When I got up this morning I made those phone calls for Scott, set up some meetings and wrote everything down, then handed the information over to Scott. He proceeds to call up the rest of his gaming team to let them know. As a side note, he’s also drinking. Yes, this early! I go ahead and take a nice, long, luxurious bath since I’m still sore, then write for a while before going to the mall for some me time. I do some shopping of the actual and window variety, then come home.
I receive an email from a coven member at one point, asking if I could or if I knew anyone who could officiate a wedding for they and their same-sex partner. It’s a newer coven member, but I readily agree to officiate, and offer up the cabin as a locale. They’re ecstatic about this, and I’m happy to help.
Come evening, the house phone rings and I answer. Donovan directs me to his office and to a box containing money, tells me to pull out $3k and gives me the name and location of a payment drop off. He stresses several times over the course of the phone call that this is very important, and that it needs to be done before midnight.
The man I am supposed to meet is police chief Victor Manniz. Donovan said I could involve Scott or not as I chose, and I chose not because Scott has been drinking all day. Head to the address, and it’s a pool hall. Rather than ask around for Victor, I google his name and a picture comes up, and locate him in a booth in the back. I approach and ask if I can sit there, he states he’s waiting for someone, I say I’m there on behalf of Mr. Wentworth, etc. Sit across from him, make the exchange discreetly (or so I thought), then stayed for a bit to not seem so suspicious, then left and headed home, calling Donovan and letting him know how things went.
When I get inside, I find a half naked Sandy and Scott playing some game or another where they’re blowing each other up. Hang out with Sandy and Scott for awhile, and at one point she invites us to come watch her dance at the club she works at downtown. Donovan calls to let us know he’ll be home shortly. Sandy and Scott re-dress, and when Donovan arrives he has Raul with him, and a woman who looks like a large cat. No joke. She introduces herself as Danielle, Raul’s girlfriend. Oookay then. Sandy and I take her to the guest room, and when we come back there’s a news story breaking on the television, about the police chief accepting a bribe. Scott jumps up and points out that it’s me in the pictures they showed, and Sandy starts losing her shit.
We provide Sandy with a reasonable explanation, but ultimately, Donovan uses his vampire abilities on her to put her to sleep. Before Donovan goes off to make some angry phone calls, he tells Scott and I that this is our mess and we have to take care of it ourselves. Yipeee. Not that I have the slightest idea on how to do that. Danielle re-enters the living room cheerfully, having missed everything, so I caught her up on what had happened. We discuss several options, but have no definitive leads on how to start, other than Donovan’s clue to get the media to stop running the story. I decide to turn to the runes and divine the fates, and get an idea of how to begin – with the reporter, one Elena Riveria. I give Scott the task of dealing with the police chief and reassuring him that everything is okay.
I head down to the news station, asking to talk to Elena. Her secretary recognizes me and gets her over to the station right away. We talk, and I try to convince her with the same story we told Sandy (about it being a small personal loan for a boat, from a mutual acquaintance), but she doesn’t buy it, continuing to remain skeptical the more I talk. I finally manage to convince her that if she drops the name of who gave her the pics than I will drop the name of the mutual acquaintance. She gives me the name Jeffrey Barnes, a freelancer who has worked with the station a lot before, and is reliable. I give her the name of someone straight out of one of my books.
Once I am in my car, I immediately call Donovan to bring him up to speed, making sure to mention the photographer’s name and that there are more pictures that haven’t been released yet. I can practically hear him grinning on the phone before he informs me that he has a great idea, but to call Scott first and see if he needs any help. Get ahold of Scott and he is presently at the reporter’s residence, but hasn’t found anything yet.
As he doesn’t mention needing any help, I hang up with him and head home, only to have him call later and try to get help with this internal affairs guy he’s supposed to off on behalf of the police chief (how do I know this? Donovan informed me). The guy isn’t home and he’s freaking, so I advise him to just do a stakeout, the guy is probably at work still. I advise him to not be seen, to try wearing a mask or something, but he gives me flak and bitches at me about what right do I have to tell him not to be seen, so I hang up on him.
An hour later he calls me back, collect, from county jail. I let Donovan know where I’m headed and go to try and bail him out, but find out he’s going to be in there overnight on charges such as assaulting an officer, resisting arrest, cocaine possession, blood in the back seat of his car, and a broken tail light. I plead with Scott to just behave and not make things worse before I leave (and as far as anyone at the station was concerned, I was his girlfriend’s best friend). Text Donovan with what’s occurred before I start the car to take care of what Scott was supposed to take care of – the IA agent. Donovan’s only reply is a frowning emote.
I park a ways away from the house, and sneak up towards the back of the house – it’s not even locked. Quietly sneak inside; it’s dark on the main floor, so I head upstairs. As I am sneaking around, to keep myself from panicking I put myself into the mindset of a serial killer character I wrote for one of my novels, and am able to calm down, and have patience. This is especially good as he is reading in bed. I stay still, making no noise for the next hour – it’s growing light out. In the interim, I hatch the perfect plan.
I wait until I am sure he’s out, then quietly sneak into the room, grab the pillow next to him, and smother him with it. Once he’s good and dead, I drag him out of bed and down the stairs, into the kitchen, and set him up near the stove. I crack the seal on the gas just a little, wait a minute and then turn on the burner, starting a fire. I stick around until the house catches, and sneak back out of the house and into my car. Yes – I was wearing gloves the whole time.
I cuddled Lovecraft after getting home, before sleeping. A small part of me enjoyed what I did – enjoyed the fact that I was superior to a human, that I was capable of taking life. This thought scares me, at least a little.