18

n the first floor of the Ingram Estate, Pax ran through the halls. The news filtered in from Alexandria, sending him away from his lunch and tearing into the stairwell. He wanted to be the first to break the news to Alex.
Pax threw open the door to Alex’s office and found it empty.
He grumbled. “Figures.”
Closing the door he ran for the grand staircase, certain he knew now where to find him.
As Pax came to the door of Alex’s private study, he barged through, almost smashing the door knob into the wall.
Alex jumped in his seat. “Dammit, Pax!”
“I’m sorry, sir,” he said, catching his breath, “but you have to hear this.”
Pulling off his reading glasses, Alex rubbed his fingers along the bridge of his nose. “You could of called me.”
“Not this. Not this.”
“All right. What is it?”
Pax breathed deep. “We just received word that a black Jeep Commander was found abandoned this morning, about three hours from here.” The placid look on Alex’s face was an expression he didn’t expect to see.
“And why should I be concerned?” he said.
“It’s the condition in which the Jeep was found. It was crashed into a tree and the interior covered with blood.”
Alex’s expression switched to the one Pax expected to see. “Who’s handling the scene?” he asked.
“A team from Alexandria arrived not too long ago.”
“Any havens or packs in the area?”
“I didn’t have time to check. But if there is a haven, it’s most likely abandoned like the rest.”
Alex stood from his desk, thinking of something to say. “Get my helicopter ready.”
“Sir…” Pax began, scratching the back of his head, “I, uh…”
“Yes, you may accompany me.”
“Thank you, sir. Anyone else you want to bring?”
“Pick two others and meet me at the helipad.”

The helicopter landed in a field two miles away from the scene. A car met Alex and his small team, taking them the rest of the way to the Jeep where a small crowd of onlookers gathered by the road. The police kept them out of the field and away from the scene, but it was the presence of this other crew that secretly told everyone this wasn’t some simple car accident. Within minutes of gathering at the scene, a picture of the wrecked vehicle was already posted online, via cell phone. Containing a scene in this day and age was something that concerned Alex. Walking the line between obscurity and publicly known was becoming more of a tightrope walk. He hated the internet.
The cars stopped halfway through the field. Pax stayed at Alex’s side as their small team headed for the Jeep.
“I’m not sure about the coat,” Pax whispered, nodding once at the long, dark coat Alex wore. “You look too much like an FBI agent.”
His boss spoke, ignoring the comment. “I thought you said we had a team here.”
“To my knowledge, we do.” Pax looked over the strange faces and found a familiar one. “Leigh! Where is everyone?”
The proficient hunter, Leigh, nodded at them. She lowered the camera and stepped away from the Jeep to properly address them, giving another nod at Alex. “I wasn’t expecting you here,” she said.
Alex remained like a stone wall as he surveyed the scene. “Where is everyone else?”
“Securing the rest of the scene,” she informed.
“There’s more?” asked Pax.
“At a farm about a mile that way.” She pointed into the woods.
Alex’s eyes kept moving back to the Jeep. “What can you tell me about this?”
Leigh motioned to the broken rear window. “The glass was shattered inward and the driver was badly injured. My guess is that he was outrunning something.”
“Gabriel doesn’t run,” Alex quietly informed. “It’s not in his nature to run.”
Pax spoke. “Then that leaves a certain girl behind the wheel.”
Alex approached the Jeep and peered into the broken window. Blood shown the trail of someone dragged from the front and out the back. A gun covered in dried blood sat on the floor. The weapon belonged to Gabriel. Moving to the driver’s side door, Alex found more blood on the handle. Leigh moved in and carefully opened the door with a gloved hand. She snapped a few more pictures before backing away.
Alex gave the driver’s seat disconcerting look. While the blood told of the driver’s severe injuries, the passenger seat was untouched.
“Get a team to the nearest haven,” he ordered, staring at the blood covered steering wheel. “If it’s abandoned like the others, I want a full sweep—the surrounding area included.”
“We already have,” Leigh informed.
Pax studied Alex’s faltering exterior. “I thought you were giving up your search for her.”
“I have,” he lied. “I just want to know what happened. I want to know if she’s all right.” He faced Leigh and ordered, “Get the Jeep loaded up and take it back to inspect further.” His eyes then fell on the crowd of onlookers. “I want this area cleared out within thirty minutes.”
“What about the boys in blue?” she asked.
“Tell them that this is now an FBI investigation.”
Pax held back a laugh.
“Take me to the farm,” Alex ordered.
Leigh nodded. “Yes, sir.” Motioning to someone, she gave her own order. “Show them to the farm.”

As the car pulled into the driveway, Pax could sense Alex’s frustration give way to anger. And the cause was obvious. The cars parked here doubled the amount of those by the Jeep. One of the vehicles was a large, black truck, its trailer big enough to carry another vehicle.
Alex left the car in a huff. Pax followed him as he marched up to the truck, the team at the house oblivious to the man storming their way.
“How long has this been here?” Alex yelled.
Everyone stopped to look at him, surprised to see the big man himself on the scene.
A woman finally stepped forward and shrugged. “An hour, maybe longer.”
“This needs to go back to the Jeep, securing and cleaning that area first,” he said. “Number one priority—discreetness. We have nearly a dozen curious eyes scouring that scene, and only four of our men dealing with damage control. I want to see that amount tripled, and this thing”—he hit the truck—“out of here.”
The people jumped into action, scrambling to their vehicles, while a handful of others filed into the truck. A middle-aged man from the dispersing crowd approached Alex and Pax.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” Richard said.
“Thus the lax in procedure?” replied Alex. “Unacceptable.”
Pax intervened, deflecting his boss’ anger. “So what’s the story?”
“The barn is the most interesting,” began Richard, motioning for them to follow. They crossed the short distance to the barn where four people worked the scene. A body of a man lay near a large, grey wolf, the bite on his neck unmistakably the work of a vampire. The wolf shown similar signs of a vampire feeding.
Richard stood over the wolf. “There are two known packs around this area. We’re not sure which one she belongs to.” Kneeling down, he pointed to the head. “Shot point-blank.”
“And the human?” asked Alex.
“He was fed on, of course,” he said, standing. “And from what we could gather from the horse and the house, there were two vampires here.”
“Horse?” questioned Pax.
“In here.” Richard went to one of the stalls.
The dead horse shown two wounds on its neck. They weren’t bite marks, but wounds made by a blade. Another injury to the animal caught Pax’s eye. He knelt by the horse’s shoulders and brushed the mane to the side.
“It was paralyzed,” he concluded. “They were too weak to risk further injury if the horse struggled.”
Richard tightened his lips at the theory. “We can spin the scene as an animal attack. The feral dog attacked the horse, and as the human came to investigate, he injured the wolf, but was also fatally injured in the process.”
“What about the house?” Alex asked.
“We haven’t fully processed everything inside,” informed Richard, “but the vampires were inside at some point.”
“Show me.”

The bright, bathroom light shown the horror left behind. Torn and bloodied clothes scattered the floor. Alex was allowed inside first. He kneeled by the clothing and towels, using a pen from his pocket to sort through them. He lifted a familiar shirt. It was the one Evonne wore last night. He looked around the bathroom once more. Blood was on the edge of the tub and floor. His eyes landed on a smeared handprint on the shower’s wall.
“One werewolf couldn’t do this much damage,” he pointed out.
“Maybe Gabriel is getting careless in his old age,” Pax casually remarked.
“You mean Gabriel was here?” asked Richard, astonished. “I heard a rumor that it may be him, but I wasn’t sure.”
Alex’s eyes picked out Gabriel’s torn coat. He moved it around with the pen, seeing the torn fabric covered in dried blood. “Have some people go around and look for any disturbed earth or caves. They may still be here.”
“No need,” Richard replied. “The owner’s truck is missing.”
“How do know that?”
“Next of kin. We located his sister who lives in town and she informed us that he owns one truck—a green Dodge Ram.”
Pax took in the scene for himself and kicked at the towels. “They were hurt pretty bad. Still bleeding after getting cleaned up.” Noticing Alex shooting him a cold look, he backtracked. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to… Well, I mean, I hope I didn’t help you visualize them showering together.” He stopped and tried again. “She has to be all right. There’s nothing here to suggest otherwise… except for the shredded clothes saturated in blood, they’re perfectly fine.”
“The closet in the master bedroom was ransacked,” continued Richard, “looking for new clothes, I would imagine. But the owner’s wallet was left untouched on the nightstand.”
“He wouldn’t touch it anyway,” Alex said, standing. “Give me a time frame.”
“We’re thinking they were here around 4 a.m., maybe five.”
“I saw them last night. They left the estate around 1 a.m.”
The cell phone in Richard’s pocket rang. He stepped into the hall and answered it.
Alex’s eyes went back to the handprint left on the shower wall. Placing his hand beside it he knew, based on size alone, it was left by Evonne.
Pax lowered his voice as he spoke. “I don’t want to admit it, and I’d be the last person in the world to admit this, but I think she’s as safe as she can be with him. I’m willing to trust Gabriel at this point.”
Turning to face the hunter, Alex felt betrayed once again by his words. “I don’t believe what I’m hearing from you.”
Richard returned to the bathroom, closed cell phone in hand. “The team we sent to the nearest haven found it abandoned, but they also found the bodies of twelve werewolves, all of them purebloods.”
“Anything else?”
“They believe that Gabriel was staying there. In the hall where most of the wolves were killed, they found a room with several bags, one of which carried guns and ammunition, including some knives. They also found another bag containing a laptop.”
“Sounds like they left in a hurry,” Pax pointed out.
“They wouldn’t leave those things on purpose,” said Alex. “I think they may try to come back for them. Have them watch the place, but refrain from standard procedure. Leave everything as they found it.”
“And if they return?” asked Richard.
“Take Evonne alive.”
“And Gabriel?”
Alex looked at the clothes once more. “Kill him.”
“Sir,” Pax said, shocked at the order, “but last night you said—”
“What I said last night was to place them at ease. If they believe I’m no longer looking for them, they will no longer be on guard.”
“You know you had enough firepower to take them out last night.”
“It wasn’t the right moment. We were the ones caught off guard.”
Richard took this heated exchange as a cue to leave the room. Once again he was on the phone, relaying the orders.
“Are you serious?” Pax sharply whispered. “You just gave an order to kill Gabriel! That’s like killing someone on our side. You’ve known him for years, well before SEVEN. Just because this shit seems to be spiraling out of your control, you can’t sit back and decide who has the right to live or die.”
“That is what we do every day! Or have you forgotten? You use to be the first to fire your gun. ‘Fangs or fur,’ you always said. It didn’t matter who they are.”
“Things change,” said Pax, his voice losing strength.
“You’re right. Things change. And as long as he remains alive, there will always be a chance he’ll take her from me again.”
“You know, in normal families the children grow up, move out, and sometimes get involved with people their parents hate with a passion. And to me, this isn’t that much different. If she doesn’t completely hate you now, then what you’re planning to do will destroy that relationship.”
“I’m doing this for her, not me.”
“Bullshit! You’re doing this for you alone.”
“Quiet,” Alex muttered.
“That’s right. When someone speaks the truth around you, you never want to hear it.”
Alex calmly left the room.
Pax sighed and leaned against the wall, lightly banging his head. “Bastard, idiot, asshole… Come on, Pax, just chose one.” Mentally choosing the right words, he headed after Alex. As he left the house he saw his boss walking back to the barn. Other SEVEN workers shuffled around, getting things ready to remove the bodies.
Pax yelled out, his words aimed at Alex. “Incompetent, egotistical, asshole!”
Everyone, including Alex, looked at him.
“You heard me,” he continued, “and I’m not recanting.”
“Stand down,” fumed Alex.
Pax held out his hands. “They’re just words, old man,” he said as he stepped from the porch. “Let’s call it a day and head back. They have everything under control here. No need to nitpick their work.”
All eyes went to Alex as they waited for his response. The man studied the bold hunter, the anger flustering his face. He shook his head at Pax’s attempt to stoke the flames. He then turned from him and continued the short walk to the barn.
Shoulders slumping, Pax was defeated again, this time, without a single word.