloan as she turned her attention back to Hitch. “Show me and I’ll let you live.”

“Yeah of course.” Said Hitch, now gaining some measure of composure. “You got it. But we should get out of here as soon as possible. We’ll be swarmed real soon.”

And as he said that they heard rapid footsteps ascending the stairs.

“Get up.” Said Sloan as she grabbed his arm and helped pull him to his feet.

The door opened and two men rushed in. The grizzly sight stunned them for a moment which Sloan used to fire two shots at them. Blood sprayed the wall and they fell to the ground.

“Come on.”

“Wait.” Said Hitch as he limped across the room and stepped behind Luther’s desk. He leaned down and hit a hidden switch that opened a secret exit at the back of the office. “Out here.”

Sloan heard more footfalls down below and figured she’d rather take her chance with the wounded hoodlum over the others.

With a quick step she crossed the office and stepped through the secret door, finding herself within a crawlspace of sorts. Hitch was crouched over Luther’s body and as he got up she noticed he had one of his rings in his hand.

“Is that necessary?”

“Oh yeah.” Said Hitch with a manic grin. “Let’s go.”

The two of them closed the hidden door behind them and left Lucky Finn’s as the remained of Luther’s gang flooded the office. Disappearing into the darkness and heavy rain.