Time to Escape

[galina]

She wanted to cry, and she wanted to rage and she wanted to cut him. She wanted to kill him and be done with the whole damn thing, she didn't like doubting herself. she almost believed the confusion in his voice, almost. She took a deep breath and tried to draw her beast back from the brink, needing all her mental skills to deal with Thorn and not have to worry about shifting.

"Why did you kill that girl? Because she looked like me? Was that the plan when we left the bar together the other night, was I supposed to die?" Her voice trembled with her pent up rage and anxiety. She didn't want to believe him capable of such a thing. "What made you kill her, she was just a poor defenseless human, was that it, easier prey? Someone who couldn't fight back?"

Her words tumbled out as she fought back the tears, as she tried to hold on to her anger, that poor girl was shredded. She hardened her heart and pressed her body against his. Even now she could feel that jolt of electricity and it sickened her, and she hated herself for it. She kept the knife pressed against his flesh, not enough to cut him, but enough to know she was serious.

"Don't lie to me Thorn it will go badly for you if you do. This time I will not hesitate to kill you." She meant every word even if it broke her heart, she would slice him open and walk away. What the hell are you talking about Phoenix? He can't break your heart, you don't care about him. He was just a one night stand. That's it! Right?

[thorn]

She’d gotten too close to him, physically, and he knew it, and that, more even than the faint scent of salt that suddenly blended with her scent hot and maddening even now in his nose told him that whatever she felt he had done was bad. The blade against his neck was steady, even if her voice was not. She wasn’t thinking straight. She was feeling.

But the words, from her lips, were even worse than the blade. It cut him hard and deep that she’d think he’d do such a thing. And so, he’d let her cut him. He spun, the blade slashing along his neck, sweeping a foot around, catching her at the ankle, trying to take her feet out from under her even as his hand flashed out to make a grab for her wrist.

“I’ve killed no one.” And he knew that was a lie and a major one. “I‘ve killed no woman, not now, not ever,” he corrected his words, not at all trying to hide the truth or lie in his words. If she had that gift, to smell lies, she’d know. God help him if she didn’t.

[galina]

She wasn't prepared for what he did next, maybe because she was torn up inside about what she thought he had done. Maybe it was simply because the emotions were riding her hot and heavy and her beast was in a frenzy. Whatever reason, or rational he got the jump on her. Once minute she was standing with a knife to his throat, the next she was on her back on the ground with her wrist in his firm grasp.

She heard his words and she sniffed the air, yeah she knew the scent of a lie, she knew how people reacted when they told an untruth. Her eyes went from the almost black of her hyena to liquid green, he was telling the truth. From her position on ground she saw the knife in his hand, the knife she had briefly glimpsed as the man that she could have sworn was Thorn ran away from the dead girl. "If you didn't kill her why do you have that knife?" She tilted her head slightly, as she spied something else in his hand, "At that jewelry?"

He wasn't lying about killing the girl but something was definitely wrong here, he was holding the knife she had seen earlier. "What the hell is going on Thorn?" Her voice was softer now, as she was able to push back her emotions and begin to think again.

[thorn]

He misread her. In his worry and his pain at her words, he thought she figured he was lying. He had automatically gotten the twist on her wrist that would keep her on the ground, and now he shifted his grip so that he could jerk her to her feet, smoothly and without injury. He dropped the knife and the jewelry at her feet and, with a haunted, hopeless look in his eyes, stooped quickly to scoop up her blade from where it had slipped from her hand when he took her down and laid it back in her grip.

“You want me dead now? Go for it. It doesn’t matter. None of it f*cking matters. Or would you prefer to shoot me again?” He pulled the .357 from its holster and dropped it at her feet. And then he let go of her wrist and took two steps backward, staring her in the eye, daring her to pick up the gun. He spread both hands, showing them empty, holding them far from the silvered blade at his back. He was tired suddenly, bone weary and sick of it all.

[galina]

She yelped when he jerked her to her feet, not because he hurt just because she was surprised, he had thrown her around like a rag doll and she had let him. What the hell was wrong with her? She was better than that, wasn't she? It was definitely time to get back to training if she had lost her edge that badly. When he put the blade in her hand she looked at it and then at him, confused as to what he was doing.

When she saw that look in his eyes though her heart wrenched, he really did want her to kill him, but the question was why. She had seen that look in someone's eye before, and knew what had followed, she would never forget. It had been her own face that had worn that expression right before she burned down the last school she attended before being sent to the boarding school to join Kisa and the others.

She actually flinched at his words, and stepped back from the gun that landed on the ground at her feet, "Are you out of your ever loving mind Thorn? I don't want to kill you, I never did you damn fool." She saw the blood flowing down the side of his neck from when he had purposely cut himself to put her on the ground. She shook her head, "I don't understand what is going on here, but I know you're not lying. I don't know much else but I can smell that much." She wiped the blade of her knife against her pants and slid it into it's sheathe at her back. "I'm not going to kill you, even if you want me to. Tell me what's going in."

[thorn]

He let his hands drop then, shoulders not quite as squared and firm as they had been. “You tell me. You’re the one who seemed to think I’d killed some human girl. I came out here to shift last night, to try to fix my shoulder, though it doesn’t help much when you need all four legs to run. I slept out here, too tired to make it home. Heard someone running, almost right at me, and then whoever it was took down the tree I was standing behind and…” and, lord, he knew how crazy this was going to sound, “and then they just… disappeared. I found those,” he nodded at the silver knife and the jewelry at her feet,” on the ground by the tree.”

His voice had been getting more and more soft and resigned as he spoke. She wouldn’t believe that any more than he would. There was a dead girl, and there was jewelry and a knife. He knew that wasn’t good, but he had no idea what to do about it.

[galina]

She blinked, slowly taking in what he said, she could smell what he said was the truth as unlikely as it sounded, it was the truth none the less. "I was running, I rounded the corner at the top of the grade, I saw someone.....who looked just like you. Even down to your jacket, running this way, I smelled wolf." She shook her head and put both hands up to cover her face.

"When I gave chase I found the girl, she was laying by the path. Thorn.....she looked just like me." Her voice caught on a sob, she teetered on her feet, the adrenaline was leaving her body, she sat down hard on the ground. "I could have sworn it was you, I saw the knife, the girl, I ran in here to find you.......or whoever it was that looked like you. Then I find you here, what am I supposed to think......someone is setting you up and using me as the weapon."

She sagged visibly, "I'm sorry Thorn," Her voice was hoarse with unshed tears, and self-recrimination. How could she have believed that he would do such a thing? Was she mad? Or was she just looking for a reason to hate him because it was easier to hate than to care?

[thorn]

He shook his head, frowning, thinking frantically, trying to get through the fog of worry that surrounded his brain. Meeting a man with a gun, with a knife, that he could deal with. Or setting up a scam… And that was it. His spinning brain engaged like fine gear work, and he began to think at a furious pace. He’d think of it like a scam. Figure the logic of it, what it was as opposed to what it was supposed to look like.

He found himself settling down on the ground in front of her, picking up his gun without thought and holstering it. “It’s not you, Phoenix. Or at least not you being used to set me up. There’s no logic in that. Who knew we’d been together? Little weasel face saw us, sure, but the name I gave, the tag number… None of that traces to me.” And that was more of an admission than he would normally give.

“Do you run there every day? Who would know that, if you did? Who’s seen you out here?” He didn’t like what he was thinking. Maybe she’d been the target. Maybe whoever it was thought it was Phoenix he’d killed. The cold fingers of dread scrambled up his spine.

“What did you see? What had been done to her?” He hated to bring it up, hated to make her visualize what she’d seen, as it had clearly shaken her.

[galina]

Too many things didn't add up, she just couldn't put her finger on what was going on around her. She had to think logically, push the emotion to the side, it wasn't helping the situation. There was something very odd about the whole thing. She barely registered Thorn sitting down next in front of her. Her eyes were on her hands, twisting and wrapping around each other in their anxiety.

Then she heard him speak and it got her brain rolling again, who had seen them together? No one. Who would know they had been together? Same answer, No one, other than Kisa, and she obviously was not even on the list of suspects. Something Thorn said caught her attention but it wasn't important to the here and now she didn't comment on it. the name I gave, the tag number....None of that traces to me. Something to be examined later.

"I....yes I do, but not always at the same time, sometimes early, sometimes late but yes everyday. Any body that ever saw me here, would know. though I can't say that I met anyone recently...." Her head shot up and her eyes widened, she dug in her pocket and pulled out a card. "I don't think that body was supposed to be for me to find....."she looked down at the name on the card. "Jay Connor, Detective Lt. Chicago RPIT squad." She looked at Thorn, realization dawning in her eyes, Jay had been running that same direction as her down that path.

She turned her attention back to Thorn, "What had been done to her, she looked like she had been shredded by an animal, and as I said before she had wolf scent on her. Someone tried very hard to make that look like a Lycan attack Thorn and I think whoever it was set it up for this guy to find only I stumbled on to him and not Jay." She shook the card in the air as she talked about the cop she had met that morning on her run. She didn't even flinch when she described the girl this time, now that she knew it hadn't been Thorn that killed her she could look at more clearly, without emotion choking off her air.

[thorn]

He pressed his eyes closed for a moment, not liking at all what he was thinking. If the girl was a runner, whoever had killed her might have thought the girl he attacked was Phoenix. He didn’t like that thought.

But the other thought wasn’t much better. There were groups, like Humans First, who didn’t like the monsters in their midst. To kill a human girl, to make it look like a Lycanthrope had done it… Would they have gone that far?

If the girl had been left there for the RPIT cop to find, then whoever it was, they were setting up the wolves for the fall. And he was an all to convenient suspect, even though he hadn’t been there. Hell, would Ranthos even believe him that he hadn’t done this? The new wolf in town, the new wolf who was afraid of controlling his beast. He was probably a dead man when the news hit the papers.

“I’ve got to go look,” he said, knowing it was a stupid idea, that it would place him not just in the area but at the scene, if anyone saw him. “I’ve got to know what happened. I’m no cop, far as hell from it, but I’ve got to see what I’m up against here.”

He stood then, looking down at her. “You’d better get out of here. And Phoenix… Be extra careful, would you? This may not be over.” He didn’t want to scare her, didn’t want to have her worry, but he hoped to hell she’d listen to him.