Thump! Thump! Thump!<\/i><\/p>\n
Blaise pounded on the door but there was no answer. She concluded that Doug either had drunk so much the night before that he had lapsed into a coma, or he hadn\u2019t come back to his room. She ran a hand through her hair, contemplating whether or not she could (or should bother to) hack the electronic lock, when someone clearing their throat behind her made her jump.<\/p>\n
Gratin was standing there, blankly watching her as he chewed on a waffle, his other hand holding a glass of milk.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026How long have you been standing there?\u201d she asked, annoyed that she hadn\u2019t noticed his approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot long. You missed the breakfast buffet,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026I woke up late and decided to come down and check on Doug,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cMmmhmm,\u201d Gratin eyed her appearance. She clearly hadn\u2019t slept well as there were bags under her bloodshot eyes. She hadn\u2019t bothered to pin back her hair or even brush it, her hat was crooked and her coat hadn\u2019t been buttoned up properly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d she asked irritably.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou and McCracken disappeared last night whilst I was relieving myself. I thought you both had returned here together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, we-\u201d her eyes widened as it dawned on her what he had been inferring. \u201cOh gods no! Why would you even think that? He\u2019s\u2026he\u2019s Doug!<\/i>\u201d she complained, her cheeks burning red.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell you are both humans who were incredibly drunk last night and you both appeared to be quite close for most of the evening,\u201d Gratin replied nonchalantly, prompting memories of the previous night to enter her head. Lots of laughter, she and Doug attempting to drink shots with their arms interlocked, Doug attempting to convince her to hit the dance floor with him whilst she laughed at his goofy drunken dancing\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to bed alone! Nothing happened last night, I\u2019m only here now in order to see if he\u2019s still alive in there!\u201d she loudly protested, pointing to Doug\u2019s door. Gratin frowned, placed the waffle in his mouth and settled his now free hand on the door.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026He is not in there. It is empty,\u201d he stated blandly after taking his waffle back out of his mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh. Where is he then?\u201d she asked, feeling silly for having been knocking for the last couple of minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan\u2019t you just sense him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot exactly. I am sensing the innate mystical energies that cling to all living things. McCracken is not a mage so there is not much surrounding him and there are hundreds of people on board this vessel. He blends in with them too well. I believe the appropriate expression is \u2018looking for a needle in a haystack\u2019.\u201d Blaise considered this, frowning.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreat. I suppose we\u2019d better look for him then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is quite capable of looking after himself,\u201d Gratin remarked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I know. I also know that he drank a lot last night. For all we know, he\u2019s passed out in a pool of his own vomit or he accidentally threw himself overboard or something. I just want to make sure he\u2019s breathing,\u201d she explained. Gratin simply stared at her. \u201cOh, don\u2019t look at me like that,\u201d she glowered at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow am I looking at you?\u201d Gratin asked curiously.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike you still think Doug and I are having secret late night rendezvous. I still can\u2019t imagine why you\u2019d think that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLike all fire mages, I pay tribute to Tserulia1<\/a><\/sup>,\u201d he offered. Blaise had to pause to try and remember what Tserulia was the goddess of, besides fire magic.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026You know how to make an awesome souffl\u00e9?\u201d she guessed, confused.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, yes, now that you mention it, but I was actually referring to Tserulia\u2019s status as the goddess of romance rather than the goddess of the culinary arts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh,\u201d she was starting to feel embarrassed again, \u201cso is this your way of telling me that you like to read those raunchy romance novels lonely housewives typically read?\u201d she joked, hoping to cover up her mistake with some playful teasing.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026I like to read lots of books,\u201d Gratin answered, the joke going over his head.<\/p>\n \u201cHas anyone ever mentioned that you\u2019re a strange guy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cConstantly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight. Let\u2019s\u2026let\u2019s just try to find Doug already,\u201d she gave up, shaking her head as she made her way to the stairs, Gratin following her in his bemusement.<\/p>\n They had to wait at the bottom for a group of tourists to pass.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026so just as he\u2019s getting up, all these guys in fancy suits approach him. I thought they might be friends of his but then a fight broke out. He did pretty well for a guy that was outnumbered, especially since he only had the one arm,\u201d the man at the head of the group was explaining to his companions, drawing the mercenary duo\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n \u201cHe even managed to throw one guy over the deck! Shame things took a turn for the worst after that.\u201d This prompted Blaise to shove past them and sprint up the stairs, towards the deck.<\/p>\n \u201cHey! Crazy bitch!\u201d one of the group \u2013 a twenty-something girl \u2013 cried as she was nearly knocked over.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure she\u2019s very sorry. Excuse me,\u201d Gratin stated as he squeezed past and chased after his friend.<\/p>\n As she approached the door to the deck, Blaise began to hug the wall and drew a pistol. Everything sounded quiet outside but she wanted to play it safe. Who knew what kind of people Doug had pissed off this time? She steeled herself and pushed through the doors, into the bright light beyond\u2026<\/p>\n Everything was completely normal. Kids were playing, people were relaxing on the sun loungers and deckchairs. It was a perfect sunny morning. Blaise scanned the deck looking for anyone out of place. All she saw was an eight-year-old with an ice cream that had spotted her gun. He trembled slightly, the ice cream slipping off his cone and onto the floor. Blaise sighed and holstered her gun.<\/p>\n \u201cNo sign of him?\u201d Gratin\u2019s voice asked from behind her shoulder.<\/p>\n \u201cNo. I hate mysteries,\u201d she muttered.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was here though,\u201d Gratin observed, pointing to some smeared traces of vomit and an empty bottle of beer. Blaise knelt down to read the label.<\/p>\n \u201cBelemian Quakerjuice. 100% organic. He was here alright.\u201d She swept her gaze over the decking, spotting some scuffed shoe marks on the polished wooden floorboards and some red splotches scattered around here and there.<\/p>\n \u201cBlood,\u201d she said, \u201cstill wet. Couldn\u2019t have been here for long,\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat will our next course of action be?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know. If the fight were still happening then we\u2019d be able to hear shouts or something. There\u2019s not enough blood here to convince me that anyone was mortally wounded. He doesn\u2019t pick fights he knows he can\u2019t win anyway so I think he surrendered,\u201d she reasoned.<\/p>\n \u201cThat gentleman did say he was outnumbered, do you think he was outgunned as well?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cProbably. He left his bionics in his room. I want to believe he\u2019s still alive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe gentleman also mentioned something about suits.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight, so who has Doug pissed off recently that belonged to a gang of suits?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot Horatio\u2019s men?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, they didn\u2019t know who we were and there weren\u2019t any survivors left to describe us to anyone that stayed home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHmm. I believe there was only one other group we\u2019ve dealt with recently who wore suits-\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c-The Dalminettis. Shit,\u201d Blaise agreed.<\/p>\n Their conversation came to a halt as a man in a fine Italian suit talking on a mobile phone stepped out of the doors behind them.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026So yeah, Business, we\u2019ll send you the pictures in a bit. Tommy\u2019s dealing with it. Still can\u2019t believe we ran into him. He\u2019s going to regret ever crossing us\u2026yeah\u2026yeah, don\u2019t worry! We\u2019re looking for his friends right now. They ain\u2019t gonna see us com- oh shit!<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n He froze as he realised that both Blaise and Gratin were in front of him and staring right at him. In a panic, he threw his phone at Blaise\u2019s head and ran back the way he came. Blaise dodged by leaning slightly to the left, drew her pistol and leapt after him all in one smooth motion. She crashed through the doors and took aim. He was barging his way through a crowd of tourists. She couldn\u2019t find a clean shot. Cursing, she sprinted after him, weaving her way through the crowd and down the busy staircase.<\/p>\n Gratin sighed. He used his ability to sense energy to track their progress as best he could as he made his way to the other, slightly less crowded staircase.<\/p>\n The man stumbled down the last couple of stairs having lost his footing in his haste, dragging some tourists with him. He ignored their angry cries, desperately scrambling across the floor. He found his feet again and flew down the hallway. Blaise was more graceful as she flung herself over the railing rather than fighting the crowd. There were gasps as she effortlessly landed and launched back into her run.<\/p>\n Gratin floated over the heads of those in his way. He calmly took the time to finish his milk before casually landing and pursuing the others at a brisk walking pace.<\/p>\n The suit skidded as he took a left turn, placing his hands on the floor to keep from falling on his face. He proceeded to barely avoid a cleaning trolley by side-stepping it and accidentally knocked an old woman to the floor as he darted down a corridor to his right.<\/p>\n Five seconds later, Blaise skidded around the first corner, vaulted over the cleaning trolley and sped past the old woman, into the right turn.<\/p>\n Gratin didn\u2019t take the left turn, instead continuing his stroll down the first hall.<\/p>\n The suit took the next right turn available to him, only to realise after several paces that the mage was walking towards him. He fell on his rump in his attempt to brake, rolled over and scrambled to get away on all fours just as Blaise ran around the corner, coming to a halt in front of him, her pistol trained on his head. She was barely panting. The suit however, was out of breath and out of luck. He began swearing between gasps.<\/p>\n \u201cOh cut that out. All we want to do is talk,\u201d Blaise told him curtly.<\/p>\n \u201cI *wheeze<\/i>* got nothing *gasp<\/i>* to say!\u201d he told her.<\/p>\n \u201cThat so?\u201d she asked. She pounced on him before he had a chance to try and escape, forcibly yanking him off the floor and slamming him against the wall. Her left arm pinned him to the wall while she jammed the pistol against his throat.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s try this again. I have a monster headache, I\u2019ve barely slept, my friend is missing, I\u2019m pissed off and I\u2019m running low on patience. I\u2019m guessing you wouldn\u2019t have ran if you couldn\u2019t tell me where Doug\u2019s been taken. Now\u2019s the best time to tell me what you know. Unless, that is, you have a thing for agonising<\/i> pain\u2026\u201d She let the sentence hang in the air, allowing him a chance to imagine all the nasty things she might do to him.<\/p>\n \u201cI-I ain\u2019t afraid of you!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWrong answer. Gratin?\u201d<\/p>\n The mage had caught up to them and, at her prompt, held out his empty glass so that the suit could see it. He held his other hand next to it. An emerald flame flared to life in his palm, and the solid glass quickly melted, dripping on to the floor. Letting the remnants of the glass fall to the floor, Gratin turned the emerald flame towards the suit\u2019s face, moving it forward. The suit squirmed in an attempt to get away, sweat pouring down his face as the heat lapped up against his flesh. He could feel his skin beginning to blister as the flames inched closer and closer\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cAlright!<\/i> I-I\u2019ll tell you what you want to know! J-just leave me alone! P-please!<\/i>\u201d he begged.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s more like it,\u201d Blaise agreed with a smirk as Gratin backed off. She released the suit, playfully slapping him on the cheek as she did so while keeping the gun trained on him. The suit slid to the floor, still breathing hard.<\/p>\n \u201cWell? Talk! Where is he?\u201d<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n The Dalminetti Mafia were one of the City of Light\u2019s less remarkable organised crime families. It composed of a core nine men, the \u2018Old Boys\u2019, and usually between thirty and fifty suited lackeys and thugs. Although conforming to the \u2018typer mafia tradition of being Italian at its core, they would take on practically anyone wearing a suit and tie. Primarily dealing in racketeering, smuggling and strong-arming smaller businesses, the Dalminettis tended to try and avoid getting into turf wars with other gangs, partially out of laziness but mostly because they had enough common sense to realise that even a mob of boy scouts armed with sticks could probably overcome a group of their thugs just by virtue of having more team coordination.<\/p>\n This was why the number outside of the core nine would tend to fluctuate. If the Dalminettis ever entered a gang war, you could almost certainly guarantee that their numbers would drop significantly in a very short period. Then they would dial back their activity for a bit while recruiting, until some over-zealous thug decided to try and claim some turf belonging to another gang and the process would begin over again. Big Jim Dalminetti called this regular fluctuation \u2018the Dalminetti Ecology\u2019.<\/p>\n Occasionally there would be a thug who would show some adeptness at not getting offed in the semi-regular gang conflicts. If they stuck around long enough, kept their noses clean and didn\u2019t go around causing trouble, they might just be accepted into being known as one of the \u2018Old Boys\u20192<\/a><\/sup>. Unlike the rest of the Dalminetti Mafia, if any of these guys turned up on your doorstep you knew to expect to make an investment you hadn\u2019t previously expected to that day, and if it was a bad day you could probably look forward to booking yourself into the hospital with some broken fingers or a smashed kneecap, if not worse.<\/p>\n Most of the Dalminetti Mafia were currently on the airship on the way to the annual gang conference at Casinopolis. The month before, tragedy had struck the mafia when the gang\u2019s founder and primary namesake Big Jim Dalminetti had been killed in an unexpected confrontation in the gang\u2019s headquarters while trying to hire some mercenaries to take out a rogue Triad group looking to muscle in on one of their key smuggling rackets. He\u2019d made the mistake of trying to offer one of the mercenaries a light for their cigarette using his novelty cigarette lighter shaped like a gun. The mercenary hadn\u2019t expected for a gun to be pointed at him, and thus returned the favour by punching Big Jim\u2019s face through the back of his skull using their bionic fist. A one-sided fight later, and the mercs had escaped the Dalminetti hideout having killed the boss and several minor thugs.<\/p>\n Little Jim had decided to take an extended holiday to try and get over the loss of his big brother, and the majority of the Old Boys had stayed behind to lay low while sending the rest of their manpower to the conference via airship, just so the Dalminettis had a presence. It was also an excuse to get Tommy \u2018Big Boy\u2019 Bellarico out of their hair for a bit, because he was vying for a position amongst the Old Boys and, despite numerous attempts by the rest of the Old Boys to influence it, had so far failed to be killed in one of the many pointless turf wars the Dalminettis frequently engaged in.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n \u201cSo that\u2019s what happened while you were waiting outside the restaurant while we went in to see the mafia,\u201d Blaise finished explaining.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question always lingered as to why we did not get that job,\u201d said Gratin. \u201cYou were quite angry about it, and asking Doug just made him sulk and say \u2018I don\u2019t want to talk about it\u2019. I did not pursue the matter. I did not think to, there was nothing particularly suspicious about your exit from the restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was carrying a piece with a silencer and we were lucky to take out all the guys in the office quietly before they could raise the alarm. That\u2019s why we came from around back, we had to climb out of the window because otherwise the thirty or so suits chilling downstairs with guns might\u2019ve been tipped off.\u201d Blaise rubbed her face with both hands. \u201cYou should\u2019ve seen the novelty lighter, Gratin. It had a plastic red tip. It had the word \u2018NOVELTY\u2019 in block white capitals down the side!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEh, Big Jim was asking for it anyway,\u201d said the suit sat on the floor tied to the nearby shelving rack. Blaise and Gratin had dragged him into a nearby maintenance room full of cleaning supplies and various other items required for keeping the ship running. \u201cHe thought it was hilarious but we all knew it would cause someone to panic one day.\u201d<\/p>\n Blaise kicked him in the ribcage. Her headache was down to a nagging, repetitive pang of pain.<\/p>\n \u201cYou said Doug\u2019s being held up in the conference room on the third deck. How many of your guys are there?\u201d she sighed. The suit spat a hunk of blood on to the floor, there was something small, pointy and white sat in it.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout twenty-four of us,\u201d he wheezed. Blaise pulled a pistol out of her holster in one quick movement. \u201cAlright, twenty-six!\u201d the suit blurted. Blaise cocked the gun with her thumb. \u201cOh come on, man! I don\u2019t even like those assholes!\u201d The gun wavered uncertainly, and then disappeared inside her coat.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re right,\u201d said Blaise. \u201cA gunshot in a room this small wouldn\u2019t help my headache. Come on then, Gratin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMistress Blaise?\u201d<\/p>\n Blaise removed what looked like a few long metal pipes and a larger chunk from her coat and, after some furious twisting and clicking using her hands, a small sniper rifle appeared in her grasp. You could barely see the seams of where all the separate bits clicked together, it looked like it had always been a complete sniper rifle.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s go to work,\u201d she said, slipping the rifle\u2019s strap over her shoulder and clacking the rifle\u2019s bolt, slotting in a cartridge3<\/a><\/sup> of ammunition produced seemingly from nowhere.<\/p>\n Thump! Thump! Thump! Blaise pounded on the door but there was no answer. She concluded that Doug either had drunk so much the night before that he had lapsed into a coma, or he hadn\u2019t come back to his room. She ran a hand through her hair, contemplating whether or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[50,32,47,41,33,52,49,51,48],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-mercenaries-tale","tag-big-jim-dalminetti","tag-blaise","tag-dalminetti-mafia","tag-elementism","tag-gratin","tag-the-novelty-lighter-incident","tag-the-old-boys","tag-tommy-big-boy-bellarico","tag-tserulia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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