Pain shot through his entire body as he lost his footing and fell to the ground. He lifted his head, gritting his teeth against the pain radiating through his skull and down his neck. The stairs down the cliffside seemed so far away. His eyes darted up to the sky, and what was left of his ragged consciousness noted that there were clouds beginning to cover the stars that were sprinkled over the black sky. Gonna be rain tonight... he thought. He grunted at the random, misplaced thought. The laughter of the drug dealers was getting louder behind him, telling him they were exiting the house from which he'd barely just stumbled with his life. "Shit," he muttered, grimacing as he forced himself to his feet.
Instinctively, Mercurio's arm wrapped around his midsection. In the back of his mind, he realized that each step was slightly loping, his right leg not wanting to work. A loud shout reached his ears. "Hey, yo, there he is! Hey, Mercurio! Didn't I tell you never to come back here after the last time?"
"Yeah, yeah," Mercurio muttered through his teeth, trying to limp faster. "You were all talk, then. Before you got all your fuckin' druggie flunkies..."
"Hey, Brian!" someone yelled, and Mercurio's heart dropped.
Fuck! Forgot about the guy at the gate!
The shirtless man who'd given Mercurio a suspicious eye while granting him entry to the little clifftop hideaway came around the corner holding a baseball bat. Another bat... Mercurio thought with a whimper as his head throbbed from the hit he'd received from one while still in the house.
There was guffawing laughter. "Show that little bitch why he shouldn't have come 'round here!" Dennis, the ringleader, called. Mercurio looked behind him and caught sight of the man, grinning and standing with his arms folded over his chest while his lackeys gained on Mercurio. Looking forward again, Mercurio caught sight of Brian, too close to get away from. The bat came down and connected with Mercurio's side, knocking the wind out of him and throwing him to the ground.
Fuckin'...vampires... Mercurio's eyes were squeezed shut as he tried to stay conscious. A sneakered foot landed hard against his ribs, and he could swear he heard something crack. Reflexively, he was coughing, struggling to breathe again; but he really just wanted to lie there and die. Fuckin' LaCroix can get his own goddamned Astrolite, he thought, his mind hardly registering the fact that someone had grabbed him by his coat and was dragging him upwards. He hardly felt his assailant's saliva hit his face; he felt it a little more when he was punched and allowed to fall to the ground once again. I don't even know what the fuck I was doin' here alone. I'm no fuckin' amature! Mercurio mused silently as someone grabbed his ankles and dragged him a few feet over sparse grass and sharp rock, leaving deep, bleeding scratches on his face. Sabbat warehouse...who cares?
Somewhere in the midst of things, Mercurio was flipped onto his back. He opened one eye, the only one he could open since the other was now swollen shut; and he saw Dennis leaning over him. "Man, you're just not real bright, are ya, Mercurio?" Dennis said in a low voice, emphasizing each syllable of Mercurio's name.
Mercurio chuckled, then winced at the pain in his ribs. "Well, you're the only one who's stupid enough to carry the shit I'm lookin' for," he said, his voice weak and gravelly.
His remark earned him a hard backhand from Dennis. Mercurio tasted his own blood from where his lip had been split at least three times by now. Dennis took Mercurio's chin in one hand, squeezing his jaw painfully and bringing his gaze back around to look at him eye to eye. "You know why I don't have my boys just shoot you? Hm?" Mercurio just looked back without answering. After a moment of silence, Dennis answered his question. "It's 'cause you need to learn yourself a lesson before you die, motherfucker. You need to learn that you listen to me when I tell you I never wanna see your ugly face 'round here ever again. This is one mistake you aren't gonna be allowed to make twice." He drew closer to Mercurio and smiled. "Looks like there's gonna be one less explosion in the city tonight," he whispered. "Damned shame. I was in the mood for some fireworks." In too much pain to respond, Mercurio just glared at the man. Dennis chuckled and thrust Mercurio's head back to the ground, letting it bounce against a rock.
Mercurio groaned, hardly able to breathe and wishing that the blackness at the edge of his vision would just set in and he'd fucking die already. Deep down, though, he felt a burning in his veins that reminded him that he wouldn't. As long as he didn't lose much more blood, he'd stay alive. And then what? So I live through this... As soon as LaCroix finds out I fucked this up, I'm dead anyway! Another kick to the ribs sent Mercurio rolling across the ground. He tried to roll up in a ball to defend against any more attacks, but he was too spent. A pitiful whimper escaped him as he trembled with effort and gave up, lying on his stomach. He's gonna send the kid to get the Astrolite and blow up the warehouse, and I'm not gonna have it...
Faintly, he could hear laughter and congratulatory high-fives going around, voices fading in and out as they joked about how foolish Mercurio had been. His awareness perked up a bit when he felt a hand on him, going into his back pocket and pulling out his billfold. Fuckin' pricks! Mercurio thought, the burning in his veins getting hotter as he was robbed and unable to do anything about it.
"Won't be needin' this anymore," he heard Dennis say. "Pleasure doin' business with you, Mer-cur-i-o."
The gang laughed, and Mercurio felt himself being picked up unceremoniously. He was bounced slightly as whoever was carrying him walked a few steps, and he was just as roughly tossed down. Mercurio stayed limp, slowly coming to a fuzzy realization. They think I'm dead...or as good as dead anyway.
Fighting to stay conscious, he listened as well as he could as the talk and laughter faded away, the gang filing back into the little beach shack. He waited for what felt like an eternity. In truth, he was happy to lie there, motionless. The less he tried to move, the less pain he felt. Blissfully numb. He knew, however, that he had to move eventually, if he could. He needed to get back to his apartment. Slowly, he opened his good eye and looked around. He was lying in a dark shadow; that was good. He bit back a pained groan as he moved his head to try to get a better look at where he was exactly. A chuckle had to be suppressed when he realized they'd thrown him on the other side of the fence! Idiots...they just made it so I don't have to deal with their fuckin' dumb-as-rocks guard dog with the baseball bat! He lifted his head as well as he could to look at the gate leading to the stairs down the cliffside. It was open; he hadn't closed it behind him when he came up. However, the stairs were also well lit. Deal with that when I get there, he decided, clenching his jaw in determination and immediately wishing he hadn't when a jolt of pain throbbed through his entire head.
Slowly, gingerly, he began to push himself to the gate, using mostly his toes to push him ahead, pulling with one arm as much as he could bear. When he reached the edge of the shadow, he looked around; and his gaze landed on a rock that fit into the palm of his hand. He rolled onto his back with a lightly breathed groan and threw the rock as hard as he could manage. It clattered against the fence to Brian's left, making the bat-wielding man jump and snap his head around to look in the direction of the noise. "Who's there?" Brian called, leaving his post to investigate.
Mercurio's heart was pounding as he pulled himself into the light and scrambled as quickly as he could towards the stairs. He had to get there before Brian gave up his search and went back to staring straight ahead directly at Mercurio's escape route. Adrenaline was on Mercurio's side, dulling his pain for just long enough for him to get out of sight and begin a painful crawl down the side of the cliff.
Upon reaching the bottom, he'd cursed the name "LaCroix" and all of Kindred society enough to last him for centuries. Using the chain link fence to pull himself up, he dragged himself to his feet. He paid no heed to the four thin-bloods around the bonfire on the beach, and they repaid the lack of attention in kind. He'd gotten the impression they were trying their best to stay invisible; and from what he'd understood about their kind, he didn't blame them. Probably just trying to keep their heads, poor doomed bastards. Mercurio stumbled and dragged his feet slowly up the stairs from the beach to the parking garage where he'd left his car. "Shit...hope they didn't take those, too," he mumbled, fumbling in his pants pocket for his car keys. Thankfully, they were still there. He reached his car and slumped against the side while he unlocked the door with a shaky hand. Once the door was open, he practically fell into the driver's seat and slammed the door closed behind him. He leaned back against the leather seat and closed his eyes, just breathing for a moment. Each breath brought a painful shock to his side. Probably a few broken ribs. Finally, he forced his eyes open and his head up, starting the car and hoping he wouldn't black out on the drive home.
He made it back to the city of Santa Monica without incident, though he'd swerved into the oncoming lane more than he cared to think about. Thankfully, keeping vampire's hours allowed for him to drive in the middle of the night when there was very little traffic if any at all. He parked his car, crooked between the lines of the parking space. He didn't care. When he opened the door, it took all his strength to push it wide enough to let him out. A wave of dizziness caught him, and he fell to the ground on his hands and knees. Closing his eyes, he waited for the dizziness and nausea to pass. Concussion...at least... His eyes opened again, and he noticed he was beginning to drip blood from his face and from the neck of his partially unbuttoned shirt. Great, he thought sarcastically. Gonna leave a fuckin' trail from here to my apartment. At least it's gonna rain it away later.
Reaching up to steady himself on the car's hood, Mercurio pulled himself to his feet. He tried to stick to shadows, hoping the security guards in the parking lot would think he was just sick or drunk and not notice his injuries. He didn't want to have to explain what happened or where or why. At the steps to the Santa Monica Suites door, he fell to his knees again, swallowing the bile that came to the back of his throat. I'm gonna black out, he worried. Practically crawling, he forced himself to the door of the apartment building and fell inside. The marble tiled floor became stained with his blood as he dragged himself to the end of the hallway. It took several tries to unlock his apartment door, but it finally came open. Relief washed over him in a heavy wave when he entered his home, making it to his feet just long enough to stumble to the couch and collapse. The blood was going to stain the leather beyond repair, but he wasn't worried about that at the moment. Instead, he let his eyes close and his head drop to the cushions as he lay on his side, waiting for the person he knew his boss was going to send.
Mercurio didn't know how long he'd been lying there before he heard a voice say, "Uh...Are...are you Mercurio?"
With a groan, Mercurio pushed himself up onto one elbow. "Ugh...those mothers..." he grunted, his one open eye flickering up and seeing a pale, sickly looking girl in front of him, a worried expression on her face as she bit her bottom lip, one fang showing clearly. "Ripped me off." Mercurio gasped from the pain that breathing was causing. "I'm dyin' here!" Another groan escaped him as he grabbed his side in pain.
"You're Mercurio?" the girl asked again, taking a tentative step forward. Her eyes flickered over him, assessing his injuries.
"Uh, yeah," he answered finally with a weak nod. "You lookin' for the Astrolite? I'm—oh!" He grimaced. "I can feel a draft on my fuckin' insides," he breathed. "They shanked me, the bastards!" At least, he was pretty sure one of them did, before Mercurio had been able to get loose and scramble out of the house. "The blood ain't workin' no more," he said, looking up at the girl, desperation in his eyes now. This was definitely a reminder to him that he was still mortal. "My head, it feels...cracked." He closed his eyes for a moment and groaned. "Ah...I think my eye's popped..."
The girl's brow furrowed. "Need me to call an ambulance?"
"What?" Mercurio said, his head shooting up to look at her again. "No. I got a record back east, I'm heat bait." A little sharper now, "Don't touch that phone. No goddamned cops!"
She sighed and shrugged. "Fine, your funeral. What the hell happened?"
"I got...I went..." Something distracted Mercurio, interrupting him. "What is this lump? Is this my rib?" His voice became edged with panic. "Oh holy shit, my rib is pokin' through my side? Oh...I'm all numb. You gotta look and tell me!"
The girl rolled her eyes, becoming visibly frustrated, her earlier compassion fading. "It's a broken bottle. You'll live. Now what happened?"
"Goddamned chemist!" Mercurio swore. "Can't trust any operators in LA. I verified him. Organization seemed reliable! Guy mixes up speed, his crew sells it. Occasionally does explosives. I set up a drop." His face dropped as he remembered. "I show up at the beach with the money, right? Four of these guys, they come outta nowhere! Junkie pricks! Hit me with a bat!" He coughed, chest burning from speaking so much. The cough set his head throbbing harder. "Head feels like I got a friggin' horse kickin' it..." he muttered, raising a hand to his forehead for a moment.
Kneeling to bring herself to his level, the girl looked sternly at Mercurio. "Focus," she said, urging him to go on.
He shook his head slightly, angrily showing his teeth. "Those cocksuckers...beat me rotten, left me for a stiff! Had to crawl to my car, crawl my ass up here... The vamp blood's the only thing holdin' me together. But shit...they got the money, they got the Astrolite..."
The girl's face showed confusion. "Vamp blood? Are you-"
Mercurio let out a short, choked chuckle. "Right, you're straight off the bus," he said, seeming amused that he was dealing with such a green vampire. "Once a month, I get fed vampire blood. Heals me faster, makes me stronger than a normal human. I don't age. By lookin' at me, you wouldn't realize it; but I'm almost sixty." He actually smiled a bit at the look of surprise on the female vampire's face at that.
She shook her head and said, "So you obviously don't have what I was supposed to pick up. Where are they?"
"Those small-time sons of bitches live out in a dump on the beach. Four or five of 'em. The one's got the explosives is Dennis. Got my money too, that prick."
Standing and placing her hands on her hips, the girl cocked her head to the side. "Beach. Right. And where's that?"
Mercurio scoffed. "Layin' in a pool of my own blood, and you want friggin' directions... Right, all right..." He paused and closed his eyes, visibly gathering his thoughts. "Down the street a little ways there's a parking garage. Stairs down to the beach. On the right." As if it were an afterthought, he muttered, "Those better not be some of my last words..." He opened his eyes again, and they seemed a little clearer than before. "You gotta...gotta get it back from 'em. Maybe reason with 'em, maybe break in. I dunno. I wanna kill 'em. Do whatever you people do. I blew it, I know!" His obvious frustration with himself seemed to manifest itself physically then; and he let his head hang while he panted, a rush of pain taking his breath away.
The girl sighed, a habit from when she was alive just hours earlier. "Fine," she said. "But what about you? You really don't look so good."
No shit, honey, were the words that leaped to Mercurio's lips first, but he bit them back. Looking up, he said instead, "Yeah, if you could—ohhhh..." His sentence was cut off as another electric jolt of pain hit his abdomen. "Somethin' just started leakin'," he remarked weakly. Then he remembered the girl's question. "I need somethin' for the pain."
To his surprise, the girl gave a little smile. "Good as done." She turned to leave, but Mercurio stopped her.
"Ah...one more thing. About the deal. I mean it: You tell anyone about this, I'm dead." Desperation painted itself over his already pained features. "I got a way of gettin' people what they need. You don't say anything, I can help you out." She hesitated, her hand on the door handle. Then she nodded and let herself out. With a weary sigh, Mercurio relaxed on the couch again, curled up in a fetal position. A few minutes later he reached into his pocket for his cell phone, hoping it hadn't been broken during his beat-down. It seemed functional enough when he put in the code to remove the key-lock, so he punched the speed dial number 1.
"LaCroix Foundation, Grace speaking. How may I direct your call?" a proper female voice answered.
"Yeah, it's Mercurio. I need blood. Bad."
He could practically hear a sneer in the woman's voice. "You just got your blood less than two weeks ago, Mercurio," she said. "Did something happen?"
"I just...I got in an accident, all right?" he said gruffly, annoyed that she'd question him. And surely, if he told her the truth, she'd report it to LaCroix. Note to self: let some Malk take the car for a joyride later and total the damned thing. Make it look like my own accident. Out loud, he said, "I got pretty banged up. I just need a little."
"All right," she sighed. "I'll arrange for it."
"You're a doll," he said, knowing the term always raised the receptionist's hackles.
"Goodbye, Mercurio." Her frosty farewell had barely reached his ears when the line went dead. He chuckled and laid back down, letting the phone fall out of his hand to the floor. Now to wait until the kid was back...
A/N: Regarding the parking garage: I know it's hardly a couple steps away from Mercurio's apartment in the game. However, he does say that he had to crawl to his car. Why would he have driven from where his car is parked in game to the parking garage a couple feet away? Just look around at the interior of the parking garage, and you know the surroundings in the game aren't exactly "to scale." So suspend your disbelief and just go with it. He had to drive a little bit, or else he wouldn't have bitched about it on the couch. :P