Blood Shadow: Book of Hartwell

by Phil Wohl

  Gary and Sharon were spying from the kitchen window and she said, “This can’t be good.”

  “Yeah, you should know,” Gary stated.

  “It’s better than that Brewster kid,” she said.

  Gary looked at his daughter in disbelief, “Again, you should know!”

  In truth, Emily had her share of experience as a Phillips playing both sides of the fence. Cal Brewster was part of the reason – well, most of the reason – why Hartwell decided to break the code and bed an ally. It was also part of the reason why the vampire decided to send Cal ‘away.' Of

  course, it also didn’t hurt that Cal was killing Hartwell with great regularity. Love triangles were nothing new in the battle to 100.

  A few days later, the trio returned to school, but ‘the kiss’ had changed everything. Nicole and Andrew would usually see each other many times during the day, but he did his best to avoid her at every turn. With less than a month left in their sophomore year, attitudes appeared to be setting a tone for things to come.

  Thad and Emily wasted no time the previous night getting Drew involved in the family business. With money being drained faster than Hartwell could empty a body of blood, there was little time to waste.

  Sunday morning was an interesting day to be a fly on the wall at the Brewster breakfast table. Thaddeus spread a floor plan of the Beach Haven Savings & Loan building out on the table.

  “Okay, let’s start at the beginning,” Thad stated. “Our entire plan hinges on you being able to get inside the building and disable the alarms and camera system,” he said, looking at Andrew.

  Andrew was game, but was instantly confused. His mom could sense his apprehension by the rapid pumping of his heart.

  “You have to change into your flying form,” she said.

  Drew tried to focus, first turning into a pit bull, then a ram, then a grizzly bear – which caused the chair to buckle under furry him and crash to the floor – then, finally, he floated into the air as his hawk-self.

  Emily put up the ‘okay’ sign with her right hand, “Perfect!” “That chair was feeling weak anyway,” Thad added.

  Andrew changed back into his human form and then plopped into the chair on the floor. He jumped back up to his feet and said, “Sorry. I’m still getting used to the changes.”

  It was late Sunday night and Andrew changed into a hawk and flew through the outer air shaft and into the front lobby of the ancient Beach Haven Savings & Loan building. He sat on top of a camera stanchion with the intent of purposely tripping off the silent alarm.

  Within minutes, the night guard walked into the room and was speaking into his communications device, which was attached to his left shoulder.

  “There doesn’t appear to be anyone here.”

  Andrew flapped his wings so the guard would see him.

  The guard looked up and laughed, “It’s just a bird! It must have flown in before we closed yesterday. Shut down the system so we can reset it.”

  The guard in the control room hit the reset button, sending both the alarm system and video feed off-line. Before the system could be

  rebooted, Andrew made a huge sound that triggered his mom and grandpa’

  that it was time for the next phase of their plan. Andrew flew down and then changed into a bear just above the guard who was knocked out cold on contact. Andrew changed into himself and opened the front door to let his mother in.

  Meanwhile, in the control room, Thaddeus changed into a bear, knocked the guard out, and then tied the guard up while in his human form. He then kept the system down, which he knew would give them a five- minute head start before a silent alert would go out to the monitoring company and the police.

  Emily was an expert safe-cracker, and wasted no time in putting her rubber gloves on and listening intently for the clicks of the old-school, rotary lock. Within 25 seconds she had the safe open and was emptying stacks

  of cash into the two large bags on wheels that were by her side.

  Andrew stood by her side, “You see, Drew. The key is to take enough to be comfortable, but not enough to get caught,” Emily said, while taking a few hundred-thousand dollars.

  She closed the door and the spun the lock so the safe would reset. They walked past the control room, where they picked up Thaddeus, who quickly untied the guard and then put him back in his chair with his hand near the reset button. Then they all walked toward the front door and untied the other guard, while taking his keys off his belt.

  The Brewster family walked out of the front door and then Thaddeus locked the door. He then looked at Andrew and said, “Go drop this near the guard.”

  Drew changed back into a hawk and then clasped the keys while flying through the air shaft again. He dropped the keys on the guard and then flew back outside where his family was waiting with the get-away car. He opened the back door and then Thad drove away at about 20 miles per hour, in no hurry to go anywhere fast and arouse suspicions.

  A few minutes later, both guards awoke from their slumbers.

  The floor guard slowly rose to his feet and talked into his portable walkie-talkie, “Are you there base? Base are you there?”

  The control room guard heard the noise and opened his eyes, “Yeah. What the hell just happened?”

  The other guard thought and then answered, “I got attacked by a bear.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I’m not telling anyone that story,” the guard said as he picked up his keys from the ground and re-fastened them to his belt. “I need this job.”

  “So, nothing happened,” control room guard stated.

  “Nothing happened. We’ll let some bank manager take the fall if any money is missing. Click the alarm back on before the police are alerted.”

  The guard flicked the power button on the alarm about ten seconds before the monitoring company and the police were going to be alerted. Thad turned to Emily in the front seat of the car and said, “Just like old times.”

  She smiled, “Just like old times.”

  TWELVE

  Robbing banks was like taking drugs for the Brewster family. A week later, they knocked off the Beach Haven Credit Union with similar results – the guards were too embarrassed to say anything after the robbery.

  “How much time?” Emily Brewster asked her father after the second job.

  “We have a few years,” Thad replied.

  Of course that answer was not good enough for Emily, because a couple of years would go by in a blink of an eye, and then what? More bank robberies?

  There had to be another way, but for now she had no answers other than to provide for her family. Emily was also concerned with Daniel and the predicament the sour economy had put him and Belinda into.

  “I think we should bring Daniel into the next job. Belinda could use the cash,” Emily said to Thaddeus one night in their favorite place, the kitchen.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Thaddeus said without hesitation. “Something tells me it’s a bad idea.”

  Andrew walked into the kitchen because he was hungry, but heard the tail end of the conversation, “What’s a bad idea?”

  Thaddeus was more inclined to make something up than tell the truth, but Emily was not on board that train.

  “We’re thinking about looping Daniel in on the next job.”

  For some reason, Thaddeus always got looped in the ‘we’ statements even if he was the lone dissenter.

  “That’s a great idea!” Andrew beamed. “It could really help his mom out.”

  A few minutes later, when Andrew had left the room, Thaddeus opened up on his daughter.

  “We’re not running a charity, Emily!”

  She shot back, “May I remind you that Daniel is Cal's son! Your grandson!”

  The ‘Cal’ defense always seemed to work for Emily against her dad, who always had a soft spot for him. So, once Daniel was briefed a few days later, it was all systems go for a four-person job.

  “Don’
t do it,” Hartwell said to Daniel during their afternoon practice session.

  “Don’t do what?” Daniel replied like a typical teenager trying to conceal his questionable doings.

  “Just don’t do it,” Hartwell repeated, trying his hand at parenting a teenager for the first time.

  But Hartwell knew that Daniel would go through with it, so he took precautionary measures. Not only was Hartwell an insatiable insider trading enthusiast, he also had ‘mad’ computer hacking skills.

  In the matter of a few minutes, Hartwell had all of Belinda Thompson’s debt taken care of, including her credit cards and entire mortgage. He had the government issue her a letter stating that she

  qualified for a federal debt forgiveness program and that he debt had been forgiven.

  Part two of the plan was convincing casual house hunters that Belinda’s listings were right for them, and she closed four sales within one day.

  Belinda came home that Friday night with the news of her miraculous day, but that did little to sway Daniel away from his Sunday night caper.

  The original plan was for a ‘Saturday night special,' where the two boys would enter the bank in their hawk form at the time of closing. But the bank was undergoing some minor renovations and there would be extra workers in the building. Of course, Daniel was relieved that his first Saturday night with a girlfriend would be untouched.

  Hartwell thought about going to Sharon and Gary and trying to work out a solution to the Brewster Gang recruiting their boy. There were so many levels of misinformation that could surface as a result of an attempted robbery.

  Fallacy #1: Daniel was a hunter.

  Fallacy #2: Daniel was a hunter and, thus, could change into a hawk. Fallacy #3: Daniel was a Brewster.

  Hartwell was 99 percent sure that Daniel did not possess the active gene that would enable him to change into various hunter egos. He tried

  on several occasions to convert Daniel into a pit bull, or a ram, or a bear, or a hawk – through mind control – but had no success. But he wondered whether - if presented with the right stimuli - Daniel could transform into his enemy.

  Hartwell would rather take his own life than fight his son, so he just went under the assumption that things were going according to plan.

  “That’s the best plan I have,” Emily said to Thaddeus.

  “But there are no vents at this bank. It’s on the tenth and eleventh floor of the Beach Haven Commons building,” Thaddeus replied.

  “Any windows that can open?”

  She browsed the building schematics, “No.” “Roof access?” Thaddeus probed.

  Emily searched, “Yes!”

  Thad continued, “Garage access?” “Bingo!” Emily exclaimed.

  “Then we’ll send Drew through the roof and Daniel through the garage. Guard station is in the basement, right?”

  “Yes,” Emily replied.

  “Drew will set off the alarm and Daniel will let me through the front door while Drew lets you in through the top,” Thad said.

  Air shafts in the top and bottom of the building provided access for Daniela and Andrew. The boys would be utilized for this end of the job because they transformed into smaller hawks that could fit into narrower openings. The expansive wings spans of both Emily and Thaddeus would be no match for the tight space.

  Thaddeus would not be fooled by Daniel’s inability to change into the desired form, because Daniel would wind up changing into something he despised. The image would be obvious and Daniel’s life would be in real danger, even if he was related to the pursuers.

  The plan called for Andrew to make his way down through the roof first and trip off the alarm, which he did without a hitch.

  Thaddeus turned to Daniel in the vacant and dimly-lit garage and said, “You’re up, kiddo!”

  Daniel started concentrating on changing into a hawk, but Thaddeus was instantly distracted by the sound of approaching police car sirens. He had his back to Daniel for a moment, as Daniel’s vampire wings started to unfurl – but he quickly recoiled them once Thaddeus turned and yelled, “We gotta’ go!”

  “Abort!” Thaddeus yelled into his sleeve as both Andrew and Emily heard his distress call through their earpieces, flying off the top of the building within seconds. The police arrived on the scene and went to review surveillance tapes with the building guards.

  “The eleventh floor alarm was tripped off,” one of the guards said to the officers.

  “Looks like a bird flew in and tripped off the alarm,” the policeman said.

  “You guys got here real fast,” the guard stated.

  “Just doing our jobs,” Officer Stearns replied, even though they had been prompted by Hartwell while at Dunkin’ Donuts, about five minutes before Andrew entered the building.

  “I knew we shouldn’t have taken Daniel with us!” Thaddeus yelled at

  Emily after they returned home.

  “I was trying to help Belinda out!” Emily snapped back.

  “Then just give her money! That kid will not go with us again!” Thaddeus fumed.

  The next morning, Emily called Belinda to see how she could help. Belinda saw the Brewster name on the caller id and said, “Hi, Emily!” “How did you know it was me?” old-fashioned Emily replied.

  “Because I saw your name shoot across the caller id screen.”

  Emily wasn’t much for small talk, “Your son has been talking about getting a part-time job. Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah. As a matter of fact, I closed four house sales just yesterday! Before then, I must admit, things were getting pretty tight.”

  “So, you’re okay,” Emily replied, “That’s a relief,” she said while removing her mouth from the phone.

  “What did you say?”

  Emily clarified, “I am relieved to hear you’re doing so well. If you ever need any help, B, you know you can come to us.”

  Belinda was stubborn, but she still appreciated the gesture, “Thanks, Em.”

  “That’s what family’s for,” Emily added. “We always stick together.”

  Nicole’s life remained fairly steady over the next couple of years. Her relationship with Daniel had reached the ‘comfortable shoe’ phase, but the same could not be said about her dealings with Andrew.

  After the spring dance in their sophomore year and ‘the kiss heard

  ‘round the world,' Andrew distanced himself from Nicole. When he learned

  that she was ‘not one of us,' he had to make a clear distinction in his head, or risk certain prolonged pain.

  Nicole approached Andrew that first Monday after the dance, but he wasn’t listening.

  “Andrew,” she said as she stood at his locker between periods.

  Drew did not respond, preferring to dig in the top portion of his locker for books he barely cared about.

  “Andrew, please talk to me!” Nicole continued as he slammed his locker shut and then spun the bottom lock. She followed him down the hallway trying to apologize and reason with him, but at some point she had to stop groveling and get to her own class.

  Nicole continued the assault after school on the way to the bus. After a number of “Andrew’s!” he finally felt it was necessary to set the record straight.

  “Okay, Nicole! I get it, you’re sorry!" he yelled and then his usually- unwavering eyes became teary. “I’m sorry you chose Daniel over me! Please just leave me alone!”

  THIRTEEN

  Following a dozen more bank jobs, the Brewster family had enough money to live on for at least 10 years. Emily decided to use some of the money to send Drew away for the summer to a wilderness adventure camp in Colorado. The eight-week excursion helped Andrew get in touch with

  -and develop - his animal side. The time away was also quite effective in helping him get his mind off Nicole.

  It took Drew five weeks to get his head out of his butt and notice this girl named Carla Perkins. She was the one person in the group of 15 that could even remotely keep
up with him. The Portland, Oregon girl was also

  16 years old, and was sent away for similar reasons as Drew.

  Andrew often took walks in the mountain trails after the fire died down at night and everyone was fast asleep, so he could really challenge himself against the elements. One night he ventured out and didn’t realized he

  was being tracked until he stopped to pee near a row of trees. He unzipped the fly of his jeans and then heard a few twigs break as nature was taking its course. As the scent grew stronger, Andrew stood still and then did the only thing that made sense: he changed into a grizzly bear.

  Andrew turned and roared as an unsuspecting Carla Perkins fell back to the ground. Andrew roared again and was almost about to attack until

  he noticed it was Carla on the ground.

  He felt compassion for the first time as a bear, and took a step back, completing the transformation from grizzly to teddy bear. Carla had other things on her mind, though. Even before she got to know Andrew, she felt a kinship with him that went beyond bonding in the wilderness.

  She, too, had noticed changes throughout the years but hadn’t experienced any outward transformations. Carla knew little of her path, other than she was a little stronger, faster, and more focused on scents than her peers.

  Andrew reached his bear paw out and Carla grabbed on and stood up, finally feeling a certain comfort missing from her life. In a split-second she changed into a bear and then knocked Andrew backwards and pinned him to the ground. The two bears smiled as much as two bears could, and then transformed back into their human forms, with Carla still on top of Andrew.