Fang and Claw

by Markie Madden

  14

  “What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.” ~~Buddha

  He looked at the time on the bottom of his laptop screen, and scowled. What the hell is she doing, anyway? She tells me we’re hunting a Skinwalker and then she just rushes out to some damn appointment? What the hell? He fidgeted in his chair, itching to get up and try to find her, or catch the bad guy, or something! While he’d waited for her, Colton had dug deep into the department’s database, scouring it for any information he could find on Skinwalkers. And when he only scraped out a few obscure references, he turned to federal databases and the internet.

  There wasn’t much. It seemed like no one had even seen a Skinwalker for at least 500 years, and they weren’t included in the International Immortal Registry Database. As he mentioned to Lacey earlier, the stories he was gathering together on the internet were more like urban legend than true fact, and he began to wonder what the sources were for some of the information he was finding. He already dismissed several tales from outrageous conspiracy theorists, the most far-reaching of which was from a man with Albert Einstein hair who claimed all Immortals were caused by extra-terrestrials breeding with humans.

  Everybody knew that Vampires were caused by the introduction of a virus from a bite, and that Wolves originated from being bitten by a Wolf, from a toxin in the saliva. Except for born Wolves like himself, who had two Wolf parents and were considered to be ‘natural’ Wolves. Zombies turned when a human with the proper gene died from unnatural causes; the gene would then activate after death and cause a normal fungus that all humans carried to become active in their bodies. This fungus made their skin and tissues decay rapidly, sloughing off while new tissue underneath continued to grow normally.

  Again, he glanced down at the time. Dammit, where is she? She was the only one he could think of who’d ever even seen one of these Immortals, and only she could give him the information he was seeking. He checked the case book when they returned to the station earlier, and saw that there were no new lab reports or anything of interest, so now he was twiddling his thumbs. He even asked David if he knew where Lacey had gone, but the other man had looked dumbfounded and scratched his head as if he couldn’t understand the question.

  He knew, as surely the entire bullpen did, that she had gone to the commander’s office a bit earlier, and he wondered what that was all about. He hoped she wasn’t trying to convince their supervisor to pull him off the Undead Unit and back to Major Crimes. Though police work was similar no matter what unit one was attached to, he’d decided that he enjoyed having a special unit dedicated to nothing but cases involving Immortals. They had separate units, after all, for other things: homicide, the Special Victims Unit, drug enforcement, auto theft, explosives, SWAT, and many others, even the internal affairs unit who made their living by investigating other cops. It made sense to him to have one for Immortals as well.

  Mentally fidgeting, he extracted himself from the uncomfortable desk chair and straightened his back with a loud crack. Picking up his coffee mug, he took a swig, grimacing when he discovered it was stone cold. He swallowed hastily and growled at the tepid liquid in the cup, as if it had gone cold just to anger him. Still scowling, Colton walked to the break room with the mug and its offending contents. To his surprise, the scent of fresh brewing coffee met his nose. It seemed as if someone other than him had made a new pot.

  He dumped his mug into the sink and rinsed it out. He couldn’t stand the taste of cold coffee, and often could even taste a bit of residue even with fresh brew in the cup. He dumped a heaping pile of sugar into the bottom of the mug, and was grateful to find that someone had set out the tiny cups of liquid non-dairy creamer. He no longer had to suffer with the chalky taste of the powdered crap. Adding a liberal amount of cream to the mug as well, he then poured the fresh coffee and stirred it with a plastic swizzle stick.

  “I was going to bring some to you.” Her voice behind him startled him, just about making him wobble the drink he had made with such painstaking care. He turned to see Lacey leaning nonchalantly against the door frame. Some of her anger seemed to have dissipated, or else she forced it to the back of her psyche to be dealt with at a later time. “Come to my office.”

  “Okay.” He wasn’t sure what else to say to her.

  Once they entered Lacey’s office, she said, “Close the--damn, never mind,” and she glanced again at the door frame which sadly, still held no door to close.

  He noticed she had at some point requisitioned a second chair for her office, though the dilapidated rolling seat could hardly be called a chair. More like a rolling death trap. He eyeballed it dubiously as she gestured for him to sit. Since there were no arms on the chair, it wasn’t as much as a hassle for him to settle himself into it. He held the mug of coffee in his hands, not sure if she would like him placing it onto the immaculate desktop.

  She sat behind her desk and folded her hands together on the smooth wood. She took a deep breath as if to steel herself for what was to come. “First of all, I owe you an apology. I had no right to blame you for something your ancestors did, and I only treated you so rudely because I was so overwhelmed. I understand you thought I was already aware of our connection, and it’s not your fault that I didn’t.”

  She shifted her weight back in her chair. “I imagine that your pack has its own story to tell about what happened in Greece, but it’s not something that I care to dwell on or repeat. However, I was informed,” and her face took on a grim appearance, “that I should tell you the story because you are to be my partner, no matter what either of us want. So I will tell you from my perspective and let you draw your own conclusions.”

  Colton took a sip of coffee and didn’t say a word. His pack did, indeed, have their own version of events, but he had never really believed the entirety of it, and was well aware that history was written by the victors and not the other way around. He could imagine her pain, both then and now, and wondered if he could have handled it as well as she was, if the tables had been turned. He doubted, with his anger management issues, he could have controlled himself.

  “It all started out when we took Merope on. She was young, and, like me, had become infected with the plague. She was dying. Aegon ‘Turned’ her as he did me. All of us had agreed not to feed on the humans in town. We liked it there and wanted to stay. We lived in peace for something like ten or eleven years, the three of us, until Aegon discovered that a pack of Wolves had moved into town. Knowing that they often, as other Vampires did, preyed on humans, Aegon went to talk with their leader, a man named Agustalis. He wanted to convince the Wolves not to feed on the humans of Athens and let them know where our general animal hunting grounds were.”

  Despite himself, he found that he was hooked on every word coming out of Lacey’s mouth. Colton had a certain instinctual racial memory, which he could pull upon if he needed to for survival. But even the historians in his pack had never spoken quite so matter-of-fact about what had happened between them and the Vampires, and he’d never thought to have the chance to hear it from their point of view. Lacey’s story was bringing forth some of those racial memories; though he had never met his ancestor Alpha, when she spoke the name of Agustalis, Colton felt as if he had known the man.

  “Merope met a young man in town, a stranger, by the name of Bacis. At the time, we didn’t know that he was with Agustalis’ pack, we thought he was just someone passing through on his way to the coast. He fancied Merope, who had been young and beautiful as a human woman and no less so as a Vampire. He had no idea that she was an Immortal at that point, and she didn’t know the same about him. They evidently had several secret meetings in town, and they fell in love with one another.”

  When she stopped speaking, with an inward look in her eyes, Colton asked, “What happened?”

  “Aegon discovered her love for this young man, and she begged Aegon to ‘Turn’ Bacis so
they could live forever. It was then that Aegon learned he was one of the Wolves. He forbade her to see him anymore, and he even went so far as to contact Agustalis again, and they reached an agreement that was supposed to keep the two of them apart.” She shook her head. “Merope was beside herself, inconsolable, thinking her life held no meaning any longer. She was a bit young, both as a human as well as a Vampire, and had a flair for the dramatic.” She gave him a wan smile.

  “I imagine this is where the story gets interesting,” he commented when she paused to catch her breath.

  “The Wolf Merope fell in love with neglected to mention that he already had a mate. A Wolf mate, and as you know, Wolves generally mate for life. I imagine his first mate wasn’t happy about his plans.”

  It was obvious she was unable to stay still any longer, something that was so unlike her it gave him an idea of how disturbed she was inside. Lacey stood and paced to the window where the sunlight, even through the UV-filtered window glared on her pale face. With her back turned to him, she continued her tale. “When the full story came out, and Aegon learned that Bacis intended to take Merope to live with him as his second woman, it was the last straw for both sides, I think. Aegon accused Agustalis of not being able to control his pack.” Colton drew in a sharp breath; it was the highest of insults to an Alpha to insinuate he was losing control over his tribe. “Merope would still sneak out to see Bacis. I’d never seen Aegon so angry, and he threatened to kill Merope himself if she didn’t stay away from the Wolf.”

  She paused for a moment, so he took a chance and said, “From what I was told, Agustalis was furious too. It’s the worst thing for an Alpha, to lose control of a member of the pack. And Bacis tested him regularly, likely would have been next in the hierarchy if it hadn’t been for this...defiance.” He hoped his voice conveyed the fact that he wasn’t judging, not on either side.

  She continued her tale. “Aegon even went and found Phemius, another young man from the village who’d taken sick with the plague, and brought him to our country home to ‘Turn’ him. He thought to offer Phemius to Merope as a replacement for the Wolf she could never have. Of course, the ‘Change’ is very painful in the first few days, especially if the one ‘Turning’ isn’t given an hourly dose of human blood.

  “Aegon said he’d had to tie me to their bed. I became so violent with the pain that he was afraid I would hurt myself, or him or his wife, Abana. I don’t know what it was that finally set off Agustalis and the Wolves. Phemius was still in the throes of the ‘Change’ when the Wolves came.”

  Her voice was so distant and eerie that he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, almost as if he were the one anticipating attack. He saw the shiver run down her spine, from the top of her head all the way, he assumed, to her toes.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  Her arms crossed, she traced the ragged scars on her right arm, feeling the uneven skin beneath her fingers. Worrying the scars was a nervous habit she’d picked up after the attack, something that the oh-so-knowledgeable Dr. Marcell Dilorenzo had told her shouldn’t have been possible. And now he wants to study me, she thought wryly, lost in the memories of the horrendous attack. Just what I need, to be a lab rat.

  She could almost feel Colton’s impatience behind her, so she turned back to face him, wanting to get this ordeal over as quick as possible so she could forget about it once again. “It was brutal. Aegon and I were in his little work shop off the main house. I’m not sure where Abana and Merope were. There were ten Wolves, we were no match for them.”

  She paused, not ready to tell him all the gruesome details of the story. “I was torn open and bleeding, and I knew I would bleed out if something wasn’t done. But there was no one left to help me. Aegon and I were the only ones alive. So I lay on my right side, hoping the weight of my own body would put enough pressure on the wound until I could recover. I must have passed out from the pain, but not before seeing Aegon...” Her voice broke. “They ripped him apart. When I woke, the blood had dried my skin to the floor, and everyone else in the house was dead. The Wolves had gone. I don’t know if we had killed any of them, they would have taken their casualties with them. But I was alone for the first time in my life.” She avoided his eyes, not wanting him to see how vulnerable she felt after baring her soul to him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice quiet. “I could say I’m sorry for the rest of my life and it wouldn’t make any difference. It wouldn’t change what’s already happened.”

  “But why? You weren’t there. You had nothing to do with it, and I was wrong to make you feel as if you did. So wrong.”

  He shook his head vigorously. “It doesn’t make me proud of my ancestors, or my species for that matter.” He sighed. “Look, I’ll be the first to admit I have trouble reining my temper. I’ve never tried to hide that. Of course, my pack doesn’t talk about Greece much. But I will tell you when they do, they’re often ashamed of the ancestors.” He seemed to be groping for words, struggling to give an explanation for emotions he was unaccustomed to speaking of. “I may get angry, but I could never hurt you. It might be hard for you to trust me; I can understand that. But I’ve got your back, no matter what, and I’ll go through any door with you.” He slid his gaze away as if embarrassed by the admission.

  It honestly surprised her to think that the descendants of the Wolves who killed her family might feel ashamed of the incident. Her usual opinion of Wolves was that they were unpleasant in general and snobbish and cared little for anyone not of their own species. It made her take a hard, deep look at her own prejudice. An uncomfortable silence fell over the two of them.

  “So, what do we do next?” Colton asked, seeming uncomfortable with the looming silence.

  She took a deep breath, then looked deep into his eyes, probably for the first time since they had met. Maybe Marcell had been right, maybe the best thing she could have done was to share this with her...partner. After all, it was possible that he’d had his own prejudice from the slant the Wolves would have put on the story. “I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. I don’t want you to take what I’m about to say as a personal affront. I don’t blame you for what happened in Greece; you had no part of it. And I’m grateful to know that you’ll have my back and go through that door with me, no matter what. But you’ll have to understand and accept that it will be hard for me to trust you. At least, right now.”

  “Agreed. I can understand. I can’t make up for what happened. And the...pain that you feel will never go away.” Somehow, he managed to say the exact same thing Marcell had told her, ...the pain will not go away. But if you face it rather than compartmentalize it, it will start to fade. “But I can change what happens from here on. Maybe even show you that not all Wolves are like those who hurt you.” He returned her direct gaze. “As my partner, you’re sort of in my pack now. I have a responsibility to you.”

  She hadn’t thought of herself in that perspective before, but she had known other Wolves, though not part of her team, who had seemed very protective of their partners, no matter what the species, and she tried to put herself into Colton’s shoes for a brief moment. She could see how a partner could become an integral part of a Wolf’s mentality. “So, can we put this away now and get back to work?”

  He seemed to be as relieved as she was with the idea. “Sure. I’m not too good with Hallmark moments anyway.”

  He said it with such a sneer, something she now knew was his way of being a joker, and she rewarded him with a genuine chuckle. “Okay, so let’s get down to it. I have a deep suspicion that our suspect, Jason Blyge, is a Skinwalker. Do you know much about them?”

  He shook his head. “Everything I found in our records or online was pretty vague. I can’t find even a sketch of what they’re supposed to look like.”

  “Well, that’s the problem. See, a Skinwalker can take on the physical characteristics of anyone it has been able to sample.”

  “Sample?” He shuddered and wrinkled his nose.

>   “You know how everyone sheds skin cells all the time? Same idea, even brushing up against a Skinwalker, you leave behind enough DNA for it to copy you. Of course, they do have a basic appearance that they’re born with, a mixture of the physical appearance of both its parents, at least that’s what he said.”

  “Who said? I thought you’ve seen one of these...things, before?”

  “I have seen one. But I don’t know much actual fact about them, only what Aegon told me.”

  “So, how does it change its looks? In a cocoon like a caterpillar?”

  “No,” she said, turning to her computer. Lacey brought up a photo of the sliver of skin Colton had found at the first crime scene. According to the lab, it had a combination of human DNA and another type they weren’t familiar with. “They shed the old skin like a snake does, only it’s not dry and scaly. It usually comes off with a clear slime, like what we saw here.” She indicated the photo. “We need to head over to the lab. I’d bet you a week’s pay they’ll find something similar to this evidence from the scrapings under Angelica’s fingernails.”

  “I can’t afford a week’s pay.” He answered with a grin on his face. “Not only that, but Becca would kill me!”

  It was the first time she’d heard him mention his wife by name, though of course she could have looked it up in his employee file had she needed it for any reason. Maybe he’s starting to feel a little more comfortable around me, she thought, for the first time realizing how difficult it must have been for him, thinking all along that she’d known about their connection but having orders from above to never mention it. I see now this road needs to go both ways.