The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 51 - how to manage a gang

It took Cara exactly 10 minutes to get back to the slat. Right before she entered she shifted in her monstrous wolf form just in case any dregs decided to shoot her. She barged open the door. As it was evening now it was prime time of the slat meaning a lot of dregs were there. They all turned towards her. not a single dreg dared to say anything or move from their spot so Cara spoke up. "where is he" she said, quite enough so that only the dregs could hear it but intimidating enough to make the dregs closest to her shiver in fear.

all the dregs pointed to the door leading to kaz's office. That bastard had taken it upon himself to declare himself the new leader of the dregs. She made her way towards the door knocking on it. She waited until she heard a voice form inside "come in" that is when she barged down the door, straight up splintering it.

the man was sitting with his feet up on kaz's desk laid back into the chair. When he saw her however he instantly got a panicked look on his eyes and tried to get up but Cara was faster. With a growl she closed the distance between them and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt. She dragged him outside the office until she was in the main room, she needed to make an example out of this man.

she spoke loud and clear this time, her voice deep and inhuman. "this man backstabbed me by ratting me out to the guards. Deeming me unfit to lead the gang while kaz is gone. For this treason I will punish him." she grabbed the mans hand using her other claw to lift his sleeve to reveal his dreg tattoo. Then with one swift movement she brought arm of the man to her face and bit off his arm above the tattoo. The dreg screamed loudly while falling to the ground.

but she wasn't done yet, she lifted his face so they could make eye contact. "I should kill you right here however that is to good for you, so I hereby banish you from ketterdam and the surrounding area if I EVER see your marked face again I won't hesitate to end your life. If you don't die from that lost arm that is" And with that she slashed the mans face, deep enough to leave big scars over his face but not deep enough to kill him. she then grabbed him by his collar again and dragged him to the door and threw him outside.

she then went back to stand in front of the bar so she could address the remaining dregs. They all gave her their full attention. "is there anybody else here that wishes to challenge my leadership?" the all shook their head no and some even bowed their head down to show respect to her. she nodded at the crowd. "good, now clean this mess up first then everybody will resume with their tasks they have been given before." Once she saw all the dregs nod their heads and a few stood up and walked over to gather cleaning supplies she went outside the slat, the man had disappeared into the night.

she shifted to her dog form and ran home, once arriving shifting back to human. Greeting the guards at the entrance, their guard house was almost done, just needed the last few details added. She walked over to the stable checking on the horses and saw ben stroking moon. Once he noticed her he immediately turned to her. "the training went well today, all the horses have been fed and they look healthy." Cara nodded as she walked over to pet elvis for a moment. "good, tomorrow I will take elvis with me to ketterdam. Please keep up the training of the horses tomorrow, you know the schedule. Goodnight ben." She added the last part once the boy nodded.

she made her way to the house and dragged herself to bed, what an eventful day that was.

-----------

the next morning she was up early and ate an apple before heading over to the stable where elvis was just finishing his breakfast, she tacked him up and made her way to ketterdam. Once she got to the slat she put elvis in the stable, one of the dregs offered to untack him for her to wich she gladly agreed to.

it was a cold day in ketterdam today, there was no wind today meaning that the industrial fog was thick over the streets of the town. She wanted to replace the door in the slat that she broke yesterday so she went to the harbor to find the right piece of wood. It did not take long to find the piece she wanted. She bought the piece of wood from the merchant who then asked if she needed help carrying it to her cart.

Cara laughed before she responded. "no thank you I will take it by hand." she merchant lifted his eyebrows at her but Cara had made up her mind. Now that everybody knew she was the beats of ketterdam there was no point in hiding anymore. She shifted in front of the merchant who immediately took a step back. "don't worry" she said to the merchant before picking up the oaken door. Putting it under her arm. "good day to you sir."

while she walked away she got a lot of people staring at her but none screamed or panicked. She was halfway back to the slat when she heard a small voice not far from her. "can I go ask it mommy? Please?" she turned her head towards the voice and saw a child not older than 6 tugging at her mom's skirt. She made eye contact with the mom for a moment before the mom nodded at her child.

Cara put the wooden door against the nearby house for a moment and turned to the child that was confidently walking up to her. "good morning, I was wondering if I could stroke your fur, its so shiny and fluffy.." Cara grinned as she leaned down towards the child. "of course" she said as she held out her arm to the child who eagerly ran her hand over the fur. "its so soft!" the child cried out laughing. "what is your name?" she child asked her. "my name is Cara, what is yours?"

the child looked at her mom for a moment who had approached as well and when she nodded the child responded. "my name is emma. . . can I see your angry face?" Cara tilted her head slightly before playfully growling at the child making sure to watch the child's expression for an indication of fear but her eyes only glistered as she watched. "my mommy says that you keep the streets safe of bad people is that true?" Cara thought for a moment remembering that she herself was part of a gang.

"I only hurt the people who deserve it" she answered the little girl. The smile on the little girls face growing by the moment. "how strong are you? can you pick me up? mommy can't pick me up because she has a bad back." Cara looked over at the mother who looked shocked by the question of her daughter herself but then she smiled and nodded. "of course" Cara said as she carefully picked up the girl holding her sides. She stood up lifting the girl above her own head. "I can see the whole street from here!" she giggled.

When Cara put her back down the girl hugged her throwing her arms around her. "thank you Cara, for protecting us." Cara looked down at the child and responded. "you are the bravest child I have ever met little Emma. Now you be nice to your mommy and take care of her okay?" The little girl nodding. "I will! Bye Cara!" she took the hand of her mother and walked off. When Cara turned to pick the door back up she noticed for the first time there was a small crows around them. all of them smiling at the events that just happened before their eyes.

the crows quickly dispersed as Cara took the door back under her arm and made her way back to the slat. It only took her an hour to install the new door. She then went by the bar to grab something to eat before she made her way towards the crow club. She greeted the bouncers while she entered and looked around the club, the club would slowly fill up and by the evening it would be bustling with life and money would roll over the tables.

she greeted the other dregs working there before she headed up to the office to handle the rest of the paperwork. Once she sat herself down at the desk she went through the bundle of papers, it wasn't many as the dregs would either bring it to the slat or to her house but she noticed a little envelope under the first paper.

she took it out of the pile and turned it around. 'to Cara' was on the back she opened it and immediately recognized kaz's handwriting. She immediately pushed the other papers aside so she could read the letter properly.

'Dear Cara,'

'I write this letter to you because I know I will not be able to tell you why we have made the decision to leave ketterdam for a month. It was a hard decision that i made together with the other crows and peter, when peter came back to ketterdam he was able to give us the location of the laboratory where the powder that almost took you from me is made. If we manage to shut this down we might save a lot of shifters from the same horrible sickness.

Trust me when I tell you I did not want to leave you, however I also could not bear the thought of you coming along with us and possibly getting hurt. This place is made to kill shifters. If we manage to shut this place down you will be a lot safer here in kerch. Please forgive me, I will see you soon.

I love you,

kaz.

ps: burn this letter when you have read it.

Cara finally understood, she knew kaz was doing this for her and now she finally knew. She smiled to herself while she walked over to the fireplace and threw the letter in, watching it burn until nothing was left. She promised herself right then and there she would go above and beyond to do as much work for the dregs as she could before kaz came back.

-------------

when Cara got back home she was satisfied with the work that was done today. She managed to finish all the paperwork, even the papers that kaz was behind on. And then managed to make a meeting with a merchant who's trade was horses and equipment like carts and other horse related equipment for the next day.

she had appointed one of the dregs she trusted the most to bring all new paperwork to her house from now on so she would only need to go to ketterdam for follow ups and giving the dregs their tasks, meaning that she wouldn't need to go there often. The guard house was now finished and 2 teams of 5 dregs were guarding the whole clearing making sure to switch out at night so they were always ready for action.

she had also asked ben to prepare the rest of the stalls for more horses and made a guide for him what the horses should be able to do before they could move to their next step of training. She would do the exam herself before the horses could be used for the dregs, if everything would go right the horses would be ready for the dregs in a month of training.

When Cara laid in bed that evening she looked at the ceiling, she had come far since she met kaz. she would have never thought she would be able to do the things she was doing today and all of that was because of him, he gave her confidence and a sense of protection. True he wasn't the easiest person to have a relation with but kaz brekker was no ordinary man, and together they had build their empire. She couldn't wait for him to get back home and see everything.