Chapter 17 – The Authority

Still EPOV

Knowing their scents – as strange as that still seemed – meant I was able to locate John in an alley behind the building catty-cornered across the street from the hotel where the summit was being held. But also knowing what a quick draw he was, rather than subjecting myself to being shot again – maybe I wouldn’t tell Sookie about everything we’d experimented with while she’d been gone – I simply warned, “I’m here,” before I snuck up on him.

Turning to look my way, his eyes went wide for a split second before he grinned and said, “Boy Wonder? Gee, am I glad you’re here.”

“Shut it,” I smirked back, still riding my Sookie high. “Not everybody is as unrecognizable as you.”

“Good thinking,” he agreed. “But if you show up to our next skirmish wearing head to toe spandex and a speedo, you and me are gonna have to have a sit down.”

“We’re coming up at your six,” Alcide told us through our earpieces and a moment later both he and Jake were at our side.

“I thought Comic Con ended weeks ago,” he said with his eyes narrowed at me, while Jake whined, “Why didn’t you guys tell me it was Halloween? Dude, I coulda dressed like Little Red Riding Hood and gone in there to deliver my basket o’ kickass to those fleabags,” patting down his web belt ‘basket’ loaded with silver rounds.

Something else I hadn’t gotten around to telling Sookie about yet. We’d amassed quite a bit of silver through back channels over the last two weeks, coating everything with it from ammunition to daggers. My skin burned with silver contact, just like I suspected the wolves’ would, but the guys weren’t affected.

And before I could explain – again – about notoriety and me being the definition of it, John asked, “Are we here to discuss fashion do’s and don’t’s or to deal with the wolves?” Without waiting for a response, he turned to me and asked, “What do we know?”

“Godric?” I asked, knowing he was monitoring everything being said.

A moment later, his voice filled our earpieces, saying, “I have counted four wolves in total, according to the hotel’s video surveillance system. I have taken control over theirs and every other to include the city’s traffic cams within a three block area and I’ve disrupted every frequency within that border. Anything connected to a satellite, cell tower, or internet service provider is now under my control, so every image captured by devices connected to those three will be erased. I have no control over standard film.”

I wasn’t too concerned about that. We all moved pretty fast now and who in the hell used regular cameras anymore anyway?

“I’m gonna start calling him Big Brother from now on,” Alcide muttered, looking impressed.

“Where are they?” I asked.

“The main conference room of the hotel. They appear to be herding the summit’s main attendees.”

“But, why?” I asked, not really expecting an answer, so much as trying to figure it out myself. We didn’t know what the wolves were made for. We’d just suspected it wouldn’t be for anything good. But what could they possibly want with the head honchos of the political financial world?

It’s not like they carried their respective country’s wealth around in their wallets.

Not always understanding when a rhetorical question was being asked, Godric responded, “An attack of this magnitude by creatures of folklore could bring the world’s financial markets crashing down. Panic by the general population is always reflected in the economic stability of any given country. Fear begets volatility, whether it’s against their leaders or their fellow man. Riots could form by everyday citizens to overthrow their government if they no longer believe in their ability to keep them safe. It is human nature to seek out those who offer the appearance of safety and when there is no one for them to turn to, they will turn on each other to do it for themselves. Militias and martial law could become the new standard. In theory, this one incident could be the linchpin that could bring the First World to its knees, thereby clearing the way for anyone else with enough power to take over the world.”

Like anyone who happened to control the werewolves.

“We need to stop them,” I said to everyone and no one in particular. While I hadn’t been looking for an answer to my question, Godric’s response made enough sense to me to want to get in there.

Quick.

“The main entrance is out of the question,” John said, with his military experience coming through in the command of his voice. “There’s a sea of cops and civilians, so our best bet is the side entrances, but those will all be flanked by police too. They were emptying the hotel of civilians through those doors when we got here.”

Seeing it was dark enough now that we wouldn’t be seen as easily, I asked, “Godric. How many cops are positioned on the hotel’s roof?”

“None,” he replied. “There are SWAT team personnel on the adjacent rooftops, but the hotel’s is unmanned.”

Looking back at my three roomies and remembering Sookie’s description of it from the night before, I smiled and asked, “Who wants to go for a magic carpet ride?”

Jake’s hand shot up first, so he was the first one I grabbed and shot us up into the air, dropping him onto the rooftop between two large compressors to keep him out of sight, and then repeated the process two more times. Godric opened the rooftop door’s electrical locking mechanism and as we flew down the stairwell Godric calculated our best point of entry based on the building’s schematics and what he could see through the surveillance system. The doors to the conference room were all barricaded from the inside and clusters of cops from the outside.

So the ceiling it was.

Figuring the wolves’ hearing would be as heightened as our own, I didn’t bother trying to be sneaky about it and flew up to the ceiling before putting my magic carpet into reverse as I made a hole large enough for us to drop into the conference room in quick succession.

Above the startled screams of the people in the room, the sound of our entrance drew the wolves’ attention and the one I knew to be Furnan turned to stare back at the three of us.

Looking into his eyes, I suspected there was still a lot of his human thought processes still there. He was in control, despite his animalistic appearance, so I stared back at him and said, “I hope you don’t mind us crashing your party.”

His lips curled up over his teeth, with a snarl coming out of his throat as he took a step towards us, so I let my own fangs snap down to show him he wasn’t the only one who had them. The humans in the room were still cowering off to one side, not sure if their trouble had just doubled or if we were there to save them, but I suspected they believed the former when a few of them screamed again seeing my pointed pearly whites make an appearance.

“Show off,” Alcide muttered from behind me.

But when Furnan’s step faltered and his eyes showed his surprise, I took my own step forward and mocked, “Don’t tell me the big bad wolf is really a pussy in pup clothes.”

Feline hatred must have been innate to wolves because calling him one – sort of – made him lunge for me. I had yet to see them in action and while I knew I was the fastest and strongest amongst our group, I had no way of knowing if I would be faster or stronger than them.

I’d have to call it a near tie and maybe it was my ego shining through, but I thought I held my own.

Furnan flew at me, but I was ready for him and merely used his own forward momentum to help him crash into the wall behind me. The other wolves joined in on the fight, but with so many civilians in the room, the rest of the guys chose to try hand to paw combat over littering the room in silver rounds. There was so much screaming and snarling, it was impossible to pick out where each one emanated from, but I kept my focus on Furnan. His crash landing only stunned him for a second because he was back on his feet just as quickly and coming towards me, so when he lunged again – with the majority of the human crowd now at my back – I held onto him that time and gave into my instincts by biting down on his neck.

He howled as I tore away a portion of his flesh and spit it out, thankful I didn’t have the same feelings tasting his blood as I had when I tasted Sookie’s. It was similar in taste to the bagged donor blood I’d been living off of over the last two weeks, but there were marked differences too. Sort of like donor blood being a Heineken and his blood being PBR.

Disgusting.

Sookie’s blood was like the finest wine, but before I could dissect it anymore, Furnan whipped his head around and managed to tear a gash into my forearm with his teeth. It didn’t hurt so much as it surprised me, but what really surprised me was when he licked my blood from his muzzle, his whole body seemed to vibrate in my hands. His eyes went wide and his wound, which had already begun healing, began healing at an accelerated rate and he twisted his neck again like he was going back for more.

More of my blood.

It was the only explanation I could think of, considering it had healed Sookie’s wound, and he must have suspected the same thing, so when he managed to free himself from my grasp, I did the first thing that came to mind and kicked him as hard as I could.

I just wished I’d thought about where I was aiming when I’d done it.

He ended up crashing through one of the barricaded doors, flying straight through the debris and into the outer hallway. The sounds of startled yells and gunshots followed soon after and hearing it got everyone else’s attention in the room. The other wolves – bloody and limping – took off after their leader, leaving the rest of us behind.

I knew we needed to get out of there, so I signaled for John and the rest of them to jump back up through the hole we’d come in through. But before I followed after them, remembering Godric’s prediction, I turned to the rest of the room and said, “What you choose to tell the world of what happened in this room will affect the financial stability of the countries you represent. The wolves are a threat, but I’m asking each of you to trust me when I say we will eradicate them.”

I hoped it would be enough, but hearing the sounds of the police coming through the doors, I flew up through the hole in the ceiling and back up the stairwell to the rooftop where I found the others. As quick as I could, I dropped each of them off outside of the police barricades so they could make the drive back to the house before taking off myself. Flying at top speed through the night sky I almost felt high from the rush of the fight, but I tried to fight it off so I could keep a lookout for the wolves and asked, “Godric, were you able to track where the wolves disappeared to?”

I was both grateful and disappointed I couldn’t feel Furnan through my blood, like I could Sookie. I didn’t know if it was because he was in his wolf form or because of something I hadn’t figured out yet, when Godric replied, “Using the city’s traffic cameras, I was able to follow them to the 7^th Street/Metro Center, but I am afraid I lost contact with them when they entered the tunnels for the Red Line.”

If they’d entered the underground tunnels for the city’s subway system, they could be anywhere by now, so I let myself run through everything that had happened as I made my way back to the house. While the guys looked a little worse for wear, they each seemed to be able to hold their own against the wolves without needing the silver rounds each of them were armed with, so that was a plus. It would’ve been nice to have been able to capture one, but since we knew they turned back into their human form when killed, I was just glad we kept that from getting out to the rest of the world. The civilians in the room likely all suspected there was something more to the wolves, but as far as I knew there was no actual evidence of the existence of werewolves to the greater human population.

And if we were lucky, it would stay that way.

My analytical thoughts left me the moment I came through the door and saw Sookie worriedly pacing a hole into the foyer floor. She barely had the chance to notice my sudden appearance before my just as sudden carnal wants made their own appearance. I was on her faster than she could track me with her eyes and used her surprised gasp as my invitation to plunge my tongue into her mouth.

She didn’t fight me, nor did she seem to notice or mind when I shoved her against the wall and held her there with my body. While I took the liberty of freeing her lower half of clothes, she took her own liberties in freeing my cock from its leather restraint and then all restraint was lost when I thrust into her. I silently thanked God she was ready for me because I didn’t seem to have any control over myself, other than keeping my strength in check so that I wouldn’t hurt her.

And because I could feel her, I knew she was feeling the opposite of hurt.

Her lust was feeding my own and a part of me wished she could experience it too. That she could feel what I felt. The dual sensation of not just my pleasure at feeling her pulse and contract around me with every thrust of my hips, but being able to feel hers too. It didn’t seem fair I got to experience two orgasms for the price of one.

So I redoubled my efforts to make sure she got as close to experiencing what I felt all on her own.

I knew I’d hit her magic spot before she ever grunted, “Right there,” into my mouth, so I quickened my pace making sure to hit that spot over and over until we were both lost.

Her in her euphoria and my fangs and cum in her body.

It set off another smaller orgasm in Sookie that I drew out with slow thrusts of my hips until I slowly withdrew my fangs from her skin, and licked over the marks with my own blood to heal them.

“Welcome home,” she softly chuckled when her breathing allowed her to form the words.

“If I walk outside and come back in, can we do it all over again?” I smiled back at her.

“Only if you don’t mind an audience,” Godric answered for her. “Colonel Flood and his men are entering through the front gate.”

Sookie’s eyes widened and she started smacking my chest, saying, “Put me down! I need to go find something to wear since you insist on shredding my clothes.”

I did as she said, but I playfully smacked her bare ass on her way by, reminding her, “You weren’t complaining a minute ago.”

I knew for a fact it only made her even more turned on, so there was a good chance she’d never wear the same outfit twice ever again. The combination of lust and amusement coming from her reiterated that fact, but she huffed in response anyway.

I probably would’ve made a game of it for the rest of the night, tearing off every new article of clothing she put on, but hearing the vehicles pulling up outside reminded me we couldn’t. And feeling the slight draft surrounding my lower half reminded me to put my dick away before they came into the house.

The guys and I were close, but not that close.

But even without their own heightened senses, the smell of sex was palpable in the air and the remnants of Sookie’s clothes were still lying on the floor, so I wasn’t all that surprised when they walked in and Alcide immediately said, “Jesus fuck!”

“No,” I smirked and corrected him with, “Eric fuck!”

There was no point in denying it and feeling Sookie’s slight embarrassment, I called out to her, “At least they weren’t here to hear it!”

And feeling what amounted to an, ‘Uh oh, nuh uh,’ coming from her, I knew I would never convince her to let me anywhere near her like that with them around.

So my mind immediately started making plans for a guest house to be built.

Like I said, we weren’t that close.

At least John was able to stay on point because he gave us all a look that said we were idiots before actually saying, “Alright, less bullshitting and more comparing notes on something we should actually be concerned with.”

Looking at me, Jake agreed with, “Yeah, like where are our costumes?”

I’d forgotten I was still wearing the mask, so I took it off and tossed it to him, saying, “Here you go little fella. Now you can go out dressed as me for Halloween.”

Sookie reentered the room by then, not quite as red as her t-shirt, but she pretended no one would notice and said, “Actually, while you all were gone, I took the liberty to making a few sketches. I doodle when I’m trying not to think about anything else, so here.”

She handed Jake a few slips of paper and he studied each of them before thrusting one back at her and said, “This one. Eric can be the Prince of Snarkness all he wants, but I want to be that badass son of a bitch.”

John threw his hands up in the air in frustration since all of us were still feeling a little high from the fight and gave up. Going into the kitchen, he came back with a beer for himself and plopped down on the couch, turning on the TV to see what was being said on the news, while waiting for one of us to act our age.

It didn’t appear it would be happening any time soon when Alcide and I joined at the hip so we could both study her designs too.

We could all hear in the background the voice of the reporter talking about the wolves fleeing the hotel. He practically scoffed at the unconfirmed reports about a masked man or possibly a vampire and a group of soldiers coming to the rescue. But given there was no video evidence we were ever there and the derisive tone the reporter couldn’t hide, he at least didn’t seem to believe any of it.

Hopefully his cynicism would be contagious.

There were already psycho-babble analysts in the studio talking about mass hysteria, trying to explain away the earlier reports about the men turned wolves, which was also a boon. And along with the unexpected pack of wolves in the downtown Los Angeles area, the news of an interruption in cell and satellite service was the other big story. Godric deserved a high five for that one, but before I could give him kudos, our attention was drawn to the flat screen hearing the sound of static now coming through the speakers.

We all gathered around the TV and as soon as the new image appeared on the screen I ordered, “Godric. Trace the source and find out where that’s coming from.”

Because it was Furnan’s transformation video.

It didn’t show the first half of the video – how he came to be a werewolf – instead picking up a few seconds before the actual transformation took place. His face was blurred out to keep his identity a mystery, but now edited into the video was a computer disguised voice narrating it.

“We walk among you. We look like you. You will never see us coming. You are not prepared for the likes of us, but we are here and we are making ourselves known. We are done abiding by the laws of men less powerful than us. We are The Authority.”

It ended just as quickly and the sight of the stunned reporter, slack-jawed and staring back into the camera came back onto the screen, just as he said, “What was that?”

No.

Not what.

But who was that?