Not An Angel

AN: About this chapter.... It doesn’t start immediately after Mello leaves, just a forewarning. ALSO I didn't have time to go over this more than once due to... family issues... so there are probably errors in this but I figured you'd want the chapter out. Otherwise I would have been posting tomorrow, as I am probably going to do with Silent Dance.

Suggested Listening : Leaving Only Scars by Systematic; Breath Underwater by Placebo; Prayer by Mankind is Obsolete (very emotional song, or at least it was for me and I used it to write...)

Chapter 8: Fevered Melody

~Mello~

I got up from my seat outside the junky cafe and headed down the street towards my next destination. I needed to keep going, I needed to keep busy because if I didn't...

My pocket vibrated so I pulled out the offending object.

-Got you a place, we've even. Check e-mail- A

I sighed. I was now out of favors and out of allies. This case had taxed everything I had... But at least now I wouldn't have to deal with Amber any longer, the only reason I still had her number was for the favor she owed me.

I now had a place to stay for the next two weeks, because I wouldn't need it after that. Either the case would be solved and I could talk to Matt or the case wouldn't be solved...

I couldn't use my normal means for getting an apartment since both Matt and Jasper knew my aliases; and it wouldn't be hard for Matt to figure out any new ones I made, he knew me too well. I had no doubt that despite what both of them said they would be looking for me.

However, it may have been for the best that I was gone.

I would no long have to hide anything from Matt and I could concentrate fully on the case. The flipside was, I wouldn't be able to know if he were safe. I also had less resources... but I had been in worse situations. I wasn't a fourteen year old genius with no money to his name.

I may not have much money this time around either, but I had enough to buy what I wanted.

Turning the corner I walked into a run down looking store with thick metal bars looming in the windows.

The man at the counter looked up and immediately paled; the last time I had been here I hadn't left him in such a good state. Such is the mafia. “M-michael! What brings you here?” his voice hitched only in the beginning and he gave no other signs of surprise or fear.

“I need to have a look at what you've got for audio and video surveillance.” I carefully slid my hand into my jacket and he visibly relaxed when I only pulled out a chocolate bar. “What do you need stuff like that for?”

I narrowed my eyes and stared coldly at him. “You know better than to ask questions like that.” my voice was calm which made him jumpy. What you learn in the mafia stays with you, always.

“It's in the back, you know the way.” he pointed to the far end of the store to a cracked wooden door. I did know the way. I had left him lying there half dead last time.

The door still squeaked as it opened and slammed shut behind me in the eerie quiet. The back room was mainly used for storage as well as shady dealings. Not that the entire store wasn’t shady. I quickly browsed the shelves until I found what I was looking for.

I may not have been even half as good as Matt was at this stuff but I knew enough to find what I needed. I grabbed one mini wireless camera, as well as a few audio bugs. They weren't too great on the distance but considering my limited time it would do.

I left the larger ones sitting on the shelf as they would attract too much attention and defeat the purpose. I also nabbed a pinhole camera. I didn't need much more than this as the surveillance was a long shot and mainly to pass the time until Takahashi got around to his end of the deal.

“So Paul, how much for all this?” as though he were afraid of someone listening in, which was more than slightly amusing considering the situation, he scribbled a number on a scrap piece of paper. Ouch. That was probably what Matt made on a crappy hack job. I shoved any connecting thoughts of him to the back of my mind, now was not the time for this.

I had expected a high number, and I hadn't been disappointed.

Taking out a roll of money, all saved over the last few months, I handed most of it to him.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” his smile came as more of a grimace but I decided I didn't care. Smiling back, he looked at me like I was the devil, I placed my purchases securely in my pocket. Turning on heal I was once again out the doors.

During the short walk back to my bike, which was across the street from the cafe, I ran over the minute details of my plan. It wasn't anything big as I wasn't expecting much if any results from it. Mainly it involved me going to a bar and conveniently leaving the bugs by a certain table.

Now, here was why I doubted I would get any real data from it. Matt's friend stated they only came around after a murder, and there haven't been any new ones yet. And there was no way to know if they had one planned before... before Matt's.

With a frown I hopped on my motorcycle and took off for the bar. It hadn't been hard to find out what bar it was, and the directions for it. In the picture, though it was of poor quality, the wall in the background was easily seen.

All I had to do was ask around and someone recognized the decorations. It was aparently the only bar that had a stuffed red panda bear holding a beer bottle next to a picture of a vineyard. I doubted that many bars would have a stuffed panda either...

Using my memory, once I was in the bar, I selected the table just behind the one from the picture.

“Hi, my name is Samantha, what can I get you?”

I didn't really want anything but ordered a beer anyway; my main purpose was to set up the bugs. “OK, I’ll be right back.” she batted her lashes and I forced myself not to glare at her.

Making sure no one was watching I made use of the fake plants to hide one of the microphones. I hid another one on the wall shelf; it was so cluttered with things that one more thing, the pinhole camera in this case, wouldn't be noticed.

“Here you are. Enjoy.” the brown eyed woman swayed her hips and smiled but left me alone afterwards. Rubbing my tired eyes I sighed heavily while eyeing the beer. Shaking my head I picked it up and took a swig.

It was rather bitter in taste, but certainly better than some of the things I had tried. I leaned back in the chair and took in my surroundings. The place was packed with people despite it being rather early in the afternoon on a Wednesday. Some were eating, most were drinking.

The lighting in some areas didn't make for good video coverage, though the loud noises of the bar would also give the audio some trouble. I wasn't too worried; I had some of Matt's programs on my computer.

Matt. My gloved hand gripped the beer bottle harshly and hung my head. I missed him.

Taking a long drink of beer I managed to force my unwanted thoughts back. I had to keep going. His time was getting shorter by the minute and I couldn't afford to dwell on how far away he felt at the moment.

I left money on the table and stood up. With the way things were set up I was able to quickly place one more of each surveillance bug right by the table. Though I was taking a chance of them being discovered. Besides the fact that the chances of the group even coming here within the next week and a half were less than five percent.

Once outside again, the air chilly, I used my phone to check my e-mail. Amanda had sent me the address of my new place, it wasn't so far that the surveillance stuff wouldn't work from my laptop.

The drive there was short and getting the key from the balding landlord even shorter. I locked the door and even latched the deadbolt once inside though I doubted it would do much good if someone really wanted in.

I numbly set my box of stuff on the table and pulled only my laptop and a bar of chocolate out. Nothing new was in my inbox. And although it didn't go as smooth as something Matt could set up, I got the surveillance up and set it to record.

I could do nothing until I got more information. I would have to trust that Takahashi got it to me in time, and hope that it was useful.

Sighing I looked through my phone instead. I had forty-three missed calls and seventeen new messages. I deleted all of them. Including the one from L. He had to know what I was doing now and I honestly didn't feel like dealing with a lecture right now. He knew that anything important should go to my e-mail.

I wouldn't even delete anything from Near at this point.

I closed my eyes tightly as the letters on the screen blurred before me. Pinching the bridge of my nose I sucked in a deep breath and exhaled. I waited a few minutes before blinking away spots from my vision.

Tiredly I snapped off a piece of chocolate and let it begin to melt in my mouth. It tasted disgusting. Swallowing it quickly I instantly regretted the decision as bile rose in my throat.

I barely made it to the bathroom before emptying the contents of my stomach into the sink. Forearms resting heavily on the counter and my forehead cradled in my hands I stayed hunched over the sink for some time.

Pealing off a glove I splashed some water into my mouth to get ride of the foul taste. My stomach lurched and for a few horrible minutes I thought I was going to be sick again. The nausea was almost worse then throwing up.

I managed to grab the laptop and bring it to the bedroom, a poor excuse for a bedroom, where I curled up on top of the sheet and watched the video surveillance. As expected there was absolutely nothing of value happening other than the way people made fools of themselves when drinking.

Once I deemed myself able, I wandered into the small kitchen, which was really no bigger than the bathroom, and rifled through my box. The one that was essentially my suitcase. My fingers curled viciously around a packet of instant coffee but I managed not to crush it. I may hate that shit, but it was the only form of coffee I had at the moment.

And it was the only way I’d be able to get chocolate into my system, which at this point was better than nothing. With a mirthless laugh I dug out the coffee cup Matt had gotten made for me. I had thought it was stupid when he first gave it to me, I still did.

Grumpy till sunrise, Pissy till midnight, Sexy all the time ~_^

I filled it with water, stuck the coffee bag inside and put it in the microwave for two minutes. Afterwards I dumped two bars of chocolate into the hot liquid and took a sip. It was a bit sweeter than I usually like it but I needed the energy.

Going through the box I took out all items except my clothing. I was surprised to find that a can of soup had gotten mixed in with the instant coffee I had tossed in there. It was a pop top so I wouldn't need a can opener...

“Not a good idea.” I mumbled to myself. And yet against my better judgment I made the soup inside my coffee mug once I had finished.

I stared dubiouslyat the bowl of soup before me. Logically I knew I had to eat. But logically I also knew I wouldn't be able to keep it down for long, if at all.

“Oh fuck it.” I forced myself to swallow a few spoonfuls of the broth, and after a few moments with nothing happening, a few more with the vegetables on it. The moment I got the actual food portion down I knew it had been a royally stupid idea.

Within seconds I was kneeling beside the trashcan. My stomach muscles clenched making me dry heave long after the actual food was gone from my system. Tears prickled at the corner of my eyes and I gasped for breath and fought to control the urge to gag.

“I'm killing myself, it's just like before... fuck!” I spat into the trashcan and resolved to just sit there for the time being. My hands were clenched in anger and I could feel my nails cutting into the flesh of my palms; but I just didn't care.

I needed to be in top shape for this case. One couldn't even hope to take on people of this caliber while living off of coffee and sometimes chocolate. I knew this. But I just couldn't eat.

And the main difference this time, I didn't have anyone around to catch me when I fell. Every time I moved my stomach churned painfully so I spent the night on the kitchen floor.

With a complete lack of enthusiasm I stood from my impromptu bed at the first sign of dawn. I even managed a cup of coffee. I didn't bother with the soup again.

There was nothing in my inbox again and I was passed frustrated and back into worry. Matt's days were so few and yet there was still no new information.

The next day and a halfwent in the same manner; drink coffee, worry, watch video feeds, worry, check e-mail and repeat. When an e-mail finally did appear in my inbox nearly five days after my fight with Matt, I nearly spat my coffee over the keyboard.

My eyes widened at the length of the attached document. Takahashi had certainly dug up something interesting. I skipped the part about where he obtained the stuff from; I would look at that later. All I cared about was finding a lead.

It appeared that the top three assassins in the group, hit man if you'd like a better word, ran the show. They answered to no one and no one dared disagree with them. So in essence, if they were taken out the Organization would crumble. Or at least be in enough chaos for someone with L's resources to pick them off.

That was interesting, not very helpful, but interesting.

“So other people noticed the correlation between them gathering at the bar and the murders...”

And it wasn't a one time thing, or rather, they appeared to do a similar thing in each area they concentrated their killings on.

Apparently Takahashi's source had spoken with a former member of The Organization and he had spilled some valuable secrets before he was silenced, permanently.

They had apparently started off as a small group of Kira followers, people who believed that 'Justice is corrupt, ergo, Justice must be reinvented'. Their small group soon became a larger group and that was when things got out of order.

Some of the people joining were just as bad as the criminals on the street, but they had valid arguments and soon became the voice of the Organization. They twisted the thoughts and ideals of the members into something darker.

To them, in order to 'reinvent' justice, they had to destroy it. Get rid of everything corrupt. Those first on the list were the detectives, 'who were corrupt and corrupted the justice they supposedly stood for'. The group had gone from simple fanatics to something far more dangerous in just a few years.

This had been building for quite some time. And if I thought on it, the case that first brought me back to Matt might have had a small tie in with this. Mikami Teru had worshiped Kira, and I had speculated that he couldn’t have pulled off the murders on his own despite his intelligence.

The fact that it happened just over a year before the Detective Purge made me think it was more than far fetched. But if that were true then they would have already figured out where two well know detectives were, and about Whammys. So far, other than 'J' it didn't appear they knew anything. I was probably over thinking things. Either way it wasn’t relevant to what was going on now unless it would lead me to them.

There was also talk about the Organization HQ, but not much. Mainly that since their group wasn't too large at the moment, they didn't require a large place to stay, but that they frequently moved around to different places to stay hidden.

It was also stated that even though drawing attention was frowned upon the top three did as they pleased, within reason. Meaning that checking out all major hotels, or not so ratty ones, near the bar was a good idea rather then hopelessly searching the entire city.

This was the best information I could have gotten, and it still left me with a few days to search. My shoulders slumped. Would there be enough time if it was just me searching? And if I was wrong about the location or the type of place...

I couldn't chance it. If it were just me then fine, a little danger hasn't killed me yet. But I wouldn't do it with Matt's life.

Gripping my phone tightly I dialed L's number.

“Mello, are you alright?” L's voice was blank, void of most emotions though I did hear curiosity.

“I'm fine. I am sending you stuff, tell me what you already know.” I attached the file to a separate e-mail and sent it to L. There were soft clicking sounds on the other end and all was silent for a moment. “This is good information Mello. Near and I do have some of it, but not all.” that was a nice way of not answering my question and not telling me a damn thing.

“I'm going to check out hotels near the bar 'The Central'. I would... appreciate it if I could have some help. If I’m wrong-”

“You are not wrong. Just worried.” I grit my teeth in annoyance.

“I already have Near sending out a few people. They will be checking outside of that area before closing in; just on the off chance that you are wrong.”

“Thank you-”

“Mello, Matt called me the other day, he is worried that you will do something stupid. And after hearing what you have been doing to get the information, I fear that you are already doing something stupid. Can you still eat food?”

I closed my eyes and forced away the rage I was feeling.

“Mind your own damn business L.” I closed the phone but placed it gently on the bed instead of throwing it like I wanted. I took a few deep breathes and it helped to calm me somewhat. I didn't have the energy to be truly angry.

If I had to go against one of the three right now I would be easily killed. My body needed food to function properly and I couldn't provide it without making myself sick, which ultimatly defeated the purpose.

I would have to find some way to get food into my system, or when the time came, I would fail Matt.

-End Chapter 8-

AN : This chapter came out better than I expected.... really.

and randomly, one of m favorite reviews for this on ff.net said that Mello drinking beer was kind of odd, but i figured that since he didn't really 'want' to drink, he'd go with something simple. :) oh well, thats just me.