Chains of Retribution Jacques' Demise

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko and Knosis

Somewhere in Lupaix...

Jacques was seething and not at all thinking rationally. His departure from the med center had been one of panic as he realized he was about find himself backed into a corner, and now his thoughts warred between distancing himself from the pack, and his outrage towards Rowan’s actions.

It was at a payphone that he finally stopped, rifling through his pocket for quarters that he quickly thumbed into the machine before rapidly punching in a number.

What he hoped to accomplish through the phone call he couldn’t even know himself as panic overrode common sense. He knew full well that the moment he had stepped out of the med center that Ragenard would be on his tail.

The phone rang once before the familiar voice answered the other end. “This is Rowan.” It was a stately, matter of fact. The number had not come up as known to the man, but usually a direct call meant business.

“What the fuck was that?” Jacques hissed into the phone. “Baron dead, and I bring the rest into line. That was the agreement. Aimee wasn’t supposed to be hurt. And Marc? Nieve? The pack will have my hide for this now. And worse, Ragenard is back.”

Rowan rolled his eyes. “Oh, it’s you.”

He paused, straightening his necktie. “What did you think was going to happen if the whole family came?” He sounded calm over the receiver. “Next time, you probably want to make sure the kids sleep over at their friend’s house. And how did I know your old uncle Joe was in town? I was told he was away on business.” The last word came as an articulate hiss

“He was, until this clusterfuck," Jacques hissed. "But blood runs thick with Guiscard's, and now he's declared himself pack leader. Haven't seen or heard hide nor hair of Baron. I don't even know if he's alive, Ragenard isn’t letting anyone in to see him. He's out for blood though, and a lot of it. He's got the whole pack in line behind him.".

Rowan’s eyes narrowed. “I see.” He stated calmly. “You might need to spend the night at my place tonight. I can have someone come pick you up. Where are you?”

Jacques hesitated, but his fear of what lay behind him overrode his caution of what lay ahead of him as he gave Rowan his location.

“Stay near where you are, just out of sight. Someone will be there soon, alright?”

With the conversation concluded, Jacques hung the phone up with a grit of his teeth.

“Fuck,” he spat.

Rowan hung up the phone and dialed Jason’s number.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Knosis, Tiko, and Script

The black car rolled through the neighborhood casually, the tinted windows up. It stopped, parked on the sidewalk, Rowan looking around to see if he could spot the wayward Bloodstone.

Rowan nodded to Jason, having discussed the situation with him previously about the.. Delicate matters of what should transcribe here. Slowly, the man stepped out of the car, taking in the air to see if he could immediately detect if this was a trap. He rounded the car, waiting for Jason to come out as well.

“Oi, come out.” Rowan ordered.

Jason cast his eyes around as he emerged onto the street, wary of any interference. This was Bloodstone turf, and he wouldn’t have put it past the mongrels to be lurking in wait.

Jacques was squatting on the curb side when Rowan and Jason stepped out. The man looked like shit, and it was hard to get a full read on the mingle of panic, anger, and fear that swirled through his eyes, and his expression as he stood up to face Rowan and Jason.

Rowan cautiously moved towards the evidently disturbed Bloodstone. “You look like shit. You have your phone?”
“No, why?” Jacques asked.

The pack run after the showdown between Desmond and Ragenard had afforded him ample opportunity to slip away from the rest of the pack, but it had meant leaving most of his things behind at the med center.

His eyes darted up and down the street, anxious to be moving before Ragenard turned up. In his mind’s eye, pursuit could be just around the corner.

“Would have been easier to track you with it.” He muttered. “Get in.” He glanced over at Jason to signal him to make sure Jacques got into the car one way or another.

Jason returned the glance with a subtle nod, but otherwise remained where he was for the moment, leaning on the car and waiting.

Some inkling of instinct kept Jacques uneasy at how accommodating Rowan was being over the whole matter, but like a drowning man he didn't put much thought beyond getting out of the water that threatened to pull him under. With only a single final glance back, he got into the vehicle.

Rowan nodded and moved around back towards the driving side. “Jason, stay with him.” He said, getting in as well. The younger wolf nodded once more, and moved around to get into the back with their ‘VIP’, sneering at him briefly as he did. Not only a Bloodstone mongrel, but a traitor too. How much lower could you get?

Rowan started the engine, and raced towards one of the warehouses in his district.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Knosis, Tiko, and Script

Somewhere in Audrieu...

The black car slowly came to a stop inside one of the many warehouses that Rowan owned, although it was one of the less stocked buildings currently. Large wooden crates unmarked were stacked neatly in piles on the right, forklifts and such on the left. The engine purred to a stop and the older man pressed a button above his head and stepped out slowly. The doors to the warehouse slowly shut behind him and he looked around only slightly before signalling that it was safe to come out.

Rowan perched himself on top of one of the crates and pulled out a cigarette from one of his pockets, the red glow lighting up the shadows of his face slightly from the dim light of the warehouse.

“Should be safe here.” He muttered, blowing the smoke to the side and offering a cigarette to Jacques.

"Nowhere's safe," Jacques replied as he took the offered cigarette. "Ragenard will tear this city apart end to end to find me. I need to leave the city."

Ragenard's reputation was all that had held the tentative cease fire between the packs for the past eight years. His departure from the pack had set all of this into motion. But his return? And his claim of pack leader over the pack? Well laid plans had been blown clean off the rails. There was no telling who would still be standing when the dust settled, but Jacques knew well enough that Ragenard would ensure he wasn't among them.

Jason snorted from where he had propped himself up against a stack of crates, looming off to one side a few paces away from Jacques and Rowan. “He can try,” he muttered. “Someday soon he’s going to realise he’s not the biggest wolf on the block anymore. Look forward to it.”

The man chuckled once or twice at Jacques’ statement, as if waving off a minor detail of things. “He’ll tear every bit of this city to find you before anything else. We’ll make sure you’re well hidden before too long. Have my men working on a passage out of the city.” He said quietly.

He inhaled softly on the cancer stick, before offering to light Jacques’. “So what can you tell me about the state of the pack, besides the fact Ragenard is now in charge?”

Jacques took a long drag of the cigarette, letting it seep into his lungs and calm his nerves before exhaling slowly.

"Shit if I know," he said. "Don't know if Baron's alive or dead, but fucking Desmond made a play for pack leader. Desmond. Shit's upside down right now. Ragenard's got them all rallied though, and they'll be looking for blood after losing Nieve and Marc."

His hand shook ever so imperceptibly at the names of the two fallen pack members and he took a second drag of the cigarette. Baron was the target. Nieve, Marc... shit he thought.

Jason gave another snort of laughter at the mention of Marc’s name. “Marc the one with the big mouth that wrote cheques his body couldn’t cash? Can’t see why they’d miss a runt like that.”

The older man gave Jason a look that suggested it was better to rein in his humor for the time being. “A bit understandable for a pack that is confused and unsure who is to be leader. Was sure that Ragenard would have them itching for blood before too long, leader or no.” He scratched the hair at his chin.

“Where are they staying? Also..” He released a puff of smoke in irritation. “Do you know if there’s been someone feeding the pack information about us? Have you any inkling?”

Jacques shook his head. "I slipped out early. Fuck all if I know where they've all gone to ground since," he lied between drags on his cigarette. The med center was one place he wasn't about to give up to Rowan, not with the kids there. And Aimee. "And there was an informant," he added. "Someone tipped Baron off that you were moving Jesse. It's why they hit the Casino, instead of fighting for Cascastel."

 

[Tiko]

as written by Script, Knosis, and Tiko

Jason snarled, clenching his fists, but otherwise held his tongue. The idea of a traitor in their ranks enraged him all the more now that it was confirmed. “Only one left to turn back up is Yvette,” he snarled. “So unless the traitor’s already dead, chances are it’s her.” On Rowan’s orders he’d already grilled most of the other pack members, and been through their phones. He was hardly a fucking detective, though. He wouldn’t put it past either Rachelle or Sasha to be able to convincingly lie to him, but neither of them had any reason to. It had to be the runner. “Give the word and I’ll track her down and drag her back here by the fucking guts.”

Rowan understood Jason’s fury, as it was his own. His dark blue eyes began to burn slightly in the dark. But he managed to hold his calm… For now.

“We’ll discuss that later, Jason.” He said, his tone a slightly bit more harsh than the honeyed one he’d been using with Jacques. He was nearly done here. “You sure you don’t know where the pack is hiding out?” He asked cautiously. “Knowing Ragenard, I wouldn’t put it past him to punish family members of traitors, especially ones that meant to take his brother’s life.. I’d think you’d want us to get Aimee out of there.” He eyed Jacques, although he tried to feign sympathy.

“Wasn’t she some sort of trouble maker on her own?”

The thought had crossed Jacques mind when he split, but for all his loathing of Ragenard, he knew the man better than Rowan did. He knew Aimee was safer with the pack, than with him.

He shook his head at Rowan's question.

"They could be anywhere," he replied.

Rowan sighed in disappointment, taking one last drag on the cigarette before tossing it on the ground and stomping it out. He gave Jason a look that suggested what was coming next.

“You know.. I really don’t like being lied to, Jacques.” He stated. Within a second, he spun on his heel with a fist flying towards Jacques’ chin, aiming to stun him. It would also signal for Jason to make sure their ‘VIP’ didn’t try anything or get away.

“I offered you safety out of the city, but I’ve got to clean up YOUR mess you’ve made.”

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko, Script, and Knosis

To Jacques credit though, he seemed to be recovering quickly as he blinked up at Rowan from his daze on the floor. Blood ran from his lips where he had bitten his own tongue, but he seemed semi-coherent to his surroundings as he tried to roll over.

Jason pushed off of the crates he'd been leaning against and stepped around to cut off Jacques' retreat, stepping warningly close to the man's head and growling under his breath. Stay down, the growl said. Or you won't get up again.

Rowan wasn’t as kind. Aiming a kick for the man’s side, he meant to keep Jacques on the ground.

“You know, I was beginning to think there was some redeeming qualities in you.” Rowan said with words turned hard, squatting down beside the felled man. “Someone else who saw the piss poor excuse of a bitch’s welp to be in charge and wanted to take the reins and change things up. You were willing to take charge. Make changes. I respected that, I did the same thing.”

He paused, his blue hues burning bright. “But then you go and disappoint me by cowering out as soon as a single obstacle gets in your way. You’re a pathetic excuse of dog yourself. Now..” He pulled out the blade from his coat pocket. The same silver blade he’d intended to use on Baron. He didn’t know if Jacques had an allergy, but it would serve its purpose none-the-less. “You’re going to tell me where they are hiding, so I can finish up what you started. Or you’re going to regret every breath you take from now to your last.”

____

Several hours later....

Distantly, through the haze of agony that ripped through his body, Jacques could hear voices nearby. His vision had gone dark in his left eye as Rowan had in outrage ripped the organ from his skull and forced the entire thing into Jacques own mouth until he swallowed it before landing several more outraged kicks to his battered and broken ribs. But then the abuse had abruptly stopped.

In the ensuing lull as Rowan moved away to converse with Jason, Jacques reached a hand out grasping for something on the floor to pull himself with but there was nothing but blood soaked pavement and several of his own amputated fingers.

It was instinct that drove him to try and crawl away, but his broken body was long beyond compliance.

---

Despite concerted effort, Rowan was tired, hungry, irritable, and bloodstained as he looked to his second. He’d not pulled any information away from Jacques over the hours of torment he’d put the man through. He had taken out as much rage as he could without completely killing the unfortunate man, but now he just was done.

“Finish him up.” He told Jason, straightening up his ruined undershirt. “I need to get back before long. Chop him up, make sure the dogs can find the pieces, including his bitch of a daughter.” He grumbled.

"Wait," Jacques voiced cracked, pained and broken. "I'll... give you what you want… Just… let me call Aimee and get her out of there… and I’ll give you everything you want..." The words were little more than a hoarse rasp from the hours of screams that had torn his voice from him.

Jason snorted with disbelief, not buying the man’s sudden change of heart. If hours of torture and death threats hadn’t broken him up till this point, he doubted anything was about to change. He shot Rowan a briefly questioning look in case his orders changed, but started towards Jacques all the same, ready to put him out of his misery.

Rowan shared the snort with Jason. Did Jacques take him for a fool? “You must still think me an idiot, Jacques, if you truly believe I trust you on that. But I’ll be visiting your daughter soon enough. I’ll pass along your final words for you.”

Still, he gave Jason a look to hold a moment.

“Does it matter?” Jacques rasped. “Whether you trust me. Nothing I could say can harm you at this point… and if I do it, you have everything you want. Just let me send Aimee away.”

To his credit he had managed to push drag himself back to his knees, bloodied and disfigured. Even his one remaining eye offered him little in the way of vision from the blood caked upon his face, and the head trauma that had left it bloodshot.

Jason rolled his eyes, but hung back, waiting for Rowan to make a call on what to do with the runt.

Rowan ground his teeth together slightly. He knew it was unlikely that the piece of shit were to tell them what he wanted to know. But it was true enough. He had nothing left to lose, and it was likely the Bloodbrats guessed that their missing pack member was the rat.

Still, the man walked over where he had discarded his jacket ages ago and shuffled through the pockets. He pulled out one of his burner phones and walked back over, crouching in front of the unfortunate man.

“Make your fucking call.” He said. “And if you say one thing to tip off our location, I’ll slit your throat as she listens. Say something that displeases me, and she’ll suffer the same torment you suffered. After you’re done, you and I will finish our arrangement.”

He held the phone out to him. “Do we have a deal?”

"Yeah," Jacques grit out as bloodied fingers grasped the phone in hand.

He left red smudges on the buttons as he pressed them with shaky fingers, and it took him a few tries to get the number in right before he raised it to the side of his head. His first words were rasped out between pained breaths as someone picked up on the other end.

"Hey kiddo. I need you to do something for me, okay?"

He paused as Aimee's voice replied.

"Err… umm… that depends."

"Just listen, okay?" Jacques interjected, his voice cracking from his abused throat. He paused a moment more, his breath still labored before he uttered his next words. "I messed up. Tell them I didn’t say shit."

A quick clench of his fist rendered the phone nothing more than crumpled plastic.

“Heh. Hehehehe.. Hehehahahaha..” The sound came from the man nearest to Jacques. It only lasted a few seconds, Rowan’s eyes glowing brightly as he neared the verge of shifting. With savage swiftness, he grabbed Jacques’ hair in one hand and swung the dagger as hard as he could, piercing the man’s skull.

The next bit was brutal. Rowan pulled out the dagger and stabbed it in again and again, releasing all the anger and frustration upon the body. Blood and gore spattered upon the ground. It was a rage that made people question Rowan’s sanity.

Over the period of minutes, Rowan stood panting over Jacques mangled form, dripping with the man’s blood. The leader stumbled slightly as he backed away, exhaustion clear on his face.

“Clean this shit up..” He barked at Jason. “Cut up the body. Make sure its where the mutts can find it. Make sure the head is hidden in a special place for those Bloodfuckers.”