He stepped to his doorway and looked out over the city. The ceiling crystals were pretty bright at this time. The city was active, what passed for being active. From his vantage point he watched a few humans walk toward the cafeteria. His ears twitched to the side as he listened to a young wolf howl from inside the nearby forest. He turned his head toward the sound and gazed out over the lush green of the forest. That forest would be shut down soon, to allow for the wildlife to regenerate enough to make it a viable and living hunting and training ground. He would have to go visit his packs den at some point.
The den. It had been another lifetime ago when the six of them had been together. Even he, who should have known better, had no idea what was going to happen back then. They were so naïve and so vulnerable. He pounded his fist against the solid stone to his right. Her self righteousness had killed her. Achelois could never forgive Aceso for accepting his oath. If he had never made that oath, kept his big mouth shut… That way led to madness, no use in digging up ghosts twice in one day. He was here now and he had a job to do.
Not knowing what else to do he went to their meeting place. The place where Efraim grabbed them for training every morning was only a little ways down a street from where he lived. He wasn’t the only one who had thought that the right thing to do.
“Charles! How are you feeling?”
The seven and a half foot black furred werewolf was leaning casually against a building, it reminded him of his dream. A frown must have formed on William’s face. “What’s the matter, Will?”
William shook his head to clear the vision from his mind. “Nothing, I’m just glad to see you.” He looked his friend in the eye and added, “and remembering who will not be joining us.”
Charles nodded his head but said nothing. There was nothing to say. They shared each other’s company in silence for a long while.
All too soon though the last person in the city he wanted to see sauntered up to the pair. Either he didn’t pick up on the somber mood of the two of them or he just didn’t care, William placed his bet on the latter. “Well, shit! If it isn’t Chuck Mayberry! How’s it going tall, black, and ugly? They let you out?”
Charles rolled his eyes in William’s direction and William’s tail twitched irritable at the intrusion of the silence. “Nicolas, good to see you haven’t lost any of your wit.” Charles pushed off from the wall to stand straight and let his height dwarf the sandy blond werewolf. “You used both of your favorite colorful insults for me, and in the first two sentences out of your mouth. Have you been practicing?”
Nicolas smirked at the rebuff, “Naw, man you know me, I just like to roll with what’s going on. I never really have a plan. I’m more of an improv kinda guy.”
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William wanted nothing more than to hit him, to make his mouth close. But right then he just couldn’t find the energy to do anything. That nightmare and all those memories weighed heavily on his shoulders this morning. Everything that they could have been, everything that she could have done was gone. He could very well be next and then what? What about all the things that he had to accomplish? It was a sobering thought.
William looked over at Nicolas and asked wearily, “Aren’t you supposed to be with the Elders this morning?”
Nicolas froze in shock, his tail went rigid behind him and his eyeballs grew into caricatures of themselves. Nicolas raised a claw to his mouth and slowly turned around to face the Tower. He then whipped his head around to stare William straight in the face. It was the most ridiculous thing that William had ever seen. He heaved a heavy sigh and rolled his eyes at the sandy blond scout.
Nicolas dropped his claw from his face and stood with his waist cocked out to the side and his tail slowly swinging behind him. “Oh… my… God, Will! You’re right! I mean why in the hell would I know where I’m supposed to be from one minute to the next without you telling me.” Nicolas moved into a straight back posture, and his tail was still. His gold eyes glared up at William. “Look, enforcer, how bout you keep your snout out of my business. I know where I’m supposed to be.” Nicolas remained standing in that straight posture. It was Nicolas’s way of challenging, without really challenging. William wasn’t going to mess with him anymore though. He rolled his back against the building he was leaning on and looked up at the cavern ceiling. Nicolas folded his arms across his chest and glared at William and Charles from under his eye brows. Thankfully for the three of them Aceso and Katherine joined the group a few minutes later.
Aceso nodded to Nicolas who unfurled his arms from his chest. He stood in the middle of the group and holding his arms wide at his sides he pronounced, “Thank you all for the lovely morning conversation. But I must bid you a fond, fuck off.” With that he bowed low and spun on his heels to walk away.
“I don’t know how you guys can stand being alone with him sometimes. Was he like that all morning?” Katherine asked when Nicolas was out of earshot.
Charles answered, “No, only when he joined William and I.”
William didn’t waste a second look at Nicolas’s retreating form. He instead turned his attention toward Aceso. “So, now are you going to tell us about the city maintenance thing we’re supposed to be doing today?”
Aceso looked at William with that same sly smile she had given him last night. The only thing was, he was not in the playful mood that he had been in the night before. Aceso, much to her credit, recognized this. “Since you human born insist on using those toilet things instead of the forests to make water and droppings, it is our job today to service the pipes that feed into the human sewage lines to make sure they don’t clog.”
Charles’s face encased itself in stone. “This is a joke.” It wasn’t a question.
Aceso looked up at her tracker, “I’m sorry Charles but this is the job that Huan Li gave us.”
William closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his snout. “You thought this was funny, didn’t you?”
Aceso glanced over at her enforcer, “No, seeing you human born be uncomfortable about your own droppings is funny.” She shook her head.