LRR Hood

by Cassandra Johnson

  “Is your sense of smell really that sensitive? What if it is someone that you know? Do you think they knew about me? If they are trying to set Gaerik up to take the fall for these murders, wouldn’t they have been doing the same thing you were when you found me?”

  Marik looked at her considering this for a second or two before shaking his head gently. “I think they probably would have already found you.” He said clearly not entirely comfortable with the thoughts that were now running through his mind. He actually kind of liked Elle as a stubborn, annoying, little sister type. He wouldn’t want to see her harmed in any way. “And yes, my sense of smell is pretty sensitive but it isn’t anywhere near as good as my brothers. Gaerik has always been more in touch with the beast.” Marik said envying his brother in that respect.

  “So I would probably already be dead by now?” She laughed trying to make herself feel not as squeamish as her stomach knotted up like her insides were trying to shiver away from something disgusting. It really wasn’t funny, but she had to find some kind of way to block out the image of herself floating purple and bloated face down on the beach at Lighthouse Point. Elle decided not to want to think about that imagine.

  “If Gregory was with you, I highly doubt it,” Marik said smiling then even though at the time he hadn’t enjoyed having himself beaten by a human girl and a guardian, the two had taken care of him – then again he wasn’t a determined killer either. Backing the vehicle, he turned down the road and Elle watched curiously this time so that if she ever needed to get back to Gallen’s home, she would know where she was going. Within three turns she was hopelessly lost again. Sighing she would just have to hope that nothing bad happened and there was someone to bring her back in the future. Perhaps next time, when the roads were clear, and there would be a next time. She would ask Marik if she could drive and he give her the directions.

  Driving past exit five Marik and Elle both looked around the shoulder of the road wondering if anything had been left behind, but there was nothing but fresh snow on the ground as they drove past.

  “If you find anything will you call me? Or if you smell anything that is?” Elle positively giggled. It wasn’t going to be hard for her to get used to the fact that her favorite fictional characters weren’t actually fictional at all. She wanted to be a part of this just like her parents, and her grandma had been. The thought of them brought back her conversation with Gallen, their deaths. Somehow she wasn’t as sad as she thought she should be. Elle wasn’t sad, not the way she was when her grandmother died. Then it was like losing a part of herself. Mourning for her parents was more difficult because she had never known them. She would have liked to been raised by them, but that wasn’t a part of fates plan for her. Her grandma always told her that there was a plan in place for everyone and nothing was ever left up to chance.

  Glancing at her Marik sensed her excitement, but he didn’t think she fully understood the dangers, had she not been listening when his father told her how her parents died? This wasn’t a game or a story that you wrote from the safety of your desk. This was real, and she could be killed. Marik didn’t know why that made him look at her with fear as he turned down her street.

  Gregory lifted his head from the passenger side window, scrambling across the back seat so that he was looking out of the driver’s side, a deep snarling growl emitting from deep within his bowls as his ears flattened out.

  Looking towards the house, the door was open, and Marik knew that it hadn’t been like that when they left.

  “Stay here.” He ordered the tremor of his voice lower as he threw his door open and let Gregory out of the back seat quickly before they both darted into the house.

  What he saw was a mess. Furniture was tossed around like a child took a doll house and shook it up and down until there was nothing left but mayhem. Her television was shattered, stepping over the broken glass as the wolf and the guardian made their way through the living room. One of the steel handles of her exercise bike that sat in the corner was completely bent in two and laying on the floor. Holes in the walls. The kitchen wasn’t any better, and Marik didn’t know if he wanted to see the bedroom, but he followed behind Gregory searching every inch of the house for the intruder.

  It was empty save for the destruction left behind. Marik growled slowly shaking his head as he began to sniff around trying to place any scent he could that belonged to the person who did this. A sick feeling in the pit of his stomach told him this wasn’t a coincidence, nothing up until this point had been a coincident. There was something familiar in the smell of the house, but he couldn’t place it with the smells of perfume bottles broken leaving their sickly sweet scent all over the place. The bastard knew how to cover his tracks.

  Her foot began to tap nervously on the floor board creating a rhythm that mimicked the sound of her pulse. What was going on inside her house, had they found anything, were they dead and the killer was just waiting for her to come in next like a sick game of hide and seek? Swallowing Elle couldn’t take it anymore, if her boys were in there, she was going in there too. Cracking the door of the vehicle open she hopped out and tried to walk as quietly as she could what with the snow crunching beneath her boots, however when she got to the door she couldn’t stop the gasp that erupted from her lips.

  “Oh my God,” Elle whispered looking around her living room, ruined and as she stepped inside, her eyes cast at her feet as she tried to walk around the shattered and broken glass which was impossible she didn’t find things much better in the kitchen. Elle told herself to be strong but as she looked around at what was once her sweet cozy little home she couldn’t stop the stinging tears that began to fill her eyes and stop up her already congested nostrils.

  “My home.” She whimpered faintly as she came to the bedroom and looked inside, finding the broad backside of Marik as he stood examining what little was left of her clothes, he discovered the fact quicker than she had, they were all shredded. Gulping quickly Elle found herself clutching her chest as one tear drop after another fell from her eyes. Not because of the clothes, she could always buy more clothes that wasn’t important to her. Her eyes were cast on the floor, the bent and broken pieces of pictures laying all over the floor.

  Whoever had done this made it feel personal, but she didn’t understand. Who could hate her this much? She was nobody.

  Stumbling into the room she dropped down onto her knees, picking up the pieces that were left behind of what used to be her family photo albums. Great pains had been taken to make sure that every single memory she had was ripped to shreds as she collected the torn bits into her hand, trying to find them all in the foolish hopes that perhaps she could tape them all back together as the tears flowed down her cheeks, sobbing to herself.

  Arriving at the airport Gaerik parked the Escalade and walked inside checking his bag. He’d already transferred as much cash as he could to a prepaid money card and thanks to his contacts he had a passport that would get him to the O’Hara airport, he would have to drive from there, but he didn’t care. He was going home to help his brother and his father find the killer who was setting him up to take the fall and ultimately get him killed.

  He knew that he had ruffled a few feathers over the years but who honestly hated him enough to go through this much trouble. Call him old fashioned but wasn’t a sensible fist fight just as good?

  Boarding his flight he sat in his seat staring out of the window while the wheels of his mind turned over and over, knowing that once he got his hands on this son of a bitch there wasn’t much anyone was going to be able to do to keep him from ripping the bastards head right off of his shoulders and placing it on a stake in the front yard. Technically he didn’t have a front yard, but he was almost tempted to buy a house just so he could do it.

  Chapter Nineteen

  He was truly at a loss as to what to do to help her suffering; someone had come into her home and utterly destroyed everything she owned, every possession, every memory, the place she was supposed t
o feel the safest had been completely violated in the strongest sense of the word. Swallowing somewhat Marik looked around the room for something, anything that was salvageable but there was nothing. Kneeling down he placed a hand on her shoulder gently, not knowing what to say.

  “I’m so sorry Elle.” Marik finally found himself saying before he began to help her pick up the pieces, putting them into piles on the floor though he really didn’t see how they could be put back together.

  “I think this is all of them.” Elle sniffed, running the back of her sleeve under her nose like a child as she blinked, her thick black eyelashes stuck together in small points emphasizing their length while she scooped them up carefully as if she were picking up a small child. Getting to her feet her fingers gently curled over the pictures as she walked into the kitchen and looked around.

  There wasn’t a thing she could see that had gone untouched; feeling a fresh wave of tears trying to push to the surface she shook her head gently, swallowing them back as Marik came along with her looking around at the damage.

  “Can you look in that cabinet and get a container for these?” Nodding towards the cabinet above the sink she wasn’t letting go of what was left of her pictures as she stood there clutching them in her hands.

  Opening the doors, he found one, prying the lid off he brought it to her, and she dumped the shredded pieces of photographs into the left-over container. Marik gently pushed the lid of the container down so that its contents were safe before Elle then crushed them to her chest. Marik had never been good at taking social cues, but she looked so small and vulnerable at that moment as he stepped closer, gathering her into his arms close to his chest, his chin just brushing the top of her head.

  “It’s going to be ok. I promise. We’ll find him, and we will fix this.” Marik assured her, leaning back somewhat so that he could see her face making sure she understood him as he nodded before holding her close again. Muscles in his chest quivered as he thought how easily it had been for that bastard to get into her home and do this, and what if Elle had been here when he came? Marik couldn’t force himself to finish the thought as he took her shoulders and slowly guided her back out of the house in a daze before he settled her into the front seat of his care once more.

  Elle looked like a lost child as he strapped the seat belt around her and called the guardian back out of the house. Gregory didn’t seem to want to leave the house, but he also couldn’t leave the side of his mistress not now when she seemed to be breaking into pieces. Getting into the backseat, Gregory moved around so that his head was peeking out from the side of the seat so that his muzzle nudged her shoulder lightly before burying his nose into her neck gently. It was the beasts own way of trying to offer her some sort of comfort and solace, but Marik wasn’t sure if it did any good.

  “I’ll take you to my father’s house, you will be safe there,” Marik told her after putting the vehicle in drive. By now he felt very familiar with her street like he had been driving down it for years and not just once in the day and a half that Marik had known her. Marik felt a change in himself as well that he was no longer the man who came to this house looking for his brother and a prostitute. He now understood how blind he actually was to his own actions. What a fool he had been. ‘Maybe my brother was right, I am a pompous ass.’

  As they drove, Elle was quiet. Marik called his father telling him what they had found when they got back to Elle’s house and that he would be dropping her off for safe keeping while he went to the exit as well as Lighthouse Point. He didn’t trust leaving Elle with anyone else right now.

  Within minutes they were parked by the side door to the house, and Marik simply picked her up and carried her inside. Gallen’s steel blue eyes watching with keen attention to detail taking in every aspect of the girl who he had only met a few hours ago but now looked like she would be a permanent fixture in his home, at least for the time being. Settling Elle onto the couch in the living room, a room she had yet to see in his home he watched as Marik leaned over her, speaking gently.

  “Elle, I’m going to leave you here ok? My father is here, and Gregory. They will protect you if anything happens.” Stroking her hair away from her face gently he sought out her eyes searching them for any kind of sign that she understood what he was telling her.

  Her tongue gently moved over her lips, nodding somewhat as she sniffed quietly. In all honesty, she didn’t feel much like talking anymore. Less than an hour ago she was filled with questions, but now she was in a whirlwind of pain and confusion as she inhaled, finding it hard to breath without crying.

  “Ok,” Elle told him finally, her lips trying to curl into a faint smile only to fail miserably half way through. “Be careful.”

  Her concern for him was startling, and he hadn’t expected it in the least. His lips parted as on the verge of giving her a response before his mouth closed and he just nodded standing up straight before kissing the top of her head and motioning for his father to come with him so that they could talk in private.

  He thought compared to how he could have handled it that he had kept his temper fairly well, but once inside the kitchen he turned shaking as he looked his father in the eyes.

  “The son of a bitch was in her house.” Marik began pacing back and forth, his hair had long since come loose from the pony tail leaving the shoulder length hair to spray around his face as he felt his fists shaking. “And he knew exactly what he was doing there too, he came there to get her, and when he realized she wasn’t there, he tore the place apart. He’s smart too. He knew how to cover his tracks so that I wouldn’t be able to find him again by scent. There were perfume bottles shattered in almost every room, all I could smell was Elle and since we both know she was here with us.” He shook his head losing his train of thought in the anger that kept boiling just at the simmering point ready to explode at any moment as a deep growl ripped through his throat, his canines elongating.

  “Calm down Marik. If you shift now, it’s not going to do us any good and what if she hears you? You remember how she reacted to my shift. The girl has been through enough today. Take deep breathes, remember how I taught you to control it as a boy? Close your eyes. You’re too angry right now to think straight, if you go on like this you could make a huge mistake.” Using the smooth deep baritone of his voice to calm him while cautiously getting closer to him.

  Moving in he took him by the shoulders and directed his son to a bar stool and pushed him down.

  “Is there anything else you can think of that stood out about the house?” Gallen asked looking deep into his son’s eyes.

  “He went through every room,” Marik said thinking back to what he saw in the house. “Her pictures, the albums they were torn apart, her clothes were shredded.” Looking around the kitchen with no particular target for his aimless gaze just something to fixate on that would help his mind focus. “He’s been trained at least a little, he knew that I wouldn’t be able to pick up a scent with the perfume. The attack was personal. If he had gone there to take Elle then why trash the place? She shouldn’t mean anything to him, hell we just now found out about her.”

  Gallen slowly released Marik’s shoulders only to fold his arms over his chest as his mouth pressed into a hard line of thought.

  “He has been watching your brother, perhaps much like you, he went to his apartment and found your brothers research on Elle. Then knowing that your brother’s fascination with her because of her books and trying to find out how she knew so much about werewolves he knew that your brother wouldn’t want anything to happen to her before he got his answers so he went to take Elle to try to draw him further out so that you could then, take your brother down. But when he got there, she was already gone.” Gallen said thinking out loud as he looked into Marik’s eyes to see if he was comprehending anything that he was saying to him.

  Marik felt that there was some truth to what his father was saying, technically that was the only thing that actually made sense to him. His brow furrowed softl
y before nodding.

  “You’re right.” He admitted after a short time.

  He couldn’t say how he had developed such a close bond to this woman that he barely knew, but he did know one thing for sure, he didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. Marik wanted to protect her because after all, she was human.

  “I’m going to leave her here for now while I go back out. I want to check out where the last victim was found before the scent is completely gone.”

  Action, it was all he knew to do right now, and he’d be damned if he let his brother and this woman get dragged down into that pit of darkness that for a while he was completely consumed in. Standing up he cleared his throat gently. It was only mid-day, but it felt as if it were ten o’clock at night if he was judging by how drained he felt.

  “I think that is a good idea. Don’t worry, I won’t let her out of my sight even for a minute.” Gallen assured him before patting his pup on the shoulder.

  ~

  It took a little over an hour for his flight to land in Hartford and then another hour and a half in his car. Gaerik had someone go to his apartment building to retrieve his car and bring it up to him. Luckily he didn’t have to answer any questions. He was always going somewhere or doing something, so his friends rarely gave it a second thought when they were politely accosted with one of his strange requests that seemed to come out of nowhere. He knew he couldn’t very well go back to his apartment, if someone other than his brother was looking for him that would be the first place they would look, obviously he couldn’t show up at his father’s house since he was already banned from it for the time being, that only left one other person within his close personal circle who actually wanted to save his life rather than drive the nail into the coffin.

  Parking a few blocks down the street he hiked up to his brother’s house and considered for a moment as he found the spare on his key ring and let himself in, would Marik be pleased to see him or would he be furious and run to tell dear old dad the newest fuck up his twin had committed? Gaerik decided that he didn’t care as he went inside and made himself at home. The first thing that he did was raid the fridge. After spending the last twelve hours, give or take, living off of gas station food he was starving for something real. Settling on a turkey sandwich he lounged on the couch eating, scrolling through the channels on the television set. Gaerik assumed that his brother was probably out, the eager little Boy Scout that he was working on clearing his name, and for that he was grateful. Gaerik didn’t exactly relish the thought of being on the lamb for the rest of his life.