QUESTIONS LATER

Bellamy slumped against the far wall with his focus pointed inwards to the scaffolding which housed his essence. It coursed through his veins as he traced its path, expelling the bullet casings onto the floor with a soft clatter. Flesh knit together in their wake. His wounds were still mending as he rose to his feet – his muscles ignoring his brain's commands.

The four of them huddled in the ruined room. The chandelier Bellamy had stuck into the wall holding well as an impromptu barricade to the ongoing fire fight. No one glanced down the stairwell, but the clawing and scratching below told them all they needed to know about The Jackal. It wasn’t trying to break free, too quiet for that, but it wasn’t staying still either. Occasionally, it would let out one of its horrid laughing fits, as if reminding them it was there.

“The police will be here any second” Viracio muttered, finally finding his voice.

It was the first time he had spoken since escaping the pit. He hunched near Bellamy, knuckles white, his breathing shallow. He didn’t blame the man for his reaction, he had no doubt that Viracio had seen plenty of men fight, skill and scrape their way through life without flinching, but there was a difference between that and having annihilation with a breath. The Jackal wasn’t an enemy you could intimidate, fight, or bargain with if you were a normal man, it was more like being at the epicenter of a natural disaster.

“And after them, The Wardens. Once they find out about us or the essence beast" Sarah added.

Bellamy’s eyes flicked toward her. He had been reassessing the performer ever since they made it upstairs – she wasn’t a fighter – that much was obvious, and while she had panicked it hadn’t stopped her from acting. Her quick thinking had saved Viracio’s life and let them dispatch the enforcers cleanly. Every Harbinger had a story to tell. And they always lied when telling it.

He kept her and Viracio in sight at all times. While he was wary of Sarah, he was fully suspicious of Viracio at this point. The whistling had to come from somewhere, maybe one of the fighters in the locker room had done it, or maybe there had been other survivors down there, but even so he was the main suspect.

Bellamy rolled his right shoulder, considering their options. “We need to make a break for it before The Wardens arrive. We can get away from the police, but as soon as The Wardens get word of us having essence. Let’s just say I don’t fancy our chances.” He looked over to Sarah, “Are there any exits that could lead us to nearby alleys or good cover?”

Sarah hesitated, blinking, thrown off by the question “I uh, I only just started today. I’m traveling to the Atrean Islets, needed some extra cash and I have a friend in town, figured this would be an easy job.”

Bullshit.

Bellamy could feel the lie in the air, but now wasn’t the time to push.

There was a time and place, and in mortal peril was not either, so he instead turned to their prisoners.

The guards they had incapacitated had long since stirred to find their arms and legs bound with their own clothing. They barely resisted as Callum tied them up – still dazed from the blow from earlier. It was a relief that they hadn’t gone unconscious for too long, knockouts didn’t typically last that long, and if they did permanent brain damage was on the table.

Callum crouched next to the two body guards, watching them. Dadum, Sarah had called the scrawnier one, seemed to become fully lucid first. Enough to spit in Callum's direction.

“Just so you know,” Callum started, too casually, “we don’t actually know what the hell’s going on. We were just trying to gamble. Turns out when an essence beast can kill anyone without essence, people who can use essence are the only ones left to leave.”

Dadum didn’t respond, continuing to scowl, but his partner, Rick took the bait.

“If you were out for us, we’d be dead already. The guys outside weren’t pulling punches, so I doubt you’re with them. They had some plants inside the club.” He gestured with his head to the two dead bodies by the stairs “they were vicious fuckers. Haven’t tried to push in since though”

Callum shook his head, “honestly. I didn’t even realize there were people outside attacking until after our little scrap was over. You kind of opened fire right away”.

Silence met the room, Callum waited for a response, but when none was had he continued.

“Look, we don’t want to get wrapped in this, we just need the rest of the Volkov’s to not shoot at us as we leave, and to know the situation. We’ll even take out a few on the way”

Dadum’s eyes squinted, narrowing in suspicion before sighing.

“All I know is that we’re surrounded. They’ve got the entire street locked down, street level, rooftops, probably even the sewers. We heard over the radio that similar attacks were happening around town. Last we saw it looked like they were preparing for something, lots of movement, lots of noise. They haven’t tried to push in yet since”.

Bellamy grimaced. Too convenient. One shootout was bad luck. Coordinated attacks across town? That reeked of something else. But it wasn’t all bad news apparently. They could hide out in the room, and once the gang outside began their assault he could open a hole in the wall and they could make a break for it.

The Volkov enforcers were stalling until the cops could arrive on scene, afterall they were in the families pocket, half of the work the police did was actually handed off to the Volkov’s. Helped the police stay away from more of the unsavory work and kept them at a distance from the messier work.

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So the attackers outside needed to push in before the cops came, the Volkovs needed to stall until then, and Bellamy and his group needed to leave before The Wardens arrived, preferably before the cops. Meaning their main obstacle wasn’t the Volkovs, but the unknown group attacking Penny’s

The only issue is if the Volkov’s decided to try to take them before the final assault began, it wouldn't be good to have an unknown party at their back in an already tenuous firefight. They could just leave them alone, but he wouldn’t if he were in their shoes.

Viracio must have been thinking along the same lines because he began to motion to Dadum, “Let’s cut this one loose. Have him talk to his boss outside. Let him know we’re not a threat, update him on The Jackal in the basement. Come to a truce. Gives us an easier exit.”

Bellamy exhaled, he had the pieces but not a plan, and he couldn’t come up with something better, so we just nodded. He didn’t like that they would be giving up half of their leverage to communicate and find their captain, if they could find him and talk to him directly… Most Volkov captains had essence, a well known secret kept hush hush from The Wardens.

“Sounds good,” he said as he looked at his brother “But we may be able to keep them here. Callum, their captain should have essence. Can you tell me where he is?

Callum vanished, for three seconds before coming back into view, pointing to a wall, “room to our left. Either he’s far into the room, or the wall is thick”

Bellamy walked to the wall, crouched low and pressed his palm flat against the wall. The essence in his body molded, as he pushed his scaffolding out from himself, into the wall and through it, before removing it entirely, leaving a perfectly square hole to the other room.

“What’s your captain's name?” Bellamy turned to Rick who responded with the name of Tayfun Rayan.

He called through the newly made hole, coating himself in essence just in case any of the gangsters on the other side decided that talking was beneath them. He signaled Callum over to do the negotiating, Callum was a scalpel, Bellamy thought of himself more as a sledgehammer. Both tools required precision, but accomplished very different tasks.

“We want to talk,” Callum started, listening closely to the shifting behind the wall, “There’s been a misunderstanding.”

Footsteps traveled through the opening, slow and deliberate. A scratchy voice – low from a lifetime of a carton of cigarettes with every meal replied “And what” the man on the other side paused for another drag, “would that misunderstanding be?”

“We have your men, Rick and Dadum. They’re alive. We were just gambling, like everyone else. A monster appeared during one of the fights – that’s what that howl was from earlier.”

Silence. Long enough for Bellamy to tense his muscles and prepare for another fight. Long enough for Callum to frown and motion for the others to get down.

“And?” The voice returned, disintered as he took another drag. “Find that hard to believe. Just some gamblers with essence turn up at the same time as an essence beast? Only survivors in fact. And meanwhile, the guys outside aren’t putting up much of a fight. They’re pissing their pants, too scared to do anything but fire when we peak our heads out”

Callum cringed, it certainly didn’t look good when you put it like that.

“The beast has an ability, it doesn’t work on you if you coat yourself in essence. Only reason we’re alive and everyone else isn’t”

“And Penny?” the man finally asked. Callum shot a glance at Bellamy who shook his head.

“She didn’t make it.”

Another pause. More whispering. “Stinks to high hell” the Volkov finally spoke. We got word the rat went down there too. He alive?”

Callum’s eyes landed on Viracio this time, as he hesitated, “No. They were both in the private booth when The Jackal broke through”.

Before their prisoners could call out Bellamy stepped away from the wall, staring each of them in the eyes, holding up a finger to his lips. They scowled, but nodded.

“Alright. So what do you want?”

It wasn’t much, but it was a start, “Just a promise that you won’t shoot us. We just want to exit this unlucky situation. No need for either of us to get in the other’s way.”

Another pause. No whispers. Finally the man on the other side gave a slow drawn out sigh.

“Alright. Let rick and Dadum go, and you have a deal.”

Callum didn’t bite. “Pick one. We’ll need the other for insurance.”

“Fair,” the man said, "too quick, too easy. As if he had expected that response. “Send Dadum over then, but I want their guns. We need every bullet we can get. The fuckers outside have been quiet, but last we say they were preparing something”

Bellamy felt it immediately. It was a creeping wrongness across his spine in the way the man spoke, the conversation had gone too smoothly. Was this Tayfun man the type to care about the life of one subordinate? Unlikely. But guns? He’d care about those.

Callum must’ve felt it too because his fingers twitched. He didn’t respond right away. Bellamy could see the hesitation in his brother’s stance, the way his fingers drummed against his thigh. He was running calculations in his head, thinking as silence stretched out between the two rooms.

“That’s a lot you’re asking for,” doing his best to keep a casual tone. “One hostage and all their guns? For what? You doing nothing? Not exactly an even trade.”

Tayfun chuckled, “Pretty even if you ask me. You’re holed up, outnumbered. Borrowed time might as well be written cross your forehead.”

“How about this,” Callum shifted tactics, “we send Dadum over, you keep your people, you agree to share some information with us, then we’ll talk about guns and safety"

The Volkov captain hummed, “You only got until the men outside come knocking to negotiate. You sure you want to spend that time playing games”

“Are you” Callum asked back, “Here’s the problem Volkov, you don’t give a shit about these men, if anything you care more about the money they’ll cost you to reimburse their families. No one wants unnecessary bloodshed. So let’s cut the bullshit. One hostage, no guns. You don’t try anything with us and we’ll stay clear of you and your men”

More silence, but Callum didn’t let it go on. “Or you try to screw us and we put bullets in both their heads, keep the guns, blockade the door, and take our chances with the police. Hell the beast below could break out then we’d all be fucked.”

The man on the other side sighed. “Fine. Send Dadum over, and his pistol. No Tommy gun”.

Bellamy didn’t trust it. But at least now they had some assurances. The police were in the pocket of the Volkov family, sure, but not all of them. They couldn’t get executed tonight without issue, especially not with an essence beast in the basement.

They untied Dadum, who gave Rick and apologetic look. They gave him his revolver back and Bellamy leaned in close, “I’m not one for killing, but I can’t speak for the others. One word about Viracio still being alive and Rick likely doesn’t walk out of here.”

Dadum spit in his face, snarled, but ultimately nodded and left with a thin coat of essence supplied by Bellamy to join the other Volkov enforcers.

Several minutes passed with nothing happening. No gunfire, no yells or shouts, and soon enough they figured out why.

Apparently they had been under a misunderstanding. The gang outside was in on this from the beginning. They somehow knew that the champion of the pit had essence. It’s why the guards down there were prepared to lock the doors when things got rough. They died before they could communicate anything to the rest of their group outside, but the howl of The Jackal confirmed for them that the champion had turned essence beast. They were never going to do an all out assault. They were just stalling for time. There was an essence beast in a club jointly owned by the Volkov and Devereaux family, once that was confirmed, they could report the incident, but not to the police. No. The families of Velnias had their hooks too deep for anything useful to come from that.

The Wardens had come instead.

It was an unfortunate thing, and Viracio was left with only one option. He took a silver whistle from his pocket, and blew loudly. The essence beast below roared.