Chapter 11
Joe tried to relax. Which would have been a lot easier if his arm hadn't ached so much and his vertigo hadn't been so bad.
"How are you feeling?" Will asked, entering the infirmary.
"Dizzy as hell."
"Still? I'll give you another dose of antivenom," he answered, going to the drug cabinet. "Arm still hurting? I think you can have more pain meds here in a few minutes."
"I've had worse. I think I can handle the pain if you can just make the room stop spinning for a minute."
Will nodded and emptied a syringe into Joe's bicep. After a moment, the dizziness started to fade.
Joe sighed. "Thanks, man. That's a lot better."
"No problem. You holding up okay?"
"Last night I had the most incredible sex imaginable with a creature straight out of Greek mythology. She turned around and tried to cannibalize me today even though she's an example of a halfway decent member of her species. I've got a serial killer eating victims alive, one who isn't human, one who shouldn't even exist. I've suddenly been thrust into the realization that there's this whole freaking reality out there that I never even imagined, full of supernatural creatures, myths, and monster." He shook his head and admitted, "I don't know how you do this."
"It gets easier," the younger man promised, grabbing a chair and drawing it closer to Joe's bed. "I was really surprised how fast acceptance came."
"Jesus, Will. This is insane…"
"I once had this foster mother. She would always quote a George Carlin paraphrase of what I think was an old Bible story, trying to make me feel better about being different. But it doesn't really matter where it came from because I think that, no matter where it came from, it's God's own truth."
Joe sighed. "Lay it on me."
Will exhaled deeply, then pronounced, "Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music."
He stared. That was… sappy. And, while probably accurate, more than a little trippy given Will's reputation for perceiving things other people couldn't. "And that's you now? You hear the music?"
"Hear it and dance to it at times," Will agreed, shrugging. "You need to deal, Joe. This is huge. It's bigger than either of us, bigger than the whole worldwide Sanctuary organization. And that can be pretty terrifying at times. But there are other times when it is humbling and awe-inspiring and straight up amazing to behold. It's not all bad and ugly, and it's not even mostly that. Yes, everything society has ever told us was a lie. But that realization doesn't really turn anything on its head because the same general rules still apply."
He sighed and closed his eyes. "If you say so, Will."
"They do, Joe. You still have bad people and good people and bad things happening to good people. But, like with every crime, it can be solved if you just understand the facts of the case."
"Guess so," he agreed. "Hey, uh, thanks for earlier. Sorry if I came across as too weird or flaky or anything."
Will chuckled. "What is it about guys that we're ashamed of expressing our emotions even when we're expressing them while completely strung out?"
"Damned if I know," Joe laughed, shrugging. "But emotions do have a habit of complicating things."
"Tell me about it," Will answered with an expressive look.
"Helen?" he guessed.
Will smiled and shook his head. "It's not like that. It is, however, all kinds of complicated."
"Why?"
"She was there the night my mother died," he reminded Joe. "She saved my life."
He stared. "Jesus."
"Yeah. Makes it hard to figure out how much of the respect and awe and love are coming from Will Zimmerman the man and how much of all that's coming from that terrified kid."
"I can see where that would bother you of all people."
He shrugged. "I dissect minds for a living yet I can't figure out what's going on in my own."
"Nobody's perfect."
"No," Will agreed quietly.
"I think I'd like to see the SHU now, Will."
He frowned. "Are you sure?"
"I have questions that need answers."
"You still don't trust us."
"Not really. Can you honestly blame me for that?"
"No. But it's stand-up that you haven't tried to blow our cover yet."
"Don't decide I'm being noble. You're a forensic shrink. You can't afford to be that trusting."
"I never said I trusted you." Will considered Joe for a long moment before continuing. "You recognize that bringing down an operation of this size will take a great deal of planning and coordination. You'll pretend to play along until you're in a position to undermine us."
Well, no one had ever accused Will of being stupid. "Gonna tell your boss?"
"What makes you think she hasn't already figured it out on her own? Sleeping with Aleka was a nice touch, makes you seem more accepting of the whole situation. But, no, all three of us know you can't be trusted yet."
Joe winced at the suggestion that his involvement with Ali was only strategic. He had honestly not even considered that angle when he went to bed with her. "That make me a prisoner?"
"No." Will shook his head. "You're free to come and go. In spite of what you may think, kidnapping is not our thing."
"Show me the SHU."
Will sighed and nodded. "Can you walk?"
"I think so," Joe answered, gingerly climbing to his feet. When the room didn't spin too badly, he nodded to Will. "I think I'm good."
"You want a sling for that arm?" he offered.
"That fine." He shook his head. "I'd rather keep mobility. With where the stitches are, nothing going to tear just because I move my arm wrong."
"And you don't want anything for the pain?" Will asked, staring at the bites and stitches.
"Couple Ibuprofen if you have them?"
Will handed Joe a bottle and got him a cup of water. Joe thanked him and took the pills, then gestured for Will to proceed him from the room.
0101010
"I should warn you, some of the stuff down here is pretty nasty," Will told Joe as he keyed in the code to get into the SHU.
"Nastier than everything I've been through so far?"
"Some of it," the psychiatrist answered, expression apologetic. "You sure about this? Ashley nearly got killed down here once…"
"You don't have your prisoners secured?"
"As secure as we can keep them, but things happen. Even in regular prisons."
"True," Joe admitted, following him inside. He was surprised. "More habitats? I thought it would just be cells."
"A lot of the habitats are specialized for the health and well-being of the occupant. Some actually need it and some just find it easier to cope this way. We do what we can to keep everyone here comfortable, even those we wouldn't necessarily want to follow into a dark alley."
He walked to one of the huge windows, peering down into what looked like the floor of an ancient pine-forest. There were piles of needles, half-decayed stumps, ferns everywhere, and ill-lit with tendrils of fog curling through it all.
"What's down here?"
"Canis dirus, one of the less dangerous residents on this level." At Joe's look, Will clarified, "She's a dire wolf, supposedly wiped out during the Pleistocene Extinction. She's about five feet long and 150 pounds, mid-weight for the species. Kind of shy, so you probably won't actually see her."
Joe frowned. "So keeping it here is… like a conservation thing?"
"Pretty much. I mean, Magnus was investigating rumors of an Amarok in the area and it turned out to just be a dire wolf. Frightened locals eventually would have killed her, so Magnus brought her here."
Joe nodded and looked down into another cage, this one laid out more like a grassland than a forest. What looked like a gray pig with a mane of fur around its neck stood placidly rooting around in a pile of disturbed earth.
"Yeah, that thing's obviously deadly."
"That's an Ao Ao, Joe," Will told him quietly. "They run faster than cheetahs and subsist exclusively on human flesh. Once one has you in its sights, it won't stop until you're in its stomach. If you climb a tree to escape it, it just knocks the tree over and resumes pursuit. Assuming you're still up to running away."
"Uh…"
"Looks deceive." Will led him to another cage holding what looked like an anteater. "Don't get too close to the glass. The mental attack from a Baku makes Freddie Kruger look like an amateur. The psychic shockwave hits you at right on and you'll be afraid to sleep for two or three weeks minimum."
"It's an anteater."
"Yeah, that was my initial reaction to it, too. Then I had to treat the team who brought it in." Will shuddered, looking more troubled than Joe had ever seen him from working with simple deranged serial killers.
"How messed up were they?"
"One of them killed himself. Two others will probably be in a mental hospital for life. The other's young enough that she might recover in a few years."
Joe looked at the 'anteater' again, shaking his head. "Nothing here's what it seems, is it?"
"Not much," Will answered quietly. He touched the Detective's arm. "We should go, Joe. We have a case to solve. Aleka's got a tentative profile knocked together."
"Great. Let's go have a look at it."
0101010
"I know it isn't, James," Aleka sighed into the phone as Joe entered the office. "I just want to swallow half a bottle of Plavix and cut my damned femoral." She paused, listening. "No, of course I'm not going to! Don't be an idiot. No, you don't need to fly out. I'm not that fragile." She sighed. "Thanks, James. Look, I need to go. Joe's here; it's probably about the case." She laughed. "Of course, I'm sleeping with him. If you could, you'd be doing the exact same thing and we both know it. He's a well put-together young man. Look, James, I really need to go. Thanks for listening, doll. You take care of yourself." She hung up the phone and smiled weakly up at Joe. "Hi."
"You really weren't kidding about the two of you being casual."
"No," she agreed. "We both have very pragmatic views on sexuality in general."
"That some kind of immortal thing?"
"Let's just say that, after the first seventy or eighty years, things start to get less interesting. So you're always looking for ways to expand your horizons." She shrugged.
"That extend to Helen Magnus?"
"I wouldn't know. She's never offered and I've never had the stones to ask. If you're curious, you should approach her about it yourself. She's had almost as much time as James to work on her technique, so I'm sure it would be a mind blowing experience."
"I don't usually do casual sex."
She smiled. "Then I'm honored you picked me to try it out with."
"You do casual sex, though. And you obviously want to go there with her. I don't buy that you're afraid. What's the real story?" he challenged.
"In confidence?" she asked.
"Of course, Ali." He nodded.
"James is very much in love with Helen, which makes sleeping with her quite probably the only thing that might complicate my relationship with him."
"Ah."
"If you're curious what she's like in bed, Will might know, too."
"He says not."
She frowned. "Interesting…"
"Why?"
"Because the nose doesn't lie."
"Uh…" He shook his head, regarding her blankly.
"Never mind, Joe. You needed to discuss the case?"
"He is in love with her, isn't he?"
"Hard to say on the basis of a few stray pheromones. All I can say for sure is that her beauty isn't lost on him. They seem quite comfortable around each other. I don't know Will well enough to know whether that suggests the presence of a physical relationship or the absence of one."
"From what I know of Will, I'd say absence. Which is really kind of beside the point because I came here to ask about your profile."
"By all means. Have a seat."
"Thanks." He sank into a chair. "You really don't like the creepily inappropriate neighbor for our suspect?"
"Absolutely not. I wouldn't be surprised if Harris was good for some sex-crime somewhere, but he's no Siren. To be a Siren is to charm your victim, to make your victim comfortable, put them at ease. Our suspect will be the opposite of Harris. I'm going to need to talk to a lot more witnesses, but I'm honestly leaning towards Reverend Reynolds."
Joe stared at her with wide eyes. "You think a preacher is good for these murders?"
"I'm not knocking the profession, Joe. Merely pointing out that it requires an intensely charismatic sort of individual. I want to meet this Reynolds."
"Detectives have already talked to him, so have Ashley and Henry. No one who's met him thinks he's good for this."
She raised an eyebrow and just stared at him for a moment. Then it occurred to him: psychic influence.
"Ah. I'll make some calls."
"And I will keep digging," she answered, turning her attention towards the computer.
"I was thinking, maybe tonight--"
"Absolutely not," she interrupted, shaking her head. "I know what you taste like now. It's no longer safe for you to be alone with me."
"Ali…"
"No." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Joe. I genuinely am. It's just not safe. That is not my self-loathing speaking; it is a professional assessment. Ask Helen and she'll tell you the exact same thing. Aleka Pappas is no longer safe for you to be with in a sexual situation."
He sighed and shook his head. "You know what, I can't believe I'm saying this but I am going to go ask Helen about this."
"You do that. Then get me that appointment with Reynolds."
"I'm on it," he answered, leaving the office and wondering why he was even bothering with a woman who didn't even want a serious relationship with him, wasn't even human, and probably was even more dangerous than she claimed to be.