Triblood

Unknown: There’s been some strange activity at the old abandoned warehouse on the edge of town. The one registered as a storage facility for Aldric Security. Rumor has it another disappearance will go down on Thursday night and that Zander Aldric himself is involved.

The info had come in on the anonymous tip line. Although it sounded wildly unlikely that the CEO of the most highly-rated security company in Los Angeles was behind the missing men, it was an easy enough lead to follow up on. I only lived a five minute drive away, after all.

That’s why I swallowed my anxiety, dressed in an appropriate amount of black, purchased a flashlight, and ditched my car three blocks down from the private warehouse at dusk. I’d been working on these disappearance cases for months, and if Aldric Security was really behind it? I had the story of the year on my hands. Maybe even the decade.

One block away from my destination, I went into stealth mode. I slipped into the overgrown hedges that lined once-expensive shopping centers and crouched down to wait. As if to test my hiding place, a young couple came around the corner and walked right past me.

Victory.

Once they’d disappeared around the building, I crept up to the outer wall of the warehouse and wiped the rain from my eyes. Because of course it would be a grey, drizzly day. A glance at my watch told me it was 9:45pm.

The concrete was slick where the rain pooled in the cracks, and the air was thick with the scent of oil, rusting metal, and something coppery. I nearly slipped multiple times, but eventually I reached the front door.

Of course the damn thing was locked with a large padlock. Not that a simple, rusty thing like that posed much of a challenge to me. In a past life, I’d picked plenty of locks. I pulled a lockpick from my pocket and within seconds, the chain on the door went slack.

I entered the building and quickly located a stairway that led down to the basement level. Taking the steps slowly, I ensured I didn’t make a sound. I was little more than a shadow in the darkness with only a single emergency light remaining on.

At the farthest and darkest corner of the floor, a bit of movement caught my eye. I squinted to get a better look, and realized it was nothing more than a large dog. A huge dog, honestly. Its fur looked ragged in what little light there was, and its eyes seemed to glow softly. It was out of place, but had to be a stray that somehow found its way in.

Then it let out a soft yelp and I could hear bones cracking. It began to change shape, and soon a scruffy man stood where the dog had been.

Not a dog. Werewolf. Shit. It was a werewolf! I pressed my back into the wall, hoping the monster would stay the hell over there and away from me. One of those damned things made me an orphan as a kid, and I wasn’t ready to join my parents on the other side of the dirt.

But they also didn’t tend to travel alone. I focused my attention on my hearing, hoping that if any of that thing’s buddies were around, they were over there. Then it struck me: What if I’d read the tip all wrong? What if Zander was coming here to make some shady deal, not knowing there was a werewolf pack preying on LA? Believing he had a drug habit was easier than believing he had a kidnapping or murder habit.

I hid behind a stack of crates, turned on my recorder, and readied my camera. After triple-checking that the flash was off, I aimed it at the werewolf. The sound of footsteps began echoing down another set of stairs. Four men in tactical gear with revolvers on their hips and black leather jackets appeared.

And in the center was Zander Aldric, dressed in a smart suit. His dark hair had been slicked back, and his eyes were covered by mirrored sunglasses.

“So, you actually came.” Zander’s voice echoed from concrete surface to concrete surface, growing more intimidating with each bounce. “I guess you thought you could ‘talk some sense into me?’ Or are you just that whipped by that vampire master of yours, that you’re willing to risk your life being his messenger?”

“You know you can’t avoid him forever. We’re gaining power every day.” The werewolf shoved his hands into his pockets and shook his head. “You’re only going to end up getting your entire pack killed.”

“He underestimates my power. I’ll never kneel to vampire scum.” He gestured to the two men still beside him, and silver chains dropped down from their sleeves into their gloved hands. “Collar him.”

The man began shifting back into his wolf form and attempted to make a break for it, but Zander’s men were too fast. They wrapped the silver chains around his neck and pulled. The metal dug deep into his flesh, burning it through his fur. Blood began dripping to form a small pool beneath him as he writhed and screamed.

“Did you really think you could get away with causing problems in my territory, pup? Blood traitor or not, every wolf in the state knows LA is off-limits. I don’t take kindly to anyone causing trouble in my city.” Zander raised one hand and closed it into a fist.

His men wrapped the chains around the werewolf’s legs, intensifying his pained half-howl, half-screeches. He lurched again and again, going feral in his attempts to escape. Yet he only managed to tighten his bonds and increase the amount of blood that was covering the floor. It flew as he shook and splattered all four of Zander’s men. In the middle of the carnage, the CEO remained unfazed.

“Poor little puppy. You shouldn’t have allowed your misplaced loyalty to make you stupid.” Zander gave a silent nod, and one of the men produced a silver dagger. It flashed in the dim glow from the emergency light above as the man whipped around and slammed the blade into the werewolf’s chest.

With a grunt, the werewolf dropped to the floor. Blood began running out of his mouth and his breaths gurgled in his throat until they stopped entirely. Zander’s man withdrew the dagger, wiped the blood away on the wolf’s fur, and slipped it back into his pocket.

I couldn’t help it. The scene was so horrifying that I gasped and took a step backwards. My boot scuffed against the concrete and one of the crates shifted. All five men pivoted swiftly to face my hiding place.

Shit.

In the dim light, I could see the men’s nostrils flaring as they took a step closer to my hiding place. A flicker of something dark and knowing crossed Zander’s face, followed by a crooked grin. “It looks like we have company.”

My stomach dropped right out of my body. I wasn’t far from the entrance to the stairwell, and I didn’t have time to second guess myself. I bolted, my heart pounding harder and harder in my chest with each step I ascended. I could hear Zander’s men thundering up behind me and I knew that if I got caught, I was dead.

“Run, little kitten. I’ll find you soon enough.”

I barely heard the words, but they turned my blood to ice. The way out felt like miles, despite being less than 100 yards in total. But every footstep felt like I was running on a treadmill and would never get anywhere. My pursuers got closer and closer, their breathing loud. I suddenly knew how a fox felt with a pack of hounds at its heels.

I felt a hand brush my arm and I put on an extra burst of speed, managing to break free and slam through the side door I’d come from. While I didn’t hear my pursuers after I exited the building, that didn’t stop me from pounding concrete the entire three blocks back to my car.

By the time I got there, my vision was beginning to grow hazy. I collapsed against the side of the car and pulled out my keys. I jammed them into the lock, but the combination of fear and physical exertion caused me to sprint around to the bushes and vomit my brains out. Every muscle in my body trembled as I wiped my lip with the back of my hand and stumbled back to the driver’s side door.

I wrenched it open and threw myself inside, not bothering to check if my pursuers had given up. My lungs burned and my head spun, but I threw the car into drive and peeled out of there as fast as I could without attracting any unwanted attention from the local po-po.

Slowly I got my breathing under control. By the time I reached my crappy apartment, the shaking had subsided and I was receiving sufficient oxygen again. I flew out of the car and inside, locked the knob and the deadbolt, and checked them both three times before collapsing onto my couch.

I don’t know how I did it, but I made it out alive. That was more than I could say for the werewolf. I remained limp on the couch for a few minutes, then forced myself to get up and get a glass of water to wash the taste of bile out of my mouth.

Now that I had the story, I wasn’t sure that I wanted it. Did I dare reveal what I had seen in that dark, abandoned building? It sounded like a terrible idea. There was no way Zander or his men could have figured out who I was in the brief moment they saw my face before I bolted. But if I put out an article about it? That was practically putting a target on my own forehead with neon lights saying ‘shoot me!’

The only thing I could really do if I wanted to get the truth out there was use my two-level masking method: publish the article under my male pen name, and claim the information came from an anonymous source. My boss would understand. Hell, he’d even support me. I was sure of it.

Exhausted, I took a quick shower to wash away the sweat and vomit smell, and climbed into bed. That was all a tomorrow problem. Tonight I had a hot date with my bed.