Warlock chronicles vol. 1: Cuban detective

8

At the evening they went to the docks and in chaos while workers went in and out they sneaked inside the storehouse. Hidden behind some cargo they waited until last workers left. Manu created shield of air around them, so that no werewolf (if any werewolves worked there) could smell them. Drina listened carefully to the voices of all workers to find out if any of them realized they were here. No one seemed to know. When she heard door closed and lock clicked, they came out from their shelter. At night there was no lamp to lighten vast space. Manu created a little flame in his hand so that they could see and at the same time Drina took flashlight from her pocket and lighted it.

"Do you always have to be so theatrical?"

"Of course. That's all I have." He answered and let the flame dance in his palm. Drina rolled her eyes.

As quietly as they could they found locked door secured by the chain. Manu crouched down and studied the lock. "Pay attention. This will be theatrical." He said and clasped thick chain in his hand. Metal instantly warmed and turned red. After a few moments chain rattled at a concrete floor.

"Quite impressive." Drina said and Manu bowed as if he was an actor in theatre. He stood up and opened the door. Thick sweet smell came from long dark staircase leading somewhere under the storehouse. It smelled almost like... Amellie?

"I know this smell." Drina said and Manu cringed.

"It smells like my apartment, I guess." He said. It always smelled like Amellie there. And it didn't matter how hard he tried to prevent it.

"No... I mean, your apartment too, but... My brother used to smell like this sometimes when he came home from work." She explained. Manu frowned. Are they planting Amellie here? Maybe the secret they are keeping here isn't so bad after all. But he needed to know more.

"I'm going down. You stay here and watch. If someone comes, bark twice." He instructed. Drina looked at him as if she wanted to slap him again, so he ran down the stairs quickly and chuckled.

Stairs led him deeper than he thought. At the bottom there was a big metallic door. Behind the door air was even thicker with that sweet smell of opium. It looked like inside of some greenhouse. There were rows of flowers stretching thru the whole room. Lamps were placed above the flowers and they emitted strange red light. Certainly warlock-made. Hoses and watering-cans were everywhere. It was hot and damp here and Manu instantly started to sweat.

He came to one of the flowers and studied it. It was Amellie. There was no mistaking it. But it was just strange. He had seen Amellie thousands of times. He knew little red flowers and their specific smell. But flowers he saw now were as big as watermelons. And they were dark red colour, almost brown. If he tried stuff one of those flowers into his cigar, he would be high for at least a weak.

He went on along the path between rows of flowers. They were at least twenty metres long. At the end of the path there was a plastic curtain. Behind it was another room – a lot smaller than the first one. It looked like a laboratory. Tables all around were full of syringes and glass jars of all shapes and sizes. In the middle of the room stood a large chair, similar to chair you can see at dentist's. And there was a familiar man seated on the chair.

"Andres!" Manu called and ran to him, but man didn't move. He looked at him with empty eyes. His face was as white as a sheet and his veins were visible thru his skin. His mouth was full of strange white foam. Manu checked his pulse, but he didn't feel anything. Andres' skin was cold.

"Shit." Manu breathed. He should have checked the storehouse the moment he knew Andres was missing. He shouldn't have waited.

He was breathing heavily when he surveyed the room. He was trying to find some proof – something that would lead him to person who stood behind all of this. But there was nothing. He grabbed one syringe and showed it into his pocket. Then he left quickly. He didn't want to let Andres here, but he had to so that no one could find out Manu was here.

He closed the door behind him and took two steps at a time to be out of this place as soon as possible. He didn't care how noisy he is.

"What did you find, Manuel?" Said familiar deep voice and Manu halted.

Slowly he left staircase behind and came back to vast storehouse. His breathing stopped at what he saw next. His friend Juan stood there, and he held Drina around her neck so that she couldn't move or speak. He didn't need a weapon – his vampire strength, fangs and small army of workers around him were enough.

"Juan? You are the boss of this storehouse?" Manu asked startled, his jaw dropped.

"Something like that." His friend answered. His smile was like a smile of a tiger. He was nothing like a guy who used to drink with Manu in his apartment. "Catch him." Juan said before Manu could process what was happening. Two strong werewolves grabbed him each by one hand. He realized he knew one of them. It was Dex – Drina's brother. But his eyes seemed empty, almost entirely white. But Manu didn't have the time to study boy's state. He grunted with pain when Dex injected something into his forearm.

"What was that?" He yelled and tried to check his arm, but werewolves were holding him tight. They were too strong even for werewolves.

"You will find out soon." Juan answered, his voice sweet like Amallie, "What have you been looking for here? I tough I told you to ask pack leaders."

"And now I know why." Manu said and frowned at his friend, "So this is all your doing? You plant Amellie here and kill everyone who finds out? That's why so many people go missing?"

Juan laughed shortly. "To be honest, you two are the first people who found out." he said, "You know, Amellie you have seen underground isn't quite same as one you smoke in your cigars. But I guess you will learn that soon enough on your own. Problem is we had to figure out how to make my Amellie even better. And for that we needed some experimental rats."

"I think I don't quite understand. What is so special about your Amellie? Why is it worthy so much?" Manu asked trying to gain some time so that he could figure out how to get out of this situation. But whatever he would try, Juan with his vampire speed would immediately bite Drina and kill her.

"It is worthy everything." Juan said dramatically and pointed at workers around him, "It creates perfect soldiers. Soldiers with boosted power. Ones who don't remember their past. Ones who don't feel anything and don't think about commands. They just do as they are told. I already have buyers in Russia and in USA."

"You will cause another war." Manu said.

"Definitely." Juan said a smiled a little. "War, in which perfect soldiers without feelings fight on both sides. Soldiers, who won't stop. Soldiers with unimaginable abilities. It will be the greatest war of all times. And maybe this one will finally show people they are not the most powerful creatures on this planet." There was something strange in Juan's eyes, when he was talking. Something, that Manu never saw there before. Something very messed up.

"I am actually sorry about this, Manu. I liked you." Juan admitted, "I wanted to just mislead you, but when I saw this young lady, I realized it's not in my powers." Manu stiffed as Juan caressed Drinas cheek with his long bony fingers. She was shaking.

"I'm sure she is strong like her mother. And her brother. She will be another part of my army." Juan said and nudged her to one of his perfect soldiers. A terrified scream escaped her lips as soldier grabbed her.

That was enough for Manu. To see fear in her eyes. In her mother's eyes. To hear her screaming. He felt fire in his veins. He felt kind of power he never felt before, as this strange new Amellie was infecting every nerve and every muscle in his body. And he felt anger stronger than any drug, pain fuelling it to grow.

He broke the grip of two werewolves around him and lighted fire. Chaos broke out in storehouse. Wolves were jumping at him and tearing whatever they could. Roaring echoed thru the vast place.

Manu didn't care about them. He didn't really mind pain their fangs brought. He didn't feel it. He felt like there were no borders to his power. No boundaries. Nothing held him back. He pushed it until everything was on fire. Until his whole world consisted just of fire and her face. Until he lost all contacts with everything and fire was all he felt.