Life With A Werewolf

Voice From The Dead Part 8 - Caged Bait

          The military does not make you patient. That's a misnomer that I've heard a time or two. It merely makes you good at waiting. The old saying goes, "Hurry up and wait." That's what we were doing. We had been shuffled off to our rooms, locked in, and forced to wait. We weren't doing it patiently.
          My hip woke me up. It was in pain, but the throbbing dull kind of ache that makes you wish you hadn't bothered with this whole thing called 'being awake'. I stood and hobbled a bit, first checking my pistol. It was there, thankfully. Clips fully loaded, giving me a grand total of thirty six shots. Each bullet silver.
          Downstairs a folding table was set up with food on it. Paper plates with paper plate toppers to keep food lukewarm, with our names written in sharpie across the top. I half walked, half stumbled down the stairs, each jolt sending fresh pain into me waking me up a little more. If I couldn't have caffeine to keep me moving, at least I had anger and pain. It was starting to feel a whole lot more like military service.
          It was almost like prison, in a sense. We stood around. We waited. We talked. Elouise visited me sometime after microwaved eggs but before microwaved burgers. I swear, whoever thought they were "cooking" for us, I'm going to find them, tie them down, and force them to watch a marathon of "Good Eats" until they know how to fry an egg and a burger.
          "What you think this is about," she asked.
          "How much you want to bet we're being bugged," I replied.
          She shrugged. "Does it matter?"
          "Well, I suppose not. Hi Cecily!" I said, waving at a wall where I suspected a camera to be. I could imagine her snarling at the screen in frustration, and that made me smile for a moment.
          "Let's tip our hand a little," I said. "This is part of what I know. The Nobility are not in active war with The Rodriguez clan."
          She arched an eyebrow. "That's right Cecily," I said louder. "I don't believe you two are actually fighting. A truce has been reached. That's why Donte and Killian are never together in the same damn place. They're trading off. The Nobility has them. And you get...who? That's what I've been wondering all morning. That's part of what I believe I have figured out."
          Elouise paced a bit, and smiled. "It sort of reminds me of that old movie, 'The Godfather', in a way, doesn't it?"
          "Yeah," I said. "They...."
          That's when everything began to fall into place. "Oh, shit," I said, my eyes widening.
          "What," Elouise asked.
          "You're going to have to put on your gator boots."
          "What the hell is going on," Elouise snarled.
          I thought about whispering, but they'd hear us anyway. "Damn werewolf ears," I snarled, and looked at Kris, who was wiping sleep from his eyes as he leaned against Sean. Zack grumbled, but crossed his arms.
          "Shit, they're going to know anyway," I snarled. "No wonder they tossed me back in here last night."
          "Jason," Kris yawned, then said, "can you pretend for a moment that we have no clue what you're talking about and tell us what's going on?"
          "The Nobility," I said. "This was all about the Nobility. Think about it. Sophia being dead but not. Her just showing up, but never quite sticking around. Constantly disappearing with Crash. And Killian and Donte always disappearing too."
          "You're not making sense," Elouise said. "What do those jokers have anything to do with anythin?"
          "Because," I said looking at her. "They're supposedly at war, right?"
          Elouise nodded. Then paused. "You know, I ain't seen a single attack."
          "There was that one," Zack said. "We were all in the car for that a few hours ago."
          "Yeah, with two werewolves. No dead werewolves from that, and they didn't grab a single one of us. Remember a few months back that was the first thing the Nobility did. They grabbed Crash. Then they grabbed all of us."
          "Yeah," Elouise said, "it was pretty strange how...tame the werewolf attack seemed."
          I snapped my fingers and pointed at her. "Exactly! It was loud, but there wasn't any blood. No snarling. Almost like it was staged. Not a real attack. And you can't have a war without attacks, can you?"
          "Well," Sean smiled sheepishly a bit, "there is that war that Canada fought with Whiskey."
          We all stared at Sean, who's sheepish smile widened. "It's like, true! I swear, dude. They go to this island, and then put a bottle of whiskey down and their flag. Then they leave and the other side, I think it was Danish, but I'm not sure. Anyway, they take the Canadian whiskey and flag and leave their own flag and whiskey. They fight without firing a single shot."
          We stared at Sean for a moment longer. Kris hugged him then and whispered into his ear something that made Elouise giggle. Sean blushed but didn't say anything.
          "Anyway," I said, "thanks for that weird detour. But, I believe I know what's going on, here. I don't have everything. But, Killian, and Donte. They're being held in rotation. In return, the Rodriguez gets someone."
          "Who," Zack asked.
          "Sophia."
          They all blink. "I saw them last year. Most of you were kidnapped, but I saw them. They hated being down there with us under those circumstances. They were willing to fight. Willing to do anything they could to get their family back."
          "So," Zack said, "Why don't they just get Killian and Donte back when Sophia is here?"
          "I don't think they can," I said. "Something is happening. The Rodriguez needs The Nobility to fire the first shot."
          "Why, though," Elouise asked.
          I shrugged. "Don't know that yet. But, I believe that Cecily isn't the one seeing us and hearing us right now. If I'm right, then..."
          A lone howl echoed out in the distance. It was long. Followed by others. Howls on all sides. Lots of them. A chorus that reverberated through the entire building and chilled our blood. I didn't have nearly enough. "Shit," I snarled.
          Then I looked at Elouise, who was already stripping down. "Give a girl some privacy, damn!"
          Blushing, I turned so she could change for her shift. "Sorry," I said.
          "So, Crash brought us here as..."
          I stopped Zack in his tracks with that statement. "No." I snapped. "Crash didn't betray us. Not willingly. We're here to support him. I suspect he's going to need it when he gets back. But for the Rodriguez, we're here as fucking..."
          "....bait." Kris said. "Shit."
          "I don't get it," Zack said. "Why us? Why?"
          "Because of the one armed bandit running them over here," I said. "Remember?"
          "Verner Behring," Sean and Kris snarled.
          I nodded.
          "I get to shoot his ass this time," Kris snapped.
          I smiled. It probably looked like a half snarl though. "We'll see."
          "But still. They're big huge creatures capable of doing so much. Why worry about us," Zack asked.
          "Because," Sean said, staring out the window. "We shamed them. We kicked them out of our home. We invaded theirs. We even, like, disfigured their leader. They owe us."
          "Well, I hope I give them indigestion," Kris snapped. "I hope it's the screaming shits."
          "Don't freak out yet," Elouise said. "Stay in the hallway. Stay together. Mama's gotcha." She was in full warrior mode. Arms out, thick with scales and claws, her tail lashing from side to side, and a low growl in her throat. The monsters were quite literally scratching at the door. I had my pistol out in the low ready position. We were trapped in the hallway. Listening to the dying howls, and the sounds of splintering wood.