I had not been allowed to accompany Alan to the safe house. The fewer people who knew where he was, the less likely his enemies would find him. So I had to depend on Riley and her crew for information.
It had been three days without word from Alan and I was starting to get worried. Sheila wasn’t helping. She kept blurting out what if scenarios that got worse and worse each time.
Sometime around late afternoon, I received a text from a blocked number.
“Pick up on the corner of Howe Ave and Auburn Blvd at 18:00.”
I assumed it was Riley, but I made sure my sidearm was loaded. I got ready to head out. As I was walking to the car, I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. I answered it.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Michael.”
I froze in my tracks. It was Isidra.
“Sid, where are you? Are you okay?”
“Where is my finance’? He’s not answering his phone.”
“Sid, where have you been? We’ve been worried sick about you. Mike said that you were bitten by a vamp.”
“I’m fine Michael. I’m more than fine. Now, where is my fiance?”
I knew I couldn’t tell her anything. If she got any information out of me, her sire could force her to tell him everything. .
“I don’t know.”
“Well, thats disappointing Michael, but I believe you. I really need to speak with him.”
“Sid, where are you? What’s happened to you?”
“I’ll call again soon. I know you two can't stay away from each other for long.”
She hung up.
When Sid and Alan had met, I knew she was going to be trouble. I just thought it would be the good kind of trouble. Now she had changed into something different.
I was at the designated pick-up spot waiting. As I expected, a dark SUV pulled up and Agent Riley was in the passenger seat. I got in the seat behind her and the driver sped off.
“We have a problem, Deputy,” Riley said.
“Romulus has found the safe house where we have been keeping Alan. He was spotted in the general area less than 30 minutes ago. He is going to try and convince Alan that it’s best he go with him. ”
“I thought you said you were going to use him to find out where this Romulus lives?”
“We were, but we’ve hit a snag. Chelsea has been unable to make the tracking spell stick.”
“What? How is that possible?”
“We aren’t sure. Chelsea thinks someone put a spell on him to make him impervious to spells. There have been cases of supernaturals who were immune to magic, but there are no recorded cases of Lycans like that.”
“Well, I have something that may make him want to stay.”
“Oh?”
“Isidra called me.”
Agent Riley turned around in her seat and looked me in the eyes.
“What did she say?”
I explained the short conversation to her and looked for her reaction. Her face was unreadable.
“That’s going to be a problem. They kept her alive which means they also want to see where he goes or stop him from leaving.”
She said nothing else and we rode in silence the rest of the way.
A couple hours later, we pulled up to a farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere. I had done my best to map out the route that they took.
The farmhouse was one story. It was a faded yellow with a large brown carved door.
I entered the farmhouse through the front door. Dark wood flooring seemed to run throughout the house. It was an open floor plan. The living room had pretty basic furniture. There was a tv and a DVD player.
As I entered, I could hear two voices coming from what I assumed was the kitchen. I headed that way, Agent Riley following close behind.
Alan was standing in front of an island across from Romulus. Both men stopped speaking when Agent Riley and I walked in.
“Romulus. What are you doing here?” Agent Riely asked with obvious annoyance in her voice.
“Wolf business,” came his curt response.
“This is a government facility and you don’t have clearance to be here. You need to leave immediately or the agents outside will have to take you into custody,” she replied.
The large man simply stared at her for a moment.
“We both know that would only buy you some time. My release would be ordered before I made it to one of your black sites. So let’s not pretend you hold any of the cards here Juanita. Your men didn’t even bother to attempt to prevent my entry. They know better, and so should you.”
Agent Riley said nothing in return. She stared daggers at the man. It was the most emotion Mike had seen from her since their meeting.
Turning to his friend he asked.
“Alan, how are you?”
“I’m good at the moment. You?” He said
“I was doing fine,”
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“Was?”
“Alan, I have to tell you something. I spoke with Isidra.”
“What? How is she? Where is she?” He asked excitedly.
I went over the brief conversation I had with her and Agent Riley. I excluded the part about Riley having the same plan as the Vamps. Romulus stood there listening intently.
When I was done, Alan snapped his head over to look at the Werewolf. Something passed between them.
It’s been theorized that wolves of the same pack can communicate with each other telepathically. It’s how they communicate when transformed. It's not speech, but feelings and pictures. That’s the theory. No one has been able to confirm it. We don’t even know where the theory comes from. Wolves keep plenty of secrets from us.
“Is Chelsea with you?” Romulus asked no one in particular.
“Yes, I am.” came a voice from behind me.
I had no idea where she came from. She didn’t ride with us and no other vehicles arrived behind us.
“It’s good to see you,” she called him a name in a different language.
A low growl emitted from the old wolf and his eyes glowed red.
“Down boy! We don’t want any incidents like what happened in Austin now do we?” she said with a sly smirk.
The growling stopped, but he continued to try and murder her with his gaze.
“What happened in Austin?” Alan asked.
“Noth-” Romulus started.
“You haven’t figured out how to look into his memories yet?” Chelsea asked, cutting off Romulus.
“I’ve only been a Lycan for a couple of days. Wait, that’s a real thing?” asked Alan.
“That’s right. That’s what that dream was when I was in the hospital. I can do that on purpose?”
“Yes, you can. If he hasn’t found a way to block it.” Chelsea said.
I noticed Agent Riley seemed unphased by these revelations. I guess there was truth to the locker room talk about the government hiding things from law enforcement.
Romulus didn’t speak up again. Agent Riley signaled for Alan to follow her and the two of them walked toward the front door. She paused at the front door and looked back toward me.
“Please join us, Mr. Johnson,” she called out to me.
I followed them outside.
The three of us headed to a barn that was about 50 yards from the farmhouse. When we got close, I noticed that there was a card reader to the left of the door. Riley swiped a card and there was an audible click. Riley pulled the door open and motioned for us to step inside.
The smell of animals hit me. Musk and horse manure, but I didn’t see any horses in the pen nor had I seen any roaming around outside.
Inside looked like any other barn except for one thing. To our right, against a far wall was a caged area. Not your normal cage either. It looked more like a cell. There was a small armory there. Rifles, pistols, hand grenades, flash bangs, you name it, she had it.
Riley directed us over to some bales that were in a semi-circle on the ground. Mike and I both sat.
“Mr. Adams, I assume that Romulus has already tried to convince you to join him.” She began
“I’m sure he promised to help you find your fiance and teach you things, but he can’t be trusted. He doesn’t have the resources to help you find her. Sure, he can teach you what it means to be a werewolf, but you can learn that from any pack leader.”
“Assumptions are a terrible thing, Agent Riley,” Alan said.
“He promised me no such thing. In fact, he told me that she would likely find me and I would be forced to either let her go or track her down and kill her.”
A look of frustration was on Riley’s face as Alan spoke.
“I may be new to being a Lycan, but you know I’m not new to this world. I know what my fiance has become. I saw her get bitten. Of course, I’m worried about her, but I know what she’s become.” Alan said.
He put his head down and looked at the ground.
“My fiance is dead.”
“I’m sorry for what you have been through.” Agent Riley said.
“That doesn’t change things though. Your government needs your help. The vampires were hunting you for a reason and we have no idea what that is. We need-”
Alan cut her off.
“I know what you need, I’m just not sure if I can do it.”
“ Did he offer for you to come live with him?” I asked.
Alan nodded.
“What did you tell him?” Riley asked.
“I said I would think about it.”
“Which way are you leaning?” I asked.
“I’m on the fence. I can’t go back to the department, they don’t allow Lycans on the force. If I go with him, I’m leaving behind everything and everyone I know.”
“My agency employs werewolves,” said Riley with a slight cheerfulness in her voice.
Alan looked up at her. He studied her for a moment.
“What kind of employment? Would I be your bloodhound?” Alan responded
“No. You would be a full-fledged agent, the same as the men I have here. You don’t qualify for a health plan for obvious reasons, but that's the only difference.”
Alan looked away, deep in thought.
“I’ll have to think about it,” he said.
“What’s there to think about? Being a cop is all you have ever wanted. You wanted to move up and branch out. Here’s your chance.”
“I said I had to think about it!” Alan snapped.
My skin grew hot and my heart beat sped up.
“Look here fuckstick. I have been your right-hand man since we were 7 years old. I know you better than anyone and I know that you don’t want to leave your life behind. I can’t pretend I know the pain you’re going through, but I do know that leaving with this guy is a bad idea. You’re a Lycan now, so what. We’ve gotten through plenty of tough spots and life changes together, we can get through this.” I retorted.
Alan said nothing. He just continued to stare off into space.
Quickly, I stood up, fist bawled at my sides. I wanted to punch him in the throat. How could he think this was a good idea?
“Get your shit together Alan.”
I walked out of the barn.
The sun had just set. An orange tint painted the horizon. Out here, I could see all the stars. Crickets were chirping off in the distance. A soft breeze blowing through the tall grass.
I let myself get lost in the beauty of it all. Thinking about the things that had transpired over the last couple of days.
I’m not sure how much time had passed, but someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned around to see it was Romulus.
“We need to talk,” he said.
I wasn’t in the mood for this. I turned back around and started walking away.
Now I knew werewolves were fast, but I didn’t know they could fucking teleport. At least that's what it seemed like when Romulus materialized in front of me.
“It’s important,” he said.
Again, I turned around and began walking away.
“I can do this all night,” he said, once again appearing in front of me.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you and I don’t want to.” He put his hand up prompting me to stop mid-sentence.
He was sniffing the air. A look of annoyance crossed his face.
“Are you armed?” He asked.
I drew my HK45 and scanned the area. I may not like him, but I knew to trust a werewolf’s senses.
There wasn’t much light. The moon was only half full and we were in the middle of nowhere.
I heard movement near the barn. I swung around and punched my pistol out. It was Alan and Riley finally exiting the building.
When they saw I had my pistol out, they both stopped, looking at me with curiosity. I signaled for them to come closer, not holstering my weapon.
Both of them drew their weapons as they came closer.
“Status?” Riley said.
“Fangs. Six, maybe seven.” Romulus said.
“We need to get inside!” Alan whispered.
“That won’t help. The U.S. Government owns this property. It’s not anyone's home.”
“What about the barn?” Alan asked.
“That will buy us some time, but it won’t keep them out indefinitely.”
All of us except Romulus headed for the barn, Riley pulled out a radio and informed her men in the house what was going on.
“How did they find this place?” I asked.
“She has a leak.” came a familiar voice.
Isidra stepped into the light over the barn door.