On The Prowl (IC)

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Suddenly, the man's clothes tore. The sweatshirt tore down the back. The boots split open. The jeans shredded. The gas mask was pushed away from his face. Candy was frozen with fear. The boss managed to spout, "What the @#$%?" as he lowered his gun and stepped back.

Candy realized that the man's face was no longer a face. It had become a snout, long, grey, and fur covered. As the rest of the clothes fell away, Candy saw the biggest wolf she had ever laid eyes on.

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"What the @#$% are you?" The boss asked, now recoiling in fear himself.

Candy was still frozen with fear. She had seen a vigilante sacrifice himself to try and save her. Then she had watched as the man had transformed himself into a wolf. She was stunned, and could do nothing but stare.

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Lukos snarled.

He was hurt. He was vulnerable.

Run. Fight. Hide. Rip. Tear. Kill.

Lukos fought for control of the wolf. He was in danger and he needed to stay on top.

Gunpowder. Hot metal. Fear. All of the strongest smells he picked up on. Blood. He smelled blood. His blood.

Finally, he gave in. Thomas had done his part. Now it was Wolf's turn to take over. Wolf's turn to to survive

Wolf snarled.

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The not-wolf with the hot metal was retreating. A sign of weakness, of fear. Wolf charged forward. The hot metal barked again. The smell of gunpowder grew stronger. The ground leaped up at him from where the metal had bitten it.

Wolf pounced.

Wolf caught the not-wolf by the haunches.

Chew. Bite. Rip. Tear.

Wolf's teeth sunk into meat.

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Command. Power.

Wolf tore at the leg. The meat was good. The prey, the kill was his. It screamed.

Something batted at Wolf's face. Wolf bit down. More meat. Another scream.

Wolf wanted the kill. Sprang forward. Aimed for the throat...

"NOOO!" Candy had found her voice.

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Wolf's head snapped up. He had only been dimly aware of the other not-wolf. It was afraid and hurt. It hadn't mattered.

The first prey was hurt. Not moving. It wasn't leaving. The smell of blood was strong. It wasn't all his blood anymore.

Wolf stalked the new prey. Slowly. Carefully.

It wasn't a threat. It couldn't move. It was hurt. It was afraid.

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Candy breathed a sigh of relief when her shout had stopped the wolf from killing the boss. The sigh had caught in her throat when she realized the wolf was now watching her. She froze. Its eyes glowed in the half light. Blood dripped from its massive jaws. It slowly approached her.

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Wolf warned it with a growl. It stiffened.

Wolf got closer. Sniffed the new not-wolf. It whined. Wolf saw the ropes. Wolf didn't like ropes. They held things down. trapped them. That much made sense to Wolf, even now. Even in the midst of the hunt.

Wolf didn't like being trapped.

Wolf's fangs lashed out. The not-wolf screamed.

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The ropes fell away. Candy was still alive. She thanked god. But the wolf was still there. she could smell the blood on its breath it was so close. Wincing, she opened her eyes. It just stood before her, staring and standing.

Tentatively, she raised her good hand. The wolf snarled lowly. She pulled back. She tried again, raising her hand. This time there was no argument. She laid her hand on its snout. "Thank you."

The wolf licked her hand.

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Stop, look, listen.

Wolf's head and ears perked up. It backed away from the hand. There were sounds. High pitched and far away. The sounds were still too far away for the not-wolf to hear.

Wolf watched as realization dawned.

"Thank god, They're here." it said when she first heard the sounds.

Wolf turned and began to walk away. Slowly and purposefully.

"Wait!" the not-wolf called out. Wolf turned its head and looked. "Who are you?"

"HAAaaaWOOoooOOoo!!!" The howl from Wolf's upturned muzzle split the night. In an instant, Wolf blended into the darkness of the ware house.

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Run, jump. Freedom.

Wolf ran through the fading light. Through the alleys and down the streets.

Dirt, forest. Wild.

Wolf knew the way. Follow the sun. Follow the light.

Things began to blur. Thomas let go, and Wolf took over everything. Running, smelling, seeing.

There was a deer. It never saw Wolf coming. Once Wolf's teeth sank into the hindquarters, the deer went down.

Prey, kill. Blood.

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Thomas woke with a headache, but like most ailments it quickly departed. For a moment he had to wonder where he was, but only for a moment. He was lying naked on dirt strewn with dead leaves and pine needles. It was partially dark in the cave. The sunlight couldn't get far enough into the cave to properly light his bed of needles in the corner. It was freezing, Thomas realized.

Thomas rolled over and crawled further to the back of the cave. Wolf's cave. He began moving a few of the large rocks in the back. As he worked, he thought about how Wolf had found this place. He had been sleeping off his transformations for years in the place. It even smelled like him now. He'd learned to plan ahead, in case he couldn't foresee a transformation. As he moved one last rock he uncovered a plastic bag. Reaching inside he withdrew a pair of jeans.

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It was Thursday. It was these mornings after a transformation that he was thankful that he didn't have a job. He was walking down one of the trails in the forest back towards Freedom City. He had departed the cave after using the jug of water and the rag he kept there to clean himself up. After he had finished washing his face, chest, and hands, the rag had been dark red from the dried blood of the mob boss, the deer, and himself.

Seeing the coloration of the rag had brought back the hazy memories of the night before. Immediately, Thomas had checked his chest with the small steel mirror he kept in the cave. There were no signs of bullet holes. No wounds. No scars. Not even a scratch. After years of this lifestyle, the rate at which his wounds healed still amazed him. He never bruised, because they healed almost instantly. Cuts and scratches healed within minutes, and even things like bullet holes were gone with a good night's sleep.

Thomas walked barefoot and shirtless down the dirt road, trying to think of the last time he'd had a cold. He shook his head. He'd always had mixed feelings about his powers. He loved how it made him feel and what it let him do. But he hated the wolf because it made him so careless sometimes.

Thomas continued his walk through the city, hoping to have a more peaceful day today than yesterday.

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Later That Day

"Detective Ostair," the police officer at the door to the detective's office addressed Candy, "There is a man named Thomas here to see you."

"Send him in," she went to motion with her right hand. She winced when pain shot through her whole arm. She used her left hand instead.

A few moments later, Thomas stood in the doorway to her office. He had a frown on his face, apparently not liking her injury. I hope that wasn't me that did that to her, he thought to himself. Finally, he addressed her, "I take it things did not go well?" he asked her, already knowing the answer.

"You could say that. Please have a seat." Another motion with her left hand followed the phrase. After some small talk and a few official questions, Thomas made his statement just as promised.

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One Week Later

"Detective Ostair!" Thomas acted surprised to see the detective at his door step. He had smelled her coming as soon as she had gotten out of her car. "How did you get here?" Thomas looked past her and saw her under cover sedan parked by the curb. Thankfully the roads in Lincoln were open enough to make for an easy parking job. "Did you drive here?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Please call me Candy. And yes, I did. The doctor cleared me yesterday. It's difficult to investigate crimes when you can't get to the crime scene." she smiled. "May I come in?"

"Of course." Thomas opened the door all the way and motioned her inside. "Please excuse my manners."

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Thomas led her inside, just now noticing the large black duffel bag she had picked up with her left hand off the porch. Saying nothing about the bag, Thomas led her to the den. They passed the hallway to the bedrooms along the way.

Candy saw a man standing leaning against the wall. When he saw her, he stopped leaning and stood. He seemed to hunch his shoulders and frown apprehensively. As he backed away down the hall, Candy was reminded of a frightened dog. "What's eating him?" She asked Thomas once they had sat down on the couch.

"Oh, that's just Joe. My roommate. He doesn't particularly like police." Thomas replied.

"Oh, I see."

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"Can I offer you a drink? Coffee?" Thomas asked. She smells like coffee.

"That would be wonderful, thank you."

"So..." Thomas rose and rounded the half-wall to the kitchen. "To what do I owe this lovely visit?" Thomas busied himself with pouring coffee while he awaited an answer. He tried to avoid letting himself smell the bag, deciding if he needed to know what was in it, Candy would tell him anyway.

"Well," Candy began, "I thought you might like to know how things turned out that day you helped us."

"Oh," Thomas sat back down, placing a steaming mug on a coaster in front of the detective. Coffe beans, sugar. Thomas smelled, "Would you like cream?" The smells reminding him that he'd forgotten it.

"No thank you. Just sugar is fine." Candy lifted the mug with her left hand and breathed in the smell of the coffee. She took a sip and continued speaking. "So thanks to you, we managed to stumble upon one of the branches of a gun trafficking ring."

"And this is not what you were expecting?" Thomas knew there had been guns. He'd smelled them. But he wasn't ready to let on exactly what he'd known.

"Not in the least!"

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"We knew they were somewhere in town," Candy answered. "We just didn't know where, and we didn't know how big they were."

"I see..." Thomas prompted her for more.

"Well, I won't bore you with the details," she took a sip of her coffee. "But rest assured we're well on our way to bringing them down."

"That is good news."

"Yes it is. But there's more. Our forensic experts found something strange at the crime scene."

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That could mean anything, Tom thought. All the same, it worried him. Had he given himself away? Was she going to arrest him? Did she have another car waiting? Thomas thought of what Joe might do if police began breaking down the doors.

Thomas took a deep breath. No. There was nothing to worry about. He couldn't smell any worry or unsureness in Candy. She was acting naturally.

"There was a lot of blood," Candy was saying. "So we ran the DNA to try and get a better fix on who we were dealing with." Candy took a sip and gave Thomas a very telling look.

She knows.

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"The results came back and we managed to pin down information on all the gang members, plus one more person..." the last was drawn out slowly.

Thomas thought back to one of the times he had been arrested in Oaklahoma. They'd taken fingerprints, likely gotten DNA as well. Thomas froze. Wolf was scared. Ready to run. Escape.

"But!" Candy continued abruptly, "Unfortunately, our office seems to have lost all the information pertaining to that other person."

Thomas' heart skipped a beat. Was she serious? Candy took a sip of her coffee. The drink was nearly finished now. The smell of the dregs of the instant coffee caught Thomas' nose.

"Without any information about them, our office can't possibly investigate them." Candy explained, she sounded sad.

She knows, and she is protecting me.

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Candy slurped up the last of her coffee, and stood. "Well, thank you for the drink, but I think I should probably be going."

Thomas nodded and showed her to the door. Once outside, they shook hands gingerly due to Candy's arm, and she strolled to her car.

"Oh, Candy!" Thomas called to her. "You've forgotten your bag!"

"What bag are you talking about? I don't remember bringing any bag with me." Candy was lying through her teeth.

"Oh. My mistake then. Have a nice day!" Thomas waved.

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Leather, plastic, Candy. The bag was hers. It even smelled like her. Thomas opened the zipper and main pouch. More plastic, rubber, metal.

Thomas lifted the large bullet proof vest out of the bag. A paper fell away from within the jacket. It landed back in the bag. Ink. Thomas smelled it. He reached into the bag and lifted the paper from where it lay next to a handgun and two spare clips.

The script was wavy and flowing,

I can't protect you forever. Be careful and be safe. And thank you.

There was no signature.

[bg=black]Fin.[/bg]