The Durden experience hadn't traumatized them exactly, but the Devans both kept their guns closer that night in an unspoken agreement over it. Two large, shiny pieces of metal lay on the dinner table next to their plates late that night, on the floor of the bathroom as they slipped necks deep into the large claw-foot bathtub together, and on the back of the couch as they lounged on it later still, while listening to the radio and flipping through the late edition of the paper for any word on who 'Durdens' were, and why they had shot up the restaurant earlier in the evening. 

Kass didn't seem to be a particular target, she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As gangsters, the two should expect such things, they told each other. Kass' eyes slipped closed as she fell into a light doze on the couch. 

Instantly, she was back in the restaurant again, but this time, things were going very differently. Cam wasn't saving her- in fact, Cam was getting filled full of lead and dying in her arms while she screamed his name over and over. She awoke with a little yelp, sitting bolt upright and knocking Cam's newspaper to the floor.

"CAMDYN!"

"What? I'm right here, Darling," he said, pulling her back into his arms. She resisted, still locked in the throes of the nightmare.

"Kassandra!" Devan said firmly. That authoritative tone had never failed him before, in or out of the bedroom. Kass blinked and turned to look at him. He was very much alive, and not bloody at all.

"These Durden people," she said, rubbing her eyes, then her temples. "We need to be better prepared. Here we are, carrying guns, and we were completely ambushed. Maybe we should- should we go train or something? We may be decent shots, but I want to be excellent shots," she said, and there was a glimmer there in her eyes, something born of the charmed life they'd seemingly lived so far. It could all wash away in a fleeting moment, like so much blood down a dirty gutter. Instead of hiding from it, being fearful of it, she wanted to go after it. Chase it down until she, they, were no more.

"I think we should do that. Practice. A lot. And not just with guns. We should get into- sales," she said, watching Camdyn's face for a reaction. Money was no issue for them, it was clear Kassandra just wanted to fully submerge herself in the 'culture'. "We could try it, you know. Get a few kilos, or a few case-" She stopped abruptly there, and her eyes got a bit glossy as her thoughts raced faster than her words could follow. 

"Fuck drug running. What if we- what if we opened a liquor store, right here in Philly? We'd need a front, of course, and some payoffs, but wouldn't that be grand? Cam? What do you think?! Mizz Briggs said she'd help us, you know how powerful she is," Kass continued, now practically bouncing in Cam's lap. 

So Camdyn and Kassandra starting spending their days training at the gun range as much as humanly possible whilst still having to go about completing all their new assignments that they were being fed from their new crime family. Whether it be stealing overpriced items from galleries and selling them on or destroying one of the other local crime families businesses with a can of petrol and some matches, they were making a tidy penny to save towards their liquor business fund and didn't think they would have to wait much longer.

With a couple of weeks they had both already noticed a remarkable improvement in both of their capabilities with a gun, their accuracy had skyrocketed and they were much more confident in using them. One day having just finished a session at the range they were walking back towards their apartment when suddenly Camdyn noticed that his shoe lace had come undone so he proceeded to bend down on one knee and tie it back up again. Kass had not noticed this happen and continued to walk along the street by herself oblivious when a car drove past them and pulled up along side her.

"Hello darling, remember me?" One of the Durdens sneered as he hung his head out of the window.

Kassandra jumped back startled and then froze to the ground when she realised that it was the same Durden from a few weeks back that had stopped her.

"Whats wrong? Cat got your tongue?" He laughed whilst his friends in the car joined in.

Suddenly there was a loud crack followed by an equally loud "TING" as a bullet ricocheted off the cars mirror right next to the ear of the Durden who immediately brought his head back inside the car. Kass jumped round to find Camdyn standing up, gun raised and pointing straight at the car.

"Next ones in your head if you don't get out of my sight within the next 5 seconds!!" Camdyn yelled out to them

"Who the hell do you think you're shooting that thing at you stupid shit!!" cried out the reply from inside the car

"4!"

"5!! Okay, have it your way!" Camdyn roared as he started firing his pistol at the back of the Durdens car.

The driver of the car panicked and floored the accelerator quickly departing the area with smokey squealing tires as one of Camdyns bullets smashed the rear windscreen. He kept pulling the trigger until he had no more bullets left but by this point the car was nowhere to be seen. Camdyn put the pistol away quickly and ran over to where Kassandra was still stood frozen in shock at what had just happened.

"Seems like these lessons have been paying off after all darling, come on lets get you home before they decide to change their mind and come back" he said as he put his arm around her and led her back to their apartment.

The first test had worked out well enough. Gun proficiency didn't always guarantee lack of blowback, though. Durdens were a shifty lot; when you dealt with one, it rarely ended there. There were always friends, or bosses, or simply injured pride coming at you next- God help you if you only grazed one.

This was the second test. Camdyn was in the business of fleecing people, not killing them. His gun hand had become as good as his poker hand, but he wasn't a natural-born killer. Thinking that his scare tactics were enough of a deterent, he and his wife went home with a very large sense of security surrounding them. The night passed as any night normally would, and when Camdyn left the district to complete a rather profitable drug deal the next day, neither he nor Kass gave it a second thought.

The Durdens did, though. Those bastards never forget a sleight, or a face. Around the time that Camdyn was expected home by his adoring wife, one of them casually strolled to their apartment door and gave the doorknob a twist. 

Locked. Muffling his voice, the man put on his best Irish accent and mumbled complete gibberish.

"Did you forget your keys? Hang on!" Kassandra called out from inside as she wiped her hands on a kitchen towel. She'd been tenderizing a steak that would taste excellent, once fully marinated and grilled. When she opened the door, dressed in her t-shirt and jeans with a cute little apron wrapped around her midsection, it was nearly comical when the barrel of an FN 1900 was shoved into her open, surprised mouth. 

"Maybe not the cat who got your tongue, eh? Looks like I just did!" Said the greaseball from the car. Kassandra began moving backwards, but not as fast as he was moving forwards. She was having a hard time not tripping over her own feet as images of her own brain matter splattered all over the kitchen counter behind her played through her mind. After tonight, assuming she survived it, she wasn't sure she'd be eating steak again.

"The polite thing to do, when asked a question, is to answer it. I'll ask you again. Who you running with?" He knew the answer of course, and had been told to steer clear of any godfather crew members, but youth often equated with stupidity, in this line of work. 

"Ya silly fucks just don't learn, do ye?" Camdyn bellowed from behind him, pointing his own gun at the back of the greaseball's head. He never did wait for an answer; there was a click, and then a deafening BANG as he pulled the trigger, freeing large portions of the man's brain from its enclosure. Kass stared at her husband in horror, but not because she was now covered in cerebral matter and blood.

"He could have...what if he'd reflexively pulled the trigger?!" She asked as a solitary tear rolled down her cheek.

"Kassandra. Darling. Whatever he thought he was going to do to you, shooting you wasn't his first priority. His finger wasn't even inside the trigger guard," he chuckled, giving the body on the floor between them a hearty kick in the ribs.

Despite his initial amusement at the situation, Camdyn had now – whilst cleaning up the mess left by the body - started to realise the seriousness of what he had done. He had offered to deal with it not only because it was his fault there was a man missing a part of his head on their floor but also because he needed time to think to himself so he had suggested that Kassandra go back to organising the wonderful smelling steaks she was preparing and left him to it.

From their time in their new crime family, Camdyn had already sussed out a contact who dealt with bodies so a quick phone call and the passing of a large sum of cash later the body had been taken away to be disposed of, this just left him the lovely job of putting on some gloves and cleaning the disgusting mess that had been left behind.

Once he was satisfied that everything was back to normal he suddenly started stripping off in their living room.

“Woah… what exactly do you think you’re doing mister, huh?” Kassandra exclaimed from the kitchen.

“Don’t even begin to let your filthy imagination get started!” He said shaking his head and laughing, “I’m going to get a shower and need to get rid of these bloodied clothes so I’m taking them off here to put with the rest of the rubbish before I trail it all through the house.

“ME?… my filthy mind?? Excuseeeee me Mr Devan but I was sweet and innocent until I met you!!”  She protested holding her hands on his hips

“I guess I can’t argue with that” He smirked as he turned naked and walked to the bathroom.

“Hmmmmmmmm this is fucking delicious if I do say so Kass!” Camdyn said as he placed a large piece of steak into his mouth and chomped hungrily.

Kassandra looked up at him appreciatively but he knew something was off straight away from the worried look on her face.

“What’s wrong darling?” he asked

She sighed and turned her head to the spot where a dead body had been laying mere hours earlier then turned her attention back to her husband “I’m scared Cam, it won’t be long now until they realise something is wrong and one of their men is missing and they are sure to come here eventually. What are we going to do about this?”

“I was thinking about that when I was in the shower” he replied taking a sip of his drink and clearing his throat.

“Even if they knew that he was coming here to shoot us, there’s no way they will know what happened to him although I imagine they will make an educated guess. Fortunately there’s no evidence or body any more but I agree long-term we might have to do something more than just play ignorant. First thing tomorrow I’m going to pay a visit to the family headquarters and speak to someone with some experience who might be able to help us.”

“No.” She instantly responded. “WE are going to be paying them a visit, after this I refuse to let you out of my sight for any more time than necessary”
 

Which is what they did. The next day, they brought the issue to the higher-ups in their Bella Vista organization. Powerful as it was, though, no crew, anywhere, was going to ever truly get the Durden crew under control. The Devans were told that, yes, from time to time they could be beaten into submission, but never for long. There were simply too many, and they always, always came back. 

The Devans didn't let this deter them, though. Kass in particular used this knowledge to push herself even harder into a successful life of crime. More gun training, more alcohol imports and sales, more connections made across the country. The money was just paper at this point- Camdyn was winning poker tournaments in grand fashion, and with Kass' liquor business taking off as it had, the two were making more money than they could burn. The linen closet in the small hallway of their apartment held no linen- the shelves had been removed and it was stacked floor-to-ceiling with tightly wrapped currency.

Kass was standing there with her hand on the doorknob, staring at the ridiculous amount of money that they had agreed should never be banked, when Camdyn walked up behind her.

"Should we buy a bigger place?" She asked with a smile as his hands slipped around her waist. There was a 'thump' at the front door then, and when Camdyn went to check through the peephole, he shook his head and opened the door, reaching low to pick up an envelope. He opened it, and sighed.

"Durdens, eight hours."