Mark heard the sound of a body hitting something, and then Craig's voice as he swore to kill Susan. Dashing out of his hiding place, where he'd been waiting for Craig to trip the trap they'd set for him, he ran to the staircase, and started down it, Deke was already there, and he held up a hand to stop him.
"What?" Mark said, hand on his pistol.
"He's earned the right," Deke growled.
"Who?" Mark asked, and at that moment Michael and Helena stopped at the top of the stairs, one of them turning on the lights. Mark saw Craig stop for an instant, but Trevor, didn't. He was pummeling Craig, punching him again and again, a furious look on his face.
"Shouldn't we stop them?" Michael asked from the top of the stairs.
"He threatened to kill Trevor's woman," Deke said. "You heard him. Besides, do you want to try and stop him?"
Mark shook his head slowly as he watched Trevor administer the most brutal beating he'd ever seen. Whatever superior powers Craig might have had left, they quickly surrendered to the sheer physical abuse of the blows Trevor was landing, one after the other, as he growled.
Craig's punches were ignored by the beefy teenager, who was obviously so enraged he didn't even feel them.
Mark just watched as it went on for minutes, twice Craig tried to make a break for it, each time he got grabbed from behind and throw back against the wall, while Trevor just glared at him and started to kick him until he got up and Trevor could resume beating him to death. When he heard a growl from the top of the stairs, he looked up and saw Susan standing up there, watching, with her own eyes full of anger.
Craig looked up then and saw her as well, and suddenly shifted into his wolf, and tried to dash up the stairs after her, but he hadn't even reached Deke and Mark before Trevor, who was twice his size now as a wolf, jumped on his back, and taking Craig's neck in his jaws he bit down hard, paralyzing the smaller wolf, and started to shake him back and forth as he dragged him back down the stairs, smashing his body into the walls on either side as he slowly shook the life out of Craig's now twitching body.
When Trevor finally dropped Craig to the floor, Mark walked down the stairs, next to Trevor, and drew the machete, "Do you want to finish him off? Or should I do it?"
Trevor looked at the stairs at Susan, then slowly shook his massive head, and stepping over Craig's body he raised a leg, pissing briefly on it, then slowly padded up the stairs to Susan.
Mark moved around Craig's unconscious body then to get a good angle in the confines of the hallway, and raising the machete he brought it down with all of his might, severing Craig's head from his body with a single blow.
"I thought your body turned back, when you were killed?" Susan said from the top of the stairs as the now dead werewolf's head rolled free of the body.
"No, hon," Trevor said, standing behind her, with his arms around her, having shifted back. "Just a story that the humans like to tell each other."
"Hey! I'm human!" Michael grumbled.
"But you thought they changed too, didn't you?" Trevor laughed.
"Well, maybe," Michael grinned.
"Instead of joking, how about the three of you clean up that mess in my hallway, before it ruins more than just the hallway rug!" Deke's wife Margaret said, scolding them.
Mark shook his head, smiling, "Yes, Ma'am. Come on guys, let's clean this mess up. Trevor," Mark said holding up his hand as the young man started for the stairway, "You won this fight, you take Susan and go get some sleep, we'll take care of it."
23: Washington, DC
Mark was sitting in a bar that was apparently a favorite with a lot of the FBI's agents in the DC area. Most of the team was there, they'd all decided to share a couple of beers and celebrate the successful closing of the case. They'd all spent the last two days in the office filling out paperwork, giving sworn statements, and tying up loose ends.
"Well, I'm glad that's over with," Steve said taking a drink. "I think that's the nastiest case I've ever had to deal with."
"Have they even gotten a final number on his victims?" Denise asked.
Michael shook his head, "They found the body of the guy he stole the truck from, and his girlfriend is still missing, so we're assuming she went the way of the previous victims. They think they've identified two girls from the local high school, and have concerns on a third, but at least they think they have a count on the girls who he took from the college. Now they're just looking into any unsolved disappearances in Blacksburg of woman who fit the profile he was kidnapping."
"Who knows how many people he killed before he even came to Blacksburg," Mary said. "I wouldn't be surprised to learn he'd killed before he hooked up with that guy in the cave."
"How are the girls doing, anyway, Mark?" Michael asked, raising his beer and taking another drink.
"Girls?" Mark asked, wondering for a moment what Michael was asking him about. "You mean the ones we rescued?"
Michael nodded, "Yeah, them."
"Well, Susan is obviously okay. That last girl he bit is also doing well; she's moved in with Zeke and his wife and is rather happy with the situation from all accounts.
"That other girl, Claudia, the one we interviewed, Zeke set her up with his oldest son for now. Of the remaining four, well, two of them didn't make it."
"What do you mean, they 'didn't make it?'" Denise asked.
"Just that, they couldn't deal with what they became, they died," Mark said and shook his head, "I regret not having taken the time to go talk to them, maybe I could have helped them, but Zeke said they were just too far gone."
"How did they die?" Michael asked softly.
"I didn't ask, I didn't want to know," Mark said. "Now you know why most lycans don't go around biting people. Yeah, five of the seven seemed to have pulled through okay, and everyone thinks they'll make it, but two didn't."
"Well yeah, but none of those woman asked for it," Denise said. "They all went into it unwilling and unprepared. I'd think that if you knew what you were getting into, you'd be okay."
"Yeah, I'd like to think so too, but few people really know that they exist, and the lycan community prefers it that way, so there haven't been a lot of test cases, and I don't that's going to change any time soon."
"Woah, look what just walked into the bar," Michael said.
"Eyes back in your head," Mary laughed.
"She's smiling at us, and she's headed this way," Michael said.
Mark smiled, "Let me guess, tawny color hair, light brown eyes, five foot six, dresses like Helena?"
"Umm, yeah, but she's wearing jeans, is that one of your daughters?"
Mark closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath.
"And she stopped right behind you, Mark," Michael said sounding a little perplexed.
Mark smiled as her scent drifted over him, it was Hope. He reached back and putting an arm around her he dragged her into his lap and kissed her, rather happily.
"Umm, I thought you said you were married," Denise said.
"Yup," Mark said and opening his eyes he smiled at Hope, "Where's Helena?"
"Bathroom, she'll be here in a minute," Hope said snuggling up against him, "missed you, Hon."
"Obviously," Mark looked around at the confused looks, and shook his head chuckling. "This is Hope, she's my wife."
"I thought Helena was your wife?" Mary said looking at him with a puzzled expression.
Mark nodded, "Yup."
"You have two wives?" Steve asked.
"How does that even work?" Denise asked.
Hope looked at them and grinned, "We share. A lot."
Mark chuckled, "Stop drooling, Mike, or the waitress is gonna slip when she comes back with the beer." He turned to look down at Hope, "Not that I mind of course, but why are you here?"
"Helena's had you to herself for a couple of weeks, now it's my turn," Hope purred. "She's going to fly back home tomorrow."
"Agent Woods is gonna love this," Mary sighed.
Helena wal
ked up at that point, "Hi guys," she said and bent over to give Mark a kiss, then grabbing a chair, she pulled it up and sat next to him.
"So, why do you have two wives, Mark? Is that typical for cougars?" Steve asked.
"Mark doesn't have two wives," Helena purred and leaned into Mark as he frowned at her.
"What? He just told us Hope was his wife," Steve said confused.
"He has four," Helena said and smiled at all the others who were now looking rather shocked.
"But that's not legal!" Denise said.
"Four? How, what?" Michael said looking surprised.
Mark sighed, "It works great, it's legal as I'm only legally married to one of them at any particular time, it's not typical, and," He glared at Helena, "it wasn't my choice and I prefer not to share it with others."
"Whose choice was it?" Mary asked.
"Ours," Hope said in a voice like a purr.
"I can tell you're really upset with it too," Steve laughed.
Mark sighed and smiled feeling rather guilty, "Why do you think I'm such a devoted husband? I may be a monster, but I'm not a fool!"
They all laughed at that.
"So why did you all pick Mark?" Mary asked, while Denise was looking rather skeptical and Patrick's expression was one of disbelief. Mark could see a rather thoughtful look on Michael's face however, while Steve just looked curious.
"We're all pretty close," Hope said. "We're all sisters, and Faith, Charity and I are triplets. And well, Mark is really quite the catch."
For the first time in a very long time, Mark could actually feel himself blushing, but he still felt pretty proud to hear it said in public, it definitely did his ego a world of good.
"Well, at least I know now why you didn't think it strange that Zeke was taking that second woman in," Michael said with a shrug.
"What makes him such a catch?" Mary asked, pursuing her line of questioning further.
"Well first, he did kill a vampire, singled handedly," Hope said.
"And then there was the werebear that was trying to rape Charity," Helena added.
"Which he killed as a human, we hadn't changed him yet," Hope pointed out.
"So, we knew he was pretty tough, which is important in a male."
"Why is that important?" Mary asked.
"Other than wanting your man to be the biggest and the baddest?" Hope giggled.
"Yeah, other than that," Mary said with a nod.
"Well, Infant mortality among werecougars is about fifty percent. Higher for single moms," Hope said.
"That's pretty severe," Denise said.
Hope nodded, "Cougars tend to be solitary. We all live near each other, but we're not like wolves, we don't raise our young in a pack."
"I thought male cats didn't get involved with their young?"
"It's different for us lycans. The males help a lot, they defend the territory from predators and run off anything that looks like trouble, they also watch over the cubs just as much as we do," Helena said, handing Hope a beer as she poured herself one.
"So how many of Mark's kids died?" Mary asked.
"None of them," Hope purred. "And that's why he's quite the catch."
"How many kids do you have, Mark?"
Mark put an arm around Hope and stood up, "Gee, look at the time," he smiled, "I'm taking tomorrow off, so I'll see you all on Monday."
"Chicken!" Mary laughed.
"It's called beating a strategic retreat," Mark said setting Hope down on her feet.
"We're having a party in a couple of weeks, Michael," Helena smiled at him, "And we'd love to have you visit."
"Ummm, I think I'd like that," Michael said.
"That invitation extend to the rest of us?" Denise asked.
"Oh, of course," Helena smiled.
"You do know what you're getting yourself into, if you go there, right?" Mark heard Steve say to Denise as he headed for the exit with Hope, Helena was following not far behind.
"No, what?"
"She's looking for mates for her children."
"So?"
"That means becoming one of them."
"Ooooh," Denise said rather slowly, then everyone laughed as she added, "Maybe I should ask for pictures first."
END
After word
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John Van Stry
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Wolf Killer (The Hammer Commission) Page 20