“I think you would be surprised,” Marik said instead as he swallowed the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.
A small smile tugged at the side of her mouth as she looked at Marik and blinked a few times. She was aware that they weren’t talking about anything real in any way possible way, but it would be amazing if the world that she preferred to stay in was a reality. “Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me, at least not yet because I am going to ask a favor of you,” Marik said, leaning forward and pressing his elbows down against the table getting as close to her as he could without throwing the table out of the way and lifting her up to meet him eye to eye.
He had her, she was completely intrigued by his words now as he leaned forward and she found herself doing the same as if they were about to share some deep cosmic secret.
“What is it?” She whispered, her blue orbs wide while her ashen blonde eyebrows slipped up into her hairline.
“You write these books and my brother reads them. He obviously must be completely enchanted by the fictional world you have created for your characters; would you be interested in helping me find Gaerik? You’ve gotten into the mind of a werewolf. Maybe my brother’s mind works along the same lines.”
A rumble of a warning yipped from beneath the table at Elle’s thigh. Leaning back in her seat she looked at her dog for a minute or two. This wasn’t like deciding to color your hair red and finding that the store-bought hair dye was expired and it turned your hair green. This was something you had to give some serious consideration.
“I’ll do it.” She nodded quickly before thrusting her hand out to seal the deal. ‘Well, there went consideration right out the window.’
Marik didn’t think she would go for it, he didn’t think she was stupid, far from it but the girl had some serious issues to work through if she was willing to go looking for a man who was being accused of murder. Adrenaline junky perhaps, but Marik realized that he was going to have to keep his eye on her as he took her hand in his and shook on it.
“Where do we start?” Elle asked, feeling more enthusiastic by the second. This was her chance to be a real-life hero, and also gain more experience in the world for her writing.
“Where do you start is more the question here. You’re the werewolf expert.” Shaking his head, this felt ridiculous when it really shouldn’t have, but he hadn’t often discussed werewolves in the sense that they were fiction with someone who made their money by writing erotic fantasy novels about his ’fictitious’ species.
Chapter Eleven
Elle lightly rested her chin inside of her palm as she turned that question over for a little while; how would she begin hunting down a werewolf accused of killing someone? Of course, this was real life and not at all like any one of her novels, but if Gaerik was deranged and was mentally living in the environment that she made up, shouldn’t she be given creative license to ignore reality for the time being?
“I think that if I were a werewolf on the run, the first thing that I would do is cash in all of the favors that I am owed and get the hell out of dodge,” Elle told Marik as she looked at him across the table before laughing mildly. She couldn’t believe that she was talking about all of this as if it were real. In a way, yes it was, but there were some distinct parallels. Elle wasn’t a werewolf, nor did they exist but for the sake of the investigation and the mental state of the man they were looking for she was going to allow herself to pretend that all of this was real. A very stupid idea, but for the time being it was all she had to go on.
“That’s a smart idea,” Marik told her a slight curve of the lips the only thing that indicated to her he was interested in the train of thought that she was currently traveling.
“Tell me about Gaerik. Be careful not to exaggerate his behavior disconnect yourself from any emotional turmoil and talk about him as if he were someone who wasn’t significant to you at all. What are his habits?” Elle found herself genuinely curious, of course. It was the writer in her that was coming out now as if she were doing research for a new book and she needed to know everything possible about her subject before she felt confident to continue forward with the project.
“What good is that going to do?” Marik questioned her cautiously.
“Right now, for myself, Gaerik is a blank canvas, and I need to build a profile for him to fill in the blank spaces of his character. If we are going to go about this as if your brother is a werewolf in one of my books, then I need to get to know the character himself so that I can get into his head.”
Her explanation must have made sense to him because after a second or two Marik nodded his head up and down and appeared to be thinking over what she’d requested from him. It must have been difficult separating one’s self from your brother and describing him without emotion, but she needed to get to know this man, this character as if he were just being born in her mind and he was being built piece by piece and coming to life slowly.
“Gaerik is very smart, a lot smarter than he lets on. He has many contacts, some of them I know of and others he keeps much closer to the cuff. He’s meticulous and calculating. Normally he won’t undergo any investment of his time without having carefully thought it through unless he’s become obsessed which he tends to do.” His gaze found hers with a pointed reference to the blonde seated in front of him. “He is loyal to his own means. If it will make his life interesting or he will gain a profit from the endeavor, then he will pursue it.”
Again, Elle knew he was talking about her. Gaerik was stalking her, though so far, she’d come to no harm, so she had difficulty believing that he was capable of harm despite the evidence that was supplied to her tonight.
“Is there any legitimate evidence that can prove your brother had anything to do with the death of the woman at Lighthouse Point?” She asked him.
Marik’s chin swiveled from left to right indicating that there was no real evidence they could go off of. Elle imagined if there was then there would already be a warrant issued for Gaerik’s arrest.
“To your own knowledge has he ever posed a threat to anyone?”
“No.”
“Then why are you so convinced that it’s your brother who’s behind all of this?”
“I just know.”
Her sharp inhale was one of disapproval as she mimicked the motion of his chin moving from left to right on her own.
“You’re wasting my time Marik. You have no real proof that your brother has killed anyone the only proof that you say you have is that he has been watching me and that could be any number of deranged fans. Hell, finding someone’s personal address isn’t that hard even if you do write under a pen name. If your lights are in your name, then your address is almost public record. It wouldn’t take very much digging. There’s probably any number of people who would leak my real name for a price. And furthermore, what proof do I have that you are telling me the truth? You could be a deranged fan.” Her laughter was just a tad hysterical as the reality of all this came crashing down on her. She’d taken him at his word and let this man into her home. One mistake right after another.
“Listen, I can only imagine what you might be thinking right now, but I am telling you the truth. I found this at his apartment.” Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew the glossy photograph of her, taken when she was out one day and gave it to her.
Looking it over she remembered the day this was taken, but she wasn’t aware anyone was watching her or taking any pictures of her for that matter. However, she set the picture down on the table between them.
“This still doesn’t prove your story to me, Marik. For all, I know you could have taken this picture yourself.”
Aggravation was beginning to set it; this woman was impossible and what pissed him off was that she had every right to be. He came here for phone and ended up pulling her further into this shit storm then he’d intended to on his way over. Marik truly believed he’d find his brother, shacked up with some whore and all of this would be ov
er. He could take him to the Council, and his hands would be washed of the entire thing. Growling lightly, he reached up scrubbing his hands over his face, caught in his tangled hair, pulling the band from it and pushing it into his pocket while his other hand continued to scratch his scalp.
“What can I tell you that you are going to believe?”
“I really don’t know. Right now, all I know is that there is a bloody man sitting at my kitchen table telling me that his crazy brother has been stalking me and that he has possibly been involved in a homicide.”
“I think I’d better go home,” Marik said, his voice no higher than a grumble as he slowly stood up from his seat.
“I think that would be best.”
She felt sorry for him. Why she couldn’t really explain. Maybe he was a fan, and he was making up this whole story to get her attention because obviously, she did love werewolves. Standing she walked him to the door pausing gently as she looked at the television. News channel three was covering blizzard Colby as if there had never been a blizzard in the history of Connecticut when her ears perked up, and her heart began to sink from her chest into the pit of her stomach.
“The roads are closed.” Elle’s voice a complete monotone of its usual tone.
“Yeah,” Marik said uncaringly as his good hand grasped the door handle and opened it, a blast of cold wind rushing into the warm house.
“You can’t go anywhere.” Elle suddenly chimed in, breaking away from the stubborn gnawing in her stomach that was telling her to just let him go if he got a ticket that was his problem.
“I’ll be fine.” He said.
“Wait…” Releasing an irritated sigh from her lips right now she was cursing the southern manners she was raised with. “I’m sorry, but all of this is just a little hard for me to get a handle on ok? You can stay here tonight and maybe you can help me understand. If what you’ve told me is actually true, then I want to help you find your brother, and maybe we can keep anyone else from getting hurt.”
“You’re sure about this?
“Yes, I’m sure. Close the door, I’m not paying to heat the entire state of Connecticut.”
~
Yawning Gaerik pulled up to the pumps of the first gas station that he saw that was still open. New York was within the clutches of Colby as well, but it seemed that the storm was beginning to taper off the further south he drove from Connecticut. Getting out of the Escalade he stretched and shivered in the cold as he walked into the Exxon station. If he was going to keep driving, then he was going to need a lot of caffeine. The voice of the Alpha telling him to run hadn’t eased up an ounce as he walked in, tipping his chin to the truck driving woman that stood behind the counter watching TV. Following the smell of fresh coffee to the back of the store.
Pouring himself a cup he went down the aisle picking up food for the road none of which would be particularly pleasing to his sensitive pallet but he didn’t have any other choice. Loading up on coffee and beef jerky he moved to the counter to pay as the ten o’clock news came on.
“In other news, this evening the mutilated body of a North Haven woman was found sitting in her car on exit five by New Haven police. They responded to a call stating that a car had broken down and found the woman upon arrival. Police are not releasing any more information now. Back to you Alex.”
Staring at the screen Gaerik was still as stone when the woman in front of him cleared her throat and waved her hand in front of his face.
“Will that be all?” the New Yorker asked, pressing her hand to her hip with a sullen look as if his coming in was a complete waste of her time.
Snapping out of it he paid for his gas and food before running back out to the SUV. So, the killer had struck again and this time didn’t even bother trying to hide the body, he’d left it right in plain sight for anyone to find. Pumping the gas his hand automatically went into his pocket for his cell phone before he cursed out loud remembering that he’d thrown his phone out the window of his car so no one would be able to track him down using the GPS function. His hand tightened on the gas pump until he felt it snap in his fingers. His rage was reaching a simmering point as he reached down and pulled the trigger back stopping the flow of gas and shoved it back into the nozzle holder.
“Son of a bitch.”
Before leaving Connecticut, there were lose ends he had to tie, but his time was running short as he skipped town without a new phone. Without it, he was lost, out in the open. He knew there would be someone waiting for him in Philadelphia with a new burner phone, but it was at least another four-hour drive before he made it to the city of Brotherly Love, if that, in this storm. Gaerik had barely made it out of the state before the roads were closed. Climbing back into the warm cabin of the SUV he pulled away from the pumps and hit the road again. If it weren’t for this damn storm he could have already reached Pennsylvania but getting through the toll roads on the boarder of New York had slowed the wolf down.
~
“You can’t leave until he gets here.” Barry Johnston said looking at the two girls behind the counter of the adult novelty store, his hands resting at the sides of a plain box which had once been the home of a selection of adult DVDs. “There will be a little something extra in your paychecks.”
After their boss left the taller of the two baby butches blew out a raspberry as she pulled her crutch under her arm and limped over to the box sitting on top of the glass display counter.
“I wonder what’s in it.” She asked picking it up and shaking the box - the contents jostled around a little bit but gave no further clues as to what lay inside the package.
“I dunno.” Said the other, looking down at her phone avidly texting something as another sound effect came from the cell phone in her hands. AIM messenger was going off.
“Think it’s a gun?” Chelsea, the taller of the girls, waggled her eyebrows up and down faintly as her lips crooked into a wicked and curious grin as she gave the box another shake.
“If there’s a gun in there I wouldn’t be shaking it around like that, gimpy.” Lindsey laughed setting her phone down on the counter and grabbing a pair of scissors.
“That’s Miss Gimp to you.” Chelsea stuck her tongue out before sliding the box across the counter into the waiting hands of her cohort.
The girls had met Gaerik once when he was paying a favor to their boss, they never knew what business he was in, but he left an impression on the young women behind the counter of the adult novelty store. Slicing the tape off the box, they looked inside only to be disappointed. There wasn’t a gun, just one of those cheap Walmart flip phones and a black address book. Lindsey took the phone, Chelsea took the address book, thumbing through the pages.
“Anything interesting?” Lindsey asked as she went through the phone's contacts before slapping the flip phone shut again and tossing it back into the box.
“Nothing I can make sense of. All the contacts have code names.” She laughed with a shrug and put the address book back.
“Hey, if it’s who we think it is…why don’t we grab a little something extra for him, huh?” Chelsea raised her brows with another one of her famous smirks.
“I am not putting a vibrating dildo in that box, Chels,” Lindsey said shaking her head at her best friend before her arms folded over her chest. “He might be nice to us, but let’s not get our asses handed to us.”
“Yous’a sick hoe,” Chelsea responded with a shake of her head. “I was thinking Wawa’s, bitch.”
~
The gas gauge was nearing empty as he pulled into the parking lot on South Street a quarter to one in the morning. His eyes were red, and blood shot from want of sleep and all the caffeine he had pumped through his system, but he was glad to be able to stop for a second his long legs stretched as he stepped out of the vehicle. Sore didn’t describe it, and not only that but he had the ass pins and needles too.
Walking up to the door of the shop the sign said closed, but the lights were on inside as well as a girl clad in
a black Game of Thrones t-shirt slouching over the display counter. Per the issues, he’d seen happen in the shop he suggested to the manager to make up t-shirts that read the stores name across the front while on the back they said, “BNW Employees Are Not for Retail Purchase.” He’d been serious, but it was also damn funny since the clerks were constantly being hit on by the customers.
Rapping his knuckles on the glass, the red-head of the two looked up from her phone and nodded. Walking around the counter and unlocking the door so he could step inside.
“You here on your own?” Gaerik questioned glancing around the shop for a second and down the hall where the bathroom door was. On each side of the hall, there were doors leading to the stalls. On any given day, you could have driven by this shop and seen the parking lot packed but not a single person roaming the store front. They were all in the back getting their rocks off watching dirty movies.
“Nah, Chelsea will be back in just a minute. Thought you’d be hungry, so she went to make a Wawa’s run for you.” Lindsey responded turning and walking back around the counter, grabbing the box that Barry left with them. After opening it, they’d taped it back up neatly in hopes that no one would be the wiser that they’d gone snooping of course what they found didn’t really tell them a whole lot.
It felt like the first time in days he’d smiled as he took the box and ripped it open with his bare hands taking the phone and stuffing it into his pocket while he looked through the address book. Taking the phone back out of his pocket as the door opened to the shop, Chelsea stomping inside with what appeared to be two grocery bags in her arms, dusting the snow off of her short-clipped Robin Thicke style hair.
“Hey man.”
The kid looked like Spanky from the Little Rascals, the movie not the black and white TV show, while Lindsey looked like she would have made one hell of a rebel Viking featured in one of her favorite shows. She didn’t have the height, but she didn’t look like she took any kind of shit from anyone, unless she was getting paid to take it.
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