Scribbles and Drabbles

Notebook Drabble 19 - Gang Families

"I dare you,"

"No," Jamie shook his head, tightening the zip ties on the man's wrists until they dug into the skin. He didn't know the man. Nor did he need to know anything past the knowledge this was someone his brothers were hunting. "I have no need to play that game."

"You're not curious which your brothers would pick? Revenge or protection?" the voice was desperate, trying to pull on any hint of insecurities that Jamie might have towards his family.

Jamie wasn't like the others. People knew it too. He had been brought up with money and sheltered from the harsher games that the rich play. He hadn't had the dirt under his nails that promised blood for slights, he hadn't been trained by a cult to kill without mercy, he followed the head of his adoptive family's edict to heart and did not kill. The rest of his siblings weren't so strict on that rule. Then they wondered why he was the golden child and they were the people sent when a sloppy job was required.

"I know the answer," Jamie smiled, trying to make it as sweet as possible with blood running down his chin. Revenge, the answer was revenge. His brothers who this particular man had angered had made that fact very clear. If he could not kill in a show of loyalty for them, he was not of them. He duck-taped the stranger's mouth to silence him and dialled for David.

"Bitch," greeted him.

"Davy," Jamie said, not pleased.

"You deny it? You turned your tail up at Croggon pretty damn fast."

Jamie might have blushed if his blood was dangerously low and continuing to leak out of his lacerations. "When you're old enough, you'll understand. How far are you from my location?" Davy was sixteen and far too young to be judging his bedroom habits, with Jamie being ten years his senior. At least Shaun insulting him was old enough to understand why Davy was willing to fall to his knees at Croggon's feet. Even if Croggon was not someone their family should be interacting with. Davy cared about reputation and image. Their Head did not.

"Ten minutes, five minutes if its worth it."

"I'm walking away now. I want no knowledge of what happens here after. Understood?"

"Intimately," an excited glee shoot through the phone line. Davy appreciated Jamie's acceptance, even if he despaired of Jamie's willingness to commit darker acts.

He hung up and left, ignoring the cries of pleading from the trapped man. He was no innocent, he deserved no mercy for what he'd done. Some of the targets were worth saving. They had been trapped in the endless downward spiral that was this city. This one did not.

People who survived their anger knew to be careful. Slipping back into the shadows would be met with a dagger. Mercy was too expensive for the family to allow it more than once. Even their Head acknowledged that, though it pained the man to admit it. This was not a three-strikes ruling, it was one chance and then your throat bled.

Steps got harder sooner than expected. Strength fled and he buckled to the ground, clutching a brick wall for balance. He gasped for breath, trying not to scream for help as he manoeuvred himself into a more comfortable position. He was far enough from the sight that he wouldn't see his brothers taking the man out. Hopefully far away enough that they would not bother to follow him. The darkness blanketed him and he sprawled out on the ground, leaning against the wall to hit up. At the very least, he'd die with his head high and not burying on the concrete floor.

All the times that someone had him on the end of a sword or gun and it would be this that killed him. Some low-level gangster who'd got a decent shot in. Croggon would spit on his grave. The man had tried so damn hard to cut his wings. He'd be insulted for Jamie to die like this.

The phone vibrated in his pocket.

"S'up?"

"James Robert Clemens, where are you?"

"Shaun?" Jamie winced at the fury in the man's tone. It bubbled and curled with red and purple, oozing from the edges of the man's existence. Had Jamie done something to upset the man again? He tried hard to keep the peace but when his area ran so close to Shaun's territory, it wasn't unusual for things to crossover. More importantly, Shaun was Davy's chosen protector. He should be with Davy right now. "Aren't you with David?"

"Yes, and I can see the blood trail. Where are you?"

"Thought I didn't matter? You sound like you care." That was a nice thought to go on. His baby brother hated him for not accepting him into the family and resented him as being their Father's golden child. Neither of them was the favourite, however, that lay squarely with the blood son.

"Jamie."

"At the end of the yellow brick road, brother. Where else would I be?"

The phone line cut off and Jamie closed his eyes, focusing on breathing for the moment. It was a stupid question. If Shaun could see the blood trail, of course, Jamie was at the end of it. None of the others were in the city at the moment and it wasn't like he could call them for help any time soon. The chilliness in the air stuck needles in his skin.

Footsteps revealed his brother had arrived.

"Fuck!" Hands grabbed at his arm and pinned it above his head, fingers stemming the flow of blood.

Jamie got a glimpse of a worried face before everything eased to matter anymore.

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