New Management

Bakura slept until dusk to rest his injured arm. Rayna rocked the baby and fed her as Marik prepared dinner. It was just a simple feast of salted meat and some fruit.

When Bakura woke, he grabbed the dagger and untied the horse. “Rayna, do you wish to stay or come with us?”

Rayna nodded. “I have to come back. I have to check the others. We take care of each other and I have to make sure the others are not injured.”

Bakura nodded. “I do not want you or the baby to see what we do to Khalfani. That bastard will pay for what he’s done to you and the others!”

Bakura grinned, his canines revealed. “Let’s get that son of a bitch! But first, we have to make a quick stop.”

********************

Bakura lead the three to a bordello not far away from Khalfani’s. Marik entered with Bakura and was amazed at the surroundings. The lobby had plant life and was clean. The place smelled like incense. The girls were dressed well and they were clean.

The master came up to them. “Welcome, gentlemen, are you looking for companionship tonight?”

Bakura shook his head. “No. I came to talk to you.”

“Has any of my girls displeased you?”

“No. I’m here about Khalfani. You are his rival, aren’t you?”

The man growled. “That man has no respect for his girls! They’re dirty and I know he abuses them. I tried to bribe him to give the establishment to me and he won’t take it.”

Bakura laughed at the idea of Khalfani refusing a bribe.

“It appears to me that Khalfani is going to meet an unfortunate accident tonight and his girls will need to be cared for.”

“Consider it done.”

Marik stopped as Bakura turned away. “Why are you concerned about Khalfani’s girls?”

“My girls get treated like human beings. Khalfani treats his girls like dogs.”

Marik nodded. “Let’s go free those girls.”

*********************

Nubia and Aziza hugged onto Kesi’s cold corpse. Khalfani growled at the circle of crying women around their fallen friend.

“Kesi, you can’t leave us!” Nubia cried, touching Kesi’s face gently.

Five-year-old Basi cuddled up to one of the folds of flesh that used to be Kesi’s right breast. “Why won’t my mommy wake up? Mommy, please, wake up.” Basi pressed his face against Kesi’s breast and kissed it.

Zahra leaned down and took the little boy into her arms.

Khalfani shoved the children away who crowded around Kesi. “Leave her alone, you brats! She’s dead! See? Her heart’s not beating!” Khalfani reached in and pulled out Kesi’s heart. The women stared in amazement and the children cried in horror.

“All of you little bitches stop whining! Get rid of her body!”

Aziza looked up at her master. “Where are we to bury her?”

“She’s a pig. And she died a pig’s death. Throw her body out into the street. The dogs will tear it apart and it will be gone by morning.”

The children started to cry again and they clung to Kesi like a magnet.

“No, sir! You can’t!!” Nubia cried loudly.

“Not my mommy!”

Khalfani went to Zahra and tried to rip the child from her grip.

Basi clung to the girl desperately. Khalfani gripped the child by the neck and ripped him from Zahra’s arms. He held the child by the front of the neck and gripping tightly. The child began choking in his grasp.

“Your mother was a whore…..a good fuck for money. And so will you be, too, my boy. In fact…..LADIES, CLEAR OUT OF HERE!”

Nubia shuddered. “Don’t hurt Basi! He’s my friend!”

Khalfani threw the child on the table in the lobby.

“No! Sir, he’s only five years old!” the women pleaded.

“MOMMY!”

Khalfani kept his grip on the child’s neck as he tore the child’s robe. “I told you all to leave!” The women stood still. “Then stay and watch if you wish! Stop moving you little brat! It makes it all the more painful for you…as you will soon find out the hard way!”

A horse was heard stopping outside. Khalfani put himself between the boy’s legs and fumbled with his belt. The women stood frozen in horror.

The door flew open and Bakura and Marik burst through. They both stood shocked at the sight of Khalfani ready to take a five year old boy against his will.

Khalfani looked up and growled. “BAKURA! What are you doing here?”

Bakura pulled out his dagger and advanced on Khalfani. Khalfani released his grip on the child and the child gagged and breathed heavily.

“Ladies, give us a few minutes, please. Take the children upstairs.”

The women gathered the children in their arms and climbed the steps. Marik looked down at Kesi’s disemboweled and sliced body. Marik kneeled beside her and kissed her on cold lips.

“My last kiss……my love.”

Khalfani sneered. “She was a pig. And she died a pig’s death! There was nothing to love about her but the way she was good in bed! Oh..and Marik? She was good in bed….and on the desk in my office….”

Bakura slapped him with one hand and grazed the other cheek with the dagger. Khalfani stumbled back blinded by pain.

Bakura turned quickly and kicked Khalfani’s legs out from under him causing the man to fall on the floor.

Bakura straddled the man’s hips. “So…you like having sex with little boys and girls, hmm? You make me sick!” Bakura took the dagger and impaled Khalfani’s shoulder. “It’s men like you who made my childhood a living nightmare! I was taken when I was five years old by a drunk! He found me huddled in an alley trying to keep warm in the cold night and he Ra-damned took me against the wall! Men like you shatter childhoods and take away innocence before it is meant to be taken! You ruin people lives all in the name of power, control, and pleasure!”

Marik’s eyes widened at the white-haired boy’s body trembling with renewed fury.

“You called Kesi a pig? You are nothing! You are slime! By the time I am done with you, you will literally be a pile of slime!”

Bakura took the dagger and tore open the man’s shirt. Bakura sat on the man’s chest. “Marik, remove his pants.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to do what I do best. I’m going to send you to the underworld where you will not be able to harm another woman or child again.”

Bakura turned around to Marik and looked down at the man’s genitals. “Cut it off.”

Khalfani’s face soaked with sweat. “WHAT?!”

Bakura took the dagger and pressed it against Khalfani’s chest just enough for the blood to trickle from the wound. “You raped Rayna in hopes of destroying her baby. I would give my left arm and bet she wasn’t the only girl who works here that you raped! You dared place your filthy sex into my Rayna! Well, I will pay you back!”

Khalfani let out a piercing scream and Bakura jammed a towel into his mouth to muffle the scream.

“Awww….does it hurt, Khalfani? Maybe you should have thought twice about the consequences of touching my girl and forcing yourself into her!”

Marik offered the removed body parts to Bakura. Bakura grabbed the genitals and inspected them.

“Funny, Khalfani! You know what? I’m bigger than you are! GO ME!” Bakura put his hand on Khalfani’s waist and it growled. “Aww….are you hungry, Khalfani? Maybe I should feed you your last meal, don’t you think? It’s only fair!”

Bakura removed the towel and shoved the offending body parts into Khalfani’s mouth.

Marik kneeled beside Khalfani and growled. “You know, Bakura, we should really dress him up for Anubis’ guards. He’s under-dressed.”

“You’re right, Ishtar.Let’s give him a little necktie!”

Bakura slashed Khalfani’s throat and reached into the gaping wound. He pulled out Khalfani’s tongue through the wound and let the flesh stick out.

Khalfani began to tremble and Marik grabbed Bakura’s dagger.

“This is for Kesi!”

Marik sliced Khalfani from belly to the chest cavity and jammed the metal into his brain.

Khalfani lay dead on the floor. Marik and Bakura looked down at the body and then towards Kesi. Bakura and Marik covered and wrapped her body in Khalfani’s clothes.

“Marik, dispose of the body before the girls come and see it.”

Marik dragged the body into the nearby alley with the murderers and thieves. Bakura called the girls down and they were allowed to give their final farewells.

Bakura picked up Basi, who was still shaking. “Don’t worry, son. Khalfani will not hurt you anymore.”

Basi looked down at his mother’s body and wrapped his arms around Bakura’s shoulders. Rayna walked in and saw Bakura holding the crying child in his arms.

Rayna and the group mourned over Kesi.

“What are we going to do with her? Khalfani wanted us to drop her in the streets for the dogs to eat her.”

Marik looked down at Kesi. “She deserves a tomb, Bakura.”

Bakura looked at him. “Are you saying what I think you are saying?”

Marik looked down. “I can’t leave her in the desert like Amunet. Please.”

Bakura sighed. “Ok. We’ll put her in my home. We can find another place to live in the meantime.”

Marik hugged Bakura. “Thank you.”

“Where is Khalfani?”

“Dead,” Bakura said licking the blade free of the blood.

Aziza buried her face in her hands. “What are we going to do?”

“You ladies do not have to worry. I have his rival coming in to bring this place under new management.”

“Who is that?” Nubia asked.

“The owner of the bordello down the block.”

“Is he nice?” Basi asked shyly.

Bakura nodded. “He’s very nice. And he’s gonna clear all of this up. No more dirt and no more blood stains.”

The girls squealed and crowded around Bakura and Marik kissing them frantically.

Basi kissed Bakura’s cheek and jumped up and down in Bakura’s arms.

Bakura and Marik looked down at Kesi’s body. “We can’t leave that here. We’ll be back, girls.”

Bakura and Marik put Kesi on Bakura’s horse. Rayna took Bakura’s hand.

“Bakura? When you come back, can you come upstairs?”

Bakura smiled and nodded. “Of course.”

Bakura kissed her and left.

They took Kesi to their underground tomb and placed it on the hay. Marik sighed. “If only I could do better, but…It’s better than Amunet’s grave.”Marik kissed her again and they left.

When they returned to the bordello, Rayna was waiting outside.

She took Bakura’s hand and Marik’s.

“Where are you taking us?”

Rayna smiled as she lead them upstairs. She opened one door and all the children were huddled against each other on one dirty mattress. A cold breeze came in from the open window, chilling the room like a freezer where the children slept either hardly clothed or completely naked.

Bakura tacked a cloth to the window to stop some of the draft. Bakura shut the door and Rayna took their hands again.

She pulled them to her room and she opened the door. All of the adult girls waited in the room.

“What’s all this about?”

“We want to show you how much we appreciate you getting rid of Khalfani.”

The girls simultaneously removed their clothes.

“Do you think this is a good idea, Bakura?”

Bakura couldn’t respond fast enough as they were both pulled into the room and the door shut behind them.