Chapter 16
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Author's note: A quick reminder that as of Chapter 17 (the next one) this story will be rated "R." That means changing the rating on fanfiction's menu to find it.
Also an apology of sorts. Due to circumstances beyond my control, the next chapters AFTER 17 will be coming more slowly than the others. For example, 19 is finished, but 18 isn't. Sorry!
Thanks again for your kind attention! We both hope you will continue to be pleased with our little efforts *^_^* ...and we WILL continue our tale. If you have questions in the future, you can reach me at bluehorse541@hotmail.com
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Kirei shivered when she realized the gravity of what she was considering--What am I thinking? Would it really be easier for all of us if I gave up my humanity? It was a huge decision, one there would be no coming back from. Besides, getting the vaccine would be no easy task. She would have to find a doctor to act as an intermediary to obtain it from a research lab. Dorothy's friend Marian was the only physician she trusted not to betray her to the government, but she would probably not want any part of this. It went against everything the old wererat believed in.
She stretched, trying to break the tension in her shoulders, and looked around her studio. Her glance fell upon her table, the surface covered with unfinished orders. Better to complete these first, she thought. Maybe keeping busy will clear my mind; I'm not being rational.
Kirei soon lost herself in her work. It was only when her empty stomach began to rumble painfully that she realized how much time had passed. It was well after midnight.
She turned off her torch and went into her little apartment to heat up some canned soup. The answering machine was on the counter nearest the stove--a quick glance at the message counter revealed a big red zero, glowing with an almost obscene brilliance. Her jaw tightened at that. Maybe someone called my voice mail, she thought hopefully, picking up her cell phone. A quick check proved equally fruitless.
Kirei felt her heart fall with disappointment. They didn't miss me, she thought. They're probably relieved I'm gone. How could things have changed so much? How did I miss the signs?
No longer hungry, she returned the unopened can to the pantry.
~~~~~
Leon reread the files on his desk. It was hard to believe that such an assassin wouldn't have to get out occasionally and flex their muscles. Shapeshifters had an almost pathological need to let their inner beast run free. Even his sweet Dorothy had to do so.
If humans were so driven, how much more so would an animal-based shapeshifter be? Wouldn't such a monster have even less self-control?
Following a hunch, Leon turned to the computer terminal on his desk and pulled up all the wolf attacks of the last 12 months. Fifty came up. Forty-eight involved known shapeshifters with long criminal records. They all had fingerprints. One involved a real wolf, a rabid one that had been shot dead at the time of the attack. The last one took place less than a month ago. In fact, it occurred the night of his reunion with Dorothy.
A teenaged boy reported being attacked by a large white animal (either a wolf or a german shepherd--the boy wasn't sure) while walking in Paradigm Park that night. There was a vivid description of how fast and silent the ravenous beast had been, how viciously it had knocked him down. It was a miracle he hadn't been killed. Several polaroids of bruises from his fall were displayed, as well as a lab report concerning some white hairs found on his clothes. The hairs were definitely from some sort of canine, most likely a wolf.
It WAS a little odd that the boy was neither bitten nor scratched, considering how savage he claimed the attack was. Maybe the thing got interrupted? That was a puzzle, but not the only one.
Leon tented his fingers, thinking. Shapeshifter fur always matched the human's hair color. These hairs were white. Kirei had brown hair, right? He closed his eyes, trying to visualize her clearly from that single meeting. There had been something funny about the way light had reflected off her rough hair, a kind of silvery shimmer. He had assumed it was from some sort of product she used to keep the wild curls under control, but now he wasn't so sure. Maybe only the underlying layer of fur was brown, while the longer, visible outer fur was that silvery white stuff.
He decided to see if there was any recent information on file about her. He typed in "Snowolf, Kirei" and the same residential address that Dorothy used.
Only two things popped up. One was a driver's license. Curious, he checked in with the DOT to see her record...somehow he wasn't surprised to see it was spotless. The other was a commercial business license id number. He typed in the code. The name "Whitewolf Studio" came up, along with the business address and phone number.
Leon grinned briefly, pleased with himself. "Whitewolf" indeed! How stupid of her, how unprofessional...you'd think she had nothing to hide.
He checked the original issue date for the license. Apparently she had had it for a few years. The place was already open when he had first met Dorothy, and he knew the redhead didn't know her back then. He wondered just how long Dorothy HAD known the brown-haired shapeshifter, and how they had met. He wondered if Kirei had targeted Dorothy, all the better to get close to Smith. He debated whether or not to do a more extensive search, then decided it would be a waste of time.
He HAD to talk with Dorothy, find out the history of their relationship, maybe warn her if it didn't sound right (and warn Smith too...the negotiator might be a romantic rival, but he was still a law-abiding citizen and had a right to protection.)
Meanwhile he had to type up the report of his findings, knowing that Dastun expected it on his desk in the morning. Duty came first; doing otherwise would result in a suspension. Leon knew he'd need all the resources of the Military Police to combat such a preternatural danger. His experiences at the RPD had taught him that.
"Sooner started, sooner done," he muttered to himself. He reached for the keyboard.
~~~~~
As Roger made his way to Dorothy's room, he paused before Kirei's silent bedroom. He hadn't seen her since early that morning, when she rushed out of his room. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen much of either of his girls for a while, and BOTH seemed somewhat preoccupied. Did this Kennedy guy say something to Snowy also? No, Roger said to himself, that didn't make sense. Snowy was as mystified by Dorothy's moodiness as he was...yet she was quieter than usual after that trip to M.P.H.Q too.
Another twinge of guilt shivered through him. Dorothy wasn't the only one he wasn't listening to. Snowy had tried talking to him the night she went to "Lucky Chang's," hadn't she? He had kept interrupting her, more concerned with the passing of time and her appearance than her attempts to get his attention. Was it about Kennedy?
Something was bothering both of his girls, and he hadn't been paying attention. He had been taking his position as their alpha for granted, instead of treating it as the honor it was. As packmates, the girls would do anything for each other, and for him as well, even at the risk of their own well-being. They had saved his life on more than one occasion. He had to show them he was still worthy of their trust and love.
He could start now to make things right. Maybe Dorothy had confided something, anything, to Snowy by now that would help fix everything.
Roger knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Was the little shapeshifter asleep? He decided to enter, knowing she wouldn't mind being awakened if the reason involved her packmate.
The room was pitch-dark. Even the curtains were tightly drawn against the moonlight. He couldn't see a thing. "Snowy? Little one?"
No answer.
The negotiator flicked on the light. The bed was still neatly made, untouched since the morning. He opened her closet, hoping that she had at least come back for her coat at some point during the day (the temperature had dropped precipitously after sunset, and she didn't handle cold very well in her human form.) It was still there, hanging mutely.
Something wasn't right. He knew she had kept her appointment with Dastun, because the major would have said something otherwise. Dan hadn't mentioned her at all.
Roger frowned. Kirei was very good at taking care of herself, but she always called in. She knew he would worry otherwise. Was it possible she had left a message with Norman?
He turned, and noticed she had carelessly left the earrings he'd given her on her vanity. That wasn't like her either. He picked them up, and smiled at the memory of how pretty they looked on her. He decided to put them away so they wouldn't be lost.
Roger opened Snowy's jewelry box and began to rummage through it, looking for the black earring case. As he did so something metallic fell out. It looked like a key ring with a pair of rectangular steel tags hanging off it.
"Huh?" Curious, Roger picked it up. They were military dog tags. One was stamped "Snowolf, Kirei" with a series of numbers and letters stamped underneath. The other was similarly marked, but the name emblazoned on top was "Nightwolf, Shinji."
Roger stared at the new mystery cupped in his palm. Who the hell was Shinji Nightwolf, and why did Snowy have his tags? Why did SHE have such tags? The coding looked official and vaguely familiar. It reminded him of the serial numbers on some of the Griffon's more sophisticated weapons systems. What did this mean?
He squeezed his dark eyes shut, trying to calm his racing thoughts. First things first, Roger Smith, went the little voice in his head. Dorothy needs you NOW, more than ever. This can wait.
He slipped the tags into his pocket, turned off the light, and strode down the hallway to his kitten.
~~~~~
Kirei unrolled her sleeping mat and sat down on it, frustrated and depressed. She was too tired to safely work anymore, but too restless to sleep. She considered going out for a run, but wasn't in the mood for that either.
Growling quietly, she got up and paced the space like a too-small cage. Finally she went over to her closet, opened it and pulled out a large box. She placed it on the floor beside her futon and sat down cross-legged on the thick cotton mat. Kirei lifted the lid and carefully removed the contents.
It was full of pictures--some photos, but mostly drawings--of both her old pack and her new. The little shapeshifter pulled everything out, arranging it all on the floor before her.
Kirei looked at the oldest ones first. She had smuggled out the handful of photos of her original pack only days before the massacre. She had hidden them in the woods outside the lab, somehow knowing there wouldn't be time to gather anything when they made their escape.
Snowolf sighed, looking at the familiar faces. That seemed to have been the only thing she'd been right about at that time. None of them had expected things to turn out the way they did.
She spread the photos across her bed as if they were tarot cards, as if somehow the arrangement would reveal the truth to her. She didn't know why Shinji had failed to escape. He had been the strongest, smartest, bravest of them all. If only one of them was to have survived whole, it should have been him.
Kirei realized that short of a miracle, she would never know.
She picked up his picture, his golden eyes full of laughter. They had all agreed, if separated, to meet at the zoo. It was one of the few landmarks they could find unerringly by smell, because none of them were very familiar with the city.
Kirei had waited faithfully at the entrance for a month. One morning, she was greeted by the faintest whiff of Shinji's scent. Overjoyed, she had followed it onto the zoo's grounds, trembling with hope as it strengthened.
She finally found herself in the wild canine section, directly in front of the new wolf exhibit. Puzzled, she had explored the whole area. Even if he had disguised himself she would have known him immediately...but he wasn't there. Yet, the scent was as fresh as if he were beside her.
"Shinji?" Was he hiding?
There was a sudden rustling from the back of the cage before her, as the keeper released the animal within from its nighttime housing. A huge black wolf vaulted out, making a beeline for the little shapeshifter. He whined eagerly, thrusting a great paw between the bars toward her, his sun-colored eyes glowing with recognition.
It was Shinji.
Kirei tried to communicate with him, using the hand/paw signals they'd been taught. He merely looked at her, puzzled, and licked her hand. That's when she knew he was gone forever, and she was alone in the world.
Or at least, until she met Dorothy.
Kirei rummaged through the stacks of paper until she found what she was looking for. It was a strip of snapshots from an automated photo machine. The four pictures were of herself and Dorothy clowning around. It was one of the few times either of them had allowed themselves to be photographed.
Kirei smiled, remembering. Meeting the redhead had changed her life for the better, even before Roger came into the picture. The brunette had hated the shapeshifter sub-culture she had found in the city. It was too cruelly violent for her sensibilities, seeming to mix the worst aspects of both human and animal. She didn't understand the constant pack fights, the continuous need to reset hierarchies, the casual attitude towards mutilation and bloody death.
Her old pack had never been like this. As alphas, she and Shinji would have never allowed such outrageous behavior. The alphas here seemed to encourage it. It was senseless.
As for mixing with purely human society...the lab workers had been her sole contact with normals. Their ultimate reaction to her kind, their dismay at her pack's refusal to become mindless killers despite all the torturous conditioning...it had made a powerful, painful impression. Humans were to be kept at arm's length. They were too dangerous, too quick to judge, or rather misjudge.
Dorothy had been the exception that proved the rule. Snowolf had thought she was a mundane when the pretty redhead had introduced herself. She hadn't known that being an android let her mask that shapeshifter energy effectively. She seemed charismatic, not otherworldly.
At any rate, it was Dorothy's genuine friendliness and curiosity that started it all. Kirei would have never approached had the circumstances been reversed. She was too gun-shy by this point. The only people (human or not) she generally spoke to now were work-related acquaintances. It was lonely, but blood was rarely spilled as a result.
One evening, Kirei had commandeered the last empty table at Barnes and Nobles, covering it with a huge variety of books and magazines. She was doing research for a couple of new commissions, and was busy sketching when she felt someone staring at her. She looked up, directly meeting the bright green eyes of a beautiful redhaired girl looking intently at her.
Puzzled, Kirei spoke: "Um, do I know you, miss?" There was something about the girl, a vibe, she couldn't quite place. If she didn't know better, she would have termed it "pack," but it was too faint. She had to be human.
The lovely redhead blushed, smiled, and came closer. "Sorry, didn't mean to stare like that." She gestured gracefully at the table. "I was fascinated by your choices. I was thinking you must be a very interesting person, and that I'd like to talk to you."
It occurred to Kirei that it had been a very long time since she had had a conversation purely for the pleasure of it. She cleared a broad swathe of the table and smiled back. "Sure, why not?" A few minutes chatting with a stranger in a public place could do no harm, right?
To the surprise of both, those few minutes turned into several hours. It felt like a reunion between old friends. They agreed to meet again the next day, both blown away by the experience.
The following afternoon, Kirei decided to confess to being a shapeshifter to Dorothy. If the girl wanted to be friends, it was only fair she know the truth. A lot of humans feared her kind (and with good reason) and the last thing she wanted was for the girl to feel duped.
Dorothy was already in the quiet cafe when the brown-haired shapeshifter arrived. She wasn't alone, and didn't look very happy about it.
Two men were standing over her and softly talking. One was in his early twenties, with bright blond curls and a goatee, and dressed in a flashy suit that perfectly matched his hair. Kirei had never seen him before. She recognized the other man though. He was in his early fifties, extremely buff, perfectly tanned, and completely clean shaven--eyebrows, head, body--the only hair visible were the black eyelashes framing his almost colorless blue eyes. He was dressed in skintight black leather and lots of expensive whitegold jewelry shaped like bones and teeth and claws.
Kirei knew it was expensive because she had made every bit of it for him. He was known as Sweet William, and was anything but sweet. He was the alpha of the largest roughest pack in the city, and bad news in every way. Why was he bothering Dorothy?
"What are you doing here, William?" Kirei asked, careful to keep the snarl out of her voice.
Dorothy looked up at her, her green eyes wide with surprise and maybe fear. Great, thought Kirei--there goes THAT possible friendship. Meanwhile she kept her angry dark gaze fixed on the alpha. Whatever happened, she couldn't let him hurt the girl.
"Why, Miss Snowolf, what a pleasure to see you again!" William reached out to take her hand; she crossed her arms instead. He chuckled in a growly sort of way. "Now, Snowy..." he said.
"Only my friends call me Snowy. You DON'T qualify. Why are you here?" Kirei asked again, letting out the snarl this time.
"This is a public venue. I have just as much right to be here as you do." He smiled, letting his sharp eyeteeth show. They were brilliant white against his tan. "Anyway, I'm here to interview a potential new member."
Kirei shook her head. "I told you I'm not interested, not in your pack or anyone else's. I'm the stereotypical lone wolf."
William laughed, a harsh, almost barking sound. The young blond man smirked broadly.
"Don't flatter yourself, Snowolf. You're not the only single bitch in Paradigm, though I've not forgotten you either. Sooner or later you'll both come crawling on your bellies to me." He leered down at Dorothy. The blond man reached out and petted her bright hair. She jerked away, shaking (was it fear or anger? Kirei bet it was the latter.)
"Now, now, Beck...You've gone and frightened the poor cub. Be a good human and leave her alone," chided William, wagging a beringed finger at him. The pair started to leave; the older man turned and grinned toothily before they exited: "This isn't over, ladies."
They left.
Kirei stared after them darkly, then sat down at the small table beside Dorothy. Hesitantly, she reached out and touched the girl's fingers, half-expecting her to jerk away from her too. Instead, Dorothy took her hand tightly. "Snowy?" she whispered hesitantly.
Both girls began to talk at once, then stopped. They laughed, half in embarrassment, half in relief. A third patron entered the shop, looked at them curiously, then went to the counter to order a coffee.
Kirei finally found her voice. "Let me guess. You're a shapeshifter too."
Dorothy nodded and smiled.
That had been the start of it.
They had both learned early on to hide the truth of themselves from others. Neither human nor lycanthrope society was a comfortable fit for either of them.
Now they had each other to depend on. It wasn't exactly a pack of their own, since there was no alpha, but it was as close as they could get to being one.
Kirei put down the photo strip, frowning. It had been wonderful, up until the day Dorothy mysteriously vanished on her way home from work.
She remembered how frantically she'd searched for her, notifying the police, putting up posters, hiring detectives, even confronting Sweet William on his own turf in case he had kidnapped her packmate. She had offered to take Dorothy's place...William had laughed at her at first. He realized she was serious when she offered to take a blood oath, binding her to him.
"I'd love to take you up on that, Snowolf, but the truth is I don't have your friend, and I don't know who does. Sorry."
A month passed, then two. Kirei continued to hunt for Dorothy, but without success. Even the police found nothing. It was as if the androwolf never existed.
Meanwhile Sweet William began to pester her again. He had apparently decided that since she was now alone, she would be easy meat. Discovering she wasn't only made him more aggressive. Kirei rarely left the safe haven of Whitewolf anymore. She didn't want to fight.
Six months passed with nary a clue. Then one day a man with a slight British accent called. He wanted to set up an appointment for a new client, a man named Roger Smith. Kirei wondered briefly if he was the famous negotiator she'd read about in the papers, wondered what he looked like too. She shrugged to herself. What did it matter? He was just another human. No big. Maybe if he had half a brain she could hire him to get William off her back.
Later that week two people dressed in black walked into her studio at the appointed hour. One was the most beautiful man Kirei had ever seen, with an aura of power that filled the room and made her shiver. The other was Dorothy.
Dorothy grinned at her friend. "Miss me?" she teased.
Kirei stammered for words; the two shapeshifters leaped towards each other and hugged, chattering a mile a minute.
Roger stood off to one side, watching. He hadn't seen his kitten look this happy, well, ever. He was glad he had persuaded her to let him find her friend. She had been so nervous, so unsure of her welcome, considering what had happened and how much time had passed.
Kirei stepped away from her, still half convinced she was dreaming. "I can't believe you're back," she began, then stopped, overpowered by her emotions, by everything. The room started to spin and darken...she found herself in the strong arms of Dorothy's companion.
"Are you alright?" he asked. "You fainted." There was genuine concern in his warm voice. Their eyes met and...something intense...passed between them. Kirei felt herself tighten deep inside. Only Shinji had ever affected her that way.
The man dropped his beautiful dark eyes a little too quickly, as if he'd felt something unexpected as well. He turned his handsome face towards the worried redhead and smiled. "I think we shocked your friend, kitten." He carefully helped Kirei get back on her feet. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again.
"Ye-yes," stammered Kirei, still feeling overwhelmed. She didn't remember crying, but her face was covered with tears. "I thought you were dead, Dorothy. I thought I'd never see you again."
The girls hugged again, both of them crying this time.
After a few moments, Roger coughed loudly. "Dorothy, don't you think you should introduce us?" He smirked, watching the pretty redhead blush.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Roger--I'm not thinking, am I?" She turned towards Kirei. "Snowy, this is Roger Smith. He's my boyfriend..." she colored prettily "...and my hero."
Kirei saw their eyes glow at each other. Whatever happened these last six months seemed to have had a happy ending at least, she thought, glad for her friend.
"Roger, this is my best friend, Snowy. You've already heard all about her." She turned towards the other shapeshifter. "Or would you prefer I introduce you as Kirei Snowolf?"
"Oh, no, 'Snowy' is fine. My friends always called me 'Snowy.' Maybe we can be friends too, Mr. Smith." She offered her right hand to shake.
Smith took it. He had a nice handshake. Not too strong, not too weak.
"Snowy it is, then. Call me Roger." He smiled. That was nice too.
"Say, why don't we continue this over lunch?" he suggested. "My treat."
Strange, Kirei reflected, how things happen. If they hadn't gone to that restaurant, hadn't bumped into William there, how different things might have been. William had threatened Kirei in front of both Dorothy and Roger. It wasn't the first time he had done this, but it was the most serious threat he had made, and the first time in front of witnesses. It was obvious to both Dorothy and Roger that he had frightened her, despite her denials. She finally admitted she had run out of appropriate options. She didn't say that the next step involved killing him; she didn't want to kill him. She hated violence.
She looked at Roger instead. "You're a negotiator, right? Can't I hire you to negotiate a peace treaty between us? I can pay you."
Roger shook his head no. "You need a bodyguard, Snowy. You don't really believe someone like him would honor a contract, do you?"
Dorothy had been uncharacteristically quiet, deep in thought.
"I know how to fix this," she said suddenly.
Roger and Kirei both turned towards her.
"We can have Snowy move in with us, Roger. There's lots of room in the house. I'd love to have her around." She smiled brightly, pleased with herself.
"Oh, Dorothy, I couldn't intrude on you two like that! It wouldn't be right! I don't know how long I'd have to stay, you know William is not the kind of guy that takes 'no' very well."
Dorothy looked at Roger, her green eyes pleading. "Please, Roger, wouldn't it be a good idea? You'd really like Snowy once you got to know her, and besides, she'd keep me company while you're at work. You know how empty that big house is."
Roger tented his fingers and looked intently at both girls. He knew how close they had been, and was also aware of Kirei's fruitless search for her. Finally he smiled.
"You're right, kitten, it IS a good idea. Welcome to the Smith household, Snowy. I just have a few simple rules to follow, and we'll get along fine."
Kirei sat up, sighing. None of them had any idea of where that innocent offer was going to go. She opened up a sketchbook, finding a portrait of Roger in colored chalk. It was one of the first she had done of him, before he had learned to relax under her sharp gaze...before he had told her he loved her. He had tried desperately to look serious, and ended up with a faint smirk instead. Norman had laughed behind his hand when he had seen it, congratulating her on capturing Master Roger so well.
There were other, later drawings of Roger, including several nudes. She touched the surface of one, carefully tracing the sensuous lines of his wonderful body. She blinked hard, remembering the session. It had been done the day after their first time together.
Drawing him was almost like making love, only more intimate somehow. It was as if she were re-creating him with her heart as well as her hands.
Kirei fell backwards onto her futon, her dark eyes closed, remembering the day they all acknowleged the truth.
~~~~~
Ada Wong smiled coldly to herself, her red lips a cruel curve on her beautiful face. Funny how small the world was! Who would have thought her old beau Leon Kennedy would have ended up back in Paradigm? Maybe she would look him up. He would be a useful ally on this mission, if it turned out to have any basis in fact.
Meanwhile, there was background work to do, bits of hearsay about two fabulous beasts to track down and verify.
One was the result of a kind of Frankensteinian R & D, using bits of DNA (instead of dead body parts) culled from wolves and humans to create a breedable, trainable shapeshifter. Predictably this experiment had ended much like the story, with the monsters proving to be both more and less than expected. The project had been closed down, but a recent audit suggested that neutralization might not have been as thorough as first thought. Someone might have counted a control wolf twice; once as itself, once as a test subject. Of course, it could also turn out to be nothing more than a clerical error. She shrugged gracefully to herself. It wouldn't be the first time such things happened, nor would it be the last.
Ada wondered if it tied in somehow with the second rumor she was to investigate, something about a lycanthropic bio-android. Was it possible for such an amazing creature to even exist?
If either shapeshifter was more than urban myth, she was under orders to bring it in. If she could find both, so much the better. If there was a way to somehow combine the two into one, her people would have the perfect weapon. They would be a treasure trove of experimental possibilities, worth untold millions--and she was guaranteed a nice cut of the profits.
She'd already spent weeks out on the street gathering information. It had been a slow and dangerous process, but the handful of names and anecdotal stories were worth it. At least now she had an idea of what to look for, once she hacked her way into the Military Police's classified records.
She set up her laptop and went to work. As Ada had expected, getting in was ridiculously simple. Like all cash-strapped police forces, they were perpetually behind the times with their firewalls and anti-spywear programs.
Somehow the pretty Asian also wasn't surprised to find most of her queries led to reports filed by Officer Kennedy. No matter where the boy was posted, she mused, he managed to get the local horrorshow dumped in his lap. It was one of the things that made dating him so interesting.
Wong brushed a short lock of gleaming black hair out of her dark eyes. Monsters to hunt, money to be made, and maybe the delectable Leon to pursue...this was going to be fun.
Just for the hell of it, she typed in the old password Leon had used when they were still together. She smiled wickedly when it was accepted. How typical of the boy, to assume nobody would expect him to do something so obvious--or so careless.
Ada laughed quietly to herself when her spywear showed her Leon was currently online. She discreetly pulled up the file he was working on. Her laughter died as she began reading. Suddenly those rumors were gelling into facts.
The woman's fingers flew across her keyboard as she backtracked Kennedy's research. One name in particular seemed to have caught the young cop's attention: Kirei Snowolf. Knowing Leon, there had to be a damn good reason.
Ada quickly did a search on Snowolf, then on every name frequently associated with her. After what felt like hours of reading, she sat back in astonishment.
Snowolf shared an address with a powerful negotiator and Leon's ex? Dorothy Wayneright had been attacked by a werewolf? And the redhead's medical report!--Wong exhaled a deep, shaky breath.
All of the pieces were beginning to fit. She would start checking them out by paying a visit to Whitewolf Studio in the morning.
Ada placed a taser and a pair of sterling silver handcuffs in her purse. It never hurt to be prepared.
~~~~~
Kirei had found Roger attractive the moment he had entered her studio. She was pretty sure the feeling was mutual, but, to her relief, he was both too much a gentleman and too much in love with Dorothy to acknowlege that fact, let alone act on it.
The brunette made it a point to control her emotions too. Instead, she and Roger sublimated their growing affection, forging a solid platonic friendship. Neither wanted to break faith with Dorothy. She was too important to both of them.
The pretty redhead's insistance that her old friend move into the dark mansion seemed the ideal solution. Sweet William had continued making threats since Kirei was unattached to any pack, but she was now effectively out of his reach most of the time. Dorothy was no longer lonely when Roger was on long business trips, nor did he have to worry about her safety when he wasn't around to protect her.
All seemed perfect in their little world, til one drowsy afternoon encounter opened their eyes......
The brown-haired shapeshifter was alone on the terrace, busily sketching and enjoying the day's meager warmth. Norman was busy servicing the Big O (he would privately jest that the megadeus was almost as high-maintance as his employer.) Dorothy had class for another hour or so. Roger had been gone three days on a difficult negotiation and wasn't due home til the end of the week.
Thus, she was pleasantly surprised when he unexpectedly returned early. Roger seemed rather tired and a touch irritable--the negotiation had concluded successfully, but the clients on both sides had been (as he sarcastically put it) "a nasty mix of pigheadedness and paranoia."
At his request, she got him a large brandy. Roger downed half in a gulp, then shook his head in disgust. "I swear, Snowy, sometimes I wonder why I even bother with some of these people. There has to be a better way to make a living."
He took another big swallow of the amber liquid, then pointed with the heavy glass towards her sketchbook. "You do okay with that stuff. Hell, I can paint and draw too--maybe I should consider another career change, eh?" He smirked, feeling the alcohol burn through him.
Kirei shrugged. "My clients can be just as aggravating as yours. Some of them can't make up their minds about anything. Look, see these..." she shoved several delicate renderings towards him. "These are designs for a wedding gift. I've got less than a month to finish the piece, and the woman still doesn't know which one she wants. Sure you want to switch jobs, Roger?" She grinned at him.
Roger laughed. She was good at doing that, making him laugh. "I see your point, little one. It really doesn't make a difference, does it? I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or worse."
He sat down beside her on the lounger and started going through the sketchbook on her lap. Roger leaned closer for a better look. "These are beautiful," he commented, turning towards her. Her smooth cheek accidently brushed against his nose, and he nuzzled her absently, too tired to think about his actions. The alcohol wasn't helping clear his mind either.
Surprised, Kirei turned to face him. Their eyes met, darkness melting into darkness, their lips just touching, breathing in each other's warmth...and they kissed, softly at first, then harder, their hunger for each other shoving aside everything else at the moment--but only for that moment.
Kirei leaped off the lounger, her face ashen. "I'm sorry, Roger, oh god I'm so sorry--I gotta go!" She fled, the drawings falling forgotten onto the tiles.
Roger sat there, shocked, his face burning with shame. What have I done? he groaned inwardly. He picked up the brandy, stared at it as if it could answer him, then flung it to the ground, furious with himself. How could I be so STUPID? I AM a louse!
"What's wrong, Roger?"
It was Dorothy's voice. She'd come home just in time to see him pitch the glass.
Stricken, Roger confessed everything, taking all the blame for what happened. "I didn't think it was possible to fall in love with two people at the same time," he whispered, heartsick. "Can you ever forgive me? Do you think Snowy could forgive me?"
To his shock, Dorothy clapped her hands in delight, then hugged him tightly. "This is wonderful!" she crowed happily.
"Wonderful? I fall for your best friend and it's wonderful?" The negotiator looked hard at her, his handsome face full of confusion. Why wasn't she furious? Why wasn't she hurt? He would have been, if the circumstances had been reversed.
"Would you mind explaining, poppet? I don't understand."
"We can be a real pack now, silly. You'd be the alpha for both of us. I was SO hoping this would happen, it took the two of you long enough, you're both so stubborn! Where is Snowy, anyway? We have to celebrate!"
"Kitten, she didn't look very happy. I think she is going to leave," he said quietly, still troubled by his own actions.
"Leave?" Dorothy grabbed Roger's hand and pulled him up. "She can't leave, not now!"
They found Kirei in the middle of packing.
"I can't impose on your kindness anymore," she said rapidly. "I'm not a cub, er, a child. I can handle my own problems." She couldn't look at either of them. She was too ashamed. She had no excuse for losing control like that.
Dorothy touched her shoulder. "I know about the kiss, Snowy. I know Roger's fallen in love with you too. You must answer me honestly now. Are you in love with him?"
The little shapeshifter squeezed her eyes tight shut, her deep blush the silent answer to her friend's question. "I have to leave, Dorothy. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to betray you, either of you. I never want to come between you and Roger. Please don't blame him--he was tired and...and I'm leaving before I cause any more trouble." Bitter tears glittered in her brown eyes.
"No, no, you don't understand." Dorothy hugged the distraught woman, stroking her rough hair as if soothing a child. "We both WANT you to stay. We can have our own pack now, a proper pack with our own rules, just the three of us." She smiled at her. "Don't you want to be packmates?" she teased.
Kirei just stood there, stunned.
"You both want me to stay," she echoed softly. She couldn't believe it, just couldn't. She had dreamt of this, but never dared hope. She had no right, she wasn't like them, she wasn't human...
"Of course we do! We BOTH do! Snowy, this would be perfect, can't you see that? We'd be together, and Roger loves both of us, and...and..." a note of doubt crept into her voice.
"Um, you ARE in love with Roger, aren't you?" The pretty redhead suddenly looked anxious.
Roger stood quietly, his hands deep in his pockets. There was a strange expression on his face as he looked at the two girls. Was it possible? he wondered, hoping. Could we do this?
Kirei looked at them both, then shook herself.
"Yes," she finally answered softly. "Yes, I am, very much so."
She looked up at Roger shyly, a small smile on her face. He smiled back at her, then wrapped his arms around the two girls and pulled them close. He kissed their faces gently.
"Who would have thought I'd be so lucky?" he murmured, relieved.
**********
Author's note: A quick reminder that as of Chapter 17 (the next one) this story will be rated "R." That means changing the rating on fanfiction's menu to find it.
Also an apology of sorts. Due to circumstances beyond my control, the next chapters AFTER 17 will be coming more slowly than the others. For example, 19 is finished, but 18 isn't. Sorry!
Thanks again for your kind attention! We both hope you will continue to be pleased with our little efforts *^_^* ...and we WILL continue our tale. If you have questions in the future, you can reach me at bluehorse541@hotmail.com
******************************
Kirei shivered when she realized the gravity of what she was considering--What am I thinking? Would it really be easier for all of us if I gave up my humanity? It was a huge decision, one there would be no coming back from. Besides, getting the vaccine would be no easy task. She would have to find a doctor to act as an intermediary to obtain it from a research lab. Dorothy's friend Marian was the only physician she trusted not to betray her to the government, but she would probably not want any part of this. It went against everything the old wererat believed in.
She stretched, trying to break the tension in her shoulders, and looked around her studio. Her glance fell upon her table, the surface covered with unfinished orders. Better to complete these first, she thought. Maybe keeping busy will clear my mind; I'm not being rational.
Kirei soon lost herself in her work. It was only when her empty stomach began to rumble painfully that she realized how much time had passed. It was well after midnight.
She turned off her torch and went into her little apartment to heat up some canned soup. The answering machine was on the counter nearest the stove--a quick glance at the message counter revealed a big red zero, glowing with an almost obscene brilliance. Her jaw tightened at that. Maybe someone called my voice mail, she thought hopefully, picking up her cell phone. A quick check proved equally fruitless.
Kirei felt her heart fall with disappointment. They didn't miss me, she thought. They're probably relieved I'm gone. How could things have changed so much? How did I miss the signs?
No longer hungry, she returned the unopened can to the pantry.
~~~~~
Leon reread the files on his desk. It was hard to believe that such an assassin wouldn't have to get out occasionally and flex their muscles. Shapeshifters had an almost pathological need to let their inner beast run free. Even his sweet Dorothy had to do so.
If humans were so driven, how much more so would an animal-based shapeshifter be? Wouldn't such a monster have even less self-control?
Following a hunch, Leon turned to the computer terminal on his desk and pulled up all the wolf attacks of the last 12 months. Fifty came up. Forty-eight involved known shapeshifters with long criminal records. They all had fingerprints. One involved a real wolf, a rabid one that had been shot dead at the time of the attack. The last one took place less than a month ago. In fact, it occurred the night of his reunion with Dorothy.
A teenaged boy reported being attacked by a large white animal (either a wolf or a german shepherd--the boy wasn't sure) while walking in Paradigm Park that night. There was a vivid description of how fast and silent the ravenous beast had been, how viciously it had knocked him down. It was a miracle he hadn't been killed. Several polaroids of bruises from his fall were displayed, as well as a lab report concerning some white hairs found on his clothes. The hairs were definitely from some sort of canine, most likely a wolf.
It WAS a little odd that the boy was neither bitten nor scratched, considering how savage he claimed the attack was. Maybe the thing got interrupted? That was a puzzle, but not the only one.
Leon tented his fingers, thinking. Shapeshifter fur always matched the human's hair color. These hairs were white. Kirei had brown hair, right? He closed his eyes, trying to visualize her clearly from that single meeting. There had been something funny about the way light had reflected off her rough hair, a kind of silvery shimmer. He had assumed it was from some sort of product she used to keep the wild curls under control, but now he wasn't so sure. Maybe only the underlying layer of fur was brown, while the longer, visible outer fur was that silvery white stuff.
He decided to see if there was any recent information on file about her. He typed in "Snowolf, Kirei" and the same residential address that Dorothy used.
Only two things popped up. One was a driver's license. Curious, he checked in with the DOT to see her record...somehow he wasn't surprised to see it was spotless. The other was a commercial business license id number. He typed in the code. The name "Whitewolf Studio" came up, along with the business address and phone number.
Leon grinned briefly, pleased with himself. "Whitewolf" indeed! How stupid of her, how unprofessional...you'd think she had nothing to hide.
He checked the original issue date for the license. Apparently she had had it for a few years. The place was already open when he had first met Dorothy, and he knew the redhead didn't know her back then. He wondered just how long Dorothy HAD known the brown-haired shapeshifter, and how they had met. He wondered if Kirei had targeted Dorothy, all the better to get close to Smith. He debated whether or not to do a more extensive search, then decided it would be a waste of time.
He HAD to talk with Dorothy, find out the history of their relationship, maybe warn her if it didn't sound right (and warn Smith too...the negotiator might be a romantic rival, but he was still a law-abiding citizen and had a right to protection.)
Meanwhile he had to type up the report of his findings, knowing that Dastun expected it on his desk in the morning. Duty came first; doing otherwise would result in a suspension. Leon knew he'd need all the resources of the Military Police to combat such a preternatural danger. His experiences at the RPD had taught him that.
"Sooner started, sooner done," he muttered to himself. He reached for the keyboard.
~~~~~
As Roger made his way to Dorothy's room, he paused before Kirei's silent bedroom. He hadn't seen her since early that morning, when she rushed out of his room. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen much of either of his girls for a while, and BOTH seemed somewhat preoccupied. Did this Kennedy guy say something to Snowy also? No, Roger said to himself, that didn't make sense. Snowy was as mystified by Dorothy's moodiness as he was...yet she was quieter than usual after that trip to M.P.H.Q too.
Another twinge of guilt shivered through him. Dorothy wasn't the only one he wasn't listening to. Snowy had tried talking to him the night she went to "Lucky Chang's," hadn't she? He had kept interrupting her, more concerned with the passing of time and her appearance than her attempts to get his attention. Was it about Kennedy?
Something was bothering both of his girls, and he hadn't been paying attention. He had been taking his position as their alpha for granted, instead of treating it as the honor it was. As packmates, the girls would do anything for each other, and for him as well, even at the risk of their own well-being. They had saved his life on more than one occasion. He had to show them he was still worthy of their trust and love.
He could start now to make things right. Maybe Dorothy had confided something, anything, to Snowy by now that would help fix everything.
Roger knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Was the little shapeshifter asleep? He decided to enter, knowing she wouldn't mind being awakened if the reason involved her packmate.
The room was pitch-dark. Even the curtains were tightly drawn against the moonlight. He couldn't see a thing. "Snowy? Little one?"
No answer.
The negotiator flicked on the light. The bed was still neatly made, untouched since the morning. He opened her closet, hoping that she had at least come back for her coat at some point during the day (the temperature had dropped precipitously after sunset, and she didn't handle cold very well in her human form.) It was still there, hanging mutely.
Something wasn't right. He knew she had kept her appointment with Dastun, because the major would have said something otherwise. Dan hadn't mentioned her at all.
Roger frowned. Kirei was very good at taking care of herself, but she always called in. She knew he would worry otherwise. Was it possible she had left a message with Norman?
He turned, and noticed she had carelessly left the earrings he'd given her on her vanity. That wasn't like her either. He picked them up, and smiled at the memory of how pretty they looked on her. He decided to put them away so they wouldn't be lost.
Roger opened Snowy's jewelry box and began to rummage through it, looking for the black earring case. As he did so something metallic fell out. It looked like a key ring with a pair of rectangular steel tags hanging off it.
"Huh?" Curious, Roger picked it up. They were military dog tags. One was stamped "Snowolf, Kirei" with a series of numbers and letters stamped underneath. The other was similarly marked, but the name emblazoned on top was "Nightwolf, Shinji."
Roger stared at the new mystery cupped in his palm. Who the hell was Shinji Nightwolf, and why did Snowy have his tags? Why did SHE have such tags? The coding looked official and vaguely familiar. It reminded him of the serial numbers on some of the Griffon's more sophisticated weapons systems. What did this mean?
He squeezed his dark eyes shut, trying to calm his racing thoughts. First things first, Roger Smith, went the little voice in his head. Dorothy needs you NOW, more than ever. This can wait.
He slipped the tags into his pocket, turned off the light, and strode down the hallway to his kitten.
~~~~~
Kirei unrolled her sleeping mat and sat down on it, frustrated and depressed. She was too tired to safely work anymore, but too restless to sleep. She considered going out for a run, but wasn't in the mood for that either.
Growling quietly, she got up and paced the space like a too-small cage. Finally she went over to her closet, opened it and pulled out a large box. She placed it on the floor beside her futon and sat down cross-legged on the thick cotton mat. Kirei lifted the lid and carefully removed the contents.
It was full of pictures--some photos, but mostly drawings--of both her old pack and her new. The little shapeshifter pulled everything out, arranging it all on the floor before her.
Kirei looked at the oldest ones first. She had smuggled out the handful of photos of her original pack only days before the massacre. She had hidden them in the woods outside the lab, somehow knowing there wouldn't be time to gather anything when they made their escape.
Snowolf sighed, looking at the familiar faces. That seemed to have been the only thing she'd been right about at that time. None of them had expected things to turn out the way they did.
She spread the photos across her bed as if they were tarot cards, as if somehow the arrangement would reveal the truth to her. She didn't know why Shinji had failed to escape. He had been the strongest, smartest, bravest of them all. If only one of them was to have survived whole, it should have been him.
Kirei realized that short of a miracle, she would never know.
She picked up his picture, his golden eyes full of laughter. They had all agreed, if separated, to meet at the zoo. It was one of the few landmarks they could find unerringly by smell, because none of them were very familiar with the city.
Kirei had waited faithfully at the entrance for a month. One morning, she was greeted by the faintest whiff of Shinji's scent. Overjoyed, she had followed it onto the zoo's grounds, trembling with hope as it strengthened.
She finally found herself in the wild canine section, directly in front of the new wolf exhibit. Puzzled, she had explored the whole area. Even if he had disguised himself she would have known him immediately...but he wasn't there. Yet, the scent was as fresh as if he were beside her.
"Shinji?" Was he hiding?
There was a sudden rustling from the back of the cage before her, as the keeper released the animal within from its nighttime housing. A huge black wolf vaulted out, making a beeline for the little shapeshifter. He whined eagerly, thrusting a great paw between the bars toward her, his sun-colored eyes glowing with recognition.
It was Shinji.
Kirei tried to communicate with him, using the hand/paw signals they'd been taught. He merely looked at her, puzzled, and licked her hand. That's when she knew he was gone forever, and she was alone in the world.
Or at least, until she met Dorothy.
Kirei rummaged through the stacks of paper until she found what she was looking for. It was a strip of snapshots from an automated photo machine. The four pictures were of herself and Dorothy clowning around. It was one of the few times either of them had allowed themselves to be photographed.
Kirei smiled, remembering. Meeting the redhead had changed her life for the better, even before Roger came into the picture. The brunette had hated the shapeshifter sub-culture she had found in the city. It was too cruelly violent for her sensibilities, seeming to mix the worst aspects of both human and animal. She didn't understand the constant pack fights, the continuous need to reset hierarchies, the casual attitude towards mutilation and bloody death.
Her old pack had never been like this. As alphas, she and Shinji would have never allowed such outrageous behavior. The alphas here seemed to encourage it. It was senseless.
As for mixing with purely human society...the lab workers had been her sole contact with normals. Their ultimate reaction to her kind, their dismay at her pack's refusal to become mindless killers despite all the torturous conditioning...it had made a powerful, painful impression. Humans were to be kept at arm's length. They were too dangerous, too quick to judge, or rather misjudge.
Dorothy had been the exception that proved the rule. Snowolf had thought she was a mundane when the pretty redhead had introduced herself. She hadn't known that being an android let her mask that shapeshifter energy effectively. She seemed charismatic, not otherworldly.
At any rate, it was Dorothy's genuine friendliness and curiosity that started it all. Kirei would have never approached had the circumstances been reversed. She was too gun-shy by this point. The only people (human or not) she generally spoke to now were work-related acquaintances. It was lonely, but blood was rarely spilled as a result.
One evening, Kirei had commandeered the last empty table at Barnes and Nobles, covering it with a huge variety of books and magazines. She was doing research for a couple of new commissions, and was busy sketching when she felt someone staring at her. She looked up, directly meeting the bright green eyes of a beautiful redhaired girl looking intently at her.
Puzzled, Kirei spoke: "Um, do I know you, miss?" There was something about the girl, a vibe, she couldn't quite place. If she didn't know better, she would have termed it "pack," but it was too faint. She had to be human.
The lovely redhead blushed, smiled, and came closer. "Sorry, didn't mean to stare like that." She gestured gracefully at the table. "I was fascinated by your choices. I was thinking you must be a very interesting person, and that I'd like to talk to you."
It occurred to Kirei that it had been a very long time since she had had a conversation purely for the pleasure of it. She cleared a broad swathe of the table and smiled back. "Sure, why not?" A few minutes chatting with a stranger in a public place could do no harm, right?
To the surprise of both, those few minutes turned into several hours. It felt like a reunion between old friends. They agreed to meet again the next day, both blown away by the experience.
The following afternoon, Kirei decided to confess to being a shapeshifter to Dorothy. If the girl wanted to be friends, it was only fair she know the truth. A lot of humans feared her kind (and with good reason) and the last thing she wanted was for the girl to feel duped.
Dorothy was already in the quiet cafe when the brown-haired shapeshifter arrived. She wasn't alone, and didn't look very happy about it.
Two men were standing over her and softly talking. One was in his early twenties, with bright blond curls and a goatee, and dressed in a flashy suit that perfectly matched his hair. Kirei had never seen him before. She recognized the other man though. He was in his early fifties, extremely buff, perfectly tanned, and completely clean shaven--eyebrows, head, body--the only hair visible were the black eyelashes framing his almost colorless blue eyes. He was dressed in skintight black leather and lots of expensive whitegold jewelry shaped like bones and teeth and claws.
Kirei knew it was expensive because she had made every bit of it for him. He was known as Sweet William, and was anything but sweet. He was the alpha of the largest roughest pack in the city, and bad news in every way. Why was he bothering Dorothy?
"What are you doing here, William?" Kirei asked, careful to keep the snarl out of her voice.
Dorothy looked up at her, her green eyes wide with surprise and maybe fear. Great, thought Kirei--there goes THAT possible friendship. Meanwhile she kept her angry dark gaze fixed on the alpha. Whatever happened, she couldn't let him hurt the girl.
"Why, Miss Snowolf, what a pleasure to see you again!" William reached out to take her hand; she crossed her arms instead. He chuckled in a growly sort of way. "Now, Snowy..." he said.
"Only my friends call me Snowy. You DON'T qualify. Why are you here?" Kirei asked again, letting out the snarl this time.
"This is a public venue. I have just as much right to be here as you do." He smiled, letting his sharp eyeteeth show. They were brilliant white against his tan. "Anyway, I'm here to interview a potential new member."
Kirei shook her head. "I told you I'm not interested, not in your pack or anyone else's. I'm the stereotypical lone wolf."
William laughed, a harsh, almost barking sound. The young blond man smirked broadly.
"Don't flatter yourself, Snowolf. You're not the only single bitch in Paradigm, though I've not forgotten you either. Sooner or later you'll both come crawling on your bellies to me." He leered down at Dorothy. The blond man reached out and petted her bright hair. She jerked away, shaking (was it fear or anger? Kirei bet it was the latter.)
"Now, now, Beck...You've gone and frightened the poor cub. Be a good human and leave her alone," chided William, wagging a beringed finger at him. The pair started to leave; the older man turned and grinned toothily before they exited: "This isn't over, ladies."
They left.
Kirei stared after them darkly, then sat down at the small table beside Dorothy. Hesitantly, she reached out and touched the girl's fingers, half-expecting her to jerk away from her too. Instead, Dorothy took her hand tightly. "Snowy?" she whispered hesitantly.
Both girls began to talk at once, then stopped. They laughed, half in embarrassment, half in relief. A third patron entered the shop, looked at them curiously, then went to the counter to order a coffee.
Kirei finally found her voice. "Let me guess. You're a shapeshifter too."
Dorothy nodded and smiled.
That had been the start of it.
They had both learned early on to hide the truth of themselves from others. Neither human nor lycanthrope society was a comfortable fit for either of them.
Now they had each other to depend on. It wasn't exactly a pack of their own, since there was no alpha, but it was as close as they could get to being one.
Kirei put down the photo strip, frowning. It had been wonderful, up until the day Dorothy mysteriously vanished on her way home from work.
She remembered how frantically she'd searched for her, notifying the police, putting up posters, hiring detectives, even confronting Sweet William on his own turf in case he had kidnapped her packmate. She had offered to take Dorothy's place...William had laughed at her at first. He realized she was serious when she offered to take a blood oath, binding her to him.
"I'd love to take you up on that, Snowolf, but the truth is I don't have your friend, and I don't know who does. Sorry."
A month passed, then two. Kirei continued to hunt for Dorothy, but without success. Even the police found nothing. It was as if the androwolf never existed.
Meanwhile Sweet William began to pester her again. He had apparently decided that since she was now alone, she would be easy meat. Discovering she wasn't only made him more aggressive. Kirei rarely left the safe haven of Whitewolf anymore. She didn't want to fight.
Six months passed with nary a clue. Then one day a man with a slight British accent called. He wanted to set up an appointment for a new client, a man named Roger Smith. Kirei wondered briefly if he was the famous negotiator she'd read about in the papers, wondered what he looked like too. She shrugged to herself. What did it matter? He was just another human. No big. Maybe if he had half a brain she could hire him to get William off her back.
Later that week two people dressed in black walked into her studio at the appointed hour. One was the most beautiful man Kirei had ever seen, with an aura of power that filled the room and made her shiver. The other was Dorothy.
Dorothy grinned at her friend. "Miss me?" she teased.
Kirei stammered for words; the two shapeshifters leaped towards each other and hugged, chattering a mile a minute.
Roger stood off to one side, watching. He hadn't seen his kitten look this happy, well, ever. He was glad he had persuaded her to let him find her friend. She had been so nervous, so unsure of her welcome, considering what had happened and how much time had passed.
Kirei stepped away from her, still half convinced she was dreaming. "I can't believe you're back," she began, then stopped, overpowered by her emotions, by everything. The room started to spin and darken...she found herself in the strong arms of Dorothy's companion.
"Are you alright?" he asked. "You fainted." There was genuine concern in his warm voice. Their eyes met and...something intense...passed between them. Kirei felt herself tighten deep inside. Only Shinji had ever affected her that way.
The man dropped his beautiful dark eyes a little too quickly, as if he'd felt something unexpected as well. He turned his handsome face towards the worried redhead and smiled. "I think we shocked your friend, kitten." He carefully helped Kirei get back on her feet. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again.
"Ye-yes," stammered Kirei, still feeling overwhelmed. She didn't remember crying, but her face was covered with tears. "I thought you were dead, Dorothy. I thought I'd never see you again."
The girls hugged again, both of them crying this time.
After a few moments, Roger coughed loudly. "Dorothy, don't you think you should introduce us?" He smirked, watching the pretty redhead blush.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Roger--I'm not thinking, am I?" She turned towards Kirei. "Snowy, this is Roger Smith. He's my boyfriend..." she colored prettily "...and my hero."
Kirei saw their eyes glow at each other. Whatever happened these last six months seemed to have had a happy ending at least, she thought, glad for her friend.
"Roger, this is my best friend, Snowy. You've already heard all about her." She turned towards the other shapeshifter. "Or would you prefer I introduce you as Kirei Snowolf?"
"Oh, no, 'Snowy' is fine. My friends always called me 'Snowy.' Maybe we can be friends too, Mr. Smith." She offered her right hand to shake.
Smith took it. He had a nice handshake. Not too strong, not too weak.
"Snowy it is, then. Call me Roger." He smiled. That was nice too.
"Say, why don't we continue this over lunch?" he suggested. "My treat."
Strange, Kirei reflected, how things happen. If they hadn't gone to that restaurant, hadn't bumped into William there, how different things might have been. William had threatened Kirei in front of both Dorothy and Roger. It wasn't the first time he had done this, but it was the most serious threat he had made, and the first time in front of witnesses. It was obvious to both Dorothy and Roger that he had frightened her, despite her denials. She finally admitted she had run out of appropriate options. She didn't say that the next step involved killing him; she didn't want to kill him. She hated violence.
She looked at Roger instead. "You're a negotiator, right? Can't I hire you to negotiate a peace treaty between us? I can pay you."
Roger shook his head no. "You need a bodyguard, Snowy. You don't really believe someone like him would honor a contract, do you?"
Dorothy had been uncharacteristically quiet, deep in thought.
"I know how to fix this," she said suddenly.
Roger and Kirei both turned towards her.
"We can have Snowy move in with us, Roger. There's lots of room in the house. I'd love to have her around." She smiled brightly, pleased with herself.
"Oh, Dorothy, I couldn't intrude on you two like that! It wouldn't be right! I don't know how long I'd have to stay, you know William is not the kind of guy that takes 'no' very well."
Dorothy looked at Roger, her green eyes pleading. "Please, Roger, wouldn't it be a good idea? You'd really like Snowy once you got to know her, and besides, she'd keep me company while you're at work. You know how empty that big house is."
Roger tented his fingers and looked intently at both girls. He knew how close they had been, and was also aware of Kirei's fruitless search for her. Finally he smiled.
"You're right, kitten, it IS a good idea. Welcome to the Smith household, Snowy. I just have a few simple rules to follow, and we'll get along fine."
Kirei sat up, sighing. None of them had any idea of where that innocent offer was going to go. She opened up a sketchbook, finding a portrait of Roger in colored chalk. It was one of the first she had done of him, before he had learned to relax under her sharp gaze...before he had told her he loved her. He had tried desperately to look serious, and ended up with a faint smirk instead. Norman had laughed behind his hand when he had seen it, congratulating her on capturing Master Roger so well.
There were other, later drawings of Roger, including several nudes. She touched the surface of one, carefully tracing the sensuous lines of his wonderful body. She blinked hard, remembering the session. It had been done the day after their first time together.
Drawing him was almost like making love, only more intimate somehow. It was as if she were re-creating him with her heart as well as her hands.
Kirei fell backwards onto her futon, her dark eyes closed, remembering the day they all acknowleged the truth.
~~~~~
Ada Wong smiled coldly to herself, her red lips a cruel curve on her beautiful face. Funny how small the world was! Who would have thought her old beau Leon Kennedy would have ended up back in Paradigm? Maybe she would look him up. He would be a useful ally on this mission, if it turned out to have any basis in fact.
Meanwhile, there was background work to do, bits of hearsay about two fabulous beasts to track down and verify.
One was the result of a kind of Frankensteinian R & D, using bits of DNA (instead of dead body parts) culled from wolves and humans to create a breedable, trainable shapeshifter. Predictably this experiment had ended much like the story, with the monsters proving to be both more and less than expected. The project had been closed down, but a recent audit suggested that neutralization might not have been as thorough as first thought. Someone might have counted a control wolf twice; once as itself, once as a test subject. Of course, it could also turn out to be nothing more than a clerical error. She shrugged gracefully to herself. It wouldn't be the first time such things happened, nor would it be the last.
Ada wondered if it tied in somehow with the second rumor she was to investigate, something about a lycanthropic bio-android. Was it possible for such an amazing creature to even exist?
If either shapeshifter was more than urban myth, she was under orders to bring it in. If she could find both, so much the better. If there was a way to somehow combine the two into one, her people would have the perfect weapon. They would be a treasure trove of experimental possibilities, worth untold millions--and she was guaranteed a nice cut of the profits.
She'd already spent weeks out on the street gathering information. It had been a slow and dangerous process, but the handful of names and anecdotal stories were worth it. At least now she had an idea of what to look for, once she hacked her way into the Military Police's classified records.
She set up her laptop and went to work. As Ada had expected, getting in was ridiculously simple. Like all cash-strapped police forces, they were perpetually behind the times with their firewalls and anti-spywear programs.
Somehow the pretty Asian also wasn't surprised to find most of her queries led to reports filed by Officer Kennedy. No matter where the boy was posted, she mused, he managed to get the local horrorshow dumped in his lap. It was one of the things that made dating him so interesting.
Wong brushed a short lock of gleaming black hair out of her dark eyes. Monsters to hunt, money to be made, and maybe the delectable Leon to pursue...this was going to be fun.
Just for the hell of it, she typed in the old password Leon had used when they were still together. She smiled wickedly when it was accepted. How typical of the boy, to assume nobody would expect him to do something so obvious--or so careless.
Ada laughed quietly to herself when her spywear showed her Leon was currently online. She discreetly pulled up the file he was working on. Her laughter died as she began reading. Suddenly those rumors were gelling into facts.
The woman's fingers flew across her keyboard as she backtracked Kennedy's research. One name in particular seemed to have caught the young cop's attention: Kirei Snowolf. Knowing Leon, there had to be a damn good reason.
Ada quickly did a search on Snowolf, then on every name frequently associated with her. After what felt like hours of reading, she sat back in astonishment.
Snowolf shared an address with a powerful negotiator and Leon's ex? Dorothy Wayneright had been attacked by a werewolf? And the redhead's medical report!--Wong exhaled a deep, shaky breath.
All of the pieces were beginning to fit. She would start checking them out by paying a visit to Whitewolf Studio in the morning.
Ada placed a taser and a pair of sterling silver handcuffs in her purse. It never hurt to be prepared.
~~~~~
Kirei had found Roger attractive the moment he had entered her studio. She was pretty sure the feeling was mutual, but, to her relief, he was both too much a gentleman and too much in love with Dorothy to acknowlege that fact, let alone act on it.
The brunette made it a point to control her emotions too. Instead, she and Roger sublimated their growing affection, forging a solid platonic friendship. Neither wanted to break faith with Dorothy. She was too important to both of them.
The pretty redhead's insistance that her old friend move into the dark mansion seemed the ideal solution. Sweet William had continued making threats since Kirei was unattached to any pack, but she was now effectively out of his reach most of the time. Dorothy was no longer lonely when Roger was on long business trips, nor did he have to worry about her safety when he wasn't around to protect her.
All seemed perfect in their little world, til one drowsy afternoon encounter opened their eyes......
The brown-haired shapeshifter was alone on the terrace, busily sketching and enjoying the day's meager warmth. Norman was busy servicing the Big O (he would privately jest that the megadeus was almost as high-maintance as his employer.) Dorothy had class for another hour or so. Roger had been gone three days on a difficult negotiation and wasn't due home til the end of the week.
Thus, she was pleasantly surprised when he unexpectedly returned early. Roger seemed rather tired and a touch irritable--the negotiation had concluded successfully, but the clients on both sides had been (as he sarcastically put it) "a nasty mix of pigheadedness and paranoia."
At his request, she got him a large brandy. Roger downed half in a gulp, then shook his head in disgust. "I swear, Snowy, sometimes I wonder why I even bother with some of these people. There has to be a better way to make a living."
He took another big swallow of the amber liquid, then pointed with the heavy glass towards her sketchbook. "You do okay with that stuff. Hell, I can paint and draw too--maybe I should consider another career change, eh?" He smirked, feeling the alcohol burn through him.
Kirei shrugged. "My clients can be just as aggravating as yours. Some of them can't make up their minds about anything. Look, see these..." she shoved several delicate renderings towards him. "These are designs for a wedding gift. I've got less than a month to finish the piece, and the woman still doesn't know which one she wants. Sure you want to switch jobs, Roger?" She grinned at him.
Roger laughed. She was good at doing that, making him laugh. "I see your point, little one. It really doesn't make a difference, does it? I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or worse."
He sat down beside her on the lounger and started going through the sketchbook on her lap. Roger leaned closer for a better look. "These are beautiful," he commented, turning towards her. Her smooth cheek accidently brushed against his nose, and he nuzzled her absently, too tired to think about his actions. The alcohol wasn't helping clear his mind either.
Surprised, Kirei turned to face him. Their eyes met, darkness melting into darkness, their lips just touching, breathing in each other's warmth...and they kissed, softly at first, then harder, their hunger for each other shoving aside everything else at the moment--but only for that moment.
Kirei leaped off the lounger, her face ashen. "I'm sorry, Roger, oh god I'm so sorry--I gotta go!" She fled, the drawings falling forgotten onto the tiles.
Roger sat there, shocked, his face burning with shame. What have I done? he groaned inwardly. He picked up the brandy, stared at it as if it could answer him, then flung it to the ground, furious with himself. How could I be so STUPID? I AM a louse!
"What's wrong, Roger?"
It was Dorothy's voice. She'd come home just in time to see him pitch the glass.
Stricken, Roger confessed everything, taking all the blame for what happened. "I didn't think it was possible to fall in love with two people at the same time," he whispered, heartsick. "Can you ever forgive me? Do you think Snowy could forgive me?"
To his shock, Dorothy clapped her hands in delight, then hugged him tightly. "This is wonderful!" she crowed happily.
"Wonderful? I fall for your best friend and it's wonderful?" The negotiator looked hard at her, his handsome face full of confusion. Why wasn't she furious? Why wasn't she hurt? He would have been, if the circumstances had been reversed.
"Would you mind explaining, poppet? I don't understand."
"We can be a real pack now, silly. You'd be the alpha for both of us. I was SO hoping this would happen, it took the two of you long enough, you're both so stubborn! Where is Snowy, anyway? We have to celebrate!"
"Kitten, she didn't look very happy. I think she is going to leave," he said quietly, still troubled by his own actions.
"Leave?" Dorothy grabbed Roger's hand and pulled him up. "She can't leave, not now!"
They found Kirei in the middle of packing.
"I can't impose on your kindness anymore," she said rapidly. "I'm not a cub, er, a child. I can handle my own problems." She couldn't look at either of them. She was too ashamed. She had no excuse for losing control like that.
Dorothy touched her shoulder. "I know about the kiss, Snowy. I know Roger's fallen in love with you too. You must answer me honestly now. Are you in love with him?"
The little shapeshifter squeezed her eyes tight shut, her deep blush the silent answer to her friend's question. "I have to leave, Dorothy. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to betray you, either of you. I never want to come between you and Roger. Please don't blame him--he was tired and...and I'm leaving before I cause any more trouble." Bitter tears glittered in her brown eyes.
"No, no, you don't understand." Dorothy hugged the distraught woman, stroking her rough hair as if soothing a child. "We both WANT you to stay. We can have our own pack now, a proper pack with our own rules, just the three of us." She smiled at her. "Don't you want to be packmates?" she teased.
Kirei just stood there, stunned.
"You both want me to stay," she echoed softly. She couldn't believe it, just couldn't. She had dreamt of this, but never dared hope. She had no right, she wasn't like them, she wasn't human...
"Of course we do! We BOTH do! Snowy, this would be perfect, can't you see that? We'd be together, and Roger loves both of us, and...and..." a note of doubt crept into her voice.
"Um, you ARE in love with Roger, aren't you?" The pretty redhead suddenly looked anxious.
Roger stood quietly, his hands deep in his pockets. There was a strange expression on his face as he looked at the two girls. Was it possible? he wondered, hoping. Could we do this?
Kirei looked at them both, then shook herself.
"Yes," she finally answered softly. "Yes, I am, very much so."
She looked up at Roger shyly, a small smile on her face. He smiled back at her, then wrapped his arms around the two girls and pulled them close. He kissed their faces gently.
"Who would have thought I'd be so lucky?" he murmured, relieved.