by Sarah Noffke
“Ren Lewis?” Mika said, pushing some papers on his desk around. There was a file on Ren Lewis that Drake had given him. He was the one who sanctioned the experiments at the Institute that Drake was recruited for. Actually Mika knew that Ren was considered to be an extremely powerful Dream Traveler. His reputation was known far outside the Lucidite Institute, but the man had disappeared and nothing had been heard about him in a while. The book, no doubt, has quite a lot of valuable information in it, Mika thought with a greedy lust.
“Uh-huh, I had his book, but that bratty girl took it back and then had me chunked out of the Institute,” Kris said.
“Uh-huh isn’t a word, Kris,” Mika said, a thought occurring to him at the same time. “Describe this girl. You said she had red hair.”
“There’s not much to say. She’s small, long red hair, and a snarky attitude,” Kris said with a shrug.
“You said she has mind control. Any other skills?” Mika said.
“Not that I saw,” Kris said, turning and looking at the grandfather clock in the corner. “I have to go.”
“Need I remind you that you work for me and you’re on my clock,” Mika said, just as he noticed Drake bob in the background. His chief scientist must have news. It better be good.
“Why were you sneaking around the main lab?” Mika said to Kris.
“I wasn’t sneaking. Your new security dude is just paranoid. I was only looking for my brother,” Kris said, her eyes turning to see Drake, who was now just behind her, waiting for Mika’s attention.
“He isn’t here and you know that. Not until Morgan is repaired will he be employed by Olento Research again,” Mika said, not believing Kris.
“Repaired. You make it sound like he’s an old Cadillac that is getting a new transmission,” Kris said, her eyes narrowing at Mika. “He injured himself on a mission you assigned him to. Remember?”
“Kris, I suggest that you rethink how you talk to me if you value yours and your brother’s sorry existence. I put a lot of resources into your skill, but I will not hesitate to bury your invisible bodies in the dumpsters outside. Do I make myself clear?” Mika said, then without waiting for a confirmation he angled his head at Drake. “You have news for me?”
Haiku looked at Kris and then Mika. “What do you want me to do with her?” he said, pointing at the woman.
“Get her out of here. Set up infrared on the security cameras so that way she won’t be sneaking around the labs,” Mika said. “Kris, you’ll be called when I have a mission for you.”
She bowed in an exaggerated fashion. “Always a pleasure, Mr. Lenna,” Kris said.
“What’s going on?” Mika said, when Drake stepped forward.
“It’s Isha. The drugs and procedure seemed to have worked. She’s having visions of the future,” the old scientist said, a delighted light in his eyes.
Chapter Nine
“Man is not man, but a wolf to those he does not know.”
- Plautus
Being a mole wasn’t a romantic job, full of covert late-night missions and the heart-racing sneak attempts that Adelaide had imagined. It was bloody boring. She simply sent what she needed for her work projects over to Aiden and he supplied her with the finished products. Nothing happened at Parantaa Research, well, besides that repugnant people chatted too loudly and invaded Adelaide’s personal space. That’s why she’d started taking the stairs in and out of the building, which now seemed like a short-sighted idea. Her feet were killing her.
At the door to her residence at the Institute, she removed her black heels, rubbing her feet as she did. Apparently, the employees at Parantaa Research got weekends off. Must be nice. Lucidites never got a day off because as Ren used to say, bad guys don’t take a day off from corrupting the world, so neither can we. Still, Adelaide was happy that she had a few days home to consider how she would break through the veil Mika was obviously protecting at Parantaa Research. There was a way to find access to Olento Research, but she hadn’t figured it out yet.
“Your mum is home,” Pops said, rushing forward, a giant smile on his face. He folded Adelaide in his long arms at once, tugging her in tight. He always hugged like that, like he really meant it and not like it was just a gesture he was expected to do. Pulling back, he looked her over.
“And look at you, you’re quite remarkable in a business suit,” he said to her.
Adelaide regarded the pinstriped suit with a sneer. “Appearances are deceiving. This getup makes me want to murder someone,” she said. Although the business attire had been uncomfortable, it was all that Adelaide packed and therefore she’d had to stick with it the entire boring week.
“Lucien, come say hi to your mum,” Pops said, waving at the boy who was peeking around the corner. He pulled his head back at the mention of his name.
“No, I’m busy,” the toddler said.
“Lucy, I haven’t seen you in days. Come here,” Adelaide said, but there wasn’t really any conviction in the words. She hadn’t really missed her son in the last few days. She’d wanted to miss him, but she’d actually felt relieved not to offer herself superficially to him and have him reject her. Neither one of them were really trying, she knew.
“No, I’m busy,” the boy repeated.
“Yeah, me too,” Adelaide said, blinking, trying to clear her dry eyes. “I’ve got to head over to the strategic department. I’ll see you later, Pops.”
“But you just got back,” he said, hurt evident on his face.
“Yes, and that means I need to ensure the dogs haven’t peed all over the place. You know how untrained that bunch is,” she said, turning for the door. Adelaide couldn’t stand to see the disappointment in Pops’s eyes. He kept saying if she just tried she could bond with her son, but he didn’t know how many times she’d tried. Or maybe he did, and also knew how many times she’d quit. Loving someone is difficult. It’s harder than pushing them away, which is all Adelaide knew. She wasn’t a bad person, just an unlovable one.
Adelaide paused at the door, turning, but her gaze was on her black heels. Then she shook her head, unwilling to subject herself to that abuse any longer. She left the flat barefoot and with a heavy heart.
“There you are,” Trent said, rounding out of one of the smaller conference rooms in the strategic department. “Undercover seems to suit you.” Trent clapped his hands together as he and Adelaide walked farther into the department. “Get it? Suit you. You’re wearing a suit.” His laugh was loud and uninhibited.
“Wow, you’re so bloody hilarious. Quit your job and get on the American telly. Those buffoons love laughing at other monkeys,” Adelaide said dryly.
“You know in America we just call it regular television,” Trent said, his voice light.
“You know in Great Britain we just call you all ungrateful wankers who are undeserving of a soul,” Adelaide said, hiking up an eyebrow at him.
“No you don’t,” he said.
“No, that’s just me. It’s true though,” Adelaide said. “Give me a full update. How far have you allowed this department to slide into the pits of bloody hell in my absence?”
Trent tucked a dread behind his ear. “In your absence, there’s been no news reports on any werewolves,” he said.
“That’s because if you don’t pressure Roya to look for one of those bloody dogs then she just finds events related to natural disasters and mass murders. All unimportant shit,” Adelaide said.
Trent sighed, probably realizing that telling Adelaide not to influence the news reporters was never going to work. “And there has been another attack in Los Angeles. A librarian’s body was found, but we only know it’s hers based on forensics. She was unrecognizable,” he said, his voice dropping with seriousness.
“Damn, this rabid wolf has a bloody vendetta, doesn’t he?” Adelaide said, her eyes pulling to the side at a figure on the other side of the glass partition.
“We need to make catching him a top priority. I know y
ou just got back but—”
“I’ll give it my entire attention through the weekend,” Adelaide said, cutting him off.
“Well, you should take some time to spend with your son,” Trent said.
“I think that as long as women are being maimed in the streets of Los Angeles my son can do without me. Kids don’t even remember the first five years anyway,” she said.
Trent nodded, but gave her an unconvinced look. “If anyone can figure out how to catch the rabid wolf, it will be you,” he said, turning and walking for the exit, leaving Adelaide staring at the figure on the other side of the glass wall.
With her head held high she cruised into the main conference room, her eyes on the file cabinet where she knew she’d find the latest reports on the werewolf case. She had the file pressed between her fingers and her focus on the exit when Connor cleared his throat.
“First you try and have me killed and now you’re ignoring me…” he said.
Adelaide paused. Blinked. Her eyes fell to the right of Connor. “Just imagine what I have in store for you next. It’s obviously going to include my full disdain and make you feel utterly worthless.”
“So the reversal conversion didn’t work the way you wanted it to,” Connor said dryly.
“Meaning that you’re still alive,” Adelaide said, knotting her hand into her hair and finally looking at Connor. He sat reclined in one of the leather seats at the conference table, his arms crossed.
“Yes, and also that I still have the werewolf in me. I changed last night,” he said.
Adelaide bit down on her bottom lip and nodded at the floor, her disappointment leaking to the surface. “Well, we will just have to keep testing on you until it works or it zaps the brain cells you didn’t kill with drugs,” she said.
Connor rolled his green eyes up to the ceiling. “Right, a drug joke. I guess I deserve to keep hearing those for at least a few more years,” he said.
A few more years? How long was Connor planning on hanging around the Institute? Actually, Adelaide hadn’t yet considered the long-term plan for the werewolves if the reversal conversion wasn’t successful. They’d have to stay at the Institute to protect society. She didn’t like the idea of boarding the mutts for eternity though. Maybe they could put them on an island.
Adelaide’s lips started to feel raw from the work her teeth were doing to them.
“I get that I’m not the strongest in the pack, but did you have to make it so blatantly obvious that I’m the most expendable?” Connor said, and now she spied the quiet anger in his eyes.
Adelaide released her lip when her mouth popped open and her eyes swiveled to Connor. She was having a hard time keeping her gaze on him, sitting relaxed and yet stress engraved on his face. “Expendable? You think I had you undergo reversal conversion testing because I thought you were expendable?” She nodded her head. “Yeah, I could see how hurtful the action could have appeared. I have no regrets.”
“Your capacity for consideration continues to blow me away,” Connor said, his voice monotone.
“There’s always risks in this business. I knew that death or dismemberment was a potential, but we have to start somewhere. I thought you wanted to do something for the pack,” Adelaide said. Why did he have to look at her like that? Like he was both angry and soft. Like he was hurt and also relieved. Connor was the picture of dichotomy for Adelaide. Impassive and yet he had written all his emotions on his body with tattoos. Apathetic and yet in his eyes she saw a yearning, an unquenched desire.
“Risks,” he said, hissing on the word. “Is that why you’re putting yourself in danger infiltrating Parantaa Research?”
“Well, it is the Lucidites’ job to take down bad men. The only way I can do that is if I can find out more about Mika Lenna and Olento Research,” Adelaide said. “And why do you care if I’m putting myself in danger? If something happens to me, Trent will just assign you a new dog trainer.”
“Maybe I don’t want a new dog trainer,” he said simply, a slight smile on his mouth now.
She shook her head at him, shaking away the feeling his admission gave her. Adelaide’s eyes fell to the green salamander on his arm. “Does that represent fire for you?” she said, pointing at the lizard that took up most of his forearm. It wasn’t the perfect way to change the subject, but it was all she could come up with on the spot.
His eyes dropped to look at the tattoo and his smile widened. “Someone knows their folklore. I’m impressed,” he said.
“I know every bloody thing. Don’t you forget that,” she said, her chest suddenly humming for some odd reason.
He held up his hands like in surrender. “Right, the girl with the book of secrets. Of course you’d know symbolism and everything else.”
“Why fire? Does it have something to do with the fact that you’ll burn in hell one day? Or is it related to the drugs? Or were you just high when you got it?” she said.
“I’m sure if there was a hell then I’d burn in it. But actually this is just a reminder. All of my tattoos are reminders,” he said. “The salamander actually represents purgatory and how it’s where I perpetually find myself.”
“So you’re the punishing type. Self-loathing has always been one of my favorite qualities in a person. It just always leaves me warm and cozy after an interaction,” Adelaide said, hugging herself with mock doughy eyes.
“Oh, well if self-loathing is your thing then I’m your man,” Connor said, making Adelaide’s fake smile instantly drop.
“Anyway, I have to get to work on the werewolf stuff,” she said, worrying that soon she’d trip on her words or her feet. She walked barefoot for the exit.
“Why don’t I help you review the files? I could use a task. And as you said, you know I want to be more involved,” he said.
“How do I know that?” she said.
He smiled, uncrossing his feet and pulling them off the table. “You know that because you’re intuitive. And you just said that’s why you signed me up for the reversal conversion.”
Why was he messing with her? Was he even meaning to or was this their new normal, a cat and dog game? “Yeah, fine. Two sets of eyes are always good,” she said, dropping the file on the table. “And also, I wasn’t trying to have you killed by having the reversal conversion done on you.”
“You weren’t? That’s a relief,” Connor said.
“Yeah, I was actually trying to help you. I was trying to fix you,” Adelaide said, her voice suddenly quieter.
“I’m going to take the liberty of thinking that’s because you want to feel safer when you’re around me,” Connor said, his teeth showing when he smiled. She assumed he didn’t do that often.
“Dogs don’t have liberties. And honestly, I just don’t want to end up your evening meal,” Adelaide said.
Chapter Ten
“A gang is the same as a wolf pack; gang members do not use their energies in friendship with one another, for they do not know what friendship is. If they are united, it is by the common bond of a desire to attack their world.”
- Haniel Long
David had always been a good sitter. Most wouldn’t see that as a skill, but he commended himself for it. His sister, Anne, always had to be moving. She twiddled her hair or her fingers when she sat. However, David knew how to do nothing and he was actually good at it. The sofa, with its many lumps, was good evidence of this. Still, David was tired of sitting in the garage that had faint smells of gasoline. That couldn’t be good.
What he longed for was the movie theater. The night he’d been abducted he’d gone to a late show. David never had anyone to go to the movies with, but he didn’t mind going alone. That was because David didn’t mind being alone. Most people know they’ll grow up and get married. David knew he’d grow up and be alone. He just preferred it that way. People were wonderful, but he couldn’t be himself around them, although he didn’t really know who he was. Just a guy who was complex in how simplistic he co
uld make his life, his thoughts.
Stretching out his long legs, he lay back on the sofa. A video game would be fantastic. Anything would be better than the local channels on the television and the stack of comics he’d read a hundred times.
His eyes slipped shut and his heart immediately went into overdrive. It was always his reaction to the potential of falling asleep. David’s eyes sprung open as his throat sought to close up. He pushed to a sitting position, trying to take in a steady inhale. Lately the idea of sleep was a nightmare. It wasn’t that he had bad dreams anymore that bothered him, but rather real ones. The other night he fell asleep and dreamed he was in his sister’s house. When they were kids he used to put everything up high so she couldn’t reach it. In the dream he did that, thinking it was a fond memory worth reliving. The next day she stormed into the garage and convicted him of leaving the space, which she’d forbidden. He shook his head, telling her that he had been asleep in the garage all day. She then asked him who was responsible for putting an assortment of objects up high in her house. David didn’t have an answer to that. There were so many things lately that he didn’t have an answer for.
Chapter Eleven
“It is madness for sheep to talk peace with a wolf.”
- Thomas Fuller
“I’ll take a rum and a diet,” Malcolm Edwards said to the cocktail waitress, his eyes lingering on her cleavage perfectly nestled under the black and white ruffles of her shirt.
The waitress pursed her lips and nodded, taking the empty tumbler from in front of him. She was probably thinking that he’d already had too many, but the waitress didn’t look like the critical thinking type so what did he care. The woman did look like she worked out, though, he noticed when she turned to walk off. Heart-shaped asses were even better than a nice set of boobs.
