The home office was small, barely big enough for its purpose while
still set up with the vague idea of hosting meetings behind it. The
wooden desk much nicer than my own, with hardly a sign of marks or
dents in the surface and the drawers nice enough to have locks on
them. My seat at the desk chair functional, a nice brown leather
chair that was far from perfect for someone who found she liked
lumbar support and with a few seams torn on the armrest. Two
bookshelves covered in law books and thick binders with dates and
names along the spines behind me, a family portrait neatly framed
between them, and the desk itself filled with more files and papers
than I could possibly know what to do with.
Its owner thankfully one to keep important documents within arms
reached, the locked top drawer easily forced open and the folder
inside containing everything I needed. For a time idly flipping
through the folder looking at numbers and names that meant nothing to
me, and eventually giving into boredom by booting up the computer.
No password, I was in the middle of a game of Run 2 to keep myself
awake when the door unexpectedly opened. Any hope I might have had
had of looking put together when my target entered ruined by me
nearly jumping out of my seat, trying to spam the button to pause the
game while the man himself let out a scream of surprise.
A binder falling out of his hands, crashing onto the ground, and the
distant voice of a woman yelling, “is everything alright in
there?!”
Tony looking me over a long time, eyes wide, heart racing, fear
strong on the air until he called back, “Just a waterbug! I got it,
don’t worry.”
His wife letting out a noise of disgust I could hear from here,
telling him, “well make sure I don’t see it!” while Tony picked
his binder up and stepped into the office.
The door slowly closed behind him before he walked over in front of
the desk, binder carefully sat down as he looked ready to be brave
before seeing the folder next to his computer. A dozen emotions
crossing his face before turning to stone as he asked in a shaking
voice, “can we do this somewhere else? I don’t want Marge being
the one to find me, especially not if you’re doing it.”
How resigned he sounded to the idea catching me off guard, neither of
us speaking for a long moment until I told him, “I’m not killing
you unless we can’t work something out.”
He nodded, still not looking too calm even as he walked back to the
door and asked, “you drink coffee?”
“I like it, little bit of milk and honey if it’s okay,” I
answered, the man nodding a few times, mouth opening and closing
before I answered for him, “I’m going to guess your wife forgets
her keys at least once a week, and we both know she wears too much
perfume. I checked under the rock that smelled suspiciously like
flowers and let myself in while you were talking about your day
upstairs.”
Tony nodding a few times, peaking out the door and calling out, “Oh,
love! I forgot I had a consultation with a client earlier today, just
Martin’s daughter so I told her to pop over while the offices are
closed. I’m so sorry, I completely-”
“Oh, no shame! She here already? didn’t hear her pull in! Oh,
well enough for everyone, she want anything to eat?”
A quick look back at me to confirm my answer, and he shouted back,
“just coffee for her! Little bit of honey and milk if you don’t
mind.”
Some brief exchanges of pleasantries, and the door closed with a
gentle care as Tony let his forehead rest on the door frame. A dull
laugh escaping him as he finally asked, “how’d you find out? Get
one the mercenaries to talk, or I really fuck up somewhere? Trying to
figure out how fucked I am right now.”
The man walking around to the side of his desk, only briefly looking
confused at his computer screen while I rose and switched places with
him. Tony looking down at the papers I’d found while I said, “you
know what’s in Earl Gray tea? I checked,” a look of confusion
making me tell him, “black tea mixed with bergamot, it gives it the
citrus smell and taste. Let me guess, Marge is trying to get rid of
all the tins she got given for Christmas, was desperate enough to
give me one first time I saw her, I imagine she gave you one for your
client meetings or just to keep around the office. Guy who wanted to
attack me last night still had the smell on his shirt, guessing he
spilled some?”
Tony looking genuinely a little impressed by that one, taking his
spot at his desk and clicking through something while he muttered,
“he didn’t realize how hot it was, coughed a bunch out on his
shirt. I didn’t even…”
“I have good senses, even for a werewolf,” I admitted, before
deciding to try and get things rolling. I was sure a part of him
thought I was at least here for The Lady, and I needed him to feel a
little less on edge as I asked, “what made you want to kill The
Lady? I mean, I have my reasons for hating her, but she’s been
doing a lot for you, right? I mean, you’re a politician, sounds
like she got your career going, she got you disposing of bodies or
something?”
Tony shaking his head, leaning back in his chair with a deep sigh as
he started, “firm I interned at ended up getting caught up in a big
scandal after I already sent a couple dozen applications out. Two of
my three references got caught paying someone to give a witness
testimony for the company we were defending and my third reference
was a retiree I did a lot of paperwork for. It was just them and a
fucking Associate they roped into dropping off the payment that ended
up going to the cops, but it wasn’t exactly a good couple of names
to have on thirty applications. I figured I was fuck, need to intern
somewhere else for a bit, find a way to erase that internship from my
history, but… well, Karnstein and Karnstein called me back. I was
in the middle of working out what to do, everyone else sent a
rejection letter or gave me the call, they asked me to come in for an
interview. I figured I’d be lucky to get anything, they’d
probably undersell me on the terms, but they gave me a fucking one in
a million contract. Great pay, benefits, I ended up making partner in
seven years after I started — you know how fucking unheard of that
is?”
“I don’t have my GED,” I admitted with a shrug, checking the
time briefly before admitting, “that’s where The Lady came in?”
“Called me up to her office, admitted she knew I wanted to go into
politics, and… well, apparently fucking everything’s real,”
he laughed at that.
Even I having to take a little bit to joke, “makes you feel better
I’m pretty sure aliens are bullshit.”
The man actually looked a little disappointed at that, his eyes
lowering a moment as he muttered out, “I fucking love aliens,”
before quickly returning to his point, “well, keep a long story
short, she made me an offer and I took it. Thing is… look, she told
me she’d get me elected, I just needed to do her a favor every now
and then. I figured it’d be presenting bills or occasionally
pushing things a certain way, but… did a term in the stage
legislator, got in as Governor, didn’t get a second term but I
still poll great. I’m working on Senate, and you know what? She’s
made me play it safe every step of the way, every time I start
feeling like I’m getting anywhere she tells me to stop. She’s had
me press to stop investigations, had me pardon people that I’d
never consider pardoning. I still want to help people, but… well, I
don’t want someone like her being behind the reigns while I try.
Jesus fuck, I don’t want her still behind me if I do make it
big, you know?”
I nodded, letting the words settle in for a long time as I tried
thinking of what I could do next. The silence between us stretching
on for seconds into minutes until Marge came in with a couple cups of
coffee, gave us some empty greetings, promised breakfast was another
ten minutes away if her husband was hungry. Tony never stopping
smelling like nerves and sweat while the door was finally closed and
I made my decision.
Everything Arthur and Samuel had said, every half formed idea I had,
all coming together until I told him, “I need The Lady alive,”
the look on his face impossible to misread, “but I need your help
too. I’m a monster.”
“You said it,” the man shrugged.
“You’re a politician,” I added on, not really sure how else to
phrase it, “and… I’m going to reveal werewolves are real to the
world tonight.” The man’s eyes widening as even he seemed to
understand the implications of what was just said, “you help me
make it smooth as possible, and I’ll make sure The Lady is dead in
a year, or at the very least can’t do anything. Fucking, you help
me do this right and she won’t be able to call you and ask anything
by next week.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Tony’s expression unreadable, the man rubbing his face, covering
his mouth, looking around the office in deep contemplation. Fingers
picking at the seams of his chair’s arm rest, eyes burrowing into
the ground, until he finally said, “already got fucked by a
vampire, why can I trust you not to fuck me with this?”
“It doesn’t matter how well this goes, how smooth a revelation
this is, people will want to kill whoever does it,” I said, rising
to my feet and walking to the side of his desk. Fingers fumbling with
the drawer of his desk, withdrawing a pair of scissors I raised up to
my head.
The brief fear of cutting any of my hair pushed down with a private
reassurance that I needed to trim my dead ends anyway. Tara would do
the same, I just needed to go a little farther as I took an inch wide
section of hair and cut it off six more up. My hair curly enough I
could barely tell the difference looking at what hung over my
shoulders even as I held it out.
His hand half raised as if to take it, though hanging in the air
unsure as I said, “I’ll fucking write and sign a confession if
you want it, but for most people you say it was me by name and show
this it’ll be enough proof. Not a lot of red headed werewolves
you’d have access to.”
Tony nodded, finally taking the hair and holding it in his palm for
several seconds. The man chewing his lips, looking at the desk in
front of him, and finally…
Reaching out and letting the hair fall into a trash can, a long sigh
escaping him as he told me, “I believe you. It’s better we…
it’d be really easy for you to fight me about this right now, and I
say keep us equals. You could have gone to The Lady about this,
gotten someone else to do it, especially after I… yeah, let’s get
off on a good foot. Why me? I tried killing you, and I’m a local
politician. There’s not a lot I can do to stop people being scared
of werewolves and vampires, movies kind of ruined that.”
My mind racing, trying to think of how to compress a hundred points
into a single sentence before I asked, “how much do you know about
the Purists?”
“Evil werewolves.”
“Werewolves who believe that it’s inevitable humans find out
about us,” I corrected, walking back to my seat and trying not to
slip into too much of my old ways as I told him, “we… The Purists
were founded after the first world war, started catching on after the
second. Werewolves are weak to silver, fire, beheadings, and you know
what? Humans can deliver all of those from miles away. Werewolves
died getting torn apart by machine gun fire without any silver or
fire in sight, they got burned alive by white phosphorus and
flamethrowers, blown up by bombs like anyone else. Half-ones —
humans, sorry — did that to themselves in a time where they barely
believed in the supernatural. Then you went and kept killing your own
kind, did it on an industrial scale, and proved exactly what you do
when you think someone shouldn’t exist. The Purists think humans
would extend that to us, they want to make humans afraid of the woods
again, train to travel in packs picking off humans and living on the
fringes of society if they ever need to. You understand what I’m
trying to say?”
My speech finished, the man nodded slowly as he looked me over, only
able to finally say, “people can be bastards, and Purists know
that? I don’t see how I can help here.”
“Humans can be bastards,” I tried agreeing, correcting it
slightly, “but I want to think people are good, that they can
be good. Most werewolves hate the Purists, but a lot of us understand
them. We lose people to hunters, we need to work for people like The
Lady to get by or spend our days knowing we need to find a way to
fake a new ID when our current one stops working, we know what humans
do to each other. Violence doesn’t take me I’ll live almost three
centuries, a lot of us live up to a century before fighting becomes
too hard to keep up. I’ll look like I’m in my twenties until I’m
nearing forty, I know people who are fifty, sixty years old and look
like they should be in their thirties. When we get revealed, things
are going to get harder to fake, people will be on the lookout for
signs they never even think of now. Your coworker’s fifty and looks
thirty now you think they’re lucky, you know werewolves as a thing
you might get suspicious. If werewolves in five or ten years can’t
update their IDs, safely live among humans, you’re going to have
more go to the Purists.”
He finally let out a deep sigh, seeming to understand what I was
asking as his forehead fell against the desk and he announced, “you
fucking want me to argue for accepting werewolves when it happens?”
“Your plan already had a good chance of getting us revealed, I’m
trying to do it without anyone dying,” I tried explaining further,
quickly adding on, “you don’t need to… I’m not expecting a
miracle, but it needs to happen if you want The Lady dead. I kill her
now, I let you try killing her, every werewolf in Virginia who
doesn’t have their own method is going to start wondering what to
do when they need a new ID. If all they see is humans ready to kill
us and no one caring about us, a lot of them are going to assume the
Purists are right. If humans see even one person in charge saying
hey, we’ve lived with them for thousands of years without all
dying, then maybe all of them won’t jump at killing us.”
“And if you’re wrong?” Tony asked, his words cutting through me
like a knife, “If people are bastards, if werewolves start joining
the Purists anyway. You’re risking a lot on a guy you barely know,
and I’m not seeing the point unless you-”
“Last night,” I interrupted him coldly, the man staring me down
with a brief look of surprise, “my family got attacked by Purists,
going after my son for only the Creeping Shadow knows why, and my
best friend killed a few and I killed others. One of them was a
teenager, and I nearly killed a thirteen year old. That kid decided
to leave the Purists when I offered them, and I have them back at a
friend’s place waiting for me to get this handled. He doesn’t
have any identity that connects to his past life, I didn’t have
that either. Most of us know about werewolves before we change,
others like me and him don’t know and get picked up because the
Purists find us. You see the appeal of trying to make this something
people know about?”
Tony nodded, a small chuckle turning into a disbelieving laugh until
he finally told me, “this isn’t just about The Lady is it? People
have been faking IDs for centuries; it’s harder now but you can
still do it. This some sort of… I don’t know, outreach?”
“If you can help with that I’ll take it,” I admitted with a
shrug, “I was a Purist, my dad didn’t tell me my mom was a
werewolf. I can’t exactly make a fucking Youtube series about
leaving the Purists or publish a self help book, but maybe if…”
My words trailed off, not even sure what I thought, why I thought
this was a good idea beyond the fact maybe one less kid ended up in
the Purists. Maybe everything went perfect, werewolves were accepted,
I saved some hopeless teenager waking up feeling their bones wanting
to break and muscles shift with no idea what was happening.
Maybe I got all of us killed.
Either way, it wasn’t like hiding was going to save us forever, and
it was Tony who finally told me, “my ex… I might be able to help
there. She’s a journalist, doesn’t know about this shit, but…
well, maybe she can talk to you. Keep your name off it, if we’re
doing this we need to focus on the Public Relations of it. I’ll
call off the bombs, there’s still time, we can build up to it and-”
“You’re going to tell me when they’re doing the bombs,” I
corrected him, the man looking more confused than ever, “I’m
going to stop them, but not before you call in an anonymous tip
telling people what’s going on, say you’re going to stop it. Far
as anyone’s going to see, a werewolf is going to fall out of a
building after a building doesn’t blow up, they’re going to find
bodies of mercenaries, and that’ll be the worlds introduction.”
“Not the worst plan I’ve heard,” he sighed in a way that told
me it was close, “fine, see the appeal too. They play my voice on
the phone, even disguised a little, they’ll be looking for a guy
which… yeah, don’t see anyone mistaking you.”
“And then I’ll talk to your ex or whatever, and you’ll do what
you can,” I answered, my smile broad as I desperately hoped this
sounded like a good idea, “and… well, The Lady won’t be likely
to put that much pressure on you anymore.” I finished, the man
looking up with half the revelation I just did, “she’ll be busy
all of tomorrow preparing to put out fires, making sure her contacts
are secure, Christmas Eve press conference is the day after right?
Just enough time for the facts to start getting leaked, video to
spread, and people to start talking. Moment you tell the world that
maybe we should start thinking about if werewolves are evil or not
all eyes are on you.”
“And suddenly it’s a lot more dangerous for her to be trying to
boss me around, because people are going to wonder why I care so
much,” Tony realized with a broadening smile, “I… I spent most
the money I got from her. I tracked some of her financial records,
found the apartments in the building you stayed in. Raked one open
and took a few Good Delivery bars I managed to use as collateral on
the contracts, got those from her books. She runs an audit of her
stock she’ll start putting stuff together, but…”
“Let me handle that,” I countered, frowning even as I wasn’t
sure what that meant, “sounds like you’re in, so what can
you tell me?”
Tony looking down at the desk in front of him a long time, clicking
his tongue before finally announcing, “bombs off at eleven, were
sneaking in with the party staff at seven. By nine staff is all
focused downstairs until it’s time to start cleaning, giving time
to set up and confirm targets. Bombs are being placed on the third
floor, idea of collapsing top floors into the bottom. Figured that
had the best chance of killing supernaturals.”
“Alright,” I said, still not believing I was doing this, “let
me… do this, and then you get those contracts called off early
tomorrow. We can’t let anything look like I was involved by you
calling mine off now.”
“Sure you can handle the bombs? Not exactly a werewolf thing to do,
not going to help your case if werewolves get revealed by blowing
up a building.”
“Not sure, but overconfident,” I admitted with a shrug, “bombs
are what my dad’s family does best.”