The Ruby Dagger

No-one would ever see Harrison Cuthbert as Harrison Cuthbert again. He had abandoned that name, he had always hated it. Now he was known only as Nighthawk, the leader of a small, carefully selected group of thugs, killers, dealers and thieves.1

Nighthawk stared out of the third storey window at the abandoned warehouse he was now using as base. Tonight was the night. The big one. They were going to take down the largest gang in town, making Nighthawk's gang the biggest, richest and strongest.2

He checked his watch, one of many items bought with stolen money, and noticed that there were two minutes until the time his group had arranged to meet him. They all had to arrive right on time, if they were early, they could be seen as suspicious and caught, if they were late...well, then there were other consequences from Nighthawk.3

Nighthawk turned to see a shadowy figure leaning in the doorway, and summoned the figure over to him.4

"Are they here yet, Lupus?"Nighthawk asked, playing with the numerous rings on his fingers.5

"All but one, boss."6

"Who?"7

"The new kid, the young one..."8

Nighthawk laughed to himself.9

"How naive some people are, I bet he thought it was going to be easy, just show up whenever, shoot some people, go home.Oh how wrong he was." Nighthawk checked his watch again. "Well, send them in, Lupus. If the kid's still not here then I'm going to be very up angry, Lupus." Nighthawk looked up as Lupus walked back towards the door, and as the moonlight filtered in through the window, a hungry look passed through Nighthawk's eyes.10

Nighthawk looked at the line of criminals before him. He knew that the child would not show. Sixteen was much too young to join a gang like Nighthawk's, you needed strength, and the will to kill people. Lupus was the first in the line, as second in command he had control over the group when Nighthawk was away, whether he was taking care of a deal or relaxing at a strip club. 11

"As I'm sure all of you have noticed, the new kid is still not here..."Nighthawk started, the line of men all looked up, frightened and curious. "Oh well...I guess I'll just have to kill one of you instead." The criminal's backs all straightened in fear and surprise. It was not a new concept for Nighthawk to kill his own, weed out the weak, but it still shocked them when it came.12

He turned with his back to the line-up, and pulled a ruby encrusted dagger from his coat pocket. Nighthawk smiled, this dagger was a souvenir, a trophey...he had taken it from the leader of another gang, what gang, he couldn't rememeber. There were too many. He turned slowly to face the line-up.13

No-one even saw the dagger hit Lupus' throat. He was dead in an instant. The group looked at Lupus' body lying on the ground, spilling crimson blood on to the cold, grey, concrete floor.14

"Let's go. Fatty, you're in Lupus' place now. Congrats on your promotion." Nighthawk lit a cigarette and left the room, the others quietly following him soon after.15

They arrived at the Validus gang's usual hotspot, a small bar in a back alley of the city. The bouncer didn't have time to react, the same dagger that had shed Lupus' blood had now taken his life too. Nighthawk pushed into the room, and his whole gang didn't even stop to think about their actions, they never did, they just shot whatever was moving. The whores screamed as their customers were shot right in front of their eyes. Nighthawk caught one as she tried to fight her way past him, he pulled her in close and ran his tongue down her cheek. She was crying, and he could taste her tears.16

"Please...please....don't hurt me...please..."The young girl cried quietly, choking back her tears.17

"I won't hurt you..."Nighthawk started menacingly. "But this will.."He pulled her half-naked body in close, impaling her on his dagger. She coughed up blood, Nighthawk looked at her, disgusted, and pulled the dagger out, leaving her body to slide to the ground.18

When no-one in the room was left alive apart from his men, Nighthawk took a seat at the back of the room, waiting for the Validus' leader to arrive. He planned the whole scenario in his mind. Laurent would enter the room, and upon seeing his gang slain on the floor, he would give in...surrender to Nighthawk, and then Nighthawk would kill him. Right there and then, with the same dagger he had used so many times that night.19

Nighthawk's gang didn't waste time raiding the bar. They all had a bottle to themselves, celebrating the fall of the Validus', they knew they had won.20

The bar fell silent when Laurent finally entered the room. With just two other men beside him, he was heavily outnumbered. One of Nighthawk's men wasted no time shooting the two extras.21

"Hello brother.I see you've made yourself at home..."Laurent gestured around the room, the tension between the two brothers was impassable, like a wall between them and the rest of the group.22

"You're not my brother. You lost that privilage a long time ago Laurent. Right now you're about to lose another privilage." Nighthawk's drawling voice was like ice, cold and hard. He stood up and walked towards Laurent. He was annoyed that he had not yet surrendered formally.23

"I'm sorry you had to leave my gang...you could've been so successful."24

"Harry, I'm proud of you, you know...Who'd of thought my baby brother could ever be so strong..."Laurent's voice matched Nighthawk's, and the closer to each other that they got, the easier to see that they were brothers.25

"Ha!Proud, you liar. You always were the over-acheiver, but not now. Oh no, I'm afraid this is one trophey that won't be on your wall."Nighthawk played with his dagger, watching the reflection of the lights dance on the surface.26

Nighthawk smirked as he sliced the throat of his own flesh and blood, he was now the strongest gangster in the area. Who would dare to challenge him, he had killed his own brother to win the crown. When Laurent's body had fallen to the floor in defeat, Nighthawk lifted his foot and brought it down again on Laurent's cheek, twisting his neck. Nighthawk laughed at the sound of it breaking, and walked on to stand in the doorway. He watched as his gang members poured petrol over the cold, lifeless bodies, still smirking at his clever defeat of his brother. 27

When the last drop of petrol had been spilt, the gang left the room. Nighthawk wanted the pleasure of lighting the match himself to burn the place down, so he took out his matches and lit a cigarette. After taking one large breath of the dancing smoke, Nighthawk tossed the cigarette into the room. The flames shot up like ribbons, cracking like whips, writhing like snakes, engulfing the building within seconds. He would go down a legend, Nighthawk, the fearless gang leader that had stopped at nothing to reach his goal. He laughed as he watched the flames go higher, his unsettling voice echoing through the cold dark night.