Chapter 2: Catching a Superhero on Cr*ck
I knew exactly what he looked like right then. His eyes were innocent, empty; but his mouth, it was curved into this sly, slipping, itching grin that was just waiting to turn into a frown at the sound of a breath gone wrong. It was a warning. I had enough sense to take it.
“Not at all,” I said slowly, keeping my voice neutral. Maybe he wanted me to act up, just so he could knock me down to my rightful place—behind him.
At these moments, I had the worst Wile E. Coyote fantasy of me jumping into the air and him knocking me straight into the ground with a conk on the head.
“Name?” I asked from between gritted teeth. Perhaps it was best to get to business.
“Matthew West.”
“Bye.” I hung up, and threw the phone in my bag before he could call back. Before anyone else could call and make my day better. I’m sure I’d get an earful later for hanging up on him, but little victories were really all you got with Charles, and I needed those cheap wins. That was Charles for ya, though: accountant for a software firm by day, werewolf-Alpha-dickhead by…other day times?
I turned my bike on, gave it a second to warm up and zipped out into campus traffic. Most days I took the traffic in stride, and waited out the lines and lights, but today I just didn’t feel like it. I slipped in between cars and bypassed it all. Waiting wasn’t the icing I needed on this birthday cake.
It only took about eight minutes to get to Jacksonville from Union, so, I had that long to calm down. I really hoped Mr. West was still on Kerrington, because if he wasn’t and I had to hunt him down, he’d be sorry.
I tried counting on the way, singing and deep breathing, but I was still pretty nuclear by the time I turned on to Kerrington. I didn’t see Matthew West, and I knew what he looked like because I got a file on every single new wolf that joined either pack. It was my job, and all. Plus I’d had a few interactions with Matthew. I think.
There were a few men who were similar in height, and hair color…a few even had the same brown eyes, almost golden. But they all turned out to be human, and so they all turned out not to be him. The Jacksonville Square used to be pretty boring—center of town, lots of old buildings with shops in them that you didn’t really care about.
But Jacksonville had been changing in the last few years, and now there was a Starbucks in walking distance of a Barnes & Noble. Of course, the Starbucks is where I kept seeing yuppie-looking sons of b*tches who kept fooling me into thinking they were Matthew. I suppose I could have sniffed him out, but with all the smells going on, I’d look pretty crazy, head zipping around to catch his scent as I wagged my tail.
Yeah, I didn’t see Matthew…at first.
Then, I saw him jumping from roof to roof, scaring normal people and making us f*cking look bad. He was like a superhero on crack. I sped over to the grouping of stores he was hopping over and parked. I left my helmet on because I didn’t need anyone seeing my face or stealing the helmet, plain and simple. People who left their helmets on their bikes without locks confused me; don’t assume someone won’t take it just because they probably don’t have a bike. People do weird things for weird reasons.
I threw on a disc lock for one of the wheels on my bike and I went down an alley. As soon as I got to a fire escape ladder I saw Matthew go flying over me. I heard a woman scream above me, and I jumped onto the ladder that lead to the roof.
“Motherf*cker,” I growled.
It was going to be a long day.
I hauled a*s upward, hand over hand. My boots scraped the rungs messily. I banged my knee on the side of the building as I pulled myself up.
“Sh*t,” I grunted.
When I reached the top, I slipped a little as my boots didn’t have a great grip on whatever the hell roof was made of. Of course, they didn’t. When I got a good look at the scene, I realized Matthew was standing over a woman. A woman, might I add, who was sunbathing. On top of the roof. She was wearing a bikini, but I hoped she owned the place; otherwise, that was weird all by itself, werewolf removed.
“Hey, Matt,” I said, waving my gloved hand. He looked up from the woman that was frozen in place . His eyes were bulbous, popping out of his head like a cartoon. And they were red. What the hell? Werewolves’ eyes don’t turn red. Not like that.
“Manny?” He said softly, voice cracking. I nodded, visor still down. I probably looked pretty scary to the woman, except I was 5’5”. “Oh, God,” he wailed, grabbing his head. “Oh, God.”
“What? What is it?” I asked, stepping closer, and then stopped as he jerked in response to my movement. I lifted my hands. See, look at me. I’m harmless.
“They sent the Enforcer,” Matt yowled. “You’re going to kill me. That’s what you do. You’re going to kill me!”
I tried to focus on the situation but I just kept thinking about everything that was wrong with what he was saying. Firstly, the speech itself was some crazy bullsh*t you’d hear in a movie. When I got him off this roof, first thing I was doing was telling him to stop watching so much d*mn TV. Secondly, that wasn’t all I did as an Enforcer. He didn’t know the first thing about my job. If it was just killing, I’d be a happy girl. Life would be simple. Sweet, even. I blinked as the sun shined off of Matthew’s watch, blinding me momentarily. What was with my focus? I fought the urge to shake my head to clear it.
“I’m not going to kill you, Matthew. I’m just here to make sure you don’t make any bad decisions. Like creeping out this fine, young lady. I mean, I wouldn’t like it if I were sunbathing and you showed up and blocked all of it. And I’m sure she feels the same way.” Though again, I questioned why she was even up there.
Matthew inched closer to her, and further away from me, which was hard because his legs were already pressed against her chair. He leaned over her and she shrunk, shrieking a little.
“Matt! Hey, what are you doing, man?” My hand jerked out in reaction like I’d snatch him away from the situation.
“She smells good,” he answered, and it was no longer exactly Matt’s voice. I wasn’t even sure if it was just one voice.
It was one of the strangest, most unsettling things I’d ever seen or heard coming out of a wolf. It was almost like he was a ventriloquist dummy. The wind picked up and whipped around his brown hair, making him look even more manic.
“OK?” I whispered, not sure how to proceed safely. I had to shrug to keep from shivering. I wasn’t cold. I was freaked the f*ck out.
“I want to eat her.” I had to frown at that. If he had been a extremely new wolf, seeing her as food might not have been entirely out of the norm. But seeing as he was two months in, and I wasn’t even sure if it was him talking anymore, I was all out of explanations.
“No, you don’t. People aren’t food,” I finally said firmly. “They don’t even taste good.” Yes, I knew. Don’t ask why.
“Her blood will.” I tilted my head. Her blood? OK. So not Matthew anymore. He leaned into her face, and drew his nose from her chin to her forehead; she whimpered.
OK, that’s enough. I started to inch forward but was stopped. “Manny,” Matthew wailed, and it was his voice again. He suddenly held his hand out to me. I moved forward and his hand snapped away as his skin seemed to draw up, like his entire face was snarling. It was as if a drawstring operated his flesh. I have to admit—I jerked my hand right back.
“Don’t interfere, wolf,” another voice whispered from his mouth. Was he talking to me, or…himself (or it)? Who was at home?
The sunbathing woman tried to edge off her chair and away from whatever the hell we were doing and Matthew lunged at her.
OK, f*ck negotiations.
I charged him. He made to grab for her, but his fingers didn’t land. Thank God, because a second later we were toppling off the building. I really don’t know what I would have done if she had been dragged down with us. I really haven't been thinking clearly lately. It was like I was in a fog. An irritated, skin-tight, teeth-gnashy fog.
At the time, I also didn’t think about the fact that I was throwing us off a two-story building. Wasn’t gonna kill us.
Was gonna hurt like a b*tch, though.