Behind the Mask

I sat in the upper level of Rex’s bar waiting for Ace and Owen to make their appearance and finally get to hear about the bounty tonight. I looked at the Bud light that sat in front of me and fingered it, tracing the water drops up and down the bottle. I picked up the bottle and walked over to the rail looking down at the bar and its drunken costumers. Using my nail I broke the cap off the bottle and chugged the liquor down. I could hear whistles and calls, but not Ace and Owen when they walked in to our private room. I was still drinking when Ace grabbed my wrist and pulled the bottle away from my lips. Alcohol spattered on the wood floor as I lost the bottle over the rail. My eyes followed the bottle until it shattered then I quickly glared at Ace who still held onto me.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I yelled at him.

“That’s my line!” he grabbed my other wrist as I started the thrash, “Why the hell are you drinking beer?” I only growled at him feeling my sight begin to change that I didn’t even see the Owen’s hand coming. My cheek felt hot and it stung from the hit that I remained speechless. I haven’t been hit like a child in such a long time that being reprimanded felt nostalgic. Ace let me go and I fell to the floor taking in the situation when I saw Owen’s shoe in front of me. I looked up at him and he scowled at me in disgust.

“We treat you like a princess, we protect you like a princess, and we call you princess. The least you can do is act like one and not like a popper behind our backs.” He huffed and turned toward the pool table where his backpack sat. “Now if you’re coming back to your senses I would like to start the briefing.”

“Wait,” Ace said walking over to Owen, “what about Rex?” he leaned on the pool table next to Owen.

“I thought I heard my name.” Rex said walking into the room. He was an older man, late forties with a little beer belly. Like all werecats he was tall with long legs so it didn’t take him long to cross the room to get to me. He looked at me then scooped me up in his arms like a child when he made a weird face. “Dear child don’t tell me you’ve been drinking?” He leaned in closer to my face and wrinkled his nose, “How many have you had?”

“Six,” Owen said nodding to the table I sat at earlier. Which had Bud Light bottles arranged in a circle, “and that’s not counting the one Ace made her drop into the crowd downstairs.”
Rex’s eye narrowed, “Vivienne Madeline Crew,” he sounded like the parent I never had, or at least couldn’t remember. I could feel myself begin to pout letting the effects of the beer take over. That’s the thing I hate about beer it makes me reveal my emotions so easy. Love the way it takes away the pain, hate how idiotic it makes me act. Then it happened I begin crying like a toddler letting my tears run free down my face. Rex embraced me in a bear hug until I completely soaked his shoulder. Eventually, by which I mean thirty minutes later, I regained control of myself and the briefing started.

“Okay now that we finally collected ourself,” he didn’t look at me, but Ace snickered, “We can start.” He tossed a photo on the pool table, “This man is Dylan Thompson, species werewolf, age twenty-seven. He is wanted for the murder and rape of a woman name Lillian McGreger. Who is or was as you know the successor of Sir James McGreger.”

“You mean that man with the deep pockets that made some pretty good investments in the markets.” Ace said smiling.

“That’s him. So story goes that Dylan here was an old partner of Sir James, but left the entire fortune to Miss Lillian and things got heated. When he confronted her on the fortune and tried to convince a share she had him thrown out of her estate. Later she bought over his companies leaving him with nothing. So he took revenge into his own hands and went after her.”

“Thats when we come in.” Ace said.

“Well yes,” Ace threw another picture on the table showing Dylan walking into a club. Then another fell onto it showing the man drunk stumbling out, “He frequents The Moon a lot and tonight it’s supposed to be a big hot spot. So I can bet we’ll be finding him there.”

“Why is tonight such a big night with the wolves?” I asked.

Ace, Owen, and Rex looked at each other and smiled sharing some secret information that baffled me. Rex looked at me and laughed making his belly shake like jelly. He placed a hand on my throbbing head, “You’ll find out soon kid, but before you guys take off how about I get you a cup of joe? Black. You know, so you can bounce back.” I nodded and he disappeared behind the door to the mini kitchen on the floor. My eyes fell on Owen who quickly looked to Ace avoiding me.

“You and V will go in with fangs and I’ll stay as I am.” Owen said.

“You gonna go and use your little magic shortcuts, aren’t ya?” Ace said playfully.
Owen merely glanced at Ace and in a second Owen held him at gun point without batting an eye. The boys stood perfectly still calculating ten moves ahead of each other as trained to make everything they did sharp and to the point. I watched carefully from where I sat as I noted every breath they took, and every muscle twitch their faces’ made. Owen watched Ace with his cold hazel eyes as he kept his gun perfectly level for an execution style kill. Slowly Ace’s pupils changed into the menacing cat eyes that usually are only shown when he is mad or getting serious.

“”I see you got a new toy,” Ace said keeping his eyes lock with Owen’s.
“Meet the Bloody Mary,” Owen said indicated to gun, “compliments of the Fey.” I felt myself twitch at the mention of the fey. Those angelic little devils don’t usually give out of their arsenal much less meet with any of us. Those creatures see us as wild beasts that roam the night unlike them who lavish in elegance. How could Owen get ahold of one of their weapons? Unless…

“Where do you keep the gun?” I asked him from my seat.

“Where else? On my body.” He snapped and I got up and walked to him. Everything the fey does comes with a price. Something like an enchanted weapon could hold a steep price that could be dastardly. I stood next to him and with a swipe of my hand I cut his shirt open reveling scars of past fights. I put my hand on his chest and he jumped, startled at my movement but I barely noticed it. I was too busy looking for what he couldn’t see but might have been feeling for the past day or so. My hand explored his chest until I felt something out of the ordinary even for my kind. Just to the left of his belly button I could feel the scab of the fey when they do trades involving the body. It was rough almost like sand paper, but I could feel it crumble beneath my touch. I got on my knees and felt my vision change so I would be clearly able to see what was going on. That area that felt like sandpaper sparkled and completely smelled of sprites doing their everday mischief.

“Damn what the hell have you gotten yourself into Owen?” I asked looking at the glittered part of his body. “I need to get rid of this.”

“Just how will y-“, he stop talking the moment he felt my tongue on him. The dust melted in my mouth and tasted liked no other. I kept licking until I completely tasted all of the sweet scabbing of the fey. When I finished I could have sworn I felt like I was on cloud nine high up in the sky. I stood back up, dazed, when I heard someone clear their throat toward the back of the room. When I quickly spun around to find the source I saw Rex standing stunned holding two cups of coffee.

“Is it too much for me to ask what the hell was that display?” Rex’s voice rose with every word.

I walked over to him dreamlike and took the cup of coffee he held, “Fey,” was all I could manage to say.

“The Fey?” Rex asked with a quizzical look then he turned to the boys, “Care to explain?” All I could do was focus on my coffee and its bitter taste that I didn’t even bother to look up. Still by how the room’s atmosphere changed I could tell no one was going to say anything to Rex, an adult, despite how childish he may act at times. I could feel the daze start to fade with every gulp I took restoring me to my sane attitude. When I finally glanced at Ace and Owen they both stood back to back completely disarmed and mello like nothing ever happened. Except for the evidence of Owen’s ripped shirt and what Rex saw me doing just a second ago. “What no one’s going to talk?” Rex said sternly eyeing Owen who bit his lip in frustration. No one answered Rex and this made him mad as his face went red ear to ear. Owen scuffed and went searching through his bag for a new shirt to wear as I watch him discard the damaged one. His shoulders tensed probably feeling my eyes on him looking at all his enchanted weapons tattooed to his body. I don’t know when he pulled out his new shirt, but he quickly threw it on blocking my view of his hidden armory.

“It’s late we need to leave,” Owen said swinging his backpack over his shoulder, “Come on you two at this rate we’ll miss him.” Ace and I looked at each other and nodded following Owen out the door to the spiraling stair case that lead to the roof. Rex followed us up the stairs to the roof where Ace started stripping handing his clothes over to Owen. Taking in the night air I too started to remove my clothes feeling the chills of the night brush my over my skin. Nude I glanced at Rex who looked stern and who was still a little pissed off. I walked over to him and gave him a hug.

“I won’t let anything happen to them,” I tried to reassure him because I knew what he was thinking. That display looked as if I had a thing for Owen and it worried Rex that Ray would find out. That would be the last thing I would Ray find put because I know he would kill him if I had feelings for Owen. “I promise.”

“Still what about you? Aren’t you ever concerned about yourself?” Rex asked.

“I don’t have the time for that.” I let go of him and walked next to Ace as we both got down on all fours letting the animal inside us come out. Our bones crackled, our blood rushed, our eye sight changed letting a new world present itself in front of us. After our transformation Owen got on Ace’s back and looked at Rex.

“Don’t wait up.”

“As if I do that now,” Rex joked.

Then Ace and I took off jumping roof to roof in search of our prey.