Black Friday

by Jan Stryvant

  "After my father died, he helped us out with a lot of things. He used to work for my dad; they were like best friends or something. He was like a big brother to me, always there when I needed help." Sean sighed and shook his head, something in the back of his mind was bothering him about this, but he didn't know what.

  "I can't believe he's dead! I talked to him last weekend. What happened?"

  "We found his body yesterday morning, a couple miles from here."

  "What do you mean, you found his body?"

  "He'd been shot, five times. Near as we can figure it out, he came across something he shouldn't have. There were no drugs on him, or in his system."

  Sean snorted, "Sampson didn't even drink, no way he'd ever have anything to do with drugs," shaking his head he sat back down on his bed. "Mom is going to be devastated," he looked up at the detective, "have you told her yet? If not, can you give me a ride over there?"

  "Well see, that's part of the problem," Detective Schumer started off.

  Sean was back on his feet, and this time, he had grabbed the detective's arms and was staring him right in the face.

  "What. Do. You. Mean?" he said slowly.

  "We haven't been able to find your mother since yesterday."

  "What!?"

  "She's not at work, not at home; there are no signs of forced entry. We haven't gone inside yet, we're still waiting on a search warrant and it hasn't been long enough to declare her a missing person yet."

  The Detective looked at Sean, "So, I was hoping...?"

  "Let me get dressed," Sean said looking around for some clean clothes.

  "Um, maybe you might want to shower first?" the uniformed officer suggested.

  Sean stopped and looked down at himself. Yeah, he needed a shower.

  "Wait here, don't touch anything, I'll be right back!" and grabbing a towel he headed for the shower. He hadn't even realized that Roxy had followed him until she pushed him to the back of the shower and got inside with him.

  "What are you doing?" he hissed, softly.

  "Going with you, what do you think?" she hissed back.

  Sean sighed and kissed her, "Thank you."

  Ten minutes later they were dressed and sitting in the back of the police car as they drove over to his mother's house. The detective had balked at first when Sean grabbed his girlfriend, but Sean just told him it wasn't up for discussion and then changed the subject by asking why they'd searched his room while he was in the shower.

  The detective looked embarrassed and the uniformed officer just smirked, and that was the end of that discussion.

  The drive to Sean's mother's place wasn't all that long, especially this early on a Sunday morning. Sean just sat there, holding Roxy's hand and wondering just what in the hell was going on. If only he had called her, warned her.

  But warned her of what? It wasn't really until last night that he knew anyone was after him, and Sampson lived next door, he would have run off anyone who would have even thought of giving her any trouble.

  Sean shook his head, none of this made any sense. He was just a poor kid going to school to try and get a decent paying job after spending his life in poverty. Suddenly everything was happening to him, and he had no idea just why. There had to be an answer to all of this, somewhere. But where?

  He suspected that his missing memory from Friday had something to do with it. Because up until that moment, his life was plain. Boring in fact.

  They pulled into the trailer park, which had been Sean's home from the time he was nine until he'd moved out two years ago. He looked over at Roxy and could see the look of surprise on her face. He'd told her he was poor, but seeing was believing of course. At least the people here took care of their places so it wasn't a run down mess.

  They pulled up in front of his mom's place. There was a patrol car sitting out in front, he was sure that the neighbors would just be loving that. Getting out of the back of the car the first thing he noticed was that his mother's car was gone.

  "Her car's gone," he said looking at the detective.

  "We found it parked at the casino, in the employee's parking lot," he said. "Both of the front tires were flat."

  "Flat?"

  "Yeah, both were slashed."

  Shaking his head, Sean walked up to the door and getting out his keys, he put them in the lock.

  "Wait out here," he said to the detective.

  "What?" He said looking surprised.

  "If my Mom is just laying in bed sick, the last thing I want to do is drag a bunch of cops inside," Sean said staring at the man.

  "Okay," he grumbled but didn't push it.

  "Roxy, come on," Sean said and pushing the door open he stepped inside.

  The place had been trashed, there was stuff thrown around everywhere. Someone had obviously been looking for something. What, Sean had no idea.

  "I take it this isn't normal?" Roxy asked and Sean just stared at her.

  "Hey, your room isn't all that much better," she said, giving him a weak smile.

  "Mom is a neat freak. Let's check her bedroom."

  The place wasn't all that big; it was only a singlewide trailer after all. There were only two bedrooms; his was on the left as they walked towards the back. The door was open and that room was just as tossed as the rest of the house. Same for the bathroom after that.

  The door to the master bedroom was open, and again, everything in it had been tossed over pretty well.

  "Smell anything?" Sean asked looking around.

  "Those cops still outside?" Roxy asked.

  Sean nodded.

  "Give me a moment," she said and walking into the bedroom he watched as she kicked her shoes off, and then shifted to her hybrid form.

  "Better nose," she said and winked, then dropped to her knees and started sniffing around the room.

  "You okay in there?" He heard the detective call from outside.

  "Yeah, just a minute," Sean said and looked around the room. Nothing was really broken; someone had obviously been searching, for something.

  "Okay," Roxy said, putting her shoes back on and came over to him.

  "Well, let's go let the cops in," Sean sighed and headed back to the front door.

  "Come on it, she's not here, but somebody else has been."

  "Looks like somebody was looking for something," Detective Schumer said looking around the room.

  "There's nothing here to be found," Sean said, "my mom spent ten years paying off tax leans that the IRS hit us with after my father died. It's only been the last two years that she even began to have any extra money at all."

  "Why didn't you declare bankruptcy?" Roxy asked.

  "We did, IRS debts don't go away, even in a bankruptcy."

  "Yeah," Detective Schumer said, looking around, "they're real bastards that way. Do you mind if I have a look around?"

  Sean sighed and shook his head, "Knock yourself out, Detective. Have you been inside of Sampson's house yet?"

  "Actually, no. Do you have a key?"

  "Don't need one, he never locks his door."

  Detective Schumer looked at him in surprise. "He never locked his door? Here?"

  Sean shrugged, "We may be poor, but the people around here don't steal, and well, you don't mess with Sampson. He always knew who was doing what and he didn't care much for thieves."

  Walking out the front door and going across the narrow driveway Sean walked up the steps to Sampson's place and opened the door. It had been obviously searched as well, though Sampson had a lot less stuff in his home, which was another single wide trailer, just like Sean's mom's.

  Walking towards the back he opened the door to the master bedroom, which was closed.

  There were two dead bodies in the room.

  "Son of a bitch," Detective Schumer said. "Who are those guys?"

  "I guess Sampson caught them in the act," Sean said looking them over. Both of them appeared to be dressed about the same as the four they'd run into last night. He noticed a Glock lying o
n the floor by one of them, and while a lot of people used Glocks, this group all seemed to favor them.

  "This just became a crime scene," Detective Schumer told him, "I'm going to have to ask you to step outside."

  Sean just sighed and taking Roxy's hand they went back out to sit on the hood of the unmarked car they'd come here in. Over the next hour they watched as several more police cars showed up. A van from the morgue and another van from what looked like the forensic team.

  Eventually Detective Schumer came back over to them, as they sat there.

  "I'm sorry you had to see that, but I guess you're right about them having been caught in the act. Was Sampson some kind of martial artist or something?"

  "Why?" Sean asked.

  "One of the victims had his throat crushed; the other had his neck broken."

  Sean nodded, "I think he was a commando or something. But yeah, he was a pretty tough guy and knew how to fight. Like I said earlier, you don't mess with Sampson." Sean sighed heavily then and just put his head in his hands, "Or at least, you didn't."

  "Sorry, Kid," Detective Schumer said, "I really hate to be the bearer of bad news, but well, at least he got two of them. Do you have any idea what this may have been about?"

  "No."

  "Did your mother or Mr. Sampson have any enemies?"

  Sean shook his head, "My mom was too poor to have any, and well, Sampson may have, but I never heard about it."

  "Do you think you could come down to the morgue and ID his body for us at least?"

  Sean sighed and nodded, "Sure," he said and getting up he and Roxy got back in the car again.

  The ride over to the city morgue was a somber one. Sean wasn't sure which was bothering him more, that his mother was missing, or that Sampson was dead. There was always a chance that his mother would turn up alive and okay. But Sampson was dead and that was final. Roxy had pulled his head down against her shoulder and was just holding him. It felt nice to have someone to hold you at a time like this.

  When they got to the morgue, Detective Schumer asked her if she wanted to wait outside while they identified the body.

  "No, I'll go with him," Roxy said, tightening her grip on Sean's hand.

  "It isn't pretty," the detective warned her.

  "It never is," Roxy sighed.

  The detective looked at her a little surprised.

  "You have experience with dead bodies?" He asked, looking at her a little suspiciously.

  "My mom's a medical examiner in Vegas," Roxy said surprising the Detective, as well as Sean, who had no idea.

  "And," she added, "My dad's the sheriff."

  "One of the deputies?" Detective Schumer asked.

  "No, the Sheriff. Sheriff Channing is my father."

  "Oh, well, ah...."

  Sean looked at her, "If you're from Vegas, why didn't you go to UNLV?"

  "Because dad checking out all of my boyfriends in high school was bad enough. No way was I going to put up with that in college."

  Sean nodded and they followed Detective Schumer in to the back of the building to a room filled with those square metal doors that up until now he'd only ever seen in the movies.

  Grabbing the handle on one of them, Detective Schumer unlatched the door and pulled it out. Just like in the movies it came open like a filing cabinet. Only this one had a man laying in it, and it was cold.

  Grabbing the sheet covering the body, Sean flipped it back to expose the face. It was Sampson. He spent a moment just staring at the man who had at times been his best friend, and others almost like a father to him.

  "I'm sorry I never got to meet him," Roxy sighed standing next to Sean and looking at Sampson's body. Reaching up she touched his face a moment, then withdrew her hand.

  "Does he have any family?" Detective Schumer asked. "We weren't able to find anyone other than your mother and you."

  Sean shook his head, "No, as I understand it, he came here from Rhodesia after the government fell. I don't think he had any family left after that."

  Closing the drawer, the Detective led them back out of the building.

  "I'll call you if we learn anything. Here's my card, please call me if you can think of anything that might help, or if you hear from your mother."

  "Thanks, I will."

  "Do you two need a ride back?"

  Sean shook his head, "No, we can walk from here, and I could use some fresh air."

  "Okay, take care of yourself, Son."

  "Thanks," Sean said putting the detective's card in his pocket.

  Walking out of the building, Sean just looked around a moment, feeling lost.

  "Come on," Roxy said grabbing him and dragging him in the opposite direction of their respective rooms. "You look like death and we haven't had a thing to eat since last night."

  Sean just nodded and sighed, "Why would anyone kidnap my mom?"

  "I don't know, but I do know one thing."

  "What? You picked up someone's scent at my mom's?"

  "Not that, it was the same guys we found dead in Sampson's house. Obviously they didn't find what they were after in your place, and went there next. No, this is something a little more important than that."

  "What?"

  "Sampson is the one who turned you."

  "What?!" Sean stopped and looked at her.

  "He was a lion-were, I wasn't sure, I could smell it in his house, but I wanted to be sure. That's why I touched him, to get his scent. They keep it so cold down there that smells don't travel far."

  "You can tell from his scent that he's the one who bit me?"

  Roxy nodded, "Yup. Also, the blood on your clothes? Some of that was his. Whatever it was that happened to you Friday night, Sampson was involved in it."

  "Sampson would never hurt me!" Sean fumed, defending his dead friend.

  "Who said he hurt you?" Roxy said grabbing his hand and leading him off again. Lycans got testy when they were hungry. She figured that getting some food into him would help calm him down. Plus she was starting to feel a little edgy herself.

  "It could be that he got shot saving you. Whoever shot him was using silver bullets, that's one of the sure ways of stopping a lycan."

  "Maybe it was those guys with the Glocks?"

  "No, silver bullets have to be hand loaded, and well, Glocks don't do well with reloaded bullets, they have a tendency to fail rather spectacularly."

  "So, he pulled me from that van then?"

  "Probably, but first things first," she said and dragged him inside the Denny's. "Let's eat."

  Questions and More Questions

  Sean picked at his food at first; he hadn't ordered all that much, where Roxy had ordered probably four times as much as he had.

  "So, what do we know?" Roxy asked him.

  "Well, we know that something happened to me Friday, we think I was kidnapped in that van that crashed."

  "With the way someone was watching that site to see if you came back to investigate it, I think it's a safe bet you were in it," Roxy said.

  "Okay, and we believe a lycan, or something similar, caused it to crash and ripped the doors off, saving me."

  "Which we now know to be Sampson," Roxy pointed out and looked pointedly at his food, then at him.

  Sean smiled wanly and started to eat.

  "We also know that they searched your house, Sampson's house, but oddly enough, not your apartment. Hell, they haven't even come by your apartment."

  "And we know that they don't work for Sawyer," Sean said between bites. "By the way, who the hell is Sawyer?"

  "Someone you're not ready to meet yet."

  "How did you know that they didn't work for him?"

  "Because Sawyer doesn't hire humans," Roxy shrugged. "My dad ran him out of Vegas years ago. He's a goblin, he buys and sells a lot of arcane stuff, he's a fence for the supernatural. Pretty involved in the rackets and some other shady things too, I'm sure. But he hates humans, with a passion."

  Sean looked up at Roxy, "Wait, there are goblins out
there?"

  Roxy chuckled, "Of course there are! What, did you think lycans were all that existed?"

  "Well, how come I've never heard of it?"

  "Same reason you never heard about lycans and were-creatures before, of course," Roxy told him. "Humans aren't very accepting of other races or things they don't understand."

  Sean nodded, "I've noticed."

  "So not a lot of people know about us, and we all kinda keep a low profile."

  "Well, how does he feel about lycans?" Looking down Sean saw his plate was now empty. He also realized he was still hungry.

  Roxy shrugged, "Depends," and picking up the plate of sausages she'd ordered, she dumped it on his plate.

  "What? That's your food!" Sean protested.

  "No," she said and followed it with the plate of extra bacon she'd ordered, "it's your food. I knew your mind wasn't on eating, so I ordered extra. Eat."

  "But, I," Sean looked at the food and tried not to drool all over it, "I can't, you paid for it! I can pay my own way!"

  "Sean?" Roxy said smiling sweetly.

  "I'm serious, Roxy."

  "It's the females of the pride's duty to make sure that their male is fed. Ask you lion, now eat."

  "Wait, are you saying you're...."

  'Told you! Now eat!'

  "Sure looks that way," Roxy winked as Sean started in on the food with a will.

  "But, you're not a lioness," he said between bites.

  'Doesn't matter.'

  "Doesn't matter," she said echoing his lion. "As long as we're the same genus, it works out. It's actually not all that uncommon."

  "Huh," was all Sean could say as he looked at Roxy, watching her as he ate until suddenly she blushed.

  "What?" She asked, looking at him.

  "I think I'm going to like being a lion," he smirked.

  "Yeah, me too!" Roxy giggled and winked.

  "So, do you think this Sawyer might know why everyone is after me?" Sean asked as he finished off the sausages and the bacon, eyeing the extra plate of pancakes that she then shoved over in front of him as she finished the food on her own plate.

  "I don't know. He might. But I'm a bit hesitant to ask."

  "Why?" Sean asked around a forkful of pancakes.

  "Because if it's something really expensive, or important, or worth a lot of money, he just might decided to take it for himself."