Getting a tip (hospital)
(follows later in the afternoon of "Dry cleaners and stains" )
Kyle's stomach grumbled in between his shaking spells. He checked his watch. 'Wow, 6:30pm.' The sun was just starting to set in Nachton as Kyle decided to grab something to eat.
He had been running down tips all day to keep his mind off of drinking. The assistant district attorney's death proved interesting although he couldnt glean any more information from the coroner, Dr. Ava Kaufmann. With legs up to her eyeballs, his efforts to secure her phone number were met with cold resistance. He had heard she was dating some bigwig...or at the very least fucking him senseless. Dejected he ran down some other possible tips.
As he walked along the food corridor of The Strip, his hands went into his pockets as he decided what to eat. Kyle fingered the piece of paper in his left pocket and pulled it out.
'Ahhh,' Kyle smiled. Carol's phone number. Perfect opportunity to...then his cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID and considered not answering but thought better of it.
'Yes, Grant.'
'Got something for you,' said Grant Thorps, he's editor.
'Ooh, give give. I've had nothing but road blocks all day on that assistant DA murder.'
'Well, it's nothing more on that, but we just heard that Marthinus Steyn of Duibne Industries had a heart attack, maybe 2.'
Kyle sighed, 'What, you want me to write the obit for it? Am I getting demoted?'
'Idiot, he's a Nachton icon, benefactor and CEO of the larget pharmecutical company in the city if not the eastern seaboard. He's at Nachton Hospital, 8th floor. GO.'
'Yes, yes,' Kyle said and hung up his cell phone. The day turned into dusk as he hailed a yellow cab with a sharp whistle. It pulled up to him and he jumped in.
'Nachton Hospital,' and the yellow cab sped off.
Marthinus. You're awake.
Then his words registered. A reporter? Here? Why of all the bottom feeding low life scum sucking bastard pieces of...she forced herself to snort at the suggestion of vampires, though she sounded less amused and more like an angry bull about to charge.
She took a step forward, her gaze menacing, when Kyle's wild accusations made her stop in her tracks. She shot Marthinus a look of denial before the reporter focused his attentions on her.
Her arm twitched, but she spoke quietly.
You will refrain from pointing that finger at Mr. Steyn or I swear to God you will not get it back.
Get. The fuck. Out.
Between the invasion of Marthinus's privacy, the malicious accusations, and the purely idiotic behavior of the man in front of her, Nova's blood was boiling.
She reflected that it was a good thing for Mr. Evans that they were in a hospital.
They were shaking.
Marthinus had decided that either Mr. Evans knew what kind trouble he just walked into or...he was an alcoholic on the wagon. He had seen many famliar go thru the agony of alcoholism. Either to take the edge off of their Eternity addiction or their guilty conscience of selling their soul.
'Tell me, is it true, what they say about you and your theories?'
Kyle gave Marthinus a hard stare.
'Is it true,' Marthinus began, 'that the liquor makes the theories easier to write?'
'I see you have not remembered what the right thing is yet, Marthinus.' The hair on the back of Marthinus neck stood on end as he recalled the voice of Dr. Oliver, his philosophy teacher. He suddenly remembered his dreams. His eyebrows furrowed as he heard himself speak coldly to Evans. In his mind he wept silently.
The right thing would be too painful, he knew this, but being the man he should be meant weathering even the darkest of nights and the worst evil. Evil that had watery green eyes and the devil as her slave.
The right thing frightened him to the core.
Kyle knew this type of shame well. He clenched his hands when he realized they were shaking again and it wasn't out of fear. He was now going on about 48 hours of no drinking and now with being caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place, it was only making his need for it more intense.
'Low blow, Mr. Steyn,' he managed to say. He faced Steyn, shoulders back, trying to scrape up what dignity he had left. 'Explain to me how a 50 something year old man who's suffered 2 heart attacks and was in need of at least a double bypass if not a new heart, is sitting up in his bed looking peachy fucking keen?'
Kyle looked at Nova. 'And nice attitude, sister. If you didnt do something to him, then some other vampire must have because NO ONE recovers from that type of heart damage in 24 hours.' He was on a roll now, considering he would either walk out of this alive and into another embarassing news article over his accusations of a CEO being a familiar and labeled a crazy or he'd end up dead. Why not bring out the big guns?
'Why is Duibne Industries be lobbying for blood cloning, I wonder?' He walked up to Marthinus and smiled, 'It doesn't take a sober man to know that Duibne will have the market on synthesized blood and I'm certainly not stupid enough to believe that you healed on your own. I'm just stupid enough to hide the stark reality with alcohol.'
Kyle took off the doctor's coat and put it on Marthinus bed. He straightened his jacket and waited.
Instead of hitting him, though, she took satisfaction in imagining with relish what she would do to the reporter should Marthinus give the slightest indication. She crossed her arms and did her best to project her violent thoughts with a nasty glare. Though she had to admit that the CEO was delivering the verbal beat down pretty well on his own.
Her snort at the attitude comment was slightly more amused this time around. Yeah, that about sums it up.
Seeing as how her friend had pretty much asked her to ease off a bit, she thought it best to speak to Marthinus rather than Mr. Evans. It was just a little too tempting to hit him when she looked at him for too long.
He's awful cocky for someone this close to losing an appendage. She held out her thumb and forefinger, spaced an inch apart. Yeah, 'Doctor' Evans knows sooooo much, doesn't he?She snorted again and muttered to herself. Vampires. Well he certainly is creative.
He had stopped off at the bookstore in the mall for the requested books and had three of them under his arm. Jan smirked, Nova might not approve of his choices but you take into account the messenger when you do these things.
The assurance was that Marthinus was doing better, though better than nearly dead still didn't sound good to him. Jan wondered how Simon was holding up, His creator was normally a calm man and the thoughts of him being in a panic was frightening to him. In a way, he relied on Simon to the voice of calm reason among the Tacharan so that was part of Jan's unease and the other part was that someone that put together was likely to break in some massively destructive manner. The guy must be going through hell. Hopefully Nova could tell him how Simon was also when he got there.
Finding the right number and checking the name on the wall, Jan pushed the door open and looked inside. He didn't know who the strange man was but he'd seen that look on his sister's face before and wondered if the man knew how close he was to getting his ass kicked.
"We having a party here?" Jan sauntered into the room and headed to Marthinus's bedside. Smiling down at him, He reached out a hand and gave the other man's a gentle squeeze.
"Good to see you're still around to make things work right around here, Marty, It'd go to hell and hand basket without you."
Turning around, he handed the books to Nova and then let his attention fall on the stranger.
"Did I hear someone say something about vampires?" Smirking, he said in a cheesy Transelvanian movie accent. " I'm a creature of the night." Jan widened his eyes melodramatically and grinned, showing fangs.
Nova's hackles were up, and in that state she tended to notice little things like footsteps approaching the door. She tensed, but immediately relaxed at the familiar sight that greeted her.
Hey, you made it!
She pulled Jan into a rough one armed hug before snatching the bag from his hand.
Thanks bro! Whadya bring? She rummaged through the bag and read the covers on the books one by one.
Last of the Mohicans, Indian in the Cupboard...I'm sensing a theme here...She looked up at Jan, trying to keep a straight face. Man...that's just -wrong-. She broke into laughter halfway through the statement. Lemmie just go get some live rattlesnakes and face paint, we'll have ourselves a -real- party then. Oooh, Treasure Island, I love this book!
She quieted down as Jan extended his greetings to Marthinus, still shaking her head in amused disbelief at her brother's nerve. He was a good sort though. One could almost believe their sibling relationship originated in their human lives if not for the obvious physical differences. Plus it was still confusing as hell to remember she was looking at her -older- brother.
He's got you there, Marthinus. Though don't let him worry you. I think your -son- has things -well in hand- while you recover.
She let that statement carry what weight it could with Evans standing around listening to everything they said.
Grinning at Jan, she picked up on his act, though she would freely admit that her accent was pretty terrible. She wiggled her fingers in the air and approached Jan, still smiling.
I'm going to bite your neck and drink your bloooood!
She cut it out after a moment and jerked her head in Evans's direction.
Naw, Mr. Fake Doctor Hack Reporter Evans here thinks vampires are for real, we better not give him any ideas. She gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes.
He looked around and found what he wanted. One of the hospitals attempts at decoration was sitting on a table next to him. It was a glass ball with bubbles of air floating in it. Probably the size of a softball but 50 times as heavy. Kyle took a step back and put his hand on it.
'Yeah, I get it. I'm the crazy one,' he mumbled thru a forced laugh and heaved the glass ball as hard and as fast as he could at Nova.
That was about all Nova had time to think before reaching around to the back of Jan's neck and pulling him down to the floor with her. She heard a loud thunk as the flying object soared over their heads and crashed into the wall, landing on the floor with a crack, but by that point she was seeing red.
Somewhere in the back of her mind she thanked her perception for catching that little stunt, but she was mostly focused on lunging at Evans, grabbing him in a choke hold and kicking the little table aside to pin him to the wall.
Anyone want to give me one good reason I shouldn't tear this fucker's throat out?
Her mind caught up with her body as her nostrils flared in anger. She hoped she hadn't hurt Jan when she had pulled him to the floor...and then realized that in her eagerness to make sure her brother didn't get hit, she had forgotten one simple fact.
She probably should have caught that.
/ooc permission to move Jan and Kyle.
He clawed at Nova's hand, trying to pull her hands away but they were like steel. He was not surprised. It all happened very fast. Kyle is fairly certain that Nova could've caught the ball and actually anticipated that she would. Instead she moved her and the kid out of the way and in the time it took for Kyle to blink, had him up against the wall. He began to laugh.
Nova relaxed her grip on Kyle just enough for him to take a breath and say something.
'Nice....reflexes...'
((permission to move nova))
She was close enough to feel his breathing, and reminded herself to do the same, as she leaned forward tilting her head up to speak in his ear.
Are you sure you want those to be your last words, Mr. Evans? You're crazy alright.
But so am I.
/ooc permission to move our poor reporter friend
'Nova, I think Mr. Evans has proven his point. Although I'm not sure what he thinks he'll be able to do with this bit of information since being right does not provide body armor.'
Marthinus knew that no one would believe Evans even if he reported this, but why would someone go to great lengths to be right when it meant being dead as well? Curious.
I dunno about that, Marthinus. I might just break my knee on the cajones this guy's got. She met Evan's eyes once more. What're they made of, steel?
With that, she abruptly released her hold and stepped back, watching him warily.
She made a mental note to ask Marthinus later if her temper was worse than usual. It was quite possibly a side effect of the Starbursts, and she realized with a start that even if she didn't -feel- hungry, the drugs might be suppressing her appetite without actually benefiting her as much as she had believed. It was hard to tell, being under this much stress.
I was totally provoked just then. Right? Right. Still, this test run might be a wash.
/ooc permission to drop Kyle and let him land as he may.
"Knew he was going to get his ass kicked."
Marthinus called her off though, such a shame, if ever a man deserved a beating this one had it coming. Nova had called him a fake doctor and a reporter, so this guy obviously wasn't supposed to be here and he was messing with Marthinus and trying to give people hell about vampires at a time like this? That's grounds for draining him dry right here. Then he had the gall to throw something at them
"Aww come on, Let her have him. He deserves it and its entertaining, far better than Treasure Island and you can't even find shows this good on cable."
Being right had been the holy grail for him for years. As he sat on the cold hospital floor, he had it finally. Well, he thought, no one had come out and admitted it, but Nova's speed wasn't human...or her strength. Kyle was 6'2 and at least 200 pounds, outweighing her by at least 50 pounds.
No, that wasn't human.
He reached up and grabbed the foot of the bed, pulling himself up painfully. 'Honestly? Yes, I know no one will believe me, Mr. Steyn.' Kyle tried, unsuccessfully, to smooth out his crumpled suit. His face was red and every 5 seconds he cleared his dry throat. 'When being right is all I have, it's worth the price of my dignity.'
When Kyle walked out...if Kyle walked out...he would go home, eat a rack of lamb and then email his report on Mr. Steyn. Recovering and doing well, he'd say. No one would believe the rest so there'd be no point. He sighed and looked at Steyn.
'I can look at my life and have no regrets, Mr. Steyn.' He paused a second and shrugged, 'Well ok I regret being a hardcore alcoholic, but other than that...I'm good.' He brushed his sleeves and pulled his jacket down.
'Can you say the same, sir?
Whether that was true or not.
Marthinus, however, was trying to remember what the right thing was. The right thing Dr. Oliver had suggested he should find. Did he want to find that missing holy grail?
He knew exactly what happened to him. It was Jacob that had sent someone into his room and given him the Eternity. It wouldn't have been Simon, but he had been here. He felt him here and felt his rage. Comas have a way of giving you nothing to do but listen. Marthinus would have to talk to Jacob and thank him for giving him another chance to do the right thing. Recognizing that right thing that his son had obviously already done.
The Tacharan reign over the Huntington clan was coming to a close.
'Can I say that my life will be a legacy to my family and era?' Marthinus shook his head. 'No, Mr. Evans. It has not...but I aim to change that.'
Marthinus lifted his hand in the air and waved it slightly. 'Change is coming, Mr. Evans and if I can have your assurance that you will put your quest on hold, I'll give you a story worth dying for.'
Marthinus, you are one of the finest men I have ever known. Whatever else happens, know that much at least.
And you, she turned to glare at Evans, are a weasely little dick that doesn't deserve to be in the same room with him, so you can take your thoughts on regrets and shove them up your ass.
She lowered her voice, muttering darkly.
Still say the bastard needs to die. Or at least lose a limb.
Not that Nova had any intention of just letting Evans go. Simon would be getting a phone call about that menace, and no doubt the reporter would be tailed from here on out.
Because god help him if she ever encountered him alone.
Tilting his head to the side,Jan regarded Mr. Evans.
"You know, I don't know who you are or how you got in here but it obviously wasn't on brain power or your empathic way with people because that was about the shitiest thing I've heard someone utter in a long time."
Jan stood brushing the dust off his black jeans and grinned at Nova's suggestions.
"You know I think I could help with that. He's a writer, right? Leftie or a Rightie?"
He stared at the ceiling a moment looking thoughtful.
"Hmm, as I doubt you'd tell us the truth, probably best to just take both. You must have been real charming from the start to make her this mad, you know. As a reporter you might want to work on your people skills. "
Kyle looked at the younger man. 'Yeah, I get that a lot.' He turned to Marthinus.
'You have my word, Marthinus, but mostly because my conspiracy theories aren't raking in the monies as of late. So, unless someone else wanted to threaten my life one more time,' he looked at Nova and on a whim, gave her a quick wink. 'I'll be on my way.'
Kyle headed to the door and opened it. 'Maybe later you can tell me if being a familiar is worth it Mr. Steyn.' He gave a final look at his lovely audience and took his leave.
((Kyle out, pending responses.))
You're even stupider than you look if you think I won't take great pleasure in backing up that threat. And contrary to popular belief, I don't need an invitation to fuck you up where you live. You're alive because Marthinus is a decent human being, you'd do well to remember that.
I myself don't so much trouble over decency.
She looked to Jan, still irritated.
Stick around a minute, alright? I got a phone call to make.
She turned to Marthinus. I don't trust that idiot's word any further than I can throw him. She took a moment to reflect on just how far a distance that might be, smirking at the mental image of Evans flying through the air and bouncing on pavement. Not even that far.
With that, she unclipped her mobile from her beltloop and headed out the door. Evans must have made a quick escape in spite of his bravado; he was nowhere in sight.
"Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out."
He reached over and picked up the first book off the top of the stack. Last of the Mohicans...good book. Flipping open the pages,Jan thumbed through it, not that he planned on reading or anything,it was simply something to do.
Answering Nova's request, He said.
"Sure thing."
Looking back at Marthinus, he asked.
"So... got the -good- channels on that box?" He winked and looked up at the TV "I haven't had a chance to sit down and watch cartoons in ages."