Death of a King

Chapter 4

I stood there awkwardly for what felt like hours. Corinth appeared to be in no rush as she bid adieu to her beau for the night. He held her tightly, lost in her eyes as she teased him time and time again with playful kisses.

    "This is Eli by the way." Corinth informed without looking away from him, holding no regard with whether I actually heard her or not.

    It was Eli who finally broke their eye contact and tossed me a loose grin. He had warm brown eyes and matching hair with a boyish charm about his features. Though he was tall and muscular, he was almost nothing compared to some of the others I've seen thus far. An attractive man though inferior to Dustin.

    Why was I comparing him to Dustin, of all people?

    Corinth kissed him once more, then was on her feet with her arm over my shoulders. I glanced down at her torso only once, "Do you want to ... um ... change?"

    She followed my gaze to her bare stomach and chest, but only laughed. It was a musical sound, "Honey, if I was ashamed, I wouldn't have taken my shirt off in the first place."

    With her declaration, she steered me towards the crowd which still moseyed throughout the compound, carelessly. Her arm slipped from my shoulders, allowing her hand to grip mine tightly to lead me through without the two of us getting separated. Half drunk girls stumbled past me, fully drunk men chased after them.

    Corinth seemed to enjoy the show. Once we were past the madness and inside the large building where Dustin had disappeared into earlier, she let out a long sigh, "Isn't it fun? I'm glad he's back, honestly. Things were getting boring around here."

    The main lobby of this building was huge. A bar stretched out to my left, countless glass bottles shelved behind the counter. Most of them were empty at this point with only a few still holding their contents. Three pool tables were stationed to my left, the games cresting their felt tops were all but forgotten now that the celebration outside was well underway. Chairs were scattered throughout the room, some stacked in corners, others forgotten in the middle of the room as if they had been discarded in an attempt to get outside.

    Along the walls were various pictures of both men and women in leather cuts, each one branded with one word embroidered across the back shoulders. Tribe, stitched in red lettering, looking as though it had been written in blood. These photos depicted different occasions: parties, weddings, funerals, and ... court hearings?

    One doorway sat in front of us, above it were several separate pictures of men. Each one looked as though it were a mug shot. Then again, they probably were. The two pictures at the end looked vaguely similar to one another.

    "Who are they?" I heard myself asking.

    Corinth stopped under the doorway, looking up, "Those are the leaders of the Tribe, past and present."

    The images of various bikers plastered across the walls reminded me of where I was, of who I was dealing with. Corinth, though she seemed petite in stature, could probably kick my ass without breaking a sweat. No doubt Dustin taught her self defense since, you know, they're cousins!

    Corinth took my hand again and pulled me down a long hallway that split into two separate directions at the end, "How old are you?"

    "Seventeen."

    There was something odd about her smile, "I turned eighteen a few months ago, I was the last one. So you are officially the only minor at the compound until the next generation. Congratulations!"

    I didn't try to hide the disdain in my voice when I said, "Thanks."

    She led me to the end of the hall, then pulled us left until we reached the last door in this hallway. Unafraid, she reached up to knock on the door. It took only half a second for me to realize why she was knocking ... and who's door this was.