by Sarah Noffke
The Volvo sank back an inch when the emergency brake cranked into place, the driveway on a slight incline. Mr. Magner shuffled with his keys and briefcase, stealing Morgan’s attention. When he turned his gaze back on the arbor where Zephyr had been, the guy was gone. Morgan’s heart beat with sudden dread. He couldn’t fathom the possibility that he had one of the werewolves in his sights and had lost him. Making more noise than he would have cared for, he turned around in a complete circle trying to determine where Zephyr was now. He couldn’t be far. Not yet. It had only been a few seconds ago that he was hidden behind the arbor.
Morgan’s worried eyes swept to the man now absentmindedly carrying his briefcase in one hand, glancing at a newspaper in the other. He was only four feet from Morgan, his face drawn probably from a long day of sitting behind a desk.
“Uhhh…” someone said, causing Mr. Magner to halt. His face broke into an expression of confusion and then relief. He turned, and instantly he wore a smile.
“Kaleb?” he said, staring at the young man standing on the sidewalk behind the parked car. He wore a black hoodie and an expression that spoke of his terror.
Rox bolted from the SUV and then paused, standing just beside it. She’d watched and been impressed by the speed and grace Zephyr displayed as he darted through the yard and came around to stand on the other side of the oak tree. Kaleb had already been approaching, but hadn’t seen Zephyr there since his attention was centered on his father. From Rox’s position it had been exhilarating to watch the different parties, Zephyr, Mr. Magner, and Kaleb, and realize they were unaware of each other. Well, she was certain she knew the moment when Zephyr had spotted Kaleb, right before the car pulled up. It was something in his expression that told her he’d found what he’d been looking for.
She watched as Zephyr’s hands clenched and then released. He only stared at Kaleb, his presence still hidden behind the tree. Kaleb’s father stepped forward as his son edged backwards, hesitation evident in his movements. He wanted to come home and yet he didn’t. The guy probably missed his family and also felt foreign to them now, Rox mused. Mr. Magner extended a hand to his son and only then did Kaleb stop retreating and take a step forward. And then each had their arms wrapped around one another, gripping the other with a quiet need. It was a real homecoming, one full of loss and tender pain. Zephyr only watched, obviously not wanting to interrupt the reunion. There would be time to bring Kaleb in, once he’d had this moment with his father. Then Kaleb stepped back, his head shaking. Rox pictured he was making an explanation for his absence, but all she could see was the stress on the older man’s face. And all she could hear were their muffled voices.
Kaleb took another step backward, waving his hands at his father. The older man’s face blossomed with red, anger written all over it. Kaleb turned toward the tree where Zephyr stood frozen, hidden on the other side. However, Kaleb’s confused face was on something adjacent to the tree. He squinted and then doubled over like he’d been assaulted. Again an unseen force struck Kaleb, making his head spin to the side. He turned to regard the empty space, both he and his father dumbstruck. And just then something unseen rammed into his mid-section, pushing him into the vehicle. Rox sprinted in the direction of the strange fight just as Zephyr shot out of his hiding place.
“What’s going on?” the older man yelled just as Morgan fumbled with the tranquilizer gun. Kaleb had been about to run, to flee after seeing his father. Morgan knew he had to stop him and the tranquilizer gun would be too slow. That had been the reason for the assault, which was much too easy. The invisible force always had the advantage. Now the young guy lay against the side of the Volvo, his chest heaving with giant breaths and his eyes searching the emptiness in front of him, confusion blanketing his expression.
But then his idiot father stalked over and stood facing his son, but also blocking Morgan’s sight of Kaleb. He couldn’t risk wasting a tranquilizer on the man. Morgan needed to get him out of the way and tranquilize Kaleb. That’s why he relied on his combat training and grabbed the man’s head with both his hands and yanked it to the side. A sharp quick movement, punctuated by a loud crack. The man slid from Morgan’s hands to reveal his prey standing before him. Kaleb’s eyes darted around and then to his father’s lifeless body, as he pushed himself back into the car, as if for protection. The nightmare he was experiencing was clearly etched on his face.
Morgan didn’t know where Zephyr was, but he wasn’t going home empty-handed. He pulled the tranquilizer gun from his holster and held it up, pointing the barrel at Kaleb’s chest. That was the best place for a straight and effective shot. He couldn’t miss from only four feet away.
Zephyr knew at once that they were dealing with someone invisible. He’d watched the whole thing, at first amazed by the unseen attacks and then disgusted by his invisible enemy. This was Olento Research’s doing. And he’d stop it. He couldn’t let whoever this was take Kaleb, especially after murdering his father in front of him. Pushing hard off the ground, he stopped just where he estimated the attacker was. His senses heightened suddenly and he could smell the person, knew their scent distinctively from Kaleb’s, from Rox’s. The sound of the person breathing grew loud in his head. The racing of their heart was an actual sound he registered. Then Zephyr shot his gaze down and the sight before him made his stomach tighten. Black and silver hairs poked through the pores of his skin; claws now hung from his fingertips. He was changing and it was the best and worst possible thing to happen in that moment.
Zephyr charged as he only did when in werewolf form, with a power that sought to tear him in two. He plummeted into an unseen person, knocking him back and back and then pushing him to the ground. The man made a series of grunting noises, but then his unseen fist came around and knocked Zephyr in the face, exactly in the place where the butt of the gun had split his chin open when he escaped Olento Research. That assault felt personal. And then the guy was gone, not under him. Zephyr shot to a standing position to find Rox next to Kaleb, who had changed too. Fangs sat between the guy’s top and bottom lips. His brown eyes glowed in the fading afternoon sun.
“Get away from him!” Zephyr said, guessing Kaleb was thinking the same thing as he was, that Rox looked good enough to eat. And by the ravenous look Kaleb regarded her with, he didn’t think he was wrong.
“I can handle him, just—” She was rudely interrupted by the dart that sank into Kaleb’s chest. And then the werewolf again sunk back onto the car behind him, passed out.
“Get him out of here!” Zephyr said, realizing at once that those two only had one way of escaping. He was going to have to fight an invisible man and to do that he’d have to make him show himself.
Rox grabbed Kaleb’s arm and a normal person would have recoiled. His skin was now covered in sharp hairs that were abrasive to the touch. Rox didn’t even notice the needle-like hairs as she tugged his arm around one of her shoulders. He was heavy but she was strong. And he wasn’t as heavy as someone not living on the streets. Kaleb had obviously missed many meals. She lugged him to the car just as she heard the distraction Zephyr was making at her back. She felt his presence cutting off the invisible force, creating a wall between them. And then Zephyr sniffed the air and let out a howl that sounded unlike anything she’d ever picture coming from him. It was a call of frustration, one that seemed filled with a wild hunger. If she didn’t have super resistance, right then she’d be desperate to get away from the beast she’d just turned her back on. The one that had given her a crazed look as his gray eyes started to glow in the fading light. Zephyr was gone momentarily, and the werewolf was strangely protecting her.
Rox didn’t look back once until she had Kaleb in the backseat of the SUV. She couldn’t make out much in the Magners’ front yard anyway; it was a mess of leaves and dirt spiraling through the air. Everything was a blur as she jumped into the driver’s seat and raced away. With two taps of a button she called the Lucidite Institute for backup. They’d be fast. They could pick Kaleb up. And t
hat’s what needed to happen because she had to get back to the Institute immediately.
With his back to the girl and the smaller werewolf, Zephyr was certain he was blocking them from whoever was in front of him. He was thinking in his head, but he knew the wolf was in charge now. The only thing that made him comfortable with that was that the werewolf wanted the invisible force dead. He sniffed the air and his environment came to shape in ways it never had before. Hunting an invisible figure wasn’t going to be impossible for a beast that could find anything with its nose.
The tranquilizer gun clicked. That’s what the invisible man used to shoot the other werewolf with. Zephyr’s eyes darted to the location of the sound as he sidestepped in a blur of movements. Then he held up his hand and threw all of his intention into a single idea. He’d actually been surprised that the wolf’s instinct had directed this action; it was like the wolf in him was designed for battle. Unpracticed with his new skill, Zephyr prayed that it would work. And then the wind, like a cold assault, shot forward and for an instant it gave him a tiny glimpse of the man in front of him. The leaves and dirt he’d picked up with the wind hit the figure, making his presence known, outlining him. But then the wind was gone and gone with it was the opportunity for Zephyr to see his opponent.
An unseen fist slammed into Zephyr’s jaw, knocking him back several feet. He darted for the yard, where he hoped he could loosen more dirt and debris than in the concrete driveway. He was only two feet into the grassy area when arms wrapped him from behind, pushing him with a giant force until he rammed into the oak tree. At least he was farther into the yard, he thought as he struggled to release his arms which were pinned to his side.
Suddenly, he dropped to his knee and thrust forward, hitting his own head on the bark, but the grunt echoing behind him told him he’d been successful at knocking his opponent over his back and into the tree also. The arms, which he felt were thick and muscular, dropped and he spun around to eye the ground. Just a few feet in front of him the green grass was mashed down in two places, where feet rested, he supposed.
Zephyr let out a growl and only then did he remember he was in werewolf form. The fast events and disadvantage of not being able to see his opponent had made him feel too vulnerable. He hunched down at super speed and then leapt forward. His claws were the first thing to make contact with the man’s flesh. He tore at what felt like his chest, but the man had already moved to the side and as Zephyr’s claws slipped into empty air he realized he’d only attacked his shoulder. Bolting to a standing position, he scanned the grass, but then a foot smacked into his head. He slammed to the grass, his face meeting the moist dirt. This guy was too fast and Zephyr, as strong as he was, couldn’t fight that which he couldn’t see.
Again he heard the click of the tranquilizer gun. Rolling to the side, he sprang to his feet and once more shot a strong wind from his hand. Not a single gust this time, but rather a continuous one. And the dirt from the flower bed where he stood blew into the air and at once covered the figure before him. Morgan was taller and bulkier than Zephyr, but he wasn’t quicker or stronger. Zephyr raced forward almost faster than the human eye could detect and didn’t stop until he was behind the guy. In one movement he wrapped his arm around the invisible head, locking him in place. He pressed his arm down hard on the man’s esophagus and then the beast took over completely.
Zephyr deep in the recesses of his mind, didn’t want to kill this guy, even if he was an enemy. However, the beast had a taste for meat and he owned everything about Zephyr right then. Just as the invisible figure went limp from a lack of oxygen Zephyr’s fangs snuck into the man’s shoulder and he sucked in the delicious flavor of blood. Warmth flooded his mouth and he closed his eyes to the intoxicating feel of it. The werewolf yanked its closed jaw away, pulling flesh from the shoulder in a giant bite. And then the body of the man he held in his arms came into view; he wasn’t invisible any longer. The werewolf didn’t startle at the sight of cradling a man drenched in his own blood. Inside the wolf, however, Zephyr wished madly that he could turn away and not see the gash in the man’s shoulder, the one he’d created feasting on him.
“Stay right where you are!” he heard someone yell in front of him.
The werewolf snapped his head up and fixed his gaze on six soldiers standing on the road in front of him, tranquilizer guns held at the ready. They were dressed like the men from the Olento Research lab, all black uniforms. Letting the passed out man’s body drop from his hands, he focused on the soldiers. Zephyr read the hesitation in the face of the guard standing in the front. He knew he was mostly likely too far away for a shot to hit Zephyr. This guard shouldn’t have announced his presence until he was closer. That was a rookie error.
But the beast and Zephyr both knew why he’d made the mistake. One doesn’t watch a werewolf ripping into invisible flesh and approach too fast. The scene must have looked more than bizarre and now a man with his shoulder ripped open lay bleeding at Zephyr’s feet. Wiping the back of his arm across his blood-drenched mouth, Zephyr crouched to a kneeling position. It was how the wolf felt most comfortable. Then the beast let out a howl that echoed through the neighborhood before he sprung to the left, racing away like the wind, smooth and unstoppable. The sounds of the guns being fired registered in his head, but not one tranquilizer dart connected with Zephyr as he zipped around the next house and then away, into the approaching night.
Mrs. Magner dropped the phone that was in her hand when the wolflike creature raced out of her yard. She’d been ready to call the authorities when she spotted the thing through the kitchen nook window. It was a man, but it wasn’t. It was human and yet it had black and silver hair covering its arms and hands. And the claws. They were black and strong and had ripped at thin air. She’d watched for a whole minute as the monster seemed to have a strange fit in the front yard, leaping into the air and wrestling by itself. Its glowing gray eyes pierced through the darkening front yard and its fangs looked like knives when the werewolf opened its mouth to growl. It was the size of a man, but its features were sharper. It was a strange sight, a man and also a wolf. And then the other man appeared out of nowhere, the one she realized the werewolf had attacked, and that man now lay in Mrs. Magner’s yard. But werewolves weren’t real, she told herself. God would never allow such a travesty to happen.
Kaleb’s mother had been ready to call the police when the werewolf darted from her yard. It was then that she saw the uniformed and armed soldiers in the street, trying to take the monster down. At first she’d been relieved at their presence, but then her eyes moved to a corner of the driveway where a man’s body lay dead. It was her husband’s body, she knew it. And she knew at once that the devilish werewolf had killed him.
Chapter Forty
“Daily meditation can increase the chemicals which promote Dream Traveler skills.”
- Lucidite Employee Manual
As soon as Trent’s agents from the strategic department showed up, Rox threw her head back. She had raced the SUV a few blocks over as she called the Lucidite Institute and then parked at the curb. Kaleb was still passed out in the backseat. It took the team only five minutes to arrive, since they’d been stationed and waiting for a backup call. Rox told Trent over the phone about her current worst fears, but they both knew he was pretty much in a powerless position. It had to be Rox. She was the only one who could save the people in the Lucidite Institute.
“Do you have tranquilizer guns there?” she said over the Bluetooth.
“We don’t have guns of any sort. Trey won’t allow it,” Trent said.
“Fuck. Invest in tranquilizer guns!” she said, when the team pulled up, ready to transport the passed out werewolf to the Institute. He’d have to travel there the hard way, and hopefully he stayed passed out during the flight and the submarine ride. Still, the team knew to bind his hands and arms and put him in quarantine on the private jet. However, Kaleb was the least of Rox’s problems at the moment.
With her head lying
back on the rest, she closed her eyes and dream traveled to the GAD-C located in the Institute.
Chapter Forty-One
“The morale of Olento Research employees is their concern. They shouldn’t expect intervention from management on their personal affairs.”
- Olento Research Employee Manual
“So now that you know what my gift is, are you going to share what yours is?” Connor said, striding beside Adelaide through the Lucidite Institute, his hands pushed down casually, or maybe it was nervously, into his pockets. She was having a tough time reading him, for some odd reason. He came off cool and then also anxious at the same time.
“Gifts,” she said, pressing the button for the elevator. The silver doors to the small transport popped open a moment later.
“Gifts? As in you have more than one?” he said, following her into the elevator.
She tapped the button several times for level five, suddenly feeling extra cold as a shiver ripped down her back. “Currently I have two, but they’re kind of lame,” she said, and then suddenly realized that she was never self-deprecating in front of others, especially inside the Institute where she was always trying to prove herself.
“Currently? Like the number of skills you have is subject to change? And didn’t Rox say something about you using mind control?” Connor said, yanking his hand from his pocket and scratching at his stubbled face. He wore a short bit of facial hair which had more red in it than the hair on his head.
