AIU: pt 3: "That Ole Devil Called Love"
Aug. 10th, 2006 02:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jack_babalonTrish was only six years old when her mom put her dads head through the wall. She proceeded to grab her overnight bag, took Trish by the hand and marched them both out of that shitty one bedroom off of Piedmont.
"What's wrong with Daddy?" She asked as they got into the waiting cab outside.
"Your father's what they call a 'complete and utter fuck up artist', honey." She lit one of those ridiculously long cigarettes she chain smoked, matter of factly stated an address to the driver and continued,"He's also a drunk, a cheat and a liar as well. Not a very good one at that, which is unforgivable in and of itself..." she looked down at Trish, squeezed her hand reassuringly and gave a quick bitter sweet smile "...but god damn him, he could make me laugh". It was the closet Trish ever came to seeing her mother cry.
"Don't bleed on the couch, Adam." Trish says a few years shy of thirty years later and immediately hears her mothers voice in the remark, she pushes her glasses up and tries to rub the stress out of her eyes.
"Yeah, well, i'll give it a shot..." he answers her through that lob sided smirk of his.
"Y'know, isn't there a rule in the Ex-boyfriends handbook that says: once you dump your girlfriend of two years, on her birthday no less, that you kind of lose your 'come-over-in-the-middle-of-the-night-with-a-gun-shot-wound priveleges'...?"
"Noooo..." Adam says thoughtfully "...I think it actually says that's one of the best times to come over. Besides it's like I told you... I forgot it was your birthday... OW SHIT... HEY WATCH IT!"
Trish 'accidentally' splashes a lot antiseptic into Adam's gunshot wound.
"Opps how clumsy of me." She sneers at him "Anyway, one more time now... who'd you piss off this time?"
"Pick one!" He snorts "Near as I can tell it was a double set up. Had a deal lined up to do an eight ball, one of Ronnie's regulars I picked up on the side... anyway showed up and found the guy dead..."
"Dead?" She asked, bandaging up the scratch on his arm. That's all it was really. A slight nick at best: 'Luck of the Bastards' she hears her mom say in her head. Of course knowing Adam he'll be bragging to his friends about how serious the damage was, like it was a...
"... bullet to the head, Trish! 'bout as dead as they get. So there I am right. I mean I don't even have time for a smoke when the cops come rolling up into the driveway... not but two minutes since I walked through the door mind you. I figure fuck this and start making my way through the bathroom window, that's when I saw it, this... weird fucking thing... like a black blob with a bunch of tiny red lights swimming in it... shit just peeled itself off the wall, started screaming and came right at me..."
"Uh-huh..." she wraps some gauze around his bi-cep. "That would be the Jack O'Shadows pacing around my yard then?"
"You saw it!"
"Adam... you keep forgeting i've been dealing with 'weird shit' since before you were hustling dime bags up in Philly. So c'mon, besides peddling to the wrong scumbag on the wrong day, what other stupid shit have you gotten yourself into?"
.......................................................................
The Jack O'Shadows glides across the street with the speed of a nightmare. It slithers through the moon lit grass with a hiss like a glass snake. It flows up the porch stairs across the street and forms into a puddle. There it starts to break apart and rise up, like rain in reverse, landing into the open hand of it's master.
Victoria,(and please for all our sakes don't call her 'Vicky'), lets her Jack O'Shadows coil and slither up her right arm where it settles and buries itself into the tattooed tribal weave labyrinth that forms her second skin.
"Well what're we lookin' at here? A client? Girlfriend maybe?" That's Zach, the gaunt looking kid leaning forward on the railing. He's watching Trish's house with the narrow eyes of a hawk. Victoria shrugs without commitment to either option: "Maybe?"
"Well what did your pet ink stain find?" Zach drawls. Zach looks like a gutter goth and smells twice as bad. Victoria looks away avoiding the furnace blast of his stench breath.
"It found him Zach. A task that proved to be beyond your abilities, even during this rare period of sobriety you honor us with..."
"Why Vicky! Are you flirting with me?"
"What did you just call me?" the Jack O'shadows starts uncoiling off Victoria's arm, forming into a long black blade into the palm of her hand.
"Alright enough the two of you!" Daniel says getting up off the swing chair. "I'm fuckin' sick of hearing it already! We got a job to do and this time I don't think we're gonna have the law interupting us. So let's try to focus." He turns to Victoria.
"What's keeping your elemental out of that house."
"Standard protection circle. Pure white light. No markings."
"Adam?" Zach postulates.
"Nahhh he might not admit it but he's old school. There'd be Hebrew and Latin all over his protective circle."
"The woman then" Victoria offers, "Maybe she's in the Game."
"Maybe" Daniel nods. "Prolly just some chick he met and sweet talked some Crowley in her ear to get down her pants."
"Well hell Daniel, only one real way to know fer sure." Zach's eyes disappear under a sheen of liquid fire. "I say we do the polite thing and go on over and introduce ourselves."
"What's wrong with Daddy?" She asked as they got into the waiting cab outside.
"Your father's what they call a 'complete and utter fuck up artist', honey." She lit one of those ridiculously long cigarettes she chain smoked, matter of factly stated an address to the driver and continued,"He's also a drunk, a cheat and a liar as well. Not a very good one at that, which is unforgivable in and of itself..." she looked down at Trish, squeezed her hand reassuringly and gave a quick bitter sweet smile "...but god damn him, he could make me laugh". It was the closet Trish ever came to seeing her mother cry.
"Don't bleed on the couch, Adam." Trish says a few years shy of thirty years later and immediately hears her mothers voice in the remark, she pushes her glasses up and tries to rub the stress out of her eyes.
"Yeah, well, i'll give it a shot..." he answers her through that lob sided smirk of his.
"Y'know, isn't there a rule in the Ex-boyfriends handbook that says: once you dump your girlfriend of two years, on her birthday no less, that you kind of lose your 'come-over-in-the-middle-of-the-night-with-a-gun-shot-wound priveleges'...?"
"Noooo..." Adam says thoughtfully "...I think it actually says that's one of the best times to come over. Besides it's like I told you... I forgot it was your birthday... OW SHIT... HEY WATCH IT!"
Trish 'accidentally' splashes a lot antiseptic into Adam's gunshot wound.
"Opps how clumsy of me." She sneers at him "Anyway, one more time now... who'd you piss off this time?"
"Pick one!" He snorts "Near as I can tell it was a double set up. Had a deal lined up to do an eight ball, one of Ronnie's regulars I picked up on the side... anyway showed up and found the guy dead..."
"Dead?" She asked, bandaging up the scratch on his arm. That's all it was really. A slight nick at best: 'Luck of the Bastards' she hears her mom say in her head. Of course knowing Adam he'll be bragging to his friends about how serious the damage was, like it was a...
"... bullet to the head, Trish! 'bout as dead as they get. So there I am right. I mean I don't even have time for a smoke when the cops come rolling up into the driveway... not but two minutes since I walked through the door mind you. I figure fuck this and start making my way through the bathroom window, that's when I saw it, this... weird fucking thing... like a black blob with a bunch of tiny red lights swimming in it... shit just peeled itself off the wall, started screaming and came right at me..."
"Uh-huh..." she wraps some gauze around his bi-cep. "That would be the Jack O'Shadows pacing around my yard then?"
"You saw it!"
"Adam... you keep forgeting i've been dealing with 'weird shit' since before you were hustling dime bags up in Philly. So c'mon, besides peddling to the wrong scumbag on the wrong day, what other stupid shit have you gotten yourself into?"
The Jack O'Shadows glides across the street with the speed of a nightmare. It slithers through the moon lit grass with a hiss like a glass snake. It flows up the porch stairs across the street and forms into a puddle. There it starts to break apart and rise up, like rain in reverse, landing into the open hand of it's master.
Victoria,(and please for all our sakes don't call her 'Vicky'), lets her Jack O'Shadows coil and slither up her right arm where it settles and buries itself into the tattooed tribal weave labyrinth that forms her second skin.
"Well what're we lookin' at here? A client? Girlfriend maybe?" That's Zach, the gaunt looking kid leaning forward on the railing. He's watching Trish's house with the narrow eyes of a hawk. Victoria shrugs without commitment to either option: "Maybe?"
"Well what did your pet ink stain find?" Zach drawls. Zach looks like a gutter goth and smells twice as bad. Victoria looks away avoiding the furnace blast of his stench breath.
"It found him Zach. A task that proved to be beyond your abilities, even during this rare period of sobriety you honor us with..."
"Why Vicky! Are you flirting with me?"
"What did you just call me?" the Jack O'shadows starts uncoiling off Victoria's arm, forming into a long black blade into the palm of her hand.
"Alright enough the two of you!" Daniel says getting up off the swing chair. "I'm fuckin' sick of hearing it already! We got a job to do and this time I don't think we're gonna have the law interupting us. So let's try to focus." He turns to Victoria.
"What's keeping your elemental out of that house."
"Standard protection circle. Pure white light. No markings."
"Adam?" Zach postulates.
"Nahhh he might not admit it but he's old school. There'd be Hebrew and Latin all over his protective circle."
"The woman then" Victoria offers, "Maybe she's in the Game."
"Maybe" Daniel nods. "Prolly just some chick he met and sweet talked some Crowley in her ear to get down her pants."
"Well hell Daniel, only one real way to know fer sure." Zach's eyes disappear under a sheen of liquid fire. "I say we do the polite thing and go on over and introduce ourselves."