by Kyrii Rayne
“Maybe. There are a few tricks I can pull once we get back to the Lodge. But meanwhile we need to make sure that from now on, our plans don't leave this circle.”
Jake came up behind Anna and wrapped his arms around her, trying to warm her and gently coax her away from the window at the same time. I wonder if he's already including Carly in the circle in his head.
“Yeah, besides us, Gray, and Julia we simply can't afford much sharing. Not until we know who it is.”
“I hope this doesn't mean that the renegades have too many sympathizers among the remaining members of the Lodge.” Darrin kept clicking away behind them.
“More likely that they bribed a key person. Maybe even blackmailed. You don't get very many rabid anti-humans among Bears.” Esme shrugged. “That's why Anthony Matson was able to get away with as much as he did. I've seen Shifters adjust poorly and go anti-human, but not so blatantly. If anything, Bears tend to be more stable than most.”
“I wouldn't know,” Jake admitted. “Most of my life I didn't even know other kinds of shifters existed.” If he had, he would have asked sooner why other shifters couldn't be part of the Lodge either. Apparently, the Bears were the least rare and most influential of them, but that still left room for others. He wondered how much of the world, of Shifters, their relationships with one another, and everything else, his father had neglected to tell him while busily descending into his obsessive hatred of humans. “Though I guess it's good to know that this isn't exactly common.”
Anna finally let him coax her back to the couch for a cuddle. Her stomach growled again as she settled in, and he wrapped both arms around her and propped his chin on her head. That made her giggle and push him away a little.
“I am not a chin rest.”
“Why are you so bitty then?”
He nuzzled her ear.
“I am not, you're just that huge. Which is why I don't want to be a chin rest. Besides, you'll stubble me to death.”
Esme snickered and Mark snorted and looked away. Darrin was back to keyboarding as fast as he possibly could, working on getting the first half of their details from Carly. Jake didn't keep up the goofing off; it was just whistling in the dark, but he knew it could get obnoxious if he went on too long.
“So how long do we have to wait until we go pay this mansion place a visit?” he asked in an even tone.
“Just long enough for us to get into the security systems remotely and check for any surprises,” Darrin replied as he typed. “If we want cover of darkness we'll need to go after eight tomorrow. Later would be better. Usually they have a regular shift change some time after dark.”
“Ten on the nose from what we saw,” Mark spoke up. He had a beer in his hand from the six pack on the counter, and Jake noticed a faint streak of Esme's blood-red lipstick by his mouth. Well, that confirmed that. He had wondered why they had needed all day to gather the information they had; as it turned out they were waiting for their subject to show up at the bar so that they could trail him home. But that had left lots of empty waiting time for... other things.
Good for him. He's a lot less of an asshole when he's in a better mood. And nothing put a guy right better than the right kind of attention from a loving partner.
He only hoped that Darrin really had just found his own. Things were getting dangerous, and no matter what happened, he wanted to make sure his best friend actually did taste that kind of happiness before—
No, don't think about that. Even if you're going to fight with renegade Bears tomorrow.
We survived against a dozen well-armed Hunters. We can survive against this. Even the guy who thinks he's defenseless.
“Sounds like a plan.” Jake nuzzled Anna's hair. “Let's get the information we need and sort out how best to hit them after that.”
Chapter 8 -
Internet Heroes
Anna wasn't that surprised when she woke up the next morning and discovered Darrin already awake, and sitting with Carly at their common room table poring over his laptop. What surprised her was how serious they were, despite the fact that they were holding hands without seeming to notice it.
Carly waved absently as Anna passed them to start making breakfast, but Darrin was so preoccupied with whatever he was doing that he didn't look up.
She poured herself a mug of coffee before digging out her ingredients from the cupboard.
“So what did I miss?” she mumbled, her voice a little hoarse.
It was barely dawn; she had had half a mind to snuggle back in with Jake and wake him up with sex, but the quiet voices from the front room had caught her attention.
“Still figuring that out,” Darrin mumbled distractedly. “Tell you soon.”
Anna nodded and busied herself getting food together. Was it wise to bring Carly here so soon, and show her around to their friends? Was it wise to take her into their confidence so quickly? Anna had no idea at all. All she knew was that suddenly, since last night, Darrin had an appetite again, and color in his face, and he hadn't screamed in his sleep at all. Whatever she ended up meaning to him, Anna couldn't predict with any certainty. But she knew that so far, Carly seemed to be good for him. So anything else, she would let slide... for now.
If she hurts him... she thought, but in the end, such sentiments were pointless and unnecessary. If Carly did, if she was talking a good line like some of the Hunters had tried to with Anna and Mark, then they would find out and it would be dealt with. Until then, Anna was content to let Darrin have this chance at happiness instead of fussing at him to be overcautious. She started putting together pancake batter, this time cutting up a bunch of bananas into slices to put in. She was just starting to relax a little into the simple task when she heard Darrin swear under his breath. Carly sat up as she looked over.
“Something?” asked the hacker quietly.
“Just connected the dots on those emails you released to me.” His mouth worked. “They're disseminating information about the Lodge and the Bears who are members to multiple addresses. They're pretty much giving us up to the world.”
Anna dropped her spoon into the batter. No.
“What— wait— how many people did they send it to?”
“Eight email addresses that we are familiar with. We managed to hack into five of them and delete them but the other three have already been read. And they clearly intend to keep sending that information out, to stir up the Hunters against us.” Darrin spoke rapidly, his eyes a little wild as he typed.
She heard one of the doors open; Esme came shuffling out, in a Ramones t-shirt and sweatpants so huge on her that they were probably Mark's.
“What's the problem?” she muttered, going straight to the coffee pot.
“The renegades are giving up the Lodge to every Hunter they can find,” Darrin replied bluntly, and Esme blinked in shock.
“Oh shit,” she looked to Anna and shrugged, “think we better go wake up our men.”
“Okay, run this by me again,” Jake said in a tired voice as he leaned on the table across from Darrin. He had barely spared Carly a glance, as if half expecting her to be here anyway. But the news had clearly put him in a foul mood, and he struggled to keep his voice even. Anna put a comforting hand on his arm, and felt his muscles gone as rigid as bridge cable. “These three pretended to be Hunters, put out a call for Hunter solidarity and tossed around information on the Lodge, including the names of several of its members...?”
“That's right. Including you, me, Helga and Gray. Descriptions, our positions in the Lodge, information on our personal lives. They know about Anna and Julia.”
A jolt went through Jake and he put an arm around her protectively.
“Fucking Hell, Darrin. Can you do anything to stop their communications?”
“Well, I deleted seven of their attempts, but as long as they have an Internet connection and working accounts, they can keep doing it until we go take them out.”
“Then maybe it's time to knock them off-line and fuck up their systems.”
And he did.
“I can knock them off-line. I can turn their servers and systems into paperweights. But I gotta warn you that if I do that, they'll take it as a warning that we are coming. We can expect them to call for reinforcements and lock the place down. It'll be that much harder to get in at them.”
“Don't see how there's much choice, though.” Esme sat back and rolled her head on the neck with a faint crack. “You let them keep their systems open, chances are they'll try to reach even more Hunters while they can.”
“This is crazy.” Carly seemed stunned by the whole situation. “When you told me that these guys were sending Hunters against their own people as part of some revenge thing, I didn't expect anything on this scale.”
“Yeah, well, never underestimate the bruised egos of a bunch of spoiled-rich fuckers who are already amoral enough to go hunting humans.” Mark's mouth worked and he folded his arms. “They do what they do because they figure they're actually the heroes of the piece, and the rest of us are just being unreasonable or malicious. It doesn't make any damn sense, what they're doing, but when people are sufficiently pissed off, they can make some pretty crazy, destructive choices.”
He spared Anna a guilty glance, and she looked away quickly. She didn't want to think about the bad emotional decisions he had made so recently, which had nearly gotten her killed. Certainly, she didn't want to bring it up in the middle of this conversation. She breathed deeply and slowly until the tension in her belly went away, and hung onto Jake's arm for comfort.
Jake rubbed his stubbled jaw and looked up at his friend uncomfortably.
“Do it, Darrin. That's my vote. Just get it done and don't worry about giving them the warning. If someone has been spying on us, they probably already know we're in town, and there's only so much extra muscle that anyone can pull together on short notice.”
Darrin nodded, and set to work, his expression grim.
Anna finally got around to fixing them the pancakes, and then couldn't eat them, her stomach even more twisted up than usual. She was starting to wonder if her pregnancy would be anywhere near as hard on her if all these crazy things weren't happening to stress her out. Probably not. Probably not even close.
I wish that we had killed those damned renegades after they were caught hunting Mark and I. It was a drastic solution, and they had all recoiled from it at the time, except for Mark. But now, being merciful to them had cost them all terribly.
She went out onto the suite's small balcony, stopping to wrap herself in a heavy wool shawl. It was still freezing out, the sky a dull, dark gray with no break in the clouds. The wind cut through her shawl, carrying a few flakes swirling along with it. She stared out over the parking lot to the street beyond, then raised her eyes to the surrounding mountains. What kind of screwed up situation was this, that even she started seeing wholesale killing as the only possible answer to these problems? Weren't they civilized? Weren't they capable of some alternative besides what they planned to do tonight, and what she had just caught herself wishing they had already done?
Maybe if Helga was with them, instead of facing another surgery. Yet another way they were vulnerable now; the Hunters could attack her at the hospital in Jackson, and there would be little they could do aside from try to guard her constantly. But Helga... Helga was the only one of them who had ever found any peaceful solutions to the whole horrible can of worms that Anthony Matson had opened on them.
It was she who had gently subdued Gray back when he was under Matson's influence, and set him on the road to learning to be a man instead of Anthony's monster. But she wasn't here, and Anna had no miracles to pull out in her place. The closest thing to a miracle they had right now was Darrin finding Carly right as they were facing more of this nightmare.
Maybe that was all that she could ask for.
The glass door slid open behind her, and she glanced back to see Carly stepping out to join her. She nodded a mute hello and went back to leaning against the railing, her fingers stinging as they brushed the tiny rime of fresh snow covering its top.
“Hey,” the newcomer said quietly. “You okay out here? I noticed you didn't eat.”
At least she seems like a really nice person.
“Morning sickness and stress don't mix well,” she replied simply. “I'll live, but I'll really only be better once this is all dealt with.”
“I had no idea,” Carly said quietly as she came to stand at the railing beside her. “I had no idea that things could get this brutal. With Maggie it was all very fast, very confusing and crazy. But you guys seem to be dealing with fight after fight. I've never encountered anything like this.”
“Yes, well, in some ways ordinary humans are lucky. But only sometimes. See, they targeted me with no problem, simply because I'm carrying a Bear's child. Bear genes are dominant and they know that. The kid will be born a shifter. And they can't have that, so....”
“That's... horrifying.” her voice was so sincere that Anna immediately thought, There's no way. She can't be working for the Hunters or the Renegades. There's simply no way at all that could be. There was always the possibility that she was the world's best actor. But turning to look in her dark eyes, Anna saw shock and old pain there, and sympathy. She was pretty good at reading people, and she just plain didn't see it.
Please let me be right. But right now, in her exhaustion and distraction, she trusted her judgment less than she trusted the other woman, with her sincere eyes and very real-seeming concern for Darrin and herself.
“Do you know where Hunters came from?” she asked suddenly. “I know you and Darrin shared a lot of details, but I never did learn much about them. I'm not a fighter or a hacker, I mostly back up what Jake and the others decide.”
“I'll tell you what I know. It's been hard in some ways, as an outsider. I can't expect random shifters to just take me into their confidence like Maggie did when we were kids. But on the other hand, being human, I can con those bastards into giving up info on themselves.” Carly's frown gave her eyes a flat look, and Anna was glad when it faded.
“Have you ever had to fight them?”
“Only once. It wasn't fun. They figured out somehow that I was feeding information to one of the Bears out in California, and tried to come down on me hard. I had to fight to cover my escape. Fortunately, I'm not terrible with a shotgun.”
“Yikes.”
“Yeah.” Wind blew strands of Carly's hair around; she tucked it up under her hood and tightened the drawstring to keep it in place. “Anyway, to answer your question, most Hunters aren't very organized. They all have different reasons to go blaming shifters for their problems and the problems in the world. And they've been around forever. Lycanthropy was considered a heresy during the Inquisition, and that's when the first semi-organized Hunter groups started appearing.”
“But they don't support each other.”
“No, they don't, or even really communicate with each other much. It looks like there's a lot of infighting over how to hunt shifters. Some have issues with how innocent humans are treated in the process of a Hunt. Others see anyone who gets in their way as an expendable object. There's a lot of religious overtones to their work. Hunters as doing God's work. Shifters as misbegotten creatures that God wants dead.”
“And so the Inquisition goes on.”
“Yeah, except these days they're not all Catholic and they're not all framing things as heresy.” Carly pulled out an electronic cigarette and drew on it, then released a cloud of vanilla-scented mist into the air. “The bottom line, though, is that even the more liberal groups will climb over a pile of fresh bodies any day in their quest to 'make the world safe for humans'.”
“They sure endanger a lot of humans for people claiming such high ideals.” The mist irritated her eyes slightly, but s
he didn't mind. It smelled like cookie dough.
“Yeah, well.” Carly turned her head to exhale over the balcony this time. I have studied these guys for fifteen years, and I have to tell you that the more fanatical they are, the more confident they are that they're doing the right thing. The worst of them could shoot a baby in the head and find a way to justify it, and call themselves righteous. And that shouldn't be that much of a surprise. I mean, human history is full of hypocrites like that. They just can't see how crazy they are being because their whole self-image rests on the assumption that they're the good guys.”
“...Making the world safe from little kids and pregnant women.”
“Yep.” Carly went quiet for a while, occasionally puffing out more scented mist.
“We're pretty grateful for your help on this one,” Anna started, but Carly just chuckled.
“I would have helped out anyway. I'm doing this like business because I don't expect anyone to trust someone to just volunteer things. Not in this fucked-up world.” She tugged the collar of her leather jacket closer around her throat, shivering slightly. “But now, I'm doubly glad I did. From what you guys were talking about it sounds like those bastards at the mansion are trying to bring a whole bunch of you down.”
“They are. It's petty revenge by way of mass murder. Darrin tell you why they got kicked out of the Lodge?”
“A little bit. They were part of that human-hunting thing. And you guys were nice and didn't straight up execute them for it.”
“I wish that we had. Usually I'm the first one calling for mercy, but look how we're being repaid.”
“Yeah.”
They both looked up as Esme wandered out. “Hey guys. I'm taking off to go watch over those assholes at the mansion. I'll get you an update on how many and what they're doing before we all head out there.”
“Cool. Try to stay warm in this mess.” The flakes swirling on the wind were slowly thickening into something resembling snow flurries.
Esme nodded and crouched, her body becoming a dark blur which shrank and coalesced into a small, feathery form. The crow hopped up on the railing briefly, cawed at them cheerily and then jumped into the air, flapping away.