Corruption by power

In the bosses office stood the man in charge of finding the traitor, he had a face full of uncertainty. "Boss I found the traitor but it seems that someone got to them before us and finished them off. I believe the people who hired him got rid of him in order to silence the witnesses. He had two copper coins placed over his eyes after his death and it seems he suffering a surprise attack judging from the traitors final facial expression before their death."

The boss slammed his fist into the desk in front of him. "So useless. Now we don't even have a lead to let us know who is targeting us. What about the copper coins?"

The man thought for a moment before a realisation struck his mind. "I may have an idea who killed him."

"Who is it?" The boss revealed a look of anticipation upon hearing there was a lead to follow.

"The coins placed on the eyes is a symbol of paying a fee for the persons trip to the underworld. There is only one person who is rumoured to use this method but nobody knows their true face, gender or name. It's rumoured that he targets people within the slums who commit the worst of deeds and people began to refer to them as the grim reaper. I suspect either the person is acting out their own views of justice or are part of some assassin organisation." The man began to explain carefully.

The boss stood up and revealed a look of fear in his eyes after hearing the word assassin but quickly concealed his expression to look as calm as possible in front of his subordinate. "You can investigate but if it becomes too dangerous know when to retreat."

"Yes boss!" The man bowed and left the room.

The boss opened the drawer in his desk and took out a booklet, he began to read it with an anxious expression.

Soon he closed it again after finishing the book, he then put on a determined expression. "There are no signs of the previous boss as he suddenly went missing… there is also the competition between the gangs in the area and now there is an assassin…"

His eyes glinted coldly and a smirk appeared on his face. "But in the end I will be the survivor of it all."

He began to head out of the room and walked down towards the dungeon and met the guards on the outside of the doors. "You are all dismissed, go upstairs and make sure nobody enters after me."

The guards nodded quickly and left him standing at the door to the underground dungeon.

He paced around for a little while as if hesitating but then he suddenly opened the door and walked in.

The eyes of the people captured revealed fear upon seeing him come inside, one or two foolish people had hope in their eyes as if they had a chance to escape their prison but suddenly the boss stepped before one of the cells and the key entered the hole.

The door opened and wretched screams of pain and struggling came from within the cell which was followed by laughter of the boss.

Suddenly the slaves were aware that they would be the next victims and backed off the go back of their cells in order to avoid being chosen next.

One by one a door of a jail cell was opened and screams followed.

Soon the door opened and the boss walked to where the guards stood, two men waited as instructed. "You both clean up the bodies, we are cutting our losses with this batch."

"But boss we never let go of a profit, weren't they your words that you said to us when you wished to become the boss? Have you changed your mind so quickly?" One of the guards questioned him upon hearing the orders.

The boss stood there as if he did not hear his subordinates worries and responded. "Hurry and do your job!"

"Come on just let it go." The other guard reminded his friend.

"No! You were the one that said that if we were going to do something like slavery and other stuff we need to be all in and commit to it but look at you now. We all followed your words and committed and even drove out the previous boss. But here you are not following your own words how can I trust in you in the…" The guard tried to argue back with his own thoughts which were also part of their regrets on betraying the previous leader but suddenly something slashed his neck as the boss waved a dagger towards his throat without warning.

"Y..yo.." the guard tried to speak when suddenly a hand grabbed him by the throat and a strange suction began to drain away his remaining strength.

Soon he withered up like a plant that had not been watered in a long time and finally lost the last remaining remnants of his vitality.

He died and fell to the ground and his friend stood back looking at the action of his boss with fear in his eyes. 'The boss has changed… no..l did we ever truly know him well enough until now? All I can see now is a scary beast playing with its food. We chose the wrong person to lead but now it is too late to regret.'

He looked towards the exit and made a decision to run away but as he turned around to flee a dagger had already entered his back. "No.."

In his final moments he stretched his hands towards the exit as if wishing it to get closer to him until his vision faded. 'I have to… warn… them… all.'

Soon the structure of the gambling hall changed and many fearful people who wished to flee during the chaos or potential traitors were quickly slaughtered.

Only the truly loyal people within the group remained and began to clean up the corpses.