by Cheree Alsop
We were on our way back to the truck when the girl from the basement broke free from their interrogation and rushed over to us. She pulled an older man and woman with her. Both had tears on their cheeks.
“Mom, Dad, this is the man I told you about,” she said, stopping in front of me. “He’s the reason I’m still alive.”
Without warning, she threw her arms around me and gave me another tight hug. I tried to take a step back, but found myself embraced by her parents as well.
Virgo watched with a bemused expression on his face for the space of about five seconds before good sense came back to him.
“Alright, we need Zev back at his post,” he said, moving their arms from me.
“Thank you,” the girl’s mother told me.
Her eyes shone with more tears. I backed away before they could fall.
“I’m, uh, glad I could help,” I replied.
“Ma’am, Sir, we need you to return to the debriefing,” a uniformed soldier called out.”
I ducked between my teammates and made my way toward the truck. A few of them jostled me good-naturedly and I heard comments about the ‘softhearted werewolf’. I let them slide and climbed back onto my seat in the truck.
“You were in the alley the whole time?” Fray repeated.
I held her gaze until she looked away. When she sat back, I caught a glimpse of curiosity in her eyes.
Riot held out one of his knives. “Show me another of your tricks,” he said.
I fought back a smile and took the blade from him.
I could feel the dhampir’s calculating look on me whenever I wasn’t facing her direction. Satisfaction rose in my chest at the thought of the puzzle I presented to her.
Later that night, she presented the same puzzle to me.
I was awoken by a soft knock at the door.
“Wake up,” Fray whispered gruffly.
I opened the door to see the rest of the team in their socks and sleeping shorts. Serian rubbed her eyes and adjusted the tank top she wore.
“It better work this time,” she mumbled.
“It’ll work,” Riot reassured her.
He held several bags clutched to his chest. A strange scent emanated from them.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Blue food coloring,” Riot replied a grin.
Kai sighed. “Not again.”
“No, not again,” Riot reassured him. “It’ll be right this time; I promise.”
Virgo’s grin was contagious. I couldn’t help the answering smile that spread across my face as I followed them up the hall.
“What’s going on?” I whispered.
“Some sort of tradition,” he replied. “I’m pretty sure it’s a practical joke.”
“We’re playing a joke on another team?” I asked, confused. “Why?”
“It builds camaraderie,” Kai said in hushed tones over his shoulder. “It’s good for the team.”
“How?”
I couldn’t help the questions. I had never heard of such a thing. It made no sense that playing a joke on someone else could result in a stronger team bond.
“Just watch and be quiet,” Fray said from the front of the group.
I shut my mouth and followed them up another hall to quarters I had never visited. Fray tested the door, then pushed it open when she found it unlocked. At her motion, the rest of us followed her inside.
Nervous tension filled the air. The team exchanged excited glances as they made their way past the hall where the others slept. The sounds of snoring, deep breathing, and the occasional mumble reached my ears. My muscles were taut with the thought of what the other team would do if we were caught. I had to remind myself that I wasn’t in the Lair anymore. This wasn’t a life or death situation. They wouldn’t come out with weapons drawn ready to carve out their vengeance on our hides.
Fray’s words from earlier came into my mind. “Did you fight for anyone else besides yourself? Where does all this team loyalty come from? Fighting for scraps of meat in the middle of some dark, musty cave?”
I followed them a bit more sober down the next hall. Fray led us to their shower room.
“Hurry,” she whispered. “Everyone take a bag.”
Riot handed out the cloth packets.
“Careful,” he warned. “This’ll dissolve in the water, so try not to get it wet until we’re done.”
Serian held up a pipe wrench.
Virgo stared at her. “Where did you get that?”
She shrugged. “It pays to be prepared.”
“You sound like Sutter,” Kai said in a sad tone. “That boy’s got a long road to recovery.”
“I wish he was here,” Riot sighed. “He’d really appreciate this. It’s not the same without him.” His gaze sharpened. “But he’s not, so let’s get to work, people.”
Serian quickly unscrewed each of the shower heads. We followed behind and put the packets of blue dye inside. She then handed the pipe wrench to Fray who replaced the shower heads. The entire process took about five minutes per packet.
Virgo’s was the only one whose packet broke as he was putting it inside. Blue colored the warlock’s right hand and down his arm as he shoved the rest of the packet in the hole and held the showerhead in place for the dhampir to close it up.
Fray gave him a grin that showed her fangs. “That doesn’t look conspicuous at all.”
Virgo’s gaze shifted to his hand and his focus sharpened. The blue runes on his hands began to glow. He looked back at Fray. “Camouflage.”
“Not bad,” she replied. “But how long can you keep it up?”
“Enough to persuade questioners they’d be best to leave it alone,” he shot back.
Riot chuckled. “He’s got you there.”
A noise caught my attention.
“We’d better go,” I told the team. “They’re waking up.”
In thirty seconds, the crew quarters were empty of anyone who didn’t belong. The moment we shut the door to our rooms, laughter burst out from the team. I found myself grinning along with them. It felt good to join in the camaraderie; even Fray’s occasional suspicious glance couldn’t damper the atmosphere.
I went back to my room feeling a bit lighter. I told myself the emotion would fade, but enjoyed it nonetheless. I closed my eyes with more contentment than I had felt in days.
Chapter Eight
I woke up early enough that the sun had barely edged the horizon in gray. The full moon was only a few nights away. The need to phase made my skin tingle. I hadn’t done so since the demon attacked the Division; before that, I couldn’t remember when it had been.
I walked down the mostly empty hallways, nodded to the few guards on patrol, and made my way outside to the perimeter wall. A glance around showed that I was alone, but I knew the cameras were being monitored. I stripped quickly and allowed the wolf to take over.
There was something so comforting about taking on the animal form. This time when I jumped the wall, I didn’t feel as though I was running away from something; instead, I ran merely for the fun of it. I stretched my legs, felt the rhythm of my paws fall into the cadence of the wild, and lost myself in the landscape.
The sage brush filled the air with its refreshing, crisp scent. The sand beneath my paws was cool from the temperature of night, but a sunbaked cinnamon aroma rose with each step, telling of the heat to come when the sun completed its climb in the sky. I saw rabbits and once an antelope, but I was content to leave them to their grazing and continued on my leisurely run.
When I jumped back over the wall, I half-expected to be met with sirens and another demon attack. It was refreshing to phase in silence, pull on my clothes, and meet my team in the cafeteria. Cordial nods were exchanged as we dug into eggs and bacon so good I rose to get seconds at the same time that Fray did. She gave me a searching look as she sipped subtly at the nearly empty gray blood bag she held. I lifted my shoulders in a small shrug to show that the timing wasn’t intentional.
&n
bsp; She opened her mouth to say something, then her gaze shifted past my shoulder. Her expression changed from annoyance to pure humor. It was such a contrast that I looked behind me at the same time that she whispered, “Don’t look.”
I nearly laughed out loud at the appearance of several blue-uniformed soldiers with bright blue dyed skin. The looks of chagrin and frustration on their faces made it doubly hilarious. Fray and I both sat back down. She nudged Riot and Serian while I tipped my head at Virgo. Other tables noticed the team at the same time, and laughter began to ripple through the cafeteria.
“Who did it?” a burly, bald man covered in tattoos that were now also a bright shade of blue demanded. “Who snuck into our quarters last night?”
“Not our team,” a woman in gray answered when his eyes locked on their table. “We know better.”
“Maybe you need a watch dog, Watch Dog,” someone shouted from the back of the room.
More laughter erupted.
The bald man shook his head and led his crew to dish up their food.
“That’s going to last a week at least,” a young woman from the table behind us said. “I don’t envy whoever has laundry duty!”
Several others chuckled.
My team exchanged grins and our own quiet laughter. It felt strange to be a part of something so trivial, yet impactful. Putting dye in the showers had seemed like a meaningless prank, yet the glances that were shared and the ribbing made me feel closer to them than the demon attack. The Captain was wrong. We didn’t need a pivotal life-or-death situation to bring us together. We needed a true leader. Who knew that would come in the form of a fang-toothed, bossy dhampir?
I glanced at Fray and found her watching me. A smile ran across my face and she surprised me by returning it. She lifted her bag with a question on her face.
“Do we dare?” I asked. I threw a meaningful glance toward the blue team that grumbled as they dished up.
“It’s a good way to throw them off our tracks,” Fray replied in a loud whisper. “Some other guilty team would avoid them.”
“Not us,” Riot said with a chuckle. “We’re the Demon Crew. We look danger in the face and color it blue.”
Serian burst into laughter loud enough that half the cafeteria looked our way.
Fray and I stood again with Riot close behind. The weapons master guffawed loudly when we approached the food.
“What’s wrong, Watch Dog? You look a little blue,” Riot said.
The bald man rolled his eyes. “Now’s not the time, Riot. We’ve got testing in twenty.”
Riot grinned and spooned more eggs onto his plate. “No problem. They’re lenient to those who look like they fell into a port-a-potty.”
“That’s not fair,” a skinny man who looked even more blue than the others protested.
The tables closest to us laughed.
Serian caught up to us and used the tongs to pile a few more pieces of bacon on her tray.
“Don’t worry, Jimmy,” she said. “At least if the ogres attack in the ocean, you’ll be camouflaged already.”
Other soldiers who joined us for seconds took up the teasing.
“Now you really are the Blue Crew!” a young man pointed out. He ducked away from Watch Dog’s unamused glare.
A voice near our table called out, “Blue is beautiful.”
“Yeah,” a woman with long red hair said, joining us. “All colors are beautiful, just maybe not natural.” When Watch Dog opened his mouth to protest, she slipped her hand through his arm. “But blue is very becoming on you,” she said quietly enough that I may have been the only one to overhear.
Red touched Watch Dog’s cheeks enough to turn his face more of a purple shade than blue.
“Hey,” one of the girls in his crew said. “Don’t you get in his head. We have scores today and we need to concentrate. Don’t think we take this timing as coincidental.”
She pulled him away while another of the crew picked up his tray and joined them at a table at the other end of the cafeteria from ours.
“I didn’t think of that,” Fray said when we returned to our table.
I glanced at her. “Scores? What does that mean?”
“They took our joke as meaning to throw them off their points,” Kai said by way of a not-great explanation.
“Probably best for us,” Serian said. “But unintentional.”
Virgo threw me a puzzled look as he shoved a forkful of eggs in his mouth with his blue hand. “What are the points for?”
Riot wiped a piece of egg from his face. “Chew before you spew, man.”
“Sorry,” Virgo said, spitting out more eggs.
“Gross.” Serian gave a disapproving shudder and handed him a napkin. “We have these evaluations to see where each team is at. When we’re graded, it’s only supposed to be a performance evaluation, but it’s turned into a bit of a competition.”
“A bit,” Riot echoed with a snort of disbelief. “You mean entirely.” He met my gaze. “When you’re in as dangerous of a line of work as we are, something needs to lighten the load. Hence, the score competition.”
“Score better than them and win,” Virgo said with an understanding nod. “Easy enough.”
“You say that now, but you haven’t seen the testing center,” Serian pointed out.
“And the scores are individual, then added together for a team total,” Riot said. “Without Sutter, we don’t stand much of a chance.”
Virgo glanced at me. A smile threatened to spread across my face at the look in his eyes, but I managed to keep it at bay.
“I think we can help,” he said.
Fray shook her head, but didn’t say anything.
Virgo’s anticipation at a challenge sent the same competitive spirit through my veins. By the time we reached the testing center, the warlock was hopping from foot to foot. His runes glowed so brightly I could smell the basil and metallic tang of his magic.
But the runes faded when he was told he would be partnered up with Kai.
“I thought Zev and I could be partners,” he said. “We work great together. We’ve even killed a jakhin together.”
“So you say,” I heard Fray mutter. At my glance, she turned fully to face Virgo. “You’ve never been in the testing center before. You need a partner who knows the grounds, especially since they don’t grade on a curve for newbies.”
Virgo stiffened visibly at the insult. Fray didn’t appear to notice. She grabbed a vest and a rifle from the hooks on the wall and held them out to the warlock. He accepted the vest but ignored the gun.
“I have my own ways,” he said.
Fray opened her mouth to protest, but Virgo walked out the door after Kai before she could say another word. The door shut behind him with a hard, metallic-scented bang that let me know he had used his magic to do it.
I had to fight to smother a proud smile, but when I turned and realized only Fray and I were left in the room, the smile vanished by itself. I found myself wishing I could be out there facing the unknown with the warlock at my side. I shoved down the thought by reminding myself that werewolves didn’t long for what couldn’t be. They accepted what happened and moved on. I quelled my impatience and slid down to a sitting position against the wall near the door.
A thought nagged at the back of my mind. I finally spoke it into the silence without looking up. “You chose to go last to try to make up for their difference.”
Fray broke the stillness a few moments later to say, “I did.”
I glanced at her. “Is that because you’re better than they are?”
It was a statement, not an accusation, but her eyes narrowed minutely before she said, “It’s because if I know what numbers we need, I can figure out how to make it up.”
“Even though we’re a lost cause?” I asked.
She gave a reluctant nod toward the numbers on the wall above me. “Not that lost. Your warlock friend seems to be doing better than I thought.”
I hadn’t wanted to look f
or fear that her doubts in us would prove to be unimagined; but when I followed her gaze to see the red numbers next to Virgo’s name climbing as quickly as Kai’s, I couldn’t fight my smile.
“Maybe you were wrong?”
She speared me with her gray gaze. “We’re not done yet. He could lose the lead by taking two chest shots.”
“They won’t get through his shield,” I replied confidently.
I refused to look at the numbers again in case she was right. As it stood, Virgo and Kai were on point to at least tie Serian and Riot. I didn’t know where that put us in the running, but at Fray’s expression, we weren’t half bad. The uncertainty of what I was going up against made my chest tighten.
I shifted position on the hard floor. “What’s this point system based on?” At her look, I held back the urge to roll my eyes and said, “It would probably help us both if I know what I’m doing.”
She sighed as though I had asked her to drink fish oil, but gave in and explained, “You get shot, you lose a point. You hit one of them, you gain a point. Take one out completely and you get two points. Consecutive minutes without taking a shot build up your score faster.” Her gaze darkened. “So try not to get shot.”
My eyebrows rose. “Do I come across as someone who likes to get shot?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “But you’re reckless. That’s about the same thing in my book.”
I decided there was no point in arguing and kept my mouth shut. Fray’s breathing changed a few minutes later and my head lifted.
“What is it?”
“He must have gotten shot,” she said levelly. “They’re behind now.” A bell rang and she grimaced. “We’re going to have to have a nearly perfect run to tie the sweeper crew.” She glanced at me. “They’re the ones you gave directions to in the basement of the theater.”
“Nobody was in the basement besides that girl,” I said before I realized what I had just admitted.