"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting that."
"Grace, it isn't-"
"The Wolf of Vancouver, sweet on a Kine."
"Please don't call me that." The Gangrel shot the Toreador an irritated look as they sat together in the latter's car driving off into the city.
"The look on your face when she walked out." Grace was chuckling. "If it weren't for that heart being dead, I could have sworn I heard it flutter."
"That's not. . .not what it is." Ben said. "At all."
"Please, I'm a Toreador." Grace said. "Young Toreador, but I know love when I see it."
"That's not-"
"Fine, lust. Whatever. I'm not judging." Grace waved him off. "I just thought you were some kind of mon-"
"Let's. . .just get to the law firm, please." Ben said, he shifted in his seat.
"What if that doesn't have anything to do with the thugs?" Grace asked him.
"I asked Sybil to look into another lead. . ."
His music flooded into his ears from the orange-padded headphones he wore. Robbie wasn't a big fan of having to sit around and wait, but the boss wanted them to lay low after their last hit had gone to hell. It was worse for him, seeing as he hadn't even been able to do anything. No, another job and Robbie had to stay behind to watch the safehouse. He was irritated by the whole thing, just as capable as Johnny or Sam or any of their friends out there on the streets. He could shoot, he could rough people up, and absolutely nothing got past his notice. Eyes like a hawk, he had! No one and nothi-
He felt the cold metal of a gun at the back of his head as his headphones were pulled from his head.
"Seriously? The Bee Gees? And now you made me forget my generic cop one-liner! Dick!" A woman's voice met his ears.
"Cop? What the-?" Robbie started to turn.
"Ah, ah, ah! Don't move! My trigger finger is a little itchy still!" The woman said.
"What the fuck do you want?" Robbie asked, then gasped as he was suddenly spun around to see a woman with an oval face framed by dark brown hair, a pair of equally dark eyes staring back out at him. Also, she had a nine millimeter against his throat. That really was what he noticed most.
"My name's Sybil." She said. "I have a few questions about a job you and your buddies ran just tonight."
"I don't-"
"Listen, pal! I have been through a lot of crap to find where you were hiding out. I had to call three fish, sing a song for a deaf bum, and they will never find those three armadillos ever again! So please. . .don't fuck around with me, alright?" The woman named Sybil asked him. "So. . .tell me about the job you guys ran last night. Slowly."
"You know, normally, I wouldn't be allowed to do this sort of thing."
"I hardly think this is anything out of your purvey, Fabian." Grace said as she stood next to him in the elevator.
"It isn't the policy of Feldman, Shepherd, & Matthews to give out the confidential information of our clients." Fabian said as the three Kindred watched the indicator lights go off as they hit certain floors. Luckily, however, they were unimpeded and soon reached the forty-seventh floor, where Fabian's office was.
"Ah, that reminds me." Grace said. "Congratulations again on making Junior Partner. Did you get the bouquet I had sent?"
"Yes indeed, Miss Penderghast. And thank you again." Fabian said as he led the way out of the elevator and down the hallway. During the day, the place was far more active. Now, though, they were three of maybe half a dozen people even in the building, much less on the floor. Despite being owned by a Kindred and run by at least two Kindred, Fabian was one of only three lawyers who regularly worked the late nights at the firm.
The Ventrue brought the pair into his office, his eyes catching the shabbily-dressed Gangrel who hadn't said a word since they'd arrived.
"Mr. Grayson? Are you well?" Fabian asked. Ben grunted. "Ever the conversationalist, yes."
"Now now, Fabian." Grace said. "What Grayson lacks in conversation skills, he makes up for in other abilities."
"I suppose he must." Fabian said, walking up and unlocking his door, opening it. "Please, enter." Grace and Benjamin entered, Fabian coming up behind them. He walked over to a filing cabinet, opening it and producing a manila folder. "I'm afraid, however, that I am unable to help you at this time. I apologize."
". . .I'm sorry, what?" Grace asked.
"I told you. It isn't the policy of Feldman, Shepherd, & Matthews to give out the confidential information of our clients." Fabian said calmly.
"Okay, you have got to be kidding me." Ben said.
"I'm afraid not." Fabian said. "Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I must step away. I will return momentarily." He stood up, adjusted his tie, and walked out of the office.
"Who does he think he is-" Grace started, but stopped short when she saw Ben get up and move to the other side of the desk, opening the folder and looking through. ". . .oh."
"Ventrue. Sneaky bastard." Ben said, looking through the papers. Looking over his shoulder, Grace could see that it was an attempted trade deal going back over the past month just as Angelica's story had said. Three separate attempts over three separate weeks, with even more zeroes being added to the offered amount each time, and all of them having been turned down by the people at Haven of Hope.
"Wait. . .the buyer." Grace said. "I know that name. Stephen Corwin."
"Yeah." Ben said. "Should have guessed. Blue-Blood prick." Corwin Construction was known as one of the bigger construction contractors in the Pacific Northwest, building several of the new developments in urban Seattle and elsewhere.
"He's a Kindred?" Grace asked.
"That, or he's a dead ringer for his 'grandfather' who founded his company in 1888." Ben said, without looking up from the paper. When he felt Grace's confused gaze on him, his eyes flicked up toward her. "I do a lot of reading. Also, I lived in one of his buildings while I was in college."
"You went to college?" Grace asked.
"A while ago, yeah." Ben said.
"Okay, so. . .we're dealing with a Kindred that is, at minimum, a century old." Grace said.
"Yep." Ben nodded, closing the file.
"Who is probably incredibly powerful as well?"
"You betcha."
"Are we sure we're wanting to do this?"
"You think I'm just going to swing in like Errol Flynn and stake him to a wall?"
"Well, you do have a reputation."
"Doesn't mean I like it." The Gangrel's words surprised her. "Anyway, we should touch base with Sybil."
"Sybil? Why?"
"If I know anything about Malkavian interrogation techniques, she's already found information that either matches this. . .or doesn't."
"Alright, fellas! I've got five aces! Show 'em!"
The three thugs spread out the cards in their hand. One had a Reverse Uno card, three jack of diamonds cards (from three different sets), and a credit card that looked like it had been gnawed on by some kind of animal. The other two didn't have much better, one didn't even have a fifth card and had substituted a tin can.
Sybil laughed. "Oh, silly billies! You've sunk my battleship!" The Malkavian chortled. "Okay, now. . .Sleep!" The three men fell unconscious in their chairs, the fattest of them even falling out of it and onto the floor as he snored loudly. Sybil got up, whistling happily as she walked out of the place as though she had never been there to begin with. As she did and stepped out onto the street again, she stopped. Her head cocked to the side as she listened to a voice. One that seemed to be speaking directly to her.
"Sybil."
It was a rich, deep tone. She had heard it before, in her daydreams. . .and her nightmares.
"Sybil. You must find me."
"I'm full up on crazy tonight, thank you!" Sybil replied cheerfully and went to her car.
"The key. The key below." The voice began to fade away as Sybil got into her car. It was as she was slamming the door shut that her phone went off again.
"Dana Scully speaking, go ahead." She said after answering it.
"Sybil." Ben started. "We ne-"
"Scully." Sybil cut him off.
". . .okay, I'm not doing this right now." Ben said.
"Not doing this right now. . .who?" Sybil asked, grinning a bit as she stared at the lit up screen of her phone.
". . .fine, Scully."
"Hehe. Thank you, Mulder."
"Not touching that one with a ten foot pole." Ben's voice came through again. "Did you get any information out of those punks?"
"Two of them, yeah. One of them was listening to ABBA of all things. Can you believe that?" Sybil asked.
". . .what's wrong with ABBA?"
"Can we please get some perspective?" Grace's voice came through. "Sybil, what did you-"
"Bestie! How's the boytoy?" Sybil cut her off as well.
". . .what did you get out of them? What did you find out?" Grace went on after a pause that was clearly of irritation.
"Well, about six seventy five, so at least I have enough for the bus." Sybil said. "Also, I won back one of the armadillos, so you can stop worrying about at least one of them. Anywa-"
"You idiot! Who hired them?!" Grace was shouting through the phone.
"Some asshole named Griggs." Sybil said. "I was going to go see him now. He's apparently at some club called Moon and Star?"
". . .oh, for fuck's sake."
"What?" Sybil asked.
"We'll meet you there." Ben's voice came through just before the line went dead.
Another hour brought the three to Isaac Carroway's club - the Moon and Star. For Grace, it was where the night had begun. When she entered the double doors, Isaac was there to greet her and ran up to her with full ecstasy in his eyes. . .which quickly disappeared as he saw the Malkavian and Gangrel walking in after her.
". . .oh." Isaac groaned.
"Sorry, darling. Business." Grace said. It was, at least, some comfort that she didn't seem pleased either. "We're looking for a man named Griggs."
"Griggs?" Isaac asked. "Why?"
"He has some information that we want." Ben said.
"My bar is Elysium, I'll remind you-" Isaac started.
"I'll drag him outside before I break anything. Promise." Ben replied, giving the Toreador a blank stare.
". . .who are you again?" Isaac asked.
"That's Ben Grayson!" Isaac turned back to see his own bouncer, Hope, staring with total awe at the Gangrel.
". . .he's who?!" Isaac asked, his eyes darting between the Brujah and the Gangrel a few times, certain that he must have heard wrong.
"Oh, God. . ." Now, it was Ben's turn to groan.
"Ben Grayson?" Hope asked. "You seriously don't know who he is, boss?"
"I know who he is!" Isaac snapped at her. "What is he doing in my club?"
"Y'know, I'm right here." Ben piped up.
"He's in my coterie, Isaac." Grace said.
"He's the Gangrel?!" Isaac asked with exasperation.
"All this is time we could be looking for Griggs. Just throwing that out there." Sybil commented in a bored tone, seeming interested in checking her nails for dirt instead of the discourse.
"Fine! He's at the damn bar!" Isaac snapped, pointing a thumb back toward the lengthy bar sat opposite the stage. Sat at said bar was a man in a flannel shirt and jeans, halfway through chugging a beverage when he realized that multiple pairs of eyes were upon him. Quickly, he got up and ran for the back door.
"Somebody stop him!" Grace shouted.
"Don't think we need to worry about that." Sybil said.
"What?" Grace asked, then followed Sybil's finger pointing back toward the doors they'd come from, which were rattling against the frame. ". . .ah!"
And indeed, outside, Ben was rushing around to find a familiar Brujah had moved with lightning speed to follow Griggs and now had him pressed against the dumpster out back.
"Sorry. All yours." Hope said with a smile toward Ben as she withdrew the arm she'd been holding against Griggs' neck.
". . .don't you work for Isaac?" Ben asked.
"Just clocked out on the way out." Hope said. She gestured to the ghoul holding his own throat after being slumped to the ground. "Have at it." Ben stepped forward.
"Oh, geez. . ." Griggs groaned.
"So. You hired a bunch of goons to hit up a place tonight." Ben said. "I want to know why."
"What?" Griggs stared up at him, rubbing his own neck. "A place? You mean that homeless shelter?"
"Unless you hired them to hit up some other place tonight?" Ben had a dangerous tone about him. The ghoul visibly paled.
"Look, my boss said to put some pressure on them, I put some pressure of them." Griggs said. "He's not picky on the particulars, just said not to use any of our boys."
"Great. That's a start. Who's your boss?" Ben asked.
"Oh, like Hell I'm telling you tha-AHHHH!" Griggs was cut off as his head was slammed against the side of the dumpster. Ben had barely flinched, though the implication was clear to both the ghoul and the Kindred that were still there.
"Oooh, that looked like it really hurt!" Ben gave a mock-wince, kneeling down to get to eye level with the man.
"Of course it hurt, you asshole!" Griggs snapped at him.
"And that's what I can do off-hand," Ben said, "You don't wanna know what happens when I get creative."
"Yeah, I know who you are, asshat! Big Bad Wolf! AHHH-" Another slam against the dumpster with barely a flinch from Ben. Celerity at work once again.
"I'm losing patience and you're losing brain cells." Ben said, not even giving mocking sympathy this time. "The name. Now."
"Fuck! Fine! Corwin! I work for fucking Stephen Corwin!" Griggs spat at him. "Are you happy now? He's probably gonna ki-"
"He's employing you?" Ben asked. "Why?"
"He's not." Sybil's voice got Ben's attention. "Corwin's his blood sugar daddy."
". . .huh. Thought he smelled like a ghoul." Ben said, looking back to the fallen man. "Alright, well. . .let's do it this way. You're gonna call your boss. You're gonna set up a meeting. Tomorrow night, eight o'clock sharp."
"What?" Griggs asked.
"Tomorrow night, eight o'clock sharp. There's an open all night diner down the street from Haven of Hope. Corwin meets me there. Alone." Ben said.
"He'll never agree to it." Griggs said, struggling to stand once Ben gestured for him to get up.
"I have a feeling I know your boss better than you do." Ben replied. "Go. I'll be there. He'd best be." Griggs, holding his arm, started off toward the parking lot. "Oh, and one more thing." The ghoul turned back to Ben. "Until we talk, the Haven better not receive any unexpected visitors. Make that clear."
Griggs wandered off quickly. Ben turned back to see Grace, Sybil, and Hope all staring at him with faces ranging from shock to awe.
". . .that. . .was. . ." Sybil started.
"Terrifying." Grace said.
"Magnificent." Hope said at the same moment. The Brujah and the Toreador shared a strange look. Ben said nothing as he watched Griggs stumble off to his car and then, only after the man had pulled out of the parking lot, did he turn and leave.
No comments:
Post a Comment