Head to Head

"General Richards doesn't count as someone else. He is the next highest General after General Greyson. It is still within the chain of command," said Reid Jackson justifying himself, but he wasn't an idiot. He screwed himself over when it came to his team and would probably be 'requested' to put in a transfer to another unit.

The door to the office opened and closed again but none of the four military men bothered to turn and look.

"Here you go, Head," said Stephanie from behind them and Greyson could hear a cup being placed on the table. "I will have the cleaning staff come later to remove the rug. Do you want it cleaned or just replaced with something else?"

"Ugh. Blood is a bitch to get out. Just have them replace it with something else. Maybe something red or black if it will go with the room. That way we don't have to keep throwing things out every time I bleed on them."

Greyson spun around and saw Natalia sitting up in the chair rubbing her temple as if she had a headache. The wound in her forehead had slowly stopped bleeding and something seemed to be trying to push out of the hole. He continued to watch as the bullet from Jackson's gun fell out and Natalia caught it in her hand.

He could hear her sigh as she tilted her head back and forth. What looked like a black worm started to crawl down from her hair. Greyson watched as it started to weave itself in an out of the hole, effectively closing it up better than any surgeon could.

"You're staring," she quipped and he turned around to see all three of the other men just staring at her, their mouths opened and their eyes wide. "What? Never seen anyone come back from the dead?"

She took a sip from her cup of hot chocolate as she studied them. "Do I have blood all over me? Should I go get changed?"

Greyson shook his head. "You are clean from the front, but you might have some brain matter in your hair." At her upset groan, Greyson wondered what alternate universe he had just stepped into.

"I'll go shower," she grumbled as she stood up. Looking at the General she smiled. "If I haven't said it before… welcome to the world of monsters. None of you can leave. If you try, you will be killed, no questions asked. Do you understand?"

"I understand," said Greyson looking at the woman seriously. He thought he knew what he was getting into, but now he realized that he was in over his head.

---

Getting brain matter out of your hair is really not fun. It has the same consistency as puke and the very thought of the small spongy matter made me want to puke even more. All in all, I was not impressed.

But that was not the worst of it. Now I had to figure out what to do with the three strangers in my office. And in order to do that, I would have to get Viktor involved.

Entering my office, I was surprised to see Greyson and two other men still holding their guns at Jackson. With a sigh, I picked up my office phone and dialed the number. "Hey," I said with a sigh.

"You okay?" asked Viktor, his voice dropping as he spoke to me. I could hear the concern in his voice.

"Not really. Have a bit of a headache," I replied with a slight smile. When I heard Greyson letting out a huff of laughter I looked at him and rolled my eyes.

"Whose there?" asked Viktor and I could hear doors closing on his end. The poor man was probably up to his eyeballs in crap with the dead wolves. At least my question should be simple.

"Greyson and three of his men," I said as I looked at the aforementioned men. Taking in a deep breath, I looked at Jackson. "I need permission from the Head of your House to kill a human that discovered our existence."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone and I scrunched my face together. This was not going to go well.

"The Head of House Van Helsing gives permission for you to kill a human based on the fact that they discovered the existence of monsters and need to be dealt with. Natalia, Little Cub, I need more of an explanation. Why can't you kill him yourself? You normally don't need permission."

"Long or short explanation? And I can't technically kill him myself because he isn't tainted. A little misguided and going down the wrong path, but not tainted," I said as I rubbed my forehead again. I had forgotten how much it hurt to be shot in the head. I stretched my neck back and forth as I tried to relieve the tense muscles, but nothing was helping.

"Short for now, but I'll expect details later," snapped Viktor.

"Careful, Van Helsing, I am not one of your men," I snapped before I could stop myself. Closing my eyes, I didn't realize that Greyson had moved until I felt his hands on my neck giving me a massage. I moaned in approval and bent my head forward to give him more room to work.

"What's going on?" demanded Viktor.

"Greyson is giving me a neck massage," I replied with a sigh as his fingers found a particular knot.

"Make sure he gets just under your shoulder blades too, it will help," advised Viktor. "Now, short version please, and thank you."

"Short of it was that one of the men Greyson brought into a meeting shot me on behalf of General Richards who I am meeting in like 10 minutes," I said right before another moan was rung out of me as Greyson, who must have heard the conversation, moved his fingers from my neck to my shoulder blades.

"Understood. I can send in one of my men to do the killing. Since it would be a knight, it wouldn't count."

"Have him wait outside of my office. Like I said, he isn't tainted, just misguided. Maybe I can still save him," I grumbled. I didn't know where I was going so I didn't want to make any hasty decisions, especially when the individual wasn't tainted.