It was windy on the balcony, and not trusting either of the chairs I leaned against the railing with a cigarette held lightly between my lips. The surprisingly quiet air of the city at night strangely calming at the moment as I tried purely enjoying it for once. Noisy as I’d have expected, but high enough in the air it felt more hollow, my enhanced senses picking up on all the colors and history of the streets but not directly in front of it. A hundred colors that hardly existed, spirits as points of light along the darker streets, the ghost fires of Richmond dully glowing on the horizon.
A low sigh escaping me as I stared them down, a quick glance to the glass door behind me to make sure no one was looking before I asked, “you know why that’s there?” No response following, not until I started explaining, “cities they have a… I don’t want to say spirit, but something like that. A big trauma happens to it, people die, sometimes the memory of what happens gets left behind like a ghost. Richmond back in the um… well, end of the Civil War, the Confederates burned down the city, killed a bunch of innocent people, rather than surrender and do at least one good thing.” a small laugh escaping me as I muttered, “don’t know why I’m talking about this, just didn’t know how to start.”
The air hanging like that for a short time before she appeared in the corner of my eye, sat in one of the rotten lawn chairs in her polka-dot dress with golden cross. Blonde hair pulled into a high pony tail, leaned forward chin on her hands as she looked up at me with her coy smile and asked, “you liked your history classes didn’t you?”
I shrugged, taking another long draw from my cigarette, letting the acrid air coat my nose and throat. A long cloud flowing forth from my lips as I admitted, “preferred science, always wanted to go into Marine Biology. History’s fine, just something you pick up on, but… well, not my subject.”
“Never too late to go back to school. You’d look cute in a wet suit; putting tags on dolphins and whatever else they do,” Barbie told me, the woman rising to her feet to stand beside me. Her nose upturning a little as she complained, “you should also really not be smoking, your son’s like ten feet away.”
So close to what I remembered from her.
I still had to smile though, leaning back against the balcony railing as I watched everyone inside. Percy and Martin still playing Go Fish, Risk sadly a little out of Martin’s ability, Gevaudan once more out early from whatever alliance they formed while she sat nearby laughing with the two of them. All three almost perfect, a portrait I could spend a hundred years looking at while I blew another cloud of smoke onto the air.
My fingers tapping the ash off, head leaning back as I tried flexing a right hand that still held barely any sensation and asked, “why could Scorpion see you?”
Barbie looked confused a moment, brow furrowed before her eyes widened a moment and she brushed it off, “probably just something weird about him. I mean, you see ghosts right? Maybe that’s the only reason you see me.”
I nodded a little, not sure what else to do while I crushed out the last of my cigarette. Stood still on the balcony as the freezing wind whipped against my body and I observed, “not a lot of people live here do they?”
Barbie seemed to recognize what I meant there a little better, smiling almost mischievously as she admitted, “first two floors are the only ones with tenants. Everything else is storage or just completely empty.” A raised brow from me making her admit, “I got curious and walked around, you were playing with the kid. Honestly, don’t know why The Lady has so many fucking empty apartment buildings.”
I had a vague idea, shrugging as I admitted, “probably lets her move around some money better. I mean, you want to make whatever you have coming in look legit, why not just fake a couple leases and shit? Not sure how effective it is, but-”
A scream broke me from my concentration, the wolf growling on edge, fur threatening to grow before I saw Marty jumping in place laughing while Percy dramatically fell back gripping his chest. Gevaudan clapping, her smile only breaking as she saw me and mouthed something that didn’t take much to understand as you okay?
I responded with a thumbs up, tossing my cigarette butt into a flower pot with the long death and withered trunk of some sort of bush. A quick shake off of my clothes like it’d get rid of the smell before I went back inside, fetching my carton from the arm of a nearby chair and attempting to stuff it in my jacket pocket. The phone inside only slowing me briefly before a quick thought struck me:
“fuck, my phone’s been off all night,” I muttered, turning it on while I tried not to catastrophize too much. Barbie looking up at me doe eyed before I told her, “look, The Lady gets catty if I ask too many questions, I’m just hoping I haven’t missed anything that’ll get me in trouble.”
Barbie shrugged, settling back in her chair with her own head rolled back while I waited for my phone to load and let me unlock it. The normal long pause of waiting for my service to connect and messages to load, and I was greeted by plenty of messages slowly popping in one after the other.
Not anything I wanted to bother trying to read as they appeared, opening the app itself and just getting a brief look down the list. Tara sending a picture of Lord stretched across her and Andrew’s laps, Basil double checking we were still skipping training this week, The Lady a confirmation of security measures, and Misha…
CALL ME NOW! The last message sent under his name, combined with several missed call symbols making sure I didn’t hesitate to pull his name up. No answer from the cellphone, attempt with the office phone and finally answering with the hotel number.
The last one getting barely three rings in before I heard the phone pick up, a small smack in my ear with some cursing until Misha asked over a hollow sounding line, “Mary?! That you?!”
I closed my eye, already feeling how this was going as I admitted, “yeah, it’s me, what did I miss?”
Misha sighed, the sound of him collapsing back in a chair dully going through the speaker before he asked, “you safe? Fucking Hell, was trying to call you all afternoon, what happened?”
“Was busy, Gevaudan’s down here with Marty, I just-”
“Gevaudan’s in Richmond? What the fuck’s she doing down there I-” and I heard a woman dully speaking in the background, a dull buzz I couldn’t make more than a sense of emotion over, “oh really? Yeah, it’s Mary, she’s Martin’s mom,” another response, this one more excited, “we can call Gevaudan next if you want, emergency, remember?” another brief response, this one a little more sad, “yeah, can do it at dinner later, you know she still stays up reading. Circe got us a private room at some fancy restaurant, paying me back for some help I gave her with-”
“What’s the emergency?” I interrupted, not really sure if I wanted to deal with the rest of the planning.
Misha cursed a moment, audible adjusting his chair before he admitted, “someone put a hit out on you, through the official mercenary channels. Friend was just around, let me know today, where is Gevaudan staying?”
On the one hand the sudden pivot to her feeling a bit insulting after saying there was a hit on me, but plenty understandable as I told him, “your old apartment, got permission to use it and Gevaudan and The Lady both still had a key. She put some extra security here for us, safe as we can get in the city probably.”
I wasn’t sure if it was a lie or not, someone having a price out on me might have meant nowhere was safe for all I knew. Though… ugh, what were the chances they even knew where to LOOK for me?
Misha at least answered that for me, finally breaking a long silence with a deep sigh to tell me, “going to depend on who took out the job, but you should be good there. Most people won’t know about the Covenant, anyone who knows the supernatural ain’t gonna send someone there on a suicide mission. They’ll probably try and find you at work or elsewhere. From the sound of things it’s specifically targeting you, not a broad contract, so-”
“How did you even find out about the contract? I just know there’s someone paying for different people, can’t figure out more than that.”
“Old friend told me, long story,” Misha brushed it off, after a moment adding on, “look, the point is: who the fuck did you piss off? They dropped a 100k on you, do you understand how ridiculous that is? That’s like please go to another country, break into a heavily fortified estate, and kill someone money, what did you do?”
As tempted as I was to answer I was in the fucking Purists I held back and slowly admitted, “not really sure, pretty sure this guy’s an amateur though, so maybe he’s just overpaying? Everything about this has been a fuck up.”
“I don’t know, amateurs usually don’t know how to get in contact with illegal Mercenaries, very least your guy knows how to do that,” Misha muttered, cursing slightly as he added on, “fuck, I can see what I can do, Red might be able to get me some more information, but I can’t promise anything. You need to promise to stay safe, the more you go running around the more you’re at risk of getting hurt, and Gevaudan’s in your hands right now. I just…”
Stolen novel; please report.
“I’ll keep her safe,” I did my best to comfort the man, feeling the need to add on, “Martin’s my kid, I’m not going to let him or his auntie get in trouble. You can trust me.”
He kept me in silence for a long time, only as I was starting to think the line had died down I heard the woman in the background again and he spoke up, “sorry, just Gevaudan, she’s… you get it. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to her and-”
“I’ll keep her safe,” I promised, smiling a little as I tried to change the subject before he worried himself sick, “you get my birthday present?”
He snorted at that, the sound of a box shuffling as he announced, “pine scented cologne, meaning to say something? I can get some recommendations on perfume from Gevaudan if we’re playing this game.”
“The cologne you use is lying about smelling like sea breeze and does you no favors even casually,” I admitted, shrugging as I added on, “also you live in fucking LA now, I’m pretty sure it smells like sea breeze like… all the time, figured you’d enjoy the change of pace.”
The woman’s laughter was clear this time, and I could actually hear her clearly as she announced, “it definitely smells better, I’ll try forcing him to use it for a couple days at least.”
Misha was grumbling, letting out an almost silent, “the sea breeze was a gift,” before adding on, “look, just, please keep safe. I don’t care what The Lady says. Try and not leave the apartment much until I get a better sense of what’s going on, maybe I can find out what’s going on.”
“I will, I promise,” I said, even if I wasn’t exactly sure how honest the sentiment was. The long silence following before we hung up with little more in the way of formalities and I resisted the urge to scream.
Eye closed, teeth clenched tight, a low hiss escaping me as Barbie asked, “isn’t that good news? Just, take your days off, The Lady’s security keep you pretty safe, you have a nice time with your kid, right?”
I nodded, not really sure what else to say as I let the matter sit and walked back into the apartment. Gevaudan pouring a pot of coffee into a thermos from a cabinet and Percy sat on the couch quickly adjusting his hair and outfit in the camera of his phone.
Martin not currently there, though Gevaudan smiling as she told me, “getting to be Marty’s bedtime, he’s just getting changed.”
“And I was just getting ready to head out a little early,” Percy admitted, frowning as he pulled a small revolver from his ankle holster and checked the rounds. A glare from Gevaudan making the man look down as he told her, “I’ll hide it in a drawer when I get home.”
“Top of the cabinets, not in them,” the woman countered sternly, crossing her arms even as the man replaced his gun and told me, “meeting doesn’t start for a bit, but people are going to be funneling in and starting talking. Sooner I make my presence, the better chance I got for making something resembling an impact on what way it goes.”
“And he looked like he was going to pass out soon as Martin left the room, so I offered to make him coffee and rinse out a thermos,” Gevaudan added on, passing the thermos as Percy walked by and telling him, “want us to set up the air mattress while you’re gone? Don’t want you waking up Marty middle of the night.”
“I’ll just sleep on the floor and-”
“I’ll get it set up,” I told him, already moving to the box and trying to see what furniture would need to be pushed aside. The only downside I saw that if he was on the mattress I wouldn’t be able to sneak out to the balcony to smoke, though…
ugh, I’d figure that out later.
Still laying the mattress out, lightly pushing the couch a foot or so to the side to give some room to open the door once I was done. The art of taking the mattress out and setting up the air pump a bit of a chore with one hand until Gevaudan came over. The woman not even asking as she started to help me with setting things up and setting up everything, Martin coming out in a new pair of moon-print pajamas and watching us for a time while he held his plush wolf close.
Forgot to yell at Misha for that one, but he’d earned the reprieve for now.
The two of us combined getting the mattress started fast enough, even as I said, “Percy’s way better with kids than me. You two seem to be getting along.”
The woman chuckled at that, shaking her head as she admitted, “he’s more of a natural with it, or more likely just has more experience and is downplaying that. Reminds me of my roommate, she’s watching Jeanne, neither of us is interested in dating but she’s great with kids and we’re friends. It’s a skill like any other though Mary, and I’d say you’re doing pretty good for someone new to this, right, Marty? How’s mommy doing?”
“Mommy’s boring but she’s nice,” Marty admitted, the comment feeling weirdly like an insult even as he asked, “is she doing bedtime stories?”
Gevaudan smiled a little at the, giving me a small nod as I asked, “do you want me to?”
Marty shrugged, and Gevaudan saved me a little disappointment as she asked, “how about you, Mary? Wanna give it a try?”
I had to laugh a little.
I hadn’t given Marty a bedtime story since he was a kid, and most of that was just rambling about whatever had come to mind until he’d fell asleep. Hell, I’d still been in the Purists, pretty sure I’d once just casually described killing a bunch of people in a comforting voice and it actually put him to sleep.
Probably too old for me to do that even if I was comfortable enough for it.
All the same, I smiled and gave him a small nod, almost a little hesitant to say, “I can do that, just… give me a second, you get your blankets and stuff.”
Marty nodded, running off to get a dinosaur printed blanket and a spare pillow from Gevaudan’s room while the woman fetched a spare quilt and comforter from the closet. Gevaudan stopping a while as she unfolded the quilt and shook it out, running her fingers along a few tattered squares almost reverentially as Marty came back and laid on the air mattress.
I had to laugh a bit, shaking my head as I told him, “Percy was going to sleep there, don’t you want the couch?”
“No,” the boy replied flatly, and I couldn’t really argue with that.
Well, Percy had offered to take the couch, could do it for a night at least.
Gevaudan helping me tuck the boy in and get him ready, his wolf held tight to him while I tried thinking of what story to tell.
I’d grown up on William Taylor and Arthurian myth, I knew about the Grimm fairy tales, couple urban legends bad an idea as that’d be. None of them sounding right, a small headache forming until I looked down at the wolf once more and asked, “you know what a werewolf is?”
Too young to know the truth about their existence just yet, but old enough I thought he might know they’re a myth, the boy nodding as he said, “they turn into wolves?”
“They turn into wolves,” I agreed, smiling as I sat back on the floor, thinking on it a long time as something struck me. Our own myths, nodding a few times as my favorite came to mind, “you wanna know where they come from? It’s a nice story.”
Marty nodded, Gevaudan getting up to turn off the lights while I pulled on my own teachings. The urge to slip into a mechanical reading of it suppressed as I cleared my throat a few times. Maybe not the best bedtime story, would require me to change some wording on the fly, but…
“There was a time long long ago, when all the gods humans knew walked the earth. When elephants had hair and there were many kinds of humans who walked the earth,” I started, shuffling in place as I glanced back to Gevaudan. The woman looking at me a little confused even as I continued, “The moon himself would ride through the sky each night hunting the evils of the world, and with him he brought packs of wolves and hunters alike. At the head of them, a huntress he loved who would ride her horse with him each night and hunted more monsters than even he could find. So deep was his love for this huntress that he made her his wife,’
“The huntress didn’t love the moon though,” I continued, the words feeling a little easier in my mouth as I tried continuing, “the huntress loved the leader of the wolves, whom each night led their hunt and helped her chase down her enemies. They could never be together though long as the moon could see them, and so they went to the,” I paused a moment, Creeping Shadows probably too weird a name, “the god of Shadows himself and told the tale of their love. He offered his help, and said that he would blind the moon and give them a night to spend outside the Moon’s eye, and do so long as he could. So, for fourteen days his magic would blind the moon and for fourteen days the moon would fight him off, but always there would be a night where the moon rode blind through the sky, and this was the first new moon.”
“What’s a new moon?” Marty asked a little confused, laying on his side as he looked up at me curiously.
“It’s when you can’t see the moon in the sky,” I admitted, chuckling as I continued, “and so they each new moon they would spend a night free to travel without the Moon’s knowledge. Twelve times the moon was blinded, and twelve nights they ran together. On the thirteenth time though they did not wait long enough, and ran off together while the Moon still had a sliver of his vision. Angered at the betrayal of his wife and lead wolf, the Moon drew his bow and struck them down with a silver arrow through each their hearts. Killed for their love, the,” Birthing Mother probably not appropriate, “the Mother of life found them in a field of wolf’s bane and wept and wept for the couple, until her tears rose the oceans and what was once land became water and what was joined became islands.’
“The gods of the world seeing this went to the Moon, and a thousand gods of a hundred lands petitioned him to let the lovers be brought back before all the world was ocean. At each turn denying them until he finally made an offer: the Mother could bring them to life once more, but would need to make a sacrifice,” I stopped a moment, realizing my cheek was wet and letting out a small laugh at the fact. I’d never been this emotional about the myth even as I tried to finish the story, “the Mother agreed, and told the Moon that she would bring them back, able to change form between wolf and human as they desire to travel the woods however they wish. In exchange, she would never again have children of her own. That these would be her final creations the earth would see, and no more would there be new life to walk the lands. So would it be, these children would be the most important: for they would protect her newest creation the humans, and they would be their flock to shepherd.’
“And so it was,” I tried finishing, slowly rising to my feet, “the first werewolves were made, bound by their first Mother to always protect humans in all their forms, like your Bloodhound does.”
I booped the nose of the plush wolf, Martin smiling as he cuddled into it and closed his eyes. Unsure of what to do as I stood there and watched him until his breathing slowed and he let out the softest noise that might have been a snore.
My feet feeling like they didn’t want to work as I forced myself to turn around and quietly walked to Gevaudan, the woman stood at the counter smiling as she whispered, “not bad for a first time.”
“Sorry about the weirdness of the story,” I whispered back, trying to not laugh too hard.
And she shrugged, leaning in to admit, “Fox used to tell me that one. Mom apparently believe all that same stuff too, told Misha and her those stories. I never thought to use it myself.”
I nodded, a small smile crossing my lips as I realized what I was about to do, how dumb the reason was even as I told her, “I need to head out, gotta go help Percy.”
The woman looked a little confused at that, frowning even as she glance at Martin and asked me, “you sure? Thought you were staying here.”
“Consider it a realization that I owe it to the hunters to help for a few reasons.”
