Under the cover of the dark night skies and the silence ruling the streets, Demilan and Maileena looked at the tall apartment building on 16 Pine Street, where Odis Maben was claimed to be, as they approached it on his motorcycle. A quick look at the mail slots at the building’s entrance revealed that Odis lived in apartment 6, on the third floor.
While Demilan had his usual black duffel bag strapped on his back, Maileena had her revolver stuffed in the back of her pants, fully loaded. Demilan decided not to bring the Skyla assault rifle with him this time, seeing no reason to waste his bullets and simply use his trusty knife and strong hands.
He slicked back his damp wavy hair and looked at the dream catcher necklace that hung around his neck, once more driving himself with motivation. Remember who you're doing this for, Demilan.
“You ready?” he asked her. Though Maileena seemed a bit hesitant, she nodded her head. Demilan was a bit concerned about taking Maileena with him. He didn't know her too well, and having her with him could complicate the situation. He’d tried talking Maileena out of tagging along with him one more time while they were on their way here, but her stubbornness made him realize that she was one of those types with a will of iron that no amount of convincing will probably affect.
As the two got off the motorcycle and entered the apartment building, a foul stench of muck filled their nostrils.
The walls were littered with stains and drawings, certain parts of them peeling. With faces full of disgust they covered their mouths and noses while calling the elevator. Once the two were inside, Demilan pressed the 3rd floor button and Maileena quickly drew her revolver from the back of her pants, ready to take down whoever might be waiting on the other side of the elevator doors.
“Listen, I want you to keep it cool, alright? Stay behind me, keep me covered and let me take care of everything.” Demilan hoped Maileena wouldn’t think that he was underrating her, though the truth was he wasn't going to depend on any skills on her part. Once the elevator door opened the two quickly strafed towards the door on the left, which belonged to Apartment 6. Demilan knocked three times on the door, though no answer came. After about a minute of waiting he knocked again, harder and louder. Suddenly he could hear footsteps inside the apartment. The foul odor still dominated his sense of smell, but he tried his best to endure it and not let it overwhelm him. Once the footsteps reached the door, a rough voice spoke through it. “Who is it?” the voice sounded full of contempt.
“I'm here to see Odis,” Demilan answered. The door slightly opened, as much as the chain lock allowed it to, and a face popped through it, peeking out to see who dared to ask for Odis. The man was black, with long, brown dreads on his head, a grizzly-looking scar on his left cheek and two silver ring earrings in each ear. “Who the fuck are you?” he asked, sending bits of spit at Demilan’s face. As soon as Demilan looked up and saw the person’s face through the slight opening, he recognized Odis's long brown dreads immediately, and although he noticed Odis’s widening eyes, hinting that he also recognized Demilan, Odis wasn't quick enough to react.
With a sudden burst of rage, Demilan forced the door open with the ram of his shoulder while letting out a scream of wrath, sending Odis down to the floor. Demilan quickly made his way to Odis, his eyes so red with anger that his mind wasn't sharp and clear enough to notice the other guy that was sitting on the couch in front of him and was already reaching for his gun.
“Don’t fucking move!” yelled Maileena as she aimed her revolver at the guy on the couch. The guy froze in place and raised his hands. Seeing that the situation was under control, Demilan picked up Odis by his shirt and sent a frightening punch at his face. A bleeding gash appeared on Odis’s face when he got back up.
Demilan punched him one more time in the stomach before hurling him next to his friend on the couch. Odis moaned in pain while the blood ran down his face. “McCloud, you motherfucker,” he said in between cries of pain. “This is how you repay me after I fixed you up so many times?” he laughed while holding his aching stomach.
Demilan started walking towards him, ready and eager to send a few more punches at his smug face before Maileena’s voice stopped him. “Demilan!” she called. “We need him, remember? Don’t be an idiot.” Maileena’s words managed to calm some sense into Demilan’s enraged conscious. “Right,” he said. Calm down, Demilan, he said to himself. Demilan grabbed the gun that Odis's friend had in the back of his pants and threw it aside. He searched Odis for any guns or knives and found nothing. When he backed away to stand near Maileena, he noticed various drugs on the table in front of him.
A few grams of heroin in the form of a powder, wrapped in little plastic bags, several pills of ecstasy and an ashtray filled with a couple of burned out cigarette butts. But among those things, one caught his eye the most. A syringe that lay there, with a purple liquid swimming in its cylinder. He knew what it was as soon as his eyes fell on it. Vexillum. That damn drug haunts me everywhere… he thought. Looks like they were ready for a fix right when we arrived.
"I see you got yourself a little soldier girl now with you, McCloud," said Odis with a big smile smeared upon his face.
"Shut up." Maileena turned her aim to him.
"Tell me, girl, what is he paying you with? Because I know that fucker doesn’t have any money on him, do you, McCloud?" he turned to Demilan. "Otherwise you wouldn’t have gathered that much debt with us in the first place."
"Shut the fuck up, Odis!" Demilan snapped at him.
"You used to be such a good client of mine, McCloud. It's a shame how things turned out. I heard my boys did quite a number on you." Odis's crude words ended with a mighty punch to his face, gratitude of Demilan. The smiling drug dealer writhed in pain and spat in Demilan's direction.
Maileena turned to look at Demilan, her eyes basically asking the burning questions she had for him. She wants to know what he's talking about. Goddammit, I was hoping we wouldn’t have to bring that up, but… I don’t think she's going to let this slide. If there's anything I DO know about her, it's that she's stubborn, and she's going to want to know who she's hanging with, and I can understand that.
With her revolver still aimed at Odis, Maileena placed herself in front of Demilan, her eyes looking straight at his.
"Demilan, don’t take this the wrong way, but I need to know what's he talking ab—" her words were cut short, thanks to Odis's friend, who used the short window of time, whern Maileena turned her back on him, and lunged at her from the couch, attempting to grab her revolver. It happened so fast, that Maileena didn’t even have the instinct to react, yet Demilan did. With a split second reaction, he pushed Maileena aside and grabbed the assailant once he was close enough, throwing him to the floor on his back. Demilan drew his knife from its leather holster and stabbed the man three times in the chest, making sure he wouldn’t be making any further attempts at him or at Maileena. Spatters of blood covered Demilan face, and as he rose from his latest kill, he saw Maileena lying on the floor, and Odis still sitting on the couch, choosing to be a good boy, and not trying to piss off the ex-soldier.
"Are you alright?" Demilan asked Maileena as he helped her up. "Yeah, thanks."
"You shouldn’t have turned your back on him like that."
"Y-Yeah, you're right. I-I'm sorry." She looked ashamed.
Demilan ran his hand over his face, wiping the fresh blood from it. "Stay here and keep an eye on him," he ordered her.
"If he moves, shoot his leg or hand." He went to the kitchen and brought a wooden chair to the living room. He opened his duffel bag and took a rope out of it. "Sit," he snarled at Odis.
The man with the long dreads did as he was told, and once Demilan made sure he was tied and secured to the chair, he took Maileena aside.
"So from what I've gathered so far, you're a drug addict, and this guy was your dealer," she said to him.
"I USED to be an addict." He made it as clear as possible.
"Back when I was still in Code Sanguinary, my wife, Telia, and I were having trouble having kids and… it took a toll on our relationship, so… I tried some Vex to take the edge off. Odis used to be my supplier. Thing is… you don’t just try Vex. You get addicted to it before you even realize it." Reminiscing about his days of addiction wasn’t easy for him. His face had a dark, depressed appearance. "With Code Sanguinary not bringing in enough money, I gathered quite a debt to Odis. Even with the money I made with Code Sanguinary, I was having a hard time paying it off, but once Blackburn found out about my Vex addiction… he kicked me out." It was a known fact that Charles Blackburn ran a tight shift with his soldiers. Drug use was strictly prohibited in his organization, and those who were caught doing it were banned from Code Sanguinary. "At that point, there was no chance of wiping my debt, and when the time came…" he turned to look at Odis, his face now turned red and his teeth ground together. "That motherfucker sent his men to beat me up and kidnap Telia. I was in a coma for 6 months. As soon as I woke up I started looking for her. The first place I went to was the warehouse where I found you. I remembered from my days at Code Sanguinary that that warehouse was owned by Men of Midas, so someone there would know to point me to Odis." His head now turned to the floor, looking ashamed and in pain. "And that's my story. Now you know."
"Demilan, I-I'm so sorry, I didn’t know—"
"It's okay," he reassured her. "Now, let's get this over with."
He started pacing toward the tied man who had stolen his wife.
"Things are about to get ugly."