Echoes of Time
by
Chani Lynn Feener
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY:
Chani Lynn Feener on Smashwords
Echoes of Time
Copyright 2011 by Chani Lynn Feener
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without written permission from the author.
Cover Art by Vandyla
Smashwords Edition License Notes
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Echoes of Time
Chapter 1:
Fog drifted on the cool air, silhouetting the trees and the buildings that dotted the area in a soft milky white. The moon glowed like a beacon in the darkness, sending the glass covered city glittering. Honking of horns and traffic squeals ruined the peace, accompanied by shouts and curses of incompetent drivers pissed off to be out so late at night. This was the city that never slept, a separate world all its own; locals were used to the noise and dozed right through it from their lofts and their homes.
Through the shades of the alleys, two figures darted, muscles tensing and springing as they propelled themselves forward through the mist. Their ears filtered through the sounds, honing in on a target they couldn’t yet see. Their long snouts picked up on the sent, musky and dry, like smoked wood chips, strange for this type of setting where everything was made from metal and rust.
They didn’t talk, there was no need to as of yet, but continued on one following the other through the twists and turns, avoiding being seen by street walkers heading back from the clubs and the late night coffee shops. Even if someone had managed to turn their head in the two’s general direction, all they would have seen was a flash of a shadow that was gone within a heart beats time.
Getting closer to their prey, the older of the two, large and white, picked up the pace, eager to end the chase and be done with it. They’d already been out for three hours now hunting down the enemy and she was tired of wasting her time on an assignment a pup could have done.
There was a shot of red less than a hundred feet away, and movement that she recognized as coming from a man. He was talking to someone in loud whispers, waving his arms around in frustration. She couldn’t yet see who he was yelling at, but at this point it didn’t even matter. She’d been sent out to find this man in red, no one else. If the other got away than he or she got away, she wouldn’t bother herself any further this night.
Behind her she could hear her partner panting, growing tired and harried. She wanted to glance back and make sure that exhaustion was all it was, but knew she couldn’t afford to take her eyes off the target for even a split second. Unlike the humans, this man would be able to see them for what they were, and what’s more, he’d be able to sense them.
As if on cue, with them less than fifty feet away now, the man froze and turned his head towards them. Eyes going wide he spun on his heel intent on fleeing down the alley way and to an old beat up jeep he had parked there.
Growling in warning she jumped, a large white wolf twice the size of a gray, landing on wide front paws with a smack right behind him. Snapping her jaws she latched onto the end of his coat, yanking back and bringing him backwards hard so that he landed sprawled on the cold concrete ground.
There were more growls from behind, and the white wolf turned to see her partner cornering the person the man in red had been talking to, a short balding fellow who was holding out his hands in front of him as if to ward the black creature off.
The opposite of the white wolf, this one was a deep charcoal black with vibrant green marble like eyes. Barring her teeth she cocked her head a little to the wolf who’d caught the man in red as if silently asking what to do next.
With a snap of her jaws the white wolf gave her full attention to the man and seemed to smile. Before his eyes she began to shift, arms and legs elongating and paling, snout pushing in and back straightening. In a blinks time no longer was the wolf a wolf, but a woman with long dark red hair that curled at the end. She was crouching in front of him, the smile still on her lips with her golden yellow eyes latched onto his dull blue ones.
“You shouldn’t have run,” she spoke and her voice dripped out of her like honey, sweet and alluring, masking what she really was. “Didn’t they warn you that when you run from a predator all you do is induce their need to chase?”
He swallowed the lump in his throat and shook his head violently. He’d been warned that there were creatures out there who would do him harm for his sins, but he hadn’t taken it seriously. He’d been working the streets since he’d been a teen, and so far nothing bad had happened to him, what could be so different in this city?
“They didn’t—I was told nothing,” he stuttered, teeth chattering in fear. “Honest. I—I don’t know what—who you think I am b-but you got the wrong guy!”
She cocked her head at him then glanced over her shoulder at another woman who had been a sleek black wolf only moments before as well.
Even in this form she was different from her partner, with hair a light chestnut and in curly loops that dropped to her shoulders. The one thing she did have in common was she wore black jeans and a leather jacket, with boots that went up to her knees.
“What do you think?” The first woman with the dark hair asked. “Do we have the wrong guy?” There was mockery in her tone, a clear sign that she was enjoying his blabbering.
“Weak and sniveling.” The brunette gave him a false once over, as if she hadn’t already memorized what he looked like. “Definitely our guy.”
The red head turned back with a little shrug. “Sorry, Charlie, Lila says you fit the M.O of our target. Looks like you’re shit outta luck.” She scrunched up her nose and reached out towards his face, ignoring his flinch. Lifting the wire rimmed glasses away from him she brought them to her. “Add ‘nerdy’ to that list, Lila,” she said over her shoulder to her partner.
“What do you want me to do about this one?” Lila asked, referring to the balding man she still had cornered. There were tears dripping down his face, and she was almost positive he had soiled himself. “He wasn’t on the report, Bryn.”
Kiley Bryn had never been the type to relish in a kill, especially when the victim was innocent. Dropping the glasses to the ground uncaringly she leaned closer to the man in red. “Tell me, who is this guy? Your bookie?”
It didn’t look like he was going to talk, which only added to her impatience. “Listen up, Charlie, this can go smoothly, or painfully, and right now you’re really not making me want to play nice. So answer the question before I start to get really, really violent with you.”
“She does take anger management courses,” Lila added as if matter-of-factly.
“Alright, alright! He’s the doorman of Mr. Welshney. He was supposed to let me into the building tonight, but he messed up,” Charlie told them, sending a heated glare towards the doorman.
“I tried to tell him, I did,” the doorman jumped in, “I couldn’t do it. There was no way that Mr. Welshney was going to be out tonight, not that I’d do it anyway! But he was offering a lot of money, and being a doorman and living in this city isn’t enough to survive off of.”
“You were going to lead an assassin to one of the wealthiest men in the world. You don’t get the luxury of making excuses,” Lila sneered in disgust. Greed was a powerful motivator, one that she’d never fallen under before luckily enough. There were some things that not even money could buy, and her morals were one of them.
“What?” he looked generally shocked. “No! He said he was a thief, just a thief! I never would have agreed otherwise! No way! I ain’t no killer!”
“No, you’re just an accomplice. Idiotic people like you sicken me.”
“Guess that answers your own question,” Bryn said with a slight chuckle. “We’ve got orders to bring this one in, looks like bookie boy there is coming along for the ride.”
“I’m not a bookie!”
“I don’t care.” Bryn stood and pointed towards the end of the alley. “That your car?” she asked the man in red. “Thanks, that makes things so much easier for us. I don’t know if you noticed, but the way we came here wasn’t exactly ‘taking prisoners beneficial’.”
The man got up as well, except now there was no sign of him ever being afraid of his situation. Instead, there was a gleam in his eyes that hadn’t been there before, and confidence in his shoulders that he’d also been lacking. “I don’t think I’m going to be going anywhere with you,” he told her. Then with a flash he’d shifted forms and there was a large gray wolf snapping its jaws in her face mid air.
Not surprised in the least, Bryn spun in a circle, whipping out a silver dagger from her boot and raking it across the wolfs neck so quickly that he hadn’t even gotten more than an inch towards her yet.
The body dropped to the ground with a slick sound as the blood drained from his body in under thirty seconds. There was a gasp from behind from the doorman, and more whimpers. Bryn watched for any signs of life, already knowing that there wouldn’t be any. He was dead for sure after a blow like that.
Bending down, she ran her bloody blade on his fur to clean it and then slid it back into its hidden sheath.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.”
Both girls ignored the bald mans chanting.
“Why’d you tell him we had orders to take him in?” Lila asked, not at all affected by the current events. She’d been doing this for almost a year now, and had long ago learned to accept certain aspects that came with the job. All part of being a werewolf working for the government.
Bryn, who was still watching the dead wolf, lifted her shoulders and let them fall. “He lied to me about being human, so I lied to him about keeping him alive. Either way, the order was to kill, so his fate was already written.”
“And this one?” Lila motioned towards the crying baldy. “Still want to take him in or…?”
Pretending to think about it, Bryn turned to face him and crossed her arms over her chest. After a long moments pause, she shook her head. “Nah, I think after tonight’s events he’s never going to do anything like this again, isn’t that right?”
He instantly bobbed his head up and down.
“Also, if you ever think of telling anyone what happened here tonight, you know what we are. We can find you, and trust me, your death won’t be nearly as quick as his was.” She kicked the wolf carcass to emphasize.
“Understood! I promise I won’t say nothing! Just please don’t kill me!”
With a roll of her eyes, Bryn waved a hand towards them. “Let him go.”
Lila stepped aside and watched the balding over weight man lope down the way they’d come. “Gods, a turtle could run faster.” Turning towards her boss she cocked her head. “Sure that was a good idea?”
Bryn was still watching the dead wolf body, as if the thing would spring up into motion and attack once more. They might be supernatural beings, but not even they had the ability to come back from death. “He won’t talk,” she said to her partner, absent mindedly.
Lila frowned. “You ok?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You’re kinda staring at Charlie there.”
“Just trying to figure out whether or not we should call someone to pick up the body, or just do it ourselves.”
“Let’s call.” Lila made a face. “Like you said before, we didn’t really come with a way to transport prisoners, even deceased ones.”
The one good thing about their kind was that unlike most werewolf stories, they didn’t need to worry about ripping their clothes. They might not have the ability to rise from the grave, but they did have enough magic within them to ensure their clothing was still there in human form, even when it wasn’t in wolf skin.
There were a lot of things that myths and folklore got wrong, none of which any of her people were in a rush to correct. The less the humans knew about them the better; it meant that more of them survived. Already members of her pack had been mistaken as actual wolves and killed off by hunters. Any species willing to kill off another for no reason, like the humans did, would definitely go on a murdering rampage against shape shifting wolves.
“What’s the plan now? Maybe you should stop and get some coffee or something. You’re looking a little pale.” Lila walked up to her side and shoved her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket to keep herself from resting a hand on Bryn’s shoulder.
The older of the two had an issue with contact, almost as if too much of it would make her too soft or something like that. Lila had never understood it and didn’t think she ever would, but she respected Bryn’s wishes, which was enough.
“No, I should call Archer, let him know that we got the job done.” Kiley ran a hand through her hair and sent her gaze darting around for the hundredth time since she’d killed Charlie.
“You sure? I could do it. What do you keep looking for?”
“Nothing. I’m good.” She took out her cell phone again and hit a different button. The witty drawl of their C.I.A contact came through the line in the form of his answering machine.
“You’ve reached Larlaith, well, technically you’ve reached his cell. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you once I get done saving the world.”
When it beeped Bryn closed her eyes and sighed dramatically. “You know, Arch, there’s really no point in these catch up calls if you’re not going to pick up the damn phone. Charlie’s dead, mission accomplished.” She took one more look around. “And if you’ve sent some of your C.I.A bimbo buddies to trail us again I’m gonna bite you, and we all know what happens then.”
Shutting the phone she pocketed it and frowned into the dark crevasses of the alley way. “Can you call the pick up crew? There’s something I’m gonna check out.” Kiley headed away without waiting for a response and slipped through a narrow passageway in between two of the buildings.
There was dripping from the earlier rain streaking down the brick walls and hitting the curved and dented paved ground. Obviously the world had forgotten about this space; it was covered in trash and chipping away. She could smell the rotting garbage and the sticky soda residue but through that there was something else, something more… animal than just a few rats.
Bryn paused to get a better feel of the situation. She couldn’t hear anything or see anything, even with her heightened senses and it was beginning to freak her out. It was never this still, ever, not anywhere that there was life and New York City was defiantly lively. Something was going on, the only real question was whether or not this something was following them or had been following Charlie and his man. For their sake, who or what it was had better been stalking the latter.
Bryn didn’t like to be sneaked up on, and she didn’t like to be watched. There had been way too many people she’d known who’d let their guard down and gotten themselves killed, she’d vowed never to be one of them. If that weren’t bad enough, her charge Lila had only been doing this gig for about a year now, she wouldn’t see the signs. She wouldn’t have enough time to get out if they were attacked in the alley.
Which only meant they had to get going, now.
Coming to the conclusion that she wouldn’t be finding anything more Kiley spun on her heels and rushed back the way she’d come. The scent didn’t seem to go with her, which was a good sign. Another good sign was that Lila was right where she’d left her, propped up against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Got off the phone with them a second ago, said they’d be on their way and we didn’t have to wait if we had something better to do. No one really walks down this way anyway, and they’ve already got a police cruiser headed over.” Lila straightened and watched her friend take another look around with stiff shoulders. “What’s going on, Bryn?”
“Not sure yet, but we should take them up on their out and go. I could use that coffee after all, and I know how addicted you are to caffeine.” This wasn’t the time or the place to let Lila in on their peeping Tom, not until she knew more and she knew they were in the clear. “Let’s go.” She started for the opposite way they’d come.
Lila kept pace with her as they walked away from the bloody scene they’d left behind. It had been awhile since the last time she’d seen Bryn spaz out like this, and she was beginning to get worried. “Kiley, if something is going on, you can tell me. I deserve to know.”
“One: don’t call me that. Two: that may be so but that doesn’t mean I’m inclined to say anything. Three: it’s probably nothing.” There was one thing she was positive of, and that was that it was definitely not nothing. “But just for curiosities sake, do you smell anything?”
Lila took a sniff and shook her head. “Like what?”
“Never mind. If you smelled it you wouldn’t have to ask. Let’s just get to a coffee shop so I can sit down and figure things out.”
“What things?”
“The type of things that I’m not going to talk to you about right here. Let’s just go, Lila.”
There was a coffee house a few blocks away, and they got there within five minutes and were ordered and seated only four more minutes after that. They chose a booth in the back where they could both see out the window as well as see the other booths in the café.
Usually a werewolf hot spot, the café was unusually empty for this time of night. Lila said so aloud but only received a nod in response from her friend. She couldn’t sense anything out of the ordinary, there was nothing going on, no threats around to stir things up for them. So why was Kiley acting so weird?
Then all of a sudden Bryn seemed to relax all at once and slumped back in her seat, lifting her vanilla bean frappacino to her lips with a quirked smile.
“Gonna tell me what was up now?” Lila asked even more confused than before.
“Apparently nothing. Must have been following Charlie and the bookie.”
“You do know he’s not really a bookie right? And who was following them?”
“Yes, I’m aware of the first and unclear of the second. All I got was a twinge of a scent, not enough to go on. Either way, it hasn’t moved with us to the café so it’s safe to assume it was after the other two.”
“Might be safe, but is it smart?” Lila couldn’t help but point out.
Kiley paused with the cup half way to her mouth again and smirked. “You’re learning.”
“It’s been a year, Bryn,” Lila said, “more than enough time for me to get the lay of the land. So, I’m going to go with the angle that even though whoever it was didn’t trail us here you’re not convinced we’re out of the woods yet?”
“Nope.”
“Settling,” her voice came out sarcastic.
“Exactly why I didn’t want to tell you.” A buzzing in Bryn’s pocket stopped Lila from saying whatever it was she was going to say. Glancing at the caller ID screen she flipped it open and brought it to her ear. “’Bout time. Where the hell have you been?”
“Out and about, you know the drill. How’s my favorite werewolf?” Archer’s voice came through the line strong and clear. He sounded extremely relaxed and at ease, probably because he’d more than likely just been out clubbing and picking up chicks. Men.
“You’re favorite werewolf is tired and stressing out,” Bryn said, mouthing that it was their C.I.A contact to Lila.
“Need a few days off?” Just like that there was concern in his voice as well. He was a good guy who cared deeply about the people around him, especially the people he called friends.
“Arch, when was the last time I took a day off?” Bryn asked.
“Um.. let me think about that one… probably last year, you needed to meet up with what’s his name, remember?”
Bryn sent a look to Lila to see if she’d caught what he’d said on the phone, but there was no sign that she had. Last year had been tough for the newly turned werewolf, before that she’d been only human dating the man she thought she knew and loved.
“Yeah, I do. Anyway, you got my message so I’m assuming the body got picked up.” Bryn turned her attention back to the job at hand.
There was a pause and then, “No… I got a call saying that you two were going to handle that yourself.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Lila called it in to the cleaners.” She silently questioned the younger wolf with her eyes and got a nod in return.
“Kiley, I’m telling you that we got a call saying that it wasn’t happening.”
“Ok, well a call from who?”
“The cleaners.”
“Well, there you go. They’re lying.”
“Are you trying to tell me that no one picked up the body then?”
“Funny, that was what I was about to ask you.”
“Shit.”
“Bingo.”
“How far away are you two now? Are you close enough to go back for it?” Archer asked.
Bryn hesitated, unsure of whether or not she should tell him what had been up at the sight.
“Uh-oh, don’t like the sound of that,” Archer said, clashing into her thoughts.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Exactly. I’ve known you for a long time now, Kiley, you silent is usually a bad thing. So what’s up?” There was a squeak over the line indicating he’d just leaned forward in his leather chair, which also indicated he was overly worried.
“Nothing, just send the cleaners to the site, ok? Lila and I aren’t going back, not tonight at least,” Bryn told him.
“Why?”
Lila leaned forward so that she was closer to the phone. “Cuz we might have been watched,” she said loudly enough to ensure that Archer could hear her.
Bryn growled low in her throat in warning at her then closed her eyes as Arch started in on her.
“What?! I want you guys in the office, now. Drop what ever it is you’re doing and get here. I’ll make sure that there’s someone downstairs to meet you,” Archer ordered.
“Chill out, we’re fine. It was probably nothing. You know how paranoid I am. Anyway, we’re busy,” Bryn said.
“We’ve got coffee here at the C.I.A headquarters,” Archer sighed.
Bryn glanced down at her coffee cup and quirked a brow. “Think you know us so well.”
“That’s cuz I do. Now, I’m expecting you to be here within the next fifteen minutes. No excuses.”
“That’s impossible. You’re across town,” Bryn argued even though she was already motioning for Lila to stand up.
“I believe I just said no excuses. Sure, a human wouldn’t be able to get here in that time, but a wolf girl would. Be the wolf girl I know and love, Kiley,” he said in a mock tone that had her rolling her eyes as she stepped outside into the cool night air.
“You better love me, jerk. See you in fifteen.” Hanging up on him she sighed.
“Calling us back to the office?” Lila asked with moan.
“Yup.”
“Figures.”
Chapter 2:
“I take it our Archer plans on holding a debriefing tantrum for us?”
“Something like that, yeah,” Bryn said, sliding out of her booth and heading towards the café’s back entrance, Lila close behind. “He’s a tad unnerved by the presence I sensed out there. Probably wants to make sure it’s no one from the other pack popping in on one of their own and looking to take a free-shot at us.”
“—or to make sure it wasn’t anyone planting our target there.”
Bryn shrugged. “It’s possible, but doubtful. This wasn’t them. Granted the scent wasn’t strong but I would have been able to pick them out.“
“So what else can the spazz do but take your word?” Lila grumbled as they ducked into the kitchen. “Why a full-fledged interrogation? We should be hitting the streets, contacting the others and be making ground on this on our own.”
Bryn, despite her age being three fold her companion’s in human years, clicked her tongue in annoyance at her companion’s impulsive nature, and explained yet again before stepping out a door leading to an alley with one light and one dumpster. “Because governmental agents can’t strap on a set of Lycan snouts, ears, and eyes then track rogue werewolves simply by picking up a whiff of their scent or going on a feeling and they’ll need the first-hand account.
“Second, Archer probably has something waiting for us at the office in connection to the deceased target and this ‘feeling’ which can now be declassified. Third, if my simply mentioning my hunch made him have an aneurysm, then we can’t take this on our own. If it’s as big as he makes it out to be, we’ll need the government on our side for this one. A newbie could make that distinction,” Bryn threw her a teasing grin. “—newbie.”
Despite her mentor’s intended playfulness, If she had been in her wolf state, Lila’s fur would have bristled in irritation at the harmless jest. Instead she mashed her lips and watched Bryn’s red curls turn into snowy ringlets as her form became covered in white as she fell forward on four firm paws.
“Or it could be he’s flipping shit that the government cut the Fangs a hefty payroll last week and wants to make sure we don’t a good portion of ours disappears into their pockets,” Lila sneered before disappearing into a mass of black fur.
Bryn’s black lips curled back slightly in disgust at the statement, a growl growing in her throat
"You know better than to talk about him like that," she said silently, but the scolding rang just as coldly in Lila’s mind had Bryn said it aloud, maybe even worse than if she had. "You of all people should know that."
With that Bryn bounded towards an adjacent alley and Lila took off after her, down the dark and gloomy way towards where they worked on the government’s payroll.
She hated admitting it, but Lila knew that Archer wouldn’t give two shits about his payroll. Money concerns were left to the accountants and the Executives that “headed” the Mirror Bureau. In reality the agents had either worshipped the beings which to the human public were mythical while growing up or had encountered them when they needed them most. Archer for example had been helped by a Lycan one night at the subway. A rogue Vampire had him pinned to a pillar and had been about to suck him dry when the wolf had come out of no where. Kiley Bryn had saved his life that night.
Lila knew his history, and knew that he’d never put his wallet before protecting his werewolf partners. If she hadn’t met Archer under such painful circumstances, she probably would have warmed up to him by now.
Even after a year of being turned, Lila could never shake off her distrust of the people who were supposed to protect her from the painful ordeal, the people she and every other American in this country had comfortably paid taxes to and voted for their whole lives. They were supposed to keep her out of a conflict that had been raging for centuries that had only just reached a tenuous but established stalemate. That’s what they had been paid to do, that’s what she’d been told they would do, and that’s what they were supposed to do.
Instead, she met Tobias on the campus on NYU her second semester in the city. Three months later she was lying in the street on the brink of losing humanity and catching her death, her temperature peaking at a hundred degrees, choking in a puddle of blood and street scum. The next conscious moment she’s have would be waking in an underground clinic somewhere beneath Harlem, and Archer was at her bedside, telling her what she had become; a nightmare.
From then on she was under contract (or what she often imagined, lock and key) for the Mirror Bureau, a government organization whose very existence could only be hinted at in a file that was tucked away among thousands upon millions of files in an underground ware house several miles off from the pentagon. She was told that for decades, the human government had worked side by side with supernatural beings, mediating relations between their world and the human one, and keeping as many of the rogues quiet as possible.
With Tobias fled, Archer told Lila she would be put in the care of a werewolf who was the right hand to their pack leader. Not asked, told. Within days she had moved in with Kiley Bryn, a stranger who insisted on her newly turned pupil to call her by her last name and simultaneously pummeled and treated her noggin with new sights, sounds, and smells.
She learned she could now hear a rabbit’s heart beat from over a hundred yards away, she could smell exposed blood from a mile away, a mile and a half if the wound was infected. She had seen the Fangs, the Spooks, the other sects of the Bureau, been there for the compromises between them, experienced just about everything that the human senses could only fathom through dream or what was pumped out in the cinema.
With all of this, of course, came the war that was to be waged. The two warring packs, those under government and the rogue wolves remained hostile to the other for reasons which for the most part remained loosely explained and vague to Lila. Around her the casualties of the ancient conflict appeared to be imbedded in the natural born werewolves, a family in which Lila was now counted among. In spite of her being a registered and “accepted” pack member, the reasoning behind the carnage and violence that Lila witnessed from day to day was only fully understood by them.
As they shot across the city, Lila glanced over at her mentor, her eyes set determinedly forward, navigating them towards the Bureau’s headquarters, knowing the city’s in and outs like the back of her paw. She knew her purpose and saw what she was fighting for.
On the other hand Lila, though hardened by the countless hunts she had taken part in, had little incentive except that she had nowhere to go except with Bryn who tolerated her. Still, no matter how many missions or how much she saw, smelled, or how much action she would witness, could not help but instinctively shrug off this “family” that the Bureau had shoved her into.
This and Bryn’s apparent distance she established with her pupils kept her from fully trusting her actions, which in her eyes were purely the desires of a government that only wished to use her as a negotiator and an executioner.
As she looked down on the split wolf’s carcass that night, she knew it would not be the sight of its drained corpse smelling on the ground. What would haunt her as she lay in bed that night would be the why; why a red-eyed junkie werewolf was put to the sword as quick as lightning. It would be Bryn’s “Nothings” and “Neverminds” that would beat her down as she tried to make sense, even after a year, of what exactly happened to the world that was at its brightest when she had ran into the self-assured zoology major outside her dorm one night while waiting for her friends to pick her up for a late night show.
Most the time Lila wished that Bryn would open up more to her, tell her more personal things. Confide in her. The only really personal thing she knew was that Bryn had been born a twin, but her sister hadn’t made it, and the only reason she even knew that was because a few months into her training she’d demanded to know something about the person teaching her.
Another alley way and they were there. The offices of the Mirror Bureau were only distinguishable by its back entrance in lack of a front one. The building above ground was an old warehouse, long forgotten by building planners who decided it best to leave a demolition project after constructing three buildings on three sides around the establishment. The project was never carried out, so the Bureau took action and made it home to its agents and its supernatural associates.
Quickly transformed, Bryn approached a metal door inlaid in a wall splashed with graffiti and slimed with the city’s polluted residue. On closer observation, the handle had small scratches on it that formed the letters “MB.” Bryn pushed the door open, which swung noiselessly on its hinges, and the two slipped inside.
They entered an enormous room of scattered crates and machinery covered in dust. Stepping over and around these, they headed to a corner near the back, finding an elderly janitor there who tipped a frayed Yankees cap and eyed them with dimmed blue eyes.
“Hello, friends. Can I help you?”
“Yup,” replied Bryn and hurriedly continued “The Claws need a word with the Head.”
The old man’s eyes suddenly flashed with knowing, walked over to the wall, and ran a veined hand over a space on the whitewashed walls. Something beeped, buzzed, and an outline of a door appeared in the wall. The partition slid into the wall, leading down a long hallway lit by fluorescent lights.
“Thanks, Guard,” said Bryn with a nod.
“No sweat, Kiley,” said the other werewolf.
Again, Lila felt the prickling of separation on hearing another wolf address her teacher by her first name, envying the natural connection that was their birthright. Again she mashed her lips but followed Bryn into the headquarters’ man-made light, the partition sliding shut behind them.
* * *
The hall stretched on and on, stark white and spotless, a complete contradiction to its outward appearance, but they made their way down it with the exact knowledge of where they were headed. There were doors with clear windows sprinkled to the left and right randomly, each one with bold black letters explaining which section of the Bureau resided there.
Even though this wasn’t the main building for all of the sectors, there was still a representative of each stationed in the headquarters. This helped to establish some sort of grounds, making sure that the Claw sector didn’t over step their bounds, as well as ensuring that there would always be back up of another kind if needed.
Each of the four main sectors had headquarters in different parts of the states: the Fangs were in (get this) sun shiny California, the Spooks in Massachusetts, the Claws (them) in New York, and… Lila always forgot where the other group was. Not that it mattered; she hadn’t had any contact with them so far at all.
Half way down the hall there was another door, this one slightly larger than the others as if they expected the Lykens to come here in wolf form, not that they didn’t, it was just very rare.
Entering this door was like walking into yet another building. People bustled around the two story complex built underground, some heading to their offices others doing research. The boss man’s office was at the top of a set of glass windy stairs that brought them to the second floor.
Bryn gripped the oak wood banister and started up, sure that her partner was close behind. Sometimes she worried over whether or not Lila was really up for this, was really meant for. Unlike her, the newly turned Were hadn’t been born into this war. She hadn’t grown up with the single knowledge that one day she might lose her life to a battle of teeth and talons. It was unfair of them to ask her fealty, her trust, or her respect, yet that wasn’t Bryn’s call to make. Had never been.
They’re pack leader, Jensen Kalen, had decided Lila’s fate long before Bryn had even been made aware of the situation. He’d been the one to sign Lila’s fate and bring her into their pack. She often thought that her young partner didn’t understand exactly what would have happened to her had Jensen not accepted her. Without a pack to claim her, Lila would have been on the streets, confused as to what she was and how she could control it. The government would have taken one look at all the media and trouble she was causing and have had her exterminated.
One thing Bryn would never tell her partner was that she didn’t trust them entirely either, no matter how she acted the role. There were things about the government that no one could trust or believe in. All she knew for sure was that this war had been bloody with the U.S on their side, but it was nothing compared to the carnage that it had been prior to their agreement. Wolves had died, people had died, friends…
They couldn’t have reached the office fast enough, and without knocking on the door Bryn twisted the polished handle and walked inside. Unlike the other offices in the building, this one had blinds that could be dropped over the clear walls, enabling privacy. There were two large potted green plants flanking a large black book shelf across from the doorway, and a desk to the right of that.
Their “boss” glanced up from his computer screen at their arrival and looked them both up and down as Bryn dropped into one of the plush leather chairs situated across from the metal desk.
Even though there was another chair sitting right next to it, Lila moved so that she had her shoulder propped against the wall with her hip cocked out. There was a dull look plastered to her face, almost as if she were bored just by being there alone. She’d never gotten used to the agent in charge of their sector, not enough for them to be considered friends, or anything for that matter.
“Thought I said be here in fifteen minutes,” Archer said, directing his comment to Bryn in a stern voice. Both the wolves could see the smile he was trying to hold back.
“Impossible. Got here as fast as we could. Not that it matters one way or the other what you said,” Bryn told him leaning back in the chair.
“We would have gotten here when we got here,” Lila finished, her gaze never wavering.
It had always unnerved Archer how the two them sometimes completed each others thoughts, and how on some occasions they could just look at each other and understand what the other was planning on doing next. It wasn’t something that he’d ever get used to, the wolves and their strange connections, but it was something that he needed to realize was there.
“I’ve been trying to figure out how your conversation with the cleaners got so mixed up,” he began, not wanting to dwell on the unimportant any longer. “Turns out the people you talked to on the phone, Lila, weren’t who you thought they were.”
“What do you mean?” Bryn straightened in her seat, instantly down to business.
“I sent some agents over there and they found the usual guys on duty dead. Their throats had been ripped out,” Archer said.
“You thinking Fangs, or…?”
“No, I’m more leaning towards the Claws.”
“One of us wouldn’t have done this,” Lila instantly disagreed with a shake of her head. The pack’s safety came first, at all times, no matter what. It had been the first thing she’d learned as a werewolf.
“No, one you wouldn’t have,” Archer nodded. “But one of the other pack would. I also checked the footage from the camera outside the cleaners warehouse, I saw the other packs Were’s leaving the building with my own eyes. It was them.”
Bryn frowned. “Why? What would they gain by killing the cleaners? It’s not like the body had anything on it.”
“What about inside it?” Lila asked, causing the other two to glance her way.
“No, I would have smelled it,” Bryn said, then gave a small distracted smile. “Good thinking though. It must not have had anything to do with the body at all. When they picked up our call it was probably just a coincidence.”
“Maybe,” Archer agreed.
“Was there another case going on tonight? Another body needing pick up?” she questioned, getting up from the chair so that she could pace the room. “That would make the most sense; if they weren’t after our guy then they had to be after another one.”
Archer punched a few buttons on his computer and then tisked at the screen with a twinkle in his eyes. He’d always liked figuring things out, a real puzzle man. “Yup, there were two other pick up requests: one downtown by Grand Central and another over by China town.”
“Either of the bodies actually get picked up?”
“Um....,” he clicked a few more keys, “only one of them. The one in China town.”
“How do you know the other body wasn’t? No one would have stuck around to find out one way or the other,” Lila pointed out.
“You’re right.” Arch lifted his phone off the receiver and dialed a quick number. “Elise? I need you to call up Lesh and Eirian and find out whether or not they know if their body actually got picked up. If they don’t have them return to the sight and call it in as soon as they have something.” He didn’t wait for a response, but dropped the phone back down into its cradle and turned back to them.
“So you’re thinking that they did all this for one of those bodies?” he repeated.
“Pretty much. If the one in China town was the only pick up then my bet would be on that one. Until we know if they’ve gotten the one in Grand Central as well we can’t be sure about either.” Bryn stopped with her hands behind her head. “I don’t want us splitting up, not tonight. Can you get another team to cover the train station if Lesh finds anything? Lila and I can take the China town one.”
Archer furrowed his brows. “You really that freaked out about the presence you felt back in that alley?”
She cocked her head. “I’m not willing to take any chances, not yet at least. We need to deal with one thing at a time, and right now the main threat here is the Feral’s stepping further into our territory for unknown reasons.”
The other pack had a name, just like all the packs did, but since as far back as she could remember they’d always just referred to their rivals as the Feral’s. That was probably because that’s what they were. They didn’t have a care in the world for the humans, or any other creature on the planet. Feral’s thought they were better than everyone, referring them selves often enough as “gods among rats”.
They killed and they maimed and they left a wake of blood and guts behind them. For a long time now Bryn’s pack had been trying to keep the city safe from them. Now they had an agenda that she didn’t understand, and that only made her burn to know even more what they had up their sleeves.
“You sure you’re not just over reacting?” Lila asked. “I didn’t sense anything.”
“That’s because you’re too new. You don’t know what to look for,” Bryn said.
Lila’s eyes heated and her body stiffened. “I’m not a child.”
“If I had been insinuating you were, I would have said it outright.” Turning her back to the other Were, Bryn sent another look to Archer. “I want this done and settled before Jensen gets wind of it. He’ll only make things all the more complicated if,”
Before she could finish her sentence, the cell phone in her pocket began to chime the theme song to Jaws. With a groan she titled her head back as if asking the heavens for help and yanked out the device. The voice on the other end when she lifted it to her ear wasn’t exactly a quiet one.
“Where the hell are you?” Jensen boomed out in his thick timber.
“At Mirror.”
“Well you should be here. There’s been an incident.”
“Here as well,” Bryn sighed. So much for leaving her pack leader in the dark. “Feral’s killed the cleaners.”
“They've also attacked multiple members of the pack,” Jensen did not sound very pleased.
“What?” Bryn was suddenly clueless all over again. Beating on the occasional Moonshine pack wolf was one thing, but going out of their way? There was still a truce between them, after all. Even if that truce appeared more and more like it was on shaky ground.
“Don’t act like you didn’t hear me, Kindle,” her leader said, using the nickname only he’d ever called her. He always claimed it was because she could start a “fire” with in seconds. “I want you here. Now.”
Bryn sent a sideways glance towards her partner who still hadn’t moved away from the wall. “And Lila?”
“Leave her. She wouldn’t be any help in this situation.” There was finality in his voice, but that didn’t stop her from trying.
“Sir, with all do respect, you can’t be sure of that. She’s,”
“Not going to be brought here, end of story. See you in a few, alone. I mean it, Kiley.”
“Ok.” She clicked the phone shut and took a deep breath. Her jaw was clenched and her hand was tightening against the cell with such a tight grip she suddenly feared she’d break the damn thing. That would be all she needed.
Knowing a head of time that Lila wasn’t going to like her next words, Bryn motioned towards the door. “I gotta bounce, looks like you’ll be handling the check up yourself.”
“What are you talking about? Where are you going?” Lila asked with narrowed eyes.
“Jensen’s summoned me.” She lifted the phone in her hand for indication.
“Just you?”
“Yeah.”
“What for?”
“Don’t know yet.”
Lila’s look only intensified. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re not telling me something?”
Trying a light laugh, Bryn moved closer and patted the girl on the shoulder. “Because you’re paranoid that’s why.” She looked to Archer. “Let me know as soon as you guys find something. Jensen might be interested.”
“Sure thing, Kiley,” he nodded at her. There was a tight look to him, almost as if he wanted to say something but knew better than to actually do so. “Be careful.”
“Always.” Bryn exited the room before her partner could get at her again. There was something going on here, something that Jensen didn’t think Lila should be a part of. Now all that was left was finding out what that was.
The pack leader himself had grown fond of Lila, something that he didn’t often do with turned werewolves. He loved his people, but in his mind that never included someone who’d been forced into their company. He’d want to keep her safe no matter what, which meant that whatever Bryn was heading into, it couldn’t be good. Maybe their situation was even worse than she’d originally thought.
Chapter 3:
There were guards everywhere, practically smothering the building that they stood around. With Feral’s so close, no one would be taking chances tonight.
Kiley felt the numerous sets of eyes that followed her as she made her way up the steps to the mansion in which their leader lived. The large double doors were opened for her once she reached them and she sent a nod to the two Were’s who had done it.
Everyone in their pack knew that she was summoned whenever there was a major problem. Sure, there were times when she showed up for the heck of it, she’d spent the better part of her life at Jensen’s side before she’d been ordered to take over Lila’s training. She’d been the king’s right hand for as long as she could remember, and she’d liked it there.
That didn’t mean she didn’t like what she did now; being out there in the fray gave her a sense of purpose and freedom that she hadn’t otherwise felt. It also supplied her with more of a life, not always having to follow after her leaders heels like a puppy.
Sure she’d been the kings dog, but anyone who’d spoken those words aloud had soon found themselves without their tongues. The best part was that she wouldn’t have even gotten scolded for something like that. What she did she did for a reason, and Jensen knew that.
Not everything had changed however, there were still things that were expected of her even though she no longer lived in this house or checked for enemies in the shadowy corners of the halls. She was still loyal to her king, and because of that she hadn’t brought Lila like she’d wanted to.
There were times when one had to walk away from a battle they knew they couldn’t win in order to achieve the upper hand in the bigger war.
Her heels clicked on the marble floor as she made her way silently through the darkened foyer and further into the mansion. There were more guards flanking the doors that would lead to the hall, and they acknowledged her presence as well as her social stature with tilts of their heads.
It wasn’t long before she was already down the hall and waiting for the door man there to announce her arrival. Once that was done, the room was opened to her gaze and she instantly sought out her king as she entered.
He was sitting at a long table across the large room, his face resting in the palm of his hand which was being supported by the arm of his chair. He locked eyes with her as she got closer, inspecting her for any imperfections. Seeming to find none he motioned to the man he’d just been talking with to leave them.
Dropping to a single knee, Kiley waited to be spoken to.
Taking his time, Jensen continued to do nothing but watch her for a few moments more before finally sitting up in his seat. “I half expected you to bring the girl,” he told her.
“I half expected to myself,” she confessed, standing once more. Theirs was an easy relationship, despite him being her leader. They were friends, and she was comfortable speaking freely in his presence.
“Tell me about the cleaners,” he waved two fingers at her and rested back.
“We think that they were killed so that their identities could be stolen,” Bryn began. “They’re goal might have been one of the bodies ours killed tonight.”
“You’re unsure?”
“I was figuring it out when I got your call.”
He nodded in understanding. “I see. Is Lila now the one who has to ‘figure it out’?”
“Unless you’ve got someone better in mind…?” she let her sentence trail off, knowing that he’d get her point. She didn’t feel like there was someone else more capable than her partner. She’d trained Lila herself.
“I trust you,” Jensen said with a smirk on his lips. The seriousness came back to him all at once and he leaned forward with his arms resting on his knees. “There’s something that I need you to do, Kiley.”
“Of course, sir.”
“I’ve recently been made aware of a certain… return arrival to our pack.” He paused no doubt trying to work out the best way to word this. “He’s not exactly someone who’s welcome among us any more.”
Bryn turned her head slightly, back going stiff. “Do I know this arrival?” she questioned, already having a good idea of who it was.
He licked his lips. “It’s Tobias, Kiley. He’s come back, and he’s requested a meeting with,”
“No.”
Jensen’s eyes lighted. “I didn’t say it was with Lila.”
“Who then?”
“Me. My guess is he wants back in, safely.”
Kiley growled. “After what he did to the girl, he’d be lucky to walk away with stumps for paws.”
Holding up a hand he tried to calm her before it was too late. There was a reason he referred to her as kindle. “That’s why I’m letting you decide whether or not he’s worry of my time.”
Bryn was taken aback. “Wait, you want me to go talk to him?”
“Yes. If he’s got a good enough reason for what he’s done, than I’ll meet with him.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
A wicked glint came to him then. “Do with him what you will.”
“I’ve got your leave?”
“You’ve got more than that. You got my support as well.”
Kiley walked away with the sweet knowledge that if she killed the slug tonight, not only would her king look the other way, but he would approve. There was a slight chance this day could actually be looking up.
* * *
Bryson was fucked. Totally and completely screwed. He was going to be lucky to see another day.
Ok, quit being so dramatic, Cormac, he thought to himself with a shake of his head. It was already twenty past noon, which meant that he was late for work. Again. When would the horribleness end?!
Yup, definitely too dramatic.
It wasn’t completely his fault— cough— his class had run late and he couldn’t just stand up in the middle of a lecture and walk out. This was his last month before total and utter freedom, freedom that he had absolutely no idea what he was going to do with.
His thesis was due by the end of the week and he wasn’t even close to being finished with it. Why had he decided to study paranormal species again? Oh, right, because when he’d been younger his house had been hunted by ghosts who liked to play chess with him.
Being the youngest brother of seven hadn’t been lonely all the time, but there were a lot of occasions where his older siblings would be off doing something he hadn’t been invited to. The ghost, Eric, had made things a little less dull. His parents hadn’t believed him, of course. They hadn’t been able to see Eric, in part because they were no longer children, and also because they didn’t believe. Though, Eric also didn’t want them to see him so maybe that was the true reason…
It was all just too confusing for him, which was another reason he’d chosen this field. With the amount of supernatural beings coming out of the dark and creepy closet, so to speak, every day there were more and more jobs opening up for people like him. Bryson wanted to be a part of something paranormal; he wanted to work with people who had more ability than he did. It was the only way he could think of feeling like he belonged, by living vicariously through others.
He’d always felt like he was out of place, like he was meant to be someone else. Was it too much to ask that a vampire leap out at him randomly and change him? Hell, he’d even settle for a shifter bite.