Chapter 3
The place is completely empty, the chairs still on top of the tables, and dimly lit, and through the walls he can dimly hear the activity outside. The walls are a dark red, going well with dark wood furnishings of the bar. The bar is large and can easily hold at least one hundred people. But it's not a major hang out for the herd. It would be more popular with them, if it wasn't always full of Uratha. Being surrounded by a crowd of predators made most normal people uncomfortable and they didn't stay long. Most leave before they even get a chance to order a drink.
Even though its dim, he see's her as clear as day standing behind the bar, already pouring herself something to drink. He approaches and sits himself down on one of the stools in front of her. Cara doesn't look up at him, just tosses back the shot, pours herself another one and does it again.
He waits for her, doesn't say a word. She'll tell him when she's ready, after all that's what she led him in here for. He just watches, watches her put the glass down, recap the bottle and put it away, before she looks up at him. Tony frowns. She looks tired and stressed, its not just her looking out at him but her wolf as well, closer to the surface than he has ever seen it before. Her eyes are shuttered and her mouth usually wide and expressive and turned up in a cocky grin was pressed tightly together.
"Tell me." It's as close to a command he has ever given her. Cara didn't take kindly to people ordering her around, but she doesn't argue, which scares him more than he wants to admit.
"I know who killed your guy outside and I know why."
"What the fuck Cara….!
"Don't shout at me dammit! He had videos, proof of the People and he was going to go public."
"Who was it on the tapes? Who was stupid enough to get caught?"
"You know Little Mary?" He nods. Little Mary was a young Predator King , the omega of the Blood pack, who lived on the outskirts of the city. They would never set foot in DC themselves but often sent Mary to do anything that involved coming into the city. The only time their alpha came was to attend Parliament meetings before heading straight back. She liked city life more than they did, which was strange for one of Dire Wolf's children. They usually detested anything man made and lived in the wild places of the country.
That they could even co exist with the Pure in the city was thanks to their respective Firstborn totems. Out of nowhere it seemed, orders had come down from on high, from each of the Firstborn to their tribes, that from now until the world was gone, the tribes would be at peace with each other. And through them all the People were bound by the ban not to make war on each other. The wholesale slaughter and/or conversion of the Forsaken was over but the ban still left a lot of wiggle room.
The People still fought viciously over territory, ideology, and many other things. There were still deaths, but not on as large a scale as before. But at least another Brethren War would never happen again.
And when a Forsaken wished to join a Pure tribe the silver brands no longer needed to be burned away. Instead once you joined the tribe they become the burning brands of the Pure Renown appeared soon after initiation, and Mother Luna's gift of the auspice was gone . And when a member of a Pure tribe wished to return to Luna, his or her brands of Renown became silver, and the auspice was recovered.
She continues. "The little bitch was sleeping with him, gave him an up close and personal shape change and let him tape it. She said she loved him. I guess he didn't love her enough to keep it to himself. She called him here, tried to convince him not to, when she couldn't, …Well you saw." She pauses, sighs, and laughs darkly. "It gets worse baby boy. We can't find the copies. He sent them out already and there's going to be chaos out there. The Parliament is having an emergency meeting tonight."
Tony runs his fingers through his hair in agitation, gets up from the stool and starts to pace, turning his back to the bar. "It's too late for any damn emergency meetings. Whoever got the recordings will run them through a whole bunch of tests. Once they authenticate them, they will run it. Where's Mary now?"
He needed to get her away, she was young and inexperienced. A emotional situation like the one earlier, and he's not surprised she snapped. If she loved him enough to tell him about the People, then she was probably going crazy about the fact that she killed him. But it wasn't just her to worry about, but all the People now. Being dragged out in the open and connected to a murder was not the ideal way to tell normal people that there are shape shifters among you.
"She's dead", he turns back around quickly ready to go off but she stops him. "Before you start freaking out nobody killed her. She killed herself, 12 gauge shotgun right under the chin. She even used silver, I guess she wanted make sure it would work. She left a note confessing to the murder."
Tony winces, she didn't deserve to die like that. The silver insured that she wouldn't be able to regenerate. "You cleaned it up, right?"
She doesn't answer at first, just reaches down and retrieves the bottle from earlier. This time not even bothering to get a class, just taking drinks straight from the bottle.
"We were told quite clearly by The Matriarch herself not to touch anything. To let her be found. She's still in the apartment she rented in the Deuces territory by Marion Park. They let her stay there sometimes, you know how much of a bleeding heart Two Fists is. But the parliament is planning something big Tony, I just know it." She puts the bottle down, now half empty and comes from behind the bar. Her steps still strong and steady, her Uratha metabolism burning through the alcohol faster than she could ingest it.
He doesn't know what to say that, just watching her approach. The Matriarch was the head of the parliament and a frighteningly powerful Uratha. Along with her mate The Old Man and the rest of their pack, their words had a lot of weight.
He's still lost in thought when he feels her hands gliding up his arms, all the way up to his face. She searches his eyes as if she was looking for something. It seemed only natural to lean down and kiss her. It was familiar, and still made his heart race. But it was missing something, the connection that they had before, the fire was gone. She backs away, a sad but knowing look on her face saying she had felt the lack too.
Before he could say anything there is an increase in noise outside the door, and he hears Gibbs voice. Cara's back behind in the bar in one smooth bound, with a speed and dexterity more than human. He's right behind her, approaching the bar and pulling out his pad and taking down some fake notes.
"Lead them to Little Mary, that's the plan. Got it?" They're the last thing Cara says before Gibbs and Kate walk into the bar. Even to his hishu ears their steps are loud and when they walk in Tony is thanking Cara for her time and information.
"Thank you ma'am. You've been a big help."
Cara grins at him, taking sip out of the glass she just poured. "No problem officer."
He turns around to see Gibbs expressionless face and Kate's slight disapproving frown. As if he'd been caught tonguing Cara. He smiles, If they'd been here a few minutes earlier, he lets the thought trail off.
"What's up Boss?"
"Let's go Dinozzo. Ducky's already gone and we have to get all this evidence to Abby." His face is still expressionless as he talks. There's no way to tell what he's thinking and its beginning to make Tony nervous. He turns and starts walking back out the door, and Kate and Tony hurry to catch up. The crime scene has mostly emptied out, with a few uniforms still walking around.
The walk towards the car is done in silence. Gibbs sure and steady strides eating up the distance between the bar and his car. Tony makes to break off to head towards his own, but Gibbs voice stops him. Kate has already gone to the passenger side and had already buckled herself in. Bracing herself for the insanity that Gibbs likes to call his driving. Tony is vaguely grateful that he came in his own car.
"Tony, I haven't forgotten the explanation you owe me." Is all he says before climbing in his car, closing the door and peeling off.
"He's so gonna slap me on the back of the head." He mutters to himself. He walks the few blocks back to his car, feeling the eyes on him, and knowing that they're the spirit guardians of the pack's territory. He gets in his car still feeling them, but not scared of them. If anything he's reassured, the Devil Dogs haven't completely lost their touch. They would probably beef up security soon, their totem would demand it. He takes one last look in the direction of the bar before driving away.
