by Bea Biddle
"And ruin our homes? Don't be an idiot, princess," Garth sneered at her.
Through the wide-open door behind Garth, she could see another room, a larger one lit by the same humming lightbulbs, much the same as she was sitting in, bare brick walls and the same damp, vile feel spread throughout the place. She saw several shadows walking around, no doubt members of Garth's pack. "What am I doing here? Why have you brought me here?"
"You?" Garth sneered at her again, little specks of spit sprayed from his lips. "You're here as a means to an end." He sprang to her, grabbed a fistful of her hair in his bloody hand and pulled her face close to his, her knees crashed to the rough cement floor. His horrible breath made Karen want to vomit and she couldn't help noticing the tiny strands of the meat still embedded in his teeth. "Here's the thing, I don't believe Weres should be locked up, it goes against our very nature," he began casually, yet the shaking hand he used to hold her to him had an underlying anger. "Our wolves hunger, little Karen. We feel their hunger pangs inside us every night. They want to be set free, they want to chase and hunt as nature intended. They long for freedom. Every full moon we lock ourselves up here, we change, and we wake up again, go home, go to work, as if nothing ever happened. But something does happen, our wolves come out and they hunger, they hunger for meat, they hunger for the chase, they hunger for human flesh. They are hurting here. They remain tortured beasts here. No more. No more dead fucking animals, no more being fed like tame fucking dogs eating out of a bowl. No, our wolves crave something much better than that." His continuous grin widened, he looked like a mask at a horror house. His small, beady eyes had glazed over into insanity, he was shaking with every word, licking his lips frantically. Karen couldn't move. No matter how it stung her skull to have him tighten the grip he had on her hair, no matter how vile his breath, how much spit dribbled from his chin, she could not move. He laughed humorlessly and jerked her head even closer, whispering as if letting her in on a great, big secret. "The Demons will make sure of that. They want to set us free, they understand our need."
"The Demons?" Karen spat dubiously. "The Demons coming through? Garth are you insane? They don't care about Weres."
"They gave me their word," he hissed at her. "When the army makes it through, it will be no more lockdown for us Weres. Alyssa's pet Demon can't stop us this time. And neither can troublesome little girls!" He pushed her away. She landed on the mattress, in a wet patch she didn't know what was, but by the smell, she could tell she didn't want to know either.
"You purposely stayed out of lockdown when I met you that first night, didn't you?" Karen whispered, scrambling to an upright sitting position. She remembered that night vividly, meeting the fully transformed Were had propelled her into a whole new life she never expected and didn't know whether to thank him or tear his dumb eyes out in return for that.
"Testing the waters," Garth said with a shrug. "I knew Cef would find me, he has a knack for that, unfortunately. But the Demons will put a stop to all that when they get through. We will rise like the true wolves we are. Then we'll see who puts who in lockdown." He cackled maniacally, once again wiping his face with his sleeve, this time the blood spread to his forehead under his thinning hair.
"Don't you understand?" Karen shouted at him in desperation, trying to get through to him. "If the Demons get through there won't be any humans left for you to hunt. How can you not get that? They'll kill us all, and all the fucking Weres, too. You can't be this dumb!"
"Shut the fuck up, princess," Garth roared at her. Karen never saw the backhand coming, but the stinging pain he left on the side of her face told her what had happened. Garth seemed to shake himself back in control and let his raised hand fall again. "I have spoken with them. I believe I know better than you."
Karen snorted at him. "You are a sad fucking person," she sneered. "And so fucking stupid I don't even know how to respond to you." Garth's fist connected with her cheek with such force it sent her back down in the mattress. She gasped out in pain trying to crawl away, but before she could move the next punch came at her temple. She fell back down, covering her head with her arms.
"Garth. No!" she heard a new person call out. He had moved in between them, stopping Garth's from throwing the next punch. Karen recognized his shaggy brown hair under the woolen beanie that fell to the mattress and, regrettably, the lean torso under the snug t-shirt. It clicked in her head what Garth had called his Beta. Jake. Jake from the diner. Sylvester's Jake. The night he had, thoroughly, entertained him was still branded into her memory and she would never forget it as long as she lived. Unfortunately.
"Out of order, Jake!" Garth screamed at him and pushed him away, pushing him off the mattress and into the wall.
Jake huffed and cowered. It was strange to see such a physically strong looking man cower before a middle-aged, balding lunatic. "I'm sorry," he whispered, refusing to meet Garth's eyes. "I didn't mean to step into your business, Alpha, but Tamas specifically said he wanted the girl unharmed."
Garth grunted at Karen, her red face streaked with tears, and decided he had done enough damage for the time being. Snorting at Jake he straightened his jacket and cleared his throat, he patted his thin hair down on his scalp and spat on the floor. "Well, for now, they can have her unharmed." He stormed out of the room, not giving Karen a second look.
Jake crouched at the mattress, he ran his hand through his hair and sighed while shaking his head at the situation. Picking up his hat he toyed with it between his long fingers before lifting his head to face her. "I really am sorry," he whispered.
Karen couldn't answer, holding her stinging face she watched him leave and close the heavy metal door behind him.
✽✽✽
Once he had gotten close to the shipwright, Cef recognized the flare in the windows. He snuck around the building. There were no Demons posted anywhere, he had expected the place to be well guarded, and yet the scent of them lingered in the air. They were close, but he couldn't see them. It was unsettling.
The fresh snow crunched underneath his boot, he was worried it would give him away, but nothing happened to show they had heard him. He tried picking out Karen's scent from the tangled strands of Demons, sometimes he was sure he had found her but then lost her again, perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him.
He crouched down behind a large crate. The entrance to the shipwright in clear sight. The door was left ajar, only a little, the whole thing reeked of set up. But he couldn't stop now. They had her. And she belonged to him. Sneaking closer, he hesitated by the door. He had left his coat at home, his black t-shirt was getting wet with the now heavy snowfall. His beanie long gone, dreads tied back, his horns free. The two Skarrams tied to his back shone red, hilts at his shoulders, ready.
Cef opened the door completely, the slow creaking hinges would have warned them he was near. But still, nothing happened. They were there, but they were hiding. Every fiber of his body told him to run, told him to escape now. But he wouldn't listen, he couldn't.
Walking inside, the darkness swallowed him up. He could see the open door at the end of the large empty room glowing gray. There was the rift. He took a step, then another, and then the door slammed shut behind him. "Ceftion." The sickeningly sweet voice of Tamas purred in the darkness, "I have been waiting for you all day."
Cef pulled the Skarrams from his back before turning around. The first swipe of Tamas' blade he blocked with his own, the empty room reverberated from the loud clash. Cef had been lucky, he couldn't see where Tamas was, but the blades red glare was easy to follow. The next swipe he ducked, then charged at his opponent. Skarrams danced in the darkness to the music of sparks and metal meeting. "Fighting in the dark, Tamas? The only way for you to gain an advantage, I assume," Cef spat. Tamas had retreated to the other end of the room, pacing back and forth, his own Skarrams giving away his position.
"Why did you come, Cef?" Tamas asked, "This is a trap, I know that you knew that. You walked into it willingly, why?"
"Where is she?”
Tamas laughed. Cef had grown accustomed to the darkness and could now see him, walking in shadows. "The human?" He nodded thoughtfully. "You have become so soft here, living among them. So soft that taking you out will be considered a mercy killing." He laughed again, pointed his blade at Cef from across the room. "I was told you had found yourself a mate, and that she was a human, but I honestly did not believe it. I thought to myself 'No, not Ceftion, he would never choose a weakling.' But here you are, barging in to save her when you know I was here waiting for you to do just that. Why did you? What greater power made you offer up your own life for a human? You know that is what you have done, right? There is no way you are walking out of here alive. There is no hope of your human doing that either."
Cef growled loudly and charged at Tamas once again. Tamas was ready, Skarrams raised in the air. But Cef never made it that far. Instead, something wrapped itself around his legs, he fell to the floor on his knees. The snakelike rope that was twisted around his ankles had him glued to the spot, the heavy spiked anchors on either end of it were digging into his calves. Two sharp blades pressed against his throat. He hadn't heard the other Demons in the room, he hadn't felt them approach him while Tamas had been talking. His Skarrams were taken from him. He had forgotten his training, he had forgotten it all, how could he have been so blind to let this happen to him?
"Zell," Tamas called. He walked to Cef, a slow confident walk, the walk of a man who knew his opponent was rendered harmless. A Demon sprang to attention beside him. "Fetch her, bring me this human. I wish to meet the girl that has corrupted our former Warchief."
"No!" Cef struggled to get up but the blades at his neck pressed in further, he felt them puncture his skin and the blood ran down his throat.
"Easy now, I just want to talk to her," Tamas said with a laugh. "Oh Ceftion, how the mighty have fallen." Tamas shook his head and continued to laugh spitefully. He walked past Cef, towards the door in the back, the one that shone with dull gray light. Cef was pulled to his feet, his legs untangled. Skarrams dug into his back and they pushed him to follow.
✽✽✽
She didn't know how long she had been alone in the small disgusting room. She had no way to tell time. Her face hurt. She had never, in her life, been punched before, the dull throbbing on the side of her cheek stung and a part of her worried about lasting damage to her skull. She cursed herself for not having her own jacket with her, in it was her Skarram dagger, that would have been useful in some way, she was sure of it.
It felt like she had been pacing for hours, but by the small amount the moon had moved on the night sky, it couldn't have been more than a half before the door opened again. Karen felt her heart rate quicken, she expected Garth, but she exhaled in relief when she saw Jake walk in. "Jake!" Karen begged as she ran to him, clutching his shirt in her hands, "Jake, you have to let me go."
Jake sighed and gently pried her fingers off his shirt. "I can't do anything, Karen.”
"You have to. Garth is insane. Look, whatever he promised you, it won't happen, he's going to kill us all." Karen pounding her fists on his chest. "You have to do something. I know you're not as blind as him. He is completely insane, he-"
Jake growled loudly, catching her wrists. "I can't do anything," he snapped, "I can't go against my Alpha, Karen, it's not done."
"Fucking screw what's not done, Jake." Karen shook her head at him, snorting in disbelief. "Surely you can go against an insane Alpha?"
"I do as my Alpha commands, don't you understand how a pack works? I can't do anything. My wolf is not as strong as his. Our human form doesn't decide the pecking order, our wolf does. And his wolf is the Alpha. If I go against him, I am dead. I will not survive the full moon.”
"But what about Sly? I thought- I thought you two-"
"That bloodsucker?" Garth howled with laughter by the door, interrupting her. "He got what he deserved, don't you worry about him."
Jake swallowed hard. His clenched jaw and the look in his eyes betrayed him. He clearly didn't believe the dribble his Alpha was spewing, but it was no comfort at all to Karen, he would not act on it. Silently, she growled and cursed them all and their damn hierarchy and rules. Their ways were dumb. Weres, Vamps or anyone else in that damn community, none of them made any sense to her. "You have Sly," Karen stated, "Why did you take Sly? He has nothing to do with any of this."
"Except the bloodsucker were one of the only people who knew where the stones were," Garth said. ”They had no luck restraining Alyssa's pet Demon. He would have to do.”
"Where are you holding him?"
"Me?" Garth laughed and pointed to his chest innocently. "I don't have him, the Demons have. But never you mind about where he is, it's of no consequence to you right now. Bring her out, Jake, they want her."
Jake's grip on her arm pulled her out of the little cell. She coughed and spluttered as she emerged, the rotting odor hit her like a hammer. Everything about the rest of the place was as putrid and horrible as the little room, but the rotting carcass in the corner of the larger space made her want to vomit. It must have been a cow, she decided, definitely something that used to be a cow. No wonder the flies circled the lamps, the stink of the place was atrociously bad. "Lockdown isn't pretty," Jake said when he noticed her horrified expression. "You get used to it."
"It's horrible," Karen breathed out, holding her hand over her nose to block out the smell.
Jake marched her after Garth, out of the large space, and out into the snowy darkness outside. Several pack members joined them and followed their Alpha. They all looked familiar to her, but they must have all eaten at the diner before. Of course, they had. All of them customers she had served and all of them avoided her gaze, finding their own shoes much more interesting. Shuffling her feet in the snow, she looked around. A chill ran down her back and she shuddered. She knew where she was. The Warehouses on Upper East Side, her breath got caught in her throat when she saw Vein in the distance. Never in her life did she think she would see that place again.
Jake noticed she stumbled at the sight, he steadied her gently, nudging her onwards. "You'd be surprised how many warehouses our kind owns," he explained, "To humans, they're only warehouses, to us they're safehouses while changing."
"Safehouses." Garth sneered the word with as much venom he could possibly pack into it, then he spat on the snow. "Safehouse, my ass. Prison, that's what it is." He started laughing when he saw her stiffen as they walked closer to Vein. Grabbing a fistful of her hair again, he dragged her along, wrenching her out of Jake's hands. "Yes, we all heard about your little Vamp adventure." He spoke harshly in her ear, she could feel the spit on her lobe. He leaned closer, she could feel his cruel breath on her skin. She fought her body for control, not willing to let him see how he grossed her out. "It's funny, you don't look like the sexual deviant that usually hangs out at that place, princess. But looks can be deceiving I guess."
He dragged her along by her hair, all the way to the shipwright. The pack followed them inside dutifully, through the dark, all the way to the open door with gray light pouring out. Karen recognized the light instantly, recognized the grim, crude sounds that made up the Demon tongue that assaulted her ears and clawed desperately at Garth's hand to release her. Garth just laughed and threw her, head first, into the room. She landed on all fours on the cold floor, her palms scraped on the rough concrete.
"I brought her," Garth announced.
Karen scrambled to her feet. The room wasn't big, shadows shifted in the corners, the thick blanket of gray swirling light was the only thing that lit it up. This rift wasn't as large as the one in the diner, but large enough to take up most of the space. Stones, filled with runes that Karen didn't recognize, shone with a hint of green, placed around it. The soft hum from the stones dominated, reverberated through the concrete, she could feel it through the soles of her shoes. It scared her. She counted seven Demons, all staring down at her, their clothes ridiculous, a parody of e
very human fashion out there mixed together, she would have laughed if they hadn't been sneering at her, their eyes narrowed, their twisted horns gleaming in the light. Scars, broken noses, muscles bulging, hard stares. They were every bit the fierce warriors.
Two of them held something between them. It took her a few seconds to tell that Demon apart from the rest in the dim lighting, but when she did, she gasped loudly. Held in place by ropes, his arms tied behind his back, the two Demons by his side still had Skarrams against his throat, and one in place pointing at his chest, digging into his flesh. The blood visibly running down the blade. "Cef!" Karen tried running to him but a hand around her throat held her back and she ended up gasping and coughing.
Cef growled. The sight of her swollen cheek, the bruise forming at her temple made him even more aware that he was stuck, the ropes gnawed on his muscles that flexed and tensed on their own. He began to struggle wildly, the state of her making his insides boil, every fiber of his body wanted to taste blood. Fury and anger jolted through him. But the Skarrams dug in deeper, he felt his own blood run down his throat, his chest, and the ropes burned and chewed on his skin. He couldn't move.
"You are Cef's human?" Tamas pulled Karen back, his hand on her throat tightened and his eyes narrowed when he faced her. His long, blonde hair was a wild mess around his head, his amber eyes were the same color as his horns, his face was boyish but the pale stubble and bushy eyebrows, the lines around his eyes and mouth that deepened when he grinned, revealed an older Demon. “You reek of him,” he said. His hawkish nose twitched, then he snorted and laughed spitefully in her face before returning to his own tongue. "Ceftion, my old friend. What a pleasure to meet your chosen mate. We were all surprised at the news. She indeed must be fun, making you abandon all reason like this."
"Leave her,“ Cef hissed. "You have what you wanted, I am here, just let her go."