Strange Aeons [Book 1]

14. The Fast and the F.U.R.R.I.E.S [part IV]

Eva looked at her watch with a disappointed glare.

«Worried?» Chico asked.

«For your friend. I wouldn't want my girls to maul her.» she answered, menacingly.

«I sure hope if they do they'd at least make a video out of it.» Chico tried comedy. He was rewarded by a sharp slap on his face.

«Shut up! You won't be so perky when you're in an interrogation room with two of my best girls.»

«I don't know, I'm pretty good with , usually.» he went on, undeterred. Vopros had stopped moving, apart from some sudden shakes sometimes, like shivers ran through him every now and then. He was starting to worry now.

«I don't doubt it. Still, we're not your usual kind of... señoritas.»

Eva beckoned two of her agents. They reached the backdoors of the van and orderly waited for any order. The one on the left was a small and tiny Korean girl who didn't even seem able to run, let alone shoot a rifle, while beside here there was a very fit blonde girl with a long braid along her back and perfectly lacquered nails.

«Change.» said Eva.

Without even blinking, the two put down their rifles. They didn't scream, as the eerie cracking of bones and squishy noise of settling flesh and skin was heard, as hair grew on them and their faces mutated. In a matter of seconds, in front of Chico there were a werefox and a werebear.

«Que puta madre...!» he jumped on place, instinctively trying to get as farther from the beasts as possible on the short bench, short of knocking down Vopros for it. The old Russian didn't give any sign of having even perceived something so dire was happening.

«I knew that would have put things in perspective for you.» Eva dismissed the two with a gesture of the hand. The two agents remained stationed beside the van.

«You're werepeople?»

«All of us. Police officers have access to a number of useful resources. Very useful, when you have to chase people who can actually disappear. You thought we chose "F.U.R.R.I.E.S." as an acronym because we don't shave our legs?» »

«But your uncle's a...»

«We have a complicated family.» Eva cut the subject with way too much emphasis, looking at her watch again, and frowning even more.

«I would just ask you to let me explain to you how you are sorely mistaken about us and losing a lot of time, not to mention taxpayer's money, chasing the wrong people.»

«Do I want to check if you're one of said taxpayers?»

«No, you don't.» conceded Chico. «But that was not my point, entirely. We're innocent. We're being framed. How could you even rely on information coming from blatantly jealous people whose first desire is to get rid of enemies? Especially when one of them is your uncle, and you know he's mad?» Chico tried to appeal to her own pride. «Wouldn't you feel better in being sure you have the true bad guys under lock and key, and not the underdogs just trying to live the days of their lives one day at a time?»

«Did he just made up a sentence composed nearly entirely of TV shows titles?» asked the werefox outside, amazed.

«You see, Alfonso or whatever your true name is at this point, the point you're missing with that wonderful line of reasoning is that I don't care if you did what they've accused you of or not. In my eyes, all mages are bad guys, and they all belong under lock and key.» Eva's voice changed her tone to a deep, menacing voice. «You're the reason we're like this. You have spent centuries denying us a cure. You are going to deliver.»