Dukes couldn't resist going back to the bar to see the girl he'd met the night before, the girl he'd hastily put on a pedestal and just as quickly inked onto the skin of his bicep. The place was busier today, observing the surroundings; he closed the doors behind him and walked in with slow steps.

At the bar, rotund men spilled over the worn barstools and rested their huge frames on their elbows, ignoring the sticky residual of liquid that clung to the counter surface obstinately. Dukes pushed forward when he saw a vacant stool, a fingerless glove lifted beckoningly in the air as he tried to order a drink, a large one.

"What can I get you Sweetie?" The only worker tonight asked him. She was a fragile girl but the vibrancy of her smile infected Dukes as he watched her lean on a beer pump, craning over to eagerly take his order.

"Three pints and a whiskey chaser" Dukes grumbled before leaning back, almost to the point where the stool gave out underneath him, as he searched for the girl. He missed the look of shock and good humoured shake of the bar maid's head as she spun around and began working on his order.

In a second the four glasses were in front of him and without looking at her, a wrinkled note was pulled from his pocket and placed in her awaiting palm.

"You looking for anyone in particular?" She said as she nodded to another punter and hurriedly pushed a glass to the nozzle of an upturned bottle of suspicious looking green alcohol.

"Girl that was working here yesterday, after twelve, Jenny?" Dukes gruffly answered as the last mouthful of his second beer was swilled pleasantly down his throat.

The woman made a thoughtful noise before clicking her thumb and index finger together and pointing at him like she'd just solved a puzzle,

"Ahh…that was your first time here, I wasn't working, explains why I haven't seen you before. She's on a break at the minute…one minute" Her nimble hand pulled a packet of crisps down from the shelf above her, Dukes couldn't help the subliminal part of his caveman brain that made stare at the revealed flesh of her stomach as she craned up.

When her hand grasped it, she quickly flicked her arm so the crisps transferred hands and then with perfect aim threw them to a wiry looking man that had his hands already out stretched and waiting for the snack.

Jogging out of sight, Dukes watched her leave and then immediately bring out his girl. They were smiling girlishly,

"Thanks Dill" Jenny said before manoeuvring around the bar and directly into Dukes's heavy embrace.

This was so much better than wasting any time back at the camp with the fellow members of Stryker's pack. The couple had relocated back to a cushioned, suede upholstered booth and remained there for a while, well past her allotted break time.

A smashing sound, glass, made Fred Dukes unlock his lips from the brunette next to him and look up at the chaos. Two men were embroiled in a fight, a fight that had momentarily been paused when the larger, sweat stained, heavy breathing drunk pulled back the bottle he'd been swigging from and crashed it into the other man's skull.

Then, as if a boxing match bell rang, the occupants of the little bar collided. Everyone's fists sprang into action, pounding and thwacking their nameless opponents. Jenny wriggled away from him and sprinted to the bar where her friend, the upbeat girl had served him his drinks was backed up by a wall of glasses.

Dukes determinedly walked up to the bar in her wake and began to pull the men apart, hitting them solidly so they lost conscious at once and fell to the floor. Jenny was leaning over the bar, in a space between the fighting but then her little frame fell clattering to the floor with her eyes shut tight in shock.

Fighting behind her were two thin, to the point where their bones nudged out against their skin covering, the one swung wildly with the already half shattered bottle in his hand. Surprisingly the man he was attacking dodged and the jagged bottle changed course, hitting Jenny squarely.

Dukes lost it then, every occupant fell unconscious at his boots but the two men came off worse, they were on the wrong end of his solid, unrelenting fists. He was panting heavily when he stood up; Jenny's friend was out from behind the bar and knelt to the floor with two fingers against the fallen woman's neck.

She was dead.

Dill, that was what Jenny called her, sprang back when she saw Dukes attention was on her and withdrew away from him. For a long moment Fred stared at the girl he had forever inked on his skin lay awkwardly on the floor, she wouldn't wake up. He'd never see her again.

But they had only met yesterday. A deep sigh raked his body and he cast his glare to the ceiling, looking for some sign or signal of where to go from here. The entire bar was silent, the jukebox stubbornly refused to give up its song – though Dukes couldn't name the song, only the barmaid and he remained conscious.

Movement made his eyes snap back to her, the little orange painted nails of her hand were shakily hitting the buttons of a brick like phone and as she held it to her ear Fred made his decision. Quickly he marched to her side and ripped the phone from her, chucking it aside, he couldn't have this girl blowing the cover Stryker insisted upon.

Meekly the girl let out a gasp when Dukes encircled her wrists in a single handed grip, pulled her to her feet and began to drag her from the unconscious tavern. When she began to scream, Dukes covered her mouth, as well as most of her face with a large hand and narrowed his black eyes at her.

As he sternly said, "Quiet" through gritted teeth, the girl nodded her head and looked up at him with watering, wide eyes.