Chapter 6


Chapter 6


Vorgrim was home.
That much Xander was sure of.  He’d been standing outside the tall, downtown office building since afternoon.  He’d watched the traffic in and out while keeping to the shadows of the ally across the street.  Some of them were normal humans, most of them weren’t.  He’d waited until evening when the traffic began to dwindle and ultimately stop.
He waited twenty more minutes after seen the last person leave before leaving his hiding place and approaching his clan’s headquarters.  He wasn’t sure what to expect.  He was fairly certain that the order would be given to capture him on site, if it hadn’t already.  He just hoped it hadn’t so he could talk to Vorgrim.
He entered the empty lobby.  Everything was polished and cleaned, just like the last time he’d been there.  Scents of every kind invaded his senses.  Humans, Ze’ev, service animals, perfumes, and colognes.  He’d trained himself to sort out particular scents, but this many still hurt his head at times.
He made his way across the lobby to the elevators.  He pressed the button and waited.  He nerves were on edge.  Vorgrim didn’t like him as it was.  After the fiasco with Killian, he wasn’t sure what was going to happen.  He was sure that Vorgrim would try to capture him on site.  Xander was readying himself for a fight.
The elevator dinged after what felt like ten minutes.  Xander stepped inside and hit the button to the top floor.  Again it seemed to take an eternity for the elevator to ding at the top floor.
He exited as the doors slid open.  Just as before there was two security guards at the end of the hall.  One on each side of the double door.  Xander prepared himself for a confrontation.
He watch as one of them spoke into his lapel, obviously alerting Vorgrim to his arrival.  Xander walked up to the two men, looking between the two.  Neither acknowledged him and he continued on to the double doors.
Inside the huge office, it was the same as before.  The only difference was the empty seat behind the desk.  A jolt of fear shot through Xander.
“If it isn’t my problem child.”
Xander spun around to see his clan chief leaning against the large left side built-in bookcase next to door.  As usual Vorgrim was adorned in a very expensive black Italian suit.  His button shirt was black as well.  A red tie the only splash of color in the man’s clothing.  Vorgrim’s hands were crossed across his chest.  He had a look on his face that reminded Xander of a disappointed father.
Vorgrim pushed away from the bookcase and put his hands in his pants pockets.  He began a slow gait toward Xander.  “Where’s the boy Xander?”
“He’s safe.”
Vorgrim smirked at him as if privy to an inside joke.  “What kind of protection can that old cripple give him?”
Xander was sure that the surprise he felt flashed across his face.  It became apparent when another smirk played across Vorgrim’s face.
“You’re in a lot of trouble Xander.”  He passed around Xander, beginning to circle him.  “The council has already ordered me to kill you on site.  I can’t understand how you can be this reckless.”
Xander clenched his jaw.  “Who is the boy?  Really?”
Vorgrim came to a stop in front of him.  His raised his eyebrows in surprise.  “Why whatever do you mean?”
“The boy.  Why’s he so important to you?”
Vorgrim looked off as if figuring out how to explain something to a simpleton.  “He is important to the future of the Ze’ev.  He needs to stay safe.”
“Why?”
“I believe you know.”
“Then say it.”
Vorgrim shook his head and moved past Xander.  “Are you really this dense or do you want to hear something in particular from me?  You’re already in quite a lot of trouble MacTire.  I think you should be worried about that.”
He reached down and hit a button on a the intercom that sat on his large mahogany desk.  Xander jumped into action quickly as the doors behind him opened.  He was on the first security guard before he fully entered the room.  He grabbed the man by the front of his jacket and threw him into the right wall.  The man fell in a heap on the floor.  
He turned as the second man slammed into him.  Xander moved with the momentum, sending the man into the desk across the room.  The man hit the desk hard, but was on his feet quickly, already mid transformation.  Xander expected that and was already fully changed.
Xander saw a flash of silver in the security guards hand as the man pulled his dagger.  Xander’s was already in his hand.
The wolf charged and Xander side stepped him, dropping him with a clothesline across the chest.  He dropped to one knee beside his opponent and put his dagger to the wolf’s throat and his opponent began to get up.  “Stay down.”
He looked up at Vorgrim, who was watching the fight from his desk chair.  Xander rose up and began stalking toward the man.
“Really Xander?  Do you really want anymore trouble?”
Before Xander could respond the door behind him slammed open.  Xander only had a second to see the squad of armed men enter before he was on the move.  Gun fire exploded around him as he moved across the room.  Glass from the floor to ceiling windows shattered behind him.  He felt small cuts from flying glass, but only slowed long enough to jump to the second floor railing above.
“He’s upstairs!”  Someone yelled from below.
He looked at his surroundings.  He’d never been up here before and wasn’t even sure there was an exit.  A door stood against the wall a few feet away.  He raced to it and threw it open.  Stairs lay beyond it.
He didn’t think twice as he began barrelling up the steps.  He gotten a floor up when the door below him crashed open and the voices followed.
Xander raced up the stairs without looking back.  He looked up to see a flash from a lighted exit sign above.
“There he is!”
Gun fire erupted all around him again.  Xander moved toward the wall of the stairway, trying to keep out of view of the guards.  Within minutes Xander reached the exit and burst through the door without any wasted motion.  He moved out onto the roof and looked around.  There was obviously no where to hide here.  Xander moved to the edge of the building.  The building seemed to be higher than the building surrounding it.  If he jumped he might be able to make the roof of a nearby building.
Xander began to back up to make a run for the edge of the roof.  He hesitated when he caught a familiar scent.  It was the scent of the other person from Sam’s room.  The one that had been following him last night.
Xander spun around as the team burst through the door.  The man in the lead sparked Xander’s memory.  It was one of Vorgrim’s security guards, the one that was usually the closest to him.  The one he thought it odd that Vorgrim had replaced.
Xander had little time to do anything else.  He took off in a run for the edge of the roof.  He felt bullets whiz by his head as he reached the edge.  Jumping with all his might, Xander leapt out into space.
Time slowed.  Xander could see the building he was aiming for come at him, but it seemed as if he was caught in a pool of water.  He spun his arms wildly as the building drew nearer.  It wasn’t until he was almost there that he realized he was going to fall short.
Xander tried to push down the panic that coursed through him as he reached out his arms.  His padded finger tips only grazed the edge of the building.

Jenny found Liath at a table in the common room.  He sat reading a book and sipping a cup of tea.  The man seemed to always be drinking tea.
“I was looking for Xander, have you seen him?”
LIath look up at her, a grim look on his face.  “He’s gone to speak with his clan chief.”
“And that’s bad?”
“It is when you’ve been marked for death.”  He said setting his book down.
“Being seen was that bad?”
“I’m afraid so.  Vorgrim has more than likely been told to kill him on site.”
Jenny’s legs wobbled underneath her and she sat down in a chair.  It surprised her that she was having that kind of reaction.
“What is he going to do.”
“He said he was going to get answers.”
“About Sam?”
“Yes.”
Jenny looked over to the boy at a table across the room.  He sat drawing and talking to Ciaran.  He had a smile on his face.  Jenny didn’t remember ever seeing him smile before.
“It’s because he’s not the one, is he?”
A smile came to Liath’s face.  “You’re a perceptive one, aren’t you?”
“I’ve had my suspicions for a while.”
“What was it?”
“Not anything in particular, just a gut feeling.”  She gave him a shrug.  “I’ve learned to listen to them.”
Liath nodded.  “Instincts are never a bad thing.  We’re programmed to sense danger.  Most people phase it out.  Humans aren’t hunted like they used to be.  You’re smart to listen to yours.”
She gave him a smile.  “Do you think that Xander will be back.”
“The boy has a knack for getting himself out of tight jams.  Been doing it since before I found him.”
This peaked Jenny’s interest.  “You found him?”
“Yes.  It was before I started this sanctuary.”  He tapped his leg with his fist.  “Just after I became lame.  I came across Xander in a back ally.  He’d obviously been through the ritual, whether he was helped through it or it happened by himself I’ve never determined.  He was almost feral though, even in his human form.”
“He trusted you though.”
Liath nodded and sipped his tea.  “I think he saw a kindred spirit.  A loner, like himself.”
“I though you were all part of a clan?”
“We can be.  It’s usually a good idea, but some of us don’t like to be directed.  That’s why it surprised me when Xander found his clan.”
“Why do you think that was?”
He shook his head.  “Xander would have to be the one to tell you.  He’s never explained it to me.”
Jenny and Liath lapsed into silence.  The worry about Xander began to set in without the distraction of conversation.  The creak of the heavy door at the top of the stairs quickly brought her out of her thoughts and she turned toward the door leading to the stairs.
“Well, maybe that’s him.”  Liath said, standing up.
The door opened and Jenny heard Liath gasp.  Jenny looked past the older man to see someone standing in the door way she didn’t recognize.  The man was tall, but not as tall as Xander.  He wore a long trench coat over a dark button up shirt and slacks.  Even though it was night, the man wore a pair of black Ray Bans.  The glasses did little to cover a particularly nasty scar running across his right eye.  The thing that disturbed her the most was the particularly nasty grin the man had.
“Killian.”  Liath gasped.
“Hello old man.”  He looked around the room.  “Good to see the place is still up and running.”
He slowly sauntered into the room.  Two other men trailed him.  They looked to Jenny to be stereotypical thugs.  One was a short man, a little on the pudgy side.  His beady scanning the room.  The other was a tall lanky fellow.  He stood about a half a head taller than Killian.  A tooth pick constantly moving from side to side in his mouth.  The two men began to spread out, trying to keep anyone who decided to run from getting past.
“Don’t worry Liath, we don’t want trouble.  We just want one thing.”  At this point he seemed to have noticed Sam and Ciaran.  His smile seemed to widen if that was possible.  “Hey buddy.  We’ve been sent to take you home.”
Sam eyes seemed to sparkle.  “You know my mommy and daddy?”
“That’s right.”  Again the smile seemed to widen.  Jenny found it eerie.  While his attention was on the boy, Jenny slowly began to reach toward her shoulder holster.
“We wouldn’t want to scare the boy, would we Miss Cooper?”
Jenny’s arm froze where it was and she dropped it into her lap.
“That’s right.  No trouble.”
“The boy is of no importance to you.”  It was the first time Jenny had seen Liath aggitated.  It made her even more uneasy.
Killian walked up to the old man and stood uncomfortably close.  Killian whispered his next statement, but Jenny was close enough to hear.  “I don’t think Xander would have left you out of the loop.”  He made a particular emphasize on the word “you”.
“He’s not who you think he is.”
“He’s exactly who I think he is.”  He looked over to the boy and the grin returned.  “He’s bait.”
Jenny stood up and the two men produced guns.  “Bait for who?”
“Frank.  Eddie.  There’s no need for those.  There’s not going to be any trouble here.”  He turned his attention back to Liath.  “No trouble at all.”  
He motioned with his hand and the lanky man moved toward Sam.  The boy began to back up and suddenly Ciaran was in between the boy and the tall thug.  She bared her teeth and the tall man gave pause.
“You’re kidding, right?”  The man chuckled in a nasally voice.  He took a step forward and a shove from Ciaran quickly sent him into a table across the room.  The short man went to help his partner up.  In a flash Killian was at Ciaran and she let out a soft moan, blood blossoming on her shirt.
“No!”  Liath yelled, moving toward Killian.
“I wouldn’t if I were you!  You’re no match for me and I don’t think you want anymore blood on your hands.”  Ciaran slumped to the floor and Killian stepped over her, a shimmer moving through the air.  Jenny took a step back as the air seemed to thicken.  Killian picked up a now sobbing Sam.  Killian gave him one of his sinister smiles.
“Don’t worry buddy, it’ll be okay.”
Sam sensed the man’s insincerity and began to kick and scream.  Killian put a hand on the boys mouth and moved back to his goons.  He shoved Sam at the lanky man.
“If Xander returns tell him to come look for me.”  He looked back at Liath and Jenny.  “I won’t be hard to find.”
With that he left and the two goons followed.
Jenny and Liath were quickly at Ciaran’s side, but by that time there was nothing they could do.  Liath closed her eyes and then held her close.
“I’m sorry.”  Jenny wasn’t sure what else to say.
“It wasn’t your fault.”  He laid her down on the floor again.  “She knew what she was getting into when she got involved.  I’m just sad to see her go.  She was a great friend.”
Liath used his cane to climb to his feet.  Jenny stood and watched him walk to the table and sit down.
“Are we just going to leave her here?”  She said turning back to Ciaran.
“Of course not.  I just need a moment.”
Jenny walked to over to the old man and laid a hand on his shoulder.  He reached up and squeezed it.  It wasn’t until then that Jenny realized tears were streaming down her face.  She’d always tried to be strong that she couldn’t remember the last time she’d cried.  She wiped them away with the back of her hand.
“What do we do now?”
“We wait.”

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