An Eye For An Eye

Quarante-Neuf

Three wendigos were dead.

Most of the pack were gathered in the living room, I had chosen to stay near Charles by the doorway. Tasha and Jack were sitting on the sofa and Deuc in the armchair. Tamika sat on the arm of the sofa. Jake and Timothy were absent, I hadn’t met Timothy yet.

“Three of them.” Deuc held his face in his hands and shook his head. “Are there any connections?”
“They’re family,” said Tamika. “I saw it in the newspapers this morning, The second was the first’s second cousin or something like that. And the third was his sister.”

So something was going after the family.

“Do we know if they have more family?” asked Tasha. Tamika shrugged.
“They probably do,” said Jack. “More cousins, siblings or something.”
“Do we know their names?” asked Deucalion.
“Marvin, Noah and Tiffany Kennedy,” said Tamika. She had been the one to see this in the newspapers.

Deuc shook his head again. He looked lost and I wished this could all be over.
“What if it’s just one guy trying to go after the family for something?” said Tasha with a shrug. “Just some ordinary human who really hates the family.”
“But wendigos are strong,” said Charles. Tasha twisted to look at Charles and then frowned.
“He has a point,” Jack said after a moment. He seemed hesitant to agree with Charles. “I doubt a human took down three wendigos, they’d have to catch all of them when they’re weakest or just by surprise.” Tasha huffed and crossed her arms, shuffling away from her boyfriend a little.

“We know it’s probably someone going after the family, does anyone know the family?” Deuc asked. It was silent. I hadn’t heard of the family before and apparently no one else had either. “We need to find out what they do then, see if there’s any reasons to murder them. And then we’ll have to deal with whoever it is.”

“Do you think we’re going to be able to deal with it?” asked Tasha.
“We don’t have much choice in it,” said Tamika as she narrowed her eyes at the woman. “They’re disturbing things on our territory, we have to deal with it.”

“They own a store, I think,” Charles said quietly. It seemed no one else had paid attention to him. “Family run.”

That was important information.

“Deuc, Charles said they owned a family run butchers,” I said, maybe a little too loudly but I wanted to make sure the information was heard.
“Interesting,” he muttered. “How likely is it that they all worked in the butchers?”
“I don’t know, but I could find out?” Tamika offered.
“Yes, please do,” said Deuc. Tamika nodded. “But why would someone kill butchers?”
“Maybe they had something against the family,” said Jack with a shrug. “It’s not exactly uncommon, especially if they’ve had financial trouble lately.”

If I assumed correctly, Jack was referring to people borrowing money from… less friendly people.
“Newspapers seem pretty certain it’s one person.”
“They also thought that Omega was a mountain lion,” Tasha scoffed. “We don’t know who or what is killing these wendigos or if it’s even one person.”

“We’re not getting anywhere, call me if anyone finds out something important,” said Deuc as he stood up. “And where are Jake and Timothy?”
“Jake refused to come if she’s here,” said Tasha. I could feel my stomach drop. She meant me. “He doesn’t like that you gave her the Bite and that she doesn’t have an anchor.”
“Tim’s visiting his nan,” Charles said quietly but he had been heard this time. Deuc hummed, that was probably a more acceptable reason for not being present.
“Tell Jake he’ll regret refusing to be here next time,” Deuc said with the cold edge I had heard more of lately.

Tasha stood up and Jack hastily did the same.
“I’ll be sure to tell him,” she said before grabbing Jack’s hand and heading to the front door. Jack gave an awkward wave goodbye before disappearing into the dark hallway. They heard the door shut and Tamika sighed.

“Their arguing is starting to get painful, can I just lock them in the basement together until they sort it out?” asked Tamika before standing up.
“No, Tamika. I’d rather my basement didn’t get destroyed,” said Deuc as a smile appeared on his lips.
“Are they that bad?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I wanted the answer or not.
“Well, last time they fought, it was because Jack didn’t have an anchor and it was a full moon but it was not pretty, she can really hold her own,” said Tamika. Charles nodded in agreement.

“She’s a good fighter,” said Deuc as he started to walk over to me. “But she seems fixated on who you were.”
“I don’t understand why she cares so much,” I said honestly. It felt a little odd. I was a part of their pack now, even if in the ranking system I was probably the lowest as the newest member with no control over their shifting. “I don’t want to hurt any of you, I even set up the truce with Chris, he won’t hurt us if we don’t hurt him.”

Or Victoria and Allison. While they didn’t actively hunt anyone because Victoria was the matriarch and Allison was a child, hurting them would guarantee whoever had hurt them would be on the receiving end of Chris’ wrath.

“She said that you had tried to shoot Jack,” said Charles with a shrug.
“I did shoot Jack, in the arm instead of the head,” I said honestly. “But Jack doesn’t seem to care, not now at least.”
Deuc hummed and shook his head. “I’ve already told her to be civil and I suppose she is.”

It fell silent again.
“I’m going to go home and sleep, I’ll see if I can find out if they all worked together tomorrow,” said Tamika.
“You’re good at investigating,” said Charles quietly with a smile.
“Thank you, there’s a reason my mother wanted me to be a detective,” she said, laughing a little. “I’ll see you guys soon, stay safe.”

That left me, Deuc and Charles. He was fidgeting and it seemed as though he was going to say something but didn’t.
“Thank you for your help,” Deuc said. His voice was quieter than usual. “That was important information.”

“It’s fine, I just don’t like… I just don’t like the pressure of it when you ask like that.” Charles pulled at the cuffs of his sleeves and he was sweating a little too much.
“I know,” he said. “Do you know anything else?”
Charles shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I can see if we’ve even been their lawyer though?”
Deuc nodded. “That would be helpful, thank you.”

“I’ll, erm, I’ll go now then,” he said as he slowly stepped backwards towards the door.
“Be careful,” I said with a smile.
“I will, thanks,” he said quickly before hurrying to the door.

Once the door shut, it left the two of us. I didn’t mind, I felt a little out of place with everyone here. I had no information or help to offer really.
“I’m sorry about Tasha and Jake.”
“It’s fine,” I said dismissively.
“I know it’s not, I know you’re lying,” he said softly.
“I know,” I sighed.

It felt horrible knowing someone refused to be in the same room as you. I had been a hunter, and I had helped my family track down werewolves. But I’d never killed one, even when I was meant to.

“I just don’t want to cause problems, there’s already enough going on.” I said as I headed to the sofa. My feet ached from standing up for so long.
“They’re causing the problem, not you,” he said. There wouldn’t be any problems within the pack if I wasn’t here.

There was a folded scrap of paper on the table and I picked it up and looked at it.
“O & M Instructor,” I read out. It was followed by a phone number.
“That’s from Jack, I asked him to find someone for me when he was last here.”
“I know what it is,” I said with a grin as he sat down next to me. “Kara had to do it too, remember? Orientation and Mobility. You’re learning how to use that white cane.”
“It would be rude not to, it was a gift,” he said. And then added: “It might be useful anyway.”