Snake Eyes

Chapter 5

"Stay here. I'll be back." He closed the car door and started down the street, sticking his hands in his pockets to hold the piece of paper with the address on it.

"Hey, Niss!" He looked back at Luca, who was in the passenger seat. "Don't take too long with ya girl. You got a meetin' with the Don at 4!" The two men cackled like hyenas in the car and he rolled his eyes.

"At least I'm gettin' some, unlike you morons!" The call was made back casually and they simply laughed harder. God forbid, what would happen if they knew he was meeting a man? Not to mention, these little visits weren't going to be to get his rocks off, but to help someone unaffiliated with the family build an army. Oh no, he'd doom them both if the wrong people found out, and he wasn't so sure about those two yet. Sure, they'd been with him since he died, practically, but they'd been loyal men in life and death so far. If he trusted one, even with the knowledge that his "dinner date" was a man, and that man told his father... he shuddered to think what would happen. He'd been there when Angel was tossed out like trash, stood by and watched as his brother was disowned, beaten, and then thrown to the street with nothing based on his feelings. He winced and fought the emotions away. If there was one thing he regretted, it was that he'd never been strong enough to stand up to his father for his brother. Now his only baby brother was the biggest porn star in Hell, which he knew was a big "fuck you" to their dad every time the Don saw the billboards, or heard about him on the news. Those were really good days for him.

He moved down the block and pulled out the scrape of paper, rereading the address and looking at the buildings around him. He stopped in front of what had to be the right place and took it all in. It was a large building roughly in the center of the street. It looked more like an old warehouse with a living space above it, which he guessed would be useful for a man like Sir Pentious. An inventor would need a lot of space, right? Entering the ground floor hall, he looked around, but didn't see anyone else. He checked the door to the left of the stair case and only found a large garage with numerous pieces of equipment he didn't want to touch or even get near, since some of it looked like it could easily crush him. Closing the door, he made his way up the stairs, where he found a single door and knocked. Less than a minute passed before he could hear the locks being undone and the door swung open. He hadn't quite been expecting the snake to be so casual, since he'd only ever seen him in his suit, so seeing the black button up shirt with the top buttons undone was a surprise. The other man moved away from the door and waved him in.

"Go ahead and take off your coat and then sit in the chair over there." He did as he was instructed, hanging his jacket on the coat rack by the door before moving to the chair.

"So what are we doin' today?" Pentious was moving about the area doing various things; washing his hands, pulling out vials and bandages, and a needle. Anyone would be curious.

"I just need a bit of blood from you to run some preliminary tests. I'll need to see if you have what I'm looking for, but also that it can be extracted and used." He nodded and laid his arm down, palm up. "Just relax. I'll try to make this quick." The slight hiss in the other man's voice gave him shivers. He told himself to focus on the task at hand and took a deep breath. The tiniest pinch was his only indicator that the needle had broken skin, and he looked back at his arm. He watched the blood fill the vial, thick and slow.

"I'm helping you for my own reasons, okay. So don't ask why." Arackniss wanted that out of the way first. No good would come from this man thinking he had an ulterior motive. He watched as the snake filled the first vial and then capped it, put it aside, and connected another. "How many do you need?" He looked up at the man and saw the moment he looked up. Those large red and yellow eyes could captivate him, and they had from day one. Not that he would