by T S Paul
“Burnt any children alive lately, mom?” Jack asked from the doorway.
Bethany Pepin screamed and dropped the TV controller in her hand. Her shocked expression was probably worth the trouble it took getting in.
“It’s funny that there was a war and you still managed to survive like the cockroach you are.” Jack stepped closer to his mother.
Bethany scrambled along the couch until she was against the far wall. Instinctively, she reached her hands up looking for a weapon.
“What’d you do, sell them?” Jack asked as he watched her panic.
Joshua Pepin had once stored his weapons on that wall. The display was there to demonstrate to his pack and his enemies that he was a man of action and terror.
“Who are you? I don’t have anything here! My husband will be home any minute!” Bethany kept changing her story as she panicked.
“He’s dead, in case you’ve forgotten. Scream all you like. I doubt the neighbors will care, what few remain that is. They didn’t intercede when you tried to burn me alive, and I doubt they will help you now,” Jack pointed out.
Bethany’s surprise was complete. She peered at Jack and yelled, “You're dead, Lucas! My husband killed you. You’re dead!”
Jack laughed at her use of the name he never used anymore. “Not quite. Lucas was a child. My name is Jack now.”
“Regardless of what good old dad may have told you, he turned me loose and barred me from the pack.”
Jack’s mother stood and tried to use her pack status against him. “I’m your mother. Leave my house and never return.”
Shaking his head, Jack responded, “That may have worked when I was so young and damaged that the pack’s Omega could push me around, but things have changed. Payback’s a bitch.”
Concentrating, Jack went to that secret place in his head where the alpha lived. Lucas Jack (Austin) Pepin was special. He was two people, not one. Lucas and Jack ruled his body separately. Lucas was his inner child. His playful nature had kept his inward crazy from being discovered for so long. Jack was who heard the voices and made plans. Working as a team, they gave LJ a foundation to build upon. It was their teamwork that allowed him to survive the abuse and hate thrown at him for so many years. That and the fact his father-brother ignored him.
Taking control, LJ pressed down using his Alpha status and instantly cowed the woman known as his mother. “I’m the one in control here, not you.”
Almost immediately Bethany was on her knees, exposing her neck to him.
“This reunion is fun and all, but I need some closure. Let’s go downstairs.” LJ pointed at the door just off the kitchen.
Bethany, her face a rictus of fear, crawled past her son and into the kitchen. Stopping in front of the door, she pleaded for her life. “I’m your mother. You can’t do this, Lucas!”
“You had no problems doing it to me. Open the door and go downstairs,” sweat poured from LJ’s brow as he threw all of his concentration and power into the effort.
Wincing, Bethany Pepin, stood up and opened the door. The stairs were steep and sparsely lit. Her hand fumbled at the wall turning the lights on. She rarely went down here since the end of the war and the death of her husband.
Like a wild animal stalking its prey, LJ followed his mother down the stairs. Flashbacks of his flesh burning off his body and the screams that had ripped from his throat caused his body to shake and nearly fall. Too many bad memories started on these stairs.
“I’m innocent. Don’t do this, Lucas. It’s mommy!” Bethany cried out. Tears ran across her face.
LJ savored every moment of his mother’s panic and fear. Deep inside him, little Lucas wanted to run to her, and Jack wanted to punish her more to take revenge. “I told you, my name isn’t Lucas anymore.”
Taking in the basement, LJ focused on the wall opposite the stairs. The cinder blocks were blackened and burned. Burned bits of what he assumed was flesh were still stuck to the walls.
Seeing the place where his innocence was lost, never to be found again, broke Lucas. Jack and LJ felt that part of their trio leave to never return. “To think all it took was one blackened wall to do that. We should have come back here years ago.”
Bethany sniffed and stared at the man that was her son. “What?”
“I wasn’t talking to you.” LJ reached into his dirty blue jeans and pulled out some silver handcuffs.
“Let’s play a little game.”
<<<>>>
Red nudged his friend for the second time, “Jack, you sleeping?”
Jack blinked a couple of times and looked at the fellow biker. The memories of his visit home were still fresh in his mind. “Sorry, I was thinking about something.”
The big red-headed man chuckled. “When I think that hard it’s about women and booze. Sometimes all at once. What was yours about?”
Jack could see himself leaving home, the house in flames behind him. “Women and new beginnings. I was dreaming of the future.”
“You and me, brother, we’re going to build it right here. This pack is the one for both of us. You wait and see.” Red punched Jack in the arm.
Jack could only nod. The Witch and her people were long gone, but the pack was feasting on the best barbecue this side of Memphis. As one of the waitresses put a plate in front of him, his eyes found Gundi Moon. Soon. Soon the voices would stop forever.
<<<>>>
Adam Moon met with his inner council outside the restaurant in the patio area. Gundi wasn’t with them. Someone had to watch the newbies and supervise the kitchen staff. It was quiet in this corner of the place. Just far enough from the RV park to not be heard, but close enough to the restaurant if you needed to use the facilities.
“Do you have the information the FBI provided?” Adam asked Sheriff Joseph Bowen.
Bowen reached into his carry bag and pulled out a file and handed it to the alpha. “I had Jenkins verify some of it.”
Adam looked askance at the sheriff. “Why am I just now hearing about this?”
Bowen froze and looked at the others around the circular table. All of the council was staring at him with yellow tinted eyes. “You told me they were lying. That it was a trap.”
“If it was a trap, why did you have your man confirm it?” Nate asked.
Bowen closed his eyes and silently said a prayer. “The information was too plausible. As you know, I was professionally trained in law enforcement techniques. Some of the information in that file was too complete to be faked.”
“Like what?” Adam asked
“All of the victims were burned alive. They all happened in small, out of the way towns, along the main highway. If you plot them on a map, it’s a straight line to us. It was the details that tripped me up. If I was trying to pass off a fake file, I might put things in it that would seem plausible to the person I was trying to fool. None of the basic information says this killer is here. Just that we are on the path he’s taking. Even the Witch initially said he ‘might’ be here. The fact that there have not been any more deaths anywhere tells me that he may be here,” Sheriff Bowen stated.
“But not one of the inductees? Adam asked.
“He hasn’t killed. Why? Maybe because he’s been sequestered. That’s the FBI’s theory. They aren’t sure. Just like they can’t confirm, he’s a he. It could be a woman,” Bowen explained.
“Women don’t kill like this. Not in my experience.” Adam laid the folder on the table spreading out the pictures of the kills. Burned and blackened bodies hung from wooden cross-tees.
“Wow. She showed you this before?” Nate asked the sheriff.
Bowen nodded. “I did try to bring it to your attention. After we found out she was involved in the Arbor war, you told me to ignore her. Jenkins confirmed all the deaths. The BAU did do the initial review of the evidence. It was them that said it was a Were making the kills.”
Adam folded his hands in front of him. “This is a mess. Have our investigative unit dig into this. Pull in any resources,
within reason, that you have to. I want to know everything the inductees were into before they showed up here. And I do mean everything. Put any newcomers on the list as well. A human serial killer is what I suspect we are looking for.”
Bowen looked at Adam in surprise. “Why a human?”
Adam stared at Nate for a moment without really seeing him. He turned to look at the sheriff. “As a species, we are very stable. Irregularities do occur though. A strong alpha can read the minds of his pack during the change. It’s almost like reading a book of poems. I can flip through memories, thoughts, and emotions. If I detect something wrong, I am able to dig much deeper. It’s one of the basic laws of the pack.”
“What happens if they cannot be fixed or are wrong?” Bowen asked.
Adam looked back at Nate. His lieutenant bowed his head. “They’re killed. Any threat to the pack is eliminated. The Were council has rules. Crazy isn’t tolerated. Nathan’s sister was killed when they were but children.”
Bowen looked at the Were on his left. “What did she do?”
Nathan raised his head. “She was around ten or so. Her first shift. Our Pack Alpha detected that she was sexually fluid and killed her for it.”
Adam cleared his throat. “That particular offense was excluded from the ban around the turn of the nineteenth century. Love is love. You have to remember that the 1800s were a time of turmoil and expansionism. Females were required to breed more pack members in order to protect and fight. Anything that upset the balance was eliminated. It was one of the many reasons we left our original pack.”
“Are you still going forward with the hunt?” Bowen asked.
“That is the plan. Why?” Adam responded.
“You just agreed to work with the FBI. Even I know that hunting humans is illegal,” Bowen pointed out.
“Then you know so little. There are rules to the hunt. The prey is paid to run. If he survives, he won’t say a word to anyone ever about the hunt. He’ll take his money and run. We actually expect him to run.” Adam laughed.
“You pay them?” The sheriff’s eyebrows pinched together as he thought about it. “How much?”
“Unless you plan to volunteer, I’m not telling you. It’s enough.” Adam explained.
“OK. None of my business anyway. I’ll put half my officers on this. We know the timeframe, we just have to catch him. Did I really hear there was a Vampire in town?” Bowne asked.
Adam let out a growl. “Yes, we knew he was here. He calls himself Eddie Moo. He used to be the chief records clerk at City Hall.”
Sheriff Bowen’s eyes widened. “Our City Hall?”
“When we settled here, most of the townspeople were dead or lost. You have to remember it was wartime. Jackson was the linchpin that held the railway lines together. The Mississippi Central Railroad and the Mobile and Ohio Railroads met up here. The Yankee armies under General Grant were fighting their way south along the Mobile line. General Forrest knew that if he could cut the lines, Grant would be forced to divert his attack. Hence the reason we were here. Jackson changed hands a couple of times. We took it for good in 1863, and we stayed here.” Adam glanced skyward as he remembered.
“The town was mostly empty when we rode in. The army of the Confederacy followed us in, but not right away. We took possession of the estate and much of the property around it. We wanted a fresh start and to build the pack. We had big plans. You can imagine our surprise when we found a Daywalking Vampire in City Hall. We were young then. Vampires were nothing but a legend to us.”
<<< >>>
Adam swung off his horse and ran into the building marked City Hall. The Yankee army was gone, but he had to make sure they were completely gone. Neither he or his pack wore uniforms. Irregulars could be shot as spies if captured. The entrance was empty, but he could hear voices coming from the rear areas.
“...we have excellent opportunities here. The town is expanding.” One man replied to the other.
The other answered him. “If you say so. I expect this war to change everything. Wars like it in the past always have.”
“Edward, when you say things like this, I don’t know whether to believe you or not. Too much book learning is what it sounds like to me.” Mayor Robert Mason replied.
“And you call yourself the Mayor with that attitude, Robert. Learning is never a bad idea. Trust me in this. My people value education. Or at least they used to.” Edward replied to the Mayor.
“Who exactly is your people Edward? You’ve never told me,” Mayor Mason asked.
The little old man smiled and pursed his lips. “They live back east. Really far back east.”
“I’ve got people in Richmond and in Washington, you might know them.” The mayor told him.
Edward chuckled and cocked his head to one side. He then sniffed the air. “I doubt it. We’re about to have company. I suggest you stay very still, Robert.”
“Why do I need to be still in my own office? That’s some sort of crazy talk…”
Robert jumped when Adam came crashing into the office, his gun drawn. “Stay right where you are, there.”
“Hello, young sir. Aren’t you a bit young to be away from your pack?” Edward asked Adam.
Adam looked at the gnarled looking little man with widening eyes. Sniffing the air. He didn’t smell anything strange at all, only humans. He looked at the other one. The man that looked like a mayor.
“Pack? What nonsense are you spouting now, Edward?” Mayor Mason looked at Adam. “Which side do you represent?”
Adam looked at the two and replied, “My own. The Moon Militia now occupies Jackson.”
“Interesting,” Edward stated as he watched Adam.
“You have to have a side. You’re armed like a rebel. Tell me who your commander is!” Robert ordered.
Edward looked at the Mayor. “Stop. Sit there and be quiet.”
The mayor froze as if he was locked in amber all of a sudden.
“What the hell are you?” Adam asked as he swung his gun in Edward’s direction.
“Ah to be so young and innocent. Who are you, child, what pack do you represent?” Edward asked.
Adam stared at this human who asked things that should remain hidden. “I serve no one. My pack is my own.”
“Interesting. There are more of you then? Let me see,” Edward stared at Adam looking into his eyes. “Ah, a good plan. Your sister is correct as this is excellent ground for establishing something new. If you can control the humans, you might succeed where others have failed.”
Adam nearly dropped his gun. “How...Who… What are you?”
Edward smiled, sharp looking canine teeth dropped slipped out of his mouth. “I’ll give you one guess.”
That was the start of a very shaky partnership. The pack controlled the town and Edward did whatever he wanted to. Adam was terrified of the little man.
<<< >>>
“So we let him do whatever he wanted. Trust me on this, Joseph. A regular newborn Vampire can rip the doors off a car like they were chicken wings. An ancient one like Edward, can freeze you with a thought and kill you faster than a speeding bullet. He usually doesn’t get involved in our affairs. He’s why I agreed to help them,” Adam explained.
“Now that we’ve agreed, we don’t want to disappoint him. Believe me.”
Chapter 18
Want to know what happens to a town of sixty-seven thousand when half of them are searching for a stranger that happens to be a serial killer? One word. Chaos!
“Chuck, pull up camera three!” We decided on the fly to use our command center as THE command center for the search. It made a certain amount of sense to the sheriff. We were already tied into the local DOT camera system and even had access to many of the town surveillance cameras already. When Sheriff Bowen asked us just how we gained access to his department’s cameras around all the city’s buildings, we played dumb. Actually, it was Cat that fielded that particular question.
“The Elvish Liberation Front?” Sheriff Bowe
n stood in the middle of the bus with his mouth open. We were watching Deputy Jenkins reading a magazine and eating a donut at his desk in the station house.
“Exactly. We’ve been tracking them for months. I can show you the file if you like. They break into government facilities and strip the databases. They’re one of the top underground terrorist organizations in this part of the world. They usually post their finds on the dark web. Chuck over there can show you the site we found camera access on.” Cat pointed toward Chuck who looked up from his keyboard with a stupid look on his face.
The sheriff looked over at me and then back at Catherine. When none of us laughed, he shook his head. “Fine, that’s what I’ll put in the report. Terrorist Fairies, ancient Vampires, and serial killers, I couldn’t have thought this up on my own. Carry on, Special Agent.”
The somewhat befuddled sheriff stepped off the bus and returned to his office. He had a search to coordinate.
Chuck pulled up Camera Two, and we watched as Bowen walked past the wards. “Elvis has left the building.”
Everyone started laughing at that point. I pointed at Cat, “The Elvish Liberation Front? That was your grand plan when he asked about the cameras?”
“It worked didn’t it?” Cat answered with a big smile.
Bending, I gave her a little bow. “Remind me to never play poker with you, madame. OK, boys and girls, we have tacit approval to use this stuff so let’s do the jobs they pay us for. Chuck, bring up as many cameras as you can.”
Every monitor on the bus lit up showing roving bands of Weres and not just a few concerned humans literally beating the bushes all over town. Anyone not a resident was fingerprinted, searched, and then searched again. In most cases, they were pretty efficient.
I could see a man delivering what appeared to be beer, from a truck to the city hall. The delivery man's truck was getting ripped apart. “Blake!”
Blake looked up from the monitor in front of him and turned. “Yes, boss?”