From Fairy Princess to Ruthless Gang Leader

(This follows the tale of a missing fairy princess named Stephanie Goldmaracynthia Bell, who eventually became corrupt by the dark influences of Earth. The fairies in the higher world continue to try to reach out to her. Warning: this content contains some potentially disturbing violence).

Carletta discovered a basement in an abandoned building but soon realised that it was occupied by several homeless people and various addicts of different sorts.

But she took her stolen guns and began driving them all away by harsh and repeated threats and by firing bullets up at the ceiling. This was going to become a new base of her’s.

She said only those could stay who were prepared to work under her and make something of their lives.

Michael McCaan clearly remembered the day she stood on top of an old chair and gave a rousing, passionate speech to that unfortunate circle of ‘down and outs.’

There was something about this woman. Not only did she clearly mean business but she was someone who commanded respect. She displayed real leadership qualities as though she had some innate authority over other people.

As she spoke, he felt himself longing to join her. He wanted to follow this charismatic individual to the ends of the earth. The urge to do so felt irresistible. Sure, there were dangers, but what was his current life in the gutter in comparison to one of such energy, daring and adventure?

She was addressing them all in a raised voice and sometimes even yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Who among you would fight for a better life?!” She then clenched her fist.

Many voices cried back in response. “Me!! Yeah!! I would!!”

“Louder!!”

And they shouted back louder. There were even three women shouting their heads off alongside some eight men, some young, others middle-aged and one in his late fifties.

“Then who wants to overthrow the Blithson gang and take their spoils?!”

Again, they all yelled and cheered in approval of the idea.

“Then let’s make the streets safer by crushing them all!!”

It was a known fact that Blithson gang members would rob from vulnerable people such as those who lived on the streets.

Carletta called her group Safter Streets which consisted in thirteen members including herself. She took the name Stephanie. This seemed like a safe name to use within her inner circle of criminal companions.

As yet, they had no idea just what a strict regime they had signed up for when deciding to join Safter Streets and operate under the command of the mysterious ‘Stephanie.’

There was an initiation day where those who joined her had to actually pledge their loyalty to her using a formula and they each had to draw some blood from their hand. One young woman was about to change her mind when she was told that this was a requirement, but after meeting the frightening look of Stephanie who stood before her, offering her the knife, she reluctantly went along with the painful ritual and joined the gang. She was punished for her weakness by being named ‘Snow White.’

They were all given a new name that day, issued by their leader. The male who showed most promise, she named Aslan, after the Lion in the Narnia series. This was a day when they would all become ‘new.’ She was going to mould them into new people, sharpened tools who would execute her will at the blink of an eye.

It wasn’t so much the physical power of their new leader, such as strength and fighting skills that caused them to respect and fear her. No, it was something deep inside her that none of them could quite put their finger on. They felt like they were all ‘under Stephanie’s spell.’ She was like a shot of heroin to them. They needed her terribly but felt tormented in many ways at the same time. Twice a day she would feed their minds with her words, binding them more and more to herself and her cause.

She sometimes called them her ‘lions,’ and if they underperformed while she taught them, she would say things like, ‘don’t be such a cub.’ She would then shout in their ear, ‘I want you to be a lion!!’

After doing something wrong, one grown man stood before her and felt tears of anguish coming to his face as she locked eyes with him. He was so terrified that he started shaking. But she just walked past him and muttered in his ear, “don’t do that again Walter.” She then threw down a glass bottle that smashed at his feet and gestured for him to clear it up.

When she was away, they would all gather round and talk about their strange new leader but there was still that fear in the air even when she was gone. There were so many things they wanted to say about her but they dreaded the consequences of saying anything that could get them into trouble. But finally, the young woman who had been named ‘Snow White,’ stood up and said, “I think Stephanie is a Witch. Who agrees with me?”

There was silence. Then each member began to look at the others, wondering who would be the first to agree. But in the end no one said anything and Snow White sat back down and fell into deep anxiety, fearing that someone might report what she had said.

Sure enough, to her horror, Aslan who was so far, the favourite of Stephanie, on seeing her approach with her usual threatening glare, told her what Snow White had said.

Stephanie squinted her eyes, then walked slowly towards the young woman who began trembling and said, “I take that back. I’m here to serve you Stephanie!”

Stephanie stood right in the woman’s personal space and was heard to say, “this cub may have to be put down. And if so, she will be despatched by one of you!” Snow White burst into pitiful tears.

The leader then turned to the others who all shuddered in horror. But she continued, “however, I’m confident that she will not speak against me again. Nor will any of you unless you want to see what becomes of traitors. I’ll have them stung up and dealt with like a Medieval torture festival. Now get to work. Snow White? Show me some promise. Do something to redeem yourself.”

She then wondered off and lit up a cigarette.

While she was doing this, another man came up from behind her. After seeing the heart-rending scene, he felt brave enough to attack her. Stephanie was a tyrant. The others watched in awe as he picked up a rusty chain with a padlock attached to the end of it. He then rushed at her from behind as she continued smoking. He swung the chain at the side of her head with all his might. But her arm shot up and caught the chain which wrapped around her wrist and the padlock ended up in her hand. She did this without even turning her head or putting the cigarette out. Then with a swift tug, she pulled him towards her and hit him on the head with the padlock. This all took place very quickly. He gave a yell before collapsing with a thud on the concrete floor.

“Tie him up Aslan,” she said calmly, “before I use this cigarette to set his hair on fire. Aslan followed the instruction and secured the culprit.

“Good, now either I torture this man to the point of death, or Snow White gives him a clean shot to the head.” She then slashed his face, severely scratching him like a wild cat.” He woke up with a loud groan of pain. Blood dripped from Stephanie’s fingertips. Everyone else except for Aslan felt spellbound and deeply afraid. Stephanie then removed the pistol from her jacket pocket, readied it and handed it to Snow White who looked absolutely traumatised.

“Take it!!” shouted the leader.

With a gasp, the young woman took the loaded weapon which was now stained with blood. “Shoot him or you’ll probably end up in a pit with him. Move!”

Snow White screamed and shouted, “I don’t want to!”

“Shut up you flimsy girl! Stop being a cub! Redeem yourself! He’s going to die anyway!”

Out of a desperate need to survive, she closed her eyes and feeling sick with fear, guilt and stress, pulled the trigger just as the man cried out in terror. “No! don’t do it!” There was a loud blast. But the bullet missed the man’s head and tore through his shoulder.

Snow White screamed again in anguish and pity for her victim.

“Again! Finish him off!” Her leader prodded her violently. “Shoot him again!”

It was such a horrible nightmare that she just stood there and sobbed for a while, unable to do anything. The sound of the victim’s cries of agony and pleading were in the air but no one dared to lift a finger to help him or the pressured young woman who was being forced to commit her first murder.  

She met the leader’s frightful look again which was firmly telling her to do what needed to be done and get it over with. She also looked around at the others. The two other women showed compassion for her being in such a situation but the men seemed quite expressionless.

“You can do this,” Stephanie told her in a low voice, “if he is let go, we could all be killed. He’s an enemy. You all understood the consequences of betrayal when you signed up for this.”

“Okay, but does it really have to be me that shoots him?”

“Earlier you were showing signs of disloyalty. If you can’t do this, it means you are more of an enemy than a loyal member. You can do this.”

They all saw her locking eyes with that mysterious leader who had such a fearful power in her gaze. There was some sort of dark exchange going on between Stephanie and her trembling but wide-eyed apprentice who now focused all her attention on the leader.

Snow White was seen to screw up her face again. She then made a sudden movement to everyone’s surprise, thrusting the gun forward again, pointing at the struggling man’s face and firing. Everyone jumped at the sound of the gunshot and the splattering and squirting of bright red blood. The victim’s head jerked back before dropping on his chest. The shooter and the other women all gasped at seeing the gruesome spectacle. The bullet had gone through the left eye socket, breaking part of the skull such that the eye was now hanging out. But he still wasn’t dead because the bullet had passed out the side of his head without reaching the brain. The shooter then fired at his head another three times at point blank range. She was quickly covered in her victim’s blood. She then threw the pistol back to Stephanie and shouted, “are you happy now?!”

Stephanie didn’t give any reaction but glanced around and pulled two men aside. “Get rid of the body,” she told them. They nodded and proceeded to do as instructed. She then addressed the others. “Get this woman a drink. Praise her for what she’s done. Move!” They all began following her orders at once. They came to take the young woman away from the ghastly scene where she was still shaking and whimpering. All she could say was, “but I don’t drink.”

Stephanie shook her head. “Trust me, you will drink. You need to calm those nerves.”

There was then general cheering in the air as they made a fuss of Snow White and praised her for the ugly deed of dispatching the traitor and redeeming her honour within the gang.  Never would she forget that day which had put her through the trauma of an up close and personal first killing of a man who had tried to stand up for her, to the bottom of a bottle amid cries of praise and affirmation. And all was because she shared her opinion about the leader being some kind of witch; something that they probably all suspected anyway, at least deep down somewhere. She was also given a new name: Keltolkia which is the word for ‘Wisdom’ in Luminenya, a common fairy tongue that the Wizard of England had begun to teach Carletta before she stopped contacting him. But people would soon start calling her Kel for short.

Stephanie would see to it that Keltolkia would get extra special treatment and more intensive training. Having once killed, this woman could surely be made to do it again and again. She would turn her into a vicious and formidable Right Hand of destruction within the gang. If an ugly job like that needed to be done again in the future, she would get Keltolkia to do it for her. The more she got her to flex that killing muscle, the more dangerous to their enemies she would become and the more qualified and fit Keltolkia would be for future lethal hit missions.