Finally, a chapter that gets shit done. The scaffolding is shaky and could topple at any serious prodding, but it’s there.
Dead Dave’s is run during the day by Luther, a large old black man that smokes a lot. They seem to have done this before, they know each other well. DD’s is a typical bar, a few suits in a booth eating, a drunk at the bar and Anita ordering orange juice that she’s probably paid heavily for, including a bribe.
Who wants to get drunk when there are teetotalers in the crowd?
I would. When I’m trying to get drunk, I tend not to pay attention to what the fuck other people are drinking.
And why in the world would I keep coming to a bar if I didn’t drink?
Beats the shit out of me.
Anita asks Luther about Phillip and they come to the already obvious consensus that he isn’t to be trusted, duh. He’s a junkie and you know, blah blah blah. Leave it to the old wise black man to try to talk some sense into her.
“Damn, girl, you are moving in the wrong circles.”
I smiled. Luther was the only person I let call me girl.
Shut up.
Here’s the thing. It’s not like Dave tells her everything she asks without a price. She has to provide information to them too. That’s the trade off.
Turns out, Luther knows Phillip, at least of him and he tells her she should probably stay away from him if she can. Nope, not Anita. Luther remembers that Valentine was the one that turned him on to the whole junkie thing when he was just a kid. Made him want it at a young age. All the more reason for Anita to want to kill Valentine. And if he wasn’t on the end of Niko’s leash, he’s going to be pissed that she’s out having lunch with his little victim.
Anita wants the daytime resting place for Valentine, but she has to know that giving out information like that to her is going to be a serious problem for Dave and Luther, and she, as far as I can see, doesn’t give a shit.
“You’re right. I don’t have a right to ask.” But I sat there on the bar stool, staring at him, willing him to give me what I needed. Risk your life for me old buddy, ol’ pal, I’d do the same for you. Riiight.
“If you could swear you wouldn’t use the info to kill him, I could tell you,” Luther said.
“It’d be a lie.”
She really wouldn’t do the same for them if they asked. And I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t ask to begin with. You’ve got to understand the rules of asking too much from your sources and putting more people in danger to get to your end goal. Luther probably gives zero shits about what vampires die. He’s been stated to have nothing to do with them except for the fact that he works for Dave. So why put him in danger that he doesn’t need to be in? It’s going against the personal rules AB has set up for herself. It just doesn’t make sense, except for the convenience.
Basically Anita tells him that she’d jump the gun before a warrant was issued and kill him if she had the chance. He warns her that she’s going to be up on charges one day, but she really doesn’t give a shit.
Luther, my friend, Anita never gets put up on charges. She does whatever the fuck she wants. Duh.
“Word on the street is that you met the master last night. That true?”
“You know about that before or after the fact?” I asked.
He looked pained. “Anita, we woulda tld you if we’d known, gratis.”
I nodded. “Sorry, Luther, it’s been a rough few nights.”
So they would have told her something, but she’s putting them in danger. Mmmhmm.
Back to the issue of convenience. Ronnie chooses that moment to call Anita about some information she found. Let me tell you, I have a lot of drunk friends, but I probably wouldn’t start calling around to bars to look for them. Anita didn’t tell anyone she was going there and as far as it’s written, didn’t even say it out loud. I’m going to chalk it up to Ronnie’s sweet fucking detective skills.
Basically, there’s a rumor going around about the Humans Against Vampires group. They have designed a death squad to wipe the vampires off the face of the earth. Ronnie has not a single piece of proof or witness yet, but she’s totes thrilled about it.
Anita finally does something professional. She lets Ronnie in on where she is going to be that night. Damn right if you’re going out to a fucking freak party, you better let someone know where you’re going to be at. Jesus, I sound like my mother. Ronnie gives her the scolding that she deserves about going in without backup, and much deserved. There’s already way too much cavalier behavior going on to be believable. But there’s the issue of being forced into a situation again.
Anita can’t admit that she’s going to the party alone because she wants to. There’s extenuating circumstances. Jameson likes vampires, Bert is the money guy, Charles is squeamish and Anita made a promise to a sobbing Rosita that she would never ask Manny again. Manny was her mentor on raising zombies and killing vampires. Though, why these two things are related isn’t all that clear to me.
Either way, Rosita wasn’t fair in crying. So Rosita’s going to be the one to blame if Anita dies. It’s sort of annoying. If she had just decided not to ask Manny because she knew Rosita wasn’t going to approve and he has four kids, that would be one thing. But this chick can literally not make a choice unless someone makes it easy. It’s so fucking annoying.
Whatever, Ronnie warns her to be careful and they hang up.
Anita is now facing the most horrible part of her day. Shopping for clothes that show off her scars and hide her weapons. I have a feeling I would hate to be the poor retail chick who has to wait on her. Just threaten her friends, it’ll get her out of the store quicker.
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Rise of the Anti Fan 