by Jen Haeger
“Because the Vulke are crazy and evil, and we’re at war, and he could be playing you!”
The back of Evelyn’s throat burned with ire and she took a slow breath to cool it before answering. “How?”
“How what?”
“Exactly how could he be playing me? How would him feeding me information play into a crazy and evil Vulke scheme? Wouldn’t it have been better to just kill me, or capture me?”
“Evie, wake up! A wild goose chase like this is a perfect distraction from you researching the cure. Or maybe he’s going to use you to get to Roberto…” David stammered.
Evelyn glanced sidelong at David then rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because me and Roberto get together for tea every Thursday afternoon. Besides, it makes more sense for the Vulke to use the traitor to get to Roberto.” Oh crap.
David shot up in his seat, his body rigid. “What?! What traitor!?”
Grimacing, Evelyn confessed. “Roberto told me that he thinks that there’s a traitor among the allies. By the way he was talking, I think he thinks it’s a Wahya, but he didn’t say specifically. He doesn’t know who to trust, and he doesn’t want people to overreact and start getting paranoid, so he was only telling a few people.”
“A few people meaning you and not me.” David’s voice was ragged from anger, betrayal.
Evelyn sighed. “David, Roberto doesn’t know you like I know you. Please look at it from his point of view. He’s only ever known you as a hothead who’s caused nothing but trouble from the time you became a Wolfkin. It’s not a fair assessment, but it’s the only one he knows.”
“Roberto, fine, but Evie, why didn’t you tell me…tell us? We’re your pack.”
Glancing in the rearview mirror, Evelyn caught a glimpse of Kim’s eyes. She too was hurt, perhaps even more than David. Evelyn hoped that Kim didn’t think that Evelyn believed that Kim could be the traitor.
“You want the truth? Several reasons. To start, Roberto asked me not to. Not that I’m some jackass Nazi that will do everything my leader tells me to do, but in this case, his reasons weren’t complete B.S., so I was willing to comply for a while, until I sorted things out. Also, I was a bit shell-shocked, I think we all were, and it seemed too soon to dredge up more bad news just for the sake of being honest. And I didn’t want you to freak out and go on your own personal witch hunt, because honestly, one of the cons about avoiding interacting with the other packs these past two years is that we hardly know any of the members, but I knew you’d feel it was your duty to find the traitor. I just didn’t want to set you on a task that seemed impossible and would make you crazy. I was probably going to tell you, but just not now, not when everything is still so raw. I mean, are you glad that you know? Does it make you feel better? Do you think that you can do something about it?”
“That’s a lot of rationalizing. I hope that it makes you feel better about lying to me.” David’s jaw was set.
“Do you want me to say I’m sorry?”
“Only if you mean it.”
Peering up into the mirror again, Evelyn saw that Kim was staring out the window. “I’m sorry.”
Silence fell over the interior of the car like snow blanketing a field. It wasn’t until they’d parked inside the park and Evelyn had turned off the engine that David spoke again. “Listen, Evelyn, we can’t do this. You have to be honest with me…we have to tell each other the truth…always. Otherwise…otherwise we aren’t going to make it.”
Even though David looked at Kim to include her, Evelyn couldn’t decide if David was talking about the Wahya and their allies winning the war against the Vulke, or about his and Evelyn’s stunted romantic relationship. If only it were that simple.
“Right, okay.”
Unsatisfied with her response, David persisted. “Promise?”
“I promise.”
Kim’s presence made the situation even more awkward. Evelyn turned to her and attempted a grin. “Promise.”
Not quite smiling, Kim nodded. “I promise.”
55
If Evelyn had wanted to be alone the night before, her wish was fulfilled that night at the park. Despite their vows and supposed reconciliation in the car, David and Kim mainly ignored her, so when she felt confident that David could handle Kim she gradually drifted away from them. But the time alone wasn’t as liberating at Evelyn wanted it to be. Now that all of the secrets had been spilled, there wasn’t much to occupy her thoughts, except things she had no control over like who the traitor was and what the Vulke’s next move would be. She wanted to contact Nicolas right away so that she could get more information about the mutant strain from him as soon as possible. Frustration and annoyance filled her night with a touch of loneliness and the feeling of being abandoned by her pack.
Once they returned to the condo the next morning, after a quiet and an uncomfortable car ride, Evelyn announced that she was going into the lab after she showered. She didn’t ask Kim to come with her, and didn’t intend for Kim to accompany her unless the other girl insisted. It was petty, and Evelyn knew it would just make her feel even more isolated, but she told herself that it didn’t matter. Nothing personal mattered anymore, just fighting the Vulke, and in Evelyn’s mind, the only way to fight them now was to find a cure.
Before leaving for the lab, Evelyn ate a quick meal of a bagel with cream cheese and then, knowing that she was supposed to wait to be contacted about the contents of Katie’s house, she called Caroline. On the third ring, Caroline answered.
“I was just about to call you, Evelyn, it’s like you read my mind.” Caroline delivered the line deadpan, so Evelyn wasn’t sure just how sarcastic Caroline was being.
“So?”
A heavy Caroline sigh wafted through the receiver. “So, the house has been vacant and mostly untouched since the…incident, but there are complications to obtaining anything from it.”
Having somehow forgotten how much she hated dealing with Caroline, Evelyn pursed her lips and clenched her free fist. “What complications?”
Caroline cleared her throat with a business-like air. “The family is understandably concerned about the little girl’s whereabouts, so naturally they’ve put considerable time and resources into finding her, including hiring two private investigators in addition to beleaguering local law enforcement.”
Evelyn swallowed down a ball of anger before speaking again. “She has a name.”
“What?”
“Her name is Katie, not ‘little girl’.”
“Evelyn dear, I really don’t see what that has to—“
“Fine, of course you don’t, whatever. Get to the point.”
Caroline uttered another long-suffering sigh that piqued a desire in Evelyn to smash the phone. “The point is that the house is now under surveillance, so retrieving anything from it will be difficult.”
“But not impossible?”
“Look Evelyn, we are in the middle of a war right now, coming away from a terrible defeat and our resources are stretched thin as they are—“
The dam broke. “Do you really think that I don’t know that, you self-righteous…” Come on Evie, get a grip. You may hate this woman, but she’s not the enemy. Unless she’s the traitor… “Listen, Caroline, obviously I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it was important…and Roberto wouldn’t ask you if he didn’t think it was important. So whatever it takes, get it done, and if you find power bars, get them to me. I’ll make sure that Roberto knows as soon as I’m able to test a sample.”
The threat to make it look to Roberto like Caroline wasn’t helping Evelyn wasn’t thinly veiled, but Evelyn wasn’t as skilled at subterfuge and manipulation as Caroline was. The line was silent for long enough that Evelyn thought that Caroline might have hung up on her.
“Are you certain it’s in the power bars? I don’t want to risk my people over nothing.”
She didn’t know. Roberto hadn’t told her Maybe he does think she could be the traitor. Heart jolting in her chest, Evelyn’s mind raced. She d
ecided the less she said the better. “Roberto said it was solid information and it makes sense.”
“Mmmm, well if Roberto says, then you’ll have the sample in a few days, but I truly hope that we find power bars in that house.” Caroline’s tone was threatening.
Surely she can’t think that I’m the traitor? She must just really hate me that much. “I wouldn’t ask you to if I wasn’t sure.”
“Of course not.” Then Caroline really did hang up on Evelyn.
*
The drive in to the lab was surreal. After the horror and madness of the last few days, the normalcy took on a dreamlike quality. In a fugue, Evelyn parked, let herself in the back door, and descended to the lab. Her bubble of fantasy broke only when she opened the door to the lab and met the staring faces of three veterinary students. Startled and frozen in the doorway, Evelyn’s mind raced to return to reality. Right. It was daytime, of course there’d be students here. Evelyn chastised herself for forgetting such a silly thing, and struggled to come up with even what day of the week it was. Seeing Melissa bent over a microscope, Evelyn mentally calmed her racing heart. Evelyn showing up here in the daytime was no stranger than Melissa showing up at night. Unfortunately, even if she’d felt comfortable sharing the lab with the students—which she didn’t—she couldn’t possibly allow them to see what she was really working on or expose them, again, to any samples.
Finding that she was still standing in the open doorway, probably with a stupid look on her face, Evelyn took a step into the lab and let the door fall shut behind her. She smiled in Melissa’s direction.
“Hey there, Melissa. How’s…” Evelyn swallowed and reconsidered asking the girl how she was feeling in front of the other students, “…your research going?”
Melissa eyed her in a not entirely friendly way.
“Okay. Um, sorry, but there’s not much room in here to work right now. Tyler just got back and he wants to catch up on some things.”
“Oh, right, no, don’t worry, I’m not here to work, I just…needed to have a chat with Dr. Jonson. Is he in?”
Melissa’s gaze soured even further.
“No. He’s been out for a few days now. I’m not sure when he’ll be back.”
Evelyn’s heart beat wildly in her chest. Not back yet! Was he killed at the battle? Did the Vulke capture him thinking he was helping me with my research!? Wait. Calm down Evelyn. He isn’t supposed to be back yet. Everyone was supposed to stay someplace remote until the end of the cycle. Only you, David, and Kim came back into town early.
“Oh right, he told me he wouldn’t be back until…” What day is it? “…tomorrow. Err, I guess I’ll be back tomorrow. See ya.”
Evelyn turned to make a hasty exit.
“Actually, Dr. Eisenhart, can I talk to you for a minute.”
Crap. Evelyn turned to face Melissa. “Sure, what can I help you with?”
All sorts of horrible scenarios flashed through Evelyn’s mind: the girl had been approached by strange men asking about Evelyn and her research, she had tried to find out more about Evelyn and couldn’t find where her research funding was coming from, or, worst case, she’d had a blackout the other night and woke up half-naked in the woods.
“I was wondering if you could help us with the real-time PCR machine. None of us can get it to work right today. I called Invitrogen, but they put me on hold for twenty minutes, so I was going to call back after lunch.”
A dizzy relief whirled through Evelyn. “Sure, I can take a look.”
Since owning her own set of PCR machines back at her lab in Tennessee, Evelyn had become quite familiar with running and maintaining them. Turned out that someone had accidentally unchecked a box in the setup menu, and Evelyn was glad that someone else had found the problem before she’d run any of her samples through. Melissa thanked her for sorting it out.
“I think that’ll fix it, but sadly you’ll have to rerun your samples to find out.”
“Yeah, well, not tonight. Got a test in ortho tomorrow.”
“Ouch. I remember ortho. Rough class.”
“I’m doing okay. It’s just a lot to remember.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
The conversation petered into an uncomfortable silence. Knowing that she wasn’t going to be able to get anything done until nightfall, and frustrated by the prospect of an unproductive afternoon back at the condo, Evelyn turned to leave once again.
“Well, I should get going. Good luck on your test.”
“Thanks.”
For the briefest of instants, Evelyn thought that Melissa was going to say more, but then the moment passed and the door to the lab shut between them.
56
Unable to force herself to go back to the condo, Evelyn went instead to the campus library and decided to do some good old-fashioned virus and werewolf research. She started with dissertations and theses on retroviral research, then when she got bored and frustrated, perused several titles on werewolf folklore. She was surprised to find that more than one book eluded to an origin somewhere in the vast expanse of Russia, and amused that many of the other werewolf facts rang true for Wolfkin: painful transformation, cycle tied to the full moon, transmission by bite or scratch. It was ridiculous how close to reality some of the accounts were, such that reading about werewolves quickly went from a fun aside to actual, bona fide research. Wondering why she’d never done so before, Evelyn began specifically looking for any descriptions of werewolf cures that didn’t involve sorcery or killing the werewolf who infected you.
Three hours later, her exhaustive search came up with wolfsbane, opium, vinegar, wormwood, and silver, though silver was advertised more as a weapon to kill werewolves than as a cure. Of all of these werewolf cures, the only one that held any plausibility was silver. At first Evelyn thought that silver would also be a dead-end, since it was touted as a miracle cure-all by many holistic ‘medicine gurus’, however, another half-hour of research brought up two studies on silver as a treatment for AIDS. In the first study, the silver prevented the virus from binding to human blood cells, and in the second study the silver compound actually electrocuted the virus via electron jumping. Stunned by the possibility of fact meshing seamlessly with ‘fiction’, Evelyn’s initial excitement soon waned when it became apparent that the silver nanoparticles would have to be injected. Any cure that she came up with was now only really feasible if it could be applied to a large number of hostile werewolves all at once. That really left only oral administration or inhalation.
“Damn.”
Leaning back in the chair, Evelyn stretched out her stiff neck and arms, then leaned forward again and closed the array of books and magazines spread out before her on the table. This is why I haven’t done this before. Though what she’d found was interesting, and not a little bit spooky, it wasn’t helpful for their current situation. Maybe later, if they somehow prevailed over the Vulke without finding a different cure, Evelyn could look deeper into the silver aspect. As for right now, she glanced at her watch, it was time to get back to the lab. When she left her books on a return cart, Evelyn’s stomach grumbled audibly. Having not eaten a thing since breakfast, she completed her campus tour by heading over to the Student Union to grab a quick dinner. Chicken tenders, medium fries, and a medium Coke later, she was winding her way along university paths back to the vet school.
It was a little after eight, and the walkways had mostly cleared of students, though a few still wondered past Evelyn as she walked. The night was warm and clear with a mild breeze, and Evelyn found herself in mindless enjoyment until the vet school loomed ahead of her. Since she hadn’t napped and the Coke was unlikely to see her through the entire night in the lab, Evelyn first went up the stairs, away from the lab, to grab another caffeinated beverage from the vending machine on the second floor. Her footsteps echoed eerily in the near vacant corridors, and the content feeling from the walk outside ebbed away as she glanced over her shoulder while waiting for her second serving of Coke to dr
op from the machine.
Hurrying back down the stairs, the unease building in Evelyn’s chest dissipated in degrees as she got closer to locking herself in the lab. She chided herself for not asking Kim to come with her, as not only would it have lightened the work, but it would have provided some company. After all, if these were her last days on this earth, did she really want to spend them alone because of what? Pride? That seemed a pretty ridiculous reason. In fact, Evelyn thought as she unlocked the door to the lab, speaking of being alone, I should go see Sylvy, find out if Peko still recognizes me, go out to lunch with my mom, and call my sister. There hadn’t been time for any of that before, and Evelyn wasn’t sure that there was time for it now either, but she wasn’t going to miss the opportunity again. Roberto would disapprove of course, but she was okay with that.
*
Getting back into the swing of things at the lab proved sluggish at first, but Evelyn gradually picked up speed as the night progressed. To her it felt like she’d been away for weeks instead of days. As anxious as she’d been to get back to her research, by three in the morning she was falling asleep while pipetting and had to call it quits. She made some notations in her lab notebook, cleaned up, and locked the lab door behind her. Driving home, she wondered if Caroline was making any progress, or at least any effort in retrieving power bars from Katie’s home. She also wished that Roberto would get back to her about contacting Nicolas for more information on the mutant virus. Any information at this point could be invaluable if Nicolas wasn’t flat out lying.
The more Evelyn thought about it, as she snuck into the condo and helped herself to a bowl of cereal, the more she was leaning towards just calling Nicolas on her own. What harm will it do? Obviously she didn’t want to call from her own cell phone, or a pay phone that could be traced, but what about calling him from a burner cell phone (whatever that was)? Wolfing down her breakfast, Evelyn quietly climbed the stairs, got ready for bed, and slid into it, trying not to wake Kim. As she drifted off to sleep, her thoughts continued to circle around Nicolas and what information he might have about Languorem luporum.
