Dogs of War MC Episode 6

by Rossi, Monica

  “So I’m freaking out. Seriously. I’m paranoid that the cops are going to show up at the door at any minute and then Mom and Dad are going to freak out and it’s going to be all over the news how,” Jessica lowered her voice and used her best news anchor expression, “’Daughter of prominent local family arrested under suspension of murder,’ and the shit I’d have to take from Mom over being in jail and how Dad would bitch about the money it took to get me out on bail and… shit. I was just having a really bad time. I didn’t eat, I didn’t go out with my friends or even talk to them, I didn’t even come out of my room. So, of course, Mom comes in all bitchy concern and tells me she’s made an appointment for me with my therapist. You remember the one they made me go to after they’d found out I was having sex when I was fourteen? Yeah, that same woman. I liked her, she actually did help me out, just talking about things back then, so I thought why not. I needed someone to talk to and I was tired of staying in bed all day anyway.

  “So I went, and I told her everything, expecting her to tell me I’d had some kind of selective memory black out where I’d forgotten everything that had happened as a coping mechanism. I really believed that the guy had raped me and I’d lost my mind for a minute and somehow beat him until his internal organs liquefied and seeped out of his ears. I know it wasn’t rational, I’m tiny and he was big, but I kept telling myself that people did crazy things when their fight or flight mechanism kicked in, like that mom who picked up the SUV when her kid was trapped under it.”

  “I think that was just an urban legend,” Sidney said.

  “Whatever, the point is, I spent the whole time thinking that I’d gone ballistic and done some crazy shit.

  “So my therapist, Bailey is her name, Karen Bailey, she says, ‘I’ve been waiting for something like this to happen.’ And I’m like, ‘Bitch, what are you talking about, you knew I was a psycho killer and you didn’t tell me.’ But here’s the thing, she’s a witch. Now don’t start rolling your eyes and shit, she said she was a witch and I was too and that she’d gotten the job as my therapist for the sole purpose of watching me to see if my powers ever manifested. There was a lot of cursing and screaming on my part, because who comes in and says, ‘Oh you’re a witch’ and expects you to take that shit well? “

  Sidney’s mind went to Fran, but she didn’t say anything.

  “ So anyway, I’ll spare you the whole drama that went on. Let’s just say I took some convincing. Karen took me to her, uh, I guess it’s a coven, to tell me about what was going on and I’ll admit, there was some freaking out on my part, but I got the whole story from them. So anyway, long story short, come to find out we’re witches, we’re adopted, and our powers were disabled so that we could pass for human with our normal family. But the spell that disabled us seems to be running out of… juju I guess, because our powers are returning to us.”

  Jessica sat there looking at Sidney as if she expected her head to explode. She sighed and got up to refill her coffee cup.

  “Well aren’t you going to say anything? Tell me I’m crazy, ask me to do some parlor tricks, talk to me about how I’m irrational and everything has a logical answer?”

  Sidney plopped back down in the chair still stirring sugar into her coffee.

  “Nope,” Sidney said, her voice leaking the sound of weariness that was seeping out from her bones. She took a sip of her coffee, realizing she didn’t actually want it any more. “I knew we were witches and I was dreading having to tell you and have you tell me I’d lost my mind. I didn’t know we were adopted though, or why I was blocked, so there’s that.”

  “How did you know? Did you accidentally kill someone too?”

  Sidney thought back to the ground littered with corpses of men in suits, and shook her head. No matter how much she’d wished it was, her actions had not been an accident.

  Demon didn’t want to look at Three Rivers any more. He didn’t want to see the familiar faces, or the businesses he’d been going to for years, he didn’t want to see the old abandoned buildings, a left over from the tobacco boom, that gave the town that air of comfortable quiet dereliction that so much of the South had. He’d been here too long. It was messing with his mind.

  Around every corner there was a memory ready to sneak up on him and assault his sense of home. Every person who greeted him with a smile and a pat on the back making him rethink his nomadic lifestyle, making him wonder if he could really come back and put down some roots in the place he’d always loved above all others, no matter how far he’d roamed. Then the guys had been so damned accepting when Red had let his little secret out, it just wasn’t good for him. He needed to get back out on the road, to remember that he was always going to be alone and there weren’t any other options. He didn’t need to let fond memories of a childhood that had been a lie fog up the truth of the matter; there was never going to be a place he could call home or people who would accept him. His life was meant to be one of solitude.

  The edges of Three Rivers faded as he passed the battered city limits sign, the crisp air stinging his face as he accelerated, he passed the last businesses that dotted the outskirts of the small town. The porn store slash whore house slash pawn shop that Red owned with the club among them, the neon light of the flashing sign bright in his rearview mirror, he’d never ventured in but he was sure the Pawn & Poon was a class act.

  He couldn’t stay, he told himself again, sooner or later someone would find out the real truth about him and the fallout would damage more than just himself.

  Plus, he was getting soft staying in one place. He’d even defended Red, who had been acting like a complete and utter deranged person, to Sidney. And then he’d pushed her away because of her feelings. The truth was he’d pushed her away because of his feelings. He wanted her, he’d told himself from the beginning that he just wanted a night or two with her because it was just sexual attraction, but the thought of her sleeping with him while thinking about Red had left him feeling uneasy. Yes, he wanted her, but much to his exasperation, he wanted more than just her body. And that was all he could ever have because anything more was asking too much from her or any other woman.

  He’d seen what loving him had cost Logan. Everything, it had cost her everything and it had left Morgan without a mother and Red without the girl he’d wanted to spend his life with. He wasn’t willing to risk that again, not with Sidney or anyone else. Demon smirked to himself, he and Red seemed doomed to repeat history or either they were just cursed to find the same women irresistible. Though Red seemed to be fucking up his chances with Sidney and doing it with style. Banging her sister and having Sidney walk in on the act, after her ex fiancé had been caught cheating on her, well, that was a level of fucking up with a chick that Demon didn’t think he’d ever be able to match. Red was going to snap out of whatever mental road trip he was currently taking and figure out that there were some things that just couldn’t be taken back.

  He’d done the right thing leaving after the whole Logan situation. He should probably go ahead and go before he created a situation just as bad with Sidney. If it weren’t for those damn suits making threats and kicking shit he’d be gone already. He just didn’t feel right leaving when he might be needed. It was obvious the Dogs wouldn’t be able to handle the situation on their own, no matter what Red thought, and if they weren’t going to ask for help from the witches or the other folks in the community, he might be the only thing that stood between them and complete extermination. This was the closest thing he had to home, to family, even if they could never accept him completely, and he might be a giant prick but he couldn’t just leave when so much was on the line.

  Demon turned the motor off and swung his leg over the seat of his bike. Almost without thought he’d made his way back to his place, the little cliff that overlooked Three Rivers. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told Sidney that he’d spent hours up there as a teenager. It had been his sanctuary when he didn’t think he could take one more look of accusation from the people
who were supposed to love him.

  Red’s face, his look of disgust when he’d seen Demon working with his powers, levitating his Spanish notebook above his face while he’d been lying in bed studying, reared back into Demon’s mind. That had been a hard time. Red hadn’t taken the time to let him explain, instead he’d gone straight to their father, accusations flying. Demon had followed, trying to convince Red to keep what he’d seen to himself, not to make a scene with their father. But Red wouldn’t be deterred. At that point Red hadn’t blamed Demon for anything, he’d seen him as a victim of irresponsible breeding. Red had blamed his father. It was bad enough that his father had had an affair that had resulted in a child, but that was something the family had dealt with, but to have one with a witch? Creating something that was clearly against nature and against the teachings found in their precious book, that was another thing all together.

  So Demon had followed Red as he burst through the doors of the clubhouse he wasn’t supposed to be in without permission, eyes wild with anger. They’d both been told in no uncertain terms to go to Red’s house and wait for their Dad to get home. Red hadn’t wanted to listen, he’d wanted to discuss it right there in front of everyone, but a fist to the jaw had a way of convincing a kid to do what they’re told.

  They’d gone to Red’s house and waited, Glory had been there fixing dinner and she’d greeted them both with a smile. At that point Glory had treated him like a second son, one she hadn’t wanted but would take and nurture none-the-less, and Demon had loved her like a second mother. He’d brought her flowers and cards on every Mother’s Day and birthday, and she’d smiled at him and kissed him like she loved him. She’d taken him to baseball practice when his mother hadn’t been able to, brought him homemade cookies when his first girlfriend, an older woman of sixteen, had broken up with him. She’d taken his side when Red and him argued and Red was in the wrong and she’d switched his tail right beside Red’s when they’d been caught teasing another kid. It still tugged at his heart when he saw her, her stony glare tearing away a little more of him each time she pretended to not quite see him.

  All of that changed in an instant. The instant Red’s father came in and started spewing lies. Lies about his mother, lies even about him. Lies to cover his own ass and put the blame where it didn’t belong, on him and his mother. Making it seem like he’d somehow been coerced, seduced, into a relationship and kept there by magical means. He’d even accused Demon, his son, of helping his mother blackmail him into silence. Demon had been thrown out of the house and told never to return, told he was trash and should be ashamed of who and what he was. He’d wanted to argue, wanted to tell them all the truth, but years of living with his secrets had kept his mouth shut. Plus, he didn’t want to hurt Red and Glory by exposing their husband and father for the fucking liar he was. Whatever virtues his mother had seen in him were beyond Demon. He’d actually asked her one time and she’d just smiled at him and said that maybe one day he’d understand, he’d meet someone who was beautifully broken and want to put the pieces back together for them.

  Demon wasn’t so sure that was the truth. The truth was his father was a sad excuse for a human. Leading a double life for three years while making Glory and Red and Demon and his mother all think that they were his only family, his whole world. His mother, of course being what she was, had found out. She’d forced him to stop living a lie and she’d moved to Three Rivers so that Demon could have a relationship with his father and the older brother he hadn’t known existed. And Demon had grown to love them. His father, Red, Glory, Three Rivers, The Club. They’d become his life and then they’d been snatched away from him. He’d been cut off from everything he’d come to think of as home.

  Red, Glory, and his father had chosen not to tell the Club about his true nature because they thought the Dogs might hold it against hi. They didn’t care how it effected Demon, he was sure if that had been the only concern the news would have been out in an instant, but they didn’t want it to cause harm to their position or standing in the Club or community. So he’d kept the lie for them just as much as for himself.

  The last couple of years had been hell for him and he’d escaped to his spot of refuge often, trying to get away from the turmoil in his daily life, and then when the fall out with Logan had happened, he just couldn’t handle it anymore. As soon as he’d been patched in after graduating, he’d gone Loner and he hadn’t looked back.

  It had been hard, at first, not in the ways he’d thought it would be. He’d thought he’d be lonely, but he’d found a comfort in solitude that he hadn’t been able to find surrounded by the people who ‘loved’ him. No, the hard part had been learning not to get attached. Not to people, not to places, and not to things, because they were all just temporary. He’d met good people everywhere he’d gone. People with open hearts and willing hands, ready to reach out and hold on to him, embrace him as one of their own. But each and every time he’d let them go, and that’s what he was going to have to continue to do.

  Including with Sidney.

  He couldn’t leave town for good, but he needed a break. He needed some time to get his head together and comes to terms with the reality of life. He’d told Sidney that there would come a time when she’d want him, and maybe that was true, but what was also true was that she would never be able to hold on to him even if she did want him. He was born an outcast and that’s how it was going to stay, and no amount of wishing it were different was going to change that.

  It was time for him to go visit his mother, time to remember who and what he was and why he could never be a part of the bustling life that surrounded him.

  He took the handlebars of his bike and rolled it over behind a tree, then he took off his cut and his shirt and laid them across the seat, so they’d be there for him when he got back. He pulled out the lightweight brown tarp he kept in his saddle bags for days when he needed to sleep rough but still didn’t want to get rained on and he covered the motorcycle, tucking the sheet around the wheels carefully.

  He thought about grabbing a few things out of his bags but decided against it and walked to the edge of the cliff, he really didn’t need anything where he was going.

  Demon looked out at the twinkling lights of the town he loved and took a deep breath, summoning the part of himself he could never let anyone see. He felt them materialize behind him and once again he felt whole. A sigh of relief escaped him and a smile swept across his face, sometimes he forgot how much effort it was just to keep himself hidden. He stretched and extended himself to his full size, letting every part of him feel the wind and the space around him, feel the excitement of just being.

  With joy surging through his body at the release he flapped his black feathered wings once, twice, and he launched himself off the cliff and into the air. And in that moment, riding the air currants and looking down at the town that had at once cradled and ostracized him, he felt free.

  The new facility was already up and running. There were no lack of old buildings to rent and after finding one in a sufficiently secluded location, the only issue was moving things from one place to the other. The council decided that even though the shifters could be handled, a new unknown location would be the wisest choice for interruption free testing. He had agreed, though the building wasn’t up to his standards, it would do for the time being.

  “So John, how is everything going?”

  John stopped in his tracks, clipboard in hand, glasses perched on the edge of his nose. “Sir, it’s actually going better than expected.”

  “Really? How so?”

  “As you know, the lab decided to start completely over with the formula, considering that the last formula and all of its derivatives were faulty and not producing the required results and – ”

  “Wait, I was not aware of this change in direction. Why wasn’t I consulted?”

  “Sir, I was unaware that you had not been kept in the loop, or I would have rectified the situation,” John’s voice quivered sligh
tly, “And I can’t say for sure why you weren’t informed but I can tell you that they just started a few days ago and have already produced a very effective solution. I was just about to begin testing on our first subject.”

  “Ah, well I don’t like being kept in the dark, but I guess experimentation is somewhat like art, perhaps they got too caught up in their own momentum to follow the proper reporting procedures.”

  John looked doubtful, “Perhaps.”

  “Yes, well someone will be reminding them of the correct way these matters are handled.” And it would be something they’d remember from now on, no matter how caught up they got in their work, Frederick would make sure of that. “In any instance, I’d like to see what this new formula can do. Lead the way John.”

  Frederick followed John down the old tiled hallways of the former nursing home, mentally ticking off boxes on his to-do list. He’d already talked to the head of Security, the premises of this new facility were as close to impenetrable as was humanly possible, though he wasn’t worried about humans any way. He needed to find a way to make the grounds and building impregnable to the inhuman as well. But that was something to work on. If everything already had an answer, he wouldn’t have a job.

  He’d talked to his head of security about the Dogs of War as well, he really liked the name of that little biker gang, it had a poetry to it, especially considering what they were. He had been assured that they would come around to their cause or be dealt with accordingly. Plans were underway to mitigate any more interference from the witch population, which had been what had caused such an upset at the old facility, and one of the reasons he wanted to use the Dogs against other unnatural beings instead of his own men. The fact that they’d had a witch with them was unsettling, the council’s whole plan of annihilation hinged on the fact that these groups didn’t work together or mingle. If there was any indication that cooperation between the species was becoming a trend then that would cause problems.