From Prey to Precious

The Inside Scoop

Rachel’s POV:

It really is amazing what you can get done when hours per day, supplies and tools are never in short supply. It’s been four days since Vinnie has given me this “joint” project and I’ve been spending ever shift at Vinnie’s pouring over it. Vinnie has even let me come in early and stay late to work on it and never even batted an eye when I asked for some specialty parts. I always pour my heart into every project that I work on because even though the machine I'm working on my not be MY baby, it's someone's baby. But this project is different. Not only is this bike someone's prized possession, but it's my way of proving myself to both my bosses.

In all honesty, if this had been my bike, I would have probably scrapped it, sold it for parts and built a custom one from the ground up. But it's not my bike, so that isn't even an option. I need to show both my bosses what I'm capable of and I plan on doing that with this bike.

Now, these style of bikes generally aren't my thing. Don't get me wrong they are great for speed, but I'd rather have something with a more powerful engine. But again, this isn't about me, this is about the owner. So I started thinking to myself, why would he like this style of bike, what can it do better than a chopper or a touring bike. How can I emphasize those traits to make it more appealing to the owner? What do I know about the owner that I can put into the bike?

That last question was the toughest. The only time I had ever seen him, he was covered in riding leathers and had a full face helmet. I do remember those boots though, and that slight frame. But unfortunately that's not much to go on when trying to personalize a bike. So finally I bite the bullet and I go ask the only person you might be able to give me a little insight on this bike's owner.

Vinnie.

I sigh softly to myself as I cover up the bike with a tarp and head towards Vinnie's office. On my way to his door I stop and grab a bottle of cold water from the employee fridge and unscrew the cap. As I take a swig out of the bottle, I gently rap on Vinnie's door and wait for him to answer.

"Come on in Rachel," I hear Vinnie call from the other side of the door. I never question how he always seems to know it's me knocking on his door. It's just something that I've come to take for granted over the past few years.

I turn the knob and let myself into the office, gently closing the door shut behind me before I turn to face Vinnie who is attempting to do something with the computer that sits on the corner of his desk. Vinnie has a deep seeded dislike for computers and evidently the feeling is mutual because nearly every machine that he touches, breaks in a matter of weeks. The current incarnation is the longest lived yet. So far it's lasted two months. There's a pool going around the garage as to how long this one will last. Currently, I'm in the lead.

"Rachel, I think this stupid machine is broken. It's not doing what I want it to. Fix it," he grumbles as he pushes himself away from the keyboard and hurriedly gets out of his chair and grabs his ever present pack of cigarettes.

I chuckle softly to myself as I take a long drink from the water bottle and make my way over to the computer. "Sure thing. What's it not doing this time?" I ask as I give the mouse a giggle and watch the cursor move.

"I needed to restock some of our alternator belts but whenever I click on the link for the ones I need, the stupid thing just doesn't do anything," he huffs before taking a long drag off of his cigarette then flicking the ash carelessly onto the floor.

"OK, no problem. Let me take a look and see if I can figure it out," I mutter as I get myself situated in his chair.

After a few moments of clicking the mouse and realizing that the cursor is moving sporadically, I reach into the top desk drawer and pull out a pair of AAA batteries. I smirk slightly as I turn off the mouse and open the door to access the batteries. Once I swap out the old batteries for new ones, I attempt to click on the aforementioned link and everything now appears to be working as it should.

"There you go Vinnie. You just needed some fresh batteries in your mouse. If it gives you any more problems, just let me know. You know I'm always happy to lend a hand with your computer when it starts misbehaving," I smile over at him as I stand up from his chair and make my way back towards my water bottle. (I've just got to make sure he doesn't trash this thing for at least another week and I win the pool!)

"You know I can't stand these things... But anyway, that's not why you sauntered in here. What can I do for you Rachel?" he asks absently as he settles himself into the chair an finishes up the restocking order he was working on.

My smile starts to die on my lips as I begin twisting the cap to my water bottle on and off. "I'm running into some problems with that special project you gave me," I say as I look down at my hands holding the water bottle.

Vinnie's head immediately snaps up and gives me a look of deep concern. "Problems? What problems?"

"Nothing serious. I'm just having a lot of trouble finding inspiration for some of the more aesthetic elements of the body work and of course the paint job. Normally it's fairly easy for me to figure out what someone would like, but I know next to nothing about this guy. Hell I've never even seen his face," I explain as I begin to pace in front of Vinnie's desk.

Vinnie visibly relaxes and takes another draw off of his cigarette before leaning back into his chair. "I see. I can understand why that might be a problem," he says with a small smile on his face as he flicks the ash off of his cigarette. "What is it you want to know?"

I stop my pacing and head over towards the desk, perching on a corner of it as I set down my water bottle and look for a notepad and a pen. "Well, what kind of a person is he? What is really important to him?" I ask as I finally find what a, mostly, unused note pad and a pen.

Vinnie leans back further into the embrace of his chair as he takes another drag off of his cigarette and his eyes go distant as he ponders my question. "Truth me told.. he's complicated. Many people would call him heartless, cruel and maybe even a bit savage. But that's just what this world made him become. Honestly he is quite caring, even though he would never admit it, and he has a fierce sense of loyalty and pride. He's not prideful of himself mind you. But he takes great pride in the things he creates and the people he helps nurture.

"As far as what is really important to him, that's easy. Family, first and foremost. He's extremely centered around his heritage and his family. After that it would probably be his animals. You wouldn't know it but he has quite the menagerie. But one of the most important things to him is he freedom. The freedom to be what he is. To be who he is," Vinnie says softly, his face taking on an expression that I have seen a time or two around the shop but never to this magnitude. Pride. 

I finish jotting down a few notes before setting the note pad on my knee and asking my next series of questions. "Ok, is there anyone in his family that he's particularly close to? A brother? A sister? His wife or girlfriend or partner, for that matter?"

Vinnie gives another dry chuckle before looking over at me with a small, sad smile on his face. "No, unfortunately he doesn't have any family left. You could say that he left them a long time ago and never looked back."

I adjust myself to a more comfortable position on the corner of the desk as I give Vinnie a look of utter & total confusion. "I don't understand. I thought you said that family was one of the most important things to him. How could that be if he walked away from them and never looked back?"

Vinnie holds up his cigarette and points at me as he makes his point, "Not one of the most important things to him, THE most important thing to him. There's more to family than the one that you were born into. There's the family you chose and make for yourself. Those are the ones that are the most important to him. Particularly his.. children."

I feel my eyes go wide and my mouth drop open slightly at the mention of 'children'. "I'm sorry. Did you say children? As in plural? More than one?"

Vinnie gives another humorless chuckle before he takes a final drag off of his cigarette. "Yes. The word children does typically mean more than one child. He's had... four I think."

"Wow. Someone certainly has been busy," I mutter beneath my breath as I write this new information down.

 Vinnie nods a little as he looks down at the burning cigarette in his hands, "Yeah. Three females and one male. But only one of the females is still in his life at the moment."

"Oh? That's a shame. What, do the others live with their mom or something?" I ask as I continue making notes.

Vinnie shakes his head slightly, "No Rachel, they're not living with their mom. They're all dead. All of them, save one and that one is hanging on by a thread," he says softly as he crushes his cigarette into a nearby ashtray.

My hand is frozen on the notepad as I take in what Vinnie has just told me. This poor guy has lost three children already and from the sounds of it the fourth is on death's door as we speak. I can't even being to imagine how that must feel. Part of me wants to ask more questions about them, how old were they, what happened to them, etc. But from the wounded look on Vinnie's face I know it's a sore subject for him as well and I decide to let it alone.

I clear my throat as I try to figure out a tactful way to segue back to some of the other important facets of this guy's life. I can't really think of anything to say, so I just jump right in and change gears. "Ok, you also mentioned that his heritage is very important to him. What heritage is he?"

Vinnie gives me another one of those dark, predatory smiles as he steeples his fingers in front of his face. "Like I said before, it's complicated. But I guess you could say that he's descended from an ancient and noble bloodline that has strong ties to the Vikings."

Ideas start to swim around in my head as I write this last bit of information around and circle it. I begin to think about what I want to have painted on the gas tank and maybe on the front fender but how I am going to tie that all in with the overall motif.

As I'm sketching out a few ideas, I glance up at Vinnie and ask him one last question. "Out of curiosity, how long have you known this guy?"

Vinnie smiles again as he levers himself up out of his chair and slowly makes his way over to the office door. I watch him move the entire way as my eyebrows knit together in confusion. Vinnie opens the door and looks back at me, "I've known him his entire existence," he says softly. As I am looking at Vinnie I could swear that his eyes flashed a deep red before returning to their normal dark brown as he leaves the room.