Night Light (Exalted vs World of Darkness)

[Kinotics]

Headlights from his car push back the night on an empty forest road. Bouncing to the tune of the potholes as his car rattles around him, Elio is silent with his eyes focused on shapes beyond the spotlight the headlight provides him. He spares a glance at his phone down on the console, "your destination is on your left" appearing on its bright screen.

Moving his gaze back up, he sees among the tops of the trees a silhouette against the glowing moonlight that doesn't resemble that of the waving and groaning forest around it. It reveals itself as a church steeple with the top of its weathervane missing, a broken spear on the horizon. The lights turn off as he continues his approach and he parks on the road. His engine shudders and sputters as the lights go out. A small creak echoes out as the driver's door opens and he cringes. Stopping to listen, all he can hear is the sigh of the warm summer wind through the trees and his heartbeat in his ears. Hearing nothing stirring to come find him and the source of that creak, he rotates to have his legs facing outwards to the forest and rubs the dark stubble of his chin as he pulls a composition notebook whose cardboard front is fuzzy to the touch from so much use into hand from the passenger seat, shuffling a small backpack out of the way to do so.

He thumbs through the pages until he gets close to the back. The pages before are full of notes and details with each one evoking the painstaking tasks of collecting that which others would prefer hidden and Elio can't help but smile like a carpenter appreciating a finely made table or chair they poured their souls into. The destination is a page close to the back where the pages feel thin behind your leading hand as you hold it. Elio rubs the few remaining blank pages between his fingers as he reads his notes for why he came all this way.

'Local residents of the neighborhood report seeing suspicious strangers hiding in the basement of the Galena Community Church.' Says one line, written in a nice flowing Italian. 'Drug-related deaths on the rise in Galena suggest the trade has begun to flourish' that one is a cut out from the local newspaper.

Reaching behind him into the backseat to grab his trusted digital camera, he stops as his shoulder seizes. Elio gasps slightly as he breathes through the motion of moving back to grab the small camera and rotate back to the front. He gingerly rubs his right shoulder as he stands from the car, gravel crunching and slightly poking through the thin and soft soles of his old tennis shoes. His grimace fades as his shoulder pain dies down to its normal dull ache and he slings his camera strap over his head. The soft leather rubbing against the skin on the back of the neck was always a comfort for him. He leans across the driver's seat to grab his backpack, opening the pockets to check its contents. A lock pick set, a hefty wad of cash, pepper spray, some rope, and a trusty handgun with an extra loaded magazine greet him. He nods and slides it into a holster at his hip. It weighs on him more like an anchor than a trusty partner like his camera. The last check is in his pocket. His hand falls on the reliable treated wood of the hilt of his knife. He pauses as he considers the times it has got him through before moving on.

Stepping forward along the side of the road he keeps his gait methodically slow and graceful. Like the games he played in his youth with his brother, he avoids the twigs and leaves on the ground. The games back then only had the consequences of losing being heard and the sibling getting their chance to try and not be heard. Today the consequences of the game could be being shot by drug runners and left to bleed out in the woods. Of course, he weighs the scales in his favor as much as he can. A forest camo hunter's hat, freshly procured for the job, dark gray sweatpants, and a leather jacket all help to obscure his form as he crosses the threshold into the parking lot of the community church.

A white van without windows sits in the side lot, near a closed entrance to presumably a basement. From this distance it looks more like just the idea of a car, with the light from the only streetlight in the area barely illuminating the fact that it is indeed white. The church itself is barely staggering on through time. Its windows are broken, graffiti from the local kids and toughs now decorating its once hallowed halls. For a moment, Elio can't help himself and he walks to the front entrance. He peers through the metal front door, which he can't help but note looks like it was forced open with a crowbar and sees the ruined interior. Pews now decorated with ages of dust, an altar long since stripped of its cloth and holy scripture, and shards of stained glass lay on the floor. The sad nostalgia of a place once filled with hope, now rotting away. Elio pulls himself away from the wreckage and towards the van. He wasn't here to reminisce, after all. Listening once more, he hears nothing but the wind again and the crunching of a small animal in the underbrush nearby. His camera flashes as he takes a photo of the white van, discovering a lack of license plates. "Figures." He says quietly to the night.

The door down a set of concrete steps has to lead to the basement. With the church floor being empty, if there is something to find it will be in the basement. He creeps down the stairs and tries the handle to the door, finding it locked. Pulling a pen light from his pocket and the pick set from his backpack he crouches down. The lock glints and shines in the light, contrasting the dull galvanized steel of the door. Fresh tool marks define the edges where the dull meets the new and Elio quietly sets to work, putting the pen light in his mouth to hold. Gently pushing and scratching inside the lock, it takes a few minutes of effort and one full reset to hear the dull thud of a deadbolt retracting.

Elio smiles and pushes on the door gently. It does not move. He pushes a little harder, his smile running away from him as he realizes what this was. A small shriek of ill-cared for metal emits from the hinges, echoing down the hall still hidden in the dark beyond the door. There was no quiet way in. Applying just enough pressure to keep the hinges to their quietest level, he opens the door enough to fit through and stops to listen. No footsteps, no questions or shouts, nothing but the absorptive silence of drop ceiling tiles. There is a jingle as Elio replaces his lock set in the satchel and removes the pepper spray, keeping it close to hand.

Darkness abounds in the short hallway leading further into the abyss. Though he can see light coming in from under a door at the end of it. Creeping forward and guided by the small illumination provided from his pen light to avoid pitfalls near the feet, rumpled rugs and wooden debris mostly, he moves to the door. He grunts quietly as he lowers himself to the floor, knees creaking under the change in posture and his shoulder aching as he lays belly-down to look under the door. No sign of shoes, and what looks like the bottoms of several crates. Rising again with a similar groan, he opens a crack in the door. This one at least has the decency to be quiet about it. Inside there are some yellow caged workshop lights hanging from the ceiling, providing some decent lighting for the room. Large wooden crates lay closed on the floor while some iridescent white powder lays idle on the table dominating the center of the room. A large pile that is slowly being divided into smaller baggies. Safety gear, respirators, yellow gloves, and leather gowns are hung from coat hooks on the edges of the room and the various desks and chairs that were unneeded are pushed into the corners. One of the crates is much taller than the others, but is still stacked with the rest, standing twice as tall. Odd considering the others seem to be rather uniform.

What he doesn't see is people. Emboldened by the emptiness and the quiet, Elio slinks into the room, camera ready. He snaps photos of the piles of white powder and baggies on the table as well as pulling off the top of one of the already opened crates to find wrapped bags inside. More photos are taken.

He is putting a baggy into a jacket pocket when he hears footsteps running behind him. While not fast enough to turn to see it, a large man with a bat cracks the side of Elio's head and sends him tumbling to the floor. His vision swims and doubles with darkness beginning to encroach from the edges as the trauma sets in immediately. The stench of iron and the taste of bile fills his mouth and nose as he feels his stomach riles in confusion and pain. Elio tries to get his feet back under him, to not at least be on the ground from the assault, but the damage is too great to overcome. The beast of a man pulls him up by the back of the shirt, turning Elio to face his attacker.

The part of Elio's brain still capable of forming coherent sentences and thoughts whispers in gouts of clarity, taking in the scene and his attacker. Hispanic male, above average height, tattoo along right arm of a snake. The man is saying something, but Elio can't hear it as his head rolls around trying to find balance. All he can hear is a voice in his head chastising himself for not being careful. There's a woman here now. Where did she come from? Elio's head rolls to the other side and finds the tall crate has been opened. It's empty inside except for a person-shaped void in the cotton packing material. Voices start to come back as he feels the hot flow of blood down the side of his head and down his neck, beading up on his leather jacket.

"What should we do with him?" The man asks, still holding Elio up with a casual display of strength. His bat, stained crimson at the end, leaning easily against his other shoulder while the other arm holds Elio at bay as though Elio was no more than a child. Elio begins to reach into his pocket towards his knife. Feeling its wooden hilt, he relaxes a bit through the pain. Nothing like wood and steel to ground you.

The woman locks eyes with Elio though, and everything freezes. She's beautiful. Mysterious. She has a glower for a moment, but it fades away to a smile of an old flame that has reignited. Elio has never met this woman, but it feels like he's known her a lifetime. She has long hair, dark as night and is wearing a necklace made from glittering rose gold. "Are you lost?" Her voice... my god her voice. Silk and honey. Ambrosia to the concussed brain. If he weren't being suspended by a gorilla goon, Elio would have swooned. He tries, actually, only to choke as the grip tightens. "Well, since you came through all the trouble of coming here, would you like to help a girl out? I need some help putting these crates onto the truck and really need a strong guy like you." She puts a hand on Elio's chest, gentle as the breeze. It feels like it's just him and her, spotlighted in eternity.

He's melting. That voice in his head of clarity and panic begins to stir but something puts its foot on its neck. In the choking writhing of that longest moment the struggle is momentarily replaced with bliss. Of true belonging as he stares transfixed into the void of this woman's eyes. Nothing seems to matter and all he can see is her and her words floating through his aching head.

Then the light comes. The fight returns. Whatever beast that has clamped its jaws down on the artery of his consciousness finds its teeth cracked and broken as its assault on personality is rebuffed. Wood and steel. He focuses on the knife in his hand. The spotlight recedes and he can see again the grimy basement he finds himself trapped in. Time is slow, but not because of the woman anymore. He can hear everything, the heartbeat of the man holding him, the drops of his blood falling to the floor beneath him, the shifting of the woman's hand against the rough fibers of his shirt. There is something he smells past the blood caught in his mouth though. The rot of a carcass left unburied for weeks, hidden behind flowery perfume.

He grits his teeth and pulls the knife out from his pocket. The motion is so fast that as he watches their eyes they don't even react to the knife's presence before it's been pushed through the arm of the man holding him. It punches through the long sleeve and emerges out the other side, blood splatter sent flying up to the ceiling to drip down later. As he screams, he drops Elio.

The dizziness is gone, replaced with the sharpest focus possible. There is no time to be tired. Light fills the room and dances along with Elio as he pulls the knife free with his right arm and slams his foot into the goon who stumbles back and onto his ass as he clutches at his arm, knocking a chair over in the process. The woman has frozen, her eyes once sultry and inviting now wide and reflecting bright golden light back to Elio, her mouth turned into a frightened frown.

Was it day time? It couldn't be. Elio pulls his camera up and snaps a photo of the woman and the man down on the ground before dashing away, back out of the basement. The light follows him. He stops at the top of the stairs, noticing the area around him is lit with that same uncanny golden light. His head still aches but the dizziness and nausea is gone. His balance is perfect. Behind him he can hear the woman racing towards the stairs in pursuit. Her footsteps sound like gunfire in rapid tempo, the space between each step seemingly growing shorter and shorter. Elio looks to the forest and the shadows. They whisper to him enticingly. Every hiding spot, every blind corner to set up an ambush, and every escape route looks highlighted against the night to his eyes.

Which is when he feels the burning. It's not unpleasant but it is urgent. A tingling, pinprick sensation in his legs and arms and euphoria in his mind. Something inside him is desperate to be used. A muscle he never knew he had that suddenly is cramping and asking, no, demanding it be stretched.

So he stretches it. He dives into the shadows of the forest as she bounds out of the basement on all fours. Her eyes are wild as her head snaps to and fro, seeking her escaping prey. The night wind howls in his ears as he surges through the underbrush, always finding the right hiding place at the right time as a manic grin spreads on his lips. The light that envelops him casts confounding shadows and guides him from place to place as the woman tries to find him amongst the thorny bushes and old trees. The game was afoot. Out here in the woods, she's more beast than woman. She sniffs the air and stalks the shadows, fangs occasionally catching in Elio's light and reflecting back ivory. But in the end, all she finds is stinging nettles, scratching branches, and empty woods. So far astray she has gone, that Elio is able to get back to his car without her being the wiser.

From the driver's seat he can finally see himself in the mirror. He's glowing. Enveloped in a now fading daylight that emanates from nowhere. His forehead has an empty golden circle on it. Rubbing it feels just like normal skin, a bit sweaty, but normal skin. His hand goes straight through the sigil and to the skin. And as the light fades and the car starts, the burning feeling does not fade. Putting his hand up to his head as he pulls the car around, the blood has stopped and the wound closed. The aching has stopped. As he drives away he throws his camera and backpack into the back, carefully maneuvering his arm to avoid triggering his torn rotator cuff and stops. His shoulder doesn't hurt. He rotates it experimentally before slowly returning it to the wheel.

What the hell just happened?

He returns to his apartment. A well organized affair, it also doubles as his office. He breathes out as he takes his coat off and is about to hang it before seeing gel-like blood spots on its sleeve. Elio tosses it towards the kitchen sink. A ratty couch that he's had since his college days takes up most of the living room with a long outdated TV facing it. He sets his camera next to a laptop on the coffee table and pulls out its card, beginning to transfer the photos to his laptop for review and later printing. Sitting down, he reviews his photos. White van with no plates, lots of product, and a blurry photo of the perpetrators. The laptop fan kicks on, giving a little bit of white noise to the otherwise dark and quiet apartment as Elio leans in and looks at the woman. Does... she have fangs?

The rational part of his brain immediately dismisses it. But the curious glow he had and the crushing force of personality she had? This was beginning to be a lot of circumstantial evidence for a part of reality he had never considered valid. The supernatural. And he was part of it somehow.

He prints off the photos and puts them in a manilla folder for Megan, the mayor's aide who hired him in the first place not two days ago to investigate the drugs coming into Galena. Guess he'd have something to show her tomorrow. A slip of paper with "overdue" in large red font on the kitchen table looms in his vision. Just in time to pay rent, luckily.

 

[Kinotics]

Elio enters into the quiet offices of Galena City Hall, the manilla folder of printed photos from last night's expedition into the Galena Community Church in his grip. He still feels like he can feel the alluring gaze of that woman when he closes his eyes, still trying to pull him under.
The foyer is a small room with two hallways leading off, a staircase, and a secretary's desk attended by a bored looking woman in glasses with a blonde ponytail who quickly hides the phone she had been looking at as he enters. "Welcome to Galena city hall, can I help you?" She says with what little enthusiasm she can muster.

"I need to see Megan Clark. She'll want to see me, tell her Elio is here." He rattles off, barely bothering to look at her.

She looks down at the empty schedule in front of her. "Let me call her." She picks up the desk phone and presses a few buttons. He ends up needing to wait at least twenty minutes in a terribly uncomfortable wooden chair in the lobby. Some sort of commotion starts to stir outside the hall and craning his neck, it looks like a crew is setting up cameras for some even. Before his curiosity gets the better of him, the assistant calls his name and leads himself to Megan's office. Entering, Elio finds himself seated in front of Megan, assistant to the mayor is what her shiny placard says. Her office is fastidiously tidy, with each cabinet labeled for different types of documents and supplies and her desk dressings in perfect alignment with one another. There are no personal effects however, at least none that Elio can see from where he is sitting. He does catch a whiff of lingering cigarette smoke from her though.

"Back so soon?" Megan starts, pushing a wayward bang of black hair out of her eyes. "I expected not to see you for a few weeks."

Elio leans forward, putting his file onto the desk. "I work fast." He says quietly. "Your sources were right," he picks out the photo of an open crate, pouches of white powder kept within, "someone is moving heroin through town. I have a photo of some girl involved." He moves a couple aside and shows the blurry photo of the transfixing raven haired beauty. He stops and stares at it a moment, vaguely noticing the fangs in the photo once again. "She and a friend of hers attacked me down there. Barely slipped away."

Megan leans in, looking over the photos. "Did you notice anything odd down there?"

"Besides the drugs and guy with a bat?" Elio quirks an eyebrow.

"Yes, besides those things." Megan continues, looking up from the photos and at Elio.
He frowns and cocks his head. "Can't say I was leaving anything out. Turn these into the police. Should be enough for probable cause." An uncomfortable silence fills the room as Megan frowns. "So, am I getting paid for this now?" Elio taps his fingers on his arm as he breaks eye contact and looks around the room.

Megan gives a winning smile and reaches into a drawer. "Of course, let me get the checkbook..."

He can hear it, the slight sound of metal on wood. The heft in the arm looks wrong for a simple leger or checkbook and there is a malicious glint behind her eyes.

Before the gun is fully removed from the drawer, Elio is already standing, the chair falling behind him as he draws his knife from its hiding place behind his back. Leaping across the desk, Elio grabs Megan's wrist and pulls it behind her back, preventing her from moving easily. Megan growls as her torso is pushed forward towards the desk and Elio feels her muscles tighten as strength not portrayed by her slight form starts to fight back.

The sheer strength of the woman catches Elio off guard as she slips away from him. "Help! Someone help me!" She shrieks, which echoes down the hallway outside of her office. Her hand darts into the still open drawer and removes the silenced pistol while tumbling over the desk and into a firing position where Elio had previously been sitting in front of the desk.

Elio moves faster and with a quick mental calculation takes in his surroundings for escape routes. The window behind the desk has a rickety old fire escape behind it and it will have to do. He quickly opens the window and looks back before continuing out into the fire escape. "How much are they paying you for this Megan?" Elio asks as he wrenches the window open with a squeal of wood on wood.

Megan smiles from behind her gun, behind her Elio's keen hearing can already hear footsteps approaching from down the hallway to see what is going on. "You've been useful. But no loose ends I'm afraid." She fires, the silencer muting the worst of the bang, but it still rings in Elio's ears.

Elio moves faster than he thought possible, the air in the room rippling past and tickling the hair on his arm as it travels. Sparks fly as his knife slices the air and the bullet, cleaving it into two before it reaches its target, sending the two halves into a picture on the wall and shattering the window he is climbing through.

There is a moment of stunned silence as Megan looks wide-eyed, then checks her gun quickly. By the time she looks back to where Elio had been standing, he's already heading down the fire escape. Before the help she summoned through her scream can arrive she hurriedly wipes the gun down and steps back behind her desk, but not before looking at the shattered photo and seeing the half a bullet inside it. She pensively rubs the back of her neck as the gears in her head turn round.

Outside of the window, Elio can see that there are already two police cruisers parked outside of the city hall. At the sound of gunfire, even silenced, two officers step out of each car, making for four total police. They look up and see Elio making his way down the fire escape. "Sir! Drop the weapon!" One of the officers shouts up to him.

"I don't have a gun! I'm being attacked!" He shouts down to them as he hastily pockets his knife. The fire escape groans under his weight and he has to step carefully to avoid the worn and rusty parts that may not support his weight.

"Come down here and we can talk." The officers begin to move towards the base of the fire escape. With a resigned sigh, Elio descends from the escape. Megan does not even stick her head out from the window, but Elio can still hear the discussion she is having from this distance.

"What happened?" A male voice asks, sounds like the mayor.

"That private eye attacked me!" Megan's voice quivers and shakes in all the right ways. "He pulled out this gun and shot but he missed. Then he left from the window once I called for help. He dropped his gun..."

Elio reaches the ground as the front desk aide runs out the front door. "There he is! He's the one who attacked Ms. Clark!" At this the cops who met him at the bottom reach for their service weapons.

"Come nice and easy." The lead one, bald with sunglasses, says, "No one needs to get hurt here." His words are confident, clearly sensing the superiority of numbers and already having come close to Elio. The other three prepare handcuffs and batons in case he resists.

Elio takes a step back and his eyes dart from officer to officer. A bead of sweat forms on his brow and the cops can sense his trepidation.

Putting his hands up slowly, he waits for them to close in. As the first one reaches for his arm, he slams an elbow into the wrist of his partner with a baton, attempting to disarm and claim the baton in a single smooth action. There is a grunt as the attack connects, doing no real damage but causing his hand to open as Elio snatches the baton before it can hit the ground and readies himself for retaliation.

The cops act as a unit, with the two with batons remaining attempting to batter Elio's knees and the other two attempting to grapple him as he falls. As the batons crack the sides of his knees, Elio is already moving to reduce their impact, stepping away from both of the blows simultaneously in a move that would be more at home at a ball than on the battlefield.

Disarmed and with a now sore wrist, one of the cops slides over to Elio's left to get an angle to grab him. Unfortunately, a mole decided that was an excellent place to put up its hill. His foot catches in the loose dirt and he tumbles forward and into a thorny hedge abutting city hall. He sputters curses as his embarrassment mounts. The lead officer, bald with sunglasses, Officer Davinsky so his badge reads, manages better though. He manages to slip behind Elio and grab an arm, forcing him into an arm lock with one hand while preparing his cuffs with the other. "I got him." He grunts.

If Elio's right shoulder was still hurting like it always would, he certainly would have been caught. However, after last night he can easily bend and twist any way he needs. Slamming an elbow into his captor's gut, Elio twists free from the lock as the officer sputters and coughs while taking a step back. As he recoils back, he has just enough time to look up as Elio whips the baton across his jaw.

There is an audible crack as the baton dislocates the captain's jaw. He falls away with a scream, clutching his injury as he hits the dirt. Elio falls into an easy posture, the baton ready to intercede on the next attack. One of the officers draws her service weapon and moves back to an appropriate distance.

The other officer's face turns red, and he grits his teeth as his fellow officer rolls on the ground in pain. He tries to slam the baton into Elio's side in an almost hay-maker-like blow as Elio swirls in place, heel digging into the loamy soil underfoot as his baton intercedes the officer's. They struggle for a moment with baton's locked until Elio steps forward, his body weight sliding his baton up and along the other. Sparks skitter from the connection and a moment later Elio's baton catches the officer on the neck. He falls away coughing and trying to fight for breath.

Looking up, he sees that a sizable crowd is gathering on the lawn near the front of the building. He blinks and his flowing assault and defense halts for a moment. He sees a banner above the speechless crowd. A TV show, Divers, Diners, and Drives, is filming in the city. Elio vaguely remembers something about a restaurant in town gaining attention. Apparently, they were planning on shooting a scene here at city hall for the show and fans had gathered in the time he was waiting for Megan. A lot of fans. And a lot of cameras, which were capturing the brawl.

"Crap." He mutters as the cop in the bushes finally gets free from the thorns.

"Drop your weapon! I am authorized to use deadly force if you do not cease and desist!" The officer holding her service pistol aimed at center mass shouts. Around him, Elio can hear the sputtering of the captain with a broken jaw and the gasping of the one he just injured. He begins to idly count the crimes as his eyes flit between injuries. Looking behind him he sees a tall wooden fence at the back of the property. It may be time to leave.

The cop that was caught in the bushes also draws his service pistol. Pieces of hedge are caught on his uniform and some leaves and sticks are stuck in his hair. His cap is missing, lost somewhere in the bush. There is a pregnant pause to see if Elio surrenders.

Elio kicks the chest of the officer still holding his throat towards the others as a distraction and dashes away trying to create as much distance as possible from the officers as he rushes to the fence. The officers open fire at his back, sending several rounds Elio's way. He is a blur as he dips behind cover and seemingly vanishes and reappears feet away from where a bullet was intended to travel, and before they can recover for another volley he has made it to the fence. "God dammit, he's getting away!" The female officer shouts, taking aim once more.

Putting a foot up onto a trash bin near the fence, Elio leaps higher than the fence and vaults it in a single bound, using his hands to continue his forward momentum as he takes off sprinting on the other side. There is a gathered group of gasps from the crowd and camera crew not too far away once Elio vaults the tall fence.

He lands on the other side and ducks into one of the few alleys in Galena. Catching his breath for a moment, he switches from sprinting to a lower profile walking as he turns his coat inside out and walks away down the streets.

Places where he can lay low start to flash through his head as police sirens pierce the quiet of Galena. Ezio's work would be a good choice, but also some place that the police would likely look for him. Scratching his chin, he sighs. There is a good enough option, but it'll be awkward as all hell. But better than trying his luck out on the streets until he can clear his name somehow. At a brisk walk, he heads towards the residences in the suburbs at the edge of town, towards an old love of his.

 

[Kinotics]

It is late afternoon as Elio approaches a two-story house out in the suburbs of Galena. Avoiding police cars and anyone who could recognize you slows travel to a crawl as it would turn out. He sighs and walks past the neat rows of flowers and bulbs up to the brightly painted house. Stepping up onto the front patio, there is a moment of hesitation as his finger hovers over the doorbell. Elio stands to the side of the door, out of sight of the road, and rings the doorbell after gathering himself for a moment. A couple minutes go by before Lisa, a bright looking woman in her early thirties wearing a yellow sundress, opens the door.

There is a long and quiet moment as Lisa sees Elio. He waves. "What the hell are you doing here, El?" She hisses, looking at the road behind him.

"I didn't think you watched Divers, Diners, and Drives, Lisa. Can I come in?" Elio smiles winningly.

"No! Absolutely not!" Lisa steps through and closes the door, leaving them both on the patio. "And I don't watch that show, you were all over the news!" She gets closer, her perfume wafting to Elio. "Do you know who that was that you hit with the baton?!"

Elio stretches his memory. "I think we went to high school with him. Was he on the football team?"

Lisa nods. "Yeah, he was on the football team. He's also my husband! He's in the hospital after you fucking dislocated his jaw!? The fuck is wrong with you!"

Bret? She married Bret?! "Oh... I didn't realize..." Elio starts.

"Didn't realize it was Bret? Would it have mattered?" She suddenly looks very tired. "Even if he wasn't my husband, El, you still just broke someone's jaw! Then you come here and ask to just waltz into my home?"

"Look Lisa. Do you really think I would just do that without a good reason?" Lisa gives him a flat stare. "There is some shit going on around here. One of the mayor's aides tried to silence me after I turned in evidence of drug trafficking in town. Would you just hear me out?"

Lisa thinks for a moment, mulling it over. "Fine." She opens the door. "But you don't get me involved in this and you're gone by tomorrow." Elio moves towards the open door and Lisa bars it with her arm. "And I swear to god, El. If the police show up for you while you're here I am throwing you under the bus and saying you took me hostage."

Elio grunts and walks into the neat home. Warm lights and a confused meow from an orange tabby welcome him in.

"Take off your shoes." Lisa demands.

He complies, leaving his worn boots by the door. "I won't stay long. I just need some time to get my thoughts together and figure out what I'm doing next."

"Fine by me. The sooner the better, I think." Lisa points to a comfy looking couch in her living room. "You get to sleep on the couch." Elio plops down his back and lays on the couch for a moment. A minute passes and Lisa sits down on a recliner across from the couch. "What is going on, El?"

He sits back up. "I don't know. I was just working the job last night. Tracked this group down to the old church outside of town, you know one that hasn't had a service in a decade now?" Lisa nods. "Down in its basement were a bunch of crates with I think heroin in them. So I took a bunch of photos of that. They must've seen me though because it was a trap. One of them slammed my head with a bat." He rubs the temple where it had been hit and stops. It didn't even ache any more. Looking over in a nearby vanity mirror there was no bruising. He could see Lisa looking weirdly at him.

"If you got hit by a bat in the head, why don't you look, well, hurt? I know you're a tough guy but come on it's a bat."

"That's part of the weirdness. I'll get to it." Elio cracks his knuckles nervously. "A younger woman pops out of one of the larger crates. She's... transfixing. Like her eyes just see straight through me. Her words were honey and I was like putty." Lisa frowns and folds her arms. "And... well... God dammit... She had fangs Lisa. Like a fucking vampire."

Lisa starts to laugh. "Oh my god. El, you've actually gone insane."

"I know what it sounds like. I've got a photo of it..." He takes out his phone and rummages through its gallery. A moment later, the blurry photo taken in panic of the fanged woman comes on screen.

She looks at the screen and back to Elio. Her face is inscrutable as she leans back and rubs her temples. "Okay. So, this woman and her lackey with the bat corner you. How did you get away?"

He leans forward, putting his elbows on his knees. The cat comes around, watching curiously from the threshold. "Whatever hold she had on me, I broke out. It took everything I had to not worship her at her feet, but I did it. Then I felt so strong. There was this light that was all around me. I got my knife out and stabbed her lackey in the arm then I ran away. I know she was looking for me, but it felt like the shadows themselves were helping to hide me." He clenches his fists. "And I still feel like I'm different somehow. I mean, you saw me, right?" Elio looks frantic for a moment, lost in the energy, "I fought four police officers. Lisa, I didn't break a sweat. They didn't lay a finger on me. No. They couldn't lay a finger on me. I dodged bullets, I even cut one in half before it hit me!"

He laughs suddenly, the absurdity of it all coming together finally. When he looks up, Lisa has risen and moved towards the kitchen, keeping him firmly in her line of sight. "El... you're kinda scaring me. You're talking like an insane person. They didn't show you fighting anyone. Just showed your picture and told everyone you were considered dangerous after assaulting a police officer. I only know Bret broke his jaw because the department told me."

Elio stands up and Lisa takes another step into the kitchen. "No. I'm not crazy, I swear. Something in me changed last night." Light shines from his brow, lighting up the darkened room with pale yellow light as the empty circle appears on his forehead again.

She looks confused as light glints off her eyes. "What is that on your forehead?"

He looks back to the vanity mirror and sees the empty golden circle on his forehead. For a moment, he feels light headed. He hears a voice, distant and faint, speak not quite to him, but about him.

Night.

The moment passes quickly. "Night..."

"What?" Lisa asks having fully retreated into the kitchen now.

Elio's hearing sharpens to impossible degrees, as he hears the sound of a finger touching a touch screen. He can even hear the small beep as it sounds from her putting in a 9 into her phone.

"I can hear you on your phone, Lisa." Elio says. There is a small squeak from Lisa as she gets ready to run. "I'm not here to hurt you. I really do just need a place to rest for a little while. Just until nightfall." He sits tiredly on her sofa. "I have work to do."

"What kind of work?" The typing has stopped after the first 1.

"When I gave the evidence to Megan about where the drugs were when she tried to kill me. Whatever is going on, I'll find out if I go back to that church." He looks back to Lisa, standing a distance away as the light fades. "I swear, you'll never hear from me again after this, Lisa."

"That's what you said the last time we met." Lisa says.

Elio chuckles. "I'm not here to be sentimental Lisa. I really am sorry about Bret's jaw, by the way."

The night rolls on, small talk leading to an awkward silence. Eventually Elio sleeps for a few hours.

He awakens from a restless nap to the sounds of sirens. Lisa is nowhere to be found. Elio slides off the couch. He knew the shadows well and that they would hide him if he decided to use them.

The police meet Lisa outside, who tells them that Elio is asleep on the couch. Nothing escapes Elio's hearing these days. The four officers then execute a silent search of the house, quietly taking it in once they find the living room empty. After a fruitless half hour search of the house as Elio creeps from shadow to shadow as lithe as darkness itself, the officers are left scratching their heads after returning empty handed. Back outside with Lisa, the officers return.

From a window on the second story, Elio listens in. "There's no one in the house, Lisa. Must've been awake and got out in time. Stay in your house and keep the doors locked, we'll canvas the area." The senior officer of the group points to his younger partner. "Jenkins, you'll be watching Captain Davinsky's house until the morning." Jenkins nods and moves back up towards the porch.

"Okay. Thank you, James." Lisa says quietly. She glances up at the window where Elio was just watching from moments ago, only to find it dark and empty. As she starts to move back towards her house, officer James calls out to her.

"Would you mind coming by the precinct tomorrow sometime? We just want to ask you some questions about what happened tonight."

Lisa nods with a half smile before returning home, with Jenkins opening the door into the house for her. Listening to the floorboards squeak, Elio quickly maps out that Jenkins is posting up in the living room while Lisa enters into the kitchen across the way.

On the ground floor, Lisa leans against the sink and sighs, shaking her head. Rain begins to patter against the window. Suddenly in the reflection of the window, she sees Elio's face as he emerges from the darkest shadows in the room behind her. "Look, you really didn't..." He begins in a quiet whisper.

She shrieks and runs towards the living room. "Get away from me! Jenkins! He's still here!"

Elio fades back into the shadows. As Jenkins enters into the kitchen and flips the lights on, all he finds is empty linoleum.

Outside and behind the property, Elio frowns as he walks away. "Maybe another time then." It'll be a long walk back towards the church, but a necessary one. At least the rain will make it harder for him to be found.

 

[Kinotics]

The dead of night has fallen by the time Elio steps out from under the boughs of a large oak tree near the church. He strains his ears in the dim summer night trying to glean some information of what may be waiting for him.

Even through the pattering of the rain and shaking of tree limbs, Elio can hear that there is a car coming down the road. Probably will be here in the next fifteen minutes. Inside the church he can hear someone moving boxes loudly, likely loading into the nondescript white van nearby. It sounds like there are three distinct people working in the basement and nearby.

The glint of a rifle's scope catches Elio's eye. Up in the belltower of the church is their lookout. Elio checks his trusty pistol within its concealed holster and ensures his jacket is on straight before stepping forward from the tree line as a cloud covers the light of the moon. Time to pay them a visit. The abandoned nature of the church has led to much of the grounds becoming a bit overgrown that hasn't been trimmed back by its new inhabitants, likely not wanting to give away that someone has been using it for other purposes. This works fine for Elio who quickly picks his path towards the open door to the basement with the white truck nearby.

Elio looks into the open truck back as he slinks by, noting that a good amount of the product he saw the other night is already in the back. "Come on! The sooner we can move this all out of here, the less likely that fucking PI will come back with the cops!" The shrill cry of the lady echoes out. Elio silently rolls behind an empty crate, taking in the scene in the dusty and poorly lit cellar.

Two men are hard at work moving product up the stairs and hastily throwing it into the back of the van while the dark haired woman pulls at a strand of hair and paces. "A bit worried, are we?" Elio says, standing up from behind the crate but seemingly materializing to the people in the room.

"Fuck!" One of the men drops a crate and reaches for his bat nearby.

Elio holds up his empty hands. "I'm just here to talk."

The woman just sighs. "Look, I don't know what you want. I don't know what you are either. We are kind of on a schedule here so spill it before I kill you."

He appears to consider this for a moment. "Tempting. But I have a better offer. You tell me what I want to know and I don't delay you so that the cars I heard coming this way to take your product away get here before you are all done packing."

The two men exchange uncertain looks before turning back to the woman, who appears to fume for a moment. "Keep packing, idiots. I'll talk to this one." The men nod and keep going. "Who did you tell about this?" That same alluring and pacifying feeling comes over Elio as she exerts whatever power she has over him.

A gentle feeling of comfort engulfs Elio. I should tell this person what she wants to know. He leans casually on a box. "I told the mayor's aide, Megan, about this little operation. Turns out she tried to kill me after getting what she wanted. Trying to get my name cleared now and you seem like a good starting point to figure out what's going on in my town." There is a growing concern in the back of his head. Why am I telling her all this? "Gah." He shakes away the feeling of relaxation, "What is that you keep doing to me?"

She smiles winningly and flips a lock of black hair, "Oh, nothing. I'm just charming."

The men continue to work tirelessly at their charge, beginning to load the last of the boxes in. "I told you what you wanted to know, now tell me something. What is your relationship to Megan? Are you in on her conspiracy?"

Her smile is like that of the cheshire cat, "Why do you want to know? This doesn't concern you, why don't you just buzz off?" She moves closer, "Or better yet," her eyes are like moon lit pools, but hidden under the perfume Elio can smell rot, "why not help me? I could use the help of a big, strong man like you."

"No." He feels the rippling tides trying to pull him under and rises above them. "The last thing I want to do is help someone bringing god damn drugs into my town." He pulls out his pistol, leveling it towards the woman. "Now tell me what I want to know, or things are going to get messy."

A woman's voice shouts down from upstairs, "Hey! We can see the headlights of that car! We need to get going!"

She frowns in concentration, feeling her allure fall short on Elio. "Why don't you stick around and ask Megan or whoever she got to do her dirty work today? I'm sure they'd be..."

Elio is like flowing lightning and appears in front of her with his gun leveled against her temple. "Let's start with your name."

"There isn't any time for this bullshit." She growls as she shoves the gun aside. In the moment of distraction, Elio reaches into her purse. A moment later, a wallet is safely concealed in his own pocket.

"Fine. Leave then." Elio stands to the side. "If you think this is the last you've heard from me though, you're sorely mistaken." She rolls her eyes as she ascends the stairs and out of sight. The sound of a van starting up can be heard. Elio walks up the stairs as the van starts to leave. Pulling out his pistol, he takes aim at a wheel.

The shot of the pistol is aimed true as a crack rings out and the van wobbles as it loses its stability. Not too far off, a pair of SUVs approaches from the road, about to pull into the front parking lot. The van swerves as it moves along the backroad. The SUVs notice the van leaving and begin to speed after it. From the front window of the lead SUV, a dark-skinned man looks curiously at Elio as they speed past to catch up to the van.

Not far down the road there is the sound of a crash as the SUV runs off the road due to the wheel being out and trying to get away. A few minutes later the SUVs return with a few new passengers. They stop as they drive by Elio still standing by the church and roll down the window.

"S'pose we're supposed to thank you?" The lead driver asks.

Elio approaches and sees the two henchmen in the back, but no woman. "Did she get away?"

The driver frowns. "Don't know who you're talking about."

Elio just shakes his head and sighs. "Alright. So, you guys clearly aren't the police. What is this, rival gang shit?" He gestures to the guys in the back.

"You could say that." The driver replies.

"Look. I want to talk to Megan. I don't give two shits if you are taking the drugs or whatever, I just want them out of Galena. And if Megan and whoever is sponsoring this agrees, I don't see why we should be fighting each other."

The man grunts before pointing to the other car. "Walk up to that one, she's riding shotgun. Don't try any shit though."

Elio nods and steps up to the other car with Megan in the passenger seat. She rolls down the window. "What a surprise!" she says. "I really thought you would've been caught by the police by now." Some smoke leaks out with the window opening, cigarettes.

He clicks his tongue. "You think so little of me, Megan. And I thought we had a nice thing going."

"What do you want, Elio?" Megan asks while flicking the ash from her cigarette out the window and onto Elio's shoes.

"I want to know what the hell is going on. I told you where the drugs were and you came with a bunch of goons to get them yourself?" He shakes his head, "Normally something the police would do. Plus there was the whole trying to kill me thing."

She sighs and puts on a tired smile. "Look. Asking questions is exactly why I thought you were a loose end. And all you've done tonight is prove that you are a loose end." She clears her throat. "While I appreciate you helping us out here, my boss is very secretive. And we'd hate for anything to happen to your family's business. So I am doing you a favor here. Fuck off and skip town and I promise nothing will happen to them."

Elio's hands ball into fists, fury burning in his mind. "You wanna play this game, Megan? Because I can play it. I'll take both yours and those drug runners' plans out of action."

Megan smiles sadly with a tinge of pity. "Oh Elio. You don't know the deep waters you're treading right now. My boss has connections all over town and way beyond. We can and will snuff you out just like we are doing with those drug runners. It will be easy." She leans closer slightly out the window, a gasp of cigarette smoke comes with her. "Like smashing an ant."

Elio begins to laugh. In an impossibly quick motion, he pulls his gun and points to the driver of the other car. "Smash this." There is a blinding light as the pistol goes off in the dark of night. The window shatters and the interior of the vehicle and its occupants are suddenly dyed red with the driver's body slumping over the steering wheel. As his body hits the wheel, an exceptionally loud horn goes off and doesn't stop. Flocks of birds who had been resting in the trees take flight and Elio quickly covers his ears out of reflex.

Megan screams at her driver, "Get us out of here! Now!" While she scrambles to pull her own gun. As she rushes tries to find her gun, Elio slips over the hood of the screaming other car, now driverless, and ducks below the other side to put a block of metal between him and Megan's line of fire. The passenger door of the car is shoved open as the man in the passenger seat kicks out and brings a shotgun level to what he can see of Elio. Megan's potshot ricochets off the hood of the car and off into the woods while Elio bashes the door back into the shotgunner, throwing his aim off enough to cause a shell to deafeningly be emptied into the asphalt a foot to Elio's left.

Springing forward while the passenger recovers from his sudden shove, Elio lands in a firing posture and breathes out while getting a bead on the driver of Megan's car as it peels out and starts to get away. Most would call this a hard shot, a pistol shot through the tinted back passenger window of a moving car on a rainy night while a goon with a shotgun not five feet away is moments away from lining up another shot on you. Elio makes it look easy, however, as the bullet passes between raindrops, shatters the back window and neatly slams into the back of the driver's neck.

With the car already in drive, its pilot slumps his foot onto the accelerator with dead weight and throws the wheel as the torso slumps right, the car is now aimed for the church itself and accelerating rapidly with Megan in the passenger seat. Her scream is easily heard over the rest of the chaos as she realizes what has happened. Inside, she can be seen reaching for the hand brake while trying to find the leverage to pull the driver's foot off the pedal.

The shotgun-toting goon steps out from the side of the SUV, the night lighting up with another blast from the shotgun. Elio is already in motion as he dives for the side of the road and towards the forest as another chunk of asphalt is removed from the road in a hail of rocky splinters and bits. With a short sprint, Elio manages to hide behind a wide tree in the darkness. Listening to the approach of the goon, Elio wastes no time before crouching down and exposing himself to take a shot at the approaching man. His pistol shot is a lance of light that arcs into the goon's shoulder. With a grunt, he takes a step back before quickly finding his footing and gritting his teeth as another blast from the shotgun is released, causing the blood splattered on his face to momentarily glint and reveal the manic look in the man's eyes.

His target is a little too quick, however, as Elio pulls his head behind the tree just in time for a large section of bark to evaporate near him in a hailstorm of pulp. Elio breaths in, focuses his senses, and steps out from behind the tree. Time seems to slow as he breathes in, the shot perfectly aimed for maximum damage. Lightning cracks with the pull of the trigger. The thunder claps as the shotgunner feels the bullet easily pass through his jacket and pierce his heart. He stumbles for a moment, blood staining his fingertips as he falls to the ground in a crash. Elio releases his breath.

Megan, still screaming in the passenger seat, collides with the church at a decent speed. There is a solid crunch as the car punches through one of the exterior walls up to the front windshield. The front windshield breaks and inside the cab, Megan has had the airbag go off in her face. Elio walks over to the car and speaks over the rain, "Scamper back to your boss. Tell them there is a new sheriff in town." He can hear Megan shifting around and is still light on his feet, ready to dart out of the way if needed.

"Fuck you, Elio." Megan leans out and squeezes a shot off into the rain at the ready and waiting Elio. The attack misses by a mile and Elio doesn't flinch. "Fuck..." Megan wobbles in her seat. Elio closes the distance and puts his pistol, still reeking of gun smoke, at Megan's forehead. "Do it." She says, "Pull the trigger. I'd rather die than return to my master at this point."

Elio's face is grim. "Master, huh?" He reaches in and easily grabs away her pistol, pulling the magazine free with a flourish. "I don't care about your weirdo relationships. If you won't go back to them yourself, you'll tell me where they are."

"Never." Megan is resolute.

"What was it you said about loose ends?" Elio asks.

"That you shouldn't leave any." She groans, putting her head in her hands. "Are we gonna do this or are you gonna talk for like an hour? You're still a wanted man. We still know where your family lives. Killing me doesn't matter! You are still fucked six ways to Sunday!"

The rain begins to fall in earnest, splattering on the concrete in large blots. "I'm going to let you go. Then I'm going to burn the drugs. Then," he looks her in the eyes, his focus piercing, "I'm going to hunt down that other woman and your 'master' and make them both pay for thinking they could just do as they please here." He begins to walk away, fading into the rain.

There is a long silence and a biting back of obscenities from Megan. Unsteady, she opens the door and tumbles onto the pavement. Slowly, she stands and begins her own long trek back into town in the night.

Elio puts his hands over his ears and moves to the other vehicle and finds the back doors open and the seats empty. Opening the driver's side door, he pulls the driver's body free and the horn finally silences. There is naught but the sound of rainfall and rustling trees to be heard. Elio frowns before heading down the road towards the direction that the white van scampered off in. After a few minutes of jogging, he finds it run off the road and into a particularly rugged tree nearby. Engine block smoking, one of the few streetlights in the area illuminates the two lackeys that escaped with the woman hastily trying to load duffle bags with product from the back of the van.

"Fun's over." He announces from behind them. They yelp and turn to face him. A baseball bat is in one of their hands, its tip still slightly ruddy red from last night. The other is holding a duffle bag and a large yellow camping flashlight.

"What do you want to know?" The first one with a short blue mohawk blurts out. The other one, bald with the bat, shoves him in the side.

"Shut the fuck up!" He hisses to his companion.

Mohawk gives a hysterical look to the other, "Are you fucking with me? You saw what he did to those guys!" He hisses back.

"Who do you work for?" Elio asks, coming closer with his gun pointed skyward.

"Elizabeth! She's the one you were talking to down in the church cellar."

Elio nods. "And what is she? I don't think she's just a human."

Both of them stop talking and exchange a look. Elio fires a round off into the air and both goons jump.

"She's a fucking Vampire! Alright? Just... stop shooting!" The second goon, this one with the bat, answers.

Elio points the pistol at him. "You fucking with me?"

"No!" He hurriedly answers, "God, no!"

"Hm." Elio thinks for a moment. "Vampires. I hate being right." He motions to the drugs. "And the drugs? Where are they going?"

"Local dealers buy some, but most of it's going to Chicago for Elizabeth's friend's parties." Mohawk says.

"And where did it come from?" Elio continues.

They both shrug. "Fuck man, I don't know. We just move it and guard it."

There is a subtle change in the pattern of rainfall behind him. A sudden absence in a small spot of the rain and moving closer. He whips around as the lightning strikes, showing in the darkness the ghoulish form of Elizabeth down the road, beyond the light of the lamp. Her feline eyes gleaming with pearly fangs extended in a grimace. "Feel like talking now, Elizabeth?" Elio says into the darkness beyond the streetlamp, eyes scanning for when she will next appear. His ears are keen enough to know where she is based on the small changes in rain drops but his eyes cannot pierce the shadows.

The solitary streetlight that kept this area illuminated suddenly pops, glass tinkling to the road below, and the area is submerged in inky darkness. Elio pulls his knife from his pocket and gets ready, knife in one hand and pistol in the other. "I think I am." Elizabeth whispers, closer than before. "I don't know whose side you are on or who sent you. But sending witch-hunters after me?" She cackles in the shadows, "Now that is a new low."

Elio can hear the goons shuffling around as well, the one with the bat is creeping closer and Mohawk is fucking around with the flashlight. "I'm kicking you out of this turf. Walk away." He can almost feel her breathing down his neck now but needs to get her a little closer.

There is a stumbling sound and a sudden flash of light and a yelp as a flashlight is suddenly lit and extinguished just as fast. "Boss! Flashlight's broken!" Mohawk shouts. The other one attempts a baseball swing in the direction he last saw Elio in. He is not close enough to connect and has to spend a moment recovering his momentum.

The gap in the rain Elio had been following by ear vanishes. A moment later, he feels her claws dig into his shoulders and pull him into a crushing embrace. "You don't get to talk to me like that, kine!" Stepping forward and pushing her back, Elio's coat rips along the shoulders as the skin and muscle underneath that Elizabeth found purchase on is torn during his escape from her clutches. While the pain blossoms on his arms and warm blood runs down to his palms, he whirls to face his foe. With his blade in hand stabs forward to where he can hear her in the dark. His aim is true and Elizabeth isn't fast enough to escape as the knife finds its way into her throat, eliciting a hoarse scream. To his surprise, she doesn't go down. Instead, she reaches up to the knife and grips it with an iron strength, trying to wrench it from his grasp as she steps back and away.

"Maybe there is something to this Vampire talk after all." Elio says with a grunt as sweat appears on his brow, switching to both hands on the knife now stuck in Elizabeth's throat. Of course, as long as she was here, she wasn't hiding in the shadows to strike him. That golden sigil alights on Elio's forehead, giving him back his sight to see the pale woman oozing blood from what should be a lethal wound for any human. Her eyes are orange and cat-like, hyper fixated on Elio's face. Even now her muscles were swelling larger and larger under her dress and coat as her strength somehow surges, giving her the edge in the struggle over the knife. Switching tactics, Elio quickly moves forward towards Elizabeth and throws as much of his weight on top of the knife as possible which begins to cut downwards and towards her torso. It carves a long track from the throat to below the ribs before being released as Elizabeth finally crumbles without even a further screech.

The sound of Elizabeth's body echoes out amongst the rain fall, now illuminated by Elio standing over her. "Still feel like this is worth it?" Elio says to the two henchmen. "Elizabeth is down for the count."

"Fuck." Bat-goon says while adjusting his grip. There is an uncertain moment before bat-goon gets the gumption to approach and attack. Coming close enough for a solid swing, he takes his best chance but only finds air as Elio slips under the bat and stabs up at bat-goon's arm with the knife, piercing through it again.

Dashing back to a safe distance, Elio frowns as bat-goon cries out and grips his arm. "Wait. Weren't you the one that I stabbed in that same arm yesterday?" He returns to a ready posture, "You must not be quite human yourself, eh?"

Mohawk throws that broken flashlight he's been trying to get working at Elio. It arcs through the air beautifully before being deflected by Elio's forearm and its cheap plastic shatters on the ground. While the flashlight breaks, bat-goon swings in from the other side with gritted teeth, just fast enough to catch Elio in the ribs, eliciting a pained grunt from him. From where the flashlight was thrown, Mohawk sprints forward while Elio falters, trying to throw a right haymaker into him that is blocked with a solid thump by Elio's left arm.

With his right, he stabs down at Mohawk's legs, the knife skimming off his jeans. Its grip is a little too bloody and Elio for once a little too unsteady to land a clean stab. Stepping back from the next bat swing, Mohawk executes what he believes to be an excellent roundhouse kick at his foe. His planted foot squeaks on the asphalt and he can feel the rain that the foot intercepts as it travels. So excellent is this kick that Elio is easily able to step within his guard while Mohawk recovers and stabs upwards and between his ribs. Mohawk quietly snarls and sputters as his lungs are pierced, blood spattering with his cough.

"Dammit, Jim." Bat-goon says. "I always told that idiot to stop trying to kick people."

Elio breaths hard, "Then there were two." His side aches with a growing bruise but this endeavor has finally reached its conclusion. He takes one more gulping breath and begins to glow as he feels the now familiar strength of Essence guide his hands through the dark.

For a moment, night becomes day as Elio's anima alights in earnest. At that moment that bat-goon is shielding his eyes from the sudden light, the pistol in Elio's off hand fires into bat-goon's chest. "What... are... you?" He gurgles as the cloak of anima fully engulfs Elio, finally obscuring his features except for two glowing orbs for his eyes and the empty circle on his brow. His life bleeds away on a nameless backroad.

On the blood and rain-soaked asphalt, Elio plops down in a heap, struggling to catch his breath. His shoulders hurt and while it was easy to ignore in the fight, they were quickly making themselves known. But his duty for the night is done.

What do I do now? He asks himself. His gaze falls on the drugs in the van and duffle bags. Can't just leave those out here. Elio grunts as he stands and begins the arduous task of moving them to the church. By morning light, he has completed the task.

Well. I am going to need some sort of base of operations. He thinks while looking at the church. Maybe once Megan and her boss are taken care of. Something is eating at him though as he looks up at the church tower. He thinks for a moment. Did he forget something? His head snaps up to the church bell tower. The sniper.

Elio easily jumps up along some of the rubble and broken wood until he is face to face with nothing. The nest is empty aside from a few spare rifle cartridges and a well-worn camping chair. "God damn." In all the excitement he had forgotten about them. Sleepiness overtakes him though. It's time to rest. Settling into one of the broken pews in the main area of the church, Elio idly flips through Elizabeth's wallet. Credit card. More than a few hundred in cash. No ID. Figures. He sighs and shimmies around. Won't be his most comfortable rest, but sleep is required.

 

[Kinotics]

Elio awakens on the uncomfortable pews only having his coat as a blanket. The bruises from last night after being struck by bat-goon are already healing and the lacerations Elizabeth created on his shoulders are little more than pale scars. Perks of being whatever he is. A Night. Turns out that Nights still have to eat though and his stomach rumbles with assent. Quickly rising, he feels through his pockets and takes stock of what assets of his that he has. Knife, pistol, wad of cash from Elizabeth, packet of heroin, phone that died sometime yesterday, his own (empty) wallet. With sniff he cringes and realizes his last shower was at least three days ago. Sweat, blood, and assorted grime cover most of his skin and hair. Even the rain from last night was not enough to scrub the past from him.

He starts to search through the church. Rotten kitchen filled with the bitter-sweet smelling rotten food, old drawers filled with mildew and illegible papers, and eventually a packet of matches. Looking up from the bathroom drawer he found them in, he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror and stops. Matted dark brown hair, olive skin, deep hazel eyes ringed in too many sleepless nights, ratty and now torn and bloodstained jacket. Turning the handle of the sink, no water comes out and Elio settles for licking a palm and scrubbing a little of the dirt and dried blood from his cheeks. Shower. Gotta get a shower.

First things first though, he's going to burn this church down. Can't just leave all this heroin just sitting out here and the church was a hazard anyway. Elio rips some old curtains yet untouched by the rains and mold and piles it within the relatively dry kitchen. Holding the match book in hand, he plays with it between his fingers. He glances down the hall towards the main hall, where light pours through the few remaining unbroken stained glass windows in a prismatic glow.

For a moment he leans against the side of the hallway, which groans with his weight. Sorry big guy. I think you'll find it in you to forgive me this time though. He strikes a match and lights the rest of the book before placing it under the pile of now rags in the kitchen. On his way out he offers a quick prayer before swiftly exiting.

The morning sun has begun to shine properly, warming Elio's back, as the church's smoke begins to spread in a thick cloud. Elio begins his hike back to town proper. It's early afternoon and his feet are sore by the time he makes it back to town.

A drive for familiarity, a shower, and the leftover pizza in his fridge brings Elio to his apartment to at least see what his odds of snagging some comfort are. He moves to the far side of town towards a ramshackle apartment complex. Standing three stories tall, its rundown faces don't exactly invite one inside. Out front in the lot is his old green four door sedan complete with evergreen air freshener hanging from its rear view.

Stalking the surrounding blocks, Elio does not find anyone who is keeping an eye on the apartments. An oddity for sure. Opening the front door into the equally shabby lobby, Elio steps past a few of his neighbors milling about, checking mail, gossiping, and the like. His apartment is on the second floor and it becomes painfully obvious which one is his from the police tape covering the door. Carefully parting the tape, he opens the door.

His normally neat apartment is a mess. Clearly the cops already turned it over. Papers are strewn about, couch cushions torn open, cabinets ransacked. Worse, his backpack that kept his laptop, "investigators" tools, and camera is gone. Elio cracks the fridge, hoping his leftovers survived the inspection. Nope. There are some condiments, but it looks like the cops helped themselves. "Hungry bastards." He mutters under his breath. Elio eyes the ketchup but he's not that desperate. Yet.

Stepping into the bathroom, he washes the grime off of him with a quick shower and acquires a change of clothes. His windbreaker is replaced with a light hoodie and baseball cap and sweats with loose fitting jeans. He grabs the keys to his sedan but there doesn't appear to be much else waiting for him here. He'd park it on the edge of town, somewhere quiet.

Connections everywhere. Megan's words echo through his mind. She'd threatened his family and that wasn't something to take laying down. With that thought rattling in mind, Elio closes up the apartment just like he had found it. As he closes the door to his apartment, his neighbor Joyce opens her door and finds only the empty hallway. She frowns, having sworn she heard Elio's door open and close. From behind a large ornamental fake plant, Elio emerges before heading back down the stairs to the lobby.

By the time that he drives up to Aiello Funeral Home, Elio notices that he's picked up a tail. A police cruiser whose passenger is craning his neck to no doubt pick out his license plate and confirm that it is Elio's car. How did they find me so fast? He quickly thinks for a moment. They probably put a bug in my car just in case I was stupid enough to come back for it. Cursing under his breath, he pulls a sharp turn in an attempt to break line of sight with the cop. The car shudders and heaves slightly at the turns but holds together. Speeding through the backlot of a breakfast place, he has to swerve to avoid more than a few illegally parked cars along the sides. On the other side of the back lot there is a completely full parking lot.

While thinking he had managed to get ahead of the cop, the cruiser pulls up and blocks the parking lot exit he was about to drive through. "Step out of the vehicle with your hands where I can see them!" the cop says over their loudspeaker.

Didn't really like the car much anyway. Elio steps out of the car, hands above his head.

Looking behind him, he sees a crowd gathered. That same damnable banner flying over a nearby restaurant Divers, Diners, and Drives was filming at the local restaurant behind him. And half the freaking town was here to see it. He could already see a number of people turning to see what the commotion was. "Just can't get away from this show." He mumbles.

In the distance he can hear sirens rushing closer. "Stay right there! Don't move!" The officer checks their pistol and keeps it trained on Elio.

"You got the wrong guy, man." Elio says, changing his accent. "I'm not Elio, I'm just boosting the car!" There is a moment of confusion in the cops' eyes suddenly. "I'm no murderer or whatever!" And the moment the cops' gun lowers a fraction of an inch and he takes a hand off of it to speak into his shoulder radio, Elio darts into the parking lot towards the crowd.

"Son of a bitch!" The cop shouts before holstering his weapon and takes off after Elio but as he reaches the edge of the crowd can no longer find his target.

The cops search becomes more methodical as another cruiser with a pair of police arrive to assist. "We believe that Elio is hiding in this crowd. Please, everyone form a line so we may search!"

"Oh my god," Elio whispers to a few of the more nervous looking members of the crowd, "that murderer could be anywhere right now! They can't keep us here!"

"We're going to die!" Shouts a panicked man, his eyes wild as he grabs the shoulders of his daughter to start pushing his way through the crowd.

"Everything is under control!" The police shout back.

"Get out of the way!" A larger woman shoves through the front of the crowd, which proves to be the keystone as the crowd quickly floods in every direction trying to leave back to their cars. Enough of a distraction for Elio to grab a plate of pancakes from inside and vanish with the fleeing crowd.

Slipping across the street the bell above the door dings as Elio enters the Aiello Funeral Home. A lean looking woman is speaking with a stout looking man with the same eyes as Elio, but framed with smile lines, and thinning hair behind the counter. She turns and her eyes widen as Elio enters.

"Uh, thanks for your help. I'll just be waiting in the lobby for a bit." She quickly says and steps aside, hefty hiking boots clomping on the wooden floors.

Elio steps up to the counter. "Can I speak to you in the back, Ezio?" Elio asks quietly.

"Yeah, we'd better. I got some work to do anyway." Ezio sighs and steps through a back door that leads from the nicely decorated lobby into the cold, white lights of the morgue.

As soon as he enters the back, Ezio embraces Elio roughly. Then pulls back and punches his shoulder. "Why the hell are you worrying me like this? You don't tell me anything anymore." He berates Elio in Italian.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, really..." Elio puts a hand up to his shoulder and stops as his eyes slide to the body on the slab. He recognizes her. Pallid skin, raven-black hair, the wounds in her throat that extend down her torso. The cuts seem well clotted and slightly more closed than. "Hey, uh, where'd you get that body from?" Elio thumbs over towards the corpse.

Ezio looks confused for a moment before looking behind him. "This isn't the time to grill me on my work. I can hear the sirens just across the road. Why the hell are you assaulting police officers! I thought you said you were done with your petty gangster shit?"

Elio leans in close. "This isn't about my shitty past. There is some conspiracy theory level stuff going on right now, Ezio."

Leaning in closer, Elio can smell the coffee on Ezio's breath. "Well, I know you are a wanted criminal and everything... but when you say conspiracy level stuff, do you mean talking men in black level? Or like bigfoot framed you for murder level?"

Elio blinks, truly perplexed. "Uh. V... vampire level? Where do vampires and zombies fall on this list?"

It's Ezio's turn to look confused. "Vampires? Come on man, I'm more into weird 'government is up to shifty stuff'."

"I got a little bit of that. Least I think." Elio says, sinking into a chair. "Don't suppose I could get something to eat? All I've had in like two days is a pancake I stole from across the road."

"Fine." Ezio crosses to a large stainless steel refrigerator and takes an apple out, tossing it to Elio.

"Grazie." He crunches into it with enthusiasm. "So. This all started when I turned in evidence of drug trafficking to Megan, which she hired me to do. You know, the mayor's assistant Megan. When I did, she tried to off me. Called me a loose end. Which is also when the cops got involved and I knew if I was taken to the station you'd never see my handsome mug again. So I had to, you know, rough them up a bit and make tracks."

Ezio smiles broadly. "I knew that Megan was up to something." He jogs over to a binder and opens it up, going down a list of names. "The amount of drug related deaths in the area has gone up. More and more of them come to our place as time goes on and in almost all of them Megan has been involved." He stops and looks over to Elio, halfway through the apple now. "Weird part is that most of them didn't die from drugs. Least near as I can tell in my autopsies. But" he closes the book, "whenever one of them comes in, she's been giving me more than a few bucks to write it in as a drug-related death."

"So what did they die of if it wasn't drugs, Ezio?" Elio asks, coming over to look over Ezio's shoulder at his books.

Ezio smiles broadly, brandishing his teeth as though he had fangs. "Exsanguination. These body's veins are drier than the Mojave when they get here. And you bring up Vampires? Can't be a coincidence."

"That's the thing, Ezio. Vampires." Elio tosses the apple core into the trash across the room. "Apparently well-connected ones. Well-connected enough that since they know I'm causing trouble for them, they might come looking for trouble here."

"What, you gave them your real name?" Ezio says flabbergasted.

"I told you, I'm on the straight and narrow. Real names for honest work." He coughs, "Least as honest as my work gets." He adds quietly.

Ezio shakes his head. "The one time you try and be honest and we get fucking vampires down the throat. That's life for you, eh?"

"You are taking this pretty well for a guy that I just told is probably gonna be hunted by some Vampires you didn't know existed a few minutes ago."

He shrugs. "Take things in stride I guess."

"Oh," Elio begins, "that woman on the slab? She's a vampire that I put to rest last night. What's she doing here?"

Ezio looks over to the body. "Really? She looks pretty normal to me." He wanders over to where a couple of plastic tags marking wounds are on the body. "Except for the massive fucking hole through of the neck and a gaping knife wound through her sternum and several ribs. How the hell'd you manage that one?"

"I'm stronger than I look. You know that." Elio lies. "Open up those ancient shutters and let see if she burns in sunlight then. That'd prove it no doubt, right?"

His brother raises an eyebrow. "I guess. I don't really want the fire alarm going off though..."

Elio rolls his eyes before moving to the shutter chains and pulling them to allow the sun into the normally purely artificially lit exam room. As soon as the rays touch her body, Elizabeth's skin begins to blister and blacken, smoke rising up. Elio quickly shuts them before her body can truly burn away. With a metallic shriek at the sudden jostling, bright white, fluorescent light reasserts itself.

"Well look at that." Ezio leans down and looks at the fresh burns. "These really are just like third degree burns. And from such little time in the light? Fascinating." He prods at the burns with a gloved hand. "If this is a Vampire, why doesn't she move? Shouldn't she have screamed or woken up by now?"

Elio shrugs. "Dunno. Maybe I did enough damage to her that she is just out cold."

"I guess..." Ezio is curiously prodding the body with the end of a scalpel. "Do you think she'd be upset if I removed organs? She seems like every other dead body." He stops for a moment. "Do vampires need organs?"

"I'll let you puzzle over that." Elio starts. "In the meantime, who brought her here?"

"That woman that you saw when you came in. Names Ashley I think?" Ezio says absentmindedly. Elio is already heading towards the door back to the lobby. He bumps against the door and it doesn't move. From the other side he hears a yelp and the pressure moves away. He opens it and sees Ashley just as she is sitting down. Frantically looking near her, she grabs a magazine from a side table and flips it open. "Okay." Elio says as he moves between the exit and her. "I'm not even going to entertain the notion that you were not listening in."

"Whhaaaaattt?" Ashley does her best surprised expression as she pulls a blonde lock of hair out of her eyes. It does not work well. Even Elio can see through it.

He looks around and sees the rest of the lobby empty. "Why bring your master or whatever here?"

She sighs and with a shaking hand puts the magazine down on the side table. "We don't have a place for her after you took over the church. This was the backup plan for if she needed time to recover. Most morticians don't realize something weird is happening until she's recovered and gone." She isn't making eye contact and fidgets. "We didn't know that you'd be here though."

Elio nods along. "And what is your relation to the deceased?" He chuckles despite himself.

"I'm... a helper?" She says, "Due to her condition she isn't able to work well during the day, so I help out with tasks that are during the day. In return I get some of her blood."

"Some of her blood." Elio says flatly.

Ashley nods quickly. "It, well, first off it feels really really good. Also makes me a bit stronger and she told me that as long as I drink, I'll live forever! Seems like a good deal to me."

"I think I can work with this." He sits down next to her. "So. You'll tell me anything I want to know with the knowledge that if you don't I'll have Ezio open the shutters in the morgue, burning Elizabeth to cinders. Sounds good?"

Ashley pales. "Yes, sir."

Elio smiles. "Good. So you get blood and she gets a willing servant? That sounds right to you?" Ashley nods. "Okay. Do you know anything about other Vampires in the area? I believe that Megan may be in a similar position to you. Except I don't know where her master is."

She shakes her head. "Elizabeth kinda keeps me and the other two in the dark about other Kindred. Says it's better if we don't know anything for situations like, well, this one." She swallows loudly.

"But once she wakes up? She'd know?" Elio insists and Ashley once again nods. "What about weaknesses? Found out about the sunlight one, anything else? Garlic? Crosses?"

"Uhhhh, the only ones I know about are sunlight, obviously, and I think garlic works?" Ashley says, putting a hand on her chin and closing her eyes. "It's not like she goes around talking about the best ways to kill her, you know."

Elio grits his teeth. "Fine. And how long until she wakes up?"

"A week? Maybe two? Or a month. Yeah, a month." Elio looks at Ashley like she grew a second head.

"Is there any way to wake her up earlier than that? I'm kind of on a tight schedule with being a wanted man and all."

Ashley shrugs. "I dunno. Never had to wake her up before."

"Great." Elio adds sourly. A moment of tense silence passes. "Okay. What about non-vampire stuff? One of the other guys mentioned you deal with some local gang people? Maybe they'd know something. You know where to find them?"

"We would give them some of the stuff down at the Palace Campgrounds. I think they hang around there?" Ashley says.

"Palace campgrounds, huh?" Elio reaches through his memories, something tickling his mind about research into the players here. The Lead Bellies operate in that part of town. Low level street gang who are more just young adults playing at being gangsters, doing drugs and target practicing with pistols their fathers bought them. Only issue is that they wouldn't be happy talking to someone with as much heat on them as Elio.

"Lead Belly's sound familiar? Bunch of kids who think they are tough as nails?" Elio asks.

Ashley thinks for a second. "Yeah! Some twenty something is in charge, Sylvester or something."

"I think he's in charge cuz he's the only one who's been to jail." Elio laughs. He looks at Ashley for a moment. "Thanks for working with me. I really didn't want to have to hurt you."

Ashley nervously stutters and laughs. "I'm actually terrified right now!"

Elio slaps Ashley's back causing a surprised squeak. "Don't cause my brother any problems. He's not the pushover he seems like." Elio rises with a grunt and moves to the middle of the room. "Actually." He looks back to Ashley, eyes narrowed. "Since your master is being stored here, perhaps we could come to an agreement? You help protect my brother from this other vampire and his allies while I'm out on business and we'll shelter Elizabeth until she awakens. How does that sound?"

"I... I can try. If the vampire comes, I'm not sure that there is much I could do." Ashley says quietly.

"I'll be here at night. I doubt they'd risk coming during the day, right?" Elio replies.

"That sounds right at least." Ashley says.

Elio walks back towards the back. "Sounds like a plan." He pushes through the door, finding Ezio where he left him, now with a notebook in hand. "I got us some extra hands. Long as we keep the Vampire here safe and intact till she wakes up a month from now, Ashley will help keep baddies away during the day."

Ezio gives Elio a withering look. "I don't need a bodyguard Elio. I can take care of myself."

"Sure, sure. Karate and all that. But it won't help you if there are a few vampire blood hopped up junkies kicking in the backdoor with machine guns." Elio explains. "Just let her hang around. Kick her ass if it comes to that. But I think the only thing she really cares about is making sure her master is intact."

"So she's like a blood servant or something?" Ezio asks, not looking back to Elio as he begins his autopsy.

He blinks. "I guess? Is that what we are going with?"

"Sure." There is a snapping sound. "Oops." Ezio mumbles.

"You keep doing whatever it is you're doing there. I'm gonna go investigate some local gang for clues." Stepping back towards the front lobby, Elio pulls up his hood and nods towards his brother before emerging out into the still mostly empty lobby. Ashley appears a bit more composed when he returns, one leg laid atop the other while she sits and sorts through a large duffle bag. The clinking of metallic parts within is apparent. With nary a sound Elio passes through unnoticed while she is distracted.

Out on the streets, Elio is little more than a face amongst the crowd during the tourist season on a warm summer day. He sets his course for the Palace Campground, not too far away.

 

[Kinotics]

Moving through the late summer breeze with a hoodie covering most of his features, Elio makes his way towards the Palace Campgrounds. Making a quick stop by the local market, he acquires a pack of light beer with the cash Elizabeth "left" him. Fortunately, he still knows the places that won't card you if you look old enough.

Beer in hand, he passes through the arch proudly proclaiming Palace Campgrounds, and wanders for a moment between the paths and trails that wind between cabins, RV parks, and areas for tents to be set up. He passes past the areas where he and Ezio would play hide and seek in the woods while his mother set up a tent or dinner over the bar-be-que. Eventually, he sees a man wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, wearing mirrored shades, and holding beer still cold from the cooler while lounging in a worn down camping chair outside an RV. "Beer for your thoughts?" Elio offers one of his beers to the guy, who's bottle is running a bit low.

"Yeah." The guy smiles before swigging the last of his drink down and reaching out for Elio's. "My thoughts? Well, my thoughts are that you look kinda familiar." He looks Elio up and down. "You a cop?"

Elio chuckles before cracking a beer open for himself a few paces back from the guy. "Is that what you ask everyone who comes through with a beer?"

"Nope." He shakes his head before cracking the lid off the new bottle with a refreshing pop. "Just the ones who offer 'em to strangers."

"Probably fair." Elio takes a sip. "But I am looking for Sylvester. You know where to find him? You look like someone who spends" He eyes the chair and the relaxed demeanor of the man, "a lot of time here."
He sputters. "Hey come on man. It's just cuz rent is cheaper here than any of the crappy apartments in Galena. What d'ya want with Sly anyway?"

"I have something to talk to him about." With a small glance to his right, he can see a man replacing the liner of a trash can nearby a little too slowly to not be paying attention. "Business opportunities and whatnot."

The guy takes a long swig from his beer. "Whatever. The little shit increased his prices anyway. If you ain't a cop then talk some sense into him. He hangs out near the pool. Unless his camp manager is around." He jabs a thumb off to the woods nearby, "Then him and his buds hide out in the woods somewhere."

With a nod, Elio moseys over towards the pool. The man on trash duty speedwalks that direction well ahead of Elio. By the time that the gate to the pool is in view, there are a couple of young gentlemen in cargo pants, hi-vis shirts, with nametags on between Elio and entering the pool. Somewhere amongst the people behind them enjoying the pool must be Sly.

The bigger of the pair, Joe if his name tag is right, steps up to Elio as he walks up. "Heard you have been asking around about Sly. What's this you want?"

"Jesus." Elio looks the guy, who is more than a half a foot taller than him, up and down. "What are they feeding you kids these days?" He clears his throat. "Business opportunity, blah blah blah. I'm not about to just talk to the door guy."

"No details, no Sly." The other one says, apparently named Hunter. "You can take your opportunity and fuck off."

From his pocket he produces the baggie of heroin. "This is coming from one of your dealer's stashes. That dealer is no more, and I know where it all is. Talk to me."

At the gate is Sylvester, presumably. He's dressed in baggy swim trunks, t-shirt, and flip flops. Elio weighs the youth at a single glance. He can tell why he's in charge of this pack of misfits. There is just a spark of concealed violence behind those eyes and an unwillingness of Joe or Hunter to meet his eyes. While there doesn't appear to be a gun on Sly, Hunter and Joe are almost certainly carrying. "Let him in." He points to Elio before pointing towards a table with vinyl chairs beside it.

Elio smiles and follows behind Sylvester past the pool. Water splashes and kids are laughing. He stands a little shorter than the younger man as they size each other up. Elio nods a bit, then sits and Sylvester follows suit. "You Sylvester?" Elio asks as they both take a seat in the creaky chairs.

He snorts and leans back with a squeak from the plastic chair, curly brown hair bobbing along with him. "You a cop?" From an inside pocket of the swim trunks he pulls a knife that he starts to play with in hand.

"No. But I am looking for some info." Elio looks over to the pool house, which has a snack bar. "I'm going to guess all you got here is non-alcoholic, right?" He puts the rest of his beer onto the table. "Wanna drink?"

Sly eyes the beer before grabbing one and prying the cap off with the knife. He motions again to Elio, this time eyes on the pocket where the heroin baggie is contained. "The hell's that about?"

Elio puts his hands up disarmingly. "I'm looking for who's moving H on the streets here."

Sylvester laughs loudly, "So what, you give me some H and I give up my dealers? I knew it, you are a cop." He stands and makes to leave. "Go mess with someone else, huh pig?"

"Someone took out Elizabeth and her operation. Not enough people left to move the goods." Elio says, just loud enough to be heard. "She was only dealing to you guys on the side, but I know where her full supply is. You tell me about the other dealers and I'll tell you where to find it." The real stash had burned, but by the time this kid figured that out Elio would be long gone. "You and the Lead Bellies could finally move off this fucking kiddy campground. Be major players."

Sylvester grins wolfishly. "Now that's what I like to hear." He licks his lips with nervous energy and plops back into his chair. "But how do I know you aren't just lying to me?"

Elio slides the pouch over towards Sly. Light white powder lies within, almost glittering in the sunlight. "This is a package from it. For you, course."

He snatches it and looks closely at the powder within. "Fine. We've been buying from a couple of shady fucks fresh from outta town. I think they got a distribution operation somewhere north of town. But we've been buying it from a bakery, Fresh Tastes. They got a guy that sets up there around noon on Saturdays."

"Right. Thanks for the tip." Elio stands and stretches, "That old church outside of town? Check the basement. There's whole crates worth of H in there." He walks away.

Sylvester quickly catches up, grabbing Elio's shoulder. "What's your name, man?" He doesn't let go as his grip tightens. "In case we need to get in touch."

"Sammy. Sammy Liner." Elio quickly says before shrugging off Sylvester's hand.

He frowns. "Right..." Some kids come into the pool area, a little too close to the pair, as he is about to say something else. "Fine."

Elio quietly slides into the background of trees and roads once he steps past Hunter and Joe.

As he walks past the trailer the sunglasses man was in front of earlier, Elio can't help but overhear a news report playing on the TV.

"Breaking news, the man accused of assaulting officers and attempting to murder a public official has been taken into custody!" Lauren Willis, local news anchor, announces. Elio stops and frowns. "Found hiding in plain sight, Elio has been arrested by heroic officers, some of whom were the same that he attacked. Further news as it becomes available..." The news goes on to a different inane subject.

What? How could they mess up that badly? Elio thinks to himself. Whatever. He continues on his way out of the campground. Least that will make waiting for Saturday a bit easier.

Stalking back towards the funeral home, Elio finds it much the same as he left it. Ashley remains seated in the lobby, now having relocated to the far corner from the entrance. She nods slightly at Elio as he enters in, which Elio returns in kind before heading into the morgue. Ezio is drawing blood out of Elizabeth's cold corpse when he enters.

"You got a plan for that blood?" Elio says as he sits loudly onto a rolling office chair at a large wooden desk. He eyes the blood in Ezio's hands, contained in several small vials.

He looks up to Elio. "When'd you get in here? I didn't hear the door open." Ezio carefully sets the vials colored a dark crimson onto a metal tray next to him. "Yeah, I mean if this is really a Vampire, we should do some basic research on the blood. Gotta be something there we can learn."

"Sure." Elio nods. "So I need a place to lay low until Saturday and I was wondering if I could..."

"You can't stay at my place. Sarah can't stand you man." Ezio cuts his brother off.

Elio rolls his eyes and huffs. "I thought she forgave me already. You can't talk to her about this?"

Ezio returns the sigh. "I've tried. You really fucked up and she isn't likely to forgive you for that." He points towards a locker room on the other side of the morgue. "There's a cot, a sink, and some lockers in there. You can stay there if you help me out with the behind-the-scenes stuff here."

"Aw what? That room..." He takes a deep sniff in its direction, "smells like sweat and formaldehyde man. Would it kill you to buy some of that spray stuff one of these days?"

"It's that or nothing, Elio. You can't stay at your place. There's no way you'd have done something dumb like ask to stay at Lisa's place." Ezio narrows his eyes as Elio doesn't make eye contact. "Right?"

"Right."

The silence stretches for a moment, really taking in all the corners of the room until only the harsh buzz of the refrigeration units can be heard. "Well. I won't let my brother be on the streets so you'll stay in the locker room." Ezio's tone makes it certain that it's the final word said.

"What about," Elio jabs a finger in the direction of the front lobby. "That one?"

Ezio shrugs. "She's not a wanted criminal. Let her figure that out. Only got one cot."

The rest of the week crawls by. Elio helping out with whatever tasks keep him in the back. Mostly mixing cleaners and chemicals and checking temperatures of samples and cooling units. Despite living in a morgue for a week, little to no spooky occurrences happen, much to Elio's disappointment. Ashley has pitched a camo tent somewhere in the vicinity out in the light shrubbery nearby.

Saturday finally makes itself known, and Elio heads towards Fresh Tastes to find his mark. As he is about to turn the corner to the bakery, he stops to momentarily admire a red Ferrari that was parked nearby, nodding appreciatively before carrying on. A few trickles of rain find their way down to the sidewalk, bringing forth the smell of wet pavement. Rounding the corner, he finds Sylvester quietly chatting with a man wearing a baseball cap at the corner table of the bakery through their large front bay windows. Flanking Sly is Hunter and Joe of course. Glancing at the rest of the bakery that's in view , it's deserted. Not much of a way to get closer without being noticed by Sylvester who looks to be speaking quite emphatically to the cap wearing gent. Fresh Tastes occupies the bottom floor of a larger apartment complex, an old brickwork building.

Settling onto a bench across the street, he waits. Elio waits as an occasional customer comes in and the people in the corner seem to do the same, waiting for him. An hour passes at this impasse. The rain does not pick up or slow down, keeping its slight pace as clouds pass overhead.

Sly motions to his Hunter and Joe, says something to them, and the two of them stand and exit the building. They start to walk around the block, staring at people as they walk by before moving on. Before they can approach the bench that Elio has claimed, he stands and moves to the side of the building, a rickety fire escape above him.

Getting inside could provide a better opportunity to listen in on the two still inside. Lithely, Elio leaps atop a dumpster and reaches up to the bottom rung of the ladder to hoist himself up and to the second floor.

Glancing down as he climbs the rust-colored metal fire escape, Hunter and Joe are nowhere to be seen. Turning back to the task at hand, a window inside to the second story greets him. Looking inside, he sees various crates and containers and a few pieces of machinery with cloth covering them. Seems like no one is home. Elio reaches the window bar and gives it a quick check. It easily opens as he slides through, creeping over the old floors towards the stairs leading down. Here, he can catch an occasional scrap of dialogue from below as he focuses his hearing.

"You think he's gonna show, Sly?" The dealer says. "We've been waiting an hour. Your fuckers outside are ruining the business. Mine and the bakery's. If we're lucky the cops are gonna get called in." He grumbles.

There is an irritated shuffling sound from Sylvester. "He's gonna show."

"And if he doesn't?" the dealer sounds exasperated. "Fuck's sake man. I'm already gonna have to get a new place to sell from. Worse, what if he's a cop?" There is a note of fear in his voice. "For all we know, he's getting his posse together to come bust us."

"Come on man, get a grip. That guy gave me a bag of H. And I know it was from Liz's stash." Sylvester pleads.

Elio can hear the dealer's head shake against a plastic jacket. "That was definitely from the shit before they burned it up! So goddamn stupid. You wanna wait for this weirdo? Fine. But you're doing it without me." His chair pushes back, rumbling against the wood floors. "I'm not selling you shit again. This is your fault. Should've checked his story before telling him shit." He hisses. "Fucking gave us a fake name even. Sammy Liner. Fuck." The door opens and slams not long after.

Elio stands from his squat near the stairs and makes his way back to the fire escape, closing the window behind him. Glancing down the alley as he creeps down, Elio's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Where the alley meets the road is where that Ferrari was parked. And the drug dealer is getting into it. And then it squeals away as the pedal is put to the metal. At least it'll be easy to follow... Elio thinks as he grunts, leaping down the fire escape without taking the ladder. His knees creak a moment before he takes off running through the alley, trying to keep an eye on the car.

As Elio races out of sight, easily ducking behind buildings and cover as needed to keep pace with the car, he hears a massive crash. Rounding the corner onto one of the main streets he finds the Dealer's car totaled, having run straight into one of those old fashioned steel plated mailboxes.

"Oh my god! Call an ambulance!" An old woman shouts as her adult son pulls out his phone and dials, starting to blabber into the phone.

Another man comes up to the car, "Hey man, are you okay?"

Inside the car, the Dealer has a large cut across his forehead and moves sluggishly. "Yeah..." he mumbles, trying to right himself enough to stand but failing, "I'm... fine..." The police and ambulance arrive in short order.

Officer Jenkins steps out of the cruiser and rushes to check on the Dealer. As the other one approaches, she stops at the trunk, which is cracked open from the force of the impact. They pick up a container of white powder that has burst open on impact. Rubbing it between her fingers she looks over to the Dealer who is being helped by Jenkins before moving to assist.

While the cops are interrogating the Dealer the ambulance arrives. In the crowd that has gathered to gawk at the crash, Elio is slinking between the people within it, making his way to the passenger side of the car to quietly ruffle through his belongings. Cracking the door quietly, as all attention is on the other as the police officers work to assist a reluctant drug dealer, Elio finds a small leather journal in the glove box. It's all he has time to look through as the crowd around him shuffles and threatens to reveal him. He grabs it and quickly retreats as the ambulance arrives, taking the Dealer away with a police escort.

Elio plops down at a nearby cafe, the only good one in Galena and starts to leaf through the journal. Debts, names, and meeting spots, all in one place. Most of the names, however, are pseudonyms and nicknames, making identification a little difficult. Maybe Ashley will recognize some of these names.

 

[Kinotics]

Returning to the city block where the funeral home resides, there is a car in the lot that makes Elio's stride catch for a moment as his leading foot hangs in the air. It's a red Bently from the 90's. Down the street are a pair of black SUVs with heavily tinted windows that weren't here when he left as well parked on the street. Restoring his walk, Elio moves to the side of the Bently and puts a hand on the side mirror. Frowning, he wipes a finger along the mirror itself, leaving a long smudge. Inside, he can hear two men quietly talking in the foyer.

Sucking in a shallow breath, Elio pushes open the doors. The bells hung to the door jingle loudly as conversation is cut off between Ezio and another man at the front desk. He turns to look at who just came in, a smile running away from him as it turns to a grimace. He's a bit gray, a bit stocky, and his stance screams of someone used to getting his way one way or another. "Well, if it isn't little Elio." His voice is gravelly, his tone severe. There is a glass of red wine in his hand.

"Dad." Elio says simply. "Didn't know you'd be stopping by."

Mr. Aiello chuckles and sips his wine. Ezio remains quiet, not making eye contact with Elio. "A man doesn't need to announce a visit to his kid, right? Plus I didn't know you'd be here." He waves dismissively. "If I'd known you'd be here I'd have taken Ezio out somewhere else."

"Yeah yeah." Elio rolls his eyes and walks towards the door to the morgue. "Some heads up next time he's coming by, Ezio?"

Ezio nervously chuckles. "Yeah... I'll try."

Pushing through the doors into the morgue, the doors only open halfway before Elio catches Mr. Aiello say, "Thought he was done with the mob shit." To Ezio. He clicks his tongue. "Not that we expected much more from him, eh?" With a deep sigh, Elio continues into the morgue, allowing the continuation of the conversation to escape his senses.

In the morgue, Ashley sits at the empty slab cleaning and assembling a long hunting rifle with a carved wooden stock.

"Family trouble?" Ashley says quietly, not looking up from her work.

"You could say that." Rubbing his forehead, he takes a seat at the wooden desk on the far side of the room. "Old wounds don't close easily." Instead he looks over Ashley who seems to nervously fidget under his gaze. "Let me guess. You're a hunter of some kind?"

"What makes you say that?" She says while moving to keep her body between her work and Elio.

He points to the rifle, "Hunting style rifle. Bolt action with .308 cartridges. Not a cheap gun either. Plus there's the hiking boots and dirty camo jacket. Kind of a dead give away."

Ashley slowly nods. "Yeah. I was actually out hunting when I found Elizabeth. Or when she found me? I'm not sure."

"So you found her out in the woods and just decided to become a blood slave or whatever?" Elio quirks an eyebrow.

"No. Elizabeth came to our camp in the night. Said that she was being chased by someone and that she needed help. There's been a few missing persons reports in the area, so it wasn't hard to believe. The three of us let her stay with us while we packed up and got ready to leave in our camper." She rambles for a moment.

Elio holds up a hand. "Three of you? Those two other blood people I killed weren't them, were they?"

She shakes her head. "No. The mistress ended up feeding on the other two, but something about me caught her eye. She calls me her hare, whatever that means."

"Were they your friends? The other two on your trip."

"Yeah, they were good friends of mine. But the mistress must be sated. She didn't kill them," She adds after seeing the befuddled look on Elio's face. "No, just helped them to forget me and that night. But she took me with her to help out with her goals here. Gave me some of her blood, told me I was special and that I would help her a lot to have around." She looks over towards one of the wall storage units and holds her gaze there.

"Great." Elio mumbles. He pulls out the notebook from the dealer from a coat pocket. "I have a ledger here, but most of the names are nicknames. You recognize any of them?"

Ashley takes the small notebook and flips through it. She stops on an early page. "Yeah, this one. Stripes. I heard Elizabeth talking about that name a little while ago. She said that she thought he was a ghoul for her rival. A big wig with the local police." Ashley looks again at the ledger, "Looks like this dealer friend of yours was actually getting a little bit of product from him."

"Something else to look into, I guess." Elio takes the book back. "I'll have to poke around in the police station to see what I can find." He stops and frowns a moment. There isn't anyone talking in the front room anymore. Elio quietly and quickly stands and makes his way across the tiled floor, straining his ears to hear anything through the thick walls and door.

He hears footsteps. More than two people, maybe four in total. The clicks and jingling of weapons as well. The click of a magazine being checked and the pullback of an SMG action being primed. "Fuck." He mutters, turning back to Ashley. "Our friends are here. Stay back here and get an angle." He takes in the surroundings. There is an exit into the locker room and a back exit but only one way into the front from the morgue.

Listening for a moment, Elio doesn't hear anyone at the back. It's daytime though, so moving Elizabeth is out of the question without some prep work. Perhaps he could talk his way out of this? Not his strong suit, but better than putting blood into his brother's funeral home.

Elio hides his handgun in the back of his pants and steps out into the front room. He finds no sign of Ezio, but sees his father speaking quietly with three goons in body armor. Mr. Aiello turns to his son. "So, you've been sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, eh?" He starts to roll up his sleeves, exposing the hardened muscles of a brawler in his prime. A set of brass knuckles is pulled out as he wriggles his fingers.
"What the hell is this?" Elio looks at the armed men and back to his father, pieces falling into place. "For an old fart, you look pretty healthy. Been working out?" Elio has a casual grace as he walks slightly forward. "Or are you back to doping like the good ol' days?"

Elio senior smiles wryly. "Sure. I've been feeling like I was thirty again for a bit now." He takes a practice punch, a straight with expert form. "Turns out there are still people out there that still have a use for an old brawler like me."

"Huh, a mob thug then?" Elio's eyes narrow as he glares at Mr. Aiello. "Sounds like you've just become the thing you've hated me for doing all this time."

"I don't have to tell you shit." He cracks his knuckles and looks back to the trio as they begin to pull up their SMGs. "You three just watch." He looks back to Elio, "I'll show this idiot what happens when you mess with the business personally." Mr. Aiello raises his knuckles and falls into a brawler's stance. "Do you remember your old boxing lessons?"

Elio grits his teeth and raises his fists. "All I remember is you beating the shit out of me and calling it practice." He looks at his father, not as family for a moment but as a combatant. The lean muscles are all there. Muscles that should have fallen off as the years caught up with him. He doesn't look like the slightly overweight sixty-something that Elio remembers anymore.

"Where is Ezio?" Elio asks as the two men start to circle and look for openings in the other's stance. The three gun-toting men move to block the few exits. Clearly, even if Elio wins this bout, they are here to make sure he doesn't walk out.

Mr. Aiello sees an opening and takes the first jab. A fast strike at the head to test reflexes and defenses. Elio twists out of the way as the first attack flies past his ear and retracts into a defensive wall before a follow-up attack can be attempted. "He didn't see the benefits of working with us."

Elio moves forward, a straight punch aimed for the gut and hopefully under his father's guard. The punch's path is impeded by the fists of his father, easily batting away his attack. Exhaling through his teeth, "Is that all we are to you? Things to get out of the way if we don't work for you?" Elio follows his words up with a haymaker using his left hand, pushing his father back towards a side table and into reach of a standing lamp next to it. The haymaker catches Mr. Aiello on the side of the head near the ear, rattling his balance and causing immediate ringing in his ears.

"Gah. I see my lessons didn't go to waste at least." He grunts and twists a bit, switching from his favored boxing stance and bringing his knee up into a brutal Muay Thai maneuver aimed at the stomach as he pushes off his other leg. Elio is like the wind as he shifts to the right and steps to his father's side, taking his flank as he reaches for the lamp.

"I'm done with this game." Elio flips around and grabs the lamp, a long slender brass standing pole with a light bulb on the end. "Fuck you and your boss." He brings the lamp to bear, a crushing overhead blow meant to settle this quickly and likely non-lethally, if his hunch is correct.

Mr. Aiello raises both his arms above his head, catching the brunt of the damage of the viciously fast attack on his forearms. There is a snapping sound as the ulna in his right arm breaks from the sheer force of the blow and he screams as he falls to his knees clutching the broken limb. "Fucker!" He points up with his still intact left arm, "Kill him!" The guards ready their weapons and fire, two with SMGs on full auto and the last taking a shot with his pistol.

The room lights up as bullets fly everywhere. Mr. Aiello throws himself flat on the floor and prays that none find him. Elio is like light itself as he ducks and weaves between seemingly impossible spaces each time finding safety between heartbeats. The last gunman waits for his moment, however, and fires directly into Elios' torso. The bullet in a bloody flesh wound and Elio grits his teeth against the sudden white hot pain.

There is a series of clicks as the two SMG wielding grunts find their weapons empty, having sprayed devastation across the room but not finding their target. Elio quickly capitalizes on this by whirling around the lamp and aiming for the throat of the pistol-wielding gunman. A sickening crunch rings out as the lamp connects with the man's neck. He hits the floor in the slump as something vital breaks in him. The other two gunmen step back and pull out magazines that click into place, reloaded.

The door into the morgue is kicked open and Ashley has flipped a metal exam table over to provide cover as she lines up her shots on the gunmen. There is a blast of a high powered rifle that shakes the timbers of the room as the first bullet lances out from the back room, aimed at the first gunner who just managed to get his magazine into place.

Blood splatters over the floor as the bullet passes cleanly through the man's shoulder and impacts into the wall. Both gunners take a step back to reassess the new situation and Elio takes advantage of the confusion to throw another swing of the lamp at the now bleeding gunner, grunting as he ignores the pain in his own side. The gunner falls under the brunt of the assault, but lands on his knee. He breathes heavily, pulls down his balaklava to get cooler air and grits his teeth before rising back up and bracing the SMG against his hip and yelling while pulling the trigger in the direction of the lamp wielding maniac.

Elio desperately springs into action, blurring as his lamp spins into the path of the incoming dozens of bullets. He barely manages to turn each aside and into the surrounding wooden walls and floors. At the end, his lamp is riddled with dents and holes where each bullet made contact.

The is ready as he pulls the action of his SMG back, primed for another long burst. He aims at the blur of brass and flash that is Elio and fires a crossing stream of bullets. The foyer is full of holes and gun smoke and the gunman intends on adding to it. Elio spins and twirls, sweat beading his brow as he creates a passage through the bullets and into safety. Most of the bullets spark off the beaten and battered lamp, but more than a couple streak past, leaving bloody marks on the walls and floors as they find flesh. The metal rings of a bolt action being operated as fast as possible as it's primed before the smoke from its last shot has time to clear. Ashley takes her second shot in as many breaths. The second shot rings out and crashes through the body armor of the wounded man, slaying him before he has time to hit the ground.

Elio grimaces and breathes through the pain as he watches the last gunner. He needed to conserve himself for later. The bent and battered lamp post wasn't going to last much longer like this, but it will serve as a bludgeon just fine for now. Swinging horizontally, Elio catches the gunner in the ribs, leaving him with bruised bones through his body armor. Stepping back, he reaches into his vest and removes his last magazine and slaps into place, continuing to skitter back and breaking line of sight with Ashley from the morgue. He's too slow though, as another rifle bullet slams into the ceramic plate in the gunman's bullet proof jacket, which he can feel break under the impact of the round but does its job of saving his skin.

The gunner dives behind a couch riddled with bullet holes, taking shots at Elio and trying to conserve the last of his bullets. "What the fuck are you?!" He screams over the hail of explosions. Elio breathes quickly as he ducks under the incoming attack, his shoes squeaking on the hardwood floors as he inexorably advances towards his foe. He leaps over the couch, executing a mid-air forward flip, the momentum all coming crashing down in a single blow of the lamp post, crushing the back of the couch as it shears through to find its mark.

The lamp rings and sings as it breaks through the wooden cover of the frame of the couch and slams into the helmet of the gunman. He staggers then goes limp and slides to the floor.

He looks back to his father who watches in stunned silence. Shards of wood, broken glass, and the smell of gunsmoke fill the room. Sirens can be heard in the distance. "Was that part of your training?" Elio says to his father with a grunts as he looks at his wounds, blood running down his arms and legs, staining his clothes.

"You aren't any child of mine." Senior spits. "I don't know what the fuck you are, but you aren't human. No normal person moves like that. Who gave you that power?! Who did you steal it from?!" From the ground, his fingers grip the carpet, pulling it in bunches in his fists.

Elio is in front of his wounded father in a heartbeat grabbing a fistful of his silvered hair, pulling him up and forcing him to look his son in the eye. "This power? It's mine. No one gave it to me." He pulls his pistol from behind him, leveling it at his father's temple. "Tell me what you did with Ezio."

"He's gone. We moved him somewhere you won't find him." Mr. Aiello chuckles. "Power doesn't just come from nowhere, kid. And wherever yours came from? It'll come knocking one day. I hope it finds you when you least expect it." He spits blood into Elio's face.

Elio slams his fist into the senior's jaw, finding it firmer than expected but still causing a pained grunt. He wipes his forehead. "And what about your power, eh?" He shouts, "You're sixty fucking three and you somehow just came back to your prime? I've got a hunch you made some bloody good friends, huh?" He shakes him by the collar, "What have you done just to get a taste of that blood? You attacked your sons! Ezio will be lucky if he's still alive when I find him! And you actually loved him." He shakes his head, throwing him down to the ground onto his back. "I may not understand my power, but at least it doesn't control me like a hound on a leash."

Senior's breath comes in ragged gasps as he struggles to maintain consciousness. "You've kicked the hornet's nest, kid. He's never gonna stop coming for you. Not till you're dead and buried."

"I'll kill every dog he sends after me, if that's what it takes to get rid of him." Elio says resolutely.

Ashley pokes her head around the corner. "Hey, those sirens are getting closer. What do we do?"

"Get her into a coffin. We'll move her in the hearse." Elio grunts.

"Okay... where?" Ashley continues.

Elio glares back to her, "Just do it. I'll figure that out later."

Senior cackles from the floor, "Run, run, run away little cockroach. We'll find you wherever you go."

Elio slams a foot into Mr. Aiello's side and he goes quiet. He quickly goes through the pockets of his father and the three gunmen. Three cell phones and a tablet. He does nab their wallets for a little bit of cash as well as one of the empty SMGs. No paper trail to follow without cracking the phones. He does get a couple car keys though, one for his fathers car outside and another presumably for the black SUV he sees parked out there as well. "Change of plan Ashley, get the coffin into the back of that SUV. Tinted windows and doesn't stand out like a hearse will."

"Okay." Ashley replies as she struggles to get Elizabeth into a coffin in the morgue, Elizabeth's limp body flopping wildly as Ashley struggles.

The culmination of his wounds and exertion finally hit him. Elio sits for a moment, before the approaching sirens return him to action. He helps Ashley get Elizabeth into a coffin and back into the SUV before driving off before the police arrive. Peeling out, they drive down the road as several police cars scream past and towards the funeral home. Elio sighs in the passenger seat and leans down to not be seen.

"So where do we go?" Ashley asks from the driver's seat.

Elio is quiet as he applies pressure to his bullet wounds, which are no longer even bleeding as they congeal closed on their own. "I... don't know." There is a tightness in his voice. He's been pushed hard in the past, but never as hard as this last week has pushed him. "There aren't really any bridges left for me at this point. My brother is kidnapped, my father works for the enemy, and my old friend wants nothing to do with me. And I think I'm still wanted by the police, it's only a matter of time until they realize they got the wrong guy."

"We have the cash to go stay in a hotel for a while." Ashley offers.

He nods. "I think that's kind of our best option at this point. The Green Dot just at the edge of town still takes cash. And they don't ask questions and play dumb for cops and PI's."

A few minutes where the only sound is the road and the low volume radio playing some old rock lurch by before they see the Green Dot. Grungy, single story building with bars over the windows, overflowing trash can, and a large green dot on a post with a neon light reading "vacancy" under it. Even in the middle of the day, there are people loitering about. Some pace endlessly, some are in the midst of an argument, and punctuating it all is a baby crying somewhere, of all things.

Ashley sighs as she sees the Green Dot. "So this is it, huh?" Elio nods. "This looks like a place where people go to die." Elio nods again.

"More than a few OD cases have made it to Ezio's morgue from here. Looked into it one time, this place is almost certainly a front for something, but like I said, they don't talk to private investigators." The black SUV stands out from the rest of the sometimes literally duct taped together cars in the lot as it parks. "Go get a room and I'll worry about moving Elizabeth. I'll attract to much attention if I go in like this." He points to several barely closed bullet wounds and his ruined, blood soaked clothes.

She pauses before looking over to Elio, eyes narrowed. "No. I'll take Elizabeth. You go deal with the front."

Rolling his eyes, Elio steps away from the backseat where Elizabeth's coffin was hastily shoved. "Be my guest." Approaching the front office, an older, balding man sits reading a book behind the desk in the lobby reeking of smoke.

Without looking up from the book, he addresses Elio. "It's eighty a night, cash or credit. Don't do anything that the cops would come around for. Otherwise, I don't give a fuck."

Walking up to the desk, the old wood floors creak under Elio. "We'll pay day by day. Not sure how long we'll be here." Ruffling through the roll of bills, he puts the cash on the counter. The man looks up to see Elio and frowns, but takes the money.

"Don't cause me any trouble." He says simply before reaching to a row of keys and tossing one onto the counter with a metallic clink.

Walking down the row of rooms towards the room at the end of line, Ashley clearly needs some help with the heavy coffin as she struggles to move the load from one end. Elio quickly grabs the other end and the pair move towards the room in question. Next door to theirs is a greasy looking man with a blue bathrobe and slippers on. He gives what he clearly thinks a winning smile is towards Ashley.

"Hey babe, you staying a while? I'm Dale." Dale actually has a voice for radio, just the right amount of grumble and good enunciation. It's just... everything else. Ashley laughs and doesn't answer while avoiding eye contact, picking up her pace as Elio speeds to match. They make it to the door as Elio swiftly turns the deadbolt and kicks open the door. "Well, you know where to find me. I'll see you around." Dale's smile only widens, and Elio can feel a small shudder go through the coffin from the far side.

The door slams behind Ashley and Elio as they drop the coffin onto the floor between the two beds. Elio sits down on one of the beds and checks his clothes. "Did that guy not even see we were carrying a coffin?"

From the other bed, Ashley folds one leg over the other and purses her lips. "Yeah, he had other things to look at." She looks down to the coffin and sighs. "I hope you wake up soon."

Rising from the bed, Elio moves into the bathroom and sniffs experimentally. "Someone has definitely shot up here. A few times. But it will do." Shutting the door he takes off his shirt and gives himself a proper once over. All the bullets except for one seem to have passed straight through. He'll have to worry about the one in his thigh some other time though. The shower squeals to life and does his best to relax for once.

In the room proper, Ashley continues to look at the coffin. From a pocket she pulls out a pocket knife. Her eyes move from the coffin and the bathroom, where the shower running can be heard and she weighs her options.

 

[Kinotics]

Returning from the shower, Elio quickly towels off his hair. The towel is slightly tinged with red as it rubs across his closed bullet wounds.

"So what's the plan now?" Ashley asks as she clicks on the television for some background noise.

Elio sighs as he closes his eyes, leaning on the counter near the sink. "I need rest. Time to heal. Then, I'll see what I can find at the police station. If I can figure out who the, what was the word you used? Ghoul? Whoever that is, I can find out where they took my brother."

"And after that?" She continues.

"Find and kill that vampire. Save my brother. Stop the drugs coming into Galena. Clear my name." He mumbles, ruffling his hair.

Ashley looks away from the TV and towards Elio, "And after that?"

"I haven't thought that far ahead yet. Maybe kick father dearest again." Elio says quietly.

She shakes her head, "Do you know how many vampires there are? It's not like you'll be able to just kill them all. They'll get you eventually, you know? Especially if you kill one of them."

He sits heavily onto the other bed, taking a moment to feel the cardboard like structure of the mattress beneath him. "Everything worth doing comes with its fair share of risks." Elio lays back on top of the comforter. "What about you? Just gonna keep on being a ghoul for old Elizabeth there?"

"Yes, duh." Ashley chuckles.

Elio sizes Ashley up as she watches an infomercial on the small TV screen. "To each their own, I suppose." He shrugs and closes his eyes. A few minutes later he begins to quietly snore.

Once he begins to snore, Ashley's hand returns to the knife in her pocket, her gaze falling upon Elio.

The days pass uneventfully. Some attempts to breach the security of the phones have had no success. Elio's wounds close frightfully quickly as the flesh knits itself back together without even a slight scar. Even the retained bullet in his thigh pushes its way out without a trace. That spark inside him seems to grow just a bit brighter, or perhaps he becomes more accustomed to the intoxicating power of Essence. His dreams are odd these days. Feelings and words float around in his mind when he is idle and sleeping.

Solar. Creation. Protect.

It's one of those evenings when Elio has found his way up onto the roof at night that Ashley comes up as well, a six-pack of beer in hand. She tosses one to him, which he catches without even looking. The starlight is enough to illuminate their outlines in the dark, but little else. "How long until Elizabeth wakes up?" He eventually asks.

"A few weeks, I think." Ashley says quietly.

There is a long silence. "What happens when she does?" Elio asks.

"We'll probably leave. She's already seen how dangerous you are, so she is going to want to leave as quickly as possible. Maybe she'll tell you some info if you ask nicely."

"And go back to selling drugs and whatever else it is you guys do?" Elio asks. There is a barb in his voice. A sharpness that seems ever present these days.

Ashley shrugs and cracks open a can of the beer. "Whatever she wants to do."

"And what if I make sure she never can again? Put her to rest finally." He tightly grips the can in his hand.

"Then I'd have to try and stop you." Ashley says matter of factly, taking a long drink.

Elio looks over to the dark outline next to him. "Why?"

She looks up to the stars and the sliver of the moon. "Because I love her. Her and her blood. Even thinking about being away from her for too long is enough to bring me to tears."

"That doesn't seem healthy." He mutters as he opens his own can and takes a small sip.

"I don't care." Ashley says. "I just want to feel good and live forever."

He takes another sip. It's cheap beer to be sure. But is there something else in there? He smacks his tongue twice, then spits the sip out. Bitter. Some sort of medication. "Is this your attempt to stop me?" He stands, towering over Ashley as the streetlights fail to reach his face.

Gone is the meek Ashley as she stands, drawing her knife. "I can't let you hurt her. Now that your brother is gone, you don't have a reason to keep us around." There is a note of worry in her voice as she takes a ready stance.

The moment stretches on as the two figures in the night size each other up. "Fine. After this week is done, you can leave and take her with you. I can't have you ratting me out while I stay here, but I don't care after that." He walks past her towards the edge of the roof. "Just keep in mind that I will be protecting this town. If you or Elizabeth start messing around here again, you'll find me in the night waiting." Without waiting for a reply, he leaps down from the roof, landing without a sound and moves to the room.

A tense week passes and Elio's wounds have fully closed. As the day at the end of the week rolls around, Ashley loads Elizabeth's coffin into the back of the SUV. From the threshold of the room only a few feet away Elio watches. "So this is it, I suppose."

Ashley nods as she slams the trunk closed. "Yeah." An awkward silence reigns.

"Where are you going?" Elio eventually ventures.

With a shuffle, Ashley heads to the driver's side door. "I don't want to tell you. You might come and finish what you started some time."

"Right." Silence returns as Ashley opens the door and steps into the vehicle. "Stay out of trouble." The door does not close but the engine comes on with a roar.

"Go to hell." There is fury in Ashley's eyes in the crack of the door. "We aren't friends. You almost killed Elizabeth. And I know the only reason you kept me alive is because I was useful to you." She hisses.

Elio smirks and leans against the doorframe. "There's the venom. Only have the guts to say shit like that to me when you see the way out." He scoffs, "Come talk to me when you're willing to say that to me without a shiver in your spine. Because I know you're afraid, even now."

The door closes and the engine roars to life as the accelerator is pushed and the SUV peels out of the parking lot. Elio sighs before dusting himself off and beginning a trek into town. He didn't need ghouls around anyway. He had a hunt to get back to.

 

[Kinotics]

Noon-day sunlight on a warm sunny day shines down as Elio traces a path towards the Galena police precinct. Settled near the center of town, it's a two story beige building with bars over the lower level windows. Sitting down across the street from the entrance at a local cafe, Elio gets a drip coffee and starts to watch people coming and going from the station. No sense in rushing into things, after all.

He recognizes some of the people but only incidentally. A couple hours and a few coffees pass by until he sees the form of his father, heavily bandaged and wearing a sling on his right arm, approach the station. With a frown, Elio stands up and begins to follow towards the station. Hurriedly pulling his sweatshirt around the holes that were shot in it a week ago, at least he's managed to scrub the worst of the blood from it.

Standing at the entrance for a moment, he watches the eb and flow of the office. Looking at what everyone else is wearing, which is either some variation of business casual or uniforms, he's going to stick out like a sore thumb. And it's not like he can avoid everyone's stares, there's too many people going about their business. But this opportunity to see what Mr. Aiello is doing here won't last forever.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Pushing open the door, he's the perfect picture of confidence, of 'I'm supposed to be here'. The officer manning the front desk looks up at him before tapping a sign in sheet on the desk in front of him and returning to looking at the computer. Approaching the desk, Elio glances down and fails to find his fathers signature on it. Pretending to write on the sheet, he puts it back down before continuing a brisk stride past the front desk. Elio slides through the precinct, glances falling off and away from him as he seems to perfectly know when to seem as though he belongs here and when to slide into a corner and appear busy. All while keeping pace with his father, who is making his way towards the offices in the back before knocking with his good arm and entering the office of one Mr. Hunter, sheriff of Galena. Elio grabs a stack of paperwork off an unoccupied desk to appear busy and follows along towards the sheriff's office.

As he moves through the office, he overhears a detective talking about her case with a coworker. "What do you mean his alibi checks out?" She grumbles.

"Just got off the phone with the library. They have him on camera at that time waiting for the bus outside." Now walking past the open door, Elio sees Officer Jenkins talking with a woman in plain clothes with her badge hanging from a lanyard. Detective Tanya, Elio's more official public counterpart.

Elio stops at the doorway momentarily to listen in. "So what you're saying is that he's still out there? This is going to be a PR nightmare!" Tanya leans closer to Jenkins and hisses. "Have you told anyone else about this yet?"

"No, I..." He stops and looks back where Elio is standing. "Come on, keep walking, I'm talking to the detective about an open case." Jenkins comes and closes the door.

"Sorry..." Elio mumbles. As curious as he is about this, he needs to keep moving.

He continues following his father through the small precinct until they get to the back office. Once inside, the door clicks locked, a "I'm in a meeting" sign is flipped and the shades drawn. Looks like we may have our informant. Elio looks around the area. He'd look suspicious just standing in front of the door or window listening in. Glancing around, Elio looks for perhaps a vent or other airflow option nearby. Old construction. Vents tended to be an afterthought. He looks around for a better option. The room adjacent is a bathroom. He could hang out there without much issue.

He pulls the handle. Locked. "Occupied." Someone grunts from inside.

Okay. Hanging out in front of the door and looking suspicious. Got it. He takes up a position next to the door and sharpens his hearing while trying to appear as natural as possible while pretending to read his stack of papers. It looks like an expense report. Maybe.

As he starts to listen, officer Jenkins with his neat uniform that looks like it's only been pressed once, comes up to him. "Hey... so how much did you hear when you were at the door there?"

Elio's eyes flicker to a poster of his own face, or at least close to it, behind the officer on a cork board. "Uh, nothing really. Something about someone still out there?" He lowers his voice a bit, trying to throw him off the scent. Listening into the conversation happening while doing all this is proving a little difficult to split his focus however.

From outside the room, he can hear Sheriff Hunter talking to Elio's father as though they were standing in front of him. Like Jenkins is.

"Wow. You look like shit, Leonard." Sheriff Hunter chuckles.

"Save it." Mr. Aiello says. "That idiot you got in the cell? That isn't my dumbass kid."

A chair squeaks forward, "I know." Sheriff Hunter says. "We had to catch someone for this. Public perception of the police is already awful. We can't be seen as ineffective now. My officers, at least the ones that need to know, are still looking for him."

A hand hits the desk, "We need something! Victor is getting pissed, Richard. It's been two weeks now and every time someone runs into the shit-stain they end up dead or beaten within an inch of their lives. It happened to Megan and me. It's only a matter of time before he comes here to do the same to you!"

"Relax." Richard says calmly. "I already have an officer patrolling near my home at night looking for suspicious people and he'd never just break into the police station."

Back outside of the room, Jenkins squints as he speaks at Elio. "Hold on. Where is your visitor pass? Do you work here?" His eyes flicker to Elio's hoodie and slightly torn jeans.

"Yeah, I work here." Elio scoffs. "I'm a consultant on the drug trafficking case. I came in from Chicago like a week ago?" He looks at Jenkins as though this should be obvious. "Just came in from the field, haven't had time to get cleaned up."

"Oh, geeze." Jenkins slaps his forehead. "I should've realized. Did you get a haircut or something? I didn't even recognize you."

Elio smiles, "Don't worry about it. I'm just waiting to talk to Sheriff Hunter about some new evidence that has been brought to my attention. Carry on with your own investigation."

He smiles and does a sloppy salute then moves away. Elio turns his attention back to the conversation.

"You think this is a joke?!" Leonard hisses, "I watched him go toe to toe with three thralls that Victor gave me. They had two SMGs, three mags each. Opened up on him, TWICE. One of them was fucking point blank." He pauses for effect. "He used a lamp to deflect the entire magazine. Just a standing brass lamp. And I taught him how to fight. Whoever I fought last week? That was NOT him. Moved like a demon, broke my arm with that lamp, and you know I've picked up a bit of Fortitude."

There is a long silence. "So what is he, then?" Richard eventually asks. "We saw him in broad daylight. He can't be Kindred."

"Don't know." Elio senior says with a bit of bitterness. "Victor seems confused too."

"Did you just come here to tell me about this, or was there something else?" Hunter asks.

"Right." Elio hears something being placed on the desk. "Victor wants an update on your progress. He wants to meet tonight."

There is a long sigh, "Fine. I'll go talk with him." He picks up what was on the desk. "And what's this?"

"List of aliases and wherever else he's lived in the past. Every place that I know. If he's gone to ground, he'll be at one of those places."

"I'll send some officers around. See what I can dig up." He leans back into his chair, based on the squeaks. "Anything else?"

"No. Just be careful. Any more fuck-ups and Victor is going to drain one of us." Leonard says seriously.

"I haven't fucked up. Just you and Megan." Richard says, a threat hiding behind his voice. "Don't forget that." A moment of tension follows. Elio steps away from the door and behind a desk, pretending to read his expense report as the door opens and his father storms out, a little red in the face.

Elio smiles before heading down the stairs towards evidence and lockup if the signage is to be believed. Maybe he can find his duffle bag somewhere down there.

The lighting is significantly different down here, flickering fluorescent lights shine through the bars where a few people sit largely motionless. Elio sniffs and wrinkles his nose. Sweat and blood with a touch body odor that cuts easily through the air freshener someone sprayed. He stalks down the hall, the current inhabitants of lockup not sparing him more than a passing glance as they turn over and try to sleep on hard cots and benches. One of them looks familiar though, and turning his head, Elio makes out the face of the Dealer from a few days ago.

Down the hall, the reinforced glass door with 'Evidence' written in large black block font on it looms. The metal handle is cool to the touch and the door opens without a squeak. Stopping at the threshold though, Elio spies a camera in the corner of the room, and is greeted by a red cage taking up most of the room with another door with another door to the interior, this one likely heavily locked. A desk is pushed into a space next to the door, currently unoccupied, with forms and procedures laden on its surface. Pulling his hoodie over his head, Elio smoothly moves to the desk and glances through its drawers. No key within. His shoulders slump and Elio retreats back into the lockup hallway. No key, no lockpicks, no access to evidence. Could try to lift one from someone...

Footsteps are coming down the stairs, several sets. Seems someone may have been watching the camera feed. Before they can come into sight, Elio darts into one of the open cells and shuts the door almost all the way before lunging onto the cot and turning his back to the hallway. Three distinct sets of boots hit the concrete floor and move into evidence lockup without a word. A moment later they come back out. "He couldn't have gotten far." Richard's voice is apparent. "Shut down the station. No one in, no one out."

"Right." Officer James's voice answers as he runs upstairs.

"Jenkins, talk to the burnouts here. One of them saw something, I'm sure of it." Richard then follows James upstairs.

Turning towards the cells at the foot of the stairs, Jenkins shakes the cell door, rattling metal echoes through the small space. "Hey! Wake up! Any of you see anything?" There is a generally unhappy muttering from the trio in the first cell.

At the far end of the hallway, Elio feels the rapid beat of the flickering lights and moves with them as his cover, his body seeming to fade in and out with the coming and going of the dark. Silently, he slowly slides open his cell door. The muttering from the far side continues as the door opens fully and Elio creeps out, pulling the neck of his hoodie up over his nose and mouth while pulling the hood low over his eyes. Stepping silently behind Jenkins, he turns for a moment to glance at the inmates, and sees the Dealer staring wide eyed at him. Putting a finger up to the opening of his hood in a demand for silence, Elio watches the man slowly turn away, eyes still wide. Sensing something amiss, Jenkins whips around, only to find the empty concrete hallway behind him.

Back upstairs, Elio pulls his hood back down and resumes looking as important as he can as the station bustles to block entrances and several officers begin the important duty of searching every corner of the station for the intruder. Elio is already heading to the Sheriff's office as he watches Richard coordinate the search from the front lobby. Inside his office, there is a window which is swiftly unlatched as Elio races forward and then out onto the side of the building. As he runs past the desk, he grabs the envelope his father left on the desk for the sheriff and stuff it in a pocket. Leaping down and onto the gravel lot off to the side of the office, Elio begins to saunter away, pulling his hoodie back down to normal position.

If he's planning on following the Sheriff to wherever he's going after work though, he's going to need some wheels. Elio, now more than a few blocks from the station, starts to consider his options. While stealing some poor fellas car would not be difficult for him, it certainly doesn't feel good to him. Ashley took off with the SUV, his own car is bugged and likely impounded by now, and he isn't going to drive the hearse from the funeral home around. Maybe he could borrow Ezio's van.

The answer comes to him as an hour later he watches Joe from the Lead Bellies get out of his terrible, rundown, orange vehicle of indeterminate make and model and head into a motel. No one appears to be inside it anymore. Quickly moving to the side of the vehicle, Elio tries the handle. It opens with a loud creak. Looking at the lock and experimentally pushing the lock tab, it doesn't give in and remains unlocked. Sitting down in the seat, before he can set to work removing the cover of the wiring that runs the ignition Elio is blinded by the scent of the interior. It's a mix of rot, fast food grease trap, and vomit. If he was so inclined (he's not), Elio could pick out each individual element of this foul aroma with his semi-divine senses.

"God... damn!" He coughs, "What is that smell?" He shuts the AC vents and it takes the edge off, but he quickly shifts his focus away from his senses, taking the smell from utterly incapacitating to merely stomach turning. "Something must've died in the AC." He mumbles as he pulls his shirt up over his nose and sets to work bypassing the key ignition, pulling wires out from underneath the steering column. The car rumbles to life with a complaint.

As he begins to drive away, he hears a knocking sound coming from the trunk of the car. "... the hell?" He gets one block away and opens the trunk of the car once he is sure no one is around to see him. Elio blinks a few times once he sees the person bound and gagged in the trunk. The young woman, who can't be older than fifteen, starts trying to scream through her gag. Elio closes the trunk and leans against it. "What the fuck."

He reopens the trunk and puts his hand on her gag. "I'm not trying to hurt you. Don't scream when I pull this off, they are still nearby." Elio quickly removes the cloth gag.

"Who are you?" She asks shakily, dark brown hair a frizzled mess around her.

Elio clears his throat and pulls her out of the trunk. "Get in the passenger seat. We'll talk in the car." In a single motion he pulls his knife from his pocket and slices through the rope bindings on her legs and arms.

She stumbles out of the trunk and quickly into the passenger seat. Elio is not far behind as he lands behind the wheel. "It's better if you don't know my name." Elio leads with. "I was actually, uh, borrowing this car and you were in the trunk." He grimaces. "Call it a happy coincidence."

"Thanks? I guess?" she mumbles. "Do you think you could get me back to my parents house? Those assholes kidnapped me. I'm sure my dad would be happy to pay you when I get back."

Elio does some quick mental math. "I'm kind of on a time limit myself, but I'll see what I can do. Where do your parents live?"

"Chicago." She says.

"Chicago?! That's like a hundred fifty miles away!" Elio rants. "Can I just leave you with the police?" He asks.

She goes wide eyed, "No! No police!"

"What do you mean!? Why not?" Elio exclaims, exasperated.

"Those guys have friends in the cops. They'll give me right back to them."

"Weirdly, I get that." Elio mutters. "Okay. I can't get you back tonight. Can we call your parents to come get you here?"

The girl looks away for a moment. "... I don't know their phone number."

"Are you kidding?" Elio says flatly.

She shakes her head. "No. My phone remembers those things for me."

"Those things are rotting you kids' brains." Elio grumbles. "Fine."

"I've got a very time sensitive thing going on right now." Elio continues. "If you promise to be quiet and stay in the car while I'm doing it, I'll get you home tomorrow." He starts the car and drives away before the kidnappers notice it was gone in the first place. "What's your name, kid?" Elio asks gruffly as he rolls the window down and lets the crisp summer air in and blows away as much foul air as he can.

"What, so you don't tell me yours and you get to know mine?" There is a tone of offense in that voice.

He turns to look at her as he stops at a light. "You realize I just saved you, right? And the fastest way for me to not have my current plans be complicated is to ditch you on the side of the street, right?" Elio says.

She flips from indignant to worried quite quickly. "...I'm Briana. Briana Greenwich."

"Okay. You can call me Night." Elio says as he moves the car closer to the police station, settling down a block away with a good view of the exit from the gravel lot next to the station.

She quirks an eyebrow. "Like an old-timey knight?"

"No. Like the time of day." Elio shakes his head. He's not sure why that was mildly offensive to him, but it was.

A few minutes later, the car arrives and shuts off a block down from the back of the police station. There is a good enough sight line to see when Richard leaves from the lot. "Okay, strap in Briana. We're on a stakeout." Elio grunts as he leans his seat back and stretches.

She looks down the street, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes. "You're staking out the police station?" A note of curiosity in her voice. "I mean, I guessed you weren't a great guy, what with stealing a car and all."

"Yeah. Staking out the police station. You don't need to know why. Probably better that you don't." Elio says from his reclined position. "And what? Good guys can't stake out police stations?"

Briana frowns and shakes her head. "No. Not normally."

"Your opinion on good guys is noted." He opens the console and pokes around the glove box, ruffling through old fast food receipts and empty boxes of cigarettes. Elio sniffs a moment. Odd. The car doesn't smell like smoke. Probably masked by that god-awful reek coming out of the AC. It's not even on now, yet it still creeps into the cabin. Elio opens the windows a little wider.

He manages to find a crumpled up registration hidden under the floor mat. The creases in it have been ironed in through pressure. It is registered to Brian Copeland. Likely stolen. Well, it was stolen before Elio stole it.

An hour passes. "So why were you kidnapped?" Elio asks.

Briana shrugs, fabric rubbing against the cloth seat. "Probably trying to get my dad to pay a ransom."

"He rich or something?" Elio doesn't take his eyes off the station.

She nods. "Yeah, he works for, like, a bank or something? I'm not super sure, actually."

"Sure, sure. Do you know the guys that took you? Because he was a member of local blockhead gang the Lead Bellies" Elio continues.

"Yeah. I know them." She says quietly. "They are part of my family. Not those guys that you got this car from, the people that hired them."

"Family is a complicated thing." Elio says softly.

"We only got the money a little while ago when my dad got promoted to whatever his job is now. Some people in the family don't think we deserve it and we stopped talking to them. Guess that they took that personally." Briana continues.

"How do you know it was them?" He asks, finally taking his eyes off the station.

"I heard one of those guys talking to my aunt on the phone after they grabbed me from school. I'd recognize her nasal, whiny, awful voice anywhere." She frowns as she recalls the time.

Elio's eyes flicker back to the police station. "And why couldn't we take you to the cops again?"

"Well, my aunt and that part of the family work for the police in Chicago. I figure they'd hear about it if I got turned in and a call got through to Chicago police."

He groans. "Better safe than sorry, I guess..." Elio settles back into his seat.

Another hour passes. No sign of Richard leaving yet as the early afternoon creeps by. "So what's your deal, Night." Briana makes a finger quote motion around the title.

"Too long and you wouldn't believe me." Elio says firmly. "Long story short, Galena is embroiled in some serious conspiracy bullshit. The guy I'm trying to follow is going to the boss tonight and I'm getting to the bottom of it."

She laughs, "So you're a fucking conspiracy nut?"

He shakes his head. "Conspiracy nut would imply that it isn't real. And I have the unfortunate position of having seen it."

"Prove it then." She sits smugly, arms folded across her chest.

Elio takes a deep breath. "No. You don't want me to. In fact," he turns away from her and looks out the driver window, "forget I said anything in the first place."

Briana's smirk turns to a frown as Elio doesn't play ball. "Come on, not even gonna try and prove it? Must be a really fake conspiracy when you aren't even going to defend it."

"I know you're just baiting me, kid. And for your sake, I really mean it. Forget I said anything. There are people out there who would kill you for even suspecting it."

She chuckles. "There isn't anything actually like that. You've watched too many spy movies."

"Yeah. Let's go with that." Elio slowly says. "We'll get you home tomorrow and you just put this all behind you and go back to your life."

Hours pass as afternoon turns to evening. Soon, Richard's nice white sedan pulls out of the lot. The engine of the orange death stink car rumbles to life with a loud complaint. The hunt was on.

 

[Kinotics]

Most people are already retired to their homes, though the sun is still poking over the horizon. It is a weekday, after all, and the nightlife in Galena is small compared to the big cities.
"It's time to go." Elio says suddenly, startling Briana into waking from her nap in the passenger seat. Tucking away the pair of bobby pins he'd discovered while poking around the car, he starts the car with a rumble and a spark and follows the sheriff's car out of town from a good distance.

Following Richard out of town, he drives down the winding paths that lead up towards Galena Lake. A nice area for sure, with a resort and golf course as well as a fairly ritzy gated neighborhood. The land of paranoia and infidelity, from what Elio's previous jobs here told him. Richard's car passes by the resort on his way to the neighborhood, Lake Ridge. He stops at the front gates and gets buzzed in. The gate grinds close behind him and he continues.

"Well, what's the plan now?" Briana asks with a yawn.

"I've got a code from a client I took a few jobs from a while back. Let's hope they haven't changed the locks." Elio drives up the gate once Richard has driven forward a bit more.

The speaker above the keypad makes a loud beep as Elio finishes keying in the code and the gate does not budge. Elio frowns and puts the car in reverse. "Course they did..." He grumbles. "Plan B, I'll follow on foot." The car softly grumbles as Elio pulls off to the side of the road outside of the gates and between a pair of streetlights.

Briana looks over to Elio as he steps out of the car and opens the trunk to get to his duffel bag. He slides on his leather jacket and checks the half empty magazine of his pistol. "And what am I supposed to do?" She asks.

"Stay here and watch the car." He answers matter of factly. "If trouble comes looking, push the alarm and I'll be on my way." Elio slams the trunk and looks to the dark, tall, iron wrought fence in front of him.

Briana looks out into the darkness. The moon glimmers dimly on the surface of the lake down the ridge from the car. "Are you really just going to leave me here?"

Elio glances around and nods. "You scared of the dark or something?"

"No, but..." She starts.

"Then I don't really see what the problem is." The dirt crunches under his feet as he walks to the open passenger side window. "Keep your head down and the window closed, and no one is going to bother you. I'll be back in just a little bit."

Elio stalks up to the tall fence, grips the cold steel and hauls himself up. Carefully overcoming the spiked tops of the poles, he lands silently on the other side in someone's side yard. Now to track down where Richard went.

Big houses on big lots. While there are not a lot of houses here, they take up a lot of space. It takes time to get anywhere and individual people and cars will tend to stand out against the relative lack of people in the area.

Slowly patrolling around the neighborhood are a couple of private security cars. 'Sterling Security' is proudly emblazoned on the side doors as they watch the shadowed streets. Perhaps it was a good thing that Elio had not managed to get the car in, its burnt orange coloring does catch the eye.

The smell of barbeque and the slight sound of chatter catches Elio's attention. It looks like a decent amount of the people living here are out having a get-together on the front lawn of one the estates. A catering service seems to be in attendance and security is definitely higher there.

Time to take a look around. Elio walks off the road, choosing paths through estates away from eyes and avoiding security systems as he looks for the white car that he followed all the way here.

Elio stays ahead of the security cars and out of sight of the cameras and residents. Ducking from bush to bush and shadow to shadow, he manages to cross the width of the neighborhood, gaining a good look at the car ports of them all. He's just in time to spot Richard's car pulling into the garage of a large manor, its door closing shut behind him. "Jackpot." He mutters with a grin.

The front doors have a pair of guards standing nearby. Bored guards, but guards nonetheless. There are a multitude of cameras and motion sensors that make getting too close without being detected difficult. A fortress even amongst the other manors and estates of this place.

For a brief moment, Elio can see through a crack in one of the blackout curtains in the upper floor. The insignia of the Galena police department on the sleeve of a dark blue jacket. Must be where the Chief is. Elio looks about the manor, searching for the path of least resistance.

No trellises lead up to the second floor and there are no carelessly leaning ladders to take advantage of. A back patio has both ground and second floor entrances but is patrolled fairly heavily. Elio frowns. Without getting some of these guards distracted or otherwise away from their posts it doesn't seem as though there will be a way in unnoticed. A disguise perhaps? He looks around. Breaking into one of the other manors for clothes could work, but coming up with a lie convincing enough to be allowed in by the guard without checking with their master would be difficult. Plus, every moment he spends thinking another passes on whatever they are discussing in the manor.

Sometimes, fortune favors the bold. Elio emerges from one shadow before darting to the next, carefully watching the guard rotations and paths. He moves as though he is the night itself. Shadows would be jealous of the smoothness of his motions, with fate itself seeming to conspire to meet his needs and whims. Cameras are always perfectly in sync to be avoided and motion detectors are positioned just with bare blind spots. The surrounding garden crackles and hums to distract guards, and Elio is always just fast enough to pass by with even the slightest lack of focus by the manor's defenders.

Slithering to a door behind the house, it is, of course, locked. Fishing out the bobby pins from his jacket pocket, Elio sets to work with his knife as a tension wrench, knowing he only has moments before the guard looks just to the right and notices his presence.

The lock clicks open and Elio moves through the door into a sitting room. No one is in here at the moment, though he can hear footsteps above him. He looks around the well decorated room, noting the blackout curtains artfully pulled to the sides of every widow. A large series of bookcases line the far side, the two halves of the room divided by a fireplace near the center surrounded by couches. Stairs lead up from here and there are doors leading off to more of the ground floor. Elio slides up the stairs, heading towards where he hears the footsteps.

Elio passes across the rich red carpet lining the middle of the hallway and by a few unoccupied rooms. Sparing glances into the doors that are open, he can see guest bedrooms and a study currently unoccupied. The door that most interests him is a thick wooden door with light leaking from underneath it. He brings his ear close to the gap and listens to the proceedings inside.

"...problems." Richard finishes, Elio having come in at the midway point of their conversation.

"You will not fail me as the other two have, will you?" A voice like flowing water speaks, authority is obvious in its tone and force.

"No, of course not." Richard says quickly. "We're getting close to being able to purchase the land. But until Megan recovers, we've stalled a bit."

"And this... Elio? I believe that is what Megan called him. What is the status of that nuisance?" Victor asks.

"The police are searching everywhere that he's ever lived. Friends' houses, old coworkers, mob buddies. We'll find him." Richard says. Elio can almost see the smug look on his face.

"But you haven't found him yet." Victor says curtly.

There is a short pause. "No. Not yet. I have my best detectives on the case they..." He is cut off before he can continue.

"If they are your best, why has he escaped you?" Someone stands from a leather chair, based on the squeak of fabric against it, "I have brought Leonard back to his prime, backed the political machinations of Megan, and removed numerous obstacles to you becoming chief of police Richard." Footsteps across the room. "Have I not done enough for you, as your master, to get me results?" The question is extremely pointed.

"Of course, you have, master. You've treated us very well." There is a tightness in Richard's voice. "I would like to point out that I haven't failed you. It's been Megan and Leonard!"

There is a click of a tongue, "So quick to blame your peers. Unbecoming of you, Richard. Unbecoming. If I were less merciful and more like my clanmates, I'd be looking for new ghouls. You are lucky to have such a lenient and understanding master, are you not?" His tone is light and easy, as though he was discussing the weather.

"Yes, we are very lucky, master." Richard mumbles.

"Then get me Elio!" He roars, echoing through the door. "And if you can't do that, I want Elizabeth staked on my back lawn or a jar of her ashes on my desk by nightfall next Wednesday. If none of you are able to do either of those things... then I may have to look into new help." Victor returns to a cool tone of voice, silky even. "And Richard?"

There is a moment of quiet again before Richard squeaks, "Yes, master?"

"When can I expect the arrival of the addicts?" Victor continues conversationally.

"Within..." there is the sound of tapping on a screen, "No, in three days. We can get them here in three days."

"Good. I have guests arriving to discuss business soon. And I can assure you, any disappointment on their part shall be the same as my disappointment."

"Of course." Chief Hunter sighs inwardly. "Is there anything else I can help you with, master?"

There is the sound of a wooden drawer opening, and paper being withdrawn. "Yes. I have a missive I would like you to deliver to one of our neighbors. A Gangrel that has been stalking the local farmsteads. Memorize the address on this slip and then burn it. Have it delivered quickly, within the next two days. And for god's sake, mind your manners. She's known to be quite quick to bite." Victor sits back for a moment. "You may leave now. Ensure the door is locked behind you."

Chief Hunter stands from his seat. "Your will is my own, Master." Elio darts into one of the guest bedrooms, watching as Chief Hunter emerges, sweat dotting his brow, and he descends to the first floor and heads towards the garage for his car.

Maybe I should have searched the car. Elio thinks as he pokes his head back out of the room. He stops at the door he had been listening in through but hears nothing else going on besides the occasional creak of a chair with someone in it.

Victor walks towards the door and Elio once again ducks into the guest bedroom. Emerging as the door pulls open, a tall man wearing a finely pressed dark blue suit, though the outline of body armor can be barely seen underneath, Victor struts into the darkness of his home. A black beard and mustache decorate his chin line and icy blue eyes peer out from under dark brows. Even looking at him inspires a sense of foreboding dread in Elio, who nervously swallows without thinking at his first glance at the Vampire.

Victor pauses a moment and sniffs the air, frowning down the hallway, before carrying on down the stairs. Elio silently follows him as the Vampire comes to a bookcase. He pulls a copy of War and Peace from the shelf and opens it, revealing a wireless keypad within. A few strokes that Elio eagerly stores into memory later, and the bookcase swings open. Down from the depths of the staircase now revealed, Elio's heightened hearing can pick up the dredges of a conversation from a familiar voice. His father is talking to someone down there. A draft of what smells like dry blood, bile, and harsh chemical cleaner that isn't fully covering the stench wafts up the stairs as Victor draws smiles before taking long strides down the cement stairs. Fluorescent lights are already on as he moves down.

Just as the bookcase starts to slide back into position, Elio slips through at the last possible moment, continuing to creep down the hard stairs. The smell is foul enough to force him to reduce and dull his senses, preventing him from hearing the conversation further below.

Going down the stairs, Elio passes by a few storerooms holding what look like hardtack and other non-perishable food sources. The last hallway is filled with at least two dozen metal cell doors, much like you'd find in the solitary confinement section of a prison. Elio, slowly following behind Victor, has to stop numerous times to avoid being seen by the several cameras monitoring the area. He can hear his father's voice again; he must be getting close.

Victor stops at the last cell at the end of the row, pulling open the door with a grunt. "What progress have you made, Leonard?" He says, voice muted through the door. "Has this one provided us with information? Or will he be my sustenance for tonight?"

"No." Elio senior says quietly, barely audible through the door. "Still claims to not know where the shit-bird flew." Elio sharpens his ears, grimacing as the scent grows large in his nose. He holds his nostrils shut just to get away. He is able to hear his father talk quietly to Ezio, even though the metal. "Give us anything, Ezio. He'll rip your throat out if you don't." A plea to the favored son. Elsewhere in this dungeon complex, he can hear labored breathing coming from the other cells, a woman softly sobbing further in.

Victor's foot scrapes on the concrete floor as he steps forward. "Tell me whatever I want to know about Elio junior."

"Of course..." Ezio mumbles, his words slurring slightly.

"Where is he?" Victor starts. There is a creak as it sounds like he sits on something.

Victor starts to pace back and forth. "I don't know..." Ezio slurs.

The door is thrown open, barely giving time for Elio to get out of the way and into the shadows at the end of the hall. Victor tears open the door across the hall. A woman is chained to the wall inside. There are track marks on her elbows and she looks dazed. She lifts her head just in time to see Victor lunge forward without prelude, sinking his fangs into her neck. Taking a moment to look into Ezio's cell, he sees his brother similarly chained to the wall. Blood runs fairly freely from wounds across his body, slowly falling away into a drain in the center of the room already caked with dry blood. Leonard in his arm sling, simply shakes his head looking at Victor feed.

Elio bites his tongue as he watches Victor. This was the moment to strike, if there ever was one. The woman starts to go limp in Victor's arms, her full weight falling against the chains. Elio waits until his father looks back to Ezio and steps into the cell with the Vampire. He draws his knife from his jacket pocket and aims for a joint in the armor he can see under the suit, up near the shoulder where he should be able to access soft flesh.

It's over before Victor even knew it was beginning. He starts to shake as he feels the knife, moving with godspeed through his muscles, sinew, and even bone. His flesh, hard as oak wood, parts as though paper under the knife. Elio cuts, starting from the armpit and pulling down, spilling the vampire's unused organs onto the floor. Ribs clatter to the concrete and blood pours down in a wet splatter. Victor falls along with them, leaving his victim chained to the wall still just barely alive.

Leonard turns his head around at the sudden commotion. Only a moment had passed since he took his eyes off his master. "Holy mother of God..." He mutters, pulling out a pistol, shakily held in his left hand.

"No." Elio says, turning to his father, arm dripping red. "Just me."

From inside the cell, Leonard screams up the hallway, "Get some men down here! Intruder!" He fires off a round at his son as his screams echo down the hallway, hoping against hope that he can at least slow his master's attacker down. With casual grace and minimal movement, Elio catches the bullet on the flat of his knife and sends it careening into and bouncing off of the concrete floor down the hallway.

"Get out of my way or you'll join your master."

For the briefest moment, Leonard tries to consider it. But his blood has already answered for him. He shakily pulls out his brass knuckle and puts it on his left hand and steps forward. "I'd rather die than abandon..." He doesn't have time to answer before Elio attacks as a response.

Elio rushes forward and easily reads his prey as his father tries to duck to the right and out of the way back into the cell. His knife finds Leonard's lower leg and there is a snap as the Achilles tendon is severed, causing him to crumble to the ground as his stability is immediately and painfully taken from him. Leonard clutches the new injury with a tortuous scream. "Fuck, my arm now my leg?!"

Elio moves to his brother, still mumbling to himself against the wall, numb to the world around him. "What did you do to him?" Elio seethes, turning back to face his prone father, now in a growing puddle of blood.

"Blood..." Elio senior says between pained pulls of breath. "He's taken two doses of Victor's blood." Elio looks at his brother's inner elbow and sees a set of red and painful injection marks.

Elio shakes with barely contained rage. "I don't know who the bigger monster is. The literal vampire or the father who allowed, no, enabled this to happen." He pulls out the bobby pins and sets to work opening the chains. "Why aren't the guards coming down?" Elio asks as he drapes his brother's arm around his shoulder and hoists him up. He needs medical attention.

"I don't know!" Leonard growls. "Those idiots need to get their asses down here..." He seethes.

Elio sits Ezio on the cot in the room. He moves towards Elio senior, who continues to lay on the floor as his blood tangles with that of his son's as it moves towards the drain. "Tell me how to kill him." Elio demands.

Looking up with eyes narrowed, Leonard looks confused, "What?"

"The vampire. Victor. I know that he isn't dead. Sunlight is hours away." Elio steps onto the knife wound, twisting his toe, "Tell me how to kill him."

"Stake him." Elio senior gasps. "Through the heart. It's the only way to make sure besides sunlight."

He nods and moves into the hallway, finding a wooden table with a few chairs. Elio snaps a leg off and moves to Victor, slamming the leg home through the heart. Blood sprays up and dots Elio's face. Breathing a deep breath, he feels a weight fall off his shoulders. "Thank you. That's one less monster in the world." Elio's eyes fall on his father like thunder. "Though maybe there should be one fewer still."

"Come on." Leonard chuckles painfully, "You wouldn't kill your old man. It's the blood that made me like this! Now that Victor's dead I can get back to normal."

Elio sighs, looking upon the foul creature in front of him. He knows, on some level, that whoever his dad once was and whatever good traits he may have once possessed have abandoned him. But he still has the dream of a happy family. The dream that one day his father will "wake up" and see the light. Accept him back into the family. Respect him.

"Tell the guards to let us leave. Then never." He pushes his father to the ground fully under his foot, "Ever. Come back until you are ready to look me in the eye, apologize, and work with me to make things right."

"Yeah." Leonard smiles, genuinely to Elio's eyes at least, "I'll do that." He grunts and stands, supporting himself on his good leg. "Let me go talk to them. Come on, get your brother up and I'll get you out of here."

Elio grabs his brother and follows slowly behind his father as he hobbles up the concrete stairs. He opens the bookcase and finds no guards in the house. In fact, Elio can't hear anyone nearby. "What the fuck..." Leonard mumbles. "Where the hell are they?"

"I don't care." Elio says, striding with his brother towards the front door. "I'll be back in the day tomorrow. Those prisoners down there? They better be gone. Otherwise I'll do it myself. And cause tremendous pain to whoever tries and stops me." He gets to the front door and grabs the handle. "Remember our deal, Leonard." Elio says as he glares back over his shoulder at his father.

"Of course." He mumbles, as he falls onto one of the couches, starting to wrap some of a tablecloth around his bleeding leg.

Elio steps out and stops. There is blood on the front stoop. He can see a few of the guards in pieces on the front lawn. Police sirens wail in the distance and one of the security cars and their occupants lay in a heap at the bottom of the drive. The night is still otherwise. "What in the hell did this?"

Elio looks at the wounds. The splatter patterns. Sees patterns that don't match the positions of the guards. Most of them look like they were running from something and the bodies that he examines have terrible bites and claw marks taken out of them. Among the wreckage, he finds a tuft of soft gray fur and pockets it for later study. Glancing down at the spent bullet casings in the grass, he counts at least fifty shots were taken at whatever did this. But it doesn't look like many actually connected.

He nods, satisfied with his brief investigation. Then he notices an envelope on the front gate with his name on it. Elio snags it then retreats out of the neighborhood before the cops can arrive.

Elio makes it back to the car, helping his brother over the fence nearby. Briana opens the door of the car and leans out, "Holy crap man!" She hisses as she sees the state of Ezio, hurriedly opening the door and helping Elio get his brother into the backseat. "This guy needs a hospital!"

He grunts as the back door of the car closes and he hurries to the front. "I know, that's exactly where we are heading." The note sits on the console for the moment, more pressing matters pushing it down the priority list. He turns the engine over and hurries off to the hospital.