“You are going to tell me everything. Right now.”
NOTES: Part Eight of Heroes Live Forever. This is the shortest part to date because, well, it’s been nearly two friggin’ years since I last updated this and to say that I’m a little rusty would be an understatement. Yes, I’ve been writing between then and now, obviously, but it goes without saying that you really shouldn’t leave a series this long between parts, good grief :/ So yes, please bear that in mind while you read. I really don’t like this part, but I will soldier on regardless! :/ Title is from Together by The Kin.
NOW THAT WE SEE THE SIGNS
Heroes Live Forever • Part VIII
There had been a time when the idea of cramming so many werewolves into one vehicle had not only struck Wayne as amusing, but just so ridiculously impossible that he hadn’t been able to keep from laughing; now it was neither amusing nor impossible and a single glance in the rear-view showed him just how easy it was in present times. Keegan sat in the passenger seat up front and the six other fighters in their group were quiet in the seats in the middle and rear of the vehicle, geared up and dressed practically, each one ready for a fight. Even Connor and Irina were uncharacteristically quiet. It was strange for them not to be bickering.
Wayne had been present at the recent fight, the site of which they needed to investigate, and as such didn’t need any direction, just as he knew Alannah wouldn’t in the other vehicle, the lights of which he could see bouncing lightly in the mirror set high up on the windshield in his line of sight. Quietly and smoothly he turned the wheel to get them off the main street and down a smaller, narrower one. They would park a short distance away from the site; a brisk walk at the most. The cars -- like most of the ones the pack owned -- were black and therefore easy to conceal from view. Shadows would keep them hidden.
By the time they stopped at the site, Wayne realised his stomach was doing small somersaults. Nerves? He couldn’t be sure, but as he stepped from the car he took in a deep breath of the night air and felt his heart rate quicken. Mileena stepped up at his side and offered him something; with a grateful nod he reached and took the belt from her, fitting it easily in place, feeling instantly better for the weight of the swords at his hips. They hung comfortably and familiarly on either side and as he shrugged his leather jacket back into place, he nodded again. Mileena patted him once, lightly, on the shoulder, and then stepped away.
It was a matter of moments before the second group had joined them, armed and ready to hunt, eyes bright with determination and just the faintest glimmer of desperation. This was important to all of them; on some level, each and every wolf in the pack felt connected to Cole. It wasn’t a physical connection, wasn’t really mental, it was more emotional. Cole took care of them, always looked out for them, thought of them first, always. They had to find something. Not just for Cole, but for all of them.
“Spread out, but don’t go too far,” Keegan said after a glance in Kennedy’s direction. The fact that the senior fighter was barely speaking concerned Wayne and he found himself glancing briefly towards Irina as though the feral female might have answers, though it wasn’t until after he had done so that he realised how silly that was. “Remember, no stone left unturned.”
With that they were dispersing, heading off in different directions but never straying off alone, never going far; those who had been at the fight led those who had not been present, speaking in low, quiet voices as though they worried about being overheard. Annelise wasn’t far behind Wayne as he moved close along one wall, remembering the fight in flashes and snatches of imagery and sound, pausing every now and then to close his eyes and breathe in deeply through his nose, recalling as many details as possible.
It was like finding a needle in a haystack, but not just any needle. They were looking for a very specific needle without knowing the specifics.
Wayne’s stomach did another tight flip.
Definitely nerves, he decided.
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She should have told someone what she suspected, she knew, but after what she had seen it was like time was against her, the loud and incessant, ominous ticking of a clock in her ears. They had to act fast. If they didn’t act, their window would close. So she had moved, without thinking and without hesitation, no doubt much to the confusion of her fellow Beta and her Alpha female. Her pace had quickened as soon as she was out of the door, the barest glance offered to those younger wolves sat outside the Alphas’ bedroom so as not to trouble them before she moved away, all but running, retracing her steps without even needing to pause and think about it, acting on instinct, her own particular kind of instinct that was neither animal nor gut but something else, something far beyond either, something she had never truly been able to put into words.
As she stepped around the corner and into the right stretch of hallway she felt something snap into place. This was it. She remembered pausing, turning to look behind her, catching that brief glimpse of a figure who didn’t belong. The Hyperion had a character, Cole had always told her, she was alive in her own way, but Nerys knew the hotel right to the core in a different manner altogether, she knew how it should feel; she knew the spirits that walked the halls unseen by the wolves who had come to call it home, she knew those who drifted in and out, those who had been lingering inside its walls for years. The one she had seen with Keegan at her side had not been familiar to her. He had not belonged.
An intruder.
What she had glimpsed in a flash inside Cole’s mind had told her enough to get her moving. The height, the build, the posture, it was too much of a coincidence. The figure she had seen had not only been an intruder within the walls of the Hyperion, they had only been dead a short time. Nerys trusted her instincts, she suspected she already knew why the male was here, what he had been in life, what he had done. Because of those suspicions, because of what she had seen, she had to find him. In that moment, nothing was more important.
One hand touched to the wall to her left, she let her eyes drift closed. It was a focus the likes of which no other wolf would understand, not even if they had it explained to them; it was a level of concentration that they could never hope to achieve, and it was through no fault of their own. Honestly, Nerys wouldn’t wish her abilities on another. She had lived with them long enough to have a tight grasp on their range and power but she had struggled for centuries, more than anyone could understand. Only Cole had an idea of the extent of the war she had waged within herself and now he was in trouble. If she could help, even if it was just to offer up one more piece of the puzzle, then she would do everything in her power to be of some use, make things that little bit easier.
Green eyes snapped open. She had started walking soundlessly and with an ethereal sort of smoothness down the hallway, gaze fixed directly ahead, the tips of her fingers gliding along the wall as she went. The rest of the world had drifted away, dropped into the background, and she didn’t even pause for thought as her hand glided down the wall and closed around a doorknob. With a single twist she opened it and stepped inside. The lights were off, and that was how she left them.
“You are going to tell me everything,” she said to the dark, empty room. “Right now.”
A soft sound drifted from the corner, a whisper of a laugh, the faintest echo at the edge making the voice seem hollow, cold. Dead.
The room was not as empty as it seemed.
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It was harder than it had any right to be. It frustrated her, angered her, made her doubt herself and more than anything that was what Kennedy hated. She was the pack’s senior fighter, in age and experience, she had been born into the ranks, risen up through them with focus and determination, and even after losing her flesh and blood family she had stood strong in the face of adversity, held her head up high and soldiered on. Now it seemed as though her shields were weakening, her resolve was slipping. There was a crack in the foundations and the slightest knock would have it spreading, a spider web of weakness that could bring her crashing down in an instant.
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. Whoever had done this to her, to her family, would pay. Dearly.
Hair pulled back out of her face with a simple tie, Kennedy moved along the wall, picking her way through litter and the smallest scraps of debris with keen, wolfen eyes. The brightly-haired Bianca was close behind her, giving what she had already passed a second sweep on the off chance that she had missed something. There was nothing disrespectful about the secondary examination, they were being thorough, and all around the site of the recent clash there were other pairs utilising the same tactic.
Eyes naturally washed through with a golden hue fixed on a dumpster ahead of her and she paused, brows knitting in consideration. Could it really be that simple? She sensed the change in the air and Keegan’s distinctive scent as he came closer, Will not far away. She didn’t take her eyes from the dumpster. The angle was slightly off, as though--
“Isn’t this where Cole was fighting?” Keegan’s voice was steady, contemplative.
The flash of memory was brief but Kennedy let it play out in her mind. “He threw the rogue against this wall,” she said, indicating with her hand. “He was boxed in against the wall and the dumpster.” She was referring to the rogue now and she didn’t have to make that clear to her small audience. There was a dark stain against the battered, scuffed side of the metal container. Blood. “His body was there.” She nodded down towards the floor.
After only a short pause Keegan moved closer to the dumpster and set his hands against it, first hauling it away from the wall and then pushing it further down the narrow street out of the way. It groaned loudly as it moved, protesting, but he didn’t need to move it far at all before Kennedy saw exactly what her gut had told her they would find. Her feet had rooted to the spot and she could only watch, torn between triumph and uncertainty as Keegan bowed to pick up the prize by the very end of the hilt. The blade glinted almost wickedly in the low light and Kennedy had to fight to keep herself from growling. “Don’t touch the blade,” she found herself saying, knowing it was unnecessary; Keegan was being very careful with how he handled the discovered weapon.
She couldn’t take her eyes off it, was only dimly aware of Will’s removal of his jacket, the shed item of clothing offered towards the larger fighter as a makeshift package. Keegan made light work, with Will’s help, of wrapping the blade in the jacket, closing the fabric over and around, again and again. There was something about the blade, even when concealed, that just had her stomach tying itself in knots and when she finally managed to tear her eyes away from the bundle in her second-in-command’s hands, she realised the other fighters present had come to a standstill as well. It was strange. It was almost eerie. There was no doubt in her mind that they had found the blade responsible for wounding their Alpha. Kennedy tried hard to feel good about that fact and failed rather spectacularly and rather quickly.
“Keep looking,” she told everyone, finally managing to take up her role as dominant fighter, their discovery fuelling her voice. “We have a few minutes before we need to check in. Let’s make sure we’re not missing anything.” All Kennedy wanted to do was get the weapon back to the Hyperion so they might be able to help Cole somehow but if there was something else in the area, they couldn’t afford to overlook it. Something told the old female that they didn’t have time for that.
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“You’re not worried?” A glance to the left told him his companion wasn’t worried in the slightest. He looked so calm, composed, even relaxed. It was surreal, in a way.
“Why should I be worried?” came the response, cool and smooth as they looked down from on high. It was amusing, really, that so many wolves, pack wolves, could be so oblivious. Shameful, really.
“They found the blade.”
A low chuckle rolled in his throat and he risked taking his eyes from the group on the narrow street below to regard his associate. “Of course they did,” he said, as though speaking to a child, even sparing a moment to shake his head slowly back and forth. Chiding. The younger male at his side dipped his gaze and lowered his head, embarrassed. “Would you like to know why they found the blade?” he asked, offering a small olive branch, one his companion latched onto it immediately.
“Why?”
Too-sharp canines showed themselves in the moonlight as his smile became a grin and once again his eyes lowered to the street below and the wolves milling about beneath their feet. “They found the blade because that is exactly what they were supposed to find.”
The quiet laugh at his side was rich with understanding as it dawned on the younger male and he nodded his head with an almost boyish eagerness as he followed the example of his elder and went back to quiet observation of the group several storeys down at ground level.
TO BE CONTINUED.