Running From the Devil

Chapter 2

A/N  Warning:  The ugly starts in this chapter.  If you have a weak stomach turn back now. Do not complain that I hurt your feelings or you didn't like it because you have been warned.

Ben

I watched the train speed away down the tunnel and felt a terrible twisting in my gut.  The woman was terrified.  I had wanted to pull her into my arms and use my considerable talents to keep her safe from all her troubles.  Watching the train pull her away from me was pure torture.  Sighing again I turned and walked slowly back up the stairs to the street. 

For a moment I watched all the people walk by as if nothing had happened and I wanted to scream at them all that I had just lost something precious before I even got a chance to hold it.  How could none of them have noticed the fear rolling off of her?  Back home she wouldn't have made it three steps out of her front door before she would have had a hug from one person and another four or five offering to punch whoever made her cry. 

Humans were such selfish creatures by nature.  Their focus was usually on what would be beneficial for the them individually.  Wolves are different.  We're pack animals which means the good of the group nearly always supersedes the good of the individual.  It's what makes us strong, keeps us safe and hidden and allows us to live fairly undisturbed among the humans.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts I pulled out my phone.  "Where are you?" 

"In the alley behind the restaurant." came the reply from my teammate Steve. 

"Do you have him?"  I demanded. 

"Yep.  Why are we detaining him exactly?" 

Disgusted, I snapped "I'll be there in a minute." 

They must not have seen the woman either.  There goes my rant on the superiority of wolves.  We're all going to hell for letting her slip by us uncomforted.  Walking the remaining few yards to the alley I fumed about life in general.   Alleys were excellent places to conduct business in our line of work.  The everyday law abiding human knew better than to step into the darker ones and those that did come here knew exactly how dangerous it was.

The prisoner was surprisingly calm given his situation though he did have his nose crinkled up, I'm assuming at the taste of his gag which looked to be someone's sock.  "Now that's just mean" I chuckled to myself. 

"John is bringing the car around." 

Steve is my right hand man in this team.  We're enforcers, like warriors or police essentially, from a pack of wolves that live in the mountains a few hours from here.  We keep a base in the city and split our time between the two locations and patrolling the rest of our land.  As soon as we got the prisoner in the car I started questioning him. 

"Who were you chasing?" 

He glared at me, making no attempt to answer through the gag. 

Breathing deeply to calm myself I reached around him to untie it.  "If I have to ask you again it's going to start to hurt." 

Silence. 

I sat and studied the man for a moment before slamming my fist into his nose.  Hearing the bones crunch was one of the most satisfying sounds I've heard in a long time.  After about a half hour drive we pull up to the pack warehouse.  The upper floors were turned into living areas but the main floor and basement remained ugly and industrial looking.  It was more intimidating that way.  It said that we're a bunch of tough mother fuckers who can live on steel shavings and rat turds and still kick your ass.  Our competition would die of laughter looking at the silk sheets and plush sofas upstairs but that's why the elevators were accessible only with your thumbprint. .