A/N: Going to warn you, I tried to tone it down but the ending is still a bit dark even if it does fade to black. (Remember Booker is the Horror Movie Monster.)

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Gula Invidia-Black Market (IV): Sending A Message

--- Booker H. Freeman ---

Exiting the train cart, and now free of the various gyrating bodies within, he straightened out his clothing and took a look around the area.

Beez’el’s associate V had warned him that while she couldn’t give him many specifics herself, the various ‘working girls’ could provide him with more information if he dropped her name.

Finding the ‘girls’ was relatively easy, a mix of animalistic humans and Inferni both like Beez’el and V gathered in small clusters around burn barrels, each wearing far too little clothing.

(Sloth: There’s safety in numbers.)

(Greed: But too many too close hurts their profit lines.)

His eyes drifted to a number of bruises across the girl’s flesh, wounds half hidden by make-up and unrecognizable if not for an almost instinctive familiarity with damaged flesh.

“Like what you see Smiles?” One of the girls -a human with almost feline features- asked, upon noticing his gaze before striking what he assumed was meant to be an attractive pose for most.

His eyes didn’t stray from the fake smile masking so much pain.

(Lust: Poor girls… Beauty marred by villains who can’t truly appreciate it.)

(Pride: Their potential crippled by those who deny their humanity.)

(Gluttony: Themselves ittle more than beasts fat from their feast.)

(Wrath: Someone needs do something…)

(Envy: That’s why we’re here.)

(Quite right.) He inhaled before nodding with a grin filled with so many sinful thoughts.

The woman in front of him shifted, a faint caution in her eyes as she realized there was something different between him and her usual clientele. Something dangerous.

(Gluttony: Her instincts are good~)

(Sloth: Likely the only thing keeping her alive on the streets.)

“Apologies my dear, but I am not here for your… services this evening.” He assured the woman, leaving the ‘or any other’ unspoken for edict’s sake.

“Then you mind leaving? You’re scaring off our actual customers.” The woman (grotesquely) frowned.

“Why I believe that’s exactly what I’ve been hired to do.” He confessed with a chuckle, his eyes drifting towards the woman’s bruises. “A mutual associate of ours has asked me to handle a problem with certain men becoming too aggressive during your… business exchanges.”

“People pay extra if they get to be rougher than their wives let them.” The woman shrugged, seemingly uncaring as she pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her purse.

(Sloth: Clients want privacy. Snitching is a quick way to end up in a ditch.)

(Greed: Then all you need to do is point out how these people aren’t ‘clients’.)

“I see…” He nodded, before examining his nails. “So if the ‘people’ refuse to pay, then I assume that’s not an issue either?”

The woman narrowed her eyes at him, his question frustrating her almost as much as the lighter she was struggling with.

(Lust: I do believe the lady needs help.)

“Allow me.” He offered, putting his thumb and middle to the end of the cigarette before snapping and lighting it. Something that was far easier than conjuring a proper flame.

Having done its job, the parlour trick had the woman giving him another look. This one far more considering than the first, which is why she eventually asked him, “Who did you say this ‘mutual associate’ of ours was?”

“A miss ‘V’ from the club just around the corner.” He answered, given how he’d specifically been told to mention her.

“Right, her…” The woman sighed before taking a long drag on her cigarette, seemingly thinking things over. “What exactly did she ask you to help with?”

“She wanted me to… deal with those responsible. Make sure that they won’t be a problem going forward.” He vaguely explained, since he was still figuring out how best to handle the matter himself.

(Sloth: We need to send a message.)

(Gluttony: Let’s eat them.)

(Lust: Eh, let’s just have fun with it and see where we end up?)

(Envy: So long as we make them pay…)

(Oh, we will~ We can’t keep Lydia waiting after all!) He smiled as the woman he was speaking to waved a few other girls over, each with their own bruises covered up by makeup.

(Wrath: Then again, I’m sure our new friends can keep her entertained…)

--- Lydia ‘Smith’ ---

The bartender ‘V’ pushed a drink in front of her, filled with she didn’t know what. “So what’s the deal with tall, dark, and creepy?”

Beez’el puffed up as Lydia pushed the drink to the side. “Well, like I said he’s a VIP Contract-”

“I wasn’t asking you.” The pink Inferni interrupted with a glare, before turning a softer look Lydia’s way. “I was asking her.”

“Um… what do you mean?” She frowned, starting to wonder if she’d made the right call staying behind while Booker went ahead. (No, if you can handle the streets of Ira Invidia you can handle a single bartender…)

“What I mean is do you need an out?” V explained, leaning on the counter. “That guy is clearly ten different kinds of bad news with the sheer Malice rolling off of him. And with the way he was pushing you around…”

“Oh! Oh…” She couldn’t help but grimace as she realized what the older woman(?) was getting at. “I’m not… This place has a lot of light and noise.” It wasn’t as bad around the bar, but the rest of the train was just (it’s just too much…) “Booker was making sure no one would bump into me.”

“And you’re sure about that? There’s a lot of creeps in Infernus.” V warned her. “Creeps that would see someone like you and… do a lot of fucked up shit.”

She… didn’t need to be told that, having seen plenty of bad things while stuck on the streets. Things that had scared her a lot worse than the ‘Death Street’ they’d found.

“I’m not worried about that… from him at least…” She admitted, her mind drifting back to the hotel. “I don’t think that sort of thing has even crossed his mind… He’s helping me with… everything.” She tried to explain.

“Right, she’s pretty fresh as far as Sinners go.” Beez’el added as he sipped at the drink V had given her, unconcerned for whatever was inside it. “Didn’t even know what an Inferni was until I explained it.”

“That’s just more worrying…” V sighed, looking around the bar with an odd look. Especially when her eyes fell on a couple of girls sitting next to or in the laps of the male club goers. “There’s a lot of people who’d take advantage of a newbie without them even realizing it.”

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She… didn’t need to be told that either, her mind drifting to the things she’d been dragged into, the things she’d done even before ending up in this hellhole. “Those kinds of people aren’t just down here…”

Both Inferni grimaced, making her realize what she’d just said.

Speaking quickly she elaborated that, “Booker… Booker got me out of a bad place, fed me, got me these fancy clothes, and has been teaching me about stuff down here. I’m not stupid enough to think that he’s a good person but he’s a hell of lot better than some of the other people I’ve met. I mean, hell he saw my rusted knife and got me a new one!” When she reached to pull that knife out, still unused to the pockets on her suit jacket, she also knocked out the rabbit mask Leslie had given her onto the bar.

As she reached to pick the mask back up she noticed the way V was staring at it, before realizing the Inferni was mumbling. “Oh, shit… Oh shit. Oh shit!”

“W-what’s wrong?” She frowned, hesitantly picking the mask up.

Rather than answering her the Inferni turned on Beez’el with a look halfway between panic and rage. “You brought a fucking Red-Eyed Rabbit here?!”

“W-what? No!” Beez’el stuttered out, looking between V and the mask with a growing look of horror. “Oh, fuck…”

“W-what’s wrong?” She repeated with an ominous feeling. “What’s a Red-Eyed Rabbit?”

The pair of Inferni looked between each other as if they weren’t sure how to answer, before explaining exactly who the Rabid Red-Eyed Rabbits were. And more importantly what they were capable of…

--- Booker H. Freeman ---

He wandered through the trainyard with a smile and a faint skip in his step.

After following the instructions the working girls had given him, he found his way to a nearby passenger train. One that had had its various cabins repurposed into a hotel of sorts, and was in turn frequently used by the workers of the oldest profession to host their clients.

Unfortunately, his prey wasn’t there upon his arrival, meaning he had to spend a fair while removing spikes from the railroad, while wondering how many it would take to topple a train.

(Pride: A few more than we managed to remove.)

Eventually however his prey did eventually arrive as he spotted a man fitting the description he’d been given of one of his targets. Namely the ‘handsome face’ that got the girls to let their guards down as he brought them to a cart where his friends were lying in wait.

Which is why he was swift to follow the pair onto the train before this vile trap could be sprung. His long stalking gait allowed him to easily keep pace with the pair and then reach them before his prey could lead the poor girl to a bad ending for this night.

“Apologies but I do believe I must interrupt this little rendezvous.” He smiled as he walked up to the pair.

The man who didn’t appear to have any animalistic traits glared at him, while the girl -a young thing with feathers in her hair- gave Booker a (hideous) frown. (And that just won’t do~)

“Look buddy-” Whatever the reprobate was going to say was cut off by Booker grabbing him by the throat.

“You see my dear, this man here is a rather fiendish individual that I’ve been asked to… deal with by several ladies of the night as it were.” He explained to the frightened girl as the man struggled against his grip while banging a fist against the door. “In this room here are three more of his friends looking to corner a sweetling such as yourself and-”

With fortunate timing the door opened and another man -this one with tusks- stuck their head out before widening his eyes upon seeing Booker holding the man up.

“I do believe it is in your best interest to flee miss.” He finished with a feral grin as the tusked man ducked inside to alert the rest of Booker’s prey.

(Gluttony: Their fear makes the meat so much sweeter~)

The woman slowly backed away with wide eyes, quickly seeing the reason in his advice when the reprobate he was strangling opened his mouth as wide as a snake before spitting out something that burned.

“Now, now, that’s just rude!” He growled, letting the man go just long enough to reach inside the snake’s mouth and rip out his tongue.

The viper screamed just as his compatriots rushed out of the room and into the small space of the train’s hall.

(Wrath: Not much space. It means they’ll have to come one at a time rather than all at once.)

(Sloth: Don’t forget to double tap. Don’t need a knife in our back.)

He raised his foot and brought it down on the back of the viper’s neck, which while perhaps not enough force to kill the man was enough to knock the snake unconscious as his face hit the ground.

Spinning on his heels, he turned towards the newcomers, he gave his prey a smile as he spread his arms wide. “Shall we boys?”

The tusked man was the first to rush him, throwing out straight back by a muscular and meaty arm.

One that was easily avoided by stepping back, and then crippled as he lunged forward with a maw full of fangs before taking a chunk out of the man’s arm.

“Ahhh!” The tusked man screamed, stumbling back with wide eyes. “The-the fucker bit me!”

He swallowed before licking his lips. “Oh, don’t worry, I intend to do so much more than that!”

Another of his prey stepped forward, dragging the bleeding man back. This one pulling a knife out in one hand and showing off his claws on the other. “Back the fuck up you freak!”

“Freak?” He repeated with a tilt of his head, the word stirring something he could not remember. “I do believe you’re mistaken, lad.”

He stepped forward and the claw man rammed the knife into his chest.

(Wrath: Which is ultimately pointless.)

He grabbed either side of the man’s head and lifted so that Booker could look him in the eye. “After all, I’m so much worse than any ‘freak’ you’ve ever met~”

Pulling back just a step, he buried his teeth into the man’s throat before ripping it out and tossing him to the side, uncaring of the blood spatter as he continued his meal.

(Lust: It actually blends quite nicely with our clothes.)

He chuckled as he stepped forward to a rather man with a rat’s tail.

The frightened rat took a step back just before Booker grabbed the side of his face and slammed it against the train window with enough force to send it through the glass.

Reaching out he grabbed the rat’s tail as it fell, before ripping the appendage off so that he could give the thing a curious bite.

(Gluttony: Hmm, too boney.)

Dropping the tail he continued on to his final cowering prey, amused by the way that the frightened pig had tripped and fallen to the ground.

“Wh-what did we do? Why-why are you doing this?” The pig asked, trying to crawl away.

“Oh, nothing to me.” He shrugged before grabbing the man by his tusks. “That said, you really shouldn’t have hurt so many working girls. That was quite ungentlemanly of you my good sir.”

With that message given, he pulled on both tusks to better slam his knee into the man’s face, a feat that broke both tusks off in his hands.

He boredly dropped the tusks on the ground before taking a deep breath and centering himself.

All down the hall a number of heads were sticking out wondering what all the ruckus was about, and they all wisely looked away when he met their gazes. And thus he found himself alone with four half-dead corpses.

(Sloth: Job’s only half done.)

(Envy: If we stop now they’ll only get up in a couple hours and start this whole thing up again. We need something more… lasting…)

(Sloth: Let’s get this over with…)

He considered the corpses before him for a moment, before getting an idea on how to make sure the women of the night were safe from the harassments of further ne'er do wells, if only for a little while.

Which is why he found himself awkwardly carrying all four bodies to the entrance of the black market that Beez’el had introduced to him earlier. A place where his message would be well received by all who entered.

During this awkward trek no one else hindered him, everyone stumbling out of his way. (The polite thing to do would be to offer help would it not?)

(Gluttony: People just don’t have manners anymore…)

Still even if it took some effort he was able to drag the four bodies to the entrance and took a look around at the relatively open space.

(Sloth: It’d be better if we had a ladder but we can make this work.)

With that confirmation he got to work on something he could vaguely recall from the various executions he’d done for violators of his territory’s rules. Albeit something he needed a little more effort for as it wasn’t quite as simple as throwing a pair of concrete boots in a river.

It was as he was wrapping things up, that whatever power that fueled everyone’s resurrection ability decided this was the ideal time to wake the snake up.

“What?” The man gasped, blinking around in a daze, before trying to move only to find his arms pinned. “What the fuck?”

“Ah, you’re awake!” Booker couldn’t help but smile. “I was thinking you lot were going to sleep through this whole thing!”

“What… what’s happening?” The snake asked, looking around with eyes that were slowly growing in horror.

“Oh, just sending a message.” He answered cheerily, before gesturing to where the other three were also pinned to the walls of the entrance, their bodies surrounded by numerous messages carved into the brick work explaining exactly what the quartet were guilty of. “As you can see I’ve already taken care of your friends and am almost done with you!”

“W-what? No, no! You can’t do this!” The snake screamed, trying to struggle to little effect.

“You know I can’t help but wonder how many of our victims have told us that exact same thing?” He wondered, tapping on his chin before narrowing his eyes and giving the snake a knowing grin. “And I wonder how many times that actually stopped you?”

The man’s silence was damning.

“Oh, look on the brightside!” He told the snake as he tossed another rail spike into the air before catching it. “You can start making up for all those you’ve hurt by being a message to make sure no one else hurts them!”

Booker lined the nail up beneath the snake’s mouth, to make sure that he couldn’t use that regrown tongue to convince anyone to let him down. “Now then why don’t you be a gent and smile like you mean it?”