Chapter sixteen

           I expected her to lead us to some back room or private area but the waitress led us to the center of the room instead. It seems while we were talking a big table was set up right in the middle of the room underneath the biggest chandelier, it was almost as if the inhabitants wanted to be on display which I thought was odd because I thought that would be the last thing you want to do in a room filled with assassins and killers.

          When we were a few steps from the table a well built man with the exact same features as Sergei except for being older stood up with his arms widespread in a grand gesture that was way too dramatic for the situation, many things about the situation were too strange for my liking, why was the head of an organization currently under attack being so visible in public? Shouldn't he be holed up in a very deep hole somewhere? Vladimir Mikailov may be a physically intimidating man but his title was the puppeteer, he is known for manipulating people and situations in his favor without getting dirt on his hand and unlike previous macho mob bosses he was the type to hide when things got too hot. He might sound like a coward but he was the longest reigning and most successful mob boss ever, but now he suddenly grew a spine and was exposing himself to danger, something was definitely off.

           I looked closely at the man who had the same face as my best friend and something wasn't quite right. This wasn't the first time I have met Mr Mikailov, in fact I have met him many times when I went to Sergei's house and something about the slope of his forehead or the shape of his nose, I don't know what it was but I knew the man in front of me wasn't Mr Mikailov.

           Then it finally clicked in my mind, it was a trap. The man in front of me was a double being used as bait to attract enemy attention, he was literally on display to make him an irresistible target. That was why he was acting so grandiose, as I was having my little epiphany the Mikailov double started to speak,

           "Welcome Persephone , Mike. Come take a seat and grab a drink, I want to hear more about the interesting things you were talking about earlier. Persephone you say you know that this monsters are evil spirits? I didn't know that sweet poison dabbled in the paranormal."

             Mike's face turned from Vladimir to me and back again, "You are a member of sweet poison?"

             His whole attitude towards me suddenly changed,his voice was cold and he wasn't even looking at me when he asked me the question.

             "Oh my, you didn't know, but I guess that is why they are so successful. They have a way of insidiously worming into people's hearts using their beauty , I think that the fact that their poison attacks the same organ is almost poetic. So Miss Persephone was all you said just clever nonsense to snare poor unsuspecting innocent Mike or do you actually know anything?"

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             I was seriously pissed at the pompous asshole standing before me, he hadn't even waited for us to sit down before he started to bash my reputation in front of the only halfway decent man in the room, his arrogant and patronizing attitude made me want to choke him with his own tongue.

           I leaned in closer to the double and started to whisper into his ear," I think that dressing up as Vladimir is making you think that you are him, but you have to remember pretending to be a dragon doesn't make you one. The thing you have to keep in mind is that he has power, you do not. He is untouchable, you are not. You might think that you are safe but ask yourself do you think a man like him doesn't have other doubles? Do you think you were his first or going to be his last double? Why do you think you are here , left to wriggle around like a worm at the end of a fishing line to attract the fish. You do know that the worm doesn't survive right? So worm , any other smart ass comments about me?"

         His arrogance suddenly vanished. I was close to him so I could see his pupils constrict into points and the blood drain out of his face, small beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. The look on his face was very amusing, it was the look of a man who pulled on a tail of what he thought was a harmless cat and got an alligator instead. He started to shake a little and quietly replied, "I'm sorry, I'm just trying to do my job."

         "No you are a two bit impersonator who got high on borrowed power. Your job isn't to harass me, that was all you."

          While we were having our little whispered conversation we had attracted the attention of quite a few people and by the time I realized what I had done it was already too late. They didn't know that I was talking to a double , to them it looked like I was threatening the head of the mob and scaring the crap out of him with a few words.

            I tried to back away and look as inoffensive as possible, but that ship had already sailed, everybody was now looking at me speculatively and to make things even worse at that exact moment a black haired man who looked unremarkable in any way entered the room.

           Problem was that the man was Atelli.