Lee wanted nothing more than to leave and get Gabriel locked up at the office with the rest of the hunters so they could knock some sense into him. He’d just about had it with the insane behavior and recklessness his friend was displaying, and now it was like he was purposely trying to freak Lee out.
“I’m just concerned,” Lee whispered confidentially at Gabriel’s shoulder, “I’m worried about you. You’re not acting like yourself.”
“Ruben tells me that you're quite accomplished as hunters,” Donovan said, steering the conversation back to the topic at hand.
“He did?” Gabriel asked; a look of sheer astonishment plastered on his face, “I mean, he’s not wrong, but the Collect—Ruben doesn’t usually have anything nice to say.”
“He can be quite–stubborn at times and it can be difficult to get the truth out of him, however, I've had a lot of practice and he knows that honesty is the best policy.” Donovan kept his attention on Gabriel as he spoke, his gaze steady and focused, enough to further Lee’s discomfort.
Lee shifted a little in his seat, remaining quiet. The young man was clearly uncomfortable, while Gabriel on the other hand was shooting forward in his seat, edging just a little bit closer to Donovan.
“So how long are you gonna be here? This a business trip or something?” Gabriel prompted, expressing far more interest than he likely even realized.
“I had planned to stay for quite some time, there's something about this place that draws one in, makes a person desire to remain,” he said softly, “there is something that has drawn my attention.”
“It’s a pretty crazy place. Always something going down. I don’t think half the cities around us have nearly as big of a ghoul problem.”
“Ghouls are such primitive creatures, it's a wonder that they thrive the way they do. Back when I was a hunter, younger even than you, ghouls were an infestation much easier to cull than they are now.” Donovan leaned forward, bringing himself closer to the hunter seated across from him.
That seemed to grab Lee’s attention, and even he couldn’t resist joining the conversation, “has there been a major change in their behavior patterns in the last decade?” He frowned, “I hadn’t read anything like that in my research.”
“Longer, they have been rising steadily for the past forty or so years but it wasn't until recently that their population exploded.” He said, finally turning his gaze toward Lee before directing it back to Gabriel the moment he was done speaking.
Just like that, Lee was the interloper. The extra puzzle piece in the room that didn’t quite fit. There was an intense look of interest in Gabriel’s eyes while he watched Donovan talk, and Lee might as well have said nothing at all for the attention he got.
“You know a lot more than I’d expect from anyone who wasn’t still in the game,” Gabriel remarked.
“I find keeping myself informed is safer and affords me some advantages over the rest of the masses. I could teach you a great many things if you were interested.” He kept his tone low as he spoke, ignoring Lee, much to the hunter's chagrin.
It struck Lee as odd, especially the way that Gabriel seemed completely oblivious to what was going on, to the focus that Donovan was giving him. In fact, Gabe seemed drawn to the man. From morning to noon, everything about Gabriel was completely out of character. Even now. He was like another person.
“You wouldn’t mind?” Gabriel asked, “I’m sure you’ve got a lotta stuff to do here.”
“Perish the thought, it would be my pleasure, whenever you have the time to spare.” He said, smiling at Gabriel. Lee couldn't help but think the smile looked almost sinister but of course, Gabriel seemed oblivious, once again. Despite their own situation, Lee really had a hard time believing anyone else who shook hands with the collector was the sort of person you could trust. He would have to keep an eye on Donovan. Something just didn’t feel right.
“How ‘bout it, Lee?” Gabriel asked, still focusing his gaze on Donovan, “we could probably all use a little extra training. Especially Danny.”
“I don't know, we’ll have to talk with the others.” Lee was skeptical, wanted to say no, but he could tell from Gabriel’s look that a little tact was in order.
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Gabriel nodded, finally looking back at Lee, breaking the weirdly intense eye contact he had with the other man, “yeah, you’re right. We can talk about it tonight at the meeting,” he held his hand out to Donovan, “Ruben can give you our address, though. Feel free to come by any time. If you want.” He hesitated, “if you want to meet everyone, that is. Network. Whatever. We’re pretty informal, so the invite’s always open.”
“I look forward to it,” Donovan said, grasping his hand firmly, locking eyes again, “and you are welcome here anytime.”
“You’ll be here for a while, then?”
Donovan smiled widely, “oh yes, Ruben will just have to learn to live with me.”
The gentle knock at the door signaled Ruben’s return before he stepped inside the room with a thick envelope. It looked as if he had a much bigger list than usual, which probably meant several more visits here over the next few weeks. A godsend for their money problems, but not something Lee was exactly happy about.
“This should keep all of you busy for awhile,” the old man told them, holding the envelope out to Lee, “your friend decided to wait in the truck instead of his usual spot at my drinks cabinet.”
Lee took it from him, a grateful smile on his face, “thank you, Ruben, we’ll be going now, that way Chuck doesn't get any ideas about coming for your scotch.”
The list was a godsend. He didn’t want to spend another minute in this room if he had to, and the sooner he got Gabe back to the office, the better. He was going to have to confront him about his behavior because it was obvious Gabriel had no idea what he had done. They didn’t know this man. Blindly inviting anyone into their homes or office was a violation of their first rule of survival. For all they knew, he could be an evil spirit, a demon, even a vampire. Let alone the strange intimacy between the pair that seemed to have developed in less than a minute of conversation. This wasn’t just a bad hangover or funny mood, there was something very wrong with the lead hunter, and Lee was going to find out before Gabe did something stupid.
----------------------------------------
After his last chat with the collector, Chuck would rather drink a cat piss cocktail than spend more time with him than absolutely necessary today. So once he’d had his double shot of scotch, he was out the door. Let Gabe and Lee handle all the bullshit today, Chuck just wasn’t in the mood. He might have just stayed at the office if he didn’t think the old bastard would slam the door in Gabe’s face without him tagging along.
So, here he was. Looking at flowers. The whole damn front yard was packed with them. Funny, though, Chuck hadn’t seen that kid anywhere yet, and wasn’t he usually out trimming bushes this time of day? Maybe Ruben gave him the week off.
Chuck stepped over a small mound of dirt near a couple of freshly-planted rose bushes. Something funny about that. Those roses. Everything else in this place was meticulously planted, like a grid. Flowers and vines trimmed and cut so perfectly, you’d think they were fake. Even Chuck could see that, and he wasn’t exactly the outdoorsy type. These bushes and dirt mounds just looked weird. In the middle of everything. A bullseye. He scowled down at the lump beneath his feet, something was very wrong. He looked back towards the truck, there was a shovel in there. Ruben seemed occupied, maybe he could find out what’s there. As shady as this place was, he wouldn’t be too surprised if he didn’t find something interesting.
So maybe a normal person would just ignore the bad gardening and blame it on a fluke, a poor choice, or a new landscaper. Chuck, however, had nothing better to do than take out a little aggression on Ruben’s front lawn, and if he found something nasty, well, that was good too. He grabbed the shovel, resting it on his shoulder as he headed back to the pile of dirt. Already the thought of doing something more constructive than drinking another shot and being harangued for his dirty sandals was putting Chuck in a better mood. Either that, or it was just the scotch settling in. He whistled a tune as he began to dig, yes, this was what he needed, a good bit of spying.
Then, just to spoil his fun, the damn cell phone in his pocket started to ring. He stuck the head of the shovel firmly into the mound of dirt and fished it out of his pocket with a curse, “yeah?” Chuck answered, not bothering to check the caller ID. He had to do this quick before the old bastard inside noticed him.
“Hey, Lee left his phone in my car and I think Gabe’s is off. Can you let them know we’ve got a rush client tonight?” It was Louise. “The email just came in, and it’s a small case, but I really don’t think Danny can handle it on his own.”
“Yeah, yeah, anything else?” He glared down at his shovel, “as soon as they’re done in there I’ll tell them.”
“Alright, and tell Gabe to turn his phone back on. What if there was an emergency?” Louise meant well, but sometimes she had a nasty habit of micromanaging her boyfriend’s life, and apparently seemed to think she still had the right to do it to Gabe too.
He let out a snort and hung up, she could chew him out for it later, right now he had some digging to do. It was easy work, and Chuck was a big guy. He’d done his fair share of hard work, and there never seemed to be a shortage of holes to dig when a job got rough. This was nothing. Just a pile of dirt in a garden.
It was supposed to be nothing, anyway. He’d hoped it was nothing, but pretty soon the shovel hit something hard. Not a rock. There was no loud thunk or scrape of metal on stone. It was something altogether familiar, and very disconcerting.
“Shit,” now he really wished he’d had another scotch.