by Wade, Cara
Chapter 4
Baz
Fuck, this is bad, this is really bad.
I never could’ve believed it, I never would’ve liked to think ill of my wife, especially not now that she was dead, but if I gave it a cold and calculated objective look, then maybe the police officer was right. Maybe my Margery was sleeping with this idiot Luca, and that was why he had started to mess about with Gabbi.
What if he had told her that he knew more about her mother’s death? That would certainly lure her in. What if Margery had told Luca more about my...true nature, and now he suspected it of Gabbi too? The impending sense of doom that I had rising in my chest was increasing by the second.
“Wait, Mr. Rymeria!” As Officer Blake’s voice burst through into my brain, it took all that I had to stop. I needed to be a bit kinder to her now, she had helped me when she didn’t really need to after all.
I wouldn’t let her stop me though, not when my only child was in danger.
“What?” I snapped back a little too harshly. “I have to get going.”
“Then come in the car with me, we will get there much quicker. Plus, I know where the address is having been there once already this week.”
My mind flip flopped between decisions, on the one hand I really didn’t want a police officer with me in case I decided to kill this asshole, but on the other, she was right. Maybe I could just get a lift there and then somehow get rid of her.
“Okay, yeah, you’re probably right. Let’s do this. Thank you, Officer Blake.”
“Please, call me Keli.”
As she flicked the car’s engine on, and the car slowly moved along the road, I felt a weird buzzing tension floating between me and Keli. It was almost as if we both shared in the knowledge that we were about to do something risky, potentially dangerous, and certainly illegal. To go to this man’s home on a suspicion with no search warrants or anything, that certainly wasn’t by the book.
I slid my eyes to one side, wondering why this woman would want to take such a risk for me, and my family. Gabbi had caused her trouble, undoubtedly treating her with the same sulky contempt that she treated everyone else. Then I came in with my bad temper and terrible attitude. But as I looked at her, and I truly examined her I could see that she was one of those true rare breeds; a good person, with a strong sense of justice. Humanity and righteousness coursed through her, probably more than she realized herself, which certainly put her in the right line of work.
“Thank you,” I told her on impulse. “I do appreciate you doing this for me.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened in surprise, but she kept them on the road. “Right, well of course, no trouble.”
I had shut myself off from other people for a very long time, ever since I lost Margery. I hadn’t let anyone in, but somehow this woman had forced herself into my trusted circle without me even noticing.
“So, please,” I begged her. “Tell me everything that Gabbi told you when she was with you earlier in the week. I know you tried to tell me when I came in, but I selfishly didn’t want to hear it at the time. “
“Oh right, well I think you know the majority of it now.” Keli started, flickering through the memories in her mind. “She went to Mr. Luca’s home because he said had had some extra work, or something along those lines. Then she said that he started questioning her a lot about you, and what you do, about your wife, and how she died.”
It was starting to sound more and more like my secret was about to be revealed. That knowledge burned in my chest, making it difficult to remain calm and keep myself in this car.
“Then Gabbi said that the teenagers broke in and caused a kerfuffle before things got too weird. She was the one who called the police and allowed us to get there on time before anything was taken. When we arrived they were arguing with the teacher, generally making nuisances of themselves. I half wonder if that was the point of it all anyway, to cause a bit of trouble.”
“So, you don’t think Gabbi was...was involved then?” I stammered as I spoke, because it was such a strain to just believe it. Luckily Keli seemed to take it for an unwelcome burst of emotion about the whole thing.
“Some of her story had holes in it, but then again they always do. I’m pretty good at picking out the liars these days and I really don’t think that she was lying...why, do you think she was?”
I don’t know, I barely know my daughter! My breaths fell out of my mouth sharp and ragged as I tried to rein it in. “I think maybe she was being truthful, especially now that this has happened.”
A thick silence clung to the air as we both internally considered what all of this might mean. There was no telling what Mr. Luca’s unhealthy obsession with my daughter was, and while I had my suspicions there was a chance that I wasn’t right about it.
Urgh, I really didn’t want to think about what his obsession might be. Not while I was trying so hard to keep myself steady.
“Okay,” Keli finally said quietly, breaking through my horrific thought barrier. “We’re almost here, Mr. Luca’s house is just around the corner. Are you ready for this?”
My heart thundered, my mouth ran dry, my whole body trembled. There was no containing this anymore, things were absolutely about to explode. I could feel my secret revealing itself without me even meaning it to.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Chapter 5
Keli
Something was going on with Baz, I could sense it a mile off, which made me grateful that I’d come with him. The last thing I needed was for this whole mess to start spiraling out of control and for something really stupid to happen. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be the first time we had been forced to arrest a father, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Even when we understood it, and we wanted to praise them we couldn’t because it was against the law.
Just as I predicted, the second that I pulled the car to a halt, Baz leapt out with his temper radiating through his pores. His legs took off, he started to run, and I knew in that moment that I needed to act. We needed to plan, to do this smart, I was already risking a potential reprimand from work because of this, I didn’t want to make it any worse.
“Wait, no,” I hissed as he thundered towards Mr. Luca’s driveway. “No, Mr. Rymeria, wait please.”
“Call me Baz!” he yelled, giving me one intense, emotional look as his body shook violently. I slid to a halt as I witnessed him shake and tremor in a way that was inhuman, it should have been shattering all of the bones inside of his body, turning his organs to mush, leaving him a puddle on the floor, but somehow it wasn’t. Somehow, he was still standing.
I rubbed my eyes hard, citing lack of sleep for the weird images revealing themselves to me. I must have been exhausted, that was the only possibility. All I needed was to straighten my brain out and to look at what was really going on. I certainly needed my wits about me if I was going to get through this mess unscathed.
But as I opened my eyes once more the image was still the same. Well, no, not exactly the same. Baz seemed to be growing, transforming, changing...doing the absolute impossible. His body jolted, it twisted, it enlarged in ways that would only usually be seen in movies.
Then the clothes shredded from his body, and in a terribly shocking moment, a large, fierce looking wolf took the man’s place, with fur the same color as Baz’s hair. An animal, dark and sleek, which could only mean one unthinkable thing. He took off too quickly, still heading towards Mr. Luca’s home, but I could no longer follow.
My knees gave out from beneath me, and my body hit the ground hard. A thick dizziness swam in my brain, vomit swirled in my stomach, insanity seemed to claim me. I pinched my arm, trying to check that I hadn’t actually gone home, and that I wasn’t laying in my bed, dreaming the wildest of dreams. But no...the hot pain radiated through my entire body.
If...if what I just saw was real, if Baz really did just turn into a wolf, as crazy as that might be, then everything I knew about the world was wrong. My black and white view
of what was normal and what was real had just been shattered. Completely obliterated as if an explosion had gone off.
What the hell was I supposed to do with that knowledge?
Was that the real reason that Mr. Luca was so interested in Baz, Gabbi, and the whole Rymeria clan? Was that the real reason Baz’s wife had been killed? Maybe Mr. Luca discovered that she was a wolf, a shifter, whatever she could be called, and he threatened to out her. Maybe she tried to kill him and he got there first.
Or maybe Mr. Luca was a wolf too, and he was a rival or something, maybe there were completely different laws in the were-animal world. After all, it couldn’t just be Baz that could change in that way.
Or maybe my first suspicion was correct and they were having an affair.
Of course, without actually knowing the woman, without understanding the situation, there wasn’t any judgement that I could make on any of it. If I wanted to know more, I would have to go into that house, and unlock all of its secrets.
My eyes glanced towards Mr. Luca’s house, and instantly an ice cold fear struck my heart. If I went in there, then I would unleash a whole load of secrets that I wasn’t sure I was ready to face about the world. I would have to learn all about wolves and the world surrounding them.
Of course, the other option was to run. I could get back into my police car and head back down to the station. If no one saw me leave, I could pretend that I had a mere conversation with Mr. Rymeria and that was the end of it. I could pretend that this night never happened and I could go back to the version of the world that I knew was real. It wouldn’t be easy, but it was possible...
Actually, was it possible? Because despite the fear and confusion the sight of Baz as a wolf filled me with, there was also an intense curiosity too. He had the same beauty as an animal as he did as a human, and that intrigued me. Gabbi did too. Maybe it was more wrong of me to leave this potentially dangerous situation just because it had gotten a little complex. Would I ever be able to forgive myself if I learned about a murdered father and daughter in a few days time, knowing that I could’ve saved them?
Slowly, I forced myself into a standing position, and I stared at the house as I tried my best to make a decision. My fingers slowly wrapped around the protective ice cold metal that I had in my pocket, the one that could save me if everything else went wrong.
And with that, I ever so slowly began to move my feet, just desperately hoping that I was making the right decision.
Chapter 6
Baz
I had freaked Keli out, I knew it, but this wasn’t the time to be worrying about things like that. I could explain the truth to her later on when all of this was over, and hope that she would keep my secret.
Either that or I would discover that she had already run off to tell the world, in which case I would be on the run again. In my younger, more infantile days I often blew my cover and had to run, leaving a trail of rumors and stories behind me. From what I’d heard a lot of wolf shifters spent their entire lives doing just that. It was only when I met Margery; a human woman who was willing to accept me for who I was, that I wanted to settle.
And now I had Gabbi to think of, a young girl who seemed to show more wolf-like qualities with every passing day. When she was first born I assumed that she would be more like her mother, but now I could see more. She was going to be just like me.
My animal body slid through the door of Mr. Luca’s house with relative ease. It was much easier to tiptoe with paws rather than feet, which actually made me feel glad that I had lost my head and turned. I could mostly control my shifter tendencies these days, but with that much emotion tearing through my body there was no holding back.
My ears pricked up as I noticed a muffled human voice coming from a room in the back of the house, which I instantly moved to follow. My heart raced painfully, hammering against my rib cage, desperate to burst free in an attempt to rescue Gabbi. My emotions were getting the better of me, causing my mouth to salivate, to grow an intense blood lust, to murder the man who had caused such upheaval.
I hated murder, I certainly had no intension of killing anyone ever, but with Gabbi’s life in danger, I knew that I would do whatever it took to save her.
I shoved the door open with my nose, trying not to make a noisy entrance. Much as I wanted to leap for the asshole’s throat, I wanted to confirm whatever the hell that he was up to first.
“Please, Mr. Luca, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I heard Gabbi plead with him. “I’m no shifter, they don’t even exist. They are a mythical beast from books...”
“Don’t you lie to me,” Mr. Luca practically screamed, fury dripping off his tongue. “You must have noticed all the things that are different about you, all the things that mean you do not fit in.”
Gabbi was silent, a little too silent. I remembered that time period myself when things were confusing and I didn’t quite know why I wasn’t the same as everyone else. The only difference was I had my parents–both shifters–to explain it to me. I should’ve done that for Gabbi. It was so wrong of me not to do so.
“Ah, I thought as much!” Mr. Luca declared with glee. “Now, there isn’t anything that you’ll need to worry about from me, I don’t have any intention of harming you. I want to help you to work out more about who you are...which is more than your father has ever done for you.”
I could barely contain it, a low growl fell out of my mouth, the rage burning a deep hot red throughout my entire body. How dare this man who knew nothing about me make assumptions? Especially if they were dangerously close to the truth.
“Ah, thank goodness, Mr. Rymeria, you are here,” he said smugly, turning around to face me with a shining glee on his face. “I was wondering how long it would take you to show up. I was afraid that I would have to start harming your daughter to speed you along.”
I couldn’t answer him, which may well have been a good thing with all the rage currently bursting through my system. I could only bear my teeth and make my threats that way. I hoped that he could sense the anger bristling through me and he knew what that meant for him.
“Now, as I am sure you have figured out it has taken me a very long time to get to you. You are,” he tapped his chin thoughtfully, really enjoying the game, “an elusive man, a very closed off man who does not like to have friends.”
Of course not, I wanted to scream at him, how can I let people in when I am who I am?
I stepped closer, having heard enough of this now. It really didn’t matter what was going on here anymore, this man was clearly a sick and twisted guy, and he needed to be put out of his misery.
“You seem to be under the impression that I wish to harm you,” his tone didn’t even flicker with fear, as if he didn’t think I could bring any harm to him whatsoever. “That has never been my intention, I just want to do what no one else ever has. I want to bring proof of the shifters to the free world. I think that we all deserve that, don’t you?” The roar that bubbled in my chest was enough to tell him that I didn’t agree with him. “Now, I know what you’re thinking. That you will be subjected to tests and fascination, that you will be kept in some kind of zoo. Well, maybe you’re right, that truly isn’t of my concern, all I really care about is riches...”
“Go, Dad,” Gabbi’s voice burst through, fear lacing her tone. “If anything he’s saying is true, then get out of here, I don’t want to lose you too. I will look after myself...”
“Yes, go...” Mr. Luca drawled. “Then I will feel free to do the same to you as I did to your wife...”
Chapter 7
Keli
I stood at the door to Mr. Luca’s home, sickness swirling within me. I knew what I needed to do, what I wanted to do, but still it wasn’t easy. The foundation of my life had been torn out from underneath me, and now I didn’t know where to stand.
That was until I heard an animalistic howl, one that I knew could’ve only come from Baz. Something about that noise set everything aside and allowed me to shove
that piece of wood which was the only thing that separated me and them.
“Baz,” I called out with a tremoring voice. “Gabbi?”
But I got nothing back, so I stepped forward on the tips of my toes. It was hard to pick out any sounds with my heart thundering in my ears, but using logic and all the training that I’d ever had in my place of work to move in the direction I assumed this whole mess would be unfolding. Not upstairs, that was too complicated if things went wrong, but not at the front of the house either. Undoubtedly Mr. Luca would want to do all that he could to ensure that the noise was kept to a minimum.
Plus, he acted very strange about the back room in his home when we first came to investigate the robbery. I didn’t read too much into it then because he was such an odd man and people were often strange about being investigated, but now...well, now I could read what I wanted into everything.
As I neared the room where I felt most suspicious, an ice-cold feeling consumed my heart. I wasn’t totally sure what it was, but there was a darkness surrounding me.
“There, this is much better now, isn’t it?”
At the sound of Mr. Luca’s voice, that sensation intensified. It wasn’t very often that I encountered true evil, even in my line of work, usually it was people who’d fallen on hard times, desperation drove them to do bad things, but every so often I came across someone who made me feel sick to the depth of my soul.
Mr. Luca was evil, I should’ve sensed it before. I should have paid more attention to Gabbi.
“Please...” Gabbi’s reply screamed of sadness. “Please, this isn’t my dad’s fault. Let him go, it’s me that you want.”
If Baz was caught then this really fell to me. If he wasn’t able to defend his daughter then it would be me who had to do it all. My fingers clutched tighter onto the gun in my pocket, I tried to gain some confidence from that but nothing came.