Time to Escape

[jay]

When she sped up Jay bit on his lip, women confused the fuck out of him sometimes. He didn’t chase after her, and was thankful when she slowed. He caught up with her, wondering which action of his had obviously pissed her off. As she spoke, he nodded when she said she was Hyena, and he began to slow his pace, a grin across his full lips and a noticeable sparkle in his eyes. He stopped and as he did he took her arm by the wrist, gently.

He pulled her lightly toward him, moving his body to bridge the gap between them. This one really was a fire-cracker, he didn’t understand her, and she made no sense and was a fury of wild emotions, raw, energy. Man! He could see himself liking this one. His body pushed up against hers and he moved his face closer, their lips almost touching.

“You win....” And as he spoke he slid something into her hand, a card, and his contact details and then, quickly pulled back and turned and began to run back up the track. “I’ll look forward to your call....Firecracker.”

[galina]

She slowed as he did only to come to a complete stop when he grasped her wrist in his hand, his skin was warm even in the cool air. She didn't have the urge to pull away from him the way that she always did with Thorn. When he pulled her toward him she went unresisting.

She could fall into his eyes and drown and never put up a fight, he was the cool water that could quench her fire. Somehow she just knew that where Thorn enraged her, Jay would not, he would comfort her and console her. He would raise her passion and douse it with himself. Oh yeah she could definitely like this one.

She hadn't truly won and she knew it, he had given up, knowing there was no way that he could compete with her, she wanted so badly to bridge that small gap between their lips, but she held back. She felt him slip something into her hand, and instinctively closed her fingers over it and his fingers as well for just a split second. "I will make sure not to take too long to make that call."

She watched him as he disappeared back over the horizon then she looked down at the card in her hand, a smile playing across her face before she tucked the card away on her pocket and started down the track in the opposite direction form Jay, and back around to where she could make her way home.

[metatron]

The Chicago police department leaked like a sieve with a hole punched through it. Max had survived this long mainly because of just such a thing. He had dirt, intel,as well as friends in almost every major department. True it wouln't stop mostform attemptingto put a bulletin his head if they caugt him in a bad way. Which is why he took the care he did in making sure as to disappear completely every few months.

This time things were different. Clay had gone too far. He had ignored Max one time too many. By rights he should be the heir apparent not that prettyboy. The kid was barely out of short pants. he should just kill the bastard. That of course would only anger Giovanni but he should be offed as well. The only problem is Max was no fool. f one of the two died thjenthe other would immediately go one high alert. they would haveto die naturally if max wanted to continue enjoying his position in the family.

Toren however was another matter entirely. There was no better way than to frame him as a monster. Death by cop. Hell everyone would believe it. He was new. He had an almost feral way with women. It would fit with the right push. As much as it bothered him he changed his M.O. just for this kill. If it didn't work he could always arrange something less obvious.

It took some time but he had the right canvass. Bright red hair pale skin and green eyes. She was a beauty in life.he would have rather savored her for ihis own but sacrifices had to be made. The hot ice kept the body at the right temperature while he shadowed the new head of RPIT. He hated loose ends and for this to work he'd have to piss off the right man.

The RPIT man fit the bill as according to the word filtered through the stationhouse he was an all around niceguy with a taste for the ladies. For this fall into his purview he'd had togothe extra mile and insure that the body showed obvious signs of a lycanthropes mauling. It bothered him to be so slovenly. Sometimes as he knew to do it right one hadto make a messs of things.

It made it harder to make the scene look beleiveable not by much for him however. As the RPIT man made his way along the path Max timed his pace. Seizingthe moment when it should take him fifteen minutes more toget back to the entrance of the trail Max dumped the body. His disguise firmly in place. He retrieved the collected victims blood he'd kept. He splattered it with gusto getting it some of everywhere. It would take the crime lab days of man hours to figure it out that it didn't come form the victim at the scene. It was her blood sadly the murder didn't happen here.

Max laughed to himself. Crimes were far easier to fake ones you knew what the Crime scene forensics team would look for. Quickly dancing with the corpse so as to simulate a struggle he dropped the body careful to make sure he left visible shoe prints.

Now for the pieces of information that would push things over the top. He dropped the match book from the pool hall that Martin the little weasal frequented. Everyone knew that Martin was untrustworthy and that Toren would gladly remove a thorn in Clays side. Next the wolf tracks. That was too easy to simulate he'd prepared this days ago. Torens blood mixed with the wolf lycanthrope virus mixed in with the victims. Just the small amount that he'd been able to steal from the mans razor as well as the residue he'd left on the sheets of the motel he took his floozies to.

It wasn't until he'd carefullyleft the trace under the victims nails that he'd felt the coming of the lycanthrope. He had been so enmeshed in his work and his time frame that she'd gotten too close. He saw her out of the corner of his eye but he wouldn't turn to her. Instead he took off at a clip no mortal could follow. Across the lot and into the tree bank. All she'd see would have been a dark haired man in a leather jacket. he was surethat she'd seen the knife. The fact that it was obviously silver should prove deterrent enough. Max wouldn't wait to find out.

[galina]

She rounded the corner in the park, only half paying attention to what was going on around her. She was mostly lost in thought when she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head she spotted a man running full out, but he was running at a speed that no human would ever be able to do. Something about the form looked familiar, then the scent hit her, wolf. Thorn! What the hell was he doing here?

She turned and started to follow, that's when she damned neared fell over the body that lay sprawled on the grass not too far off the path. If she hadn't been paying attention to Thorn, she would have noticed it right off. Phoenix's eye widened in horror, the woman laying at her feet looked enough like her to be kind of creepy.

Her eyes blazed in fury, what the hell was going on here? What had he done? No more thought was necessary. She took off like she was shot from a cannon, that bastard! Her long legs ate up the ground like she was almost flying across it. She knew she shouldn't do this, but she had to know why he had done this. She crashed into the tree line, already with knife in hand. She wasn't stupid enough to ever go anywhere without at least one knife, especially the way the city was going crazy lately.

Her eyes and ears were alert, as she sniffed the wind for trace of wolf. Slowing her steps on fractionally she moved into the trees. Where the hell did he go? She wasn't necessarily worried, but she was definitely wary.

[thorn]

He’d been ordered to shift, and he had. Ranthos was his Ulfric and that was all there was to it. He’d come out in the night, when no one was there, determined to hold himself together, determined not to lose himself completely to his wolf.

And he’d done it. He’d shifted, run limping through the underbrush and had even caught himself a rabbit. He had, of course, collapsed in exhaustion afterward, and slept long and hard. Now, as the sun began to get high, he dressed and began strapping on his weapons.

The shoulder was better, though not anyway near healed. But it was sore. Running on four legs when one of them was injured hadn’t helped the healing. But it was better than it had been.

And then he heard it. Racing footsteps through the woods, coming closer. He was in no mood for company, so he held himself still, back against a tree where he would be hidden from the runner. His wrist blade slid silently into his hand.

[metatron]

Max smelled the wolf ahead of him. Damn of all the rotten luck. He hated using his abilities in the light of day. It drained him something awful and he would have to sleep for hours after words. Good thing he could sleep once crossed.

He laughed to himself at the mess his days absence would cause.

Summoning the dark center of his being as he pushed harder. Scenting where the wolf was hiding he altered his flight and leaped towards the tree. AS his flesh bad a reverberating contact. Just before the tree buckled under his assault he loosed the darkness of his soul,disappearing into the shadow of the tree. The knife as well as the victims jewelry and cross he hadn't had time to place properly near the body rattling against the trunk as Max slept.

[galina]

Phoenix was still moving at a good clip, her anger burning white hot, her eyes having already bled to the dark hues of her beast. She could smell the wolf easily here and she followed the scent. She slowed and then stopped scanning the area in front of her, moving more careful now. Following her nose she moved ahead, stepping slowly and lightly, she didn't hear any movement up ahead of her. That meant he was either now moving more carefully like her, trying to evade her, or he had gone to ground and was waiting.

She was close now the scent of wolf strong in her nose but she wasn't sure exactly how far ahead he was. She slowed her steps further, swiveling her head form side to side. She was in hunting mode now. She crouched low to the ground, making less of an obvious target, though with her hair that was almost laughable really, at least she was a smaller target anyway.

She could almost feel him now, his scent swirling in her nose like cheap cologne. The trees were denser here, making visibility a bit more difficult. She thought she saw something off to her right and turned in that direction. She didn't like this, not one bit....why the hell was there a dead girl torn apart that looked enough like her that someone might actually think they were sisters? And what was Thorn doing here with his scent all over said dead girl?

[thorn]

He heard the running steps come nearer and figured the runner would go right by the tree where he stood. And then he felt the sharp impact against the tree and the thing shuddered and began to sag. What the hell? Thorn stepped quickly around the toppling tree and gaped. There was absolutely no one there. A glitter of metal glinted at his feet, and he bent to snatch it up, still swiveling his head, looking for the vanished runner. A silver knife and jewelry. This was bad, and he knew it. He should have just let it lie there.

The wind was from behind him, and it bothered him that if the mysterious disappearing runner was running from someone, or something, he couldn’t catch the scent of it. He faded back further into the trees, rubbing the knife off on his jeans, his hand wrapped in a fold of his shirt. This was not good at all. He had to get his prints off the knife and the jewelry and dump it, fast.

And then the breeze moved the leaf cover and he saw it; the flash of red between branches stirred by the breeze. He stepped behind the first tree he found, all but holding his breath, calming his heart rate that had begun to race when he realized just how deep in the shit he was likely to be if he wasn’t careful. Maybe whoever it was would go by. If not, maybe he could incapacitate them and be out of there before anyone else came.

Damn the whole lycanthrope thing. If not for that, he’d be miles away, on the road somewhere, plying his trade, scamming gadjo and nowhere near this godforsaken city.

[galina]

Phoenix took another slow step, her eyes on the ground now looking about her every second or so. Moving forward she listened, had she heard someone moving?Her eyes scanned the ground and saw a bare spot by a tree, it looked like something had been scooped up in a hurry.

A low feral growl rose in her throat, her hyena was barely contained behind her flesh. She was pissed and she was scared, never a good combination in someone who always fought their emotions like she did. When nothing else would trigger a shift, strong emotions would, at least in her. She saw another movement by a tree not twenty yards away.

She stepped carefully coming up behind the tree where she thought she saw someone. Moving in a flash too fast for human comprehension she spun around the tree and laid her knife against the side of Thorn's neck. "So we meet again...you really do want me to kill you don't you?" Her voice sounded more feral than human, her control on the edge. One wrong step and she would lose what little control she had left.

"What did you do Thorn? Why did you do it?" Her green eyes sparked with pure fire, and something close to hate. She was as close to hating someone now as she ad ever been in her life. That tore at her heart, she had not wanted to believe the worst of him, but at the same time she wanted him to be guilty so salve her conscience.

If she had let him die that night that girl would still be alive. Maybe that had been his plan for her, maybe she had been the one that was supposed to have died that night. He said he was still new to being a wolf only a few months gone. That girl had looked so much like her. To think she had actually felt bad for shooting him.

[thorn]

Maybe he was careless in his sudden worry, maybe it was the damn Fates again, taking a hand in his life to screw with him yet again like they had the night he’d been infected. But suddenly, there was a blade at his throat and the scent of hyena in his nostrils, wending its subtle way into his brain.

God, it was her. His brain whirled, and, for the moment, he froze to stillness, the sting of silver against his skin warning him that she was serious even before her words confused him completely.

“What are you talking about? I’ve done nothing.” He wasn’t about to try to explain further until he know more of what was going on, but somehow he had a feeling it had something to do with the blade still tight in his grip.

He was screwed and he knew it. Maybe he could get the upper hand, kill her, get away. But he knew he wouldn’t hurt her. Thorn had killed many men, but he’d never hurt a woman, and he wouldn’t. It simply wasn’t in him. Not even to save his life. Not that he’d do much to preserve that right now. But it cut at him that she obviously thought he’d done something. Somehow, it bothered him a lot, and he hated himself for that, too.