Savage

by A. J. Llewellyn

  My mom did, too. She tried so hard with him. She felt she’d failed the kid at every turn. He was, as I recall my father saying, a bad ’un… Mom especially felt the sting of parental failure since she was a LAPD cop. She felt, and so did the people who had adopted Jackson, that she should have been able to corral him.

  The last time I’d seen him he had gone to live with an old friend of my dad’s, a retired fire fighter who owned an ostrich farm up in Tehachapi. I thought putting Jackson anywhere near any sort of harmless creature was wrong.

  And I was right.

  He killed half the ostriches and wound up on the run. He somehow got hold of a gun that had Teflon bullets, the kind that penetrated bulletproof vests. When he was arrested, the cops believed he was a true menace to society. He spent his adult years going in and out of prison on various robbery charges.

  Last I’d heard he was back in jail for assault and battery, and he seemed comfortable in there. He’d become a boxer. He had a pretty good prison record. I’d stopped keeping up with him since he’d left us alone.

  I’d feared him for most of my life and, frankly, so had my mother and sister. We never spoke of him. He just ceased to exist.

  And now, he was back again.

  “Cavan,” my mom called out from her wheelchair as Dina pushed her along the corridor toward me and Ludo. “Is it true?”

  I was so upset I wanted to scream, “No, I thought I’d call you and drag you out here for kicks.”

  Instead, I took one hand, Ludo the other.

  “The police want to ask you a few questions,” I said.

  She sighed. “You’re the police, Cavan. Can’t I talk to you?” She tilted her face up to me. “It isn’t on the news yet who he is.” She glanced up at Ludo who squeezed her hand.

  “Don’t, whatever you do, leave Jackson alone with Cavan,” my mother said to him. “He’s already tried to kill him…more than once.” Her expression was bleak.

  I felt the weight of Ludo’s stare on my face. “I did not know that.” He looked so angry I didn’t know what to say. “Tammie, I would never let anyone hurt my man.”

  He moved away suddenly, over to a farther set of windows. He leaned his hands against the wall, gazing out at the moon. What was he thinking?

  “I knew he’d wind up dead…but mangled…oh boy,” my mom said. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

  Fulton and Tripp were still on the other side of the double glass doors talking to the emergency room staff. I could hear snatches of conversation…questions and answers. From what I could hear, it was miraculous Jackson had survived such brutal torture.

  “What are they saying?” my mother asked, her tone irascible.

  “They’re saying he has bite wounds all over him but they can’t tell from what,” Ludo said, strolling over to us.

  Christ. I knew…werewolves.

  “He’s lost consciousness. Pulse rate low…he was bitten in the heart. Wow…they don’t know how he made it.”

  Man, he had the sharpest hearing ever. He could hear a pin drop two blocks over. It made farting in the privacy of my bathroom a real bitch sometimes. He’d often call out, “I heard that!”

  Ludo frowned. “Oh…boy.” He glanced from me to my mother and shook his head. “I don’t know if you want to hear this.”

  The cops came out. They looked at my mother, who seemed calm and matter-of-fact. I just hoped she wouldn’t ask them something daft like did they collect banana stickers. Since she’d started taking Exelon for her dementia, she’d sort of lost interest in her one time all-consuming passion. I frankly think having Ludo around taking care of her and attending to all her needs has had a lot to do with it.

  “Spit it out, boy,” she said to Fulton, her hands in her lap. Ludo’s fingers moved to her shoulder.

  “My God…he really does have your eyes,” Fulton said. He flicked a glance at me. “You weren’t kidding.”

  “That’s the only thing he inherited from me,” she said, her tone tart. “We are not close. He’s been the bane of my family’s existence. What do you want to know about him?”

  Fulton didn’t blink. “When was the last time you saw him?”

  She thought for a moment. “About…” She glanced at my sister who hadn’t said a word up until now. “When did we go to meet him for that meal?”

  “It was before Cavan came home,” Dina said.

  “You saw him…and didn’t tell me?” I worked to keep my anger under control.

  “You were going through a bad time,” my mother insisted. “You were breaking up with—” I felt Ludo tensing beside me. She stopped short of saying Vince. Not only did she not want to out me to these investigating officers but she knew my ex-lover was one of Ludo’s least favorite topics. “Jackson was released from Pelican Bay and he called me. He said he wanted money.” She glanced away from my hostile gaze.

  “You gave it to him?”

  My mother squared her shoulders and stared up at me. “You might as well know, I made him sign a piece of paper. I gave him forty thousand dollars. I told him that was his inheritance. That he was to leave me alone. That he was to leave you, Dina, Garrett and little Max alone. He signed all the forms, including a quit-claim on anything he might decide he deserves a piece of when I pop my clogs.”

  “Oh, God… Mom, don’t talk like that.”

  “I’m going to die one day, Cavan. I don’t like the idea much. But there it is.” She looked at the detectives. “I have everything in my home safe, copies with my attorney, accountant and also, my daughter has copies.”

  Nobody knew what to say for a moment. “And he’s never tried to get in touch?” I asked.

  “Of course not. I told him to stay away from us.” She looked indignant. “He’s a despicable human being.”

  “What did he want the money for?” Fulton asked.

  “I have a better question,” I interrupted. “How the hell did he get out of Pelican Bay? It’s a supermax facility for the worst of the worst.”

  “He turned state’s evidence in a homicide trial and they reduced his sentence,” Mom said.

  Shit.

  “As for the money, he said he had people interested in his boxing career,” Mom continued. “He had a thirty and oh record at San Quentin before he started a riot and got sent to Pelican Bay. So there you have it.”

  “Has he done any boxing since he’s been out?” I asked.

  She looked at me. “I don’t know, but by the sounds of things somebody gave him a pretty solid beating.”

  “That’s only part of it.” Fulton looked at Ludo. “I know this has to be very difficult for you, and I know that you have to give evidence at the upcoming trial for Luke Masterson but…” He glanced at me. “Sergeant Veo said something about a cabal. Apparently on your way to the crime scene with him, you mentioned they were behind it.”

  Ludo shrugged. “Masterson is a sick individual who kidnapped, raped and tortured me. He belongs to a group of men who like to do these things.”

  “Got any names?” Fulton asked.

  “No.” Ludo shook his head. “I was kept in captivity for…months.” He frowned suddenly. “Sometimes they’d feed me. Sometimes they beat me. They got their kicks that way.”

  I knew there was a lot he wasn’t telling me…or them. For the months we’d been together, he had gotten better slowly, his daily routine a pleasure to him. He took delight in the details. Making coffee, getting deals on chicken and meat at different grocery stores. Buying cherry blossoms by the stem and selecting the perfect organic apricots at the farmer’s market on the weekends. Making love with me. Ludo counted minutes. He could tell me at any given time how long we’d been together—or apart—that day.

  “Did I hear the doctor saying that Jackson’s heart was punctured?” he asked Fulton now. My mother lifted her hand to cover his. She knew this was hard for him.

  “Well…that’s what he said, then he changed his story. Jackson’s body’s pretty much a mess. They didn’t know where to
begin with the stitches. Most of the wounds are to his extremities…his hands and legs.”

  “I know what extremities are,” Ludo said. “Tell me, did they find anything in his…anus?”

  Fulton gaped at him.

  “How did you know?”

  Ludo glanced at me, then back at the detective. “I’m curious if they found anything…a foreign object, large, in his rectum?”

  Fulton nodded slowly. “They did.”

  “Was it a light bulb?”

  “Holy crap, how did you know that?” Tripp asked.

  “Then I know who is behind this because he did it to me.”

  “Masterson?” Fulton looked confused.

  “No. I’m talking about the baited fights. I was sold to Masterson because I lost my first fight. I’m a lover, not a fighter. The man who stages these…battles…likes to use very strong men. I may not look it but I’m strong. I guarantee you Jackson would have seemed a desirable…warm up. The man behind all this is called Cornelius Teru and these fights are called Fuerte, which is Spanish and it means strong.”

  All of us stared at him. Fuerte. Strong.

  Holy shit. I didn’t know about any of this. How had Ludo lived all these months knowing these assholes were out there?

  He let out a sigh. “None of this is admissible evidence in the Masterson trial since he wasn’t involved. I told the DA’s office all of this…” His elaborate shrug finished the sentence. They hadn’t been interested.

  As the cops turned and went back inside to check on my brother, Ludo’s gaze fell on my face.

  “This just got personal,” he said. “I have to fight back.”

  “No, you can’t.”

  He gave me a smile that had little sincerity behind it. “The man I’m talking about, Cornelius Teru, he was the friend I crossed the lake with. I trusted him and he betrayed me. He knows where we are. He chose to infiltrate our privacy by torturing your brother.”

  “Are you sure it’s him?”

  “Oh…it’s him.” A bitterness I’d never seen before crossed his features. “He did it to me, Cavan. What he did to Jackson he did to me.” He frowned. “He must think you’re close. He must have the idea it would really affect you if he hurt your brother.”

  “Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe he doesn’t know.”

  He gave a sharp bark of laughter. “Oh, trust me, he knows.”

  My mom and sister were talking now, my sister angry about the money Mom had given Jackson.

  “I just bet he blew through it all,” Dina sneered. “Do you have any idea what Garrett and I could have done with forty k?”

  “Please don’t.” My mother began to cry, her hands coming up to her face.

  My lover leaned toward me and whispered in my ear. “There’s something you don’t know about me, Cavan. When I’m pushed to the wall, I’m savage.”

  “You can’t kill any humans,” I said quickly, keeping my voice low. “You can’t. You’ve worked so hard. Please don’t do this.”

  “He’s not human.” Ludo looked at me. “It’s time for me to run with the pack…but not for the reasons you think. He took your brother to get to me.”

  I tried to speak but he stomped over my words. “But what he really wants is you. Your love saved me. That really pisses him off. I can’t let him near you.”

  He took my face in his hands. “Don’t you see? He won’t stop at anything. He wants to destroy me but to do that, first he has to get to you. You think your brother was bait? The real bait is you.”

  “I—”

  “These werewolves use humans as bait. It’s about time I stepped up to the plate and fought him.”

  “The last time you were near him he almost killed you and sold you to Masterson, remember?”

  He dropped his hands again. “Last time, I didn’t have anything to live for.”

  His gaze burned into mine. Why was this happening to us? Why couldn’t this…Cornelius Teru leave us alone?

  A chill shot through me. He’s killed humans. He can’t swim the lake in Argentina and become human again so he doesn’t want Ludo to become one either.

  The idea of Ludo fighting Teru didn’t appeal to me at all. I didn’t think it would be fair fight. Ludo growled as if he read my thoughts and found them infuriating. I thought he would flee, except my mother’s anguish seemed to reach his anger. It cut through all his wolfen rage. I’d never seen him like this.

  “Dina, why don’t you take us home?” Ludo asked. “Mom needs some rest. Cavan, you go pick up the car.” His eyes glittered like rubies. They made me think of the stone wolves on the building in Venice. Could my mother see his wolf struggling to escape his human form?

  I’d truly never seen this part of him.

  When I started to argue, he gave me a vicious look that brooked no argument. I walked outside with them all, my sister throwing me worried glances. She hugged me. I could smell her perfume and tried to recall the scent.

  Dewberry by Body Shop. It was sweet and innocent, like the times we’d once had. Ludo didn’t even look at me as we installed my mom in my sister’s SUV.

  I walked back into the hospital to do my cop thing. I needed to see just how bad my wayward brother was and I had to call my sergeant and get a ride back to Venice.

  Just as I was about to make the call my cell phone rang. It was Felicity Jones.

  I thought she was calling to check on us but she said, “You’re never going to believe this. The strangest thing just happened.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “One of the wolves on the building next door…the big gray one? It just vanished.”

  Chapter Three

  I didn’t get much of a chance to process a response. How could a stone wolf be missing? Veo was on the other line. I ended the call with Felicity and clicked over. He asked me to wait for him at the hospital. I felt grumpy at this point. Where the hell else would I wait? I had no wheels.

  Once again, I paced.

  My brother was still in surgery and by now the media had found out about “the man in the cage” only this time Veo had no video to give to them and I could tell it disappointed him immensely.

  He swaggered in with his electronic posse but I hid in the restroom, refusing to talk to them and besides, there was no news. I took comfort in the fact that it was unlikely the small crew he’d roped into coming here would get any images of my brother in the emergency surgery bay.

  I hoped.

  When I came back out, the crew had gone and Fulton and Tripp were debriefing Veo.

  “It’s a sexual thing, this cage idea,” he told me as they returned to speak to the surgeons. I wanted to roll my eyes. Suddenly he was the expert on sadomasochism. I let him ramble for a few minutes when Fulton and Tripp came back out. They looked upset…sickened. I hadn’t had a good look at my brother but was stunned when they read off a litany of what Jackson had been subjected to.

  “He’s been some sort of…sex slave for a while,” Fulton said. “His nipples, penis, and scrotum have all been nailed to a wooden board. Part of the board was still attached to him. He was electrocuted with an anal plug—it was a long, fluorescent-type light bulb that was inserted so deep it perforated his intestines. He was, when we found him, suspended in a dog cage attached to the ceiling. The cage was wet. He was curled up in it, fully clothed but once the doctors were able to examine him, they saw that he was tortured, beaten, whipped, flogged, suffocated, burned, choked, electrocuted, caned, skewered, mutilated, and—”

  “Skewered?” I asked.

  “There are wooden skewers stuck in his pectoral muscles and his stomach. I’ve been a cop sixteen years and never seen anything like this.”

  I digested all of it. “What’s his prognosis?”

  “He’s had two heart attacks but he’s holding strong. He was evidently electrocuted and they must have thought he was dead.”

  “Why do you say that?” I asked.

  “Whoever did this to him spent hours trying to kill him.
Your brother is one tough hombre.”

  Shit. He’s probably a were.

  Or was he? I had no idea how it worked. How could he have possibly survived such torture being a mere human?

  Veo ordered a pair of uniformed officers to keep watch on the room. The medical staff was afraid that once word got out Jackson had survived, whoever started this would try and finish him off.

  “The shifts will rotate. I want you and Erik here tomorrow morning,” Veo told me. I drove his car back to Venice as he made several calls in the backseat. I felt a bit like a chauffeur. I went back over everything that had happened that evening. The moon looked strange…a kind of burnt umber color. It reminded me of Ludo’s eyes when he was about to become a were.

  Somebody had followed us to Harry and Felicity’s barbecue. Had they sat outside all evening and then begun following us as we headed to the crime scene?

  Was it Cornelius Teru? If not, then who?

  I shivered thinking about all the things my brother had been subjected to. I could never tell anyone what Ludo had told me. Humans being used as bait in werewolf fights. Lord…how many men had this happened to?

  “You okay?” Veo suddenly asked.

  “Yeah.” I gripped the wheel.

  “I know this must have been a huge shock.”

  “You can say that again.”

  “I know this must have been a huge shock.”

  He was so goofy and trying so hard to be nice that all I could do was shake my head and laugh.

  “If I am piecing all this together correctly…Ludo claims that he and other men, like your brother, have been used as a kind of human bait for dog fights.”

  “Something like that.” It hadn’t occurred to me that he had heard what Ludo had said. The two investigating officers had assumed that Jackson was bait for dogs. They could hardly think it would be weres.

  “But most of the injuries to your brother were inflicted by a person—or persons—unknown.”

  “I guess.” I took a deep breath. I couldn’t let Veo know the truth. What was the truth? I shot him a glance in the rearview mirror. “Look…Ludo was tortured sadistically. You were there. You know that. My brother has been, too. I believe Ludo when he says there is a group of these men who enjoy that sort of thing. There are people who enjoy…blood sports. Cock fighting, dog fighting. But…this…” I shivered again. I couldn’t stop it. “It’s sick and it’s depraved. Ludo still has nightmares.”