The sound of a television playing the news in the background woke Cole up from what was a fitful sleep. He cursed out softly, if he knew he was going to pass out the moment he got onto that cruiser he would logged right back in at least his body would have rested while he took care of some very important business.
Now he had absolutely no idea how long he has been passed out for. And he felt like crap, well perhaps less crap than he did after the extraction from his apartment. He did have a massive headache though, almost as if he had gone on a drinking binge.
He got up from the bed, and froze immediately at the two men sitting on massive armchairs, looking at the floating holo-Tv and drinking from small glasses. From here he could smell the alcohol in their breath.
"Cole?" the older man with a full head of white hair called out, all of usually slicked back but this time looking very unkept and disheveled.
"Yes grandfather." Cole answered, unwillingly sounding like a child in front of both men…. Just seeing them like this took him back to when he was younger…. They always seemed too bigger than life, like they were on a completely different wave length than he was and he would never be able to reach them no matter what he says.
"You should come see what they are saying on the news… they say your brothers were terrorists…. The Unagi family are really desperate to disparage the name of my family."
Cole would rather not watch any sort of news report, especially not one like this that would leave his father and grandfather in such a terrible mood. But given that they had both just lost two grandsons and two sons…. Cole could not help but understand….. This was how the men of Night family grieved.
He took the third seat and poured a straight shot of one of the liquor they were partaking and two distinct flavor exploded in his mouth, he winced at the burn as it slowly pulled itself down his throat. Sake and Palm wine…. Fuck! They were pulling out all of the shops mixing the traditional Japanese alcohol and the traditional Nigerian alcohol.
And that was just one of it, Cole could see bourbon, whiskey, vodka and brand bottles of different brands. Most of them were still almost full, but it's quite obvious they have been sampling everything. Cole sighed and finally raised his head to meet both their eyes, and what he saw scared him.
Both their eyes were bloodshot, tempered by hours of crying and the rage that was being cultivated underneath. The Night family men wore their hearts on their sleeves, at least for their loved ones. They had sharp instincts and ruthless streaks of business acumen… but what they were known for was their unflinching ability to love with all of their hearts.
And when you take away such love…. You break them to the point of no return, and that was what he was seeing right now, men who have reached the point of no return. He took another swing, this time going ahead to tango with the Vodka knowing without a doubt he would pay for it later.
[In others news, at 0200 West African time an act of what could be considered urban warfare broke out in the sunrise apartments of downtown Abuja. This fight that took place within the Nyanya axis has left 87 dead, both of which consists of innocent bystander and the instigators of this act of terrorism.
However what is most shocking as the world is still trying to wrap its head around what appeared to have been a battle between two super human beings! One of which has been identified as former Intergalactic class athlete and celebrity Cole Alexander Night, also known as the Knight of Twilight! I warn you the clip you are about to watch is incredibly violent and gory.]
As soon as the reporter stopped speaking, an overhead shot and quite some from different angles of the fight between him, the young master and what's his name again, surfaced. Fortunately the clip was not doctored as it showed the attack from the beginning to the end, even from the moment Cole had been led out of hid apartment to when he had finally placed a bullet in the head of the so called young master. And through it all his bloody face was highlighted.
"Fuck!" Cole cursed out loud at what he saw.
"Watch your language around me boy or I will give you a good spanking!" his father barked out, causing Cole to wince as even he could tell his father was just going through the motions with that.
"Leave the boy alone Justin or I will be the one giving you a spanking. He has been blooded and quite frankly he gets a seat at the table for not just surviving to keep our line going but striking a blow back at our enemies. Cole is not a child."
Cole was caught off guard… his father was strict, but so was his grandfather. And he was a man who stood by his principles and his rules no matter what, and that rigidness had caused the both of them to clash so many times even when Cole knew he was the favorite grandchild.
"Everyone is looking for you now. Our enemies, the government, scientists, conspiracy theorists and every random Tom, Dick, Harry and their dogs. Your brothers are gone… the future of our family… but there's you.
I see you have grown, and I know you are just as stubborn as I am boy but damn it! It's all hands on deck for the family right now. So the question I want to ask you is are you ready to be a part of this family again? And no more of that whiny bullshit about wanting to live you own life and figure out who you want to be.
Blood has spilt, our family's blood and you have struck back and taken one of their own. But it goes beyond that, they took two main members and 76 of our retainers. Its war until the other side has been wiped out, but we are being played… but regardless this is a family of lions and snakes, we bite back, but above all we are soldiers and we take orders! Now one day you will be the one giving those orders.
But right now, are you ready to serve your family, to live for them just as we will live for you. Because we have nobody else but ourselves. Family is Forever." His grandfather said as he held Cole's gaze with steel. And all Cole said back was.
"Family is Forever… so who dies next?"