Hello guys!
Oh my god, it's been so long! I missed writing, but I haven't done it in a couple months. So, here's a short chapter to help me get back on track. Hope you enjoy!
"And I win yet again!" Nick proudly lowered the cards he had on his hands and laid them on the table with a sly smile.
Finnick and the wolf who was playing with them both let out a groan and lowered their cards as well, bitterly accepting their loss. Nick smiled and pulled their chips closer to him, his already big pile getting bigger with another victory.
"I'll say Fox, you surely are a very lucky guy…" The wolf folded his arms and scrunched his face, playing with one of the few chips he hadn't lost yet, "You better not have any tricks up your sleeve…"
Nick let out a weak laugh as he took his hand to his chest and faked shock, "Come on, do I look like someone who would steal on a poker game just to get a mere dollar? I mean, if we were playing for a hundred then I might consider it…"
The wolf raised an eyebrow, unamused.
Nick sighed, rolled his eyes and humorously rolled up both sleeves of his black jacket, "See? No tricks up these sleeves. I assure you my victories are a 100% luck… and of course, skills." He said with a smirk.
"Ah, don't be a sore loser, Thor, Fox here is a good player, I'll give him that." Finnick intervened, adjusting the cigarette in his mouth before looking around, "Crap, the hot waitress is not here yet. Restart the game, I'll go fetch myself some more beer."
Nick and Thor nodded as the small fox jumped out of his seat and walked towards the bar, disappearing among the dancing crowd on the dancefloor of the bar. As Nick began shuffling the cards again, Thor laid his chin on the back of his paw and leaned his arm on the table.
"Sorry pal, but what's your name again?" He asked.
"Fox McCloud, at your service," Nick nodded and smiled, trying to sound as laidback as possible.
"Hum," Thor sighed, "I've never seen you before. You're not from around here, are you?"
"Uh," Nick's eyes quickly moved around as he thought of what to say next. He hadn't had time to come up with an elaborate backstory for his character, just with a name. But he could not afford to lose his cool right now, "No. I mean, I've been here in the town before, just not to this club." He smiled at the wolf, pretending to be focused on the cards as he began counting small piles to distribute among the players.
Thor nodded before leaning backwards to stretch his back against the chair's back, "Well, you seem like a cool guy. You should definitely come around more often."
Relief washed over Nick's body.
"Oh, I will." He bit his lip as he tried to carry on with the conversation, "So, how often do you come here?"
Thor shrugged, "Almost every day. It's a cool place to…" He got sidetracked as a female wolf passed by them and he followed her with his gaze, tongue hanging out of his mouth, "… get loose, if you know what I mean." He turned back and winked at Nick.
"Definitely," Nick nodded and reached for his glass of water – he did not want to risk getting drunk and ruining everything. "I've heard a lot about this place and what goes on here."
The wolf's smile vanished, and he stared at Nick in silence for a while.
"What do you mean by 'what goes on here'?" He asked carefully, ears folding back.
Nick took note of his strange behavior before trying to play it cool again, "Uh, you know, the games, the dances, the chicks…" He forced a smile and shrugged.
"Uhm…" Thor squinted as he reached for his bottle of beer and took it to his lips, seemingly more serious than before, "And who was the one who told you so much about this place? Finnick?"
Nick's tail wagged as he finally saw a chance to investigate some; "Actually, it was an old friend of mine. He said he came here a lot, but I haven't seen him in a while… His name was Coy. Do you know him?"
Thor's eyes widened, and he coughed, chocking on the beer he drank and spitting it out. Nick took his hands to his face, trying to avoid the drops that flew his way.
"Thor?" Nick stood up to approach the wolf and pat his back, "Are you alright?"
Thor wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket before pushing the fox away with such strength that Nick almost fell backwards.
"I, I have to go to the bathroom," He said before standing up and quickly walking away, harshly pushing anyone who happened to be on his way.
Nick frowned and looked to his side when he spotted Finnick coming back to their table. When he looked back to try to see where Thor was going, he had already disappeared among the crowd. However, he was pretty sure that the direction Thor chose to go was not the direction of the bathrooms.
"Hey, N- Fox," Finnick said as he jumped back to his seat and looked around, "Where's Thor?"
"I, I don't know, Finnick," Nick told him as he started to go on the direction the wolf had run off to, "But I will find out."
Sheen sat on the chair of his office with his eyes glued on his phone, the walls around him trembling slightly because of the loud music and heavy dancing going on in the upper floor; but the noise did not bother him in the slightest, for he was used to it.
Sheen absent-mindedly moved his head to the rhythm of the song being played as he scrutinized some of the recent news – the ones that were pertinent to him. He had to admit he felt a guilty pleasure in knowing that he caused all of that, while everyone else – the victims, especially – were left clueless.
"… with no sign of forced entry or any clues whatsoever."
"… although there was one sighting, the suspect seemed to vanish into thin air…"
"Police still hasn't solved the case…"
At first, he read then with a smile. Those seemed to be crimes straight out of a novel, for they were practically perfect and impossible to solve, the work of a mastermind. However, after scrolling some more, Sheen bit his lip.
"Raccoon, 37 years old, murdered in a fight."
Sheen's heart started beat fast.
"The killer remains unidentified."
So far, so good, it seemed. But he had made a mistake, and he knew it. In the rush of the fight, he'd left the body and the weapon of the crime behind. He'd left them precious clues that could lead them right to him.
"Anyone with information regarding the fox, wolf or polar bear involved is asked to come forward…"
Sheen closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his muzzle, thinking to himself that this would be a very opportune time to still have that Rick on his team. After all, taking the blame was all that goodie was ever good for…
His thoughts were interrupted when the door behind him was opened. He swirled his chair around and was met with Lydia entering his office in a rush. He raised an eyebrow and checked the time.
"My, aren't you late today," He tapped his fingers on his knee. "Where were you?"
"Hi to you too," She stuck her tongue out and ran to the closet in the corner of the room, "I'm sorry. I was out for my break and saw a police car. Had to take a different route, I didn't want them to see me."
"Ugh, fuck, police?" He cursed under his breath, "What were they doing here?"
Lydia shook her head, "No idea, but I didn't want to be interrogated either way."
"Good girl," He cooed, and she rolled her eyes, "But get going, your shift has started already."
"I'm getting ready for it," She gestured to the dress she had picked up from the closet, "Or do you want me to go work like this?" She then gestured to the old clothes she was wearing, "I mean, I could, but I doubt I'll get as many tips dressed this way."
Sheen waved his hand as to dismiss her, but then suddenly gasped and inhaled sharply, as though he could not get enough air in his lungs. A sharp pain irradiated from his chest and he stood up and leaned on the desk, coughing and sputtering with great difficulty.
"Oh, my, not again," Lydia said as she ran to him.
Sheen gestured to a drawer in his desk and Lydia opened it, picking up a small medical bottle out and handing it out to Sheen – although he snatched it from her hand before she could give it to him. In a few quick seconds he filled a syringe and injected himself in the arm with the red liquid; going back to his normal state a few seconds later.
Lydia breathed out in relief and took a hand to her chest, "Man, I honestly hate when that happens," she muttered.
"Wow, yeah, must be so hard on you," Sheen retorted, looking into the now empty drawer, "Fuck, that was the last one."
Her ears perked up. Oh, boy.
"Come here," He called and motioned for her to approach him.
Lydia sighed, took her jacket off and tossed it aside to expose her arms. She waited as Sheen opened another drawer and got a new needle and a piece of cotton imbibed in alcohol to rub it with. Once that was done he held her arm tightly to keep her blood flow still and quickly injected her with the syringe, drawing blood from her arm until the syringe was full.
Lydia hissed when he less than carefully pulled the needle out and her blood dripped from her arm onto the floor. Sheen held the full syringe in front of the light and held it up like some sort of prize before he transferred her blood to the small bottle and closed it.
"Remind me to call Doug about this tomorrow," He told her as he handed her a tissue.
Lydia frowned and took the tissue, pressing it against her arm to stop her bleeding. Only then she noticed the blood scattered across Sheen's desk. She knew that could not have come from her nor him being injected.
"You coughed blood again," She pointed out carefully.
Sheen turned his back on her.
"You're getting worse," She stated, "The shots are not working anymore."
He ignored her and just went back to reading stuff on his phone, "Go to work already, or this will come out of your paycheck."
Lydia sighed and just turned away, going back to the closet and picking the dress she'd dropped on the floor before going to the bathroom to get dressed. However, she stopped right before she could enter the bathroom and picked up a notebook from her pocket instead.
Sheen was so distracted that he didn't even see it when she approached him again and laid a note on the table, right in front of him.
Call Doug. Now.
He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.
"You're getting worse. Your crises are happening more and more often. You should call him as soon as you can – unless you want to have an attack while we're out of meds." She shrugged and walked away.
Sheen watched as she entered the bathroom, and with his head hanging low, called the sheep's number immediately.
Like I said, short chapter. I didn't want to start writing again with a huge one to avoid tiring me out and making a shitty one, but also because there wasn't a good place to stop after this. So, the next chapter will probably be a long one.
This probably brings a bunch of questions, but with the investigation starting, answers will come soon. And we get to see what Sheen is up too…
For those who want to know, I started college a while back and these few months have been crazy. Not only that but my doctor changed my medication, so my mood has been really weird, and I just did not want to write as much. I lost motivation and thought I'd have to cancel/hiatus my fics, but thankfully that got a little better and I was able to get it going again!
I'm so thankful for all the reviews/follows/favs; that really helps me. Sorry if this chapter was a little rusty, I promise I'll try to get back on track with better ones and hopefully start uploading more frequently.
See yah next chapter!