Inhuman Heritage

by Sonnet O'Dell

  Light from the inside washed over me and I had to shield my eyes for a minute as we stepped in. The castle appearance I’d glimpsed from the outside continued on the inside. We were in a large domed entrance way that had five different corridors stretching off it. From the ceiling on a metal link chain was a wooden chandelier posted with candles burning with bright yellow flames. There was a table in the center inset with a silver colored bowl that was filled with water that rippled from a spout on the other side. On the surface floated vibrant purple petals from wolvesbain.

  “You guys are big on your symbolism, huh.” Simian smiled at me. Sliding his hands into the bowl, he collected an intact flower shaking it dry and tucked it into my hair. It had a sharp but not unpleasant smell.

  “Do we wait or...” Just as I was asking the question the door down the corridor right in front of us opened and a woman walked out. She was a small, petite blond woman, rounded but not fat, and had an appearance of being a soft woman. She beamed at us.

  “Brie,” said Simian throwing his arms out and embracing the woman when she was in his range. She smiled up at him, stepped back and straightened her perfectly tailored navy blue suit.

  “Simian,” she said, her smile never faltering, and turned to me including me in her warm expression, “and you must be Cassandra. I’m so pleased to meet you.”

  She extended me her hand and I shook it, her grip firm but not crushing.

  “A pleasure.”

  “Come, they’re waiting for you. Can I get you something to drink? We’ve got some very nice wines in the kitchen.” Simian and I exchanged a look and both declined the offer. We followed her down the corridor and her hips swayed a little. I didn’t think she was trying to be flirty, it was just the way her body adjusted to walking in heels.

  “So who is she?” I said under my breath to Simian. I knew she could probably hear me but she didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

  “Brie Baines, she’s the king’s personal secretary.” When we reached the door at the end of the corridor, the one Brie had emerged from earlier, we took a staircase down. These two looked like they had been carved out of rock and were too deep, like they weren’t designed for creatures of two legs to walk down. I shuddered at the thought of meeting a turned werewolf halfway down the stairs. Although I knew a great deal about werewolves I had only ever seen a partial changed werewolf up close, when they had bear baited that poor man in the Soul Market. He had forced the change back to ruin the display for the audience. I also figured that the silver chains that had bound him would have been too small for his wolf limbs and would have cut into his flesh burning right down to muscle and bone. I’d seen a documentary where they’d followed a werewolf, they changed to be almost exactly like their natural cousins except they were monstrously huge. Simian had never changed in front of me because werewolves with any amount of control tend to strip naked before changing so as not to ruin their clothes. I had no desire to see Simian naked, ever.

  The stairs curled round and then splayed out into a new underground corridor. The shape of them as I looked back sort of reminded me of a seashell. More corridors appeared along the main one as we walked leading off to various different locations. I didn’t know what it was about the preternatural set that made them want to build underground like moles or unrealistic super villains. One cave in and that was the decor ruined not to mention any plans for world domination. I sort of missed the illusion that vampires and werewolves lived in castles but I suppose even those had a dungeon level. Ahead of us loomed another double door, the only purpose of which, I suppose, was for dramatic entrances and Brie stopped here to knock. The door opened inwards and I couldn’t see who she was talking to.

  To the left was another corridor and in it I could see two men, huddled close together. The man whose face I could see looked young, he was a dirty blonde with luminous blue eyes. He was speaking low and intently to a dark-haired man who had his back to me. I watched as he cut the young man off, sent him away and opened a smaller side door entering inside. Simian pinched my arm lightly and I turned my eyes back to the front.

  Brie had stepped back stretching one arm out to indicate that we should go ahead and go inside, also that she was not joining us. The room we stepped into was lit by moonlight and sparsely placed torches. The moonlight filtered in from a glass window that was directly in the roof of the...cave? There was no other word to describe the space, the walls were rough rock, unpainted and not smoothed in any fashion. The end of the room was separated into three sections, two side alcoves in which were throw cushions and large pillows in a melee of colors. The middle section was divided again into three, two smaller stone seats that sat beside a large throne. It was very elegant looking despite the fact that it looked a bit like crazy paving gone wrong. I got then that the shape of the room looked vaguely like a wolf paw and I muttered to myself about you guys and your subtle symbolism. Simian stifled a laugh.

  The three seats were empty though. I noticed now that there was a group of men lounging in one of the pillow filled alcoves, five men altogether. Three of them from what Simian told me had to be the candidates to be the new king. I guessed since they didn’t know which one of them would be sitting in the big chair they were staying away from it. The candidates appeared to be the three men in the middle of the group. One was a man of about fifty who had silvery hair buzzed short and salt and pepper stubble growth all over his jaw. His attire and the straight way in which he sat suggested to me ex-military forces. The man next to him was slight, hardly athletic looking, tall and lean with designer glasses perched on a slightly beaky nose and was studying a book in his lap. He had brown hair that flopped over the edges of his frames shielding his eyes that were perpetually looking down. The last guy looked vaguely like Russell Crowe. I was half tempted to skirt the introductions and ask him to do the Gladiator speech. The two guys either side of them were buff in a way that said muscle for hire. The one on the left was watching me from under thick lashed eyes. He had rough black hair that was in dark tight curls on top of his head and a neatly trimmed beard that made him look like Satan in a Sunday hat. I had a feeling this was the guy I had seen from the back in the corridor. The other guy had long golden brown hair that was tied back with a leather thong and very deep blue eyes. As we approached he winked at me. I didn’t know who this guy was but the last way to impress me was to wink at me. I don’t think that had worked on a girl, ever.

  “Gentleman, I’d like to introduce you to Cassandra Farbanks,” said Simian as we stopped just outside the edge of the pillows. All three of the men did me the honor of looking up at me. The middle guy with glasses even closed his book. I looked to Simian, did I bow? I turned back to them and gave a nervous little wave. The Russell Crowe look-a-like looked at me and cleared his throat.

  “My name is Leroy Craven.” Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. I bit my lip not to giggle. He quirked an eyebrow at me but turned to look at his companions. “This is Sam Kinsley and Dustin Torgerson.” I gave them both a nod which they returned, we had acknowledged each other. I looked to either side of me.

  “And they are?” Sam looked around his companions to see where I was looking and gave a little grin.

  “Seth Brogan and DJ Tanner,” he said and my eyes fell on the guy with the long brown hair.

  “DJ?”

  “Short for David Jacob,” he said with a small smirk.

  “Your parents went full old testament on you, huh.”

  DJ had a booming laugh. It bounced off the walls around the room. He smiled at me broadly after that. I found that I liked his smile, it made his whole face light up with an attractiveness you wouldn’t have picked out before. You’d have been too intimidated by the muscles to notice that he was handsome on top of that. I turned to assess the other guy quite aware that as my eyes rolled away from him DJ took a look at my legs. Brogan gave me an easy smile, he more openly ogled my assets and I crossed my arms waiting till he had finished. He met my eyes
and didn’t look a bit embarrassed although he should have been.

  “Hello,” he said and his smile made me shiver and not in a good way. There was something about this guy I didn’t like, predatory. Most people would think werewolves always gave off a predatory vibe but most of the time they gave off a serene or spirit of nature vibe, wild but not savage. It was something to do with the blending of the animal and human psyches. Of course I spent most of my time around werewolves who were on the upper end of the scale. New wolves were a little dangerous to be around.

  “Please sit down with us,” said Sam pushing one of the larger cushions out with his foot. I slid out of my coat, all five of the new men taking in the action and my little black dress. I dropped onto the cushion Indian style and draped my coat over my lap so that I didn’t flash anyone. Simian had more trouble getting down and getting comfortable.

  “So what do I need to know?” I asked scanning all three of them with my eyes. I was getting the idea that even if only one of them got to be the actual king, the other two would take the seat either side of him. A king and his advisors.

  “About the person you are to collect or about his role in these proceedings?” asked the graying Dustin speaking for the first time. He had a gravelly voice that was commanding, like that of a retired drill sergeant.

  “Let’s start with what the proceedings are, then we can move onto who this person is and where he or she is coming in from.”

  Sam adjusted his glasses and it looked like he was going to take the narrative.

  “In our society, three candidates are chosen from the three main bodies of age. Myself, early twenties, mid-life which is Leroy and later life which is Dustin. This allows for all ages in our society to be covered.”

  “And you’re all born werewolves?” I was pretty sure they were and I was pretty sure they were all level fives. DJ was also a born level five but Brogan looked like he might have been bitten. There was a difference in the aura of the men on my right to the one to my left who was brooding slightly and leaning against the wall.

  “Yes, the candidates are always born werewolves traditionally. Once the three candidates are chosen…” continued Sam but I felt the need to interrupt again.

  “How do candidates get picked?”

  “We announce ourselves,” commented Leroy. Sam shot us both a look that said he didn’t want to be interrupted anymore. I bit my lip softly and kept my questions in.

  “As I was saying, once the three candidates are chosen by a general vote, we gather and get to know each other while the anointer is summoned.”

  “The anointer?” Sam didn’t seem to mind me asking this as it allowed him to continue talking.

  “There is a religious side to our culture. We trace our roots back to Romania and from there comes a mystic that will decide which one of us will be the best king.”

  “I thought you guys didn’t like magic?”

  “There is no magic involved really, this person is impartial and will see what kind of future each of us will bring to the pack, the king will be chosen by which future is better.” I thought about that for a minute, turning it over in my mind. How dejected would you feel if the guy touched you and decided that what you would do as ruler would bring about an unsatisfactory future. I suppose you would have to look on the bright side—that the best man would get the job and you would still be a part of it; it wasn’t all about who was driving the bus. Looking into the future was difficult, a lot of people throughout history were rumored to have the power to do so, some were believed and others weren’t but either way it never made them very happy. It certainly didn’t make me happy and it had taken me some time to realize that I had been seeing parts of the future, in my dreams, like snapshots of things that had later come to pass. I at times had begun to wonder if I had realized it sooner, could I have stopped some of the more awful things and I also wondered, more so now than ever, where this power came from, where all my powers came from. I snapped myself out of my silent reverie.

  “Okay. I understand the background. I get that he is an important guy. When is he coming in and you want him brought here, to this building?”

  “His plane will land at a small airstrip on a farm owned by one of us on the Evesham Road, south east of Worcester itself,” said Dustin splaying his fingers against his knees. “The plane will land at midnight tonight.”

  Midnight. That meant I had to get straight to work, also I was not going to wear this dress for the rest of the evening. I had to think about what to do with Incarra and Anton who were trapped into my apartment. They would be okay for the moment, but if I left them much longer they would find a way out of my place, they were both very clever.

  “Can I ask one last question before I get on with doing this.” They didn’t raise any objections. “Why aren’t you going to meet him yourselves?”

  “We cannot, in case on the trip he becomes influenced, bonds with one of us by accident. It is always better if a third party is involved to ferry them. You will pick him up.”

  I found only one problem with that, I didn’t have a car with which to go pick him up. I did however know someone who did. He would love this.

  “I know I said one last question but I have another one and isn’t that always the way, you think you’re done but you’re not.”

  “Your question, Miss Farbanks?” asked Leroy pushing me to make my point.

  “Right, I need to involve a driver. That’s okay with you guys right? I’ll vouch for him and I’m going to make it one of my conditions of working for you.”

  The three exchanged a look and Simian who hadn’t moved for a while turned his head and gave me a puzzled look. I raised an eyebrow and shrugged him off. They finished deliberating.

  “That will be fine.”

  Simian got to his feet and graciously helped me to save my modesty as my dress was not designed for floor sitting. It was designed for dinners at nice restaurants or cocktail parties, not that I got invited to many of those. We were to our feet and turning away when a sound behind me, a distinct clearing of a throat made me freeze.

  “Although we envision no trouble, one of our enforcers will follow you, please pick which one you want.”

  I didn’t need to even think about, I turned waving a hand over my shoulder as I walked towards the door.

  “Come on testament boy, let’s go, a lot to do.” DJ pushed away from the wall and I could hear his footsteps on the hard floor following us out the door.

  Chapter Ten

  Confidence. You can get your way with little fuss with just a little confidence. So I strutted into the PCU offices, my coat held over one shoulder and my heels clacking along the floor. I watched a mouth or two drop. I could look really good when I wanted and now that I was sober again I could walk that way too. Benjamin DS Hodgeson who was sitting at his desk banging files into order let his hands freeze in mid air and the papers dropped all over his lap. I’d not been into PCU since I had officially been noted in the paper as dating a vampire. The picture that had accompanied the article, of me in that dress had been stunning. I kept a clipping in my drawer. I stopped at his desk leaning my elbow on top of his monitor.

  “Farbanks, you’ve brought out the legs, what’s the occasion? The bloodsucker like it when you dress trashy?”

  “He couldn’t care less what I wear,” I said and smirked at him. “He’s more concerned about how quick it is to get me out of it. Rourke in her office?” He gaped at me and nodded. It seemed it was one thing to know I had been or was dating a vampire and another thing to know I had slept with him. I’d never had a boyfriend I’d slept with before. I walked away from him, gave a sly wink to LeBron and pushed open the door into Rourke’s office.

  Samantha Rourke looked like the results of a wild night of passion between the hulk and lady Penelope from the Thunderbirds. She had small delicate feminine features on a massive herculean body. Her shoulders alone were twice the width of mine. She was sipping a coffee and pouring over some reports on he
r desk, minor skirmishes between the supernatural world and hers. When she lifted her head to see who had come into her office I could see that she had cut her hair, it was now in a chin length sever style that seemed to suit her. She made a face that made her look tired as I flopped down in the chair across from her putting my feet up on the edge of her desk. She looked at me and grumpily swatted my feet of the desk.

  “Farbanks,” she said scornfully.

  “Rourke, you don’t call, you don’t write, I’m not feeling the love.” She cocked an eyebrow at me.

  “Is this a social visit?” She made a gesture of wafting her hand between us. “Cause you and me, we don’t do social.” I pouted at her and got a stone cold glare in return. Rourke couldn’t even pretend to be nice.

  “Well, I’m here to requisition personnel from you.”

  “Not a chance in hell, Farbanks.” She turned back to her paperwork and pointed at the way I had come in. “You know the way out.” I put my feet back onto her desk. She gripped the pen so tight that the springs inside it whined. I smiled at her and reached into my jacket pocket slowly unfolding a piece of paper, she watched me do it torn between annoyed and worried. Did it make me a bad person because I really like to tease her? Nah! I figured I was on a karmic mission of justice on this one.

  “Well seeing as I knew you would say something like that, I went over your head, which by the way, the very Mandy Moore teen cut looks good on you and, well, it’s less of a request now.” She reached over snatching the piece of paper out of my hand reading over it. As a paranormal investigator, the only state licensed one in the city in fact my job had only two perks. I could charge what I wanted and I got to borrow resources from the police. I lowered my feet from her desk as she glowered at the piece of paper in her hands. I could have come in here, messed about asking her nicely and still had to have gone above her to get what I wanted, I’d just cut out the middle man saving us both some time. I leaned forward clasping my fingers over the top of the piece of paper.