N. Walters - Finding Chrissten

A solid thump vibrated through the front door of the bar. Isaiah rose from his seat, strode across the room and yanked the solid oak door open. Damek stood there, impeccable as always in one of his designer suits. Isaiah raised an eyebrow.

Damek shrugged in response. “You’re always complaining I never knock.”

“Since when do you listen to me?” Isaiah held the door open. “Come on in.”

The air thickened and the short hairs on the back of Hank’s neck stood on end. The animal part of him was aware he was in the presence of a predator. Shadows seemed to fill the room. Damek made his way to Meredith and kissed her cheek. Isaiah flexed his hands by his sides but managed not to rip the vampire away from his mate. Hank admired his restraint.

It occurred to Hank that the vampire enjoyed baiting Isaiah, but not in a mean way. It was almost playful, which was strange coming from such a powerful creature. Of course, Isaiah might be one of the few living beings that didn’t seem impressed or intimidated by the vampire.

“What did you find out?” Isaiah demanded.

Hank sat forward, not wanting to miss a word of what Damek had to say.

“The doctor gave up all his secrets before he passed on.”

Satisfaction filled Hank. He was fiercely glad the sonofabitch was dead.

Damek wandered around the bar, perusing the artwork on the walls. Hank wanted to shake him and tell him to spill everything. But he didn’t have a death wish.

“The doctor was mentally unstable, but incredibly intelligent. Maybe the two go hand in hand.” Damek traced his index finger over the frame of large painting by a local artist. “He was also filthy rich. His parents were old when he was born and they were both dead by the time he was eighteen, leaving him all their money. He went to the best schools and had advanced degrees in chemistry and genetics. He was also a medical doctor.”

“So he had all the skills he needed to do experiments on his own.” They all turned to look at Quinn who was standing in the doorway. Hank’s heart began to race. Who was with Chrissten?

He stood, planning to go upstairs. They couldn’t leave her alone. And being with Craig didn’t count. The male might be her brother but he was also human and no match for a pureblood werewolf if Brian found a way to get to Chrissten.

“Is Bethany with her?” Meredith went to Quinn and hugged him. That was Meredith, mother to them all.

Quinn nodded and Hank was able to subdue the urge to race to Chrissten’s side. Not that Bethany would be a match for Brian either, but she was stronger and faster than Craig and could at least run for help.

Quinn was staring at Damek, obviously eager to know what the vampire had learned. “What else do you know?”

“Many things,” Damek replied. “Phillip Morton had everything he needed but the muscle to pull off the job.”

Hank wanted this conversation done so he could go back upstairs to watch over Chrissten. But first he had questions he needed answered. “What I want to know is how he discovered werewolves even exist? And what were his experiments all about?” The whole business had been nagging Hank since the very beginning.

“Good questions.” Damek inclined his head in acknowledgement. “It seems that one of your brethren fell into the hands of the military about ten years ago. They killed him and started studying him. Unfortunately for them, their funding was cut and they had to abandon the project. The official word is that the creature was a genetic anomaly, nothing more.”

Hank’s blood ran cold at the thought of the military running experiments on his pack. He knew firsthand how ruthless those at the top could be. They thought of nothing and no one but themselves. If they thought they could use werewolf DNA to produce super soldiers, nothing would stop them.

“Shit.” Isaiah raked his hand through his hair.

“Not to worry. I have names and locations. I’ll be paying them all a visit. If there is any damaging information out there, I’ll make sure it’s destroyed.”

“Why?” Hank crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the vampire, wary of his help. “Why would you do that? Risk yourself?”

“I have lived a very long time, my friend. If they come to believe in one myth it is not that far a stretch to believe in others. I’ve dealt with this kind of problem before.”

“Okay. Damek will handle the military problem.” Isaiah pinned them all with a level stare. “That leaves us with Brian.”

“It’s bigger than that, I fear.”

Quinn strode toward Damek, stopping right in front of him. “How much bigger?”

Damek sighed. “There is a pack of six males, including Brian, who are living here in the city. They want females and don’t care how they get them. From what I was able to steal from the doctor’s mind, he’d already experimented on one poor female before Chrissten. He made the mistake of giving her to the pack. He wanted to see how all the males would interact with her. They ended up killing her, and her death wasn’t pleasant.”

Hank swallowed the bile that surged up from his stomach to his throat. He could only imagine the abuse that poor female had endured. Death would have come as a blessing in the end.

“That’s why he kept my sister in the lab.” It wasn’t a question, but Damek answered Quinn anyway.

Damek nodded. “He couldn’t afford to lose another specimen.”

“But how did he find Brian and his pack?” Hank asked. Most werewolves kept a low profile and that meant keeping their true identities from humans. You couldn’t exactly find them listed in the yellow pages.

“He found them the same way I found the bounty hunters, didn’t he?” Craig dragged himself into the room, practically asleep on his feet. “He looked online and hacked into their sites.”

The corners of Damek’s mouth turned upward and his eyes glowed almost red. “Exactly, my smart human friend. He knew if there was one werewolf out there chances were there were more, and someone had to know about them. It seems everyone has an online presence these days. Everyone stays connected.”

Craig managed a wan smile. “I have my moments.”

Hank took control of the conversation again. “So he found the bounty hunters and through them the wolves.”

“Couldn’t have been that easy,” Michael pointed out. “The doctor was human. They wouldn’t have trusted him.” He turned to Craig. “No offense.”

“None taken.” Craig pulled a chair from one of the tables and sat down. He rubbed a hand over his face, almost dislodging his glasses in the process. “He would have had to look for the wolves, maybe lure one of them to a meeting with a promise of a female. That would eventually arouse the interest of some male enough so they’d at least check him out.”

“Precisely.” Damek seemed to flow across the bar to stand by Craig. Quinn stiffened and moved until he was standing directly behind his brother.

Damek waved Quinn away. “How many times do I have to tell you I will not hurt your brother? Unlike you werewolves, I enjoy the company of humans.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Quinn stared down the vampire, who shrugged, totally unconcerned. Craig just shook his head at the two preternatural beings standing beside him. Hank thought he looked more bemused than afraid.

“So where do we find Brian and the rest of his pack?” That was the question Hank wanted answered. He wanted to start hunting. The sooner the threat to Chrissten was removed the easier he’d rest.

“I have several names and addresses I plucked from Dr. Morton’s brain. He reached into his pocket, drew out a piece of paper and handed it to Craig. “You could check them out first. See if they are rentals or owned property. If they’re owned, you might be able to track down other properties they have.”