Chapter III
A/N: I am going to be starting to combine episodes to get to where I want to be sooner. The Hood and Grey Ghost will not always interact in their vigilante roles. "Supes" is a slang term for supernaturals. Hope you all enjoy this chapter! SSD
Jason liked to think that with his side job of being a bartender, he had become even better at studying body language. In conjunction with his studying of psychology in college, he could now read people like books. Some of his fellow supes who were not as good at reading people thought he was a mind reader. Which as a werewolf was not possible.
Sometimes he annoyed people with this skill. Especially when he told them that they were attracted to people the individual in question vociferously denied. Erika was a favorite of his to annoy in that manner, in regard to Tommy Merlyn. Every time he reminded her, her ears and face would turn fluorescent red, give him a death glare, and promised to kick his ass the next time Darius had them training. He gave as good as he got on a good day, but when she was incensed, he was usually black and blue by the time she was through with him!
Both of them broadcasted nonverbal cues that they were either unaware they were broadcasting or were choosing to ignore. It was probably a bit of both. And Erika choosing to ignore her feelings was the probable source of her arguing with her wolf.
It was also part of the reason why Tommy was striking out tonight with the ladies. The smarter ones followed where his eyes were focusing and left. And they were telling the not so smart ones to not waste their time.
Tommy seemed to think that Erika was telling women less than flattering things about him (she had done that in the past, but not tonight. Yet anyway.) and proceeded to start an argument. And boy was it good.
Somehow in the midst of the argument both were checking the other out. Not that either would admit to such a thing. Their feet were also pointed at each other, something that according to most body language experts, didn't lie.
As he managed to go towards the end of the bar closest to where they were, he could see dilation of the eyes and he could smell that they were definitely interested.
Sometimes I wish I wasn't a werewolf!
Erika stalked back towards the bar. She needed a stiff drink, before she said or did anything worse.
"Why don't you just fuck him and get it over with? Wouldn't that that be better than what you're doing right now," Jason asked as he set a shot glass of tequila in front of her.
Tossing it back, with narrowing eyes she replied, "Not you too. My wolf has also been making that suggestion more often of late."
"Perhaps you should listen to your wolf for a change. Don't bite my head off for saying this, but you are way past due for getting laid," Jason replied before moving out of range of her hands.
"I've had too much going on to even think about sex. My brother coming back from the dead, patrolling, worrying about Thea, that new vigilante popping up, and to the reason I came here to talk to you, Amira overheard some crooked sailors that there is a shipment of Luparite coming in," Erika replied.
Luparite was a substance that had adverse effects on werewolves. Formerly found in nature, it was now mostly made in labs, and the effects were much more potent than before. It took every advantage a werewolf had over a human and turned against them. The fast metabolism slowed to a crawl, rendering Luparite difficult to get out of one's system. A device similar to one used in dialysis treatments had to be used. The enhanced senses became even stronger in the worst way. In particular the audiovisual hallucinations. That was not even the worst of it.
The worst-case scenario of a high dose Luparite exposure was losing control to the wolf and turning into it at the worst possible time. The full moon was not needed under these circumstances. Losing control meant potential exposure to the general population. It also could mean biting someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Good thing my shift is nearly done, so we can go and try to intercept it before it gets to whoever bought it. Then we'll never find it," Jason answered.
"Apparently it is a rather large amount of the stuff. There is no legitimate reason for anyone to have that much Luparite. That much, is only meant to cause trouble," Erika shuddered. She hoped to never be on the wrong end the stuff.
Who knows what my wolf would do if given such an opportunity!
Darius couldn't believe his ears when Amira told him how much Luparite was due to come into the city. Whoever had ordered it, definitely knew what it was for, and how to use it without harming themselves.
He would have to talk Alfonso about hacking into the shipping manifest of the vessel that had carried the stuff. It would tell them where it came from, who made it, and who had ordered the shipment.
Luparite was damned hard to dispose of. He and the small pack that had formed could not handle it themselves, meaning they would have to outsource it to someone else. Fire elementals could manage it, but then everyone would either be high (if they weren't shapeshifters) or ill (for shapeshifters). There was also just dumping it into the harbor like the tea of the Boston Tea Party (that had been quite the experience for him). Unlike tea however, Luparite did not dissolve in water. Even when ground into a powder, it sank to the bottom of whatever container it was in and was visible. Cooking with it was a last resort, but only a few of the strangest supes would willingly consume it.
He *really* did not want to call in any magic users. Their prices were atrocious and the ones that kept their yaps shut were even more costly. And there were only two he trusted enough to even contact: Harry Dresden and John Constantine.
Tommy watched as Erika and the bartender leave. Now that he had gotten a better look at him, Tommy recognized him as one of Erika's classmates from UNLV, Jason. They had always seemed pretty chummy, but as far as he knew (which was not very much) about their relationship, it was never a romantic one.
Not that I care. He knew better than to attempt to meddle in Erika's personal life. There had only been one attempt by both him and Oliver before the accident. Erika had been less than amused by their actions.
For such a small woman, she can sure pack a powerful punch!
He had been slapped by a woman on more than one occasion, though Erika was the only one who he had not slept with. And she'd slapped him on more than one occasion. The bickering they engaged in sometimes made him wonder how good Erika would be putting that tongue and mouth of hers to better use than snarking with him.
Don't go there. Don't even think about it. She's just Oliver's annoying pain in the ass sister. She would not be welcome to any suggestion like that you could make!
"I need a drink," Tommy mumbled to himself. He needed to stop thinking about things that would never happen and would only happen when Hell froze over.
And he was not talking about Hell Michigan. That froze over every winter.
The Luparite shipment had nearly been intercepted. Somehow, the local supernatural community had caught wind of its arrival and tried to destroy it before it could be used.
Malcolm strongly suspected that it was not just werewolves trying to destroy it, even if they were most likely to be involved in some manner.
There had been a hacking attempt at the company servers, which his new head of cyber security had dealt with the situation with relative ease. Rivera had barely even reacted to the event. It seemed that the Spaniard was worth every penny of his not inconsiderable salary.
And yet there was something about him, that Malcolm could not quite place. The background check he'd had done on the man had come up clean, but it seemed as if it was almost too normal looking.
What did the man have to hide?
Malcolm would have to leave that problem for later. There were other issues, like the vigilante that seemed to be targeting people that were involved with his plans.
A/N 2: Definitely much faster than the last wait period! This chapter came a great deal more easily than the prior one. I cannot wait to hear what you all think! Looking forward to finding out what your favorite parts are! SSD