by Andrew Yake
“Eliyahu?” Alex asks.
“Yeah. Him.” Benny nods his head.
“Why now?” I ask, unsure of what to make of the timing of Benny appearing along with the craziness of the last day.
“Why not?! I were informed that you were done neutered.” He chuckles again and corrects himself. “Well, I suppose yer spayed.” He looks up at me as he says this.
“Why do you need Eli?” Alex ignores the obvious question that needs to be asked, but I have to admit that this is an important question.
“Well, to execute him o’course. It’s one of dem ceremonial things that old man McKenna required to cement the leadership for them city vamp’res. I were just hired, cuz I gots no affiliation with the rest of ‘em.” Benny scoots himself toward a wall where he rests himself against the wall. He reaches into his breast pocket and retrieves a pack of cigarettes and lights one up with a match. “Ya mind?” He says only after lighting the cigarette and waving the match in the air to extinguish it. The motion of waving his hand causes the chains to jingle.
I snap my fingers and motion for Benny to toss me the pack of cigarettes. Alex looks at me and raises and eyebrow. I suppose he does not approve, but I ignore his look. Benny gives me a smile and tosses the pack over to me. I light one up.
“What do you mean that I was spayed or neutered or whatever?” I exhale a cloud of smoke.
“Yer powers. Gone. Right?” Benny studies me.
“How could you know that I had powers when I didn’t even know. For that matter, who told you they were gone?” I am not happy. It is sounding more like I have been betrayed and then used as a pawn in some sicko’s game.
“Well, I were told by old man McKenna.” Benny takes a long drag off of his cigarette.
While I consider what I have just been told and rack my brain for any memory of a McKenna, Alex questions him again. “You talked about the city vampires.”
“Yeppers, I surely did tin man.” Benny replies.
“This was a decision by the current leaders?” Alex asks him while lightly waving smoke away from his face.
“Ah, hell no.” Benny drawls out his answer. “That’s where I come in.”
“You were hired by McKenna,” I say evenly putting the pieces together, “and he isn’t a fang.”
“Now that’s offensive.” Benny makes a face like just smelled a fart. “If I weren’t all prisoner like right now I’d teach ya a lesson ‘bout r-e-s-p-e-c-t.” I raise an eyebrow, unsure what has elicited this response. He exhales and clarifies. “We prefer to be called undead Americans.” He starts laughing. “Na, just joshin’ ya.”
Alex moves his metal arm as if he is about reach out and touch or strike Benny. Benny flinches at the movement and stops laughing. I address Benny once more. “Where can I find McKenna?”
“Now, why you wanna go do somethin’ like that?” The look that Alex gives me suggest that he is wondering the same thing.
“He seems like a swell guy and I would love to get to know any guy that wants to put one of you in the ground.” I smile.
Benny chuckles as he takes another drag of his cigarette. “Fine, fine. You don’t wanna tell. I guess I don’t know where you can find ‘im.”
“I want to know why he cares about your politics.” I get a look from Alex. He understands what I am getting at. He understands that non-vampires would likely not be privy to vampire business and even less likely to care who held a political station. I was simply guessing, but from what I have seen and experience in the short time that I have had memory. I don’t see them playing well with others or respecting the wishes of an outside influence. It was an educated guess that, judging by the look on Alex’s face, had merit.
“I don’t know where he lives, but I met ‘im at a law office in Manhattan. It’s one o’ them tall buildin’s. Ragnar ‘n McCoy. Yeah, that’s da one.” Benny seems to be studying my expression, but I give nothing away. “You done lost yer damn mind if ya think yer gonna get in there to talk to the old man.”
Alex stands and motions to me. We start to leave the room. Benny calls out to me. “Hey, gimme back my cigs!” I turn to him and look him in the eyes before I pocket the cigarettes and walk out. I hear him scream at me before the door slams shut. “BITCH!” I smile.
“Was that completely necessary?” Alex says as we walk into the large room.
“I don’t know, but it was fun.” My smile fades when I do not see Allison. I look over to the other door and see that it is open. “What the?” Alex has noticed the same thing as me and seems less than pleased.
“Dag gone it. I am going to have to start putting bells on the two of them.” Alex sighs after looking into the empty room where Zack had been. We hear noises from the kitchen area that Allison and I had slept in. Alex and I start walking that direction. We enter into the room to see Allison and Zack sitting at the table. Allison is still sweaty and shaking, but she is also smiling and it appears as if they had been in the middle of a pleasant conversation.
“What is going on and why is he out?” Alex demands as he points at Zack.
“What? He is totally sorry and he was all cry face and stuff. So, I opened the door and he helped me get something to eat. I was hungry.” Allison explains as she puts pills in her mouth and drinks some water.
“I didn’t mean…” Zack starts.
“Shut up wolf!” Alex is staring at Zack coldly. “You are only alive because she wouldn’t let me finish you off.”
“Exactly, so chillax. That is unless you want to try again.” Allison’s age is showing or she really wants to piss off Alex. Either way, it is working. Alex looks as if he is about to burst a vein in his head.
“We don’t have time for this. We just got information from the fang.” I interject. All eyes turn to me. “Some guy named McKenna is pulling the strings and we need to find out why.”
“No way!” Allison exclaims. “You mean that lawyer guy, Donald? He runs Ragnar and McCoy. The hospital is represented by them.” Allison seems interested in this development and sits up while she is speaking.
“You know where it is?” I say to Allison as I pull out a chair and sit down. Alex walks over to the table, but simply leans his weight on the back of a chair.
“Yeah, I know where it is. It’s downtown. I am pretty sure that the office is closed now.” Allison seems to be returning to her normal self.
“What are you thinking?” Alex asks as he pulls out the chair and turns it so that he is facing me when he sits.
“I am thinking that this guy may be able to tell us why he needs to be involved in fang business and we can figure out how he is pulling our strings.” I also want to know how he knew that I have been without my memory. I don’t know exactly why, but the more I put the pieces together the more it feels like my memory loss and my lack of magical ability, that I have been told so much about, are connected. If it is connected, it is possible that I may be able to find out what else happened in my life. I may even be able to find out why Aiyanna was killed.
“Our friend back there seems to think that we will be in for some kind of fight if we go there and I am not keen on walking in without any intelligence on the target. We have no idea what we would be walking into. Also, I haven’t heard from my team in a while and I would feel better if they came with us.” Alex looks at me and pulls out his phone as he stands up again.
“I understand, but we can at least go there to gather intel.” I say this to Alex, but he is already on the phone and has his back to us. I turn my attention back to Allison and Zack. “What you guys did in there was pretty amazing.” I motion behind me. “I could use your help on this.”
“I’m in.” Allison says without hesitation. “I read about some stuff that I really want to try. Just give me an hour to prepare.” Allison stands walks back into the other room, where I can only assume she is going to dig through some books.
“Me too.” Zack says. “This whole thing has been crazy and intense, but it also made me remember some things
. I don’t know that I have anything to go back to and on the off chance that I can go back, I’d like to make sure that my future has better prospects than it has had.” He lowers his head slightly as he speaks. I wonder what is going on inside his head, but I do not question it. I take back my original thoughts about his fighting ability. He could come in handy, kind of like a tactical nuclear device.
Alex returns. “I talked with Max. I still can’t get hold of John. He hasn’t heard from John either. Max is looking to see if he can find anything on this place and why it would be mixed up in all this crap. It wouldn’t be the first time that we have seen things like this, but it would be the first time it was this high-profile.” Alex turned to me. “I am not crazy about doing this without them.”
“I heard you the first time. But think of it this way, if this McKenna guy ordered the hit on Eli then he probably will expect us to come to him.”
“I agree.” Alex says with a ‘What’s wrong with you?’ expression.
“I’m not finished.” I say to him. “I was simply thinking that he probably wouldn’t expect it right away. He will probably be on high alert later.”
“I follow, but I still don’t like it.” Alex still does not look convinced.
I snap my fingers. “Eli.”
“What?”
“You said that before I disappeared I mentioned that it wasn’t time for him or something. I wouldn’t let the team kill him.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Maybe this was what I was talking about. Maybe we need to put him back in his position.” I smile triumphantly.
“Oh JJ…” Alex shakes his head and sighs. “Are you freaking kidding me?! We do that and I definitely cannot bring the team in on this.”
“There is obviously already other leadership in place. In the grand scheme of things, it may be better to have the fang we know in place.” I raise my hands, palm up, on either side of my shoulders and teeter back and forth to represent weighing the options.
“This is a really bad idea.” Alex exhales with another sigh.
“Let’s go talk to Eli. He may even be able to get some of his fang friends to help us.”
Alex seems as if he has aged ten years during our short conversation. He simply hangs his head lower and starts shaking it slowly back and forth. Then he finally raises his head and motions for us to go talk to Eli. I follow him down the locked hall to Eli’s chamber.
23
Preparation
I left Jane, Zack, and Alex to their boring discussion. I mean I am not against the whole, let’s put things together thing, but I am shaky and I need to get back to the books. I want to prepare myself for whatever is coming next. I arrive at the area where the books are and gather some texts. I sit in the armchair and spread out the books on the coffee table before me. I cannot help looking at the gore that is all over the room. I am thankful that I don’t have to deal with trying to sit in that mess, but I don’t like having to see it.
I start looking into the different spells and wonder if there is something that I could use to clean up the room really quickly. This thought causes me to think of Mickey Mouse and how that whole thing turned out. I decide against attempting something like that at this juncture. I am not willing to deal with the potential fallout of a cleaning spell gone wrong when I have to deal with the possibility of a magical fight. Instead, I decide to turn my attention back to the wide variety of spells available to me. I am happy to report that it is not long before I find a spell that makes a person nearly bullet proof. Well, not really bullet proof. Really, it is more like the spell makes it really hard to aim at the person who has the spell on.
I consider this and decide to start casting the spell. It is more difficult than some of the others that I have tried, but I think I have managed it. First, I cast it on myself. Next, I cast it while thinking of each of the others, Alex, Jane, and Zack. I hope that it works as a covering and that they do not need to be present in the room for me to cast it on them. I complete this and realize that I feel slightly weakened.
I know that I have just had a dose of my pills recently and that I have been consuming them faster over the last day, but I feel the need growing. I reach into my pocket and retrieve the near empty bottle. Holy crap! I thought I had way more than this. I inspect the bottle and briefly wonder if I can will more into existence with a spell. I have four left. I take one out and swallow it. I start to feel the effects as my face starts to lightly tingle. I feel the aches in my legs and arms start to subside. I feel a brief sense of euphoria. I know it will pass, but I will enjoy it for the time being. I turn my attention back to the books.
I look for and find a spell that will allow me to pull from the lifeforce of the individual that I cast it on and bring it to myself. It is similar to what I had used during the last battle, but this one will replenish me. The way I see it is that the spell works much like the way a vampire feeds, but it is based off of the natural energy that a person produces. I am full of confidence that it will work on any living thing that I desire to drain.
I hear voices and I look up to see Jane and Alex going into the hallway that leads to Eli. Zack comes over and sits in an armchair opposite of me. He reaches down and uses a finger to lift one of the corners of the books on the table. I feel a sense of possessiveness come over me and really do not like that he has a hand on one of my books. I know he has no designs on even picking it up, but the feelings are there just the same.
“Excuse me.” I say this as I reach out and snatch the book away from his prying fingers. The tone of my voice is harsher than I intended.
“Sorry.” He seems slightly confused that I have taken the book. I feel like I may have hurt his feelings.
“No, you’re fine. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” I am apologetic, but I still don’t want him touching my books.
“It’s okay. I kind of feel in the way here. I don’t know what I should be doing right now. Jane and Alex totally ignored me while they were talking and then went to talk to Eli without me. I don’t really mind that I am not included in that stuff, but it seems like everyone else has a place and something to do to prepare. I just wish I knew what to do to prepare.”
He is looking at me as if I can tell him what to do or something. I consider this and realize that I had seen magic all around him when he changed. “Why don’t you practice changing back and forth or something?”
“I don’t want to change like that again.” He looks scared.
“I bet you can do it without going all crazy since there is no one here to kill or that needs to be attacked. Come on. It’s just us in here right now. I know that what you did scared you, but I also know that you saved my life. I appreciate that. Please try.” I run my left hand softly against his cheek. I admire him and I can feel a connection to him. He is cute, tall, but cute.
“You think so?” Zack’s eyes started to light up.
“Yeah, but you should probably take off your clothes just to make sure.” I grin at the prospect of seeing my first naked man in person. I know that I should probably be concentrating on the books, but this is a very nice distraction, he looks yummy, and I am still a teen with raging hormones.
“Um…” Zack looks nervous about my comment. I cannot help smiling and letting out a little giggle as I eye him from top to bottom. I think that makes him more nervous. “I don’t know about that.”
“Oh, come on. I have been working as a doctor and I have seen lots of naked people.” Alright, this was a little white lie. I have seen lots of naked cadavers during my time as a medical student. But what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him and will please me. “Get over yourself. Are you going to rip through your clothes every time or try this out to see how big your clothes should be? Now, strip lover boy and then try on some of those while you are all wolfed out.” I push the subject and point to the pile of neatly folded clothing off to the side on a shelf. Yes, I know that I am bad, but can you blame me?
Zack glares at me momentarily, but I su
ppose my argument about finding clothing that fits in his furry form works. “Fine.” He takes of his shirt to reveal that his young body has nice firm abs. He stands and lays the tee-shirt on the back of the chair. He walks beyond me toward the shelf with the clothes. He steps over a bloody body part and looks disgusted by it being there. I would be too, but I am more interested in seeing him take off his pants right now. I bite my lip as he starts to unbutton his pants. He is facing away from me right now. He stops unbuttoning when he sees that I am watching.
“Can you turn around please?” His voice is slightly higher pitched, probably from feeling anxious. I sigh and turn my head away from him. I hear him finish unbuttoning his pants. I hear them hit the floor and I turn my gaze back to him to catch a quick glimpse. He is not wearing any underwear. His ass is really white and perfectly muscular. It has a nice rounded spankable look. I bite my lip again.
“Um, nothing is happening.” He says with his back to me.
“What were you thinking of the first time it happened?” I say this as evenly as I can. I cannot turn my gaze from him. His physique is amazing. I want to reach out and touch him, but if he has a problem with undressing in front of me, something tells me that grabbing that tight ass of his would not go over well.
“I was thinking about a camping trip with my parents. I was looking at the stars and moon.” He says. He turns his head slightly to speak to me. “Hey! I told you not to look.” He moves uncomfortably.
“I couldn’t help it. Sorry.” I am not sorry. “Try thinking about the moon. All of the movies and books that have werewolf stuff generally incorporate the moon in some way.”
“Yeah, but we are underground and I didn’t see the moon when it happened.”
“You said you were thinking about it. Just try it.”
“Fine.” He stops talking and I hear snapping and popping from his bones. I can feel the magic move around him, but it feels softer somehow. He winces in pain as his body changes extremely rapidly. It’s not like the movies where it takes a long time with the slow pan over the body as things morph into wolf characteristics. This is violent and quick. He grows about a foot and his body widens. His feet change and his body is much thicker, but his features are not completely wolf like. He is wolf-like, but not in the same way as before.