Poison

Chapter 5 - The Bosses - not finished.

Chapter 5 - The bosses (Poppy)

Once upon a time the Siverclaw had seven leaders. One got shot in the gut, and then there were six. This happened the year before Scarlett joined. Of the six current bosses, one of them, Dana, was away on business. The others had called Scarlett to them.

There had been a heated discussion going on before she entered and the air was thick with tension. The six of them were spaced out, as far away from each other as possible in the small room. As far as Scarlett could tell none of them actually liked each other, although they made a formidable team when together. It’s the way of gangs generally, untrusting and backstabbing. If your enemies aren’t plotting to kill you your co workers will be (it was an unfortunate coincidence that the woman who was shot happened to be having an affair with Cerys partner. Or at least no one was stupid enough to suggest otherwise).  

Cerys and her brother Damien were cruel and dishonest. The few times Scarlett had met them they had clashed, Scarlett’s impertinence annoying them no end. If she was not so valuable they would have disposed of her long ago, like they did anyone who annoyed them. Scarlett knew this but did nothing to change their view of her. Luckily she rarely had to deal with them, the groups’ unofficial leader Raif, being the one who generally briefed her and reprimanded her.  Raif had been the one to recruit Scarlett. He was ruthless and pitiless with his enemies and harsh on rule breakers but he was fair, and honest a man as you could get on the wrong side of the law. Scarlett knew that he had probably defended her a lot against the other bosses. Well Damien and Cerys anyway, Dana was indifferent to her and Lithith kept her views to herself.  Scarlett wondered if he ever even bothered to stick up for her against Kaleb, he had expressed his disapproval of her long ago.

Scarlett slumped in a comfy chair at the table, apart from her only Damien is sitting down. His sister Cerys stands behind his chair obviously seething, Raif paces the room stiffly and Kaleb stands at the window, the light throwing shadows across his handsome face. Lilith is standing silent and unmoving just out of the circle of light, the only one looking at her. When Scarlett looks back she shivers, the old woman’s beetle eyes, darkly appraising, stare right at her and through her. Scarlett didn’t dislike Lilith but she was one of the few people who could really unnerve her.

“We have a job for you” says Damien from his armchair. Scarlett turns her eyes to him slowly and raises her eyebrow slightly. Raif stops his pacing and sighs; she puts as much insolence in that one look as a million naughty schoolboys have in their lives.  Damiens face has hardened and Cerys behind him digs her sharp fingernails into the back of his chair. Her pupils have lengthened into cats slits and as she opens her mouth to hiss her disapproval Raif steps forward.

Raif knows Scarlett better than anyone at the Silverclaw HQ other than Tony. He was rather good at tolerating her annoyances and could sense when she was in a mood. Like now. She was obviously ready to wind up the first person who bit. “this is an important job and it needs to be carried out immediately, if you agree” Scarlett snorted slightly but Raif continued undeterred “ I don’t know how much we told you about the case you stole, but it contains a certain potion that the woman you killed had been developing, an antidote in fact. An antidote that when administered cures lupitus homitus lurerito” Damien seeing Scarletts confused look, cuts in, “Basically it cures werewolves, did they teach you nothing at that school of yours?” he asks spitefully.

Raif quickly continues speaking, before Scarlett can snap back, but she hears nothing. Looking down at her hands her mind starts reeling with the consequences of what she has heard.  This is big. Cured- that’s the word they have used and technically lupitus is classed as an illness by the government. Only because it can spread though, through bites or by breeding. A werewolf can never sire anything but werepups but they would have it no other way. Scarlett knew a lot of wolves and had friends in packs all over the country, due to her soulanimal being a wolf. Although she had met the occasional werewolf who had been angry and resentful at being turned most all of them came around to the pack way of life, there was so much support in the packs. The way of life in packs was of close-knit families and everyone cared for each other. Wolves were proud of what they were and if any of the ones Scarlett knew heard about a cure they would be horrified. That woman had been  pure evil.

“Scarlett! Are you listening to anything I say?” looking up Scarlett sees Raif glowering. “This is a matter of great importance as I have already said. If you are going to go to the wolfpack tomorrow you are going to need to have your wits about you. they don’t yet know about the cure, it’s a very delicate situation.”

Of course it is, thought Scarlett as the significance of the situation set in. Why would the Silverclaw be interested in the antidote unless it was for money. They could of course sell it to the werewolves enemies of course (Scarlett knew a few vampires personally who would pay grand money for it) but then there would be no werewolves left. Even the gang leaders would find that harsh, so the next best thing would be to blackmail the wolves with it. That was obviously where Scarlett came in. They would send her to the LunaNova wolf pack no doubt.

LunaNova was currently the most influential wolf pack in Europe, though not the biggest, it had expanded till the pack had a strong gang association. The oldest wolf families of the pack were Spanish immigrants but with all the turned wolves it was relatively mixed. Scarlett had grown up very near the LaLuna camp down south and many of them had strong ties to the LunaNova. But no matter how well integrated she was, Scarlett knew they would tear her apart if she walked in there with the antidote.

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