Stalked By The Game

Chapter 12 - Heating Up

::ARI::

It took me three weeks of hard work to track down Benny. He'd fallen off the face of the planet after I'd beaten the crap out of him. I'd learnt that an hour after I'd done that, McConnell had flattened him as well so I could see that he'd want to avoid another run in with either of us. Lucky for me, his skanky girlfriend loved to be the center of attention and it was easy enough to trace her back to him.

Meanwhile, I spent all the time wondering if I'd ended up with a head injury when I'd been hospitalised. A truce with a vampire, I had to be insane but so far, he'd been as good as his word. While I'd been tracking Benny, he'd been worming his way into the other vampire's good books. It gave me a sense of satisfaction that it would have been driving him bonkers having to take orders from someone else, especially from a vampire with no drive like Vincent.

The only problem I had was Antonio. He'd been harrassing me almost constantly to go back to the safe house, even though John told him to let me be. What the boy's problem was, I had no idea but I was not giving in. I had no intention of going there before McConnell's visit and even less now. Lead him to the hunters? No way in hell. It was getting to the point where I would have shifted motels if I thought it would give me some peace. Actually, that was looking like a good idea but if something went wrong and happened to me, well they wouldn't know where to look.

As I rounded the top of the street where I'd been told Benny was housed, it didn't surprise me. All the houses on the road looked like they could do with being demolished, not a fixer upper among them, they were so bad. The perfect hole in the wall for a rat like him. I'd picked my time when I knew the girlfriend would be out. I didn't want an audience for this and seeing I couldn't kill him yet and I had a funny feeling he'd know that, I might have to push the limits even for me.

As I snuck in through a back window, I realised quickly that I could have entered with a heavy metal band and he wouldn't have noticed. The idiot was sitting there playing a damn xbox, totally involved in whatever he was doing. Now I knew where all my hard earned money ended up. I didn't make a sound, just walked up behind him.

'Hey babe,' he shouted out. Clearly, he thought I was his skanky girl. 'Did ya get what you wanted? When I finish this race, I might give you a bit of something, something if ya know what I mean?'

He raised his eyebrows, watching the car on the screen run off the road and swore as he lost time. I crouched down behind him, putting my lips to his ear.

'The only something you'll be giving me is information or I'll slap you stupid.'

He jumped up in surprise, the car on the screen crashing into a wall as he raced towards the door. The advantage I had was that there was only one exit from this room unless he wanted to jump out the front window which I doubted. I crashed into him, grabbing him around the knees and bringing him down to the ground. Rolling him over, I brought my forearm up under his chin.

'I swear, I ain't done nothing!'

'Course not, Benny. You're as pure as winter snow, right?'

I had to resist the urge to waste time and laugh. Benny was the dodgiest person I knew, and that included hunters, vampires and the rest of the human race. Even he knew that he was pushing it, claiming innocence.

'Okay, okay,' he managed to choke out. 'Whatever it is this time, I didn't do it.'

I nodded. 'I know, Benny. You've been a good boy since we had our last play date. I told you, I just want some information.'

When I instantly didn't hit him, he relaxed a little but I didn't. I didn't trust him enough to let him up yet. He'd run as soon as he could and it might be weeks before I found him again. As he tried to get up, I pushed him down again.