The Last Dainv-Chapter 123

The Last Dainv-Chapter 123

The sky changed to an orange dusk over at Jane and Finch as Gale stood in front of the 19 story of concrete block, peeling paint, and windows patched with wood, tape, and nails. In other words, home crap home to Mia, just like his own place provided by the Path.
He checked his phone again. Unit 910. Buzz code 247.
Going inside, he saw the keypad and punched the numbers into the intercom. It beeped twice before connecting.
"¿Quién es?" a woman spoke from the other side of the line.
"It's Gale. Mia's friend," he said.
"Ah, sí, sí. Un momento."
The door clicked open. Gale stepped inside. A familiar scene greeted him of stains, cracked tiles, and ceilings that looked like they were about to fall off. Bonus points for the grocery cart by the corner with a whole boatload of miscellaneous items, and for some reason, a flat screen TV.
Walking over to the elevator, he pressed the up arrow button. Soon enough, the elevator dinged open. At least this place had an elevator. His place had been broken since he got there. Those Path people probably did that on purpose. One of these days he'd-
Ding.
The elevator opened again, interrupting his thought, arriving on the 9th floor. The lights flickered overhead, and the hallway was dim. The reddish carpet had stains by the sides, but they looked clean enough.
Arriving at unit 910, Gale knocked on the door. The door opened seconds later.
A short woman with black hair stood there, looking at him. Her face showed clear signs of age, with lines around her eyes and mouth. Definitely Mia's mom.
"¡Pasa, pasa!" she waved him in. "You are Mia's friend, yes? Come, come. Food ready."
"Thank you, ma'am," Gale said, stepping inside.
The apartment was a bit bigger than his and also definitely much cleaner, which was a big contrast to how the lobby looked. The living room had a worn couch and a TV that definitely looked like the most expensive thing there. In the corner of the living room was a small shrine with photos, candles, and decorations opposite of the TV.
Don't stare at it, he quickly looked away.
"¡Mija! ¡Tu amigo está aquí!" Mia's mom called out.
Mia appeared from the small hallway, "You didn't have to yell. I'm right here."
"Es respeto, Mia. Respect." Her mom turned to Gale. "Siéntate. Eat. I make food."
"Thank you, Mia's mom," Gale said.
"Sit, sit," she said.
The kitchen table sat at the wall, leaving only 3 places for people to sit. It was already set, spoon, fork, and for some reason, chopsticks were at the table. Three plates, and in the middle of it all, enough food to probably feed 10 people.
"Mom, I told you not to make so much."
"Guests need food," her mom said. "Es tradición."
Mia came up to the table and pulled out the middle seat. "Sit. I told her you were just coming to study."
"It's fine," Gale said, taking the seat.
"Don't worry about how it looks. It's not spicy," Mia said, then pointed to a couple of dishes. "Enchiladas over there and those are molletes. Basically bread with beans and cheese. This one is pico de gallo. And the last one is the thing I told you, chilaquiles."
"Looks good," Gale said. He'd never had Mexican food before. Daily food was just ramen and peanut butter sandwiches. It was his favourite, but it really got old after eating it for a couple of weeks straight.
Mia's mom watched him take his first bite of the enchilada. The flavours of cheese, corn, and a hint of spice all hit him at the same time. Different from the overpowering spice that he tasted from Rachel's dinner. Food for 10 people? He could eat this all day, everyday, and not get tired.
"¿Te gusta?" she asked.
"It's really good," Gale said, stuffing more in his mouth. "Honestly, good."
This made her smile as she filled her own plate.
"So," Gale swallowed, then said, "about what we discussed..."
"After dinner," she said quickly. "Mom doesn't like serious talk at the table."
Gale nodded. He could do with that. Rather eat and stuff his mouth full. He put some of the pico de gallo on his plate and chips, as well as the chilaquiles, basically half of the table was on his plate, making Mia's mom smile even more.
"¿De dónde eres?" Mia's mom asked.
Gale looked to Mia.
"She wants to know where you're from," Mia said.
"Nowhere specific," Gale said. "I moved around a lot as a kid."
"¿Y tu familia? ¿Dónde están?"
"She's asking about your family," Mia said.
Gale paused. "They're not around anymore."
Mia said something in spanish, and then her mom's expression softened. She reached across the table slowly. Careful, Gale, don't flinch. It's just a head pat.
"Lo siento, mijito. You family now. Eat more," Mia's mom said as she patted his head twice.
She put another enchilada onto his plate.
"Mom!" Mia said. "He's not going to eat all that."
"Skinny boy. Needs food," her mom said.
Gale smiled. He could probably eat more. He was a Dainv and an Aurian, after all. The gesture was nice too. No tricks or plans on her mind. Just a mom wanting to feed a hungry kid in front of her who is legally 28 years old.
"Seriously though," Mia whispered while her mom got more water, "after dinner, I'll show you what I've been tracking."
Gale nodded and took another bite. The food was better than expected, filling in a way his usual meals weren't. He ate more than he thought he would.
Dinner talk continued, mostly between Mia and her mother in rapid Spanish Gale couldn't follow. Sometimes, they'd switch to English when including him.
"You go to school with Mia?" her mom asked.
"Yes, ma'am. At Yorkdale."
"Good, good. Education important." She nodded. "Mia very smart. Going to college."
"Mom," Mia groaned. "We've talked about this."
"Is true," her mom said. "First in family."
Although Mia looked uncomfortable, clearly they were close. The way she grumbled or groaned at her mom whenever she said something was literally part of the stories he read in books where the whole family was there. This one was just missing one person, but the feeling of family was there.
"She is smart," Gale said. "Best in our chemistry class."
This got him a surprised look from Mia and a big smile from her mom.
Dinner continued until more than half of the food was gone. He hadn't been this full since eating half a forest beast by himself. Checking his watch, two hours had passed by in the blink of an eye.
"Mom, we need to study now," Mia said, standing up. "Is it okay if Gale and I go to my room?"
"Door open," her mom said firmly.
"I know, Mom. We're just studying," Mia said.
"Door. Open," her mom repeated.
"Fine," Mia said. "Come on, Gale."
Gale helped clear his plate before following Mia down the hall. Her room was small, and a twin bed sat just beside the wall. Her desk had a PC below it with a monitor on the desk. The walls had science posters and books below the bed. Well, this was certainly Mia. Normally, the books would interest him, but clearly they were all science books and encyclopedias.
"Sorry about dinner," Mia said, closing the door but leaving it cracked. "Mom believes it's illegal to leave guests unfed."
"She's nice," Gale said. "The food was good."
Stolen story; please .
"Yeah, well..." Mia paused. "Anyway, let me show you what I have."
She pulled back the curtain, showing a window that faced the street below. From the ninth floor, they could see the whole neighbourhood of other apartment buildings, different storefronts of either restaurants, convenience stores, and laundromats, as well as the people that walked by under the streetlights.
"There," Mia pointed to a corner across the street. "That's their main spot. They're there most nights from about eight to midnight."
Gale leaned closer. Three men stood near a streetlight, all wearing hoodies despite the warm evening. Not red, but one wore a red baseball cap, turned backward, which gave it all away.
"The one with the red hat. He's the boss," Mia said. "At least for this corner. There's another group two blocks over."
"You said they're mixing dust with regular drugs?" Gale asked.
"Yeah. Look at these."
Mia went to her computer and pulled up a folder of images. She'd taken dozens of photos over the past few weeks of the dealers.
"See that?" She pointed to a photo showing a clear bag with a slight purple shimmer. "Normal drugs don't glow like that under streetlights."
Gale leaned in for a closer look. She was right. The ziploc bag had a purple shimmer.
"And here," she clicked to another photo, "this guy showed up three days ago. Dropped off something to Red Hat, then left in a black car."
The photo showed a tall man in a dark jacket with a small red pin on his lapel.
"Red again," Gale said.
"What?"
"Nothing," Gale said. "Have you noticed any patterns? Times when they get new supplies?"
"Monday nights, usually. Around ten," Mia said. "That's when the car comes."
"Gale!" Mia's mom called from the kitchen. "¿Más agua?"
"She's telling you if you want more water," Mia said.
"No thank you, ma'am!" Gale called back.
Mia whispered, "So, what are you going to do? About them?"
Gale returned to the window, looking at the dealers below. "I need to play the hunter. Tell them to stop lurking in my
territory
. I think that's what Jacob suggested."
"The hell does that mean?" Mia said with one brow raised.
"It means I'll make it known that this block isn't theirs anymore."
"By doing what, exactly? Because if you're planning on cutting off more hands, I'm not okay with that. This is my neighbourhood. My mom lives here."
"I wasn't planning on doing anything rash."
Relatively,
he didn’t want to speak that part out loud.
"Violence isn't the answer here. There's got to be some kind of... I don't know, Aur police or something? Someone official who handles this stuff?"
Gale held himself back from laughing. "The Path are assholes. Rule of thumb in Aur, trust individuals, not organizations."
"The Path? As in the guys who tried to kill you at the airport?"
"The same."
"Great," Mia said. "So our options are vigilante justice or corrupt magical cops. Fantastic."
Gale turned back to the window. The dealers were still there, occasionally approaching cars that slowed down.
"Isn't there a way to scare them so they fuck off?" Mia said. "Don't you Aur magical people have, like… I don't know, illusions or something? Can't you make them think the block is haunted with ghosts?"
"It doesn't work that way." Although he does have illusions with Distort, but it’s completely useless. He can’t even make it smile let alone make it move.
"Then how does it work? Because I'm not letting you turn my street into a battleground."
She had a point. A direct fight would only bring more attention, and possibly more of them would come back to 'man the helm'. That's how that phrase was used, right? Whatever. It doesn't matter. They were going to man the helm even more here, unless…
"The guy in the red hat," Gale said. "He's connected to someone I've dealt with before. Red Jacket woman."
"What does that mean?"
"It means they're part of a larger organization. And organizations have ranks, territories, rules."
"So?"
"So maybe I don't need to scare the street dealers. Maybe I need to send a message to their bosses."
"A message saying what?"
"That they've crossed into protected territory. That selling to civilians is off-limits."
"And you think they'll just... agree? Because you ask nicely?"
"No," Gale said. "Because I'll make refusing more expensive than complying."
"That sounds like a threat," Mia said.
"It is. But not the kind that gets anyone hurt. At least not right away."
"I don't like it." Mia crossed her arms. "Any of it."
"I need to identify who's supplying them. Follow the chain up. Find the weak point."
"That could take weeks," Mia said.
"Or days. If I can get Red Hat alone, make him talk..."
"You mean threaten him?"
"I mean persuade him."
Streetlights cast yellow spots on the cracked sidewalk. Gale walked down the block, Breath of the Void needlessly feeding him the scent of piss and fries that wafted throughout the whole street. Red Hat was just across, leaning against a lightpole, hands in his pockets, eyes shifting around, watching for cars and passersby.
Tell me you're suspicious without telling me you're suspicious.
Gale crossed at the intersection, walking casually with hunched shoulders. Just another guy walking home at night. Mia was probably watching from her window above, but he didn't look back. The hunter focused.
When Gale got close enough, Red Hat stood up straight. His eyes locked on to him like a predator sizing up prey.
"Yo, buddy," Red Hat called out. "Looking for something to make your night better? Got that good shit right here."
Gale slowed down. "Maybe. What you got?"
Red Hat grinned, gold tooth catching the streetlight. "Got whatever you need, man. Pure stuff, too. Not that stepped-on garbage those other boys sell."
"Yeah?" Gale looked around nervously, like a first-time buyer, which he actually was, so he didn't actually need to pretend. "Not here though, right?"
"Nah, man. Come on, I'll show you." Red Hat pushed off from the pole. "My boys are right around the corner. We got a little spot."
Gale followed him down the block and around the corner of the apartment building. The alley was dark as the streetlight barely reached the place. Dumpsters were placed strategically to block out the sightlines from the street, perfectly placed for an ambush or a drug deal. Three men waited at the wall of the apartment, all in hoodies.
"Yo, we got a customer," Red Hat said.
The men moved, making a circle around Gale.
"So what you want, man?" Red Hat asked. "Got pills, powder, whatever gets you right."
He could probably take these guys, but were drug deals really this intimidating? Gale swallowed, then said, "I heard you guys got some new stuff. Special."
The dealers looked at each other.
"First time?" one of the other men asked.
"Yeah. Is the first hit free?"
Red Hat laughed. "For you? Sure, first taste on the house. But next hits are three hundred a pop." He snapped his fingers, and one of the other men pulled out a small bag with a faint purple glow.
"I want the pure one," Gale said. "Not the one all mixed up in shit."
"This is pure as it gets, buddy," Red Hat said, holding up the bag. The contents caught the light, shimmering and glowing like the dust he saw in the labs. "Trust me, one hit of this and you'll see God."
Gale took the bag, noticing how tense things got. The men had moved to block the exit.
Red Hat pulled out a small pipe. "Here. Want me to load it for you?"
What was the pipe for? The last dust he took, all he had to do was drink it.
The man put some dust with the liquid into the pipe, held up a lighter until it boiled. Red Hat gave the pipe to him, and Gale put it to his lips, sucking in the gases.
The effect hit right away. For a Dainv, dust didn't give him the same high as humans. Instead, it made everything sharper, slower, similar to how adrenaline felt.
The men never saw it coming.
Gale moved fast, hitting the first man in the temple. The dealer dropped without a sound. The second fell before he could even raise his hands as his heel already hit the man's temple. The third managed half a step back before Gale's knuckles found the pressure point at his neck, sending him sprawling onto the dirty pavement.
Red Hat tried to grab something from his waistband, but Gale was already there, grabbing him by the throat and pushing him against the brick wall.
"What the fuck?" Red Hat coughed. "Who the fuck are you?"
Gale leaned in close, still holding the man pinned. "This block is off-limits now. You and your friends don't come back here. Ever."
"The fuck you talking about?" Red Hat wheezed, resisting Gale's grip.
"I'm the hunter. You know what that means?" Gale tightened his hold just enough to stop the man from squirming. "And I'm telling you this now. This block is off limits. Capiche?"
He always wanted to say that at least once.
"Look, man," Red Hat gasped. "I'm just doing my job. I got into this mess after I awakened. I got a family to feed."
Gale loosened his grip slightly, letting the man speak.
"The people under Spotlight, they found me right after I awakened. I didn't have a choice," Red Hat continued. "Please don't. I got a little sister at home I'm taking care of. Our mom's gone, dad's in jail. If I stop doing this, they said I'll be the one in danger."
Tendrils went into the man's heart, looking for any sign of interrupted rhythms.
"You awakened?" Gale asked.
Red Hat nodded frantically. "Just two months ago. Didn't know what was happening to me. These guys showed up, said they could explain, give me a job."
No lies, rhythm stayed a stable high rate. This wasn't some hardened criminal. He was just a guy caught in the same trap as many others.
"A woman wearing a red jacket. Ring any bells?" Gale asked, easing his grip more but keeping the man pinned.
"You mean the one from Eglinton East?" Red Hat asked.
"Yeah."
"I'm following her orders, man. Trust me. She runs all distribution north of Lawrence. Everyone answers to her."
Well, will you look at that? Jackie had more control than he thought she had.
"Listen carefully," Gale said, pulling Red Hat away from the wall only to slam him back against it. "I won't kill you. Tell Jackie that this is the hunter's territory. And if I see you here again, it's not just going to be a black eye."
Before Red Hat could respond, Gale's fist hit his eye, knocking him unconscious without breaking any bones. He slumped to the ground, joining his friends.
Gale stepped back, looking at the scene. Four drug dealers unconscious but alive. No permanent damage done. This was the least violent he could do. Hopefully, Mia understands that.
His phone buzzed.
[Mia: You look like a cartel member dealing with thugs. I saw everything. Zoom lens on my phone camera.]
Gale looked up at the apartment building, spotting Mia's window on the ninth floor. He saw her frown from all the way down from where he was. He turned, walking away, leaving the dealers where they laid unconscious.
He was expecting a criminal. Instead, he got a man who had a little sister. Just another victim of the system that the Path laid out, or whatever faction.
Going back to the main street, Gale replied to Mia's text.
[Gale: dont worry about these guys anymore they wont be back after i talk to his boss]
[Mia: You wanna come back up?]
[Gale: im good ill leave for now]
[Mia: You promised you would tell us everything, right?]
Gale sighed, before typing again.
[Gale: i know]
[Gale: its just hard. that guy i beat up had a sister at home. he even said he was just doing his job and they forced him to do it]
[Mia: I get it. I've known this drug dealing world for a while now. He's also a victim.]
[Gale: yeah… im just not in the mood right now. sorry]
[Mia: It's fine. Thanks for sharing. Go take a rest. I'll talk to you soon.]

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Chapter 123