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Jeremiah…
Now that it was time to put the invitation to use, Jeremiah’s skin had grown clammy. They would land soon. The Wolves had received intel from their teams in the field about the rotten souls heading the transformation cult. The Sheep had gotten their hands on an eleven-year-old Wolf. Jeremiah’d been hoping that it was a human girl, taken by mistake. He felt guilt about wishing for such a thing. No child of any kind deserved to be alone with those men.
He flexed his back and rolled his shoulders. The tape they had used to adhere the mike to his chest pulled at his skin. They’d have a car waiting on the tarmac.
Sitting across from him on the Wolves’ private plane, Ansel said, “If we could, we would send one of our own, but the dogs make that difficult. Your ring brother seemed invisible to the hounds, but we can’t be sure that will hold true for you. Are you sure you want to take the risk? We can’t guarantee your safety.” Resisting the urge to look out the narrow private plane window as the plane began its descent, he gripped the armrest and made himself ignore how unnatural it was for a Bear to be hurtling through the sky.
Jeremiah wouldn’t leave his ring brother on his own, facing danger. David had proven himself to be naïve, but the evil done wasn’t due to him being disloyal. He’d been sheltered on the mountain. There was no choice to be made. Bears take care of their families. “I can guarantee my safety.” The only one he trusted with his life, besides himself, was Red, and he was recovering at their mother’s house. He was on his own. “This is my choice. Don’t worry yourself with any guilt if things go badly. Will I be transmitting to you the whole time?”
“Of course. Do what you can to blend in. You’ve proven your good at that amongst the Sheep.”
Blending into the background was one thing he knew how to do. “And the little girl?”
“Do not interfere. There are bigger things a foot right now. We don’t want to drive them any further underground than they already are. We need you to keep gathering intel, just like you have been doing. You Bears have an amazing ability to slide amongst them.”
There was no chance at all, that Jeremiah wouldn’t liberate the child if he had the opportunity. Instead of expressing how he felt, Jeremiah asked, “Do you think this suit is the right choice for the event? It seems fancy.” He wasn’t willing to be honest about his feelings and risk them pulling him out and replacing him with another.
“It’s a big party…” the plane bumped along on the tarmac until it came to a stop, “important people will be there. Guests are already arriving.” Ansel touched his earpiece and his brow furrowed as the seatbelt light above him blinked off. “Perhaps a bit of good news. Something or someone attacked the dogs. A Bear. The security team they hired is all abuzz and hasn’t been very cautious about what channels they are using to talk to each other. Old school, they have walkie talkies, for fuck’s sake.” He smiled then, a cruel smile. “The dog trainer has been culled. Give me just a moment.”
He’d turned from Jeremiah and spoke into his phone. “Listen to me. This changes things. I think we should use one of our own people if the dogs have been put down. John is ready and waiting. He is a proven asset.” Ansel grumbled at the response he got. “I know we are running out of time to get an operative out there, but this changes things.” His lips tightened as he listened to the person on the phone, not liking the answer he was getting. “Allright, I’ll put in the.”
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Two wolves entered the cabin. One was the pilot. The second was dressed like a penguin in a tux. Formal bull shit wasn’t something Jeremiah was used to navigating, but this guy looked like he would feel right at home.. He was a god damned mechanic.
“All right. I’ll send him.” Gesturing to the suited man, Ansel said, “John, you are staying here with us.” He turned toward Jeremiah and looked right into his face. They held each other’s gaze and Jeremiah let his face go quiet and blank, sank his emotions deep into himself away from sight. “He’s ready.”
*
Kennedy…
Dressed in her rattiest jeans and one of Terry’s old t-shirts, Kennedy was scrubbing down the outside of the travel trailer in the dark, trying to settle her mind into a shape that made sense. What she had seen couldn’t be possible. She’d left the clothing she had worn and his mother’s truck outside the edge of their land. Sheets of dirt slid down the metal siding, lit by the work light she’d clamped to a sapling. She was using an ancient mop she had found in the barn to scrub at the debris. She’d dealt with her own body first, using the raw cold water from the hose until her skin had reddened. Twice since she started working on the trailer, she’d picked up her phone to call Terry and tell him what had happened, but she wasn’t ready. Restless, she had done the only thing that was giving her any type of peace: cleaning.
Nesting, it seemed, was a real thing. She half expected his mother to come strolling up through the field, brazen as hell and pissed about something. She’d felt weird ever since she got back from the house at the lake, but she couldn’t think about that yet. Kennedy was too twitchy.
The physical task of removing the filth was calming. There had been dirt caked under her nails when she stumbled out of the truck. When the dim memory of digging in the dirt under the barred window, using only her nails to scrape away at the red clay, tried to rise, she scrubbed harder.
What she’d done was beyond thinking about. Her hands still remembered the stickiness and squelch. Focus on the camper. All she had to do was brush harder. Since the camper had arrived on their plot of land, she’d taken to calling her Cinderella. She’d been ignoring calls, not feeling in the mood to answer more Wolf questions. Just focus on cleaning. Back and forth.
She heard the horn first, insistent and blaring, and bit down a scream. She turned to see Terry’s truck come fishtailing up the over grown drive. He must have found it at his mother’s place. What now? The driver's side door flew open, and he was out and headed her way at a speed she hadn’t expected. He grabbed her up in his arms and she dropped the hose, the water cutting off as she released her grip. Without a word, he headed toward the truck at a trot, carrying her. He shoved her into the seat like a wayward toddler and latched her seatbelt with an abruptness that startled her.
When she started to say something, Terry growled at her. He slammed her door and stomped around to the driver’s side. Hands still sudsy, she wiped them on her jeans and fished her phone out as he slammed the truck into gear. The truck started, and they lurched forward. They rumbled past his mother’s truck, barely visible, filled with the unimaginable.
Bracing her hands on the dash, she asked, “What is going on? Slow down.”
“David.” She looked at her screen and saw message after message saying that David had disappeared and pleading to know where she was.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry. What are we supposed to do?” He slammed the car door locks into place and pressed the pedal to the floor.
*
David…
In the shelter of the thick woods, David held motionless, fur speckled with blood. They were coming, these strange human beings, twittering, dazzling in their fancy clothes, oblivious as they tramped through the woods. They didn’t even see him. Their eyes scanned across the trees and brush, as good as blind. He waited, belly full of dog. So many. They were horrors, come to see what evil the Sons of Flamel had planned for David’s little friend. That’s what he had heard them call themselves as they arrived. Their hosts were the ones who had defiled Nana’s house, burned Ms. Mary’s house to the ground. Driven it into the very earth.
How many? He’d never imagined he would cull, and now, unmoving, he counted them in his heart, adding their numbers to his first. Piling the bodies on the scales of his soul, he made peace with what lay ahead. He was not a child, who did not know that whatever happened, he would leave this day changed. There was a peace that settled within him, a quiet. Let them pass. The flashing tickets they brandished in their hands sealed their fate. Unredeemable.