[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/BzTNXgP.jpg[/img][/center] [i]"Well alright then, Raz. Follow me."[/i] Without waiting, I entered the apartment block. I had to make sure Charlie was okay. He wasn't up that high, but that meant any of the fuzzy fucks that came from below could get to him. I hurried up the steps. Without power this place was a death trap. No doubt the elevator had someone trapped inside it; I could hear the fella thumping on the walls, pressin' the alarm bell and yelling for help, all muffled through the metal and brick. No lights, no ventilation, but more importantly any alarm systems wired to the building's power grid were down. That meant Charlie wouldn't even know if someone broke in, though if it were a werewolf I think he'd notice. After a few minutes of stair climbin' I reached Charlie's level. His apartment was at the far end of the hall, nice little defensible place, and from here I could see why. There was a big shaggy carpet decoratin' his front door, and inside I could see the twin barrels of the shotgun he'd rigged. Dumb werewolf musta broke the door and killed himself on it. I stepped over the corpse and gently knocked on his doorframe. [i]"Charlie? You still around?"[/i] After a second he replied. "Andy! Yeah I'm here! Still kickin' around, hehe!" He emerged from his bedroom holding a pistol, no doubt loaded with silver bullets, alive but ragged looking. [i]"You look like death warmed over, Charlie."[/i] "And you don't look no better, shortcake. And who's the goblin?" [i]"Oh, him? That's Raz. He's a friend. Don't worry about it."[/i] Charlie merely nodded as he took a seat in his favorite easy chair. I remained standing. [i]"Good to see you're alright, Charlie."[/i] "Yeah, good thing too. When I heard the howling I knew some bad shit was gonna go down. Grabbed my silver right away, set up shop. You're lucky that whole silver stash thing caught on in the sixties, Andy, otherwise I'd be dead." [i]"That's good, Charlie. Hey, Paulie sends his regards. He liked the bottle of chili brandy you gave him. A lot. Last I saw he was chuggin' the damn thing."[/i] "Heh, good for him then. Say, Andy, after the power went down and this lug showed up at my door, I got a call from a guy." [i]"You still got cell reception out here?"[/i] "Yeah, just barely. Anyway, bozo called himself Vincent, said Nyxvira Bloodbloom had business with you and Kiddo down in Chinatown, place called Golden Dragon Takeaway. The fella heard you two were in town and in cahoots with each other again, thought you'd make good muscle to take care of the werewolf situation. Frankly I don't understand why she can't get her mindless goons to do that job for her but hey." Nyxvira Bloodbloom. Fat, ugly, but extremely powerful. A fae, believe it or not, in this case pigs [b]can[/b] fly. Anyway, back in the day, I was privy to the goings on she had here. Came from England, lugging a boatload of mindless servants, a death wish and a metric fuckton of magic. The local squints took an immediate dislike to her. I was acquaintances with the leader of the bunch, guy called Old Feng, old guy, white mustache reaching the floor. He didn't like her and when she started muscling in on his turf, he responded in kind. Long story short Old Feng ended up Dead Feng and Nyx had herself the whole of Chinatown. If she wanted me and Kiddo as her anti-werewolf squad, chances are the money would be pretty fuckin' high. That, and she had a real [b]bone[/b] to pick. Not like I didn't, but hey money. [i]"Alright Charlie, thanks. I'll tell Kiddo when I see him, he's checkin' on Paul right now."[/i] "You got it Andy. Say, you sure you can't stay for a drink or somethin'?" [i]"Nah Charlie. Gotta split. Just makin' sure you was okay and all."[/i] He chuckled quite heartily. "Oh Andy, I'm old, my body's slowly wasting away, my time's gonna come sooner or later. If I gotta go, at least let it be with a gun in my hand rather than crumpled in a bed." Yeah the man was real old. I smiled and patted him on the shoulder. [i]"Well don't die just yet, old man. We'll have drinks after all this shit's done, alright?"[/i] "You got it Andy. Now go on, split. You got business waitin' for ya." I nodded and tapped Raz on the shoulder. No doubt the little guy was curious about Nyxvira, but that could come later. [i]"Alright then. Let's go, Raz. Time to go meet up with Kiddo and give him the news. I'm sure you're pretty curious about Nyxvira anyway, so c'mon. I'll fill you in on the way."[/i] That being said, I turned and left, stepping over the corpse of the werewolf on the way out. [indent][i]It was your standard retired gangsters dive. Plush enough to live comfortably, seedy enough to keep that threat of action a ruthless man could never quite leave behind. Andy's voice was a command, already moving, not waiting, expecting Raz to follow another step on his destined path to greatness. A path that lead him to debase himself before inferior mortals, it grated it at him, chafed like a noose round his kneck. He wanted to hamstring the old git, slow him down a bit, see how he liked being on his knees. You couldn't kill him, but fuck he could make his infinite years a misery, the once mighty corpse in the corner of his court, no arms, no legs, no tongue.... if he talked to much, a pointless ornament on a lovely plush chair. Eyes glittering he followed him. Charlie's place was an echo of the man, once expensive but starting to wear out a little, too many nights of expensive booze without the running and fighting starting to make him reflect the arm chair he was crumpled in. Raz left them to it, two old friends in the ritualised backslapping that a reunion made. Not seen you since.... remember that time when.... ahh i love ya... yawn. Raz didn't do friends, goblins generally never got the opportunity, curse of a race designed to make themselves more wealthy than you. He contented himself studying the werewolf, studying the wound, the streaks of charred flesh from the buckshot that had tear tracks of charcoal across his furry features, eyes wide and agonized "A member of the wild hunt has fallen, may the denmother forgive him so he may hunt forever in the dreamland" she whispered "You just made that up," he snarled and she seemed to race away, a high piercing howl splitting across his mind.[/i][/indent] [hr] [i]"Nyxvira Bloodbloom. Faerie, believe it or not. Came from England some years ago, took over Chinatown from the local Triad gangs almost singlehandedly. 'Course she had her own form of help, but now she runs the place. She's who we're gonna go see."[/i] "Nyxvira Bloodbloom. Faerie, believe it or not. Came from England some years ago, took over Chinatown from the local Triad gangs almost singlehandedly. 'Course she had her own form of help, but now she runs the place. She's who we're gonna go see." [indent][i]"Fat like a rhino, fucks like a rabbit." Someone had said it to him in a bar once, pretty boy, biceps like boulders but he was dead now. All the muscle in the world didn't make your throat any harder to slit. He looked at Andy... he wondered what... "You'd get your head torn off" she whispered Arcan nodded... patience.... patience.[/i][/indent] [i]"Yeah, about right."[/i] We were outside now. Chinatown wasn't all that far away, but it was still quite a walk. 'N without transport from the Martovanni boys we were on foot and on our own. Not exactly heartening prospects for a night under the full moon. Besides, I had to get home first. My apartment was close by, just a block away from Charlie's place. Going up the steps, it almost felt like I was returning home after a long night out. No rest for the wicked though. I unlocked the door and stepped inside, flicking the light switch to turn on the lights when I realised that the power was still out to this bit of town. What a dumbass move. I 'turned off' the lights and moved inside, letting Raz follow me as I headed for my bedroom. A small place, had a window view that overlooked the street, for safety reasons. Once there, I made a beeline straight for my closet. It wasn't loaded with much, just some empty boxes and general clutter. However, I kept a secret there that not many knew of. I ran my hands across the back of the closet until I found a little lip with my fingers. I prised it open and let the false backing fall into my open hands. As I stepped backward to clear out the clutter, I took stock. Everything was still there; my two shotguns, my own personal Tommy gun, and my pistol, everything in its place. What I was really interested in though, were the boxes on the floor of the hidden back. I grabbed those and replaced the false backing of the closet, kicking the boxes and other clutter back in place to finish the look. As I closed my closet, I glanced at Raz. [i]"You breathe a word about this and I'll will hunt you down and skin you alive, comprende, partner?"[/i] [indent][i]Andy's place was a little nicer, a little more expensive, a little higher up the food chain. He seemed unconcerned about the Goblin walking about his apartment. Unconcerned was probably a good word for Andy's overall attitude towards him. The attitude wavered when he pulled open the back of his wardrobe to reveal a small arsenal. It reaffirmed Raz's desire, first pay check, a little place of his own, and a little cubby of bullets and blades, silver... if this shit was going to keep up. Arcan's eyes were black holes, dead and lifeless "I think of the two of us," he let his hand drift towards his blade, a barely perceptible movement but Andy's eyes jumped to it with lightening accuracy... good... interesting.. his own eyes remained deep black, boring into Andy's looking for a rise... looking for a reaction but the zombie face was as lifeless as the grave it would never inhabit. "Skinning is more my territory... but your secret is safe with me."[/i][/indent] [i]"Good, well load up. Things are gonna get rough."[/i] I tossed the boxes on the bed and opened them up. Each held silver ammunition by the boatload; bullets and shotgun shells of many varieties, all hand-made and hand-loaded by an old acquaintance of mine in the Martovanni family. I filled my Tommy gun drums with the good stuff and loaded my shotgun and pistol with the same. However, carrying all this extra weight around was kinda a hassle, so in the interest of good faith and to spread the love, I handed Raz the shotgun. Wasn't mine, anyway, the Martovannis could afford to lend out the extra iron. Me? I couldn't. Not anymore. [i]"Take this, Raz. A step up from that dinky little peashooter you got there."[/i] That being said and done, I let Raz load up on ammo as I went to a drawer and withdrew my last set of weapons; a pair of brass knuckles, tipped with studs. These babies really did me good, and if I had to get up close and personal with a slobbering beast a few punches to the jaw did wonders. I got that done, I gave Raz a look. [i]"You good?"[/i] The little goblin nodded without saying a word, which I took as agreement. [i]"Excellente. Now, to Chinatown. I gotta let Kiddo know we gotta head there too."[/i] [hr] On our way towards Chinatown, we were gonna head through a neighbourhood that had power. I took out my phone, thanking whatever gods that were still alive that I had reception, dialed Kiddo's number and waited for him to pick up. I hoped the old number in my phone was still the right one, a thought I confirmed when I heard his voice come through. [i][color=lightgreen]"Andy, glad you called, listen -"[/color][/i] [i]"Kiddo, hold up a sec, time for semantics later. Listen to me, I got some news. We got a job. Remember Nyxvira Bloodbloom?"[/i] [i][color=lightgreen]"The tub a' lard that runs Chinatown? Yeah I remember her."[/color][/i] [i]"Well I hope you got your silver ready, cause we've been called to a meeting down in Chinatown. Golden Dragon Takeaway. Somethin' about us bein' the solution to the city's werewolf problem."[/i] [i][color=lightgreen]"Well now, that's interestin'. I was at our usual joint but I'll head over there now. But listen, Andy, bad news: I found Paulie earlier, and he was in bad shape."[/color][/i] I paled, not like I could get any paler bein' dead. [i]"Shit. He alright?"[/i] [i][color=lightgreen]"Yeah yeah! Werewolves attacked his place, Martovanni boys fought well but he got hurt bad. I managed to get him to a hospital before he bit the bullet."[/color][/i] [i]"A hospital? But Santa Somabra General's out in another part of town where the power's still out."[/i] [i][color=lightgreen]"There's a hospice in Vulture Rock. I brought 'im there."[/color][/i] Comprehension dawned. That same hospice was where I'd watched Papa Martovanni pass on. Poor old guy. He made the best pasta. [i]"That place, eh? Nice job, good thinkin'. Anyway, I'll see you at Golden Dragon, alright?"[/i] [i][color=lightgreen]"You got it Andy. Catch you later."[/color][/i] He hung up as I stuffed my phone back in the pocket of my jacket. Things were getting more and more interesting by the minute. I gave Raz a glance and a little grin. This was gonna be interesting. [hr] A couple minutes later and we were there, passin' under the huge red archway that signalled the start of Santa Somabra's Chinatown district. From the city history that I could remember, the city council first set up Chinatown as a response to all the Chinese folks that were immigratin' here from across the Pacific, lookin' for work and a new place to live. 'Course, that also brought along its fair share of horrors; [i]yao guai[/i], snake spirits, Chinese vampires and whatnot, but they also brought along good things like Chinese food, spices, interestin' things that kinda strengthened the economy here. Through the decades, Chinatown turned into what it is today, controlled by Nyx, but still a good-natured place overall, if you overlooked the fat broad who ran it all. Golden Dragon Takeaway wasn't easy to miss; after all, how could you miss a huge ass neon sign above the store of a big ol' dragon and the words 'Golden Dragon Takeaway' just below it? Eh, go figure. Gaudy but it caught the eye at least. I could already see into the store from here; four fellas, one of them so overweight I knew it had to be Nyx. As I slowed to a walk, I saw a police van around the corner and skidded to a complete stop. Cops?! This was a fuckin' trap! I quickly slipped into an alley, dragging Raz along with me whether he liked it or not. Once out of sight, I sighed and drew my pistol. [i]"Fuckin' A, just as I thought. Trap. Nyx wants me and Kiddo out of the game, fuckin' tub a' lard."[/i] I peeked out from the alley to watch, and saw a few cops push out a woman, bound by her wrists with rope. Then they opened the back doors of the van and my jaw dropped a few more degrees. A fuckin' werewolf?! They'd captured one?! I couldn't hear the exchange from where I was, but I could almost immediately tell what was goin' on: Nyx had found out that the SSPD had a werewolf in their custody. She wanted it brought to her and interrogated, most likely. These officers were here to deliver. However, the way the other officers were behavin' was suspicious. Guns drawn, they released the woman and watched as the wolf changed back into his human form, painful to watch as it was. They gave him clothes and then prodded them in the direction of the eatery. Oh these weren't good guys at all. Most likely they were on someone's payroll, and I had a good idea as to whose. I slipped on my brass knuckles. This was gonna get really dirty. I turned to Raz and pointed upward. [i]"Raz, d'you think you can get up to the roof? I have a feeling there might be more cops watching us from up high. If you find any, menace 'em, knock 'em out if you have to, but don't kill 'em, alright?"[/i] Without lookin' to see where Raz went, I exited the alley and advanced forward. Now, these things usually got really ugly if more than three different factions were present at these sorta meetings without some sort of restraint. Here we had Nyxvira Bloodbloom, Monarch of Chinatown, along with some unknown werewolf and his partner in crime, then there was me, Raz and Kiddo who was on his way. Three completely different groups of people, three different goals. Lots of tension, lots of stress. No wonder Nyx had some backup. Which was why I wasn't at all surprised when, after the three goons had 'escorted' their cargo to the eatery, they got jumped by a werewolf. I was almost to the van when the lanky fuzzy thing jumped in out of nowhere, landing in the center of the trio. Fangs and claws flashed in the lights from the eatery as the wolf tore the three men to shreds. Damn if that wasn't a shocker. That thing's claws were like swords. I heard a shot ring out from the rooftop and saw a hole ping into the side of the police van, just inches from my face. I swept my gaze to the building opposite and saw the sniper team on the roof there, that signature long, deadly rifle pointed not at me, but at the werewolf. Either these bozos were warning me to stay away, or they were absolutely horrible at aiming. But I had more pressing matters. That shot had drawn the werewolf's attention to me. My gaze returned to it and met its eyes as it stared at me. It grinned. Ohhh [i]shit[/i]. I barely had time to bring my hands up to my face as the thing pounced on me. Knocked me clean to the floor. Motherfucker was [b]heavy[/b], but he had his paws raised up to rip me in half. I caught his downward swings with my hands and struggled to keep them up as he snarled and snapped at me with his fangs. I had to make my head dance just to avoid gettin' turned into doggie chow. Then it stopped and I could hear it speak. Guttural, growling, deep voice. [b]"You're dead, corpse. I'm gonna tear you limb from limb and turn you into burger meat."[/b] I grinned. [i]"Yeah, but you're already dead, dumb shit."[/i] The werewolf was surprised. Genuinely surprised. His arms loosened in my grip for just a moment. It was all I needed. I released my hands from its wrists and shifted my grip to its hands proper. I angled his fingers and claws inward, pulled them close to my chest, then [i]shoved[/i] upward. The wolf howled in pain as its own claws dug deep into its flesh, gouging into its chest. It reared up and I used that to kick it off me. As it sprawled to the floor, blood pouring out of its body, I scrambled to my feet and readied my fists. It stood and yanked its claws out from its chest, howling and roaring in pain as it sprung at me again. I had to hop out of the way as it flew past me. Knocked the hat right off my head and cut a nice slice into the side of my suit jacket as he landed on the street next to the van. My [i]favourite[/i] suit jacket. He'd messed it. [i]"Oh you asked for it now, fuck face. You messed up my [b]fuckin' suit![/b]"[/i] As the beast panted and raised itself up again, blood pouring from its chest, I ran forward, grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and, without stopping, drove its face straight into the side of the police van. [i]"Motherfucker!"[/i] As it reeled backward, I did it again. [i]"[b]NO ONE[/b] -"[/i] And again. [i]"-[b] TOUCHES[/b] -"[/i] And again, until its face was a mess, muzzle crumpled with blood streaming out of its nose and mouth. [i]" -[b]THE SUIT[/b]."[/i] I flung it to the floor and got onto it, straddling its chest as I flung my fists into its face, again and again and again until he stopped twitching and my hands were covered in blood. I stood as I straightened my jacket and adjusted my tie, panting in exhaustion. [i]"The [b]Lost[/b] are back in town, bitch."[/i] I went to retrieve my hat and, disregarding everything and everyone else, entered the eatery. I passed the once-werewolf and his female companion, the men and women seated at the table, the bloody woman tied to a chair, and went to the counter. Once behind it I loosed the brass knuckles from my fists and dropped them in the sink, turning it on to let the hot water wash the blood from them as I filled a bowl with ice and water. I got out from behind the counter, took off my jacket and draped it on the back of a chair, then sat at the counter, my hands immersed in the ice water. My knuckles were sore and torn. I hadn't punched up a guy with this fury in years. Frankly it felt nice to work it all off. I let my gaze sweep over the faces in the joint. Most unfamiliar, 'cept for Nyx. I caught her gaze and shrugged. [i]"What? Never seen a guy beat a werewolf to death before? And what the hell is all this? Did I walk into some sorta exchange?"[/i] [indent][i] Even as Andy made himself visible Arcan made himself invisible, holding to the shadows as he surveyed the scene before him. Van in the centre of the road, behind it a row of shop fronts at the centre a broad sign with a golden dragon and just above, hints of movement, shuffling and the metallic glint of something deadly. He knew there would be a ladder somewhere but ladders often had surprises at the top so he turned his attention to the walls of the takeaway and the surrounding shops. Bare brick of poorly funded herb and space emporiums clashed with the lavishly lacquered wood and oriental patterns that adorned the takeaway Scaling the golden dragon itself was easy meat the owners more fixated on the facade of authentic appearance than nutjobs ascending to the roof. Well easy except for the bay window with a fat homicidal pixie looking out and snipers above. Even he couldn't climb bare brick. He slid forward, keeping low, flashing through the light into the shadow of the van. He didn't pause moving across and splitting wide left like a sheepdog coming around. Against bare brick of the store to the war left he dropped to the pavement and crawled..... inch by inch pulling himself along until he felt the cool smoothness of lacqueued wood. Flexing his fingers he began to climb. Like a dark green toad stuck to the wall he ascended hand by hand foot by foot, he clung to the wall like a gross green ornament. He could hear voices inside but he had not time to stop an listen, a single eye would be all it took. Reaching the lip he found hanging by his finger nails , body positioned below the long sleek barrell of a sniper rifle even as I saw Andy, pressed against the wall of the van even as a monster launched itself into a group of cops, wandering at ease. They fell like dominoes, carcasses hitting the pavement, blood spilling from severed vains even as hearts struggled to make sense of their own demise. "Got eyes on hostile, 2 o clock from the wolf" My eyes slid from the werewolf, 2 clicks to the right, to Andy peering round the van. "F-" Raz reacted on instinct pulling his body round to kick the barrell even as the rifle kicked like a mule, the recoil making his grip slide. He couldn't wait now, latching onto the barrell it's sudden jerking withdrawal pulling him over the lip momentum sending him and the sniper crashing to the ground. He felt hands grabbing at him and he kicked out finding groin, the other end of the sniper rifle coming free and he swung it wildly of balance, finding rib then skull. A hand grabbed his shoulder and he feel to the ground, even as a second hand reached for his throat. He bit down hard and the owner screamed recoiling. His pistol was in his hand, fuck Andy and his we don't kill cops, but still this was his shit storm, he gripped the barrel, but striking across the cheek.. One strike, two strike, a third, wild, he let out a snarl... four five six he lost count. He could feel their heads lolling but he kept striking.... she was screaming, he was smiling... there was blood on his hands when he came too... two pigs lay slumped at his feet. He felt their necks.... two pulses.... he believed he was within the letter of Andy's instructions. He looked round the lip, no vents, nothing interesting to attack from above. Behind would have to do. He crossed to the otherside of the roof, and let himself drop to the pavement in the back alley. Hairpin from his braid, two minutes of muffled curses and he was slipping into the takeaway.[/i][/indent] [hr] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/2derDSX.jpg[/img][/center] As I watched Andy's car drive off from inside the dark club, I smiled to myself. Cheeky asshole. That bastard was still the same Andy from all those years ago. 'Course, he was dead, so he changed little over the decades. How'd I not recognise him in the power station? That accent, those clothes, why did it not strike me that I was hittin' my best friend? Didn't matter now. We were back again. The Lost Boys, rollin' in Santa Somabra like it was the 50s. Fuck yeah. Inside the club it was chaos. I could see the broken glass, shattered lights, overturned tables and the like. I stepped on a broken bottle as I walked in. There was a distinct lack of bodies though, which I found rather strange. I saw a few, guys with guns behind tables turned sideways, dead defenders of some unholy sanctum. There were two werewolf corpses too, their huge, furry bodies sprawled out on the dance floor, plugged full of holes. But I would've expected more, from such a big place. Paulie's office was upstairs, no doubt. I could see it, framed above the...what was it? A disc jockey booth? I was still tryin' ta get used to all these newfangled things. Dyin' and stayin' dead for about twenty years does things to ya memory, let me tell ya that. With my cannon drawn, I advanced slowly upstairs. What would I find? I didn't know. As I got towards the office door, I saw why there were so little corpses: it was cause most of 'em were up here. There was a table turned over near the doorway, with another on the other side. Corpses littered the floor, all ripped to shreds like ham. I stepped over the gore and blood and got into the office proper, where I saw a werewolf body draped over the same oak desk that I'd last seen nearly forty years ago. Paulie was waterboardin' some dope who'd been stealing from him on that table, last I remembered. But where was the guy? I stepped on another piece of broken glass and it cracked. So too did the familiar racking of a shotgun slide catch my ear. As I raised my hands, Paulie rose from behind his desk, saw me, sighed and lowered his gun. [color=lightblue]"Oh Jesus Christ, Benji, next time knock before ya go around traipsing in what's left of my god damn life, will ya? I almost blew your damn face off!"[/color] [color=lightgreen][i]"Like that'd make me any more good lookin', Paulie."[/i][/color] [color=lightblue]"Ah shaddap ya psycho. Look at this place! God damn mother fuck -"[/color] He suddenly clutched his side in pain and sank into his chair. I lowered my hands and rushed to his side and saw the reason why: he'd got hurt in the fight, and there was a huge gash in his side, no doubt from the corpse that had once been a werewolf decorating his desk. The blood pouring from it wasn't enough to kill him, but I was damn sure he was hurtin'. He gasped in pain as I pressed my handkerchief to the wound and he gave me a look. [color=lightblue]"I would never...[b]EVER[/b] let these bitches ruin [b]my business[/b]. Never in a million years."[/color] [color=lightgreen][i]"Yeah yeah, honor and integrity and all that jazz, now shut up you're dyin'."[/i][/color] [color=lightblue]"Ya think I don't know that, Kiddo?! Jesus H. Christ, you really are a dumbass."[/color] [color=lightgreen][i]"Don't make me, Paulie."[/i][/color] He cracked a smile as he succumbed to another round of coughing. His spit was stained with blood. [color=lightgreen][i]"How bad is it, Paulie?"[/i][/color] [color=lightblue]"B-bitches got me and my guys real good, but they're all dead here. I got a few broken ribs, and a flat lung I think, b-but I've been through worse."[/color] [color=lightgreen][i]"Yeah but you'll die if we don't get you to a hospital, round about now!"[/i][/color] [color=lightblue]"I can try, Kiddo, but have you seen the city? There's no power!"[/color] [color=lightgreen][i]"There's some! I just got done with Andy, me and him we turned the main power station back on. The nearest hospital's in Vulture Rock, it's real close by, and we gotta get you there pronto!"[/i][/color] [hr] A while or so later of struggling with Paulie on my back, the guy now laid in a bed with all sorta wires 'n tubes goin' in him. Thank god we had the power back on, otherwise he would've been a goner. The hospital wasn't an actual hospital per se. Santa Somabra General wasn't in this area. This was a private place, a hospice actually. Took care a' old, frail guys like me, gave 'em a place ta stay 'n live out their last days. But Paulie, according to the doctor that was at the other end of the room, was gonna live. He'd be bed bound for a few months but he'd live. The werewolves had attacked this place too, but thankfully the furry assholes still thought straight. One look at what this place contained and they bolted. Never even apologised for breakin' the door down, the pricks. I told the doctor I'd handle his medical bills personally, then left. Just before he'd gone under, I'd told Paulie about Andy and asked about the stash of silver he had, and in return he'd given me a slip of paper, told me to write some shit down. I was on my way back to his club to finish it. In his office, there was a safe, hidden behind a painting; a fake Mona Lisa, believe it or not. The picture was gone now, ripped to shreds in the attack. The safe was about as big as the painting, and the knob was about the size of my friggin' face. As I pulled over a chair to stand on, I couldn't help but wonder what was inside the huge thing. Then I realised: hey, I'll be gettin' in here soon anyway. The piece of paper had the combination to the safe, and I glanced at it as I turned the knob. [i]42 right...[/i] [i]2 left...[/i] [i]38 right.[/i] I heard the click of the tumblers inside the safe door and turned the handle. The door swung open without a sound, and what I saw inside surprised me. I saw racks of bullets, specially made out of silver. Like, full of the stuff, in all the common calibers too. And one or two guns, handguns mostly, and one sawn-off shotgun. I found shotgun shells too, loaded with pellets of pure silver. Now, lemme share a thing on the werewolves in Santa Somabra. Most of these dogs were friendly; they disappeared once a month during the full moon to let loose their animal rage somewhere without living peeps, mostly outside the city entirely. We had a whole district of the furry bastards, called Little Lupine. That whole place became a ghost town when the full moon came around. No one left there. But some of 'em were the bloodthirsty type and they didn't like the indecent, almost racist way they were treated. These idiots were the Hunters. Every now 'n then, when these guys turned, they hunted the citizens of the city. The SSPD had a whole division dedicated to hunting the Hunters to try and stop the damage they caused, but they could never win. Too many of 'em, too few cops. Back in the day me and Andy, we had to deal with them a few times. That's when we came up with the idea of having a stash of silver whenever a new hunting season (when the Hunters showed up) rolled around. We each had our own, Andy in his apartment, me in mine, and every other capo and shopkeeper in Martovanni hands was supplied with silver to defend their premises. This was Paulie's stash, and he'd been a good boy, cause the wolvies never attacked his place. I never knew why, maybe he'd cut a deal with the Hunters to avoid trashing his turf. Whatever it was, they'd gone back on it or whatever today. Now a friend of mine was unconscious in a hospital and I had every resource to hunt down and end these sorry fuckers. I took the two handguns from inside the safe and loaded several magazines with the silver bullets, before grabbing the shotgun and stuffing my pockets with silver shells. These silver bullets were somethin'. The bullets themselves weren't made of pure silver, nah, the metal was too soft. Instead these were alloys, made mostly of silver but with a bit of lead or iron in 'em to give 'em strength to be fired. A dozen of these bad boys could put down a big ass werewolf. Just like the types I was huntin'. I stuffed the other two handguns in the inside of my coat and grabbed a few more bullets for my revolver. Could never leave home without my hand cannon. .44 Magnum Special. Any low lifes who saw this piece usually pissed their pants and fled. Intimidatin' gun. S'why I had it. Now, time to go huntin'. [hr] The "usual place" me and Andy always met at was a small Italian cafe down near the park. Had an amazing view of the place at sunset, and it served the best [i]tortellini[/i] in a tomato 'n herb sauce I'd ever eaten. He preferred the classic [i]spaghetti[/i] but hey, to each his own. The place was empty now. Lights off, door locked, but I still waited there anyway. I was in a chair overlookin' the park, just lookin', watchin', when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was Andy. Damn, my old number still worked? And he'd bothered to keep it too? I picked up and put the phone to my ear. [i][color=lightgreen]"Andy, glad you called, listen -"[/color][/i] [i]"Kiddo, hold up a sec, time for semantics later. Listen to me, I got some news. We got a job. Remember Nyxvira Bloodbloom?"[/i] Nyxvira Bloodbloom...yeah, familiar. The dope who ran Chinatown with an iron fist. [i][color=lightgreen]"The tub a' lard that runs Chinatown? Yeah I remember her."[/color][/i] [i]"Well I hope you got your silver ready, cause we've been called to a meeting down in Chinatown. Golden Dragon Takeaway. Somethin' about us bein' the solution to the city's werewolf problem."[/i] Golden Dragon? I was tempted to ask how he knew the place was still around, but I bit my lip. Place had fuckin' good fried noodles and prawn paste chicken. [i][color=lightgreen]"Well now, that's interestin'. I was at our usual joint but I'll head over there now. But listen, Andy, bad news: I found Paulie earlier, and he was in bad shape."[/color][/i] [i]"Shit. He alright?"[/i] [i][color=lightgreen]"Yeah yeah! Werewolves attacked his place, Martovanni boys fought well but he got hurt bad. I managed to get him to a hospital before he bit the bullet."[/color][/i] [i]"A hospital? But Santa Somabra General's out in another part of town where the power's still out."[/i] [i][color=lightgreen]"There's a hospice in Vulture Rock. I brought 'im there."[/color][/i] [i]"That place, eh? Nice job, good thinkin'. Anyway, I'll see you at Golden Dragon, alright?"[/i] [i][color=lightgreen]"You got it Andy. Catch you later."[/color][/i] I hung up and stuffed the phone back in my pocket. Chinatown wasn't too far away, just across the park. I think. Took the phrase 'a walk in the park' to a whole different meanin'. God, twenty years in the dirt does this to ya memory, I sure as hell don't wanna find out if bein' dead longer does worse things. [hr] Couple of minutes later and I was outta breath. Even in death I wasn't a marathon sprinter, and who could I blame? I loved food, still do. But Chinatown was in sight, and the eatery too. Just then I heard yellin' in an all too familiar voice. Andy. I rounded the corner to watch him disappear into the place. He left the corpse of a werewolf behind. It sure was a corpse alright, its face was hamburger meat on the street. I went into a jog towards the eatery as I admired the scenery around me. The eatery itself had a police van outside of it. Strange. Was this a trap? I didn't know. Too many questions. I'd get more answers inside. Y'know, it'd been ages since I left. Santa Somabra was alien to me when I returned all those years ago, and it still was. I'd left in the seventies, came back in the nineties, died and woke up in a new millenia. Shit, time was a fickle, cold-hearted bitch to me. At least my body wasn't all bone or somethin'. I approached the door and stepped inside, drawin' more incredulous looks as I took a seat next to Andy. He gave me a glance and cocked his head at the small group nearby. [i]"Hey, don't be such a rudeface and go introduce yourself to the guys, dumbass."[/i] Oh, oops. [color=lightgreen][i]"Oh, well, uh, I'm Benjamin Kiddo. I kill things for a livin', just like my pal here."[/i][/color] Andy snorted. [i]"Yeah, great job, wonderful presentation, flawless execution, dumbass. Now lookie what we got here, Kiddo."[/i] [color=lightgreen][i]"Oh, what, Andy?"[/i][/color] It took me a minute to take in the full scene. That tub a' lard Nyx was there, along with three other fellas I didn't recognise. Two fresh faces, youngsters. A lady, bound and bloody, conscious but barely, seated in a chair. [color=lightgreen][i]"Ooh looks like we got ourselves a little prisoner exchange, Andy."[/i][/color] [i]"That's right Kiddo. Feels just like the good ol' days again, eh? Old fashioned, but 'ey it works."[/i] Andy stood and flicked water from his hands, wiping them on a towel as he ambled over to where Nyx was. He draped the towel on his shoulder and stuffed his hands in his pockets, grinning a little as he peered down at the tub a' lard. Oh here we go. Andy was peeved about something. He always grinned like that when he was mega pissed. [i]"Nyxvira Bloodbloom. The big cheese of Chinatown. Last I heard of you, you were putting your grubby fingers into what was left of Old Feng's chest to pull out his heart. Now this? You sure have a knack for pulling this shit out of a fuckin' hat because I sure as hell didn't get a warning that you would involve the fuckin' SSPD in this shit, let alone bad cops. Next time you want us to meet you it better be without fuckin' guards."[/i] He leaned in quite close and leered at her. [i]"Besides, what're you so afraid of? In this business, it's better to accept death than be scared of it. Makes the, eh, transition a little bit less shocking."[/i] Pure Andy. He was the more vocal of the Lost Boys. Me? I hit things a whole lot when I was pissed. There was a reason why I was known as Grumpy. Andy straightened up and returned to his bowl of ice water, immersing his hands in it again. [i]"Now, Nyx, you got the two deadliest guys in the city right here in your shop. Kiddo 'n I, we're not gonna get involved in whatever shit is goin' on now. We're only interested in what you got with the Hunters. That's it. Ain't that right, Kiddo?"[/i] [color=lightgreen][i]"You got it, Andy. Anything t'do with the SSPD ain't our deal. Our deal is the wolves. But, in return, we expect somethin'."[/i][/color] Andy's eyes went a little wide. [i]"Wait wha -"[/i] I cut him off with an index finger. [color=lightgreen][i]"Just watch, Andy."[/i][/color] He sat as I went over to Nyx, a little casual, y'know, hands in my pockets. [color=lightgreen][i]"See, I've been havin' a problem recently with an undead bitch. This undead bitch almost made me shoot my pal Andy over there in the face back at the city's main power station. I'm sure you know who I'm talkin' about."[/i][/color] I slowly strolled around her as I pulled a cigarette from my pocket and lit it. [color=lightgreen][i]"Now, y'see, I absolutely hate it when people double cross me. I ain't sayin' you did any a' this, but you've got more connections than any of us in here. What me 'n Andy want is simple: we do this shit for you, we deal with your Hunter problem, and in return, we want everythin' you know about the Cannonness. Names, addresses, locations, connections, everythin'. I've got more than my fair share of bones to pick with that bitch, and I'm sure you do too. Chinatown wasn't that far from the riots, last I heard. And the power goin' out? That was her doin' too."[/i][/color] I smiled as I returned to Andy's side, cigarette clamped between my lips. [color=lightgreen][i]"Simple deal, right? We take care a' the Hunters, you give us the stuff we need to take care of the Cannonness ourselves. Done deal, everyone goes home happy."[/i][/color] Andy clapped me on the back and nodded in agreement. [i]"Not bad, dumbass. You're learnin'."[/i] [color=lightgreen][i]"Oh please Andy, you know we both had ta do this for a livin'."[/i][/color]