What was more worrisome was, for some reason she believed, with the weapons she was carrying, she could deal with them. Given the footage he saw on the internet, this surprised him. After all, he wasn’t sure he would know how or be able to deal with any of them, let alone three of them.
It was that belief which kept him from approaching the girl. He continued to watch her and others in the crowd for the rest of the day. Many people came to those buildings to inspect the damage made by the monsters, which caused more excitement in this town than fear. Many came, but allleft, all but the girl the girl and him.
A few times, she entered Starbucks, presumably to pee. For the same reason, he entered a restaurant once or twice, but always returning to the same area, as did she. It was surprising she didn’t seem to notice him. It was if she knew, somehow, he wasn’t one of the ones she was searching for, and so her eyes flowed over him.
It was midnight when she left. He followed her to a local hotel, but decided against following her to her room. Instead, he stopped at the desk and flashed his badge to the clerk. “That girl who just went through the lobby?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t notice a girl, officer. What’s this about?”
“Police business. The girl, about fifteen, short reddish-brown hair, pale skin and freckles?”
The clerk thought it over for a minute, and shook his head.
“Doesn’t ring a bell, officer. But if she checked in during the morning shift, I wouldn’t have seen her come in. You don’t have a room number perhaps?”
Damn his decision to not follow her up.
“No. I don’t. Who was on staff this morning?”
“Kelly. But she’s gone for the day and won’t be back until tomorrow morning.”
Ben gave it some thought.
“What time?”
“Her shift starts at six am,” the clerk informed him.
“Alright, I’ll be back.”
Ben left, determined to go back to his hotel and get some sleep. He considered checking out and staying at the same hotel as the girl, but he was worried if she saw him too much, she might get suspicious.
It was fifteen minutes to six when Ben arrived at the hotel. The girl had been out at the street, same outfit, same spot. Knowing she was there made Ben hurry back to the hotel, hoping nothing happened while he was gone. It was a chance he was going to have to take.
The same clerk was working the desk when he entered the lobby. A little bleary-eyed when he saw Ben, but he recognized him right away. As Ben approached the desk, the clerk raised a finger to indicate he should wait there a moment before disappearing into a side room next to clerk’s posts. Ben overheard some muffled conversation. The clerk returned with a thirty something woman with black hair and a cute face. Somewhat plumper than he liked them, but her face and eyes would have made up the difference for him, if he was here for that sort of thing.
“Kelly?” He prompted.
“Yeah, Shawn here says you have a question about someone who is staying with us?”
“Sure do. I am searching for a girl, early teens, who might have come in the past few days. Reddish brown hair, though more red than brown, short, like it is growing back from being shaved off, pale skin and freckles. Ah, I see by your expression you know whom I’m talking about?”
The woman hesitated, trying to figure out if she should confide in him.
“Go ahead,” he encouraged her.
“Yes. I saw her. She came in, maybe two days ago, with an older gentleman. They paid for a week, in cash.”
Pausing, she let it sink in for a moment. It only took him a moment to realize the significance. They were in downtown Chicago; a week’s stay would almost be around two-thousand after taxes. Not a small amount to lay down in cash, but it wasn’t exactly damning.
“This gentleman, can you describe him?”
She described him as best as she could. It was clear something about the gentleman bothered her. He pressed her on it.
“Well, it’s just he was easily in his forties, and as you know, the girl is in her teens. You might think father/daughter, but they shared no similar features. Her red hair for instance was natural and he had dark hair.” She paused, again unsure of stating the next part. Nodding for her to continue, he was trying to be patient.
“The other strange thing was their relationship. It was definitely not father/daughter, but what it was, I don’t know, either. He deferred to her, as if asking permission for his actions. There was also a weird type of attraction between the two. I don’t know. It was weird, okay? It made me feel uncomfortable. I almost called the police because I thought there might be something illegal happening between the two, but I couldn’t be sure, you know? It would be my job if the police showed up, accused someone, and nothing was happening.”
She glanced at him apprehensively. “Now you are here, I am starting to think perhaps I should have.”
Smiling at her reassuringly. “I don’t know anything about what you are referring to. In fact, I didn’t know there was someone else staying here with her, so you probably did the right thing. If there is anything illegal going on, you can be sure, I will deal with it.” Turning to go, he suddenly turned back.
“Do you have their room number?”
“Of course, it is room 112, through there,” she pointed to a short hallway which teed at the end. “Turn left at the end, go to the end of the hall and turn right. The room is almost all the way at the back of the building.”
Smiling again, he thanked her, turned to leave, and once more, turned back.
“Curious. Did they request the room?”
Her eyes grew big and her mouth made a small ‘o’. “Now that you mention it, yes, they did. They wanted a room on the first floor, near the back of the building. How did you know?”
Smiling again for the last time, he left, not answering her. It was best not to explain how most people who do things illegally frequently want a room on the ground floor and as far away from the front as they can, so getting away was easier. No need to alarm the poor girl, as he planned to take care of all this today.
As he hurried back to where the girl was hopefully still standing, he wondered why he had yet to see the man who arrived with the girl. Plainly, he wasn’t going to the corner with her. But why? Did he even leave the room? Could he? There were all sorts of nightmare scenarios running through his mind as to what could be, but he let it drop. He didn’t have enough information to come close to drawing a theory.
Half jogging, half walking back to his scouting spot, he was in time to see the large man approach the girl. At once, he didn’t like the appearance of this guy at all, but he didn’t match the description the clerk gave him of the guy who came with her, so this was someone new. Perhaps, this is who the girl had been waiting for. Perhaps, this was who he had been waiting for.
The first thing he realized was he had been right about her packing. When the guy approached, she immediately reached into her coat for whatever was hiding there, but something the man said made her relax… to some extent.
Ben pondered whether he should go over and somehow break up whatever this was, but something about the appearance of the guy made him rethink his idea. It was then he noticed the other two. They were off to the side, close enough to do something, but not close enough for the girl to have figured out they were together.
This was going from bad to worse in Ben’s eyes, and he felt helpless to stop it. For the first time in his career, a feeling of cold dread stole over him. His gut was screaming at him to walk away, perhaps run. Continuing this plan of action was going to get him killed, but he couldn’t let anything happen to this girl. Despite all the evidence pointing to this girl being as bad news as these guys were, she was still just a teen. Maybe she had a chance to change. Even after all he had seen in his career as a cop, he was still a little naïve. He couldn’t help it.
The conversation unfolded as he watched. Words were exchanged, and at one point the girl must have sto
od up for herself because the big man almost made to lunge for her, but was pulled up short by a word from the taller of the two guys who were off to the side. For the first time, the girl realized the guy was not alone and her posture changed to someone who appeared ready to flee.
The taller guy approached her and whatever he said calmed her. He talked to her some more, and to Ben’s surprise, they left together.
It took Ben a moment to realize they were indeed leaving. Ben crossed the street while they were only a block away. Trailing them for several blocks, he watched them enter a luxury apartment high rise. Entering shortly after they did, he was in time to see them enter an elevator.
He had two choices; follow them once he knew what floor they got off on, which didn’t seem likely he would find them after he got to that floor. Or, he could hope for the best, and the doorman would know what room they were headed to. The big guy was discernible and disconcerting enough, the doorman might know which room they leased.
It seemed like this was Ben’s best option and he jogged over to the man, trying to gain back some time. Luckily for Ben, the doorman did indeed remember the big guy and told Ben what room he was staying in. Ben dashed for the elevators. He knew he would get there after they did, but perhaps he could hear what was happening and be able to act if something did occur. They were on the tenth floor, and Ben considered what he had discerned about criminals typically taking ground floor rooms. The only ones who didn’t bother to do this, he realized, were the extremely dangerous ones. The ones who weren’t afraid of the police, or anyone.
When the elevator opened on the tenth floor, Ben hesitated a moment to glance out, making sure he didn’t run into them outside the room. The longer they had no idea who he was, or what he was doing, the better it was for him. There was no one in the hall. Ben made his way to room 1008 and crouched in front of the door, listening. Voices reached him through the door, but could not make out what was being said. There wasn’t any yelling or screaming, which was good.
Considering his options, Ben realized they were few, but he needed to hear what was happening inside. Glancing around, he headed for the door next to this room, and knocked lightly upon it. After a moment, the door opened a crack, a middle-aged man in dark glasses and sandy brown hair, finely combed peeked out. Blue eyes peered at him through the crack and gave him the once over.
“Can I help you?”
Ben flashed him his badge and the man straightened somewhat.
“I need to use your apartment for a while.”
“Excuse me?”
“I need to make use of your apartment, for a short time, I am hoping. If you could let me in, and make yourself scarce for the rest of the day I would appreciate it.”
The man was irritated by the idea and continued to press the issue.
“Why do you need to use my apartment?”
“Official police business, now, if you will please allow me the use of your apartment, it is somewhat a matter of urgency.”
“Don’t you need a warrant?”
Ben had had about enough.
“Sir, you watch too many police shows. I do not need a warrant because I am not searching or entering for the purposes related to this particular apartment. Furthermore, I could have done this the rude way and talked to the apartment manager and had him toss you out for the day. I decided to be polite and ask you, instead. Now, will you please step aside and allow me to enter?”
The man seemed to think mayhap he should press his luck. Perhaps, what Ben had told him was the truth? Most of it wasn’t. In the end, he decided being an asshole for no reason was silly and stepped aside, allowing the door to open enough for Ben to enter.
“Thank you,” Ben told him as he moved past him. “Now, I hate to ask this of you, but for your own safety you might want to go find something to do somewhere else for a while.” Ben smiled at him in what he hoped was apologetic.
The man stared at him for a moment, grabbed his wallet and keys off the small hall table, and left.
Ben hoped too much time had not been wasted on gaining entry and rapidly made his way to the wall adjoining the two apartments. Removing his pocket knife he always carried from his pocket, he pulled out the small saw blade to start working on the drywall.
Cutting a square, larger than his head, between the two studs slowly and carefully finally cut two small holes to see into the room. As soon as he cut one hole, he could make out a conversation occurring on the other side.
“…told you, the Lady will be here in a day or so and she will answer all of your questions.” It sounded like someone with a British accent.
“Yeah, but what does she want with me?” A girl’s voice, forceful, but with a slight quiver to it. Acting braver than she was.
“I told ya. I don’t know what the hell she wants with ya, only she does. And if you keep asking me these stupid questions over and over again, you won’t get any answers because I will toss ya out the window.”
“Lay off the girl, Blain. You know you won’t do anything of the sort. The Lady is already pissed off at you for allowing the wolf to get away, along with the tiger.” Another voice, also British, interjected, one of the other guys.
Ben put his head into the wall and his eyes up to the holes to see what he could. What he saw was the side of a bed lengthwise. Sitting on the bed, back to him, was the girl. Opposite of her was the brutish man he had seen initially talking to her in the street. Now he could see him up close, Ben was warier of him.
The man wheeled towards where Ben assumed the other man was.
“The wolf was mine, if only that bitch of a tiger hadn’t interfered. If it is anyone’s fault, it is the Lady. She told me only the wolf would be here; she never mentioned anything about no tiger.”
“Don’t get riled up, Blain. Taylor is telling you how it is, no reason to get pissed at him. If you remember, we said you should have taken us with you, and the wolf and the tiger would’ve been dealt with.” This must have been the voice of the third guy Ben had seen.
“Shut up, Joseph. I don’t need you spoutin’ off, too.” The man named Blain turned back to the girl.
“Now, in the meantime, you are going to stay here and be quiet. I may not be able to toss you out the window, but you ain’t so young I wouldn’t hesitate to rape your scrawny little ass.” Blain loomed over her. She leaned back a bit so his face wasn’t so close to hers.
As soon as he turned she was up and was headed for the door. Blain was expecting the move and his meaty hand flashed out, grabbing her by the elbow and tossed her back to the bed. She landed on the bed and something happened Ben couldn’t believe.
The girl bounced when she hit the bed, and before she landed again, her body went through an amazing transformation. Her face elongated to take on a kind of rat-like features. She was covered almost entirely with hair, except near her ankles and wrists, which were hairless. Elongated fingers, ending in sharp looking claws, sprouted from her hands. Ben almost ducked as a hairless tail ripped out of the back of the girl’s clothes and slammed against the wall, right above where his eyes were, knocking drywall dust and insulation down on his head.
The thing which was once the girl was standing on the bed, somehow wielding two wicked looking daggers with wavy blades. He hadn’t seen her pull them, but he now knew what she carried under her coat. They appeared too small for her form now. In fact, at second glance, Ben realized the girl must have grown at least a foot or two in height. Visibly, she was bulkier in shape than before as well.
Standing upon the bed, daggers pointed at the man named Blain, she threatened him.
“Oh, come now, lass, you can’t be serious?” The man took a step forward and the rat girl took a swipe at him with one of the daggers. It was so quick, Ben wasn’t sure it happened until he saw a line of blood appear from a cut in the man’s arm.
It was there only a second, and for the second time that day, Ben saw something which would live with him forever. The man shook himself and transformed
right in front of him. It only took a second and the monstrous form the man took shook Ben to his core. He was undoubtedly the boar creature he had seen in the video, but seeing it in person was a whole other story. It was huge, and it towered over the girl, more so because it was forced to duck, otherwise it would be too tall for the room.
Ben saw the girl creature hesitate, then leap at the boar. She was nothing if not fierce, Ben thought. The boar grabbed her as if she was nothing and pinned her arms to her sides. She fought hard against him, but it was in vain. He was too strong for her. What Ben saw in the beast’s eyes as he glared at the girl made him want to leap through the wall to rescue her, even knowing it would see him dead. He was about to, when he heard another’s voice, a woman’s voice, quiet and frightened.
“Leave her alone, Blain.”
The boar glanced to the side of the room where the voice came from, then back at the girl. Ben saw the moment of fury was gone, and he relaxed. The boar released the girl who slumped to the floor, daggers dropped. She rubbed the spots on her arms where Blain had squeezed.
“What’s your name, girl?” the woman asked.
Trying to twist in the wall to get a peek at the woman, Ben couldn’t see much past his limited view of the side of the bed. As he glanced back, the girl returned to her human form, huddled in the shelter of her overcoat.
“It’s Shae.”
“Well, Shae, I’m Sarah.” Ben wondered if it was the same Sarah who had been involved in the fight on the street, the one later taken from the hospital.
“I’m afraid it is best if you do what Blain says. I know you heal swiftly, like the rest of us, but it won’t stop him from causing you a lot of pain, which he won’t hesitate to do. It will be easier on you to stay here with me, and we will wait for this Lady to show up. Hopefully, we will get better treatment. Okay?”
The girl peered in the direction of the voice; a tear trailing down her cheek.
“Why don’t you come over here by me, I’ll keep you safe.”
The Awakening: Part Two (The Lycan War Saga) Page 22