After the confrontation with the Campione girl, Vinny and Antonio took a cab to the other side of town, deep within Addario territory. They stopped at what looked like an old, abandoned building and got out –they didn’t pay because the driver was another Addario member who owed Vinny a favor– walking up to the rusty front doors. The building was reported as too dangerous to enter (or so the police thought), which was why it made the perfect hideout for the Blood Collectors. The cops would never suspect the infamous crew had made it their home, and they would never bother to check for fear of a collapse inside.

Vinny pushed the door open, wincing at the loud groan the rusted thing made. He always hated that noise. The two men slipped inside, closing the door behind them, and flipped on the light. Despite the dilapidated exterior, the inside was surprisingly well-furnished. Stolen décor bedecked the room. There were velvet loveseats, leather couches, cherry wood tables, and antique lamps. Just walking into the room was like taking a trip back in time to the early 1900’s –except for a few modern amenities. Taking up a large portion of the eastern wall was a large flat screen television, and sitting on the coffee table was a wireless home phone.

Antonio made himself right at home on the loveseat, swinging his legs up and resting his head on one of the armrests. He stretched and let out an exaggerated yawn. Vinny rolled his eyes and sat on the couch across from him, placing his elbows on his knees and dropping his chin into one hand. He stared at the phone. He was expecting a call from the Caporegime in charge of his district. Supposedly, the boss had a job for him and his crew. He just hoped it wasn’t another murder like the one earlier that day. It was much too soon to try anything as flamboyant as that again.

The phone rang.

“Yo,” Vinny answered, leaning back into the couch and kicking his feet up on the coffee table. “Vinny’s Arson and Assassination Service; we have a great deal on bank robbery this afternoon. How can I help you?”

“Ha ha,” came the sarcastic reply. “Very funny, Vincenzo. Now, could you take this business just a tiny bit more seriously for once? You’re gonna get yourself iced if you don’t cut the crap. Anyway, yeah, I got a job for ya. It’s real simple. Remember that little shopping square on Third Street? You know: the one with the movie theater and those restaurants. Well right now that place is up in the air, speaking in terms of who owns it. All you gotta do is give those Campione punks a little something to say we’re claiming it for Addario. Maybe throw in some ‘fireworks,’ if you catch my drift. Get your buddies together, and get to it, Vincenzo.”

The Capo hung up. Vinny snorted. The Caporegime think they’re so high and mighty. Still, he didn’t really feel like fighting with the superiors today. He turned to Antonio, who had fallen asleep on the chair. Typical. He pulled off a shoe and pegged his sleeping companion right in the nose. Antonio let out a howl of pain and rolled off the loveseat.

“C’mon, ya slug,” Vinny drawled. “We got a job to do. Call the others and tell ‘em to meet us on Third. Oh, and gimme my shoe back.”

---

An hour later, Vinny and Antonio stood on the corner of Third Street along with two other members of the Blood Collectors: Dante and Caprice. Dante had an Element Core, which would help with the aforementioned ‘fireworks,’ and Caprice… Well, she was more vicious than any of the male crew members.

“Alright, so here’s the plan,” Vinny said, leaning against the wall of a building with his arms crossed over his chest. “Antonio, you’ll distract the cops –don’t look at me like that, you’ll be fine– and I’ll cover you by putting a confusion hex on them. Dante, see that little restaurant over there? It’s just inside Campione territory. You and I are gonna make it go [i]boom[/i]. Caprice, you get the honor of smiting any Campione goons who are stupid enough to try and stop us. Got it?” The others nodded. “Good. Let’s move.”

The plan worked well to start. Vinny cast a simple [i]Confusionem Infligere[/i] spell on the police in the area. There were only five or six of them, so the toll wasn’t too great. The black vines only reached to about halfway up Vinny’s forearm. Antonio caused a scene by using his Trick Core to levitate two trash bins. He flung them around, making them look as if they were chasing the cops who, because of Vinny’s confusion hex, scattered in a panic.

Vinny and Dante instigated phase two of their plan. They made their way to the restaurant on Campione turf. Vinny summoned Monstrum Acerbum, instructing the beast to tear up the inside so Dante could set fire to it more easily. Hopefully that would cause a bigger blast. Vinny glanced back at Caprice to make sure she was still in position in case any Campione members showed up. He grinned. Things were going even better than expected so far.