Chapter Eleven: Scattered Petals

Mark spent the whole night, and the better part of the day in the woods. The sun lowered itself in the sky as he managed to find a road. He turned towards what he hoped was town, and started off in that direction, rethinking about the night he had.

That had been Vex, in the woods. The screams echoed through his mind, mixing with the remembered scent of blood. And he could still feel Vex's voice, sliding over him.

This couldn't be happening. Was he insane for thinking that he and Vex might have possibly worked out? Kenzi had given him a half-warning, and followed by Dyson's full one, he should have taken a few steps back days ago. And what was the display, that trust fall Mark allowed himself to fall into? Vex had been manipulating him this entire time, and he was too dumb to even have an inkling of a reason why.

His clothes were torn and muddy, his hair in a state of disarray. While he usually spent time making sure he looked his best before leaving his apartment, today it was the last thing from his mind. All he could think of were those screams, ricocheting around the trees.

Circling back to Dyson's warning, a thought popped into in his mind. Maybe, all this time, all these lies, were simply a way to get revenge on Dyson. The Mesmer and his father have both told him they didn't like each other, and it was obvious the distance they kept, even when in the same room. If so, Mark was going to find that son of a bitch and find a way around his Mesmer tricks to put him down for good. He felt played.

Tilting his head back, and unleashed a sound not unlike a howl at the rising moon. Everything had become so frustrated since he arrived here. A very small part of him yearned to return to the place he had come from, to just turn his back on his father and Vex, leave all this behind and deal with his past.

He almost wanted to punch something because he even allowed himself to entertain the thought of giving that man his love. The one thing that he could only do once in his lifetime, and he almost completely fucked up his future. When he got back to town, he was going to find some answers, and then he was going to find Vex.

Something stirred in the bushes to his right. He stopped walking, peering into the murky darkness and deepening shadows.

"Hello?" he called, waiting for a response. When none came, he murmured, "Stupid animals," and continued on his way.

A few hundred yards later he heard it again.

"OK, seriously. Who's there?"

For a split second there was silence, and then a twig cracked as something emerged from that ever-growing darkness. Mark had no idea exactly what he looked at. It crawled toward him on all fours, but on decidedly humanoid limbs. Draped over its back was a wolf pelt, but Mark had never seen any wolf that huge before in his life. The face of the pelt rested over whomever's face sat beneath it, obscuring the person's identity. At the other of the body, the tail was full and swaying. Something about the face was familiar to him, but he couldn't place it. The body under the pelt wore rags instead of actual clothes, just loose pieces of fabric barely containing the dirty flesh it hid. The hands and feet were covered in paw-like gloves, which to Mark appeared very costume-like.

"Woah dude, what the hell?"

It roared at him, and he fell onto the asphalt, scratching his hands in the process. He scrambled backwards, not daring to take his eyes of the thing. It took a couple menacing threats in his direction.

He had no idea what to do. The beast was Fae in nature, but Mark had never heard of anything like this. It began pacing back and forth, just in front of the tree line, its eyes never leaving Mark. Wishing he could see a little more of the face behind the mask, Mark pulled himself back into a standing position.

Trying to keep one eye on the thing, his other began frantically searching for a weapon. Barring a few small stones and a couple sticks, he was shit out of luck. If this thing wanted to attack him, there was very little stopping it from taking him out.

After it had finished taking stock of the shifter, the beast simply turned back to the woods and ran off.

"What the fuck was that?" Mark asked himself, breathing heavily. He had seen some weird things the past few days, but this had to take the cake. "I need to get back home," he said, realizing just how hungry he was. Maybe this was another trick. Maybe he just needed to get home, find something to eat, and sleep off this nightmare that had been his last twenty four hours.

Resigning to the aches and pains of his body as reminders that he hadn't completely lost his mind, he turned back to the road and restarted his trek, this time picking up the pace a bit. Whatever that thing was, he wanted to be home before nightfall took over.

When Bo called Kenzi home last night, she said about one interesting piece of information, then told her she felt tired and needed to get some sleep. Kenzi considered going back out to the party after this incredible waste of time, then thought that maybe sleep sounded like an excellent plan, after all.

The next morning Bo was nowhere to be found, and Ashton wasn't answering any of her texts, so she did something that she hadn't done in a long time, which was dress up in disguise and randomly roam through the city.

Selecting an electric blue wig cut into an asymmetrical bob, she partnered it with an aqua corset, fishnet tights under a pleather mini-skirt, and four inch stilettos. Pulling on a black leather jacket, she went to her vanity and applied a copious amount of makeup. Pleased with how she looked, she took off into the city, hoping a nice walk would alleviate some of the many troubles whirring about her brain.

The city bustled around her, and her thoughts turned to Ashton. He seemed genuine when she confronted him about the incident at Discord, but she wasn't sure she studied him long, or hard enough to be certain. What she wanted more than anything was to be able to trust him fully, that's what she needed after Hale. She loved him, planned on spending the rest of her life with him, and then everything changed. Spending so much time grieving, she almost forgot what happiness was, until Ashton appeared like a whirlwind in her life, sweeping her off her feet and dancing the night away.

If all this turned out to be a scam, or some sort of lie, she didn't know how to she'd be able to handle it. Her blood boiled at the thought. Next time she saw him, Ashton would have about two minutes to really explain himself, sincerely, or she'd castrate him.

Why was she being so harsh? She criticized herself. Her boyfriend acted weird twice and she's ready to let the hammer drop? Throughout her life, she'd been conditioned to be tough, but was this necessary? Noticing that she was taking in heaving breaths of air, she forced herself to calm down, and just relax. People watching had always been one of her favorite pastimes when she was younger, but now she realized the true fun was getting in some crazy outfit like the one she currently wore and watching people react to her.

Ultra conservative mothers would shield their small children's eyes, or make them avert their glances. Teenage boys and college frat guys tended to openly stare. The ladies also took their time with her, some out of lust, some out of content, but most were just perplexed. Kenzi didn't mind, she liked any kind of attention they wanted to show her.

She picked her way randomly through the city, not caring where she ended up. While she thought this was always the case, more often than not she finished her walks at the Dahl with a few drinks and a little dancing.

Passing a taxidermy shop she'd seen at least a dozen times, she paused once she got to the end of the display window. She was used to the strangely alive-seeming animals that adorned the display case, but this time, she wasn't really paying too much attention. This time, out of the corner of her eye, she thought she caught a glimpse of something much more peculiar than a half-assed mash-up of a squirrel and owl.

Doubling back, she gave the window a one-over, much more in depth than her passing curiosity. But there was nothing out of the ordinary. She could have sworn that she saw something that looked like a wolf, but for some reason it wasn't quite finished. She seemed to recall the pelt hanging from its frame, as if this particular wolf just had the pelt draped, unfinished.

It had to be just the way the late afternoon light glinted off the window, she thought, shaking it off.

The day continued to wane, and her legs began to tire. The Dahl was closer than home at this point, so she thought she might as well. Sliding her phone out of her jacket pocket, she sent Ashton a text letting him know he was free to join her if he so pleased. While she hoped he would come, she also wanted him to stall for a bit, to give her a chance to get a few drinks in her first.

As she walked along, it felt like someone, or something, kept an eye on her. She stopped every once in a while to look around, but never saw anything. As before, she liked any kind of attention that she got.

Vex wasn't certain where he was.

One second, he danced with a bunch of humans and Mark, having a gay old time, and the next he woke up in the middle of the woods. But "woke up" wasn't the right phrase, as he had never fallen asleep. It wasn't as though he'd never been spelled before, but this time was different. The magic was hard core.

He also didn't know what he did in the middle of the woods. If he concentrated real hard, he could remember the shine of a blade in the moonlight, the color red, and the distant sounds of screaming. Someone guided his body through a series of motions, and he only retained the foggiest recollection of what had transpired.

The sound of water dripping helped clear his mind, ground him in the reality of the moment. He looked around, noting for the first time that his hands were bound in chains connected to the floor.

"What the bloody hell?"

By the way, this also wasn't his first time in chains, but he usually enjoyed the experience.

He appeared to be in a workroom of sorts, although this one left a lot to be desired. Only the bare minimum was strewn about the room – a small worktable nearly on the floor it was so low, a couple of shelves with what looked like random shit in bottles randomly placed. There was a darker recess in one corner, and while he could make out the outline of something large over there, he couldn't tell what it was. Not like it much mattered, anyhow.

"Hello? Is anybody the fuck there?" he shouted to no avail.

The sun had nearly set, and he wondered if anyone thought to come looking for him. He wanted to know where Mark was, or at least know that the shifter was safe. Some gut reaction in him said otherwise, but he pushed the urge down. If someone had the power to smack Vex down this hard, their talents couldn't possibly be at use elsewhere.

He shuffled along the ground, trying to figure how far his reach went, which wasn't far, as it turned out. He could get pretty close to that darkness, but he'd rather not know what was too uncouth to be denied the very little light that entered this shed.

So instead, he listened. The sounds of the woods greeted him, which only told him that he was in the middle of the fucking woods. Listening closer, he couldn't make out the signs of anything unnatural, so it stood to reason he was a good distance away from the city, which was definitely a very bad sign.

A couple sticks cracked outside, and Vex's head shot towards the front door – well, the only door, as far as he could tell.

The door swung open, and in walked a man on two feet, something that looked like a cape falling down his back. The man's face was lost in a swath of shadow, and he lumbered into the workroom. Vex scanned his body, and almost breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no visible weapons.

"Who are you?" Vex asked. "Why did you bring me here? And what did you do to me?"

"Shut up," the voice was deep and gravelly, but purposefully so. Whoever he was, he tried his damnedest to disguise the sound of his voice. Was this someone Vex knew? And if so, what had he done to piss him off this badly?

"You're going to lock me up in this filthy sty and expect me to keep my mouth shut?"

The man took two long strides over to Vex and punched him hard across his face. While his world spun, Vex tried to see any identifiers on him that he'd be able to recognize. The effort was futile.

Turning, the man took a candle off the table and lit it with a match. The dim glow of the single candle didn't show much, but then the man started towards the corner with the dark silhouette. He took a couple more steps, the light slowly forcing the darkness to retreat. Vex could now tell that it wasn't a cape on his back, but a wolf pelt. This whole situation kept getting weirder, and it filled him with a sense of unease.

A foot appeared in the candlelight, followed by an ankle, a leg. The body looked naked, all clothing seemingly torn from the body and discarded by the wayside. Huge chunks of flesh were missing from the leg.

The wolf-thing set the candle down and leaned over the body. It pulled back its hood and took another mouthful of flesh off of what Vex assumed to be the body's chest. Disgusting slurping sounds followed, and then the man wandered back to the small table, kneeling in front of it. Vex watched it plop a section of skin on the table, cleaned from muscle and blood. The man picked up the flesh and removed some of the fabric coating on his body. Placing the flesh along his skin, he chanted something.

Whatever happened next was blocked from Vex's view, so he turned to the candle, still illuminating the body it sat next to.

And he knew the corpse.

"Who the fuck are you?" he screamed.

"Thanks for coming," Dyson said as Bo and Tamsin entered the Dahl. "And…" he said, actually looking at the two of them entering side by side, "you came together."

Oh yeah we did, Tamsin had to refrain from saying.

"What have you got for us?" Bo asked, trying to get right down to business.

"Two things. First, we've been broadcasting the facial reconstruction on our John Doe since we received it, and we think we finally got a hit."

"That's great," Tamsin said. "Where did that lead us?"

"His name is Porter Jones. Was Porter Jones," Dyson corrected himself. "I wanted to get a start on questioning his family, but some people have had their phones off for the past couple hours." He glared at both the women standing in front of him pointedly.

"Sorry, Dyson," Bo said. "We were held up."

"I'm sure you were."

"What's the second thing?" Tamsin asked, not wanting to go into that territory just yet. She and Bo have yet to have 'the talk', and she didn't want anyone making any assumptions about the two of them until they were able to sort everything out on their own.

"I went running this morning, and I found something." Dyson's tone was grave.

"Found something?"

"A body. I found a body in the woods, with the message scrawled – in blood – 'I did it to myself'. Sounds like a certain MO, if I'm not mistaken." He looked at Bo. "The body was really messed up, like someone had taken a chainsaw to it, but all I found was a small knife. There wasn't enough left of the body to ID."

"What, do you think this had someone to do with…"

"With Vex? I think it's highly likely. I had the blood tested discreetly and –"

"Oh my God," Bo said, putting her hand up to her mouth. "It wasn't Mark, was it? I will go kill that son of a bitch myself if anything happens to that boy."

"No, no, not Mark. The blood belonged to Eva Clare."

"What are you saying?" Tamsin chimed in. "Do you think Vex is behind Preston's murder and Morgan's disappearance?"

"I don't know what to think when it comes to that maniac, but I know we need to find him, and we need to have a nice, long chat with him about what his intentions truly are."

A/N: Hello again! So I'm starting in on the third act of this story, so I only have about 4-5 more chapters planned until its completion. If you're digging it, let me know and I'd be more than happy to get a sequel in the works! As always, thanks so much for reading!