Sitting in the car with Anders I felt like I had a better idea which of those two he might be. I also felt hollow. I had kept my blinders on for almost a decade. I never asked any questions. I killed and I got to live pain free. The truth was that the hunt was really all I had. There wasn’t much to me other than what I did. I had no friends. It’s hard to relate to people when you have no past. What do you talk about? I couldn’t really bring up nights soaked in the blood of werewolves and that’s all I had.
I was surprised to find that we were sitting in Anders car outside my apartment. “I swear Anders. I had no idea that the powder kills people,” I said quietly.
She leveled a dubious look at me. “How could you not know? Even with as quiet as people keep about this sort of thing some still talk. The news might not call it werewolf heart but they talk about the effects and the deaths.”
I shook my head. “I don’t watch the news and I don’t really talk to anyone.”
She turned towards me and looked into my eyes. Pity flooded her scent again. She seemed to be trying to figure out if I was stupid or lying. I hated her for that look but part of me also badly wanted her respect. She had defended her town from an all-out werewolf assault with little knowledge and no edge. She didn’t swagger or talk tough but she was a real hero. I didn’t think I deserved her respect but I at least wanted her to understand. So, for the first time, I told my story. I laid out everything I knew and explained why I hunted.
When I finished she sat quietly for a moment. The anger was gone from her scent but the pity was thicker than ever. “I can understand why you want to run away from this.” She said slowly. “But what are you running towards? Are you just going to go to another town and set up a life that involves hiding from humanity in your apartment? And now you know what the wolf powder does to people. Are you just going to keep going anyway? For you it’s a miracle but for everyone else it’s a death sentence. You were ignorant before but now you aren’t so it’s time to choose. You can either join humanity or continue being a child outside of it.”
I wanted to be pissed. I wanted to tell her exactly what she could do with her high and mighty bullshit but it wasn’t bullshit. She was right. Fuck her but she was right, I was acting like a scared little kid. In truth, running is generally not my style. It’s not like I haven’t helped out in stupid situations before. My general “fuck you” attitude flares up in response to bullies and severe assholes. Punching them until they break fills me with warm feelings. I’ve been powerless and vulnerable. I know how much it sucks.
My big problem with this situation was that it touched on the one thing that scares me; finding out shit about the person that owned my body from before. I knew that if I found out what he was, or what sort of shit he had been into, then I would feel compelled to do something about it. If he had been a bully or a severe ass hat then I would feel responsible for it. I wanted to run rather than have to face those things.
“I do not want to get caught up in any of the bullshit that old me created. That is why I never considered my past. His shit is not my fault and is not my fight.” I said.
Anders gave a mirthless chuckled, “His shit isn’t my fault either. It’s not Ian’s fault and it’s damn sure not the fault of all those people who died today but that doesn’t matter does it? They are still dead and we are stuck with this situation. Crying about how unfair this is just makes you sound like a child.”
“Well I am only about eight and half.” I said
A bit of exasperation entered her scent. “Well you’re definitely acting like it.” She said. “Look, if you want to distance yourself from your body’s previous owner then clean up his mess. His shit helped cause all these deaths. You can help stop them. You can prove to yourself that you’re better than him.”
I was not super happy that such obvious bait was luring me in. I knew what she was doing. But here’s the thing. After years of criss-crossing the country killing things that prey on humans, creatures that cause nightmares in most people, you become a bit arrogant. And arrogance makes you easy to manipulate.
“That’s some pretty basic psychological manipulation Lieutenant but, luckily for you, I’m a pretty basic guy,” I couldn’t help but grin a little.
Satisfaction entered her scent. “Well good. Now go get changed. You’re not going to help anyone looking like you just went through a wood chipper.”
Chapter four
By the hair of my chinny chin chin
A half hour later I was showered and changed. I dosed up again and exited my apartment fully kitted out for a rumble. Over the years I had gathered a rather large array of gear. I had my colt of course and the red hawk. I had on a body armor vest that had titanium plates covering my vitals and my own creation a hoody with a Kevlar lining and, sandwiched between the outer and inner layers, a mesh of silver chainmail. The silver chain wasn’t strong enough to stop any strikes but it would burn the fuck out of any wolf that hit me. Two light-weight, quick release, silver coated knives were also, literally, up my sleeves. Hardened silver knuckle dusters reassuringly weighted down my front pockets. My silver etched machete was in a leather sheath and baldric that had the handle sticking up through a hole in the hoody just over my right shoulder. My cargo pants were made like motorcycle pants with small strike plates sewn into them on my thighs and shins. And, of course, I had a few pouches of ammo on my belt. It all added up to a rather weighty kit. But with my enhanced strength I barely felt it.
As an extra precaution, I had also downed a few gelatin capsules filled with wolf heart. They would take a while to break down in my stomach. It’s hard to snort a line in the middle of a fight and I didn’t feel like dying from running out of juice.
Anders raised an eyebrow and smirked as I settled into the car. “You look like a shoplifter” she said. Granted, the gear was a bit bulky, but it was all worth it. Just because I can heal through most damage does not mean that I relish the idea of being cut to ribbons. Plus, a heart shot still means I’m dead, and enough trauma will put me down too.
“If you were the one who got punched out of their shoes by a werewolf I bet you’d be taking some extra precautions too.” I said.
She nodded “Good point, that wolf did thoroughly kick your ass.” She said through that smirk.
“Ya, well he’s dead and I’m not, so who’s the real winner?” I quickly countered.
Her smirk grew. “You’re alive because a pug saved you,” she said. Barely containing a laugh.
“We’ve been over this,” I said, “She’s a Dutch Mastiff.”
This time she did not contain her laughter.
While I had been up changing and suiting up like some “Batman wanna be”, Anders had been on the phone with Ian. He and the feds had moved down to the site of the slaughter at the comic book store. They wanted us to meet there and figure out a game plan. That seemed logical but it was not going to happen. I had been thinking about the attacks and I had an idea where to find the wolves. Their attacks pointed right toward where I was supposed to go.
“Before you go to meet with Ian I need you to drop me at Veteran’s park,” I said to Anders as we drove toward downtown.
She gave me a questioning side long look, “Why there?”
“I think that’s where I am supposed to go,” I said. “There are three places I go every day. I get lunch at Marie Catrib’s. I get coffee at Common Grounds and then I get comics down town but, I occasionally grab food and sit at the park eating and reading comics. If they have watched me enough to know my pattern then they know about that. And if they haven’t hit it yet then I think they are telling me to meet them there.”
Anders gave me a hard look. “That’s a bit of a leap don’t you think? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re on board to help but this seems extremely thin and possibly very stupid. I saw you deal with that first werewolf. There is no doubt that you are more than capable of handling yourself against maybe two or three of them but, we have no idea how many there a
re, and you said that the one at the restaurant was bigger than any wolf you had ever heard of. Why walk into a trap like that?”
I was pretty certain that I was right. I’m not sure why exactly but this sort of dramatic show down felt right. Maybe some part of my brain had a vague memory of this guy. Maybe I had studied him before I worked with him and his personality traits were lodged in the fact side of my brain. I don’t know for sure but it just felt like it made a certain sort of sense. He would be waiting for me at the park. As to why I would walk into a trap like this alone. Well that was actually pretty simple.
“Who else can?” I said simply. “This guy wants me and he’s willing to kill a lot of people to get to me.” For a moment, the face of the waitress at Marie Catribs floated in front of my eyes. I’m sure that to some people the idea of rolling around the country killing things that prey on my fellow humans sounds pretty badass. And, truthfully, it kind of is. I do feel powerful and confident in most dangerous situations. But that same life is also pretty dark. Not just lonely but dark and fucked up. Sometimes you run into shit other than werewolves…creatures even more sinister and evil. Sometimes those dark creatures have no supernatural origin. Sometimes they are just humans. Fucked up evil people who do fucked up evil shit. Seeing that can twist you up inside. It makes you leery of all humans. But, if you are lucky, you also run into people like Denise at the sandwich shop. People who are nice for no reason whatsoever. People who go out of their way to be good and kind to strangers. Those people out weigh the others and god only knows how many people like that had already died that day because this cult wanted to send me a message. If I was going to cowboy up and do the right thing then I was not going to do it half ass.
“Anyone else who walks in there is dead. These wolves are different. They are stronger than normal and they have been corrupted somehow. I smelled it on the two I killed and I saw it on them. They look strange. Their heads are bulbous and they have little furry tentacles on their faces. We don’t know exactly what we are dealing with but I do know that I can kill them. You wanted me to man up. Well I am,” I let that sink in. Then added, “That being said, if you can hustle to Ian after you drop me off and bring back a few cops with rifles to give me some cover fire, that would be pretty awesome.”
Anders stayed silent a moment weighing my words. “I’ll drop you off and I’ll bring help.” Her voice took on a bit of an edge. “But I am not comfortable with you going all cowboy on this.”
“I’m not real fuckin crazy about it either and I am pretty sure this burst of selflessness is, at the very least, going to result in me getting the living shit beat out of me, if not outright killed, and it’s all your fault for making me feel feelings.” I smiled as Anders shook her head and chuckled.
The ride to the park was far too short. Within ten minutes of leaving my apartment I was standing near the edge of the small reflecting pool that sat in front of the park’s main feature. Two twenty-foot-tall marble pillars with five 6-foot-tall marble blocks a few feet in front of them. The center block has a large stone Eagle statue and the words “They perished for us” carved into it. Frankly, I could have done without that block putting that thought in my head at that particular moment.
A handful of people were near the monument. No one really stood out. I saw a youngish couple holding hands, a bearded middle-aged guy, a couple bros talking and laughing loudly, and a few others sitting on benches. None of them were wearing a Scions of Fenrir shirt or sporting a monocle and thin mustache. And I didn’t have my little buddy to point out the bad guys. I had left Lily with Anders. Shifting takes a lot out of her and it’s not good for her to do it more than once a day. So, I was on my own. I stood there for a moment thinking about how stupid this was, but it was my idea, so I’d be damned if I was going to bitch out on it.
I made my way around the reflecting pool and headed toward the stone with the eagle on it. I could have walked past each person and tried to pin point the wolves with my nose but I figured that playing the staked-out sheep was my best bet. Someone had gone to a fuck of a lot of trouble to get me here and I had a feeling that someone like that would want to take at least a few minutes to monologue before he tried to rip my guts out.
I took up a position in front of the eagle stone and pretended to read the carvings on it. I caught the smell of wolf mixed with faint corruption just before someone moved in to stand on my right. My head pulsed with pain for a moment the way it had in the shop but it passed quickly this time. “So, you got my message,” The new comer said in a deep rich voice. There was just the faintest bit of some accent to the man’s speech. It wasn’t anything I could put my finger on just an odd tone to his words.
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. He wasn’t an overly tall man, only about 5’10”, but there was a strange largeness to him. His shoulders were wide and strong. I could see muscle straining a bit against his flannel shirt. His long dark hair was gathered into a tail at the nape of his neck. It wasn’t a hipster style as much as it reminded me of pictures of early colonialists. Grey streaked from his temples giving him an air of age and distinction. His strong square face held few lines, but the full well-trimmed beard that dominated his face was flecked with gray as well.
“So, you’re Fenrir.” I said, keeping my eyes forward, focusing on my other senses in an attempt to guard against any bushwhacking type activities.
His deep hearty laugh was not the answer I had expected. Nor was it the evil cackle one would assume a mass murderer would have. “No, my friend,” He said shaking his head as if my words were one of the funniest things he had ever heard. “I once, in my hubris, used that name, but now I am merely a humble servant of the true Fenrir. I am but the dirt that rests upon his great paw.”
That was interesting. So was this guy the Fenrir the Feds had mentioned or was he a lackey. I had come here ready for a throw down with the master mind of all this bullshit. Punching some underboss’ ticket wouldn’t hurt my feelings but it also wouldn’t bring the resolution I was hoping for. “So where is the true Fenrir?” I said, “The one who supposedly knew me.”
Beard face stared at me for a second as if I was an extremely dense pupil and he was trying to find a way to get through my stupidity. “The great lord Fenrir is where he has been since his betrayal, on the shores of the great North Sea awaiting the time when his children have paved the way for his return.” His eyes narrowed for a moment. “But I have told you this before my friend. On the day, you spurned the gift I gave you and the gift the great lord offered you.”
It was my turn to look at him like he was an idiot. “I have no clue what the fuck you are talking about pal.”
He stared intently at me for a moment. “Do you know my name?”
I shook my head. “I thought it was Fenrir but apparently I skipped a page in this book.”
He shook his head sadly. “You do not remember me?”
“I would think that would be rather obvious by this point.”
“We were friends,” He said, “We worked together for years. We spilled blood together and plumbed the secrets of the universe together.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “You’ll have to forgive me. Everything before I woke up on my basement floor eight years ago is pretty much gone.” I said tapping my head.
His eyes went wide. “You remember nothing of that night then?”
“Once again, I feel that is a rather obvious statement.”
His eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Well you are certainly glibber than before.”
I shrugged my shoulders again. “What can I say? Same house, new occupant. I am not the person you knew. His memories are gone. He is gone. I do not know what you two did together but it has jack and shit to do with me. I don’t know you. I don’t remember some offer from your great lord and I definitely don’t remember any gift from you, but you do seem to be a rather dapper gentleman, so I assume it was very tasteful. The long and short of things is this. Your beef with me is baseless, but I do h
ave one with you. I take offense to you and your dogs coming to my town and killing people. It’s 2017, you could have texted, emailed, poked me on facebook. Fuck, you could have sent a fuckin letter. But you chose to orchestrate this elaborate murdergram. So either make your point and get the fuck out of town or start this shit because I am tired of talking to you.”
Red bloomed in his cheeks and I could smell anger in his scent. When his angry eyes fixed on mine I took the opportunity to twitch my wrists and loosen up the knives I had up each sleeve. “You may not have your old memories but you are certainly just as blind and obtuse as ever. Memories or not you are an affront to the great lord. You were given the gift of the wolf and threw it away. Your very existence is heresy. I am here to cleanse the world of you and of the magics you used to wipe the gift of the wolf from your body.”
That kind of threw me for a loop. As far as I knew I had no magics. And if I understood his words and the “gift of the wolf” was what I thought it was, then I had been a lycan. But as far as I knew there was no way to wipe the changes the curse brought from a human body. It wasn’t a curse that persisted. It was a curse that brought on a change and then left. There was no magic to wipe away. But that was a line of question for another time. Beard face seemed pretty pissed and it was time to settle matters.
Beard face began to shift. Fur began to sprout and his frame was enlarging at a rapid rate. However, he was not my first concern. While he and I had been talking my ears had picked up two distinctly loud heart beats on the other side of the stone. Werewolves have large hearts and if you are close enough the sound stands out. The young lovers I had seen earlier had some loud ass blood pumps and either they were getting ready to form the beast with two backs or Beardy and my conversation had put their tickers into overdrive. I was betting on option number two. While public coitus was not unheard of, it was mostly a no go in broad day light.
The Scions Of Fenrir (The Wolf's Heart Journals Book 1) Page 6
