Shattering my Over-used Heart

Coles chapter - how to make hell feel like home

I had to suppress so much rage and anger watching that video of lacey, if tommy wasn't there to ground me, I think I would of teared the whole room apart, but that wouldn't of got me anywhere. I breathed through my nose and mouth a couple of times trying to centre myself, but I had to leave to get to the meeting the doctor put together, even when I park up at the back I watch who arrives, the doctor with an old couple hand in hand follow him into city hall where he thought this meeting might be best made, seen as tommy rearranged his casino as some type of hacker cave, with the edge of a torture chamber, I sit back and chew on a piece of gum, while turning my engine off, next is the military personnel I shook hands with, the president's daughter, Juda Malacoda, I huff that the federal government is more involved but actually can't get so involved because of the laws of werewolves, the armed forces guy whose name I've forgotten enters next, while I watch summer Cassidy go back and forth to her car four times with the paperwork she's forgotten, the C.I.A are lucky to have her I think with a smile to myself but it seems to me the werewolf elders can do what they like, their own rules, government, secretes that no one can touch without digging up age old problems, but it seems the system is twisted, and now's the time to act, to finally clean up the underground meat market these poor girls seem to be the victims of, but it's just why I think? Why are the elders so involved with the slave trade? My mind is fuzzy with thoughts and ideas when I spot Colton, one of Tommy's hackers enter the building holding his laptop close, but when a midnight black Bugatti Type 41 Royale Kellner Coupe pulls up, I open my door to rush up to my grandparents getting out, holding my grandmother hands while she exits the car, her rosy cheeks and eyes light up when she sees its me, her warm sweet smile brings back my childhood when her hugs would solve all my problems, along with a kiss to the head and a cookie. "Oh Cole, sweetheart-" she runs a hand through my hair which is growing wildly, and her finger taps my chin once, I roll my eyes slightly she means my beard, I rub it myself thinking, yes, I could shave but my mind is elsewhere right now, before my grandad steps out closing the door, he smiles at me and I raise an eyebrow, looking back at city hall then back at my grandparents. "What are you guys-" before I can ask, my grandmother raises our hands still held together and she taps them, closing her hands over mine. "Just here to help my love" she responds but my grandfather whistles me over to the side while he pulls out a cigar, looking over my shoulder the same as my grandad to make sure grandma isn't watching, he lights it and sighs. "Messy business this, that poor girl, if I knew this would be the end result, I would have ordered you to kill them Cole" grandad deadpans me, I chock back my surprise and rub the back of my head. "Grandad, we didn't have the clans, we didn't know they were connected so far up to the elders, dad was–" I stop myself thinking why am I trying to shield my dad from his bad decisions, why am I defending him? and with that thought my grandad shakes his head too. "Marius and Marcus made deals with the devil, if I kept an eye on my boys, I would have clipped them around the ears and set them straight, but your dads got your sisters to think about, and Marcus ran off with his princess, with all their troubles as well" I watch each puff of smoke from my grandads mouth while he talks. "I'm sorry my lad, I really am and with my old connections I'm happy to make some appearances to save your dear lacey, I can't help still seeing her scared little face in that meeting, and your grandmother is shaken at what's happened" my granddad continues and flicks the cigar away while I breathe out a heavy sigh, I nod while we take the stairs together, I don't say anything when my grandad holds onto my arm for the last couple of steps and we walk towards a bigger meeting room then before, we enter a venue room you can rent out, there's tables covered in white table clothes, with water jugs and glasses waiting, and it looks like the doc has made his rounds talking to everyone and I honestly feel out of place, I instinctively look for Tommy but he's not here, something inside my head tells me not to be surprised before I take a breather, the doc speaks up over everyone shaking hands. "I just want to bring everyone together again to update, the dead girls who were saved from the meat trade, the mermaid's we're returning home" the doctor gives me a look to carry on, but my head draws a blank, I open my mouth but summer smiles one of her big smiles. "Also noted my brother informed us of the site, these girls are being auctioned on, were tracking each profile, and have made accounts ourselves to save some girls, but its encrypted and are hackers are finding it hard to track and trace each account" Juda sits back and sips his whisky, running a hand through his primped and proper styled hair. "We've handled the meat markets and dust houses, and most of the warehouses in every city they have come up in- but the clubs are all yours" Juda winks at me, the underline of that is the government doesn't want to get too involved because then it would be against the elders, and I'm sure the elder werewolves would start another war, but two alphas fucking up there clubs and trade? Looking for their mate is a less likely story to be front page news, when the go ahead is given to me and I shake the hands of the important crowd goodbye, I'm left with my grandparents talking to the old couple that accompanied the doc in here, I hesitate to go over, but my feet take me, as I approach, I catch the last thing the old guy next to my grandfather says. "They should come back to Tassilo, we can protect you, if you bring your family home Larcen" I stand wide eyed behind my grandparents, trying to decode this situation before my grandmother takes my hand softly. "It might be for the best my dear boy, we don't know the reach of the elder's–" my grandfather starts to put in his two cents, and I'm lost in the background, exploring every option until my eye's catch my grandmother looking up at me. "Maybe it's for the best dear" she whispers up at me and I lower my head slowly to whisper back "what is?" I ask, she side eyes the main conversation and gives my hand a second squeeze "once you find lacey, let her parents take her back to Tassilo" I blink at the realization even before I find her, she's being organised to be taken away again. "What?" I say louder than necessary but I'm a bit on edge right now, everyone turns and looks at me, before I can make my point and fight my part of the argument, the doors open to a well-dressed man who strides in, he straightens his lilac tie and smooths back his dirty blonde hair, until his icy blue eyes find mine and with one brisk sniff I can smell the sea salt on him, he's from the mermaid clan about the girl. "Cole" he holds out his hand and before I can shake it, the door burst open again, my eyes can't quite suppress my surprise as it's been a long time but one of Lacey's friends storms in, her lilac hair in a choppy short cut, matching his tie I notice, but yeah I'm sure it's her mermaid friend Piper, my eyes go from her furious eyes to her pregnant belly, she's wearing a two toned pleated maternity dress, which holds her new growing figure beautifully. "I thought I told you to stay in the car" The blonde doesn't react, just side eyes piper who stands next to him arms folded, directing her anger all at me. "And I told you to tell me, why we were really back in my hometown, not bullshit me then leave me in the car waiting" piper retorts and she holds her belly with one hand, cradling it gently. "King Florian" The doc interrupts and shakes his hand, everyone makes pleasantries but I'm still looking at pipers baby bump, she was the same girl who was at our birthday party, drinking everything she could, and she was all over her boyfriend of the time, I think? But then again don't mermaids have arranged marriages I ponder back to the phone call lacey had on our brunch date, or was that the fairy who works at the milkshake parlour? I roll my eyes, so much I've forgotten, until my attention is set back on the conversation. "Her body is waiting in the hospital for transport, for your burial procedures" the doctor explains, and king Florian seems to put his hands in his pockets and rock like he's bored. "Tell me about the Grootslang–" he starts looking around at all of us, until he stops at me, and I think he works out I'm the alpha and I'm the one who fixed his problem for him. "If I knew, they were using that beast to hide on that island, I would have sent my army with you" Florian proceeds to say and I huff a laugh crossing my arms over my chest "I didn't know that fucking thing was on the island until it attacked" I retort with a huff of a smile "neither did I know the mermaid clan in the area" I add but he grins at me, a bad boy grin, one tommy would have liked. "Just to show you we appreciate, you getting rid of our little problem, our scouts actually found something for you, I believe they called themselves Castilians? Wasn't it dear?" he looks over his shoulder down at piper next to him and she nods. "They were floating outside our boarder and we damaged there boat enough to strand them, not those twins, but other family members" Florian instructs me when I try to hide the smile on my face, that we nearly have his whole family, maybe we can set something up that if we stop killing them, they give back lacey, I'm pulled by my arm away from the group still making small talk by piper, who looks at me up and down, she looks pained and worried, when she turns to me and cradles her full stomach with both hands, I feel bad were putting her through this. "Do you know if Lacey's ok? with everything that went on, we all fell out of touch, none of us knew about lacey, except well when Florian told me we were coming here, I heard from his driver why we were really here" She takes a breath and I see her eyes glass over with tears, I shake my head and put a hand on her shoulder and gently rub. "He didn't want to worry you, it's understandable in this time" I gesture to her belly, and she folds her arms over her chest, she pouts her lips and narrows her eyes. "I'm pregnant, not dying" she spits, and I smile and shake my head "we have no idea where lacey is, and every road we seem to go down is a dead end, they just took her and vanished" I confess and she nods and starts to rub her arms, as some sort of security. "Shit" she mumbles, and I nod along with her until the conversation from the other's include us. "Thank you for everything, I would like to get my wife home, since we've been travelling for a while" Florian voice echoes around the room and piper smirks. "Sorry he's such an asshole" she whispers at me but walks over to his open hand to hold it as his other hand goes towards her belly, but it's the smile they share, there in love, arranged marriage or not and I'm deeply jealous, imagining myself with lacey, her looking up at me while I try and feel our baby kicking, I shake that thought out my head immediately when my phone beeps with only one word. 'Candyland' and that's when in a bolt of light Dean stands beside me, looking over everyone that's shielded their eyes and I get a glance at Florian using his body to protect his wife and unborn child, dean smiles at me. "Were hitting another club now, then the second so they don't go up the chain to inform the higher ups what we're doing" dean instructs, and I get the nod from Juda and summer, technically there not allowed to interfere, but me? Fuck it. Looking down the line were waiting in, makes me smile a little, I look over dean who's smoothed his hair down, wearing a navy blue shirt and black trousers, smart shiny black shoes to match, and I know he's lied to his wife were he is, pulling a double shift lie only works every so often, but its Kieman, with his messy short styled mohawk, because he's dressed in a fucking bow tie tuxedo, and when he wipes off the invisible dust for the second time it makes me smile again. It makes me wants to ask the question if he's ever been outside other then missions, Matthias, whips open his black trench coat, pocketing his hands in his dark brown trousers, I like the fact his surveyed the area once or twice, it's the laughter of the girls behind us that grabs my attention, a small petite blonde whose got her hand on Roman, the minotaur has kept quiet, and from what I've gathered he's not a talker at all, but his hair is in a messy bun, a pale blue shirt, with a fucking knitted grey jumper and dark cream slacks, I shake my head as we move up the line. "Tell me again why we're waiting in line?" dean asks the question I've been asking since we didn't go straight to the door. "Surveying the outside is still more important than when we get inside" Matthias retorts under his breath "don't want to grab attention walking into a club, we know nothing about" Kieman adds in, standing straight with his hands clasps in front of him roman grunts behind us all, and I narrow my eyes knowing they probably read about my fuck up. "where's Brann?" I whisper standing between Kieman and Matthias so I look between them hoping one of them will answer. "On the back exit" Roman grunts and I pout my bottom lip out and nod once, not bad I think when we get to the door the doorman obviously looks us up at down, we couldn't stand out more if we tried but before his hands move to his radio. "Is Malcom in tonight?" Kieman asks, and the doorman's hand stops dead, his eyes are wide like he's witnessing a horrific accident in front of him, but he can't look away. "I-I'm n-not sure" he stutters out and I raise an eyebrow the same time as dean. "Old friends, he invited us here tonight for my bachelor party, so no Malcom?" Kieman continues but this guard just shakes his head. "Nigel?" Kieman asks still as upbeat as ever and that's when the guard nods and Kieman pats him hard on the arm and starts to walk in when the other doorman lifts the rope. "The fuck was that?" dean mumbles to me and I shrug, Matthias is next to us taking off his coat. "Just don't look Kieman in the eyes, he's got this thing, he's does, when he wants information, demons can drag it out of you" he confides in us in a hushed tone, while we go through this candy cane tunnel, the red and white lights hum with the bass of the music we can hear, the bubble-gum pink curtain lifts and glitter rains down from the ceiling while the girl on the stage has finished her routine. "Would explain why demons run the federal government" dean mouths to me so only I can hear, my eyes widen a bit and I give a slight nod while looking around, this bouncy little brunette comes over, she has a cherry red lollipop in her mouth but the skintight leather dress with her tits spilling out is what were all really looking at. "Booth for five?" she asks over the music quietening down, her hair is fried and I see her makeup has been reapplied more than twice, were showed over to the booth and as roman has to squeeze into the small wooden booth, I notice I'm going to have the same problem, so I stand and look around the club, Kieman has asked where the bar is already and after her small point and smile he's makes his way over, Mattias has then asked where the toilets are and with another nod he's gone, this place is bright, aside from the square stage, and at each point there's a half-naked girl twirling on a pole, most of the girls are serving tables, being grabbed at by everyone as well, the walls are rainbow, wallpaper peeling and with paintings of girls doing things and inserting things into themselves they shouldn't, everything candy based. I guess now I get the clubs name, that brings me down to the bright blue table we've got and the small dishes of candy, four bowls cornered together, one holding lolly's, small marble like candy, red and white swirled candy and then small pieces of cut up chocolate, looking away I sniff, but that smell, that burning chemical smell I've always smelt, so I follow my nose back to the petite dishes of candy, deans hand is already holding a piece of chocolate, but I grip his wrist before it touches his lips "whoa, what the fuck man?" he tries to talk over the music, I move closer to talk while are drinks are set before us on the table, with two bottles of whisky. "The candy is fucking drugged" I respond, looking over at every waitress that has a lollipop in her mouth, a clever way to control the girls, there all hooked on a drug they get for free to work in this awful place before I blink back to the table Kieman is being helped over to our booth by a bodyguard, he's laughing, with his arm over the guy like their friends "T-there my friends!" Kiemon hiccups and the guard smiles at us, while roman stands, holding out his hands like you would hand over an infant, Kieman stands straight and swipes at his suit holding his composer and that confuses the guard, even I don't see it coming when Roman takes the guard in a sleeper hold and holds him down in the booth like he's sat next to us, part of our group, I look around the club because right on cue another girl takes the stage and glitter enters the air around us, soon the guard stops tapping romans arm and loses consciousness. "Fuck Ro, 4 minutes, you're getting sloppy man" Kieman scoffs looking at his watch, and I don't catch romans quip back because I think it was in Latin, dean holds his hand up to the guards head and his hand shines lightly as well does his eyes, but he closes them and looks down "there's 6 more guys down here, on floor level, whoa shit, there's rooms upstairs about ten altogether, two guys in rotation up there then straight up the stairs to the office, were both Malcom and Nigel are, but shit they have a security room" Dean lists off raiding through this guy's head "Ro and me got down here, find the door to upstairs" Kieman adds looking around, he straightens his bow tie while he does it. "Oh, and Cole" Kieman continues while were walking way and I turn to catch what he says, the thump of the base of this song vibrating in my ears. "We don't take prisoners" was the last thing I heard before dean pushed me forward and a crease formed in my brows, while were walking pass the bar dean looks back at me "he doesn't mean that right?" dean asks with a little worry in his tone "did they stop and think to let us go? With Scott in hospital right now–" I start but dean holds his hands up and shakes his head in a your right, I won't argue type of way once we go through the next candy cane tunnel towards the toilets and see the door were not supposed to go through, standing in front of it before we look at each other to think what the fuck are we going to do about the numbered padlock on the handle, it opens and were staring at Matthias smirking at us, he opens the door wide and we go through to ascend the stairs, until he stops just before a bend in the wall and all our backs are facing it, I look up to the destroyed security camera above us, a sharp small wooden spike straight through the small machinery before any plan has even left our lips, We follow Matthias down the main hallway, hearing all the noises you don't want to hear from each room, until a scream grabs our ears and we look back, a second passes before Matthias moves us to go back down the hall and open the second door, and like lost boys we follow peering into this room the girl is still screaming in, because standing there in the doorway Matthias arm has become a thick long spike running through the guy that was just on top of this scared girl, she rolls off the bed, as blood drips everywhere, dean scampers into the room and holds onto her face, the glow of his hands instantly calms her as she nods with each of his whispers, I hear the door open behind us, as a guy shoving his dick back in in boxers looks at us, then grabs for his gun, on a hook near the door, how convenient I think, when I see the barrel pointed at myself, I push the gun up and shots are fired, I punch his wide open throat, and he lets go of the gun to hold his neck, splattering swears every now and again, I empty the gun and let the bullets fall to the floor, sure I own a gun, came with the uniform but I hated using it, same with the gun handing down to me by my dad holding silver bullets, when he wipes the spit from his mouth gasping another breath, I lean down and gut punch him, that's when the sick comes up, and mid-way through a heave, I kick his jaw straight up that I think killed him, his body hit the floor hard like a corpse but I was too focused on the girl who hadn't said a fucking thing the whole time, she just sat there on the middle of the bed holding up the thin dirty sheet to hide her naked body, when we rejoined as a trio we walked maybe 4 steps before a door opens behind us and shots fired above our heads, I looked back quick enough to see dean disappear through the bullets and then hearing a struggle, one more shot popped off for a naked guy to slump into the hallway, the blood flowing out his neck where dean had transported behind him, manoeuvring the gun in the guys own hands to point upwards entering through his neck, exiting out the top of his head, one of his many moves, dean just steps out the room and steps over the guy. "This is taking too long, the guys in here are fighting a battle they don't know, me and dean will hold them just get to the office" Matthias points to the end of the hallway before pulling dean into an open room as the bullets start to rain down, I duck and weave as much as I can but it's the open door to my left that stops me because the guy football tackles me into the right side door, shattering it under the force of his tackle and the side of my body he uses to break it with, thankfully we land on an empty bed but he's on top of me already pulling back a punch, I whip my arms up to protect my head, when he pulls back another punch I grab his wrists and lean my whole body into a headbutt, he staggers back letting me get up, my eyes tear up from the hit but clenching my fists while bringing them up, I try and shake it off, he comes at me with a sloppy right swing, I lean back quickly and jab with my right, his chin snaps upwards as blood leaks out his lips, I throw caution to the wind because I'm wasting time by fighting, so I duck his next hit and tackle his midline, only to grab it smiling to myself because I German suplex him harder then I should of into the bed behind us, breaking it with his body in two, only when I hear deans laughter from the doorway I look over with the smile still on my lips at the childish wrestling move I just used. "I can't believe-" dean starts but I shake my head with the smirk still plastered on, we stop by the door and dean holds me back while a bullet lodges in the doorframe, tiny bits of wood I shield myself from as they shatter like tiny pellets in our faces, we link eyes like old times and I watch dean mumble a three, two, one count on one dean brings up a protective ward stopping the bullets, while I walk up to the office door and kick it open, it buckles under my kick and I push the rest of the door inward to walk in, its empty go figure with the remaining cameras capturing Roman and Keiman piling up the bodies, I hear a scuffle to the side of me and stride towards an emergency exit door, opening it to reveal the two guys running down an escape route, I chase after them before they open the back door and receive the biggest arm bar, that shit whips them both to the ground, I hear their spines smack against the stone walk way and then Brann's laugh as he looks down at them groaning on the floor, writhing in pain as they coil their bodies from the sudden hit. "Now ye both get one chance, who do you's report too?" Brann ask his accent thick "F-fuck-" the guy with the cheap suit and fake watch whimpers out before Brann cackles "Wrong!" Brann shouts before he pulls out a two handed, finely crafted axe, he brings it up without any hesitation and chops it down in a quick action, executioner style, the guy doesn't even get to make another sound with how fast Brann did that, but the guy next to him starts screaming, he backs away from his partners body that is still twitching, and I crouch down to make eye contact. "Who the fuck are you guys?-what the fuck do you want"? he cries out in a fast pace way, Brann tuts and begins to step over the first guy, holding his axe. "Wait ... WAIT!" the guys screams, and I cough to get his attention "where do you get your girls? And who do you report too?" I ask gently, slowly realising my shirt is covered in blood splatter, dean walks up to the scene and rubs the back of his neck looking over the severed head. "Look man, we got our girls all new last week, the old girls got too hooked on dust, we had to update our product because the dust was harder to get, and the old girls needed more then what we could get our hands on" the guy pleads to anyone who listens, and I look up at dean. "Seems about right since tommy started pulling back who he trades with and shortened the supply" I admit the information Genevieve got from Wyatt, when we found out the clubs and houses where supplied by Uncle Marcus, tommy ordered the product to be tracked and traced to each club and house and warehouse, a lot of grapevines a lot of patience, a lot of fucking waiting and seeing, I sigh. "Gunna need a list of where you dumped your girls, and how you got your new ones" I watch this guy nod, as he inched away from his business partners ever growing puddle of blood. "The hidden box clubs, since they shut, and the honey pot clubs, all the left-over girls came to us and the 'Duchess' clubs" the guy starts spilling everything and before I cock an eyebrow, I see Keiman step forward, his eyes are glowing a deep purple and he's looking right at the guy without breaking eye contact. "there's numbers and warehouses, a list on my desk where we take the girls, but most end up on the streets begging for the hard stuff–" while this guy is pouring his heart out with the secrets we need, dean is on the radio to start the search for these girls, my eyes dart back to the guy still sat on the floor. "We run with the Angel Curb bar, and the red Holster club, there above us, one led by gremlins and one by vampires" this guy looks between us all hoping whatever he tells us, earns him his life, Keiman wipes off dust from this guy's shoulders and helps him up, lining him up on the wall next to the door, Kieman smiles and licks his canine teeth. "Thank you for your cooperation" I watch this guy breath out finally and relax, I then see the swing of the axe, and watch his pupils dilate, as his head rolls forward onto the ground and his body falls in a way which looks like his ankles gave up first and his body just folded like a chair. "Ah hah!" Brann laughs, letting the axe hold his full weight when he leans onto it to admire his swing. "like fucking butter" When me and dean have finished escorting the girls which needed medical assistance, or rehab into categories, we search through his office like thieves in the night, open every draw, even check behind pictures for a vault, these girls deserve the money they made, so it goes into a big fund for each girl we save, but we find nothing new except what the guy told us, I swipe my hands into my hair, I feel out of place and really I haven't accepted what just happened, I haven't processed what the actual plan is, but it seems this team knows, while I look up from the desk the now dead twat used to sit at, looking over the funds this club brought in, including the price they paid for the new pussy they acquired, and I see the expenses on dust and who supply's this club for tommy to deal with. "I mean it's not like its rude–" I hear Brann saying while entering the office, Kieman eyes the property details standing next to me, while dean is on the phone back at the station referring everything to gen hopefully. "We have a job to do" Mattias retorts, one deadlock coming lose as he strides in. "But in celebration" Brann replies with a miserable look on his face perks my interest and I turn my head towards their conversation. "Brann you know the rules, last time we couldn't stop the elves from nearly throwing you in jail" Kieman mentions over his shoulder, flipping the pages of what he's reading. "Thous fucking fairy's don't know how to drink, I just showed them" Brann retorts with the added sound of roman laughing, his stature seems to relax for only a second before his arms are crossed over his chest again because Brann has backhanded his chest in a friendly manner. "when's the last time you had a proper drink Ro?" Brann says looking up at him, roman cocks his eyebrows up like he's actually thinking while Kieman tuts. "One drink, but only at the barrel house" I see the smiles on each of their faces. Dean transports all of the paperwork back to our station, but when we're walking down the street, Kieman lighting up a cigarette in front of me, dean and Matthias walking behind with roman always at the rear with Brann "which one guys?" Kieman adds into the light conversation. "What were the choices?" Mattias asks looking around the street we stood still on. "The angel curb, or the red holster "I add into the conversation thinking I'm the only one who actually listened to the guys blabbering until his head came away from his body violently. "The angle curb seems south side, while the red holster is east side" I also add, but then I look over our clothes, I'm splattered in blood, but I'm not drenched, like Kieman's shirt is, or Matthias trousers, and all of our hands could be evidence in themselves with what were up too but the smirk on our faces tells me where about to hit another club.