The Crow Club

Part 1 - Kaz

The sharp tapping of his infamous crow's head cane echoed off the alley walls. It was around midnight in Ketterdam and the clouds were drizzling the streets hesitantly. There would be a storm later, Kaz knew. He would have to ask Specht to repair the leaking ceilings of the rickety Slat again.

Thats's just where he was heading, of course. He had previously visited the Van Eck residence, as much as its owner Wylan dispised the name. Tucked under Kaz's arm was a stack of papers which primarily consisted of Jan Van Eck's failed investments and budgets. While the old bastard was long in Hellgate by now, Kaz had received a tip from Roeden that Van Eck had hired a man as his associate while he was out on bail. As always, there was the potential that the unknown investor would prove difficult.

Wylan, with his dyslexia, had proved useless in his father's trade. As a result, he allowed Kaz to handle the majority of Van Eck's funds. While Kaz wouldn't complain, he and Wylan both knew that a greedy crow such as himself was a far better suitor to handle his funds than Jesper Fahey. Jesper, as much as he was improving, still had a severe gambling addiction.

The couple had been rather quiet, signifying that they had recently stumbled into an argument. Kaz guessed it was over the state of their future due to the way Wylan's belongings had been strewn about the house, as though he were readying to take quarters up elsewhere. Knowing the two of them, Jesper would want to remain in the city with his cards and dice while Wylan would insist to finally leave behind his Van Eck heritage.

As he approached the Slat, Kaz took in the view. There was his best bruiser, Rotty, guarding just outside the premises. A ruckus could be heard from inside, signifying that Anika had probably started another bar fight. Kaz entered the building, slowly walking along on his crippled leg. While the pain was mild, it was always nagging at him.

The tapping of his footsteps echoed on the warped wooden floor, unmistakable to the rest of the Dregs. Everyone in the room froze at Kaz's sharp gaze. Sure enough, Anika and Red were at each other's throats. Red seemed to have taken the worst of the damage with a split lip and a black eye.

Kaz fixed his attention on Anika. "If you kill one more of my men, you can well guarantee a knide in your own back, Anika."

The blonde girl smiled, or rather in her case, bared her teeth as she pushed away from Red.

"Oh, please, boss. You wouldn't lay a finger on me. I'm your best bruiser! Second best to dear old Rotty, of course."

Kaz's eyes scanned the rest of the Slat. "New bruisers aren't difficult to come by. Don't any of you forget that you are expendable."

Anika chuckled darkly. "Yeah, thanks. We love you too Kaz."

Kaz reached his rooms, his knee aching from his ascent up the uneven stairs. He tossed the stack of paperwork on his desk, removed his hat and jacket, and slumped in his leather office chair with a sigh.

Silence lay over the room as he leafed through Van Eck's precious documents, scanning and assessing his findings. Most of the jailed mercher's documents were either seized by the stadwatch for examination or stashed away for his protegé. Luckily, Wylan knew almost every nook and cranny of the mansion from his days of living under his father's abuse. When prompted for any stowed documents, the young boy immediately knew that they could be found underneath one of the glossy tiles in the sitting room. Exactly where Kaz himself would have hidden such invaluable material.

While the mercher was recognizably smart, Kaz hadn't ever let himself admire the man for the empire he had built from his family name. Admirable men didn't torture their sons and send their wives to asylums to be treated as creatures lower than dogs. Admirable men also didn't cross Dirtyhands or his woman.