Gabriel shoved a pair of sunglasses over his face when he slipped into his car, and he wasn't too sure he didn't break the sound barrier in his need to get to the meat market. Even with the sunglasses on, though, his eyes were burning. Maybe he was just getting too old to drink that much anymore. God only knew. The only thing Gabriel cared about right now was food. He had to have that steak. His recovering hangover and mental health depended on it.
Why was it so bright? He could swear the weather said it’d be overcast all week. The fucking sun was in his eyes. It felt like any second his lenses would melt. This sucked.
By the way the guys running the place reacted when he’d finally managed to park and head in to pick out his breakfast, you’d think they saw a zombie. The butcher behind the counter was giving him a particularly odd look...Gabriel pulled back from the glass he’d been painfully close to pressing his nose against, “give me a couple of those thick-cuts over there,” he gestured towards a metal container of bloodied meat behind the counter, more fat and gristle than muscle. He was still on a budget. It still smelled incredible, so it couldn’t be too bad. Didn’t even strike him for a second how weird it was that he could actually smell the meat at all.
“You sure? We have better cuts.” The man asked, pulling out paper to wrap the meat in, “no one ever buys those except for maybe for their dogs.”
Gabriel’s eyes roamed over the rest of the meat counter. Most of it was dry-looking, like they were soaked in antiseptic. Drab and grey from sitting out too long. Maybe there was a reason the parking lot outside was always empty. He didn’t want to bother driving anywhere else. His stomach protested at the very idea of waiting any longer for his food, “no, I want those.” Gabriel indicated the cheap cuts, barely managing not to snap at the man.
The butcher held his hands up with a resigned look, clearly picking up on Gabriel’s bad mood, “alright, alright, how many?” He pulled out the metal tray the meat was displayed on.
“Two--three. Give me three.” He could throw the extra one on the office griddle tonight if he had to work late. They hadn't gotten much done this week so it was pretty much guaranteed.
A small glob of congealed blood sat in the middle of one of them, normally that would have been enough to make him go with something else, but for some reason he didn't mind. He was almost disappointed to see it glop off when the meat was pulled from the tray to be wrapped.
The man looked all too happy to get rid of Gabriel as quickly as possible, “twenty bucks.”
“Even?” He dug into a pocket and grabbed his wallet. Just enough spare cash to cover the steaks and a carton of eggs for later if he was still feeling like shit, “alright,” he handed over a couple of tens. For a delirious moment he was tempted to reach over the glass and yank the package away before the guy could pass it to him, but he restrained himself. He didn't want to get the reputation as a steak-snatching nutjob.
“Thank you for your business sir, have a wonderful day.”
Prize finally in hand, he held the wrapped brown package close to his chest, as if it were a child, all the way back to the truck before he even realised how weird he probably looked. Yeah. He wasn't coming back to this place any time soon.
Gabriel drove a bit slower back to the office, but once he finally got there, he nearly tore the door off its hinges in his excitement to get in and have his breakfast. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but he definitely made a lot of noise. Everyone was sitting at the table nursing their coffees and pouring over a pinned map. Chuck, of course, smoking that damned cigar and making sure they all remembered why he wasn't a morning person. Or even a late afternoon one.
“What’s in the package?” Chuck barked at Gabriel as he came in the door.
“Food,” Gabriel grunted right back at him as he tossed the package onto the former reception counter and knelt to dig through a cupboard for their electric grill-top. It was nice to have some essentials tucked away when they spent the night at work. What other job could you do that at without having to be on call 24/7 too? Not that they kind of weren’t. Monsters tended to keep crazy schedules.
“Where’s the grill?” He spun about, glaring accusingly at the rest of them, “which one of you moved it?” He needed that steak now!
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“Under the sink, needed more room for the coffee,” Louise said, scowling at him.
Gabriel made a face, mimicking her know-it-all voice before stomping over to the sink and slamming a few things around in his search. He knew he was acting like a child for no good reason, but he just couldn’t help himself. Sometimes you just want to be an asshole.
Lee cleared his throat, leaning over the map, “so that call we got this morning puts us closer to figuring out the stalking pattern. With a few more we’ll be able to narrow it down to one specific portion of the city. Right now we’ve got a twenty mile radius we can’t really cover, because there’s way too many cops and I seriously doubt we’ll be able to afford bail again for you, sir, after last time,” he glanced up at the offender.
Chuck shrugged, “he shouldn't have gotten in my face like that. I can't help it if he was an asshole.” He took a drink of his coffee. They all knew there was a healthy shot of Jack in there.
“Let’s just grab all the money we ever seem to fucking make, and toss it in the shredder, Chuck...save you the trouble!” Gabriel snapped, plugging in the grill-top and setting it on the counter before snatching up the packaged meat and tearing into it.
Gabriel could barely contain himself as he waited for the meat to sear and before long he was slapping a couple of steaks onto a paper plate. Quickly he re-wrapped the third and slung it into the mini fridge for later. He thought about looking in the sink for a fork but didn’t want to take the time to clean one. He simply grabbed one with his bare hands and bit in while standing hunched over the counter. Pink spots of meat juice stained the plate. It was heaven. He didn’t care what he looked like right now. The meat was too good to wait for.
“You know, most people take their sunglasses off inside the building, and put them on outside,” Louise quipped before returning her attention to the map. She clicked her tongue, examining the area Lee had pointed out, “Chuck, you could just stay home and keep an eye on the office. If you do that, we don’t have to worry about dealing with cops. You’re getting old, anyway...twenty miles is a lot, and I don’t think we should just wait for other people to die before we try to pin this down.”
“Oh god, this is a mouthgasm…” Gabriel groaned, taking another bite. It was just what he needed. Already, his headache was fading into background noise as he slurped up a dangling piece of somewhat cooked gristle.
“Dude, shut up about it,” Danny grumbled, “you sound gross. Can’t you eat quietly?”
“Nope,” Gabriel gnawed on the bone remaining from his first steak, which he demolished in record time, “I’m in love and I want you all to know it,” his mood was already one-hundred percent better. He’d never recovered from a hangover so quickly. “Chuck--you’re gonna be the ring bearer. Better tone up those fat calves of yours.”
Chuck snorted a laugh, “nice to see you cheering up, Dr. Jekyll.”
Lee shook his head, growing tired of the distraction and bipolar outbursts, “can we discuss the matter at hand? Anyway, it’s decided. Chuck will stay in the office and take calls,” he scrawled down a few notes, “Louise, you and Danny can make general inquiries in the area. Remember, we’re not cops, keep it casual.”
“That leave me with you, sweetheart?” Gabriel cooed and set to work on the second steak, licking his lips greedily. He should probably slow down. Probably.
“Yes, I guess it does,” Lee replied calmly, flipping to the next page. “Chuck, please remember clients don’t like to be yelled at on the phone. I’ve taken the liberty of preparing a list of phrases to say to them, so you don’t have to worry about offending anyone.”
“Maybe they shouldn’t be so stupid and just answer the questions.”
Gabriel yanked off his sunglasses and rubbed at his eyes with his forearm to avoid getting meat juice in his eyes. His hands were filthy. Now that he’d finished eating, he was getting a crazy headrush, “let’s just get ready and head out. Louise, did you figure out what we could be dealing with? Last murder give you any more clues?”
“Could be a few things, vamp stands out the most though.”
He tossed his plate in the trash and licked at his fingers, “good. We’ve got plenty of daylight hours, maybe we’ll find them if we’re lucky. Haven’t ashed one of those bastards in over three years. Thought they’d all dried up or something,” Gabriel loved hunting bloodsuckers. A good deal of it was the grudge he’d had since he was a kid, but they were also one of the easiest things to nail. Predictable sleep patterns. Simple weaknesses. A cut and dry easy monster.
Lee rubbed Louise’s shoulder, “did you prepare the kits? Ready to be packed in the trunks?”
She kissed his hand, “yeah, everything’s all together and ready to go.”
Gabriel pointedly ignored the pair. He wasn’t jealous. He was perfectly fine. There was no reason in the world he had to resent seeing them together. “Let’s get a move on, then. The sooner we get out there, the sooner we can deal with this crap and make sure the streets are safe. All that bullshit.”
Chuck waved them off, “all y’all get out of my office, go, shoo,” he took a drink of his spiked coffee, “stupid idiots,” he grumbled good naturedly. They were, in a word, family. Pretty much the only people he didn’t blow up on. Even Danny, as short as his stay with them had been thus far.