Hitting it off, of a sorts.

Matteo considered, searching Broker's face for a lie. He didn't find one, but he also knew that was all he was going to get out of the man. Ah, well. It was enough. He could find what he needed to know, all of it, later, with that little bit of information. And if not, Klia could. He grinned at the man, lips still curled in a feral manner. "Got it, boss," he said, licking the corner of his lips as he eyes slid to the vampire.

The monster was hurting more than it wanted to let on, Matteo noted. But there was a fear in its eyes, and a determination to somehow, impossibly, survive. Good. His felt his mouth water and swallowed, ignoring the pulsing need in his chest. Now wasn't the time. He wasn't that starved. Picking up a serrated little blade, he carefully uncorked the bottle of dead man's blood and coated it -- not much, but enough to make it burn, like pouring alcohol into an open wound.

He stepped slowly up the creature, watching in amusement as it tried to shrink in on itself. "Your kind is always so cruel and cocky until they get caught. It's times like these where we get to meet the real monster, behind the fangs. I'm looking forward to it." He smiled, almost friendly, and slapped the flat of the blade against the monster's thigh, laughing as it jolted in fear.

"Now!" And here his smile turned dark. "I'm sure you're familiar with the 'good cop, bad cop' routine. And, as I'm sure you've guessed... I'm the bad cop." Fingers sliding up the hilt of the knife, his raised it, sharp point resting against the material of the jeans covering the vampire's thigh. "My friend over there wants me to scare you. Get you more willing to talk to him, to get yourself away from me." He paused, tongue between his teeth as his smile widened. "And that's exactly what I'm gonna do. But here's the difference from what you're familiar with: Pain IS scary." And he shoved the blade through the vampire's thigh, watching with a blank face, unfazed, as the creature shrieked and sobbed.

The vampire didn't say a word, barely making a noise aside from the whimpers of pain. But that only made Matteo grinned wider, and he set to work. Years ago, he took so much pleasure in torture that is often worried him. Now, it had died down -- if only a little. Taking of all the pain he'd suffered; the hurt and the anger, and bringing it back to a creature that had caused so much of that to innocents... it still felt good to him. And he'd learned to accept it. He no longer fought it. He was who he was.

It went on for nearly an hour, until the monster was barely responding. Stepping back, hands covered in blood, he sighed and looked to the broker. "He doesn't know," he said. There was no way the monster would continue to endure if he wasn't clueless. "He won't say anything, because he doesn't KNOW. And he knows we won't believe it. He's useless to us."

It was disappointing, but unsurprising. The vampire had been too easy to catch and restrain for it to be more powerful. Meaning... "There's more than the nest that Markus and them wiped out. There's a leader, somewhere. And you bet your ass they hit somewhere, hard, while we wasted our time with this piece of shit."

He rammed the blade in the vampire's heart, moving to the sink to wash his hands clean, a scowl on his face. "That... isn't good. This was a sacrifice. Whoever's in charge, they thought the blade was worth losing. What are they after, then?" he asked, looking to the dark-haired man, and hoping he had some answers.

Matteo picked some of the blood that had crusted under his nails, doing his best to ignore the hunger that gnawed at him as he felt the last bit of the vampire's life slipping away. Internally raging at the loss, when he knew his body needed it, he forced himself farther away. As preoccupied as Broker was, he wasn't going to risk reaving with him so close.

"Nothing's ever easy," he grunted. "Always something or another knockin'." He sighed, fingers twitching. Shit. "I'm... gonna go get rid of this body," he muttered. "While you do your thing. I'm, uh. Useless with that kinda shit."

Gritting his teeth, he tugged the body up over his unwounded shoulder. Markus was out, Bryant and Connie were with him. K was talking to Klia. And Broker was here.. he had time. The back of the house would be empty. "Be back soon."

He left quickly, out the backdoor in the basement. The sun was already starting to set, and he rounded the corner to the bonfire pit and let the body fall. Ripping the blade from the monster's heart, he thought about letting it regenerate; letting more life back for him to steal. But he didn't have the time. And whatever was left would have to work for now...

He came back soon, like he promised, the body burning outside. His shoulder felt better, and there was more bounce in his step, but the grin fell from his face when he saw Broker still hunched over his laplop. "Shit," he sighed, going to wash away the last of the blood on him. He stepped up beside Broker after, but the words on the screen didn't make sense to him. They might as well have been in another language. "So... this is seriously bad, huh? Probably worse than anything we've had to deal with."

Matteo pulled himself up to sit on the table, eyes looking over the screen, rubbing absently at his shoulder. It hadn't been enough to heal it completely, but it definitely had it's mobility back. That was good. "So what you're trying to tell me is that we're fucked," he deadpanned. "We'd be fucked if we KNEW which of these was the true prize, and WHO had said prize. But since we know neither of things, we're, what? Super fucked? Extra fucked with a cherry on top? Maybe some sprinkles? Little bit of caramel sau--?"

His stomach rumbled, and his jaw snapped shut. He had the decency to look sheepish even as he laughed. "Sorry. But yeah. So. Fucked." Kicking his legs a few times, he watched his shoes swing. The vampire truly had known nothing; the spear head had been in a chest the nest had taken as their own recently.

But he wasn't stupid enough to believe it had just been forgotten there. Whoever had it, they'd known. It had been planted. But why? For what purpose? It didn't make any sense to him. Most of the monsters were smart, sure, but every time they'd tried to band together to bring down humanity, they'd torn themselves apart before even the hunters had to stop them, let alone the Agency.

It was... really weird, to say the least, seeing Bryant in the kitchen and making food for Markus. Before, all those years ago, Bryant was the one that would show up with more food than their entire group could eat, telling everything what a good job they'd done on the last hunt, a grin on his full lips, making sure everyone ate their fill and more.

To say it ripped his heart to pieces to see him now would be an understatement. He watched him longer than he should have, full of longing, even after he'd disappeared up the stairs. It was hard to shake himself out of his thoughts, but he finally did to look at Broker. "Never seen Markus not be able to walk away from something. But he does get his ass kicked a lot. He'll be fine," he said, and then patted his pockets to make sure his wallet was there.

"Come on," he beckoned, heading towards to door. "There's a burger place not to far from here. Better food, and I wanna ask some questions."

It was a short walk, no longer than 20 minutes, and Matteo lead them to a table in the back of the diner. No sooner had they sat down that a busty woman slipped up, putting menus in front of them. "Heyo, trouble," she cooed, running a finger along the scar on his cheek. He grinned.

"Evangeline. Lovely as always."

Her laugh was soft, pale green eyes rolling. "What do you want this time? You're only nice to me when you want something." But her attention soon turned to Broker, and her smile became wicked. "Well now. I've never seen you before." She leaned on the table, breasts poking through the v-neck of her shirt. "You new around here? He's not getting you into trouble, is he? He's a horrid influence and awfully mannered." Pausing, her eyes slid to Matteo. "You guys... hunting buddies? Or is this pretty thing your new bed buddy?"

Matteo choked on a laugh, waving his hands, "No, no! Shit. No. I mean, fuck. No. It's not like that!" If there was a redness in his face, he forced himself to ignore it. "Kind of a hunting buddy. He's more of a.. collector."

Looking back to Broker, the tip of Evangeline's tongue poke out at the corner of her mouth. "Darlin', you can collect me ANY time!" she tittered, and Matteo gave her arm a push.

"Oy, oy. Not the time," he frowned. "I need to ask you some shit. Who else is working?"

Sighing, the woman stood. "You're not fun. But fine. Jealous hunters, jeez. Never wanna share. There's enough of me for both of you!" Turning, she headed back to the bar. "Jakoby! Mattie's here! He brought a pretty friend he won't lemme gobble up!"

Matteo held up his hands. "Temptress," he explained. Somehow he felt like they were even worse than succubi. With succubi, you at least knew to be on your guard. You never knew when a temptress was employing their charms, or if you were just weaker-willed than you liked to think. "First time I met her, things... got interesting." He shrugged.

But not one to let him keep any dignity, Evangeline was soon back at the booth, squishing Broker over to sit her down down. She grinned wickedly at Matteo, and then turned her attention to Broker. "What he ISN'T saying is that he'd never fucked a temptress, or a succubi, before. So when he couldn't get it up for a week after, he came back to cut my head off, thinking I'd cursed him, and not just -- quite literally - sucked him dry."

Tongue poking out at the corner of her full lips again, she tittered, "Poor dear was almost in tears, thinking he'd lost his most prized possession!"

Hissing, Matteo tried to shoo her away. "Woman, this isn't about that! I ain't got time for you to find some joy in your old age from your glory days!"

The woman gave a playfully offended pout. "Mattie, how could you say such a thing! Oh! My dear," she turned sad eyes to Broker, taking his hand in one of hers. "Do you intend to let this heathen insult me so??"

Evangeline looked like she was about to protest when a darker-skinned man approached the table. He kept his hair in an undercut, the top long and dreaded and currently up in a bun. There was a toothpick between his teeth, and a long-suffering look on his face. "Eva, come on, lass. I know you like making new friends, but we still do have a business to run."

Laying across the table, the temptress whined. "You never lemme have any fuuun," she pouted, but she stood and brushed her skirt off. "But fine. I'll go deal with the boring humans. Just call me if you need me!" And she left she cast Broker a wink, and swatted at the new man's ass.

Rolling his eyes, he watched her walk off before he turned his attention back to the men at the table. "How the hell are ya, Matteo? Haven't seen you in a while. Was starting to think you got 'et."

Laughing, Matteo reached out to shake his hand. "You know it'll take a hell of a lot to finally bring me down." He gestured to Broker. "This is the Broker. Broker, Jakoby."

Offering a hand to Broker, Jakoby nodded. "What can I do for you boys?"