Glory

one. alleyways

'We could just get rid of them,'  whispered Nox, her voice provocative as ever.

It was a low drawl, remnants of a long ago accent clinging to her, as her thoughts beckoned me to a cliff of vice and disobedience.She was unusually talkative today,prompting me to do things that could land me in a maximum security prison-or worse, the death sentence.I glanced back at the two men who tailed me, eyeing the knives they were carrying with unsteady hands. I clenched my fists, grinding my teeth at the incredulity of the situation. I took a sharp turn left, exiting the alleyway when they spoke.

"Pretty lady" one shouted, slurring his words as the disgusting scent of dirty vodka wafted towards my nose,"we haven't seen you before" He lunged drunkenly, tripping over his feet.

I paused, turning around as I cursed whatever deity had screwed me over yet once again. "Fuck off" I muttered.I was going to kill Tony if I ever saw him again,damn him for forcing me to fight this late.

'Smash their temples,' muttered Nox conspiratorially, hushed as if someone could hear us, athough she was just a figment of my mind, an imaginary friend that never really went away as a child. 'No blood, Kyra, none at all. You wouldn't even ruin your new jeans'

I glanced at said jeans, noticing the dark unidentified stains that had come with it.A throaty laugh rumbled in the corners of my head as Nox watched my ongoing dilemma. My hands tightened to white fists, as I struggled with the intense need to dive towards the men coming my way and bash their heads against the wall until their brains splattered everywhere.

Shut up.

"Who the eff you talkin to eh?" Said the other, a dirty blond with thankfully a better set of teeth. They laughed together, knocking over the stray trash cans, giggling at the clangs it made. Clenching my teeth, I tried to curb my ever growing anger. I imagined the packet of pringles waiting for me at home, and the ginger ale that usually accompanied it. I held my torn bag closer to me counting to ten.

"We can show you a good time baby!"

"All ya needa do is bend ya cute little ass-" the red head burped, giggling once again,"over"

"We ain't talkin to no other whore in 'ere, how much ya chargin?" The red head with the crooked teeth grinned, throwing a nickel at me. It spun once or twice, and then settled at my feet.

I bent over the dirty ground, nails scraping against the rusty metal of the nickel as I picked it up. My hand slipped into the pockets of my jacket, to the safety of the gun I usually carried. My hand clasped the familiar handle, unlocking the safety against the forehead of the redhead whose hands were outstretched as if to grab me. I sent him a smile, chuckling softly as a dark wet patch began to form in his crotch area.

Blondie began to inch backwards slowly, and then suddenly ran at a sprint, ducking behind a corner too fast for me to catch.

~

I sank into the warm tub with all the finesse of a tired and aching woman, moaning at the pain that radiated from my bruised ribs.

I tripped, splashing water everywhere.

My entire body was littered with bruises and scratches, courtesy of my hazardous hobbies. I really didn't know how I ended up fighting in an underground ring full of perverted masochists. It definitely didn't pay well, and I certainly didn't enjoy getting the living hell punched out of me.Ever since I had come to Haven, around two months ago, I wondered why I stayed here. Looking around the dingy bathroom, all I could think of was what was waiting for me tomorrow.

Tony's fighting ring was a free for all, letting its participants fight against whomever the crowd wanted them to fight. It seemed I pulled the short straw I thought, dreading the 7foot monster called 'Red Dragon' awaiting to pulverize me into pieces tomorrow.

The muffled ringing of a phone shook me out of my self loathing and I snapped it open, wincing at the flip phone.

"Making funeral plans for me yet?" I asked Tony.

"There's a request for you," his voice was a murmur of barely held excitement,"fifty fucking grand"

"What?"

I couldn't contain my disbelief, "stop fuckin around with me Ton-"

"I don't know who's been watchin you Kyra, but your suga' daddy can come by anytime he wants" Tony's accent began to leak as he spoke in a hurry. Born and raised in Lagos, Tony had been a part of an international drug cartel who he sold out on the assurance of immunity.

"-course I gotta take some of' dat-" chuckling low,"it's in city." The way he said city had me pulling up short.

"I don't do business there. You know that" I hated Akkhad, hated it with a burning passion. I'd only been to the underworld once, but it wasn't something I wanted to experience again.

Tony stopped laughing. With his fierce eye for making money, and a greed that had nicknamed 'Midas', Tony would sell everyone he had for diamonds if he could.

"Fifty grand. Let that sink in. I ain't gon lose that shitload of money for some stupid bitch" Ice frosting his tone, all remnants of  his accents slipped away as the severity of the situation sank in. Stupid bitch.A name coined to his ex-wife as well as his own sister and they were dealt with brutal efficiency. Tony still had connections that reigned him Haven's King, a new world mobster. And he played the part incredibly well.

I clenched my fists, biting my tongue. If I didn't do what Tony asked, he'd call his boys, and I wouldn't be found like all the others. I could leave, but I had the feeling he'd find me.

"Get there by Wednesday"

Tony's unspoken threat lingered in the air long after he hung up, and I tried to brainstorm ways to escape the clusterfuck I'd gotten myself into.I hastily got out of the bathtub, shrugging on a dark bathrobe.

I felt Nox begin to stir in my mind again, swirling as she sensed my agitation.

'Why you allow yourself to be degraded into a mere human is beyond me Kyra' Her voice echoed in every crevice of my mind, drowning out every other thought until I could only hear her.

I scoffed in return, "If I'm not human, then what am I?". I didn't understand why I humored her-myself. Nox wasn't even real, yet I conversed with her as if she was an actual person with actual feelings. I really needed to stop talking to myself I thought, it wasn't healthy.

'What you should be concerning yourself with is the Devil's Citadel, not whether you have your mother's illness'

I bristled at Nox's tone and the reminder of my mother, knowing that she hated to be dismissed as an imaginary figure in my head

Fifty grand was no small sum, especially for a mere fighting gig I thought, and my stomach turned. Female fighters were definitely a rare commodity, but nothing worthy to offer fifty thousand dollars for. Everyone knew Tony would never turn down money, and would ensure my arrival to the proclaimed underworld. Someone really wanted me to go to Akkhad, I thought.

'Be careful,' Nox's voice was tinged with something I couldn't identify.

Running away to Akkhad had been an option to me once.The Devil's Citadel was a place with a murder rate too high to even fathom, and I had thought about going there and hopefully blending in. But it seemed like the choice had been taken away from me.I let out a deep sigh, hoping whatever that I was getting into wouldn't kill me.

A girl could hope.