This is just a random story I made. The idea of the story was to take 9 odd words, words people don't usually use, and incorperate them into a story.

THE 9 WORDS

Impugn – To suggest someone or something cannot be trusted.

Impetus – The energy or motivation behind an accomplishment or undertaking.

Implore – To beg or plead urgently

Inane – Having little sense or importance, pointless lack of meaning.

Incessant – Continuing for a long time unstopped

Incendiary – Describes the deliberate burning of property

Incongruous – Strange, not matching, out of place in a particular context.

Indefatigable – Never showing signs of tiredness, or relaxing of effort

Irreverent – Lacking in respect.

It was an average day at the bar. Drunks, hoodlums, corrupt politicians, police chiefs on the take, all lined up on tap for gourmet cocktails and perfectly brewed brandies and beers. It was a wild and dangerous crowd that any racket worth their salt would have a hard time containing. We didn't hold patron's guns at the door; it was part of our policy to make patrons feel more comfortable and safe from authority and judgment than any other place in the city. Plus, had anything gone wrong, we had men stationed all throughout the bar, even the entire building, all of which packed only the very finest of arms. Hell, the name of our family in itself is more than big enough to deterrent any violence, people knew who we were; they respected us, and knew that we'd deal with any trouble to the fullest extent.

But this day was different, this day someone changed everything for all of us, and little did we know that it was going to be the start of something that would end in our eventual demise.

Among the crowd of rowdy patrons and individuals of questionable morality, was a sharp dressed man in the corner. Shiny silk black suit, luxurious black dress shirt, leather gloves, styled black fedora, sunglasses, and a blood red tie to finish it off. I kept my eye on him the entire time, and so did the rest of the bar for that matter. Even the most suspicious of patrons could sense there was something incongruous about him. For quite a long period of time he just sat in the back corner of the bar in a booth against the wall, incessantly rambling on about inane arguments to himself, he never ordered a drink, he didn't have anything to eat, he was just there for no other reason than talking to himself in the corned while occasionally letting out a little burst of bone chilling, off kilter laughter.

The rest of the security staff began to mummer amongst themselves, myself included, and we all began to impugn his presence, and question his motive for being here. The bartenders and waiters had asked him all night if he wanted anything, he sent them all away. I guess he noticed our confusion, just around the time we were about to escort him out, he got up and walked straight towards us.

He walked with a stylish swagger; he never took his eyes off of us while he casually plowed his way through the room at a steady, yet unusually fast pace. It was quite intimidating, as soon as we saw him get up we fell completely silent, and as he walked towards us you could feel in uneasy feeling on everybody's mind, without hesitation we all readied our fingers and tighten out grips around out concealed weapons, prepared for the worst. With every step that came closer the slight feeling of fear grew stronger into the fringe of a panic, with that intimidating walk and blankly grim expression on his face, there was surely no way that he intended to do anything good. It almost turned into a shootout right there and then, there was this feeling that nobody could shake, I, myself had my gun half way out of its back holster, and I knew the rest of the security team next to me were even closer to firing. Then, when he was within arm's length of all of us, even closer for some, he just halted, stopped in his tracks.

A good five or ten seconds must have gone by, there was nothing but silence among all of us, not a word was spoken. For ten seconds he stared at everyone one of us through his shining pitch black sunglasses, turned his head from one end of the group to the other, like he was sizing every one of us up. Then, the most unexpected thing happened.

He smiled….

I've known a lot of wise guys in my time, from highly respected and fearsome Dons to murderous psychopathic hit men, and none of them had a smile as demented as this one. He let out a guttural chuckle under his breathe through his teeth, and then asked us one of the oddest questions I've ever heard.

"Would you like to see a magic trick?" he asked us. We didn't say anything; we didn't know how to respond really, none of us said anything. I was just about to utter the word "no" when he pointed a finger in my face, out of all of us in the group, he pointed at me! "You!" he said as he pointed a finger in my face, "What is your name?" he asked me, "Jimmy… Jimmy Jagger" I told him honestly, "And what is your job here, Jimmy?" he asked as he pulled his finger away from my face. I figured there was no harm in telling him the truth, hell, if he were a conman maybe letting him know the truth would work in my favor, "I'm security professional, I'm here protecting this establishment on behalf of the Cavarones" I told him, "These are my co-workers" I said as I extended an arm among the group, "And that's the security chief, Jack Malrone" I explained as I pointed to Jack, my boss and longtime friend. Jack lightly smiled and nodded his head in the direction of this man. The man's smiled started to transform from a grim expression into a joyful glee, "Most intriguing! Very well, Jimmy, you were the one asked, and so you shall be the first witness to see the powers of fate at hand!" he exclaimed, the man then took out a deck of cards from under his coat at a frightening speed. It alarmed us at first, but once we realized it was only a deck of cards we relaxed, "Pick a card, any card" he said to me as he stretched out the cards between his hands. I picked one at random, and turned it around only to reveal that it was the queen of hearts, as I examined the card he gave me a pen from his coat and handed it to me, "Now, don't tell me what card you have. What I want you to do is write down your name on your card, so you know that it is yours" he instructed me. I did as I was told, and handed back the card face down to him. He put on an amazing display of shuffling, I had never seen shuffling as grand as this, and it was almost a show in itself. After about a minute of shuffling he raised his hat to reveal that a card had been underneath his hat the entire time, "Is this your card?" he said as he handed the card from under his hat to me. I don't know how, but somehow, the card that had been under his hat the entire time, was indeed my card. "Ahhh, the queen of hearts! A very good card! Such a lovely lady, forgiving, merciful, and beautiful…. It means happy life" he said. We were all wowed, we laughed, all of the sudden this creepy guy was friendly and amazing at his game. He did the same trick to one or two others of the security team, varying up where "the card" was, from his sleeve to even under the hat of the mark, he wowed us every time.

Eventually, on his fourth trick, he got down to Jack, the security chief. Jack was a more serious guy, he wasn't much for parlor tricks, but even he cracked a smile at this man's abilities, so, Jack played along. Jack picked his card, which happened to be the three of clubs, and wrote his name down as the others had done, and gave back the card. However, the man asked a question while he was shuffling this time, "who did you say you work for again? The Cavarones?" he asked, Jack replied with a simple "that's right" and continued to watch the man shuffle, but the outcome was not what he expected.

"Is this your card?" he asked once more as he held the card up to Jack's face, but much to everyone's surprise, it wasn't his card, for the first time it seemed as though the magician had slipped up, but things are never what they seem in this business. The card was not the three of clubs, it was the ace of spades, and it had the name "Cavarone" written on it. Jack scowled and grumbled "No". The man cracked another demented smile that chilled everyone's bones, "Oh, but this is your card! But it is not the card that you drew from the deck, THIS is the card you drew from the deck" he said as he took the three of clubs with Jack's name on it from the deck, "But this is NOT your card… YOUR card is the same card shared by your superiors, Mr. Malrone… The Ace of Spades…. Death"

Before anyone could figure out what he was saying, there was a sudden flash from his sleeve. Jack stood still for a second or two, then collapsed. We all reached for our pieces, but by the time our fingers barely touched our pistol grips the man had pulled out a huge weapon from under his jacket. It was a weapon the likes of which I'd never seen before, highly customized, it was like a tommy-gun, but it looked like it was built for one hand instead of two, long curved ammo clip. With one strafing burst the rest of the security team was down, I got my gun half way pointed at his face when he shot me in my leg. My gun fell on the floor and slid, I couldn't get to it, I was completely powerless to stop what happened next.

He cleared the room with his weapon, irreverent to the laws of nature and mercy as he downed everyone in the area with an indefatigable determination. It wasn't a shootout, he barely moved from his spot, he never took cover, and only one or two people got the chance to fire back, both of course missed their mark, it wasn't a fire fight, it was slaughter.

I looked up at him, and as he fired his final shots he was laughing, almost as if the brutal deaths of the victims in the room had awakened a joyful impetus for mayhem. He looked down at me and laughed, laughed as I cried tears of pain of the bullet wound and at the deaths of my fellow wise guys. He walked up to the bar and took a bottle of liquor from the cabinet, then walked back over to me and ripped my tie off my neck and stuffed it down the bottle neck. He just laughed as he lit his new made incendiary and threw it into the bar. The place was aflame in minutes. He dragged me out of the room by the back of my coat, and set me out in the lobby, he bent down to my eye level, then gave me the Ace of Spades from earlier "You're a lucky man Mr. Jagger… the cards favored you today! Sadly it didn't favor your superiors. You be sure that the Don himself sees this card, and you tell him exactly… and I mean, EXACTLY, what it means. This isn't a war Mr. Jagger, this is annihilation!" he said then bust out an incredibly loud, maliciously sinister laugh, "This is going to be one hell of a show! And everyone's invited to watch!... goodbye, Mr. Jagger" he told me.

"Hit the road Jack, don'tchya come back no more, no more, no more, no more!" he sang as it echoed down the wide hallway leading to the front door. I sat there helpless, wounded, and in shock.

I had just been part of the very first event that would launch a war the likes of which I'd never seen before. Not a war between families, not a war against authority, but a war against a new enemy we've never dealt with… a Psychopath.