Filed to story: The Healer and The Wolf PDF Free
“They didn’t. But it was something I saw as a wolf. When I was a mindless animal. I didn’t understand it then, but what you said brought it back.”
The atmosphere changed into something charged with anticipation and the tiniest flicker of hope.
Leo leaned forward. “What?”
“I know the demon they swore fealty to. I can’t believe I forgot it! When I was trapped as a wolf, one of Chadwicke’s brothers came in, fuming that a succubus and incubus pair had rebuffed him. He tried cursing them on his own, but their combined magic was just too strong. Chadwicke stopped torturing me long enough to say they would have to call upon their patron. It was just noises at the time, but now…” A jubilant grin spread across Ricky’s gaunt features. “Now, I know that patron’s name.”
“Well, what is it?” Leo asked, equally enthused. “Come on, out with it.”
“Mammon,” Ricky said, sitting back and seeming to relish both syllables. “Their patron is Mammon.”
“That’s brilliant.”
Leo jumped out of his seat and rounded the table, embracing his friend probably a bit harder than he should.
I didn’t interrupt. This was something wonderful to celebrate after they’d been separated for so long.
Something was niggling at the back of my mind, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
“Have you ever heard of that before?” Ricky asked.
“Not at all,” Leo replied. “But it’s an excellent jumping off point.”
“I…” I got up and began to pace.
“You okay, Ven?” Leo asked.
“I’m fine. Just thinking.” I walked a bit more, back and forth, back and forth as I chewed my lip. Then it finally hit me. Gasping, I rushed over to my laptop and turned it one, then pulled up one of the articles I’d found in my research. I swore I recognized that name.
Leo and Ricky came over to join me, Ricky moving much slower than Leo. I paid them no mind. No, I was completely locked in on scanning through the several articles I’d bookmarked.
It was on the third one that I found what I was looking for: a short exposé on a medical testing facility Chadwicke had been linked to. The company had conducted illegal research on animals. Considering what I knew about the brothers, I shuddered to think what was actually going on there.
“What is it, Ven?”
I pushed away from the computer and showed them the logo of the company. “MMI. Mammon Medical Industries. This is their company. I bet if the members of your pack are anywhere, some of them will be here.”
Man, if my aunt could only see me now. She always said my head was stuck in the clouds, and I never had enough of a grip on reality. But my grip was secure enough to remember a single mention of a company from something I read well over a week ago. Maybe I did have a knack for investigation after all.
Suddenly, I was swept up in a hug, Leo’s impressive biceps creating a nearly crushing force around me.
“Ven, you’re incredible,” Leo practically crowed as he swung me around. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. There’s gotta be at least some of us there.”
“Maybe Atticus?” Ricky suggested hopefully.
Leo paused his twirling and set me down, sending a more sober look to his best friend. “Who’s Atticus?”
Several emotions flashed across Ricky’s face before he finally settled on a sad smile. “One of our best scouts. He and I used to go on a lot of missions together. He was with me when we originally found our first clues about the brothers.”
Leo closed his eyes, and it was almost like I could see his brain flooding with those memories. I hated how much pain it caused him. While I wanted him to have his old life back, to be able to recall those wonderful memories on a whim, I despised the journey.
“Yes, I remember now. If he’s there, we’ll find him.”
I appreciated their determination, and I hated having to rain on their parade, but I had to make sure that something was absolutely clear.
“Just so you know, I will have absolutely no part of this if either of you thinks it’s okay for it to turn into another massacre. I understand that war calls for certain things, and there aren’t likely to be children at a medical testing facility, but if we go in there and fight like we did at the compound, there’s no telling how many innocent subjects might die because of that. If anything, we have to be even more careful. I will not have the blood of prisoners who have been dreaming of escape on my hands. Am I clear?”
I was passive about a lot of things, and I let far too many people get away with talking to me however they wanted, but there were some things I wouldn’t compromise on. And while thinking about a medical facility possibly full of magical folks was horrifying, it was ten times worse to imagine any of them paying for our mistakes with their lives.
“This time will be completely different, I swear to you,” Leo said, taking my hand. “Without you, my pack wouldn’t have a hope of being here. And you’re right, the people there deserve to be saved, not to become casualties of our revenge. There’s no reason we can’t get justice while being wise about things.”
Relief washed through me, and I smiled. “Then, I’m all in. Let’s figure out everything we can about these bastards and see if we can hit them where it hurts.”
If there was one thing I had learned in my short experience dealing with a warlock, it was that speed was of the essence. We needed to hit them hard before they got a chance to counter and hit us right back.
Hopefully, we would be fast enough.
VANESSA
“I can’t believe we’re about to raid a medical facility tomorrow,” I mused, staring up at the stars as they twinkled in the endless depths of the obsidian sky, little specks of glimmering gossamer tucked safely in an infinite blanket of finest velvet.
Unlike with Chadwicke, when I’d had a week of research and nearly a week of hands-on gardening, I’d only had three days to get all the information I could about the building. It wasn’t nearly enough, but there was a whole lot more information online about a paparazzi darling and career criminal than a nondescript, no-account building nobody looked twice at.
Well, except the animal rights activists who regularly protested it.
“You don’t have to come,” Leo said softly from beside me. We were sitting on the greenhouse steps, enjoying the cool night air. “In fact, it would probably be safer if you didn’t.”
“I know, but if I don’t come, who’s going to drive the getaway car? Even two wolf shifters at full speed can’t maintain eighty miles an hour for long enough to ensure no one follows us back here.”