WOLFISH

WOLFISH: 2

As soon as I got home, I sat down behind one of my computers. I opened up the database of the Council and searched for Ainsworth. Very little was found. The description of the whole family was all, and even that consisted of just two pages. I quickly read it. It told the short story of the first hunter of their family, Charles Ainsworth, who'd battled an ancient werewolf. The werewolf had killed him. His brother, Peter Ainsworth, had avenged him. After hunting the werewolf down and torturing it until it died, he'd raised his kids to become what he had become. A hunter. His kids had raised theirs the same way.
That brought me to the hunters from the family who lived in Fortuna.
There were Derek, the boy I'd met, Clarissa, his mother, and Tyler, his brother. Clarissa had a sister, Samantha, and a brother, Ethan. Samantha was married to Sylvester. Ethan had a girlfriend, Paige, and together, they had a son, Dylan. But, the most important part of the family, the leader, was Diane, the mother of Clarissa, Samantha and Ethan.
Next to every name, there was a picture of the person.
That was it, though. I moved on to Tobias.
In school, I had been able to somehow catch his surname. Crawford. Not much popped up. He was a natural werewolf, so he hadn't been turned by anyone. His mother, Sabrina, was a turned werewolf, his father, Arnold, wasn't, either. Both had never been Alphas. Tobias had become an Alpha by killing the crazy werewolf who'd been the Alpha in Fortuna before him. He'd never killed anyone apart from that one. That explained the eye colour he got after shifting.
You see, the eye colour of a shifted werewolf said something about him.
Regular werewolves, or Betas, had dark blue, almost black, eyes. Werewolves who'd killed innocents got red eyes. Alphas had green eyes. Alphas who'd killed innocents got grey eyes.
The Alpha killed by Tobias had been very much homicidal and not at all innocent, so Tobias didn't have grey ones.
The screen on my right suddenly lit up and caught my eye. On it, there were half of the footage of surveillance cameras all over the city. The other half was visible on the screen on the screen on my left. The camera pointed at one of the alleys downtown showed a boy backing away from someone - or something. A particular werewolf, maybe. I quickly stood up, grabbed the holster with my sword in it, strapped it to my waist and made my way out of my base. Locking the door, the scent of an unknown werewolf entered my nostrils. This one couldn't be the newbie - he smelled more experienced, so I let it go.
I ran to the alley. It took me about five minutes to get there, since it was on the other side of Fortuna. Once I got there, the werewolf was gone. I cursed. The scene in front of me was a lot like the one from the day before. The brick walls around the body were covered in blood splatters and a large puddle of the red substance was quickly forming on the ground. His organs decorated the whole thing. The boy couldn't have been over my age. His eyes were closed, his head had lolled to the side. Like before, I took a few pictures of the body, before searching it for anything useful. There was nothing. Not even a scent. Blood does that to you.
I went to call 911, again, but was stopped by a werewolf. His lower arm on my throat, to be precise. My back was against the wall with the smallest amount of blood on it. He took my phone and ended the call. Adding a bit of pressure, he snapped "What the Hell do you think you were doing?"
In a blur, I reversed our positions, so that my arm was against his throat.
"I was getting someone to remove the body," I snapped back.
"Do you want the humans to find out about us?"
I took the time to assess him. He had a slight accent - Italian. His hair was brown, shiny and half long. His skin was tan. He had the most on point eyebrows I'd ever seen on a guy. His brown eyes stared into my blue ones with animosity. Full lips and a sharp jawline completed his looks. He was wearing a black leather jacket, a blue shirt, dark washed jeans and sneakers. His posture was tense.
Without removing the pressure of my arm on his throat, I told him "State your name."
"You don't need to know who I am."
His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, as he swallowed.
"Oh, but I want to." I leant in slightly, so that my face was leveled with his and our noses almost touched. "Now, do what I say."
The fire in his eyes dimmed down a bit.
"Fine. I am Raphael."
"I believe you've forgotten your surname."
"It's Fiore."
Raphael Fiore. That sounded familiar. "You're one of Tobias' Betas," I stated.
There were only three possible ranks you could bear as a werewolf. Firstly, there was the rank of Alpha. Alphas could turn humans werewolf by bite and were stronger than other werewolves. Secondly, there was the rank of Beta. Betas were regular werewolves - the kind that couldn't fully shift into a wolf, but could only possess glowing eyes with dilated pupils, canines, a deformed jaw, extra facial hair and claws - and lived in packs existing of not more than six werewolves with an Alpha as their leader. Thirdly, there was the rank of Gamma. Gammas were like Betas, except that they chose for a life without a pack. Usually, they weren't very controlled, more wild. Some of them could turn fully wolf.
Raphael confirmed my statement. I released him.
"Why the fuck are you following me around?"
I was pissed off. I, as a Protector, was a Gamma. I appreciated my privacy and wasn't about to let some teenagers that thought they stood above the Council take it from me.
"Tobias asked me to keep an eye on you."
Of course. I had to talk to him. Get him to stay out of my business.
"Well, don't. I don't need a babysitter. If I catch you watching me again, I won't hesitate to take the measures needed to get you to leave me alone."
"Like what?"
I met his challenging gaze.
"You'll see."
He shrunk back at the sight of my violet irises and dilated pupils. His eyes responded to mine by becoming dark.
"Fuck off, before I hurt you," I snapped at him.
The blue of his eyes dulled. A low growl emitted from his throat.
"Go."
He did. I waited until he disappeared into the night. Then, I turned to seek for the pair of eyes I felt on my back. I found a green pair watching me from a distance. I recognized the face of the man those eyes belonged to as Ethan Ainsworth. It seemed like the Hunters had taken an interest in me. I stood there looking at him for some time. When I was sure he'd noticed that I had seen him, I left the alley to go back to my base.