Chapter 14

There are things in the dark, and those things have a master.

Kadmiel T. Liongrace was a large man who spent a lot of time in the gym lifting weights, and his body showed it. He would go into contests to see how much he could lift, but right now, he was only lifting a fat cigar to his beard face, sitting next to his son Dathen Liongrace Jr in the dark and smoky room. They sat across from Boss Tom-Tom, a fat southern man with a wild beard but not as wild as his love for drink and hate for the blacks. He had a large belly matching his large shoulders on his tall, massive body. He didn't wear suits like the other bosses in his line of work. He wore simple clothes like he stepped off the field of some farm, which he rarely did anymore.

He poured more beer into his mug before bringing it to his face. Carter stood behind him with his arm in a cask and hung it in front of his chest. The blades had cut deep and done some real damage, and it was going to take six months before he could fully use it again. He wasn't happy. He was very upset.

The three bosses sat at a table under the burning light, with none of them happy. There were men all around them, and all those men carried pistols and rifles. No one was happy about being at the table while Boss Tom-Tom drank more of his beer.

"It's just some w***e," Boss Tom-Tom said, shaking his head.

"It's no longer about the w***e," Kadmiel said. "It's about the principle of what those freaks did. They attacked my son and your men."

Boss Tom-Tom shook his head, sitting back, and shrugged before drinking deep in his beer.

"Fine," Boss Tom-Tom said, glancing back at Carter. "Send some of your best hitters; take them out."

"All of them, sir?" Carter asked, almost growling.

"Yes, f****n' all of them," Boss Tom-Tom said. "The world could do with less freaks in it."

"Yes, sir," Carter said.

"Isn't it going to cause us problems?" Dathen asked. "If we kill a whole circus?"

"We'll pay off the right people," Boss Tom-Tom said, and before anyone could utter another word, someone started to rap at the door. It was like a raven tapping on the door, wanting to speak the haunting words.

One of the guards opened the door to find nothing there but the dark alleyway. He looked back at everyone, shrugged, and started to step out into the alleyway. The man was jerked out hard, and the door was smashed shut, causing everyone to jump a little. Many of the guards started to rush to the door to help their friend but stopped when they heard a match flare to life.

Everyone looked at the back of the room with Charon Lewis, the Tremendous Magician, letting the fire touch his hard and aged face as he put the flame in the bowl of his pipe.

"Who the Hell?" Boss Tom-Tom asked, jumping to his feet as everyone at the table did the same thing. The guards started to point their weapons at Charon, but he didn't move and said nothing.

"Gentlemen," Azrael said, standing in front of the door with his cane in front of him and everyone turning to face him. "I'm the Ring Master of my circus, and I come to strike the fear of God into all your hearts for coming after one of my actresses."

The powerful men started to laugh and shake their heads.

"Someone kill these fools," Boss Tom-Tom said, pointing at him. One of the gunmen stepped closer to Azrael, lifting his pistol towards the man, but he never got to fire a shot. Green eyes looking like lizards under a flashlight started to blink open all around in the darkness. With those eyes came the giggles of tiny goblins, causing the men to step closer to the light. The goblins didn't come into the light, but it wasn't the tiny demons that were the deadliest thing in the dark. Something larger growled as if it was being awaken from some great depth in the void of the light, and long dark tentacles started to ooze out of the shadows. Those tentacles brought with them the smell of deep ocean along with a horrible rot, making all the men cover their faces.

Countless tentacles were coming out of the black as if the beast to which it belonged was the size of a city. It was something dark and old from the deep pitch of the endless void.

"I am the Ring Master," Azrael said in a low growl, "of more than just the circus."

The tentacles suddenly dashed out, wrapping up all the men with guns and digging sharp claws into their bodies, causing them to shout in agony before they were pulled into the darkness. The green eyes of those hellish goblins jumped after the gunmen being pulled into the void.

The powerful men of money and wealth looked between each other.

"I come to you all," Azrael said, "as a warning that anyone under my tent is under my protection, and gentlemen, I will move Heaven and Hell to keep them safe. Do you understand me?"

They all nodded in agreement.

"If any of you," he said, "think about seeking revenge or coming after my people, just remember this night, and remember I am always in the shadows. I am the dark. I am the Ring Master of the Void and the things in it."

No one spoke for a moment as Azrael locked eyes with each of them and then nodded.

"I'm glad we come to an understanding," Azrael said. "I bid you farewell and hope you have a good night."

He spun on his heels, heading for the door as Charon stepped back into the darkness, letting the burning stuff in his pipe fall out, but then Azrael stopped.

"Oh, right," he said, looking over his shoulder at Carter. "You hurt Vilas, Mr. Carter."

"What?" He didn't get to ask anything else as a massive tentacle wrapped around his head, jerking him off his feet right into the deep dark. There were no screams, just the sound of things chewing on meat and bones. Azrael opened the door to the room, stepping out into the night, and when he shuts it, all the things in the dark are gone.