Nicholas was at the Gary's Table. He had arrived sometime after Jonathan left.
At the current moment, Nicholas was speaking with Papa John, who came to the bar so they could discuss some business that Papa John had taken care of earlier. Right now, Papa John was drinking his iced whiskey as he felt calm and relaxed.
Laying his back on the balcony, Nicholas had a glass of blood on his hands. Well, not really just blood, but it had a potion that Nicholas created, capable of mixing the feelings of the one who drank it. Not exactly like alcohol, but not so different.
The bar was deserted, there was no one besides these two.
Looking at Papa John's relaxing pose, Nicholas decided to mess with him again.
"Hey, John. Wanna know who's in town?" Nicholas spoke.
Papa John was laying on the couch that was opposite the balcony, so he just raised his head and opened one eye.
"Who?" He asked.
Smiling, Nicholas said.
"Michelangelo."
Suddenly, the sound of Papa John sipping on his whiskey turned into him choking on it.
"Cough* Chough* WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING HERE?" Papa John asked with a big shout.
"Hehehe... Just calm down. He probably won't come near you. I just needed him to visit NYC to talk about his progress." Nicholas replied.
"Sigh... Not so bad. I thought he would want something from my side." Papa John let out a sigh as he felt relieved about not dealing with that bastard.
"Wasn't him in LA? How's that side going?" John asked as he continued, his words with the same Italian accent, highlighting the vowels.
"Yes, he was. The business is going well. His club is impressively highly frequented, the clients are coming on its own as Michel created a system of association to accept new members. I think later on I'm going to visit it." Nicholas answered.
Papa John then turned back to relaxing, or at least trying, he couldn't as he thought about Michelangelo.
"Haha... I remember when you met him the first time. Those times were really good, Michel was way different. He had piercings all over, face tattoos, and other body modifications. Now he looks like a plain middle-aged man. He tried cathing you into one of his, but I saved your ass. Since then you are still afraid of Michel, hahahaha..." Nicholas had a fit of laugher at the end as he mocked Papa John.
"Yeah, right." Papa John grumbled as he got up and went to grab another bottle of whiskey in the storage.
Arriving there, he noticed the five thugs tied together as they all slept in that position. Papa John frowned upon seeing this scene, so he just grabbed his bottle of whiskey and left the room.
Outside, he looked at Nicholas laying against the balcony and still laughing at his past demise.
Ignoring him, Papa John spoke.
"Who are the fellas on the storage room?"
"What fellas?" Nicholas asked confused. Suddenly he got up and went there.
Looking at their tattoos and sleeping faces, Nicholas frowned as well. Why the hell there were thugs tied together and sleeping inside his storage? And there two hugging each other...
Shaking his head, Nicholas also left the room. As he was about to lay on the balcony again, he noticed Jonathan about to enter through the front door.
Waiting for him to enter, Nicholas looked in his direction.
"Jonathan! How did it go?" Nicholas asked in a joyous tone.
Looking at Nicholas' happy expression, Jonathan smiled.
"Good, Master Nicholas. The target was finished successfully. Although something happened after I did so." Jonathan's smile left his face, as a bit of anger replaced it, together with a solemn expression.
"What?" Nicholas asked blankly.
"Someone showed at the scene. He was above the building of the alley, I couldn't identify him. He was wearing a black mask and black outfit. His mask, though. That mask was something interesting. An artifact, capable of evoking fear, erasing presence, and hiding magical energy signature." Jonathan replied.
Nicholas looked at him as he pondered on something.
"And...? What happened next?" Nicholas asked.
Jonathan then proceeded to tell what happened next, the chase, the shadow bomb, and all that.
Nicholas kept looking at him and sipped on his blood drink.
"So you got your as$ kicked?" Nicholas asked with a frown on his face. Though he couldn't keep the act and started to laugh a lot at Jonathan.
Jonathan just smiled wryly, knowing much well what was going on. This blood drink sometimes revealed the drinker's true feelings, sometimes it intensified it, other times it just showed the opposite. Although, Jonathan had no idea which one was, spending enough time with Nicholas just intensified the feeling of cluelessness about what he is thinking or doing.
After recovering from his fit of laugher, Nicholas assumed a relaxed expression. Laying on the bacony and cocking his head back, he thought about a few things and said.
"Don't worry about it, probably someone that is trying to get to me and decided to watch for you. Later I will figure it out." Nicholas said. But throughout this time, this same tiny bit of emotion kept appearing on Jonathan's face. It was anger. Anger that he couldn't do anything about as he thought about letting the black-masked man escape.
Nicholas noticed this in Jonathan but didn't say anything.
"And what is all about those guys in the storage room?" Nicholas asked as he remembered the thugs hugging each other as they slept.
"Ahh... Almost forgot, they are from the White Chalk. One of them said that they came after a girl which happened to be with Claude on Wednesday. Here, let me get his phone." Jonathan said as he went to the other side of the balcony and reached for the thug's phone that was left before Jonathan went to execute the mission.
Looking at the picture, it took a few moments for Nicholas to recognize her. It was indeed one of the girls with Claude. But Nicholas also remembered what Papa John said when he messed with him later that day.
Jeremy, Papa John's protegee, was the one who was supposed to kidnap the group of women and get some money and other stuff from Vonhoford, Midnight Hotel's doctor. Looking at the muscular old man laying on the couch, Nicholas threw the phone right on his face, with perfect accuracy. Though not strong enough to break the phone, it was just to mess with John.
Feeling the pain from the phone hitting his face, Papa John sat up and glared at Nicholas.
"Just look at the girl. Is she Vonhoford's daughter?" Nicholas asked.
Taking a look at the picture, Papa John confirmed with a nod.
"Well, then it was Vonhoford who sent the White Chalk, I remember Midnight has a contract with them, right? It's okay, just dispose of this crew. They probably won't send others so soon." Nicholas said, directing the last part to Jonathan.
Jonathan just nodded his head and went to the storage room.