Wolves and Men

“Will you guys knock it off?!,” William said out loud, surprising himself with the sudden outburst. The two men simultaneously turned toward the younger man. William felt very self-conscious all of a sudden and he wished that he hadn’t said anything. But you can’t put the cookie together once it crumbles, he thought. “I mean…look, we got what we came for right? We have documents connecting Kenneth with this particular club and we have other invoices and receipts that we can use to possibly trace back to him. We have a lot more than we did when you guys came to pick me up earlier, don’t we?”

Pepromene let out a short soft bark in agreement. Efraim glanced down at the wolf and back at William and then back at Ryan. “It’s a start anyway.” He held out his hand, “Good work Ryan.”

The Scout took the other man’s hand and shook it. “You weren’t too bad yourself in there…for an old man.” He said the last part with a smile.

Efraim returned the smile, “This ‘old man’ could still kick your ass, Ryan. Don’t make me embarrass you in front of the pup.”

William wasn’t entirely sure why Efraim was still calling him a pup. Then again, he had totally freaked out over killing a vampire and the blood was still heavy on his hand. He needed to wash it. With a hasty, “I have to go.” He stepped into a side coffee shop that was still open and hurried to the back of the restroom.

He locked the door and breathed. He inhaled slowly through his nose and out his mouth. He looked around the place. It was a simple one room bathroom with a toilet and urinal. The sink was clean and the mirror had a few scratches. There was some graffiti on the walls here and there.

William made his way to the sink and let the water run over his hands. Looking in the mirror he had some blood splattered there too. It was only a few flecks but enough to start questioning himself on who may have seen it.

He grabbed the soap and scrubbed his hands. He rinsed and grabbed some more soap. He scrubbed his hands and thrust them under the water again. He grabbed the soap and scrubbed his hands. He was clawing his own skin but the blood wouldn’t come off. He had never felt this way about killing a deer or any other animal for that matter, and he had killed many of those over the past two years in his forest and under the mountain. He was ashamed of himself for not being able to handle this better. But he could still see the blood. He tried telling himself that they were monsters. He tried to rationalize how many people he had saved by killing that one guy.

He would be dead if he hadn’t done it. And suddenly he recalled what Huan Li had told him a lifetime ago. ‘Those weakling half demons are the least of your worries.’ What had the Elder meant by that? He was better than this. This was a war and he had taken his first kill, he knew it wouldn’t be his last. There was something greater out there; he had seen it in himself and in the Whyte Plane. He had killed one or two of those Shadows, those who used to be Shape shifters, now corrupted by that place, doomed to feed on his kind and who knows what else. The vampire was an armed combatant and an enemy soldier on the battlefield.

It was time he started acting like an Enforcer. One day, his pack may rely on him to protect them. He couldn’t afford to feel pity for those parasites. They were a poison that needed to be purged. He straightened and dried his hands. He used the wet paper towel to scrape away the few flecks of blood on his face. He knew what he was.

William came out of the bathroom with a renewed sense of purpose. Never again would he shy away from a fight. He was no monster. His other held no control over him. His mind was silent and calm. He felt a weight lift from his shoulders.

He strolled out of the coffee shop and rejoined the group who was waiting for him. Pepromene tilted her head at the way William walked up to meet them. He gave the wolf a small smile of reassurance.

“Should we go see about helping the other group?” William asked nonchalantly.

The two guys shared a glance. Efraim replied, “No, their mission should have taken only a little longer than ours did. If we try to get over there now, chances are we’d just run into police and firefighters, or more vampires. Lethe will get them out safe; we’d just be getting in the way at this point.”

William nodded and continued following the three. His hand still felt a little sticky, as if blood was still there but he tried not to let it bother him. It was different from deer blood and that alone was a little unsettling, but his revulsion had gone. Knowing that he would have to kill again, and keep on killing was never something he had ever imagined for himself. But if Efraim and the Elders were right, and he had no reason not to believe them, then he knew he was doing the right thing. And if killing these monsters gave them peace and freedom from the thirst that he only knew from movies and books, then he knew, no matter how distasteful it might be, he would keep doing the right thing, again, and again, and again.

The group didn’t wait for the others to rejoin them. Instead, Pepromene led them straight back to the park and the copse of trees. There they entered the Whyte Plain.

The unseen distances were covered in that now familiar white hazy mist that hung to the ground and gave the place a dream like quality. They moved through the mist. The three men shifted into werewolf form and followed the Sage deeper into the Plain.

They moved with a grace and silence that belied their impressive size. The natural born wolf who led them was confident and wary of every shift in the mist around them. The whiteness giving way to darkness as you looked farther and farther out into the barren expanse.