An Emerald
Chapter 2
By: The New Girl Of Lycanthropy

"So, Niko" Marie started, as she drove towards the Algonquin bridge, "what's your story? All I know is that Roman told me to be careful. That some...stuff has happened lately." She looked over at me, and she looked cautious and caring at the same time. It was a strange look, at the very least.

"Well..." I didn't know what I wanted to tell her. I knew she wasn't in a crime family, since she wasn't from here. But there were the gangs...well, I might as well take my chances. "I killed the head of a- minor- crime family. Jimmy Pegorino, actually. And a Russian asshole, Dimtri Rascalov."

I looked back at her. She turned her head on the road, and was silent for a moment. I wondered what she was thinking. Her lip was slightly upturned, but she didn't look pissed. Then she spoke. "Well, I knew Dimitri."

What? "What?!" I hissed, clenching my teeth. Most people that knew Dimitri weren't very different from him. "How?! Are yo-"

"I'm wasn't involved with...with his jobs!" She snapped. NOW she looked pissed, offended, irritated. I guess she didn't have good connections with him. I relaxed, and took a deep breath. "Sorry" I said. "I just...I hated him. He put me through a lot of shit. Some goes for Pegorino."

She still looked offended, but smirked. "I understand. Dimitri has a tendency to do that to people. But I didn't know Pegorino. I mean, I've heard of the five Cosa Nostra families, but I knew he wasn't one of them. What'd he do to you?"

This is where my mind stopped. I couldn't think about it. Of all the things I'd been through, I couldn't get that one thing out of my mouth. I could still smell the blood, mixed with Mallorie's perfume which altogether made one revolting smell. And the feeling, that drop in my stomach I hadn't felt in so long that it nearly made me vomit. The sound in Patrick's voice when I told him....

"Open the window." I said, trying to not speak. Marie turned her head sharply, and her eyes narrowed. "Why?" Her eyes shifted to my belt, looking for what I knew was a gun. "Marie, I don't want to shoot somebody!" I spat out. "I'm gonna-" I felt a gurgling in my throat. The turn of my head was all she needed to confirm what I knew was going to happen, and she immediately opened it. The bile tasted horrible, but at the same time I didn't taste it at all. All I could think about was her face, how the look of shock was stuck there. I couldn't do anything for her....and came more vomit. And I knew why this particular incident still haunted me, above all the others. I loved her. And I knew that. And right after I knew that, she was gone.

"Niko? Niko?! Are you ok..." She stopped asking, and decided to find out herself. After pulling over on the street, she got out and walked over to the passenger door, opening it so I could step out. "Niko, you alright?"

After I stopped spitting out bad-tasting saliva from my mouth, I looked back up at Marie. She looked genuinely concerned. "It's nothing, Marie. I'm alright. Just...things that I remembered."

She looked confused at first, but then she got the message. "Aw, shit Niko. You don't need to tell me anything you don't want to. It's just Dimitri was an ass last time I saw him, so..."

"Yeah, I get it." I tried to smile so she would stop staring at me, but she wasn't going to believe me that easily. She let me go though. "Well, Niko, just let me know if you're gonna throw up again, ok? Besides, I wouldn't want you vomiting all over Mallorie and her cousin."

I had to smile at that. "Alright, Marie." After getting back in the car, I remembered what I was going to ask her. "So Marie, if you weren't WORKING with Dimitri, then how did you know him?"

Her eyes narrowed, and I almost though she might hit me. But she looked toward the road and started driving again. "We...we were...ugh, we went out a couple times." Eew. That made me WANT to vomit. "He was my boyfriend a few months back, but it ended with him backstabbing a friend, and I broke it off."

"Wow. Marie, I didn't think you were involved with...people. Important people, anyway."

She smirked. "Like what, the mobs? Rascalov's- sorry, Faustin's- crew? I know all about them. Bunch of assholes, but I have met a few decent people. And what makes you think I'm not involved in something like the drug cartels, crews, et cetera?"

"I don't think so. You seem smart. Smart people don't get involved in shit like that."

"You're a smart person involved in shit like that."

I turned my head towards her, and she looked me straight in the eye. And she was right, at least about the shit part. And after looking at her, I still couldn't think of any cartels or crews she would be involved in. I didn't think she would be with the Cuban gang in Algonquin, but you never knew. Apparently, the gang had the same name of their counterpart gang in Vice City. I had heard Roman talk about that place. He mentioned a gang, Los Cabrones, and they were supposed to be enemy No. 1 to the Haitians. There wasn't much else about them I had heard.

So she was right. But I still wanted to know for certain what kind of connections she had. "Are YOU involved in that shit?"

"I wouldn't say I was involved in it. I mean, I've actually been here awhile, but I've never left Broker, really. Unless it was with my friends, or 'important people'. I had relationship with a person important to it, but not much else." Huh? How many guys had this girl been with?? "How many boyfriends have you had?!" I exclaimed. She started to laugh, and nearly hit her head on the steering wheel, rocking back and forth. "What?" I asked again. "It's a serious question."

"I know, but it's just the look on your face! It's hilarious!" She kept laughing, and I was getting annoyed. Couldn't she just answer the question? Thankfully, she ended quickly. When she was done, she took a deep breath. Seemed like an explanation was coming.

"Ok, there was Dimitri Rascalov. Met him when I was robbing a gun shop. Pointed a gun right at my forehead!" she made a gesture with her finger to in between her eyebrows, "And I kicked that gun right outta his hand! You should have seen the bastards face! So after that, he got interested, and uh, we hooked up. Another guy was from Los Cabrones (huh, I was right). Guy was actually, like, the second-in-command, kinda. I met him through Mallorie. He started making jokes about my heritage at first, but once punched his wagging lips black and blue, he backed off. Then one night, we were at this party. We were both bored, so we decided to have a drinking contest. Of course, we both had our drinks spiked, so we didn't even know what was going on. Woke up next morning next to him in bed, and learned that his friends 'thought he looked like he was having a good time', so they didn't try to stop us. After I made sure I wasn't pregnant or something- I remembered that I always use birth control anyway- we thought, 'hey, why don't we try that willingly?' and after we did, we kinda became an item."

I just stared at her. After it was silent for a moment, she looked at me and did a double take. "What?" she questioned.

"Nothing." I said, "it's just that you don't breath when you talk."

She smirked. "Yeah, I know."

"Here we are. Right there..." I told her where to stop, but she didn't see. "Where?" she asked. "Right there." I answered.

She was still moving her head around. "Right there!!" I shouted. She finally saw it and pulled over. I looked over at her, and her face was bright red. I didn't know whether to be annoyed or snicker at this girls unobservancy. "Are you slow or something?" I joked.

"No!" she snarled, irritated. "I'm just a little unobservant." Exactly, I thought. "I mean, I can be spatially aware when I want to be, but...ugh!" She got out and slammed her car door. I laughed as I got out of the car, and laughed in harder when I saw the look she was giving me. I kept laughing until we got to the door to the apartment building. As I walked in, Marie kept looking around the area.

"What is it?" I asked, but she her eyes just kept darting left and right. I thought she was having some sort of seizure, man. Or worsem she was on some drug, heroin or something. But she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then opened them back up. They were as bright as ever.

"Nothing" she half-chuckled, "I just thought I knew this place. For some reason I got a kinda deja vu feeling. But it's nothing." and with that, she started walking ahead of me. Of course, I just stood there until she stopped and turned around. She looked embaressed, again. "And uh...where is their apartment?" I chuckled; I couldn't help but laugh at her. I walked ahead.

"On the third floor. It's pretty nice, and it's a good size for two people and a baby coming." I explained this as we walked pass someone strung out on one of the stairs. I looked at Marie out of the corner of my eye to see what her reaction would be; I was surprised. She walked past them as if they weren't even there. Like she was used to it. "Roman actually got this apartment out of a deal he made with someone," I continued. "a game. I was surprised he actually one. My cousin is horrible at gambling; he's more likely to have a brick fall on his head then win a game." I heard her giggle as we got to their door. "So Mallorie was proud of him, to say the least." To be honest, she had been in shock. It was a good shock, but it was still shock. "Можете да разговарате, шта језике поново?" I might as well test out her Serbian a little more. She wanted to learn anyway.

She opened her mouth, but words didn't come out. Then she closed it, thinking of a reply. I thought it would take awhile, but it only took about 30 seconds. "Eh, језика? Српски, наравно. Спанисх .... oh, I don't know how to say Chinese." she stopped. But I smiled. She knew Serbian well. Which made me wonder...."Where did you learn Serbian, Marie?"

She smirked. "I used to be with Dimitri Rascolov, Niko. Don't you think I would have picked up a little Serbian from some of the people he would deal with?"

She had a point. A good one, at that. But Dimitri's name made me clench my teeth together. At seeing my disgust, Marie's smirk turned to a frown, and I could see the worry in her eyes. "Niko? Are you going to be si-"

"No!" I said snapped. "I'm fine!" Her frown turned down even more. I realized that I was making her become distressed, so I unclenched my teeth and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry" I muttered. "I just hated Dimitri."

Marie nodded, and patted my shoulder. "Well he's dead. It's over." Her words put me through a sudden sense of deja vu. I remembered what Little Jacob said; "It's never over, iya." I snapped out of it though, and I nodded. She half-smiled, and walked to the door. "And now Niko, I think we need to get Mallorie and take me on that tour."

I breathed deeply, then knocked on the door. "Right."