That fucking Monkey.

November 25th, 2009

My phone was flashing when I woke up with a message from Gio telling me to meet them at the Crowbar. Apparently we needed to enlist the help of the mage we saved from the clinic, Shay, to steal a piece for Gio's homunculus.

I got up and changed, all the issues from the night before roaring back into my ears. I closeted them away for now. I did my best to stay focused on tonight. Being distracted by things I can't change at that moment was a good way to get myself or other people killed. That wasn't so much something I had learned as a vampire, that was something I had learned stationed overseas.

I left the shop behind, on my way out I noticed that Gio had taken the pandoran out of its glass prison and that there was a new beaker bubbling in the lab.

I tied my black calf length trench coat tightly so it wouldn't flap in the wind. I didn't exactly need it, but people tended to give me funny looks when I walked around in Chicago, in November, without a coat. I didn't like to draw attention to myself. That and the coat helped hide my pasty Irish ass. I hadn't mastered obfuscate enough to hide myself, so I relied on more conventional camouflage.

The Crowbar used to be our base of operations before we defeated Ophios. Mac was the owner, a ghost wolf (which as far as I know, is akin to being unaligned). He was good enough to let us use the bomb shelter he had below the basement. Gio worked here from time to time, though now he spent more time in the shop than at the bar.

Nobody, Gio, and Becca sat at a table in the corner, drinks in hand. I sat, and they filled me in on the daylight activities.

They had had breakfast with Sammy, then had gone to see Bella to ask for her help in getting the coins Gio needed. I had met Bella once, and that was all I needed. Going into the mansion made me nervous. I was the childe of the guy the family didn't even talk about. I had a feeling that if they knew that, I wouldn't be waking up many more nights.

Apparently these coins were magic, used by mages as a focus, and only one guy in town had the right ones. Lucky us- no one likes him.. so she was more than willing to help us steal them. I was annoyed that we had to resort to petty theft.. but we couldn't just pick up magic coins at Wal-Mart. I seemed to be the only one who minded at all. I kept the thought to myself.

They had gone by the library to look up blueprints on the targets house and found Nadi there, passed out on a bench. Volkas was rather vague about what she had been researching. The blueprints would be a starting point, Gio had someone to look over them and do other, more detailed surveillance. He said they had talked to Leland as well, and the mages had come by earlier and fixed the wards as best they could. Other than that, nothing exciting had happened.

Nadi walked in a few minutes later and joined us. Nobody tried to grill her about what she had been researching, but didn't get anywhere. Shay the mage came in, grabbed two drinks, and sat down at our table.

Gio explained the situation.
Shay made a face and took a long drink of one of her beers. "That guy? That guy is such a douche!"
"So we hear. You interested? We were thinking we might need some firepower." Gio asked casually.
Shay gave a shit-eating grin. "You want to know if I will come along to steal coins from this douchebag, and will possibly get to set things on fire. Of course I'm fucking interested! Besides, I owe you guys for busting me out of that clinic."
Gio smiled. "Fantastic!"

We hung around the bar for a little longer, those of us who could still enjoy alcohol had a few, except Nadi. She just had red bull. I sipped a rum and coke, more tasting than drinking, and tried to relax a little and talk to Shay. I was managing okay until I caught site of another kindred staring at me. It wasn't someone I knew by name, but I recognized him from court. But he sure knew who I was. When I caught his gaze his eyes widened, he excused himself from the bar skank he had been hitting on, and he made a hurried exit. His aura was swimming with colors of alarm and nervous fear.

What. The. Fuck.

I put the drink down. I didn't feel like socializing anymore. Nadi was the only other person at the table who noticed. She just looked at me and shrugged. Her poker face is ridiculous. If I couldn't read her aura, I'd never know what she was feeling. I thought I saw a couple flashes of nervous orange, but it was so quick that it could have been nothing. After a few more minutes we stood to go. I think my sudden distance soured the mood at the table, but I could give a fuck. We left, Shay stayed and was already loudly drunk.

We walked back to the shop. It was only about 8pm. No one said a word to me, which was probably better anyway. I would've bitten someones head off.. and for once I actually do mean that figuratively.


The door was ajar when we made it back to the shop.

Gio was.. understandably upset. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"
I had never seen a man with a gimp leg move so fast. We managed to hold him back enough to clear the room. We heard banging coming from the lab. When we walked in, the place was a fucking mess and there was an honest-to-god monkey climbing on one of the cabinets, rummaging through the jars inside.

It was probably the most unexpected thing that could've been inside that lab.
"Uh... hello. Can we help you with something?" Nadi asked hesitantly.
No response from the hairy mammal. I had a fleeting moment where I almost busted out laughing. It was ridiculous. Our lives had gotten so strange that I think we were all surprised that the monkey DIDN'T respond to us. The weird shit had become so common place that it wasn't even weird anymore. Ancient Egyptian gods? faceless fairies? 1000 year old mummies walking around? Vampires willingly skinned and gutted? Sure. We have all that. And I could go on for pages. So talking to a monkey didn't faze any of us.

"The monkey's aura looks human..." I muttered to the others.

The monkey just kept digging in drawers and opening up cabinets, throwing objects to the floor that didn't interest him. I noticed that he had a small jewel practically embedded in his palm, and I didn't think he'd found it in the shop. Nobody pulled out a knife and threw.. and had the worst possible luck in the world. Right as he threw the knife, the monkey threw a chunk of gray stone out of a drawer. It met the knife midair and exploded into dust.. all over Nobody. He started screaming and pawing at his face and arms. He ran to the emergency shower. Overall, I found it fucking hilarious.

"Will you get the fuck down here?" Gio seemed to be more curious about the situation then pissed, at least, that's what I would've thought if I didn't see the intense flashes of red in his aura. The monkey looked at us like we were beneath his notice, flipped us off, and went back to rummaging.

I could add one more thing to my list of weird shit I've seen in my existence.

I raised my gun.

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you.."

We all turned and looked to see Martindale standing in the kitchen, and another unknown man rummaging through Gio's fridge. Martindale actually looked good. Apparently Nobody had given him a tie that actually allowed him a full nights sleep. It did wonders. He even gave us a halfway apologetic look. The other guy stopped rummaging in the fridge. When he stood and glared at us, I examined his aura. I took an involuntary step backwards. His aura wasn't normal. It wasn't a wash of colors that told me his emotions. It was daggers. Daggers swirling around him in a haze of red. Anger, hate, homicidal rage.. he was so pissed that his aura manifested as a physical object, which until now, I didn't even know was possible. I conveyed this information to the rest of the group quietly.

His eyes bore holes into our skulls. He managed to stare angrily at all of us at once. Gio took point.

"So who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you doing here?"
The pissed off guy was the one who answered. "We are here to secure any items of a biochimerical nature that may be present in this shop, especially keter class items."

"What the hell is biochimerical?" Gio said, crossing his arms and scowling at the guy. The man's response was just to stare. He now looked mainly at Gio. The knives spun faster. He gritted his teeth so hard I could hear them grinding and motioned for Gio to follow him into the other room.

I looked at Martindale, who just shrugged. The lab was a mess. At least the beakers hadn't been disturbed. They sat bubbling away. I had a feeling it was probably a good thing that Gio had relocated the pandoran before these fuckers got here. I sharpened my hearing to try and hear Gio's conversation, but was only able to here bits and pieces because of the racket the monkey was making.

"I want to know what... squatting in...shop"
I heard Gio say something then start rummaging through drawers.
"Yousef.. after he died in the fight with Ophios..copy of the deed....aren't squatting... -long pause- I don't know...to me.. I didn't know he had..."
There was silence for a moment and the man stomped back into the room, Gio was trailing behind him with the deed to the shop in his hand.

"Bright! We're going." The monkey gave him an annoyed look, jumped down and they left the shop. We were left standing there looking pissed and confused. Martindale just looked pissed. Gio was muttering to himself, as usual. He had a habit of talking to himself- saying everything that came to mind. It was a miracle that the man could keep a secret. My hearing was already amped up, so I caught his comment.

"Why wouldn't the oldest man alive leave the shop to his brother..?"
I smirked at him, "So was it Cain or Abel?" My smart ass comment was half joking, but Gio's face remained serious. "My guess? I'd be perpetually pissed too if my brother murdered me."

Well Holy Fuck..

Nobody had finally stopped screaming. His skin was red and raw, looked like a bad rash. Martindale stepped outside and got on the phone. We all followed to listen in. We're pretty fucking nosy.

Martindale would dial a number, scream into the phone, then hang up. He was perfectly calm between dialing numbers.

"What the fuck? Look I know you can't control the monkey, but can you at least give me a heads up next time? Christ!"

"So Martindale. Who the fuck were those guys." Nobody asked as he dried his burned face with a towel.
Martindale sighed and gave us his canned answer. "I can neither confirm or deny the existence of those in the shop today."
Martindale gave us an expectant look. Hell, those answers never stopped us before. We started firing off questions in rapid succession. Everyone pitched in
"So what was up with the monkey?"
"I can neither confirm or deny the existence of the monkey."
"What about the other, pissed off guy?"
"I can neither confirm or deny the existence of the pissed off, immortal, killing machine who has been around for thousands of years."
"Was it Abel?"
"I can neither confirm or deny the existence of the immortal killing machine that was the victim of the first murder."
"Abel called the monkey Bright."
"I can neither confirm or deny the existence of Dr. Jack Bright."
"What about that gem?"
"I can neither confirm or deny the existence of the gem the contains Dr. Jack Bright or any host Dr. Bright is copied too."

This went on for a few minutes. It was funny as hell. I liked Martindale, as much of as ass as he was (or maybe because he was..). He was doing his best to help us out and still technically follow orders. He knew we were trying to do good, even if some of our methods were less than savory. He knew our motivations and reasoning better than anyone. He'd listened to our thoughts, more than he had wanted too.

We went back inside and surveyed the damage. Gio picked up a fallen chair and sat down. "Well they didn't seem to find any of that.. biochimerical shit they were looking for.. I guess I don't have any..."
Martindale gave him a look. "Are you.. absolutely positive..you don't have anything of a biochimerical nature?"
Gio looked around the shop. We hadn't even begun to go through all the Antiquities here. One evening had produced three fascinating artifacts. We really had no clue what was in this shop. The locked drawers that had no visible key holes hadn't been opened, but there were tool marks around them from where someone had tried.

Gio sighed. "We really don't have a fucking clue. We should probably leave....dammit."
"I don't know what your talking about. I just showed up on Friday and the place was cleared out. I've got no idea where the occupants could have gone." Martindale said to no one in particular.
He turned to leave. I gave him a small smile and a nod. He walked out before he could overhear where we were going. I think he wanted to maintain deniability.

Gio looked around the shop and sighed, "Well, guess we need to ask Maury if he's got room for all this shit. Looks like I'll be joining you guys."

We sent the message to Maury. He responded by sending the Collector and his posse to start moving. When the freight elevator arrived at the top, the Collector crawled out across the ceiling (creepy ass Nosferatu..) and three gangbangers stepped out. Ghouls, I think. They started moving shit.

I went to my room and started packing up what little I had. That greasy primate had pawed through my drawers. The mirror that had called Icegalos was laying out on the dresser. I could see paw prints on it like he had looked at it, then discarded it as useless. Thank God.

While everyone was busy I phoned O'Donnell.

He answered on the first ring. "O'Shea. Whatsup."
"How is Denzelo doing?" I asked quietly.
"He's alright, still on suicide watch. Any luck finding that fucker?"
"Not really. But we haven't exhausted all our leads yet." What I didn't say was that we were damn close to coming up with jack shit.
"So what can I do for you tonight?"
I paused. I had called to ask what he knew about Jack Bright.. but it suddenly seemed like a bad idea. I had already involved Denzelo enough to almost get him killed.. I decided to quiz him on another problem off my laundry list.
"Do you know anything about a group that calls themselves The Heresy?"
"Hm.. I don't know a lot off hand, except that they're hunters..and crazy motherfuckers. I'll send you what I've got."
"I appreciate it. Give Denzelo my regards.. when he can handle it."
"Keep your ass covered soldier."
"I've only got so many hands Captain, but I'll do my best."
-click-

I wondered how long that relationship would last. I liked O'Donnell, and Denzelo once I'd convinced him I wasn't a monstrous killing machine.. But they were hunters. Government financed hunters. Valkyrie would have no qualms with killing me if they felt I was becoming a threat. But then again, that pretty much summed up my relationship with many of the other supernaturals in Chicago.. I was once again glad that Gio and Guiseppe were the only ones who knew exactly how connected with Taskforce Valkyrie I really was.

It took the next two days to move everything out and down into Maury's part of the city. We left a note for Icegalos, but addressed it to "Jamaicastein" - just in case. No one but us knew who Jamaicastein was. We didn't tell him where we went, but that we'd had to go. I imagined he'd find me if I used the mirror again..