Grim Echoes

Chapter 2 - Will

Will left the busy street. Didn't want anywhere near whatever the fuck that'd been. Nothing like that'd ever happened to him, probably some sort of magic bullshit or mental mindfuck. He rubbed the back of his head, didn't need that crap during a mission.

The curvy female with long, dark hair and eyes still burned in his mind. Everything faded when she'd stared at him from across the street. Vivid colors of yellow-green and red had surrounded them. Positive they weren't there anymore, they'd transported somewhere else. He'd felt safe, like the war was finally over and he was home. He shook his head. Made no sense. The war would never be, least not in his lifetime. Monsters were everywhere. In every city, suburb, rural areas, hell, even in the shit-hole places of the world. It'd take lifetimes to exterminate them.

Needed to get his head out of his ass. Had a werewolf to track, and because of her, he'd lost the trail. He pulled out his flask and took a hasty drink before he re-traced his steps to just before the intersection. He'd circle around and hopefully find its tracks again. Only a few days till it'd be too hard to locate the fleabag. Tonight was the full moon. The werewolf musk was potent, much easier to pick up on. Careless in their human form around the full moon, fleabags rarely covered their tracks. Too hyped up for the change.

He pulled his vibrating phone out and read the text; Ander was at the library. With a deep breath, he steadied his nerves. It'd be fine. Ander could handle being at the library by himself. Had to let Andy do things alone if he was gonna get better. Still not ok with letting Ander scout locations, engage creatures or even go on retrievals without him, but boring research was safe enough. Wasn't like some magic library or top-secret location for cursed books; just an ordinary library, filled with normals.

The mission had to be successful. Had to get Ander's confidence up. Plus, Mason hovered over them like a mother hen. It drove him nuts. He got it. After Ander had flaked out and went mental, Mason was nervous. She'd stopped by in whatever location they were in at least once on a mission and made sure Ander was lucid. Mason needed to chill out. No hallucinations or episodes in weeks, Andy still suffered nightmares that woke Will if they were at in a location where they could both sleep, but after what he'd been through, it was expected.

Will followed the alleyway before he jogged through the intersection. Fuck, he'd had nightmares when he first came back from Somalia. Sometimes shit burrowed deep in your head and it took a while to shut out or deal with. Discharged from the military eight months ago, he'd worked through that crap. Andy needed more time. It'd only been three months since they'd been back to work, and things were still jumbled in Ander's brain. Will grit his teeth; needed to concentrate on the werewolf. Time was running out.