Wolf Killer (The Hammer Commission)

by John Van Stry

  Oh to have been there to hear the sweet screams of terror and then pain as she was consumed! He found the thought of that alone to be more than exciting, perhaps someday he could recreate that experience for another bitch that had sought to challenge his authority. To punish those ungrateful curs who spit in his face and spited him, who struggled against him, who cursed him, after all he had done for them, given them, shown them! He had given them the greatest gift there could be, to contribute to a cause and a power greater than themselves! And all they can do is whine and cry because they have to make a few paltry sacrifices. He'd grown tired of explaining it to them; they were all just too small minded and shallow to understand their purpose in life.

  A van passed him rather quickly, going the other way. The words 'Medical Examiner' clearly printed on the side. Yes, they'd found her body by now. That would mean police, which would mean an investigation. He'd been careful, he didn't leave anything at the cabin that could be linked to him, after all, anyone could stumble in there and find things he would rather not be found. While the cabin was taboo to the locals, who feared it because of their old superstitions, it still paid to be careful, as these woods were full of stupid hillbillies, college kids, and other busybodies after all.

  They were all fools of course, the cabin wasn't where the power was, it was just a convenient place to stop and linger nearby. A good spot to enjoy some of life's pleasures before taking one of those filthy bitches to their well deserved reward. A fitting place to relax as he contemplated his own rewards and replay the scenes he'd just witnessed in his mind's eye for his own personal enjoyment when they saw the glory of their purpose revealed to them at last.

  So, he'd have to lie low for a few days, maybe even a week or two. He was flush with power now, he could wait. Yes, he had time on his side, anyone who stumbled on the hidden place he'd found wouldn't survive, not after all the time he'd spent restoring its warden to their rightful power. Because he had been first, and he'd willingly offered his help, in exchange for certain considerations, only he could come and go in safety.

  So, it wasn't the time to try and sneak up and discover what was going on, that would be pure folly. Now it was time to go home and consider his next move. Give the investigators time to do their searches, their examinations. In a few weeks something more important would grab their attentions and they'd move on. They always did; their feeble minds not able to truly focus on any single thing for more than a few days.

  He was nearly done with this place anyway. The first three promises that had been made to him had all been kept, wealth, power, and influence. He had them all now and he had mastered them. Now there just remained the final promise, and after that one had been kept, then he would need come here no more. For then he would know the secrets of the blood, and the ways of extracting the power that lived inside it.

  He would finally have the freedom he craved, and the power that was rightfully his, to do with as he wished.

  He smiled as he thought about that, and turned the stereo in the car back on. Yes, it was a setback, but only a small one. One that he would easily overcome. After all, they were only human, and he was so much more than that.

  3: FBI, DC Offices

  "So, what kind of gun do you prefer?" Agent Sikes asked Mark the next day while they were taking a break in the office. This morning they had finished running Mark through the basic indoctrination, typical government stuff, how to requisition things, sexual harassment training, cultural sensitivity training, non-profiling training, and how to kiss ass one-oh-one. Or as they called it here, 'proper modes of addressing the elected representatives.'

  At least they'd bought him lunch.

  "Normally I don't carry one," Mark said.

  "What?" Agent Sikes looked surprised.

  Mark shrugged, "Most devils and demons only get pissed off if you shoot them. Religious items have a much better effect."

  "Yeah well, what about with other things, you know, the supernatural creatures and such?"

  "Oh, you mean when dealing with monsters?" Mark asked leaning back in his chair.

  "We're not really supposed to call them that, you know," Agent Sikes said.

  Mark laughed, "Oh please. They're monsters. They know it, and they admit it. Most of them even like it. Oh, it's easier to identify them by type when talking about them, but in general, that's just what they are."

  Agent Sikes huffed a little, and shook his head, "Well my bosses might disagree, anyway, what sort of weapon do you prefer?"

  "Well normally, if I can get it, and I'm going to carry one, I'm partial to SAWs."

  "A saw?" Agent Sikes blinked looking confused, "What are you going to do with that, saw wood?"

  Mark grinned and shook his head, "Sorry, forgot you're not ex-military. Squad Automatic Weapon - SAW."

  "You want a machine gun?" Agent Sikes said, looking a bit shocked now.

  Mark noticed several of the other agents in the office were listening now, looking at him across the room. All the desks were set up in an open area, which made it easier for people to communicate.

  "I don't believe in fair fights," Mark said. "If you're going to bring the heat, might as well bring the fire, right?"

  Mark noticed that a couple of agents nodded when he said that.

  "But a machine gun? I think I've seen one of those, they're huge!"

  "We have HK417's," one of the other agents spoke up, he'd been introduced to Mark as Agent Jeff Haines, he was the senior agent on the staff, and was in charge when Woods wasn't around. Mark put him at about late forties, he had a touch of gray hair, just starting to make an appearance among the brown, and was of average build, a couple inches shorter than Mark was.

  "Five-five-six?" Mark asked.

  "Nah, three-oh-eight Winchester."

  Mark nodded and smiled, "Yeah, a few of those would do."

  "For what though?" Agent Sikes asked.

  "Monsters come in two basic types," Mark said. "The smart ones will want to talk; they know if they go after you, it will bring a lot of trouble down on them. The real nasty ones though, they'll kill you without a second thought if they feel like it, and some of them will always feel like it.

  "Those are the tough bastards, and if you're going to deal with one of those, you bring all the firepower you can, and you use it."

  "Just like that?" Agent Sikes blinked.

  Mark nodded, "Just like that. Take vampires. You find one, you just kill it. No talking, no discussions, no 'we're taking you in', or any of that. Go in guns blazing, kill them. kill their followers, kill everything."

  "Ever killed one?" Agent Haines asked. Most of the others were listening as well now Mark noticed.

  "Yes actually. The Church gets called in whenever anybody finds one these days."

  "They hard to kill?"

  "They can be, especially the older ones. The trick is to get them on your terms and have a plan, a good plan."

  "How'd you end up working for the Church?" Agent Haines asked.

  Mark shrugged, "I killed a vamp in Portland. They sent out an investigator to find out who did it and why when the local police and the feds claimed not to know anything about it. Next thing I know, they'd offered me a job."

  "So why'd you do it?"

  "Well, the money you get on a medical retirement from the army isn't all that great and the pay was good," Mark said and shrugged again.

  "No, why'd you kill the vamp?" Agent Haines asked again.

  "Oh, that ambush in Afghanistan? The one that wiped out my platoon?"

  Mark noticed that they all looked shocked. "Yup, vamp. Some old Brit I think. Probably had been there since Queen Victoria. So let's just say I have issues with vampires."

  "You kill it?" Agent Sykes asked.

  "Course I killed it!" Mark almost growled that one out, "He killed my teammates, damn near killed me too! Only reason I got out of there alive was that I killed it." He shook his head, "We had no idea what we were getting into of course, especially as no one
in the general population knows these things even exist. Pure dumb luck that I survived."

  "Umm," Agent Sykes looked a little uncomfortable as Mark said that.

  Mark looked around the room; they were all looking a bit uncomfortable. "You lost somebody recently, didn't you?" He sighed.

  "Yeah, nine months ago," Agent Joe Timms, who was a thirty-something guy with blond hair, spoke up. "Outside of Oklahoma City, some crazy witch doctor was using a momo to terrorize people into paying him protection. We didn't know that of course, we'd just heard some rumors."

  "Sorry to hear that." Mark looked around the office, not counting Agent Sykes there were only eight agents in the room. "How many more agents are in this department?"

  "It's just the nine of us, plus you now," Agent Haines said.

  Mark looked surprised. "That's all?"

  "Well we have a support team of another couple hundred that are spread out in nine key offices. They're not field agents however; they handle the more mundane tasks and gather intelligence for us."

  Mark nodded.

  "But they're not dedicated just to us; we only get them if something special comes up, otherwise we have to share them with the other divisions."

  "Well, better than nothing I suppose," Mark replied.

  "So why are you here anyways?" Agent Haines asked.

  "Well, apparently State has been leaning on the Vatican for a long time now to loan out one of us to you guys." Mark shrugged, "I'm an American, so I got picked."

  "Rumor has it that things were pretty hot for your people last month."

  Mark nodded, "Yeah, it heats up from time to time. How has it been for you guys?"

  "We get about one case a month; there aren't a lot of monsters in the U.S."

  Mark laughed rather loudly at that and they all looked at him.

  "You don't believe that, do you?" he asked looking around the room, trying not to snicker.

  "This ain't Europe, or the Middle East, we don't have all those ancient groups," Agent Rich Chance, who was Haines' partner spoke up.

  "Monsters, the smart ones, follow the laws and police themselves; their secrecy is their strength, and their survival. There are a lot more humans than there are monsters these days, especially if you're looking at any single type of monster. Oh, against one or two people, even a small group, most of them are going to win. But against an entire town? A city? No," Mark said, shaking his head slowly.

  "So why doesn't the government just out them and hunt them all down?" Agent Sykes asked.

  "Remember the Salem Witch Trials?" Mark asked.

  "Yeah, what of it?"

  "How many witches do you think they caught?"

  Agent Sykes looked at Mark a moment, "They didn't catch them all, did they?"

  Mark shook his head, "They didn't catch any. And that's the problem with going public; most of the people who will be swept up in the mayhem that would arise would be innocent.

  "Besides," Mark smiled, "If they're not breaking the law, they can't be prosecuted. Most of them are citizens and they have rights, just like everyone else."

  Agent Sykes looked surprised at that. "What? But they're monsters!"

  "He's right, Michael," Agent Haines said, "Nowhere in the Constitution, or any of the other major laws are monsters mentioned and a lot of them still can be classified as 'men', no matter how loosely."

  "What about vampires?" Agent Sykes asked,

  "Oh, they're already dead," Mark said, "So you're not really killing them."

  "But they can still talk, move, even think!"

  Mark shrugged, "They don't breathe, they don't eat real food, they can't take the light of the sun, they can't reproduce, and can't be killed as easily as a normal human being. I don't think they really meet the definition of 'alive' used by most scientists or politicians. Plus by the time you discover one, it's already got a pretty decent body count associated with it."

  "So, you've killed a lot of vampires then, I take it?" Agent Chance asked.

  "Twenty-three," Mark said without hesitating.

  "That many?"

  "That few," Mark sighed. "These days they just have me go in as an advisor and backup to the locals. A lot of governments want their own people to realize that they can do it too. Hell, the French don't even bother to call us in, just let us know afterwards."

  "Really?" Agent Chance said, looking surprised, Mark noticed everyone else did as well. "The French?"

  Mark laughed, "Paris is like the vampire Mecca, too many guys who become one think that they'll move to Paris and rule it, I guess they all grew up watching the same movies or something. No, the French are really good at dealing with vamps, and quite a few other monsters. Course, they have been doing it for over a millennium now."

  "Huh, would never have known that."

  "A lot of the older countries are aware of the problem, and have policies for dealing with monsters. I suspect that eventually we'll have a policy here in the states as well."

  "So, how long do we have you for?" Agent Chance asked.

  "I honestly don't know, but that reminds me, anybody know of a good place to rent a furnished apartment?"

  "Tired of free maid service already?" One of the other agents, Bill Walters, who was Timms partner, asked laughing.

  "Eh, now that I'm going to be in one place for a while, I'm sure the family is gonna want to come visit. Would rather have an apartment for that."

  "Didn't know you were married," Agent Sikes said looking surprised.

  "Yup," Mark smiled, "with children, and happily so!"

  "Call HR," Agent Haines said and gave Mark a piece of paper with a number on it. "We get people out here on long term assignments all the time. I'm sure they can help you out."

  "Thanks, I'll do that."

  By the end of the week, Mark had been set up with a nice townhouse apartment, about a thirty minute commute away from the office, a little longer if you took mass transit.

  He let Helena know the address when he talked to her Friday morning, and made sure she understood that it was only a two-bedroom apartment in DC and to make sure everyone didn't try to come visit at once.

  She let him know that she'd take care of it.

  Saturday morning she showed up at his door, having caught the redeye not long after hanging up.

  "So, this is handling it?" Mark smirked after kissing her hello and dragging her inside.

  "I'm the oldest, I make the rules," she grinned looking up at him.

  "Still, I thought Hope would be the first to come."

  "What, you don't think I love you?" Helena said looking at him a little funny.

  "Lately, I've begun to worry a little," Mark confessed, "you've been a little distant, and when I was stuck in Portland for a couple of weeks the other month, you never came out and visited me."

  "That's because you were supposed to come and visit me!" Helena growled.

  "I knew I was being targeted, I didn't want to chance anything happening to the kids," Mark sighed, "you know that."

  Helena folded her arms under her chest and looked up at him sternly. Mark looked down at her and just had to smile. She was the tallest of the four, but she still was six inches shorter than him, and she looked younger than he was, even if she was actually two years older. She was thin, trim, slightly muscular looking and weighed less than he did.

  And could probably kick his ass, as she was a pure blood, where he was only a turned. Of course as she was the one who turned him that gave her even more of an edge.

  "And what are you smiling about?" She scowled.

  "You know I love you, right?"

  "But Hope is your favorite," She growled.

  "Actually," Mark's smile turned into a grin, "you're my favorite."

  Helena's light brown colored eyes got a little wider, "What?"

  Mark put his arms around her and hugged her close, "I love you all very much, and yes, sometimes my favorite changes, usually after you piss me off," he said softly. "But you are the one who saved m
y life, and you are the one who made the decision to keep me around."

  He could feel Helena shift a little nervously and pulling back a bit he could see her blush, "So, uh, you knew about that, huh?"

  "Yes, I knew about that," Mark said with a smile and kissed her.

  "And you're not upset?"

  "You know how I feel about all of you and our children. Do you think I would have wanted me around, if I had gone off the deep end?"

  Helena sighed and gave him a lopsided smile, "And that's why I decided to keep you. You have always have been a very devoted father."

  "And husband," Mark added.

  "Oh?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

  "You know how many times I've passed up offers from other women?"

  She blinked, "Really?"

  Mark nodded.

  "And all this time we all thought you had a few on the side. What with all the traveling you do."

  Now it was Mark's turn to blush, "You know I already feel guilty about having multiple wives, there is no way I could ever bring myself to sleep with another woman.

  "Besides, with the way I feel about you, it would never compare."

  Helena purred and leaned into him.

  "Now, let's go to bed."

  "It's ten in the morning." Helena protested.

  "Exactly," Mark grinned and dragged his wife off to the bedroom. Not that she resisted much of course.

  "So how long are you going to be here for?" Helena asked him, later that night over dinner.

  Mark shrugged, "I honestly don't know. They hinted that it would be for a year when they sent me off, they did have a lot of things to cover up and gloss over, so that nobody asked too many questions."

  "So 'out of sight, out of mind' then?"

  Mark nodded, "Pretty much. Plus things are quiet right now, and they are training a whole lot of new people, and I haven't really had a vacation in over a year."