Anders helped me find my gun and recover my shoes. By the time we walked back to Marie Catrib’s uniformed officers were swarming the whole area. They were closing off streets and evacuating everyone. The other four wolves had gotten away. But not before killing twenty of the people in the crowd. This brought today’s body count up to a grand total of seventy; taking this whole horrific incident up to the level of national tragedy. The feds would be losing their fucking minds trying to put a lid on this. God knows how many people saw my little tussle in the middle of a city street with that wolf. There were probably youtube videos already up of Lily transforming in midair.
When Anders and I walked up Ian and the two feds were looking at something on a tablet. Ian’s face was beat red and it looked like he was about one more calamity from some sort of cranial infarction. The feds looked as impassive as ever. I was beginning to suspect that they were robots. Soulless automatons. As I got closer Ian turned toward me and all the color drained out of his face. “Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to you?”
“You know that wolf I was chasing?”
“Ya.”
“Well I caught it.” I said dryly.
Ian looked me over a little closer. “It looks like you got your ass kicked.”
I scratched at an itchy spot on my face and a huge piece of scab fell off revealing nice pink skin underneath. I looked down at the disgusting pile of me on the ground then looked back at Ian. “Eh, the first one went down pretty easy. The second one snuck up on me.”
“You fought two of them?” Ian asked
“Well not at the same time.” I said. “And the second was less fight and more me getting shoulder checked like a bitch.”
“So that one got away? Ian asked.
“No.” I said. “I got lucky and back up arrived. That one is dead too.
Ian looked to Anders, gave her a nod and said “Nice work Detective”
My grin might have been shit eating but the look on Anders’ face could best be described as murderous disgust. “Actually sir” she said. In a quiet strained voice. “I arrived after both wolves were down. Lily had the assist on this one.” She gestured to the pug at my feet.
The feds had made their way over to us by that point. Both them and Ian looked down at my adorable little dog, who was wheezing away happily at my feet, then back at Anders, then to me and once again back to Lily. “Well” Ian said, obviously not knowing where to go or what to do with this info.
The silence stretched out awkwardly for a few seconds until the agent on the left nudged Ian. “Chief Mercer” he said. “We should probably bring Mr. Lucas and the Detective up to speed.”
“Oh right.” Ian said, his face clouding over. The brief moment of mirth vanishing. He tried to put on a mask of professional emotionlessness. It was well done but he stank of nervous fear mixed with confusion. All of which was totally understandable. It’s one thing to acknowledge the darker parts of our world and to prepare for the things that go bump in the night. But to have them start stalking the city you are responsible for during the day, springing from the shadows and ripping the throats out of people right in front of you. That is just such a kick right in the emotional nuts. I was impressed that he and the other cops weren’t curled up on the ground rocking back and forth. Hell, a big part of me wanted to do just that. I kill these crazy things, that’s what I do, but this was way beyond anything I had ever dreamt of. Werewolves don’t do this. They instinctively hide from the light. They stalk the dark and keep as a low a profile as possible. This was like a declaration of war.
That was the part that made no sense. Unlike their natural counter parts, werewolves were, in general, solitary hunters. I had seen a pack or two but they were normally in low population areas and never more than five or six in a pack. The part of them that was still human was too greedy to share like natural wolves do. A strike like this spoke of coordination. And that shit about the scions of Fenrir most definitely sounded culty. Cults are scary in general. Members of cults become so twisted that logic fails them. I’ve run up against a cult or two and I’ve seen the work of a magical cult go extremely wrong. Both of those are scary. But a cult made up of supernaturally charged death machines was just too fucking much. In the face of all that it was truly amazing that Ian could summon anything other than fear.
Ian looked me in the eye and said “There have been two more attacks.”
That statement hung in the air for a moment. It settled in on me. One coordinated attack was horrifying enough. Two more meant that things were so much worse. “Where?” I managed to say through a mouth that was suddenly dry with terror.
“Four of them hit a coffee shop near here.”
My breath caught a little bit as a terrifying notion ran through brain. “Common Ground?” I said cutting him off but hoping my guess was wrong.
“Yes” he said “How did you know?”
I closed my eyes and breathed out slowly “I go there almost every day.” I said. If my guess was right I had a good idea where the other attack happened. “Did they hit Vault of Midnight downtown?” I asked
Ian stared at me for a moment. For a brief instant suspicion entered his scent. That smell was thick coming from the feds. Strangely Anders didn’t smell of suspicion. Her scent carried concern and a bit of pity. When I smelled the pity, I glanced back at her. She was looking right at me. That emotion was directed towards me. I had to give it to her, she had figured out what I had and without as many clues.
“Yes” Ian said again. “And once again I have to ask, how did you know?”
I sighed “The wolf I killed called me The Apostate. He seemed to know who I was. All the wolves yelled about The Scions of Fenrir before they started killing everyone. That seems like a very cultish thing to say. If I’m The Apostate that means that for some reason their cult is pissed at me. So it stands to reason that they are hitting places I frequent and I really only go to three places. I eat here almost every day at lunch, I go to Common ground for coffee and I get comics at the Vault of Midnight. “
Fed number one looked at me incredulously “You live in a city this size and you only go three places?”
I stared him and his stupid tone right in the eye and said “I kill giant death machines for a living. Were you expecting me to be a fully functional member of society?”
Fed number one shrugged his shoulders as if conceding the point. Everyone else just sort of stood there awkwardly in silence until Ian pushed through the tension. “So you think these attacks are directed at you?” He said “No offense but that’s a lot of effort to go to just to piss you off.”
“Ya” I said. “I mean I am good at pissing people off but this does seem like a huge amount of over kill just to get to me.”
Anders stepped up beside me, fully joining our little circle. “Well the first thing we should be asking is: who are The Scions of Fenrir?” She said. “If they are a cult then they have an agenda.” She looked at the Feds. “Have you ever heard of them before?
“Before you answer,” I piped in. “Could we get some names? I’m tired of thinking of you as Fed one and fed two.”
Fed one looked at Fed two, for a second I saw a tiny grin flash between them and both of them gave off a whiff of smug. “I’m Special Agent Sam Winchester and this is my brother Special Agent Dean Winchester,” Fed number one said barely containing his grin.
I looked at his stupid smug face and held back my urge to crush it “How very meta of you.” I said as dryly as I possibly could. “If you two are done being witty do you have anything to add about the Scions of Fenrir?”
Fed one, I refuse to refer to him by his stupid fake name, looked at Fed two again. Fed two gave a shrug and then a slight nod. “We know the name Fenrir.” Fed one said. “An agency we work with used to have an asset that used the code name Fenrir.”
“Used to have?” I said
The two shared another look before Fed one continued. “The asset went missing eight years ago. He was presumed dead
but in the last few months his name has surfaced a few times. “
“Was he a werewolf when you guys misplaced him?” I asked
Fed one got a rather annoyed look on his face. “We didn’t misplace him. He was at the scene of a rather mysterious magical accident. He wasn’t the only asset that we lost that day.” Fed one’s voice got a bit of an edge to it and he looked right at me. “The other asset was engaging in some extracurricular experimentation and managed to permanently wipe his mind of everything that made him useful.” Fed one said and his sneer spoke volumes.
Fuck. I went cold inside as the words hit me. Unless I was way off Fed one was talking about me. “What was he working on?” I croaked through parched lips.
“We don’t know,” said Fed one, “He was found on the floor of his basement. It looked like some sort of blast centered on him had gone off. Everything was destroyed in a circle around him. He looked fine but his memory was gone and his nervous system was fried.”
My vision swam for a moment and suddenly I was back there. I could feel the cold cement floor pressed against my face. I could hear the muted sounds of voices. People were swarming throughout the room but I could barely hear them. It was like I was underwater. Sounds were distorted and my vision swam as my eyes slowly opened. Even that simple movement took an almost inhuman effort. Then the pain crashed in. I felt it radiating through my body. It felt like every nerve was on fire. A scream flew from my mouth. I tried to control it. Some part of me felt like I should be able to suppress the pain but I couldn’t. The scream continued. It kept going until my throat felt raw. My vision grew dark and unconsciousness crashed in.
I realized I was sitting on the ground. Lilly was snuffing away trying to worm herself onto my lap. Absently my left hand started petting her. I’m not sure if I was calming her or me…probably both. Ian was staring down at me with a look of concern and confusion. Anders was crouching down beside me, her hands moved to my face, tilting my head back and pulling at the skin just beneath my eye. She must have been looking for signs of a concussion. The two dickhead feds just stared down at me. Number one had a bit of a smirk while number two had as much expression as a stone. I was quickly getting the feeling that number two was the actual lead man. He was impassive and his looks seemed to be Number one’s cues to talk. Truly dangerous men don’t need to show off.
I shook the cobwebs out of my head and brushed Ander’s hand away. “I’m fine,” I said, “But thank you,” I quickly added. Anders was treating me like a human so I decided to actually act like one. Rage built in me as I stood up. These fuckers knew who I was. They knew more about the old Kevin Lucas than I did. Well fuck them. Fuck them to death. That guy was dead. I didn’t know what sort of shit he was into. I didn’t know a damn thing about him and I was fine that way. He and I were two different people. I already had to pay for his fuck ups. I carried the scars of his sins every day and he was gone. Fuck him and fuck them.
“Detective. Could you please take me back to my apartment?” I said through clenched teeth as I turned toward her car.
“Kevin I’m sure you need a change of clothes and some food,” Ian said, “But we should go over the rest of this and decide on a course of action.”
I stopped. Ian was a good man and he was in a hard spot but I was getting the feeling that the Feds had known all along that a gun had been pointed at this city and at least one bullet was aimed at me. I felt like the cheese in the trap. That pissed me off. If I stayed they would use whoever I had been. All the sins that guy had committed to lever me into doing something dangerous and stupid. I could smell it on them. They wanted me to play chicken with a freight train. Well like I said. Fuck them.
“I’m not going home to change Ian. I’m going home. I’m packing my shit and I’m leaving. Fuck boy one and two know a shit load more than they are saying. Hell, I’d bet they knew Fenrir was headed this way. They want to make me pay for something I can’t remember. I bet they think they can draw me in with tid bits about who I was. But here’s the thing. I don’t care. I don’t want to know a damn thing. I might have his name. I might even have his face, but I am not him. He died in that blast and I got stuck with his fucked-up body.” I said.
I smelled confusion pour off of Ian. “What?” he stammered.
“Ask them.” I said nodding backwards toward the feds. “If they know so god damn much then they are way more qualified to explain shit than me.” I heard Lily start growling at my feet. She was looking at the Feds and a bit of blue energy was massing at the edge of her eyes. She’s generally not aggressive against normal humans but she is extremely protective of me. My anger was queuing up her guardian magic.
Fed One stepped forward. “You are the best link we have to this shit show. You are not going anywhere.”
I really was not in the mood for his macheesmo. I’m in control so I pulled my own macho bullshit. I suddenly turned toward him, leaned close, and said “I fucking hope, with all my heart, that you try to stop me.” I held his stare for a moment. When he didn’t say anything I said, “That’s what I thought.” Then I turned to walk away.
Fed one took the bait. He grabbed my arm as I turned. I think he was planning on pulling me up short and teaching me how tough he was. Instead I jerked out of his grip hard enough to pull him off balance and then faster than he could track my hand shot forward and I hit him with an open palm strike to the chest. He flew backward and hit the front of the sandwich shop.
Fed two pulled his pistol as his partner slid to the ground in a heap. I gave him a hard look. “Unless you can kill me in one shot I will feed that thing to you before you get off a second shot.” He looked at his crumpled partner then back at me. Slowly he holstered his pistol.
“Good choice.” I said. Then turned and walked toward Anders’ car. I let Lily in then got in myself. I kept my eyes forward as Anders got in and started the car. The pity smell was gone. She smelled of anger and disappointment. Well, fuck her too. Who was she to judge me?
We pulled away from the curb and started back toward my apartment in silence. I kept my eyes straight ahead and my jaw firmly closed. I did not want to get pulled into another PSA from her. Some lecture about my responsibility or some other bullshit. My only responsibility was to myself and Lily. I didn’t hunt out of some altruistic feeling. I hunted to pay the bills and keep the pain away.
About a block into our drive Anders broke the silence. “So where will you go?” she said in an even measured tone. That surprised me a bit. I had been expecting some admonishment or at least a brisk scolding for assaulting Fed one and two.
“I don’t know for sure.” I said, wondering where this was going.
“Hmmm” she said “Sounds like you have a solid plan.”
Oh, Fuuuuuck her. I would not take such obvious bait. I stayed silent.
She glanced at me quickly then looked back to the road. “Well it’s probably good that you have an SUV. It’ll make it easier to drive over the bodies as you scamper away.” She said. Her tone was all casual, like we were just chatting over coffee.
Super-duper fuck her. I was not scampering. I was getting out of a shit storm that was not my fault.
She glanced my way again probably trying to read my face to see if I was reacting. But I was a stone. I was not going to give in. Not a peep from me. “And it’s probably best that you leave before things get to intense. Ian seems to like you and I’d hate to see you raise his hopes and then crush them when you run off when he is depending on you.”
“Fuck you.” I said quietly. My tone was anything but measured. “You are not going to shame me into staying.”
“Oh.” She said “I wouldn’t dream of it. For that to work you would need a conscience. I’m pretty sure you aren’t burdened with one of those. You’re basically just a thrill killer slash drug dealer.”
I turned in my seat now thoroughly pissed off. Bait and hook squarely in my mouth. “What the hell are you talking about?” I said.
“You travel around kil
ling wolves and harvesting their hearts, right?
“Yes”
“Do you keep all the heart powder for yourself?”
“No”
“So, you sell some of it then?”
“Well yes.” I said. “I have to make a living somehow.”
“Then you are a drug dealer,” She said, heat now entering her voice. “The people you sell it to die.”
“I don’t fucking pedal it on the street. I have one guy who buys it all from me.”
“Oh, my apologies,” She said with a hint of scorn. “You’re just a middle man. Your contact sells it to kids.”
“He doesn’t sell it to kids,” I said. But the fact was that I didn’t know that. Fuck I knew very little about Alexander. Hell, I knew next to nothing about the powder itself. I had had no idea that it killed anyone. But then again, I had never asked. I killed creatures and harvested their organs but never asked any questions. The fact was I didn’t want to know. I knew that it worked for me and that was all I had cared about.
Alexander Jackson entered my life about a year after I had gotten out of the hospital. Once a week I summoned enough energy to shuffle out of my shitty basement apartment and trek to the store for more booze. The meds helped but being drunk helped more. Well, at the very least it made me care a fuck load less.
I had come home from my weekly trip and there he was sitting in the recliner in my dingy studio apartment. He looked about as out of place as a man could. Alexander exudes dignity and power. His expensive pin striped suits seem a throwback to days long past. They make you think of old aristocracy. His bowler hat perches perfectly above his angular features and lends a few more inches to his already tall slim build. He did not belong in that shitty apartment. He belonged in a 19th century palace. But there he was. Lounging about in my thrift store recliner.
I was so taken aback by seeing him that it never crossed my mind to question his presence in my home. Plus, I was pretty drunk, after draining most of a fifth on the way home. I just set my bag full of liquor on the counter and listened to his pitch. He had a way for the pain to stop. He offered me a sample of the powder. I was already drinking myself to death so I figured what the hell, snorting a magical powder was my next step anyway. The effects were so immediate and so stunning that there was no way I could resist. I got my life back and a new career all in one shot. He armed me and sent me off towards my first kill all in one night. Even then I was never sure if he was an angel or the god damn devil himself and frankly I didn’t care.
The Scions Of Fenrir (The Wolf's Heart Journals Book 1) Page 5
