A Night at the Opera

The following night I had a show. Monday's not a great day to perform, but eh, you take what you can. Halfway through the set, I noticed someone staring intently at me, completely motionless. I knew something was strange so I looked a little harder and saw that it was Vincenzo!! I couldn't do anything about it now so I just kept singing. That fucker made me miss half a beat, but I got back on track and kept singing. I lost sight of him after a couple songs.

Around midnight after the show was over, I went looking for him. I didn't know what the hell I was planning to do since I'm not as scary as Vince, but I just acted upon instinct. I couldn't find him, and even worse, I had lost sight of Paul too. When I went out to his car, I saw him knocked the hell out. I gave him my wrist to help him out and though he was conscious again and seemed okay, he couldn't remember much of anything in terms of what happened. He just remembered getting some shoes at REI. When he got up to show me, there was a note on the seat that was placed underneath him with just a simple "Hello. :)" written on it. This made my blood boil and chill at the same time. That bitch was toying with me. I texted Vince to keep him on the alert and called Little Jim, but didn't get an answer so I left him a message. I called Gabe to warn him too. After herding the cats of the cemetery crew, I told Paul to get out of town if he could and to not tell me where he's going. I certainly wasn't going to risk someone using him to get to me!

Tuesday night was the night of the opera. The first thing I did was to call Paul. He told me he was safe and was in Portland. Good. That's a fair distance away until some of this shit calms down. He said he would catch a train tomorrow and be back in town in the evening. A couple hours before Rafael was due to pick me up, I went to see if Jericho took me up on my offer. He said he wasn't going to go. Bummer. He also told me to be careful around Rafael. Why does everyone keep saying this?? I certainly think Rafael is nothing but harmless, but since it was Jericho, one of the few genuine people I've met, requesting this, I said I'd keep it in mind and said goodbye. Rafael arrived in a limo right on time and brought me something pretty to wear too! This dress must have cost a fricken fortune... At least I wore it well. Haha! Michael was with him too and after I got dressed and prettied up for the evening, we set off for McCaw Hall. It was a beautiful performance and I felt extremely wistful listening to classical music. After the show, Michael asked if we wanted to take a little detour to the Pacific Science Center where one of his exhibits was on display. We had the limo wait for us outside, Michael nodded to the security guard and we were treated to a private tour. When we came to the end of the exhibit, Rafael mentioned that they had places to go, so I had him take me back to El Corazon. I thanked them both for a lovely evening. I didn't get to know Michael all that well, but I certainly don't think he's a bad guy. Before they left, Rafael gave me a little vial pendant saying that there is a part of him in it and now we won't ever be far apart.

I changed out of the dress that's worth about my annual salary with the hope of having another occasion to wear it to. After dressing in my usual gear, I went back up to the main floor and stepped outside. Talk about good timing! Mike was just walking up the alley. But as soon as I waved to him, he said "Hey J, something's... not right...!" And understatement of the year award goes to Mike! We were ambushed by Vincenzo and his gang. It was a fricken cluster fuck of a battle. I heard Vince groaning after taking, what I assume could only be a few shot gun blasts so I knew he was around somewhere taking a beating too. Mike kept yelling at them that we shouldn't be fighting in plain view of the kine and he was totally right. I had two of these goons on me at one point and one of them lost his nerve and ran off. I think the other followed after a while. I suppose if we can't take it out of view of the public, them just running off works just as well too. Just as things were looking really dire, for both sides, it seemed, an El Camino screeched around the corner and drove off with Vincenzo. Fuck, that fucking fucker!! How many times is he going to run away?! I was a bit shell shocked so Mike was kind enough to take care of me. He cleaned up my wounds and the blood, only a little of it my own, off my face and seeing the hunger in my eyes, he took me into Belltown. We went to the Zig Zag Café, a swanky little bar and I picked out some tasty morsels. I was kinda surprised to see Mike actually socializing. Maybe next time I can be his wing man. We parted ways after we were full.

I knew I couldn't go back home because by the time our fight was breaking up, sirens were starting to make their way towards the club. By now, the place must be swarming with officials. I didn't know who else to call so I called Rafael. I told him, briefly, what happened and he said he would come pick me up. He took me to the Green Tortoise Hostel by the market. We snuck around the front desk and he pulled up a panel in the floor to reveal a flight of stairs down to the basement. I told him about Vincenzo in more detail. He thinks that someone somewhere is being sloppy; it can't be just coincidence that on the exact night we went out to a forgotten cemetery in Issaquah, a mercenary from Everett appears and and is now continuing to hinder our lives because he was made to look like a pansy. After relaying the whole story, Rafael stood up and knocked out a fragile wall revealing a coffin. It was pretty ornate, and equipped with a few stakes too. He offered it to me to sleep in. I asked if he would still be here when I wake up and he reassured me that he would. We chatted a bit more until I eventually drifted off to sleep.