by P. S. Power
There was a sense of nodding from the driver’s seat then. After about two minutes, which felt like a very long time, Brenner went on.
“The other portion of things… Well, really there are multiple parts. The first is that the Hodler family are all werewolves. Not that high up in their system but that sort is very sensitive to the idea that they might be abused or treated poorly. If we arrest Vern for something that any of them might see the need for, if it were them, that could start a war. We, law enforcement, would win that, in the end. The wolves are a bit different but don’t really have any powers we can’t beat when the moon isn’t full, which is only three days a month. They’re stronger and faster than regular people, but not impregnable or anything like that. Still, a few hundred strong and quick people attacking all at once with guns and knives isn’t a thing that we can gloss over. A lot of people on both sides would die, if that took place.” She drove for a bit, her eyes never leaving the gray road in front of them.
Behind them the sky turned orange and pink, with clouds lighting up in a way that caused Liam to turn and stare, using his whole face to take it in. He’d never even been told that the sky could be anything except blue or gray. It was clearly the sun doing it, that ball of light almost painful to him as it made the world glow. How it worked, he wasn’t certain.
Brenner spoke again, so he didn't ask about it. Instead he held that idea inside as a thing to look into, later.
“What you did, protecting yourself, that’s considered fine. Even if Vern broke his wrist. That one was all him. Notice that even he didn't whine like a little bitch about it after the fact? He didn't blame you for it. That’s one way all the wolves are better than a lot of humans. When they fuck up and get hurt because they were stupid or misunderstood the situation, they just kind of let it go. Vampires will often try to come for you, even if it was their fault in the first place. Humans can be like that too.”
Speaking softly, still turned halfway around, to look out the side window on the left of the car, he tried to think of how to phrase what he needed to know.
“There are multiple parts to why Vern isn’t being taken away by the bad men?”
Agent sucked in air then, stopping short in a funny sounding way.
“Bad men?”
He nodded.
“Yes. The ones that will fucking kill you for moving, even if you’ve done nothing wrong, who steal your mother away. Like the ones that took Noah. I don’t know what he did. What if I do the same thing? I can’t stop it, since I don’t understand the rules.” It had to do with sex, he knew.
Other than biological sex, he didn’t understand the idea. Not past it being a thing he was supposed to learn later. Clearly the word had more than one meaning. A thing he hadn’t encountered. Or one of the topics that mother had blocked from him.
Brenner half turned her head then, and shook it.
“That… I know that the guys seemed scary earlier. They just wanted to make sure no one hurt them. It isn’t always the best tactic, running in with weapons out like that but it’s what the government likes to see, for some reason. We… Mainly it was about you. In the past people like you have been rumored to become incredibly violent and are almost impossible to stop.”
Liam understood that.
“Like Frankenstein’s monster. Except that he wasn’t really responsible. He’d been abandoned as a child, without knowing anything at all. When he did those bad things, there was no social structure around him to teach him otherwise. He killed, to hurt Victor, his creator. There might not have been an awareness that others were even real people, deserving of life. I know the difference. I’m not certain Simpson does.”
Agent cleared his throat then.
“I get that. He does, really. It would be nearly impossible for you to see, yet. Anyway, you don’t seem to be surprised to find that we know of others of your kind.”
Those words were a bit surprising, even if the knowledge about himself wasn’t.
“Somewhere around six to ten, over the last hundreds of years. Most of those will have survived, unless they were burnt to death. Even that would require them to stay in the flames for a long time or they would heal and be well again. Mother suspected that the government has some working for them, since we can’t easily die, like humans can. The yellow color would be hard to hide. Not impossible. I could wear heavy clothing and a mask. My hands and feet are far too large, which would be noticed. That’s me though. I don’t know what the thought was behind that. It was how mother made me.”
The chemicals of the process, the Aqua Vita bath that he’d been soaked in for a long time, to give him life, turned everything it touched a permanent yellow color. He would remain that way, until he stopped working. That could be a very, very long time away. Tens of thousands of years or longer.
Brenner waved, which got a nod from Agent, then pulled over to a small building with a glass front on it. Inside there were a few people. Each of them looked different. The man behind the counter had dark tan skin, and the two women eating at the tables were both different. About Brenner’s age or a bit more youthful, one was dark and the other light. She, the lighter one, was very round and had pink hair, along with metal stuck in her face. That gleamed in an interesting fashion, the light from above reflecting off of it.
They all went in, though Agent looked at him funny when he joined them. Then he explained.
“A donut shop. It isn’t berries or nuts but it isn’t meat, either. We’re going to be on the road for several more hours, so we should all get something, even if it’s loaded with sugar.”
Brenner nodded at the sage words.
“Plus, I’m betting you never had them before. Let’s get a dozen?”
Liam glanced at the women at their table, who were openly staring at him. The round looking lady smiled at him.
“I like your eyes. Neat. Are those contacts?”
Liam didn’t know what she meant, so shook his head and then spoke very softly.
“I don’t think so? They are just my eyes. I think your hair is pretty.”
The woman went wide eyed then and seemed upset by his words. They didn’t sound wrong to him but he clearly wasn’t skilled at conversation. So far almost all of them he’d tried had gone wrong. Though, in hindsight, he wasn’t responsible for Vern becoming upset.
“Screw you! I’m not trying to pick you up faggot. I just thought you looked different. I can’t even go out in public without some male pig trying to get me into bed. Down with the patriarchy!”
Brenner didn’t speak to the now angry woman, just smiling and taking him by the arm. Up to the back of the room where there was a sheet of glass over a collection of small bread rounds. Those had different colors on the top as well as seeming to be made of different materials. The air, all of it in the place, smelled very sweet. Good, as well.
Like fruit and bread. His diet had been simple but he’d had that kind of thing before, a few times. Even jam on toast, which looked to be similar, while also different. Smiling, he ignored the shouting of the women behind them. Even when something hit him in the head.
That was half a donut, from the look of it on the floor. It was messy of them, tossing food on the floor like that. Liam had been taught to be better behaved that way. Food went on plates. It was a rule.
Brenner turned around then and shook her head at the loud woman, who seemed upset by his comments on her pretty pink hair. A strange feeling moved through him then. It wasn’t pleasant. In fact, he felt as if part of his light had dimmed, inside.
The red-haired woman next to him shook her head anyway.
“None of that. Assault and battery are crimes. You said you liked his eyes, he said you had pretty hair. That’s not sexual harassment. It’s common courtesy. So cool it, will you? We have a time schedule to keep.”
“Fuck you, bitch. Just because no one ever tries to sleep with you doesn’t mean that most women don’t have to put up with this crap all the time. This little sleaze you’re w
ith should be locked up. Besides you can’t assault men. They have institutional power. Especially white men… Though…” She glanced at Liam then.
Brenner nodded.
“Yeah. It must be tough, being good looking like you are. Anyway, cool it. Act like an adult and stop throwing your food. You might starve, if you aren’t careful.”
The woman, the one with the nice pink colored hair and glittering face, was pulled away by her darker friend then.
“Come on Stephenie. Let’s get out of here. Some people will never get it.”
That person was probably Liam, he understood. At least he wasn’t able to make any sense of the situation that had just taken place. Rather than complain, he simply waited, the half-eaten donut on the floor behind him.
Agent pointed at the glass box.
“We should get some jelly filled, plain glazed, apple fritters, maybe a bear claw or two…” The man behind the counter, who was smiling a bit, nodded and started to fill a cardboard box with the things.
Looking at the baked goods Liam shook his head.
“Bears are animals.” That meant they were made of meat.
Next to him, her hand still on his arm, Brenner smiled.
“That’s just the name. It’s bread with a sugar and spice filling, that’s all. They aren’t my favorite but a lot of people like them. We should get some of those. Maybe a maple bar or two?” The box was designed to hold twelve items roughly, which he learned was a dozen. The happy man behind the counter took money from Agent and then moved to clean the floor where the topping from the donut had partially come off.
When they got to the car, Tiffany took a single donut, a bar with aromatic brown frosting on the top, holding it with a piece of paper. They had been given several of the things. Agent took the box and did the same thing, holding the food with the white paper. It was soft and not the kind that would be good to draw on, Liam had to think.
Pens and crayons would tear it. Felt tip pens could work, if they were used properly. He didn’t have that kind of thing any longer. They’d been left when Mary had been taken away. Sitting in her house, in Liam’s home, on his work table. The place he spent most of his time. Where he’d discovered the world and learned, most days. Now it was gone or at least far away. It hadn’t stopped existing, due to him not being there or anything.
It just felt that way.
The large box, with ten donuts in it now, was passed back to him. After his poor response to meat, he’d learned to be careful about such things. Feeling ill hadn’t been fun at all. Nothing else had done that to him but mother had placed him on a special diet after that. The nuts and berries had been his idea, because it was from the book about Frankenstein. The creature had eaten only that kind of thing and felt himself satisfied by it. They were, at least it had seemed to him, safe foods.
The novel hadn’t spoken about meat being bad though. Why that was, he didn't know. Then, it hadn’t killed him and Liam had a home, where the creature had been making his own way, sleeping in the woods at night. Then, the beast had also described staying up all night, so his idea of what sleep was might have been confused. It wasn’t a thing that he needed at all, at any rate.
Looking at the food in front of him, not feeling hungry at all, he considered them and took one. It had a bumpy brown exterior that seemed very sweet when he took a bite, using the bit of soft paper like the others had, since it seemed the way of it. His food was larger than the others, though he was able to eat the whole thing. The box of donuts was placed beside him, since he had half a seat or more left next to him, where the people in the front didn’t have any place for the things at all.
He took his time, since Liam had no clue if it was going to harm him or not. Half a donut fighting with his system would be easier to handle than a whole one. It was fine though. Very sweet and tasting of apples and some kind of strong spice. The texture was soft in the middle, and crisp at the edges.
In all, it was fine enough, and good for being new to him. Nuts were his favorite food though, still. Especially Brazil nuts. The others were all good as well, as far as he was concerned. He passed the box forward when asked but didn’t need any more food. He didn’t feel anything other than that he didn’t need to eat any longer.
They drove for many more hours, stopping a few times to use the bathroom. He did that as well, which caused him to be glared at by several people. He was different looking, so had been told his whole life to expect that kind of thing. Some of them, about one in every four, seemed to be upset by him. One man ran at him, calling out as he did.
“Get that filthy beast out of here!” He was older, and just seemed to be another person at the rest stop. His advanced years didn’t stop him from swinging his fists in rage though. Those years did allow Liam to dodge back and away, so they weren’t fighting, which was helpful. He was, so far, a good bit faster seeming than most of those around him. Stronger as well. That just meant he was able to stay away from people when they were angered by his presence.
The others, a full three quarters, seemed to not care about him being there at all. A few, including women and girls, smiled at him as he followed Brenner around or learned to pump gas. Agent drove the last leg of the trip, which ended, not at a house but a large brick building. Inside it was confusing at first, until he saw that there was a map in the center of the front space.
“The Kinsey Federal Building.” The words were at the top of the map, which was mounted on the wall, each space marked off carefully. He tried to memorize it, as Tiffany tugged on his arm a bit.
Not for the first time, he felt a bit out of place, since everyone else there had shoes and he didn’t. In fact, he’d never worn so much as a slipper in his entire life. His large feet caught attention, due to that. So did his hands, which were about twice the size of what they should have been.
Brenner slapped him on the left arm. Gently, getting his attention.
“We’re on the second floor. Special Division. We have paperwork to do before I can get home. This has been a long day.”
Liam nodded. It really had been.
“Especially that part where bad men attacked my mother and me, then she was taken for some reason. I… Miss her. My home as well. What did I do wrong?” He knew that one though, even if he didn't say the words out loud.
He existed. Mary had made him in the first place.
That was the problem.
The others didn’t hear him whisper, it seemed. At least they didn't mention it, just walking away, up a set of stairs. Those had carpet on them, which was very short and only in the center of the steps, the sides covered with brick. Those were red, like the ones outside but glossy and like glass or ceramic plates. The kind people ate off of. At least he’d done that each day, once or twice.
In the car they’d used paper instead. He wasn’t certain if that was a vehicle thing as opposed to an at home one. It could also be that what Mary did was personal to her. Except that she’d bought the plates, instead of making them herself. That meant it was a thing that would be normal or at least common enough for her to have the things.
Up the stairs they were led into a space that held many desks, with chairs near them. About half of them were occupied, with men and women doing things that seemed familiar to him. At least they had tables of a sort to work at and computers which were being typed on. Much like what he was used to doing himself each day. True, they weren’t moving even a fraction of as fast as he normally did. The idea seemed similar however.
At the right side of the room was another space. There were blinds inside of it, though they were open enough for a woman to be visible as she got up and moved to the door. She was small, being no larger than Liam was himself, and wearing a red dress. She didn’t move silently, and when she got to the door she opened it with energy.
“Sanchez, Brenner, join me.”
That invitation didn’t seem to include him, he noticed. Which was fine really. The woman was probably nice enough. It was just hard to be
around people constantly. They were loud, even when speaking pleasantly. Plus, a lot of them seemed to simply not enjoy him being around. The two people he knew there moved away, with the others glancing up at him in surprise.
When they were in the other room, the door was closed to prevent others from learning what they were speaking of, he was looked at openly by the other people there. It was tempting to assume that it would be about him, though it wasn’t clear that it truly would be. Speaking about Vern, Noah and that situation was probably fair. Also, they might have other tasks to speak of, or it could have been a simple visit or even the woman from the other room making an effort to give him some time away from Brenner and Agent.
That one would have made him blush if he’d been capable of it. Looking around, standing near the entrance to the room, Liam could see that each desk said Agent, with a name following it. Near the back, Agent Sanchez had a desk, with Agent Brenner’s being near it. The closest desk said Agent Carlisle. He looked up, annoyed seeming.
“Can I help you?”
Liam didn't know how to respond to that one. He hadn’t been told what to say or do if anyone asked that of him. Looking at the far door, he whispered.
“I came with Brenner and… Sanchez.” It was important to learn and make adjustments when you turned out to be wrong. Agent wasn’t a name, it was a title. Like Mr. or Doctor.
The man, glaring at him like violence was about to take place, waved toward the back.
“Sit back there then? Freaking hobo surgery monsters hanging around now. Damn I hate this job some days.” Unlike Liam, Agent Carlisle didn’t bother to whisper at all. His voice was very loud in fact, which got other agents to look up. One of them, a dark-skinned man about halfway back, raised his left hand.
