Chains That Bind Us

III

I locked my front door after coming home from a shift at the nearby gas station. Ever since I had such a uninvited guest, I have been very diligent with the house locks (even though the place was so run down that you could make your own way in or even break the rotting bolts).

As I put my coat on a torn lazy boy, I snuck a glance at the crumbling countertop, the handwritten note burning a hole in my eyes.

Caution is definitely one of my strong suits, so I knew better than to just walk into an unknown building with an unknown amount of potential enemies that take their orders from a blood crazed, strong as fuck ghoul. However, for some unknown reason, I could never move my hands the way I wanted to whenever I was keen on throwing it away. Because of that, the small paper has donned a permanent abode on my compressed wood countertop.

I stared at it trying to come up with a way to get rid of the menacing message. I could rat him out to the CCG, but that'd just get doves killed.

As I stood there, mid step, three sharp knocks sounded on my door. I walked over to the door and looked through the peephole, expecting my landlord. I did not expect to see a head of bright peach hair. The woman leaned forward and put her eye against the other side and giggled at her own silliness.

I slowly opened the door, making sure that the chain lock was active. When the petite girl saw me, her scarlet eyes flared, then dimmed with embarrassment.

"Hi~!" She said, bobbing on her heels. "Sorry to disturb you, but U-chan would like to speak with you."

I stared at her through the crack in the door, "I got his message. I was hoping he would get a hint after I ignored him for a week."

Itori, at least that's what I think her name is, sighed. "Listen, you have forced me to play dirty." The redhead rummaged through her purse and produced a photo. I attempted a poker face as I almost broke my door handle.

"Her name is Hikari, isn't it?" She said, referring to the head of dark blue hair and beautifully bright smile in the photo. "She's your sister, we have men tailing her children and her husband as we speak. I didn't want to use blackmail since I am a woman of pride. But.." Her face contorted into a wicked smile, "I also take great pride in my ability to torture a soul for years without them dying."

That was it.

I threw the door open, breaking the decomposing chain lock, and grasped Itori's throat. I threw her into the wall, a small crack forming in the plaster behind her skull. A raspy laugh came from her throat, I could feel the muscles doing everything in their power to do so around my hand.

"K-killing me will d-do....nothing." She said, her smile never leaving her ruby lips. "I ord-dered men to kill her i-if I am not able to call them off b-b-by...noon."

Against every ounce of rage, every instinct in my fiber as a brother to protect his sibling's family, every wish to kill the woman threatening my only family left, I let go of her throat. She took a second to cough and collect herself before walking down the rickety staircase. She looked over her shoulder at me.

"Hurry up, U-chan is waiting."
•~•~•

"Home sweet home." Itori said as she opened a heavy steel door. It was in a dirty brick wall on one side of a dark alley way. The ally was off a main road, but was deep enough not to be found easily.

With the door open, I walked into the room, two buff men playing poker in the alleyway watching my every step. Inside the room, my nose was hit with a large distinct smell. Ghouls. And a lot of them.

The dimly lit room was crowded with people, all of them looking at me. There where men and women, some as young as 13, others pushing 30. There were those who were short, those who were tall, some ugly, or irresistibly attractive.  Despite intense diversity of ghouls, they all had one thing in common. I could sense that they were all very strong fighters.

There was three filled couches around a gothic style fireplace. White rugs where scattered around the black tile floors and elaborate wall sconces and elegant paintings accented the black brick walls. There was a bar sat on the side opposite the fireplace, shelves lined with an assortment of red bottles. Normal people would guess guess their contents were red wine, but then again, we weren't normal. A staircase led to an unknown destination on the side of the bar opposite the door.

Itori strutted in, her target the bar. When she approached it, a small smile from her was enough to make the large bearded man on one of the stools get up and acquire a different seat. I followed her to the black countertop.

"Dogu!" She called to the bartender and he immediately dropped the glass he was cleaning to talk to her.

"Itori." He said, a playful smile on his lips. "'Ow's your trip? Find who yer lookin' for?" The more he talked the more his accent came out. When Itori nodded, he continued. "Well baby, when yer done with yer work, why don't I treat you to something special?"

Itori giggled and leaned forward. "Well 'baby', I've got quite a few toys to use on you later. It sure is going to be lonely when you leave for the 11th Ward."

"I know, but there's some people waiting for you right now, two of 'em are 'hind you." Itori turned her head and looked at me, her eyes widening and a genuine smile stretching her face.

"Nico!!" She got up and ran past me to a man behind me. He is placed his heavily lipsticked lips on both of Itori's cheeks, Itori doing the same on his artificially pink cheekbones.

"It has been too long darling." He said, taking a step back to look at her clothes. "Your fashion has done nothing but improve, and as has your beautiful face."

"Oh stop it!" She cooed, letting him twirl her. "You are certainly donning quite colorful attire-" she gestured to his bright pink Hawaiian shirt and lime green pants "-and that only means one thing. You've found a man!"

The man, Nico, flipped his imaginary hair (since he had a buzz cut) and showed emphasis to his earrings and other jewels. "You are correct, sweetheart. He is oh so fascinating and gives me exactly what I want." He seemed to give Itori a strange look that only she understood. "I've had to eat so much just to keep my healing fast enough to stay at his pace."

"You need to tell me everything, but I've got to get this cutie to U-chan right now."

Nico turned and acknowledged me for the first time. "Oh he is a cutie, what's Uta's plan for him? Tie him up? Make him scream? Or does he want it the other way around?"

Itori laughed and patted Nico on the shoulder. "I don't know. He says he wants to fight him, but I can tell there's more to it. Either way we are in for a noisy night~"

Itori kissed Nico goodbye, and beckoned me to follow her up the black staircase, the pit in my stomach getting deeper.