We Sleep Forever

AN: This chapter marks the start of first person……

Musical Influences: Smother Me by The Used; Cover Up by Trapt

Chapter 3: Prideless

~Mello~

I pulled the sleek black phone from my pocket and flipped open the top. "What?" I shouted over the roar of the engine; I swerved between two cars and ignored the horns that blared after me. The wind ripped through my hair and ruffled the jacket I wore.

"I've found him. He's in a real shitty neighborhood too." I grinned. Gotcha detective.

“I expect an address sent to my e-mail and you will get your usual pay. Maybe more if it's there when I check it.” I snapped the phone shut and turned down an alleyway before shutting the engine off. Pushing my dark sunglasses from my eyes I searched through my phone to get to my e-mail; technology really was useful sometimes.

“He actually sent it.” I raised my eyebrows. Jasper, my main contact concerning this matter, was usually a real lazy ass when it came to sending the requested information.

“The idiot must be strapped for cash.” rolling my eyes I scanned over the information. “He's only a forty minute drive from this location.”

My slight irritation at Jasper faded and a crooked smile tugged at my lips. It was time to visit my mysterious detective. Within minutes I was on the road again and headed for the address I had been sent.

Jasper had better be right about this.

The drive, forty minutes or not, had felt short to me. My mind had touched upon so many subjects that I had hardly been paying attention the entire time. Pulling onto to Hanover Street I parked my motorcycle in front of the apartment complex and wondered if it would still be there when I came back out.

Jasper had at least been correct about the neighborhood being absolute shit. This was the kind of place where people went missing and no one cared. Heaving open the old rusted door I stepped into the bottom floor hallway and immediately covered my nose and mouth. The smell was horrible, something like piss and rotting flesh.

Careful not to touch anything, anything, I made my way to the third floor. I had no trouble finding apartment 313 as loud music poured out from behind the closed door. Knocking was going to get me nowhere fast so I grabbed the handle and turned, surprisingly it was open. The door swung inward and smacked against the wall with a dull thud; the hinges creaked ominously.

The smell was only moderately better inside, and only because it smelt overwhelmingly of alcohol and smoke. The speakers by the door blared out a mix of rock and techno music so loud you felt the vibrations in your chest. The living room was crawling with people dancing, getting drunk, getting high or doing various forms of each.

So the only person who wasn’t doing any of the above naturally drew my attention. The thin frame of a young man, whose back was turned to face me, was sprawled out on the couch; his nearly medium length brown hair was sticking out in all directions and looked like it could use a serious wash.

Snapping my gaze from him I took in the area around me. The floor was covered in clothes, magazines, wrappers and I wasn’t surprised to find crushed pills. The tables were cluttered with empty beer bottles and old Chinese takeout cartons as well as a few interesting items.

A sharp gasp drew my attention to the boy who was being dragged from the couch by his hair. He struggled and was backhanded across the face. He landed hard on the floor and a black haired man descended on him. Rough hands pulled at his shirt and unbuckled his belt; and when he resisted he was smacked upside the head with his own belt.

I watched as he was flipped onto his stomach and was entered without the use of lube; his scream pierced through the noise of the room and yet no one even blinked. I was about to interfere when he moaned 'harder' and seemed to have gotten over the pain. He must be a masochist.

Half lidded hazel colored eyes looked to me in surprise and he was smacked for not paying attention. He mumbled an apology.

“Dobrý pes.” the other man murmured to him. Scrunching my nose in disgust at the scene happening before me I went in search of someone not having sex or seeing unicorns.

Entering the kitchen I found a woman with long red hair making pasta. “I'm looking for J.” there was no need to hide what I wanted, she would either have the information I needed or she wouldn't.

She instantly turned to me and my eyes widened. She had deep green eyes to go along with her red hair and was wearing a striped shirt and form fitting jeans. It was like a slap in the face for me.

She was a woman but she reminded me so much of Matt that it was a little unnerving. She eyes me while holding the wooden spoon in one hand while the other sat upon her hip. “Why are you looking for J?”

“I want his help solving a case.” with a sigh she turned away and stirred the pot.

“If J isn’t working on the case already then it's not worth it.” I frowned but remained calm. “J will take the case once he sees what I have on it.” the redhead turned the stove off and left the pasta to sit.

“Even if that is true, no one here knows who J really is.” I narrowed my eyes. “This is his place and none of you know who it is? I don’t buy it.” she laughed but shook her head.

“It's true. There is a room in the back with a laptop and case notes and what not, but none of us know who uses it. Most of them claim to see a leprechaun running across the room so I doubt they would even remember if they saw J.” she brushed past me and dug into the dishwasher behind me for a clean bowl and serving spoon.

“You are free to check out the laptop, but you'll never get on it without the password. All of us have tried. And even our best hacker Blair hasn’t been able to get on.” she looked back at me with her green eyes searching. Finally she sighed. “Go to the hallway and it's the room with the door shut.” she shooed me out of the kitchen after that and I went in search of the room.

It was easy to find, though the apartment was larger than I had initially thought. The room was just as cluttered as the living room and smelled heavily of sex. Eyeing the chair wearily before sitting on it, I booted up the laptop and watched the main screen come on. It was a picture of a forest in the winter.

I moved the wireless mouse and a small box popped up. Password. I tried all of the common passwords as well as tried to bypass the thing entirely. None of it worked, and without even so much as a clue there would be no way I could guess the password. With a sigh I shut down the laptop and went back to the kitchen.

“I told you it was impossible.”

I scowled at her but was distracted by a girl stumbling through the doorway and mumbling about the rabid flowers that were chasing her. “I'll just come back later when everyone is sober and not running off drugs.” the redhead snorted.

“Good luck with that. It's a permanent rave here.” her pocket vibrated and lit up making her eyes go wide. “Yeah?” her lips parted in shock and she nearly lost the grip on the phone.

“I understand. So when do you...?” she nodded to whatever was being said and I shook my head. I would have to come back and hope that at least one other person wasn’t engaged in something that would make them useless to me.

I had found where J was, but I had yet to even speak to him. I was walking out of the kitchen when a freckled hand grabbed my jacket.

“Wait...” the redhead shouted to me before signaling me to wait a moment. She ended the call and eyed me again.

“I have been chosen to speak with you on J's behalf, to hear you out and decide whether or not the case is worth his time.” I raised an eyebrow.

“You were talking to him?” she nodded. “J has been known to choose those of us who frequent here to help him in one way or another.” she shrugged and motioned for me to follow her.

We headed to the room that was next to where I found the laptop. This room was bare except for a large TV and a couch that spanned across two walls. She sat down with her knees tucked under herself and looked up at me. With an inaudible sigh I sat down roughly five feet from her.

“So let's hear about this case.” I wondered if I should really be telling her anything about it, however the chances of this person being the killer were less than one percent.

I explained everything I knew about the case, with the exception of certain details about Whammys, including the letters, and watched her press a button on her phone.

“Did you get all of that J?” she said quietly. The room had to have been bugged. “I did, and I will help you with this case. However I expect to be told more about the deaths, mainly the parts you left out as it could possibly hold clues pertaining to the case.” a deep electronic sounding voice filtered out from the speakers on the redhead’s phone.

“I can assure you that the information isn’t relevant to the case.” so he did notice I was withholding something.

“I can easily hack the information, which would just take up more time, or you could just give me the information.” I sighed. If I let him hack the information, no matter how good he was, it would be a red flag to whomever was killing the CEO's if it was ever found out.

There was no other option unless I wanted to ask Near for help. So I told him about the letters, if he really was as brilliant as his record suggested than it would lead him to Whammys. Though I doubted that he could find anything on it other than it’s an orphanage, I just hadn’t wanted to take the chance, now I had no choice.

“Thank you for the information.” the distorted voice said from the cell phone speaker. Knowing I was being watched I turned to where I thought one of the cameras was.

“So I have your help on this?” I questioned, forcing my face to remain emotionless.

“Yes. I will work with you on this. It is intriguing to me.” I smirked. Intriguing huh? That almost sounds like something L might say about a case.

“I'll give you a day to get up to speed and do some research on this. I will continue my own investigation in the mean time.” I said while reaching inside my jacket for paper. The small pad already had the pen attached so I was able to quickly write down what I wanted.

“This is my number as well as an e-mail you can use to contact me.” I held it out for the woman to take; I still had yet to find out her name. “I will be expecting your call.” I said towards the camera.

“Miranda, aren't you forgetting something?” the distorted voice called out softly. I watched silently amused as the redhead, now know as Miranda, scrambled to pull up something from her cell phone.

“You will need this e-mail to send J stuff. And this is my number, if you need to speak with J just call me and I’ll pass it on.” I put the newly acquired information onto my phone. I stood swiftly and ignoring the urge to go back to the laptop room, where J most likely was, I left the apartment.

Once outside I inhaled deeply; the frigid air filling my lungs with a crisp, cool scent that at the moment was better than liquid chocolate. That building had smelled awful and I wasn’t looking foreword to returning to it.

Swinging my leg over the side of my bike I revved the engine and sped off down the street. I hit no less than three red lights on the way to my next turn; it seemed like it was going to be one of those days.

The drive back was relaxing, my mind now able to linger on other things that didn’t involve finding J. My thoughts instantly drifted to the hazel eyed man from the apartment, though he could have been anywhere from eighteen to twenty-five.

Although I hadn’t come across him in the best of situations, my mind could not forget that image, he seemed familiar to me. As though I should know him. Going through the list of all the people I know, or used to know, I drew up a blank. I had never met him before. So why did it feel like I had?

Letting out a breath I turned the corner sharply and pulled onto a side street. Just because I had found J it didn’t mean I could relax, I still had business to take care off.

Parking the motorcycle next to a trashcan I quickly strode up to a large metal door that lead to the kitchen of a restaurant. Banging on the door I waited patiently until it swung open.

“Come on in.” a large bouncer type cook stepped sideways to allow me entry before shutting the door behind me. I turned left out of the kitchen and headed down a blue carpeted hallway before stopping in the doorway of a large open room.

“Hey Mike how have you been?” a thick Asian accent greeted me so I turned to face Yumiko, the daughter of the restaurants owner, and gave her a charming smile.

“I’m fine as always. And what about you?” she blushed and giggled softly, honestly why women still found me attractive with my scar I would never know.

“Mike stop trying to seduce my daughter.” the voice of Takahashi Hiko said as he walked over to me with a large smile.

“Takahashi-san.” I nodded to him with a smile.

“Come now, I told you to stop being so formal with me. Besides I know we have something to discuss right now.” he sent a pointed look over at Yumiko who sighed and left the room with a wave. Takahashi sat down on a plush swivel chair in the center of the room, at the head of a large table, as I sat on the tabletop near him.

“All pleasantries aside, I hear that you might have some information for me.” the man steepled his hands and stared at me. “First tell me why you need it.”

“It's for something I’m working on.” I needn’t explain anymore as he already knew I was a detective, one that straddled the line between legal and illegal.

“Nothing extra?” he pried. I shook my head, my blond hair falling into my face.

“Fine. One of my men came across some very interesting footage after a job.” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes I know, not something one would expect to pick up during those activities. However, I think you will be pleased with it. Something to do with the murder of Daniel Loges.” he had my attention completely at that.

Daniel Loges was the CEO of Loges Pharmaceuticals; was being past tense, he was dead.

“Pleased indeed. What do you want for it?” Takahashi's face turned dark for a moment and I wondered if I would have to use my former position for whatever he wanted.

My thoughts grew grim as he explained what he wanted in exchange for the tapes, I had hoped I could have left all of that by now, but in order to solve this case... it looked like I would have to break my promise to L as well as to myself.

“Done.” we shook hands and I felt like I had just signed my own execution papers.

“It will be done before next week.” Takahashi nodded with a pleased smile before reaching into his jacket to pull out a gun.

“Oh, this is yours. I heard that you had lost your other one.” I took the gun from his hands, looked it over for a moment, and stuffed it into the front of my leather pants.

“You are going to lose those jewels of yours one of these days.” I sent him an amused smile, I had never heard it phrased quite like that before.

“Trust me they will be fine.” I said and patted the gun.

“Good to hear that. I will take my leave now; I do have a business to run after all. I will have everything sent to you by tomorrow.”

“Thanks.” and with a quick wave I was walking back through the hallway and out the metal door again.

With an irritated snarl I pulled out my cell phone and scanned the numbers. I would need help to get my job done before next week; it had been too long since I had done this though I would never forget. He picked up on the second ring.

“Hey Mello, what do I owe the pleasure of this c-” I cut him off wile seating myself on the bike.

“Jasper shut up. You remember what I used to do for the Mafia, correct?” I heard a sharp intake of breath.

“Yeah, I remember.” I closed my eyes for a moment. “I need your help to get ready for a job Takahashi needs me to do.”

I heard the sound of a glass breaking on the other line. “Mello-” I cut him off again. “I know it will be bad. Will you help or am I going to call Amber?” he sighed heavily.

“Yeah I’ll help. Why in gods name did you stay in contact with him of all people...” his voice trailed off at the end but I could tell where he was going with all of this.

“He's not the only one. Besides, I needed the information for a case.”

“You're doing this again for information?!” Jasper sounded pissed. He was always hard to deal with when he got like this, even if he was one of the few I actually trusted from those days.

“Yes, now get over it or I’m going to Amber.” Jasper hated her, mainly because she almost got us killed. I knew very few people on the right side of the law, but it suited me more than wading through all the tape everyone else had to cut through.

“Fine, fine. Jesus Mello... the shit you get yourself into.” I laughed. It sounded like something Matt would have said to me. At that I fell silent; thoughts of Matt should be kept far, far away from this.

“When do you want to do this?” I bit my lip at his question, never would be my preferred response.

“Tomorrow, I don’t have to meet up with J until the following day so it fits perfectly.” Jasper laughed quietly over the phone.

“So you did get in contact with him. I hope I’m getting a bonus for this.” I rolled my eyes, trusted or not he was still a money whore.

“If you do good on this next assignment I’ll triple it.” he whistled. “Alright then I’ll get started right away.” he hung up and I frowned. My hand found its way to the rosary that hung concealed beneath my jacket.

Dear god, forgive me for what I’m about to do.

-End Chapter 3-

AN: And the plot thickens buwahahah! I wonder what Mello's job is and what he used to do? Hehehe, there might be something nice for the person who guesses right, IF I end up having time. (meaning don’t expect something) Its really not hard to figure out, even though I didn’t really give you any clues. But it’s not what you will expect. Well, maybe.

Anyway, what does everyone think of this so far? Hmmm? Please tell me, I’ll give you an invisible Mello plushie if you do.