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Post by galina on Jan 22, 2009 14:22:36 GMT -6
The man she had seen had looked enough like Thorn to fool her, and a girl who resembled her had been killed. Who ever had did this knew of both of them, maybe not that they knew each other, but definitely knew of each of them individually. And whoever it was knew the cop, or enough about him to follow him here, to plant a body.
Her mind was running in circles, it kept coming back to the fact that the person who had run into these woods had looked like Thorn, someone was trying to set him up to take the fall on this one, for what ever reason. Why would they want to implicate Thorn? Something really fishy was going on and Phoenix didn't like where her mind was going with it.
She was drawn out of her thoughts by Thorn's voice, "No Thorn! You can't, I've already been there. You haven't, you don't need to get any deeper in this. You go up there and we're both in deep shit. I can call Jay and tell him what I saw, and not mention you." She had a really bad feeling about him going up there, that was playing right into the enemies hands.
When Thorn stood it was Phoenix that reached out and grabbed his hand, "I'm not leaving you are. Get the hell out of here Thorn, Jay already knows I cam this way. I already stumbled over the body. If I leave now, well.....let's just say it's going to make me look like I have something to hide. No one has seen you here but me. Go back to the school and stay out of this."
She knew she was probably getting no where, but she had to try, to talk some sense into him and keep him from getting involved in this any more than he already was. "Besides you're bleeding, you go up there and your blood will show up in the investigation. Please, if not for your sake then for ....the sake of the wolves." She wasn't about to say for her sake, she wasn't going to go there not now.
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Post by thorn on Jan 22, 2009 14:43:50 GMT -6
Her hand on his wrist sent that electricity through him again, stabbing low, right where it affected him the most. She was right, and he hated it. “Look, I need to know what happened. Was she killed here, by the trail, or was she dumped?” He slid loose of her grip and began to pace, knowing that was wrong, too, if the cops combed the woods, and they would.
He found himself shaking his head. “I can’t go back to the school. I can’t endanger the pack. If the cops come there, they can say in all truthfulness that they don’t know were I am. Besides, this looks bad. Who’s to say Ranthos and the others won’t believe I did this. I’m new, to them and to the shifting. Ranthos sent me out to shift, and a girl’s dead. Ripped up, and you say there’s wolf smell there. What the hell could I expect her to think? No, I’ve got to go to ground somewhere, try to figure out what’s happening, try to find out who did this and why.”
His hands fisted as he paced, the strain of it starting to get to him. “This is the second person who’s ended up dead around me, and I don’t like it. I can’t see how it’s connected, but maybe it is, somehow. I’ve got to think.”
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Post by galina on Jan 22, 2009 14:58:05 GMT -6
She sighed, a sound that seemed to come from the very center of her, even the smallest touch seemed to effect her in a way no one else ever had. She rose from the ground when Thorn pulled away from her, still feeling that tingling in her body from their brief contact. "She wasn't killed here, not enough blood where the body is, not for the way she was ripped apart, whoever did this was planting that body in that particular place, so she would be easily found."
she closed her eyes and tried to breathe evenly, she knew he would argue with her, he always did. It was the pattern of their relationship thus far. "If Ranthos is any Ulfric worth her salt she would be able to smell that you're not lying and you're not guilty. If she can't then she's a fool." But he was right in one thing and she hated that, he couldn't go back to the school, not without knowing who was doing this and why.
Something he said caught her up short, "Second person? Who was the first? and when?" Her brows furrowed together, there was definitely something rotten in Denmark. "Wait! You said earlier that you heard someone running and something about a tree.....what was it you said? I can't remember." Something about the tree caving in? What was it he had said?
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Post by thorn on Jan 22, 2009 15:18:09 GMT -6
There was always the other possibility, the one he didn’t want to consider. That he had killed that girl, that he’d gotten lost in his wolf last night and done the unthinkable. He didn’t think he had, but he couldn’t be sure.
Phoenix’ insistence that the woman had been killed elsewhere filled him with more relief than he could have imagined. It didn’t make the problem go away, but at least he hadn’t killed the woman.
The comment that Ranthos could smell that he wasn’t lying brought that bitter twist of the lip. He looked at Phoenix, met her eyes and made the admission he never would have made to anyone else. “Darlin’ I can lie better than anyone you ever met. I could fool her. Hell. I could fool you.” He added quickly, “But I didn’t. I didn’t lie to you.” There was an intensity in his voice now, wanting to be honest but not wanting her to doubt him. Not now, not ever.
“There was a man I talked to a few days ago. Looking for information. He… just died, but I don’t think there was anything natural about it. He may have been poisoned. I can’t see how it’s connected, but it might be.” He didn’t want to tell her more, didn’t want to somehow make her a target for whatever was stalking his life. And that’s what it felt like. It was a creepy feeling and his hand strayed to his belt buckle, rubbing along the bronze symbol there.
“Yeah, I heard someone running, right toward the tree I stood behind. I was ready for him, but then it was like something hit the tree and it toppled. And the person was… just gone. That’s when I found the knife and the jewelry.” His face twisted up again. “None of this makes any bloody sense.”
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Post by galina on Jan 22, 2009 15:38:39 GMT -6
She could see the myriad of emotions running through his head by the expression on his face, but she wouldn't point that out to him. She didn't want him to know that she able to read him at all. It wasn't anything overt that she saw, more of the little facial movements that gave him away to her, and that was only because she was paying attention.
At her comment about the girl being killed elsewhere she could see the relief that rushed through him, so he had wondered if maybe had killed that girl? While he was shifted? It wouldn't have been the first time something like that happened with a new shifter, and she was sure it wouldn't be the last, but she had a bone deep feeling that even shifted Thorn wasn't capable of doing what she had seen.
That twisted bitter smile spoke volumes beyond what he said, "I know you didn't, and you better not ever,." It was possible that he could lie to her sure, there were Lycans out there that lied so well another couldn't smell it on them, but somehow she didn't think Thorn could lie to her and she not know it.
"Someone is doing a very good job at trying to pin something on you. I damn near killed you today, and if I hadn't wanted answers..." She shook her head slowly, tormented by the fact that she had been so out of her head that she very nearly had killed him in a blind rage. "Someone knows you have been asking questions and is not keen on the idea obviously, but who?" She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth in frustration and anxiety.
"Hmm...this stinks of magic. Very strong magic, for someone to mask their identity....and then disappear completely.....yeah there is some heavy duty magic involved." Her green eyes sparked, there were magic users and then there were -magic- users. She didn't know of any covens in town, but everyone knew there were Arcadians around. "I don't like this Thorn, you have to get out of here and I have to call in the cops.....before anymore time goes by."
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Post by thorn on Jan 22, 2009 15:57:02 GMT -6
She all but threatened him if he ever lied to her and, much as he didn’t want to, he wasn’t about to promise that he never would. Lying came as easily to him as breathing, and there might come the time when he had to lie and had to make her believe him. He might lie, but he’d never betray his word, so he let the matter drop and hoped it wouldn’t come back to bite him in the ass.
“Pin it on me, or on the wolves. I might just be a convenient target. No one really knows me here to vouch for me. Getting the wolves to admit that they can’t control their own might do a lot of damage.” She was shifter, she would understand that. In some areas of the country, there was open warfare between the groups. Maybe someone wanted that to happen here.
He just didn’t know. None of it made sense. “Somebody may know I’ve been asking questions, but I kind of implied I would. And he’d expect it, I think. Unless I uncovered more than I thought I did.” He thought of Martin’s PDA carefully concealed in his truck. He needed to get into it, more than the surface scan through the contents that he’d done. It was important now.
“Magic. Now that doesn’t make sense at all.” Magic made him nervous. The old Roma who had helped raise him after his mother had died was a witch, and he’d seen her do some scary stuff over the years. “Why send someone with magical talents to frame me? What would it get them? If the heat comes down on the wolves, it would come down on all preternaturals, by association. I just don’t get it.” He rubbed again over the symbol on his belt buckle. He was going to need all the luck he could get, it seemed.
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Post by galina on Jan 22, 2009 16:17:47 GMT -6
She didn't miss the fact that he didn't say anything to her in regards to not lying to her, so she knew that he figured at some point he probably would and he wouldn't bind himself with his word not to. As much as she hated it she had to give him points, he was a smart man, and she would have done the same if the situation was reversed. She never gave her word if she didn't plan to keep it, and if she thought there was any chance she couldn't keep her word, she would play hell before offering it up.
Phoenix nodded at what he was saying, everyone in town knew that there were tensions riding high in the Lycanthrope community. The tigers were out running the streets, the wolves had been attacked, and the tigers and Lions were at odds. "What is the point of getting the Lycans at each others throats. Why now? Our numbers are all still fairly thin in this area."
There was too much of this that didn't make sense, to many variables. "You may have and that may be why? I don't know, this is making my head hurt." She moved a bit, grasping his arm yet again, this time she was intent on holding on, even though it felt like someone had hit her with a tazer every time she touched him. "Let me look at your neck."
"I don't know why, but it's magic of some kind. And someone has a serious case of the ass at you, worse than me in fact." She stood on her toes so she could get a good look at the cut on his neck, then something hit her, "Oh shit! I wiped your blood on my pants." Oh this was not good, not good at all, she couldn't call the cops in wearing a pair of pants with blood on them. Thorn's blood no less.
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Post by thorn on Jan 22, 2009 16:45:39 GMT -6
He could feel her eyes on him, burning through him when he didn’t comment on her words about him not lying to her. She knew. She knew he’d lie if he had to. And he didn’t like that she knew. But what could he do? He had to play this close to his chest right now. His cards stank but that didn’t mean he might draw to a better hand in the end.
“Maybe that’s why. We’re few and if they get us at each other’s throats even worse than we are, they win. Hell, I don’t know.”
He wasn’t sure he wanted to tell her about Clay. The last person he had talked to about the man was currently taking up a rather solitary residence in the trunk of a car. He was glad when she was distracted by the slice on his neck. And then she remembered having cleaned off her blade, tainted by his blood, on her pants. “Have you got spares in your vehicle? I always keep a change or two in mine. If not, you’ve got to get out of here, too.” He sighed heavily then, rubbing calloused fingers across his brow. “I’m sorry, Phoenix. I never meant for you to get caught up in my shit. You should have let me die. Then you wouldn’t be stuck in the middle of this.” He looked at her then, eyes hooded. “Look, just go call the cops. Tell them everything. Tell them I overpowered you and got away. I’ll make it work, somehow. But this isn’t your problem.”
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Post by galina on Jan 22, 2009 17:12:06 GMT -6
She wasn't trying to hide that she knew and she could see that he knew she knew that he would lie. He didn't like it but bully for him, she was not a fool. If there came a time and it was needed she would lie to him just like he would her and she knew it.
She shrugged, "Maybe you're right, but I don't get it. this seems almost like a game someone is playing. Someone is purposely baiting the police, and using us..the Lycanthropes as patsies." There had to be an explanation for it all.
She nodded at his question, "Yeah I always carry spares, but if that detective shows up here that I met this morning, he's going to wonder why I'm in different clothes. Dammit!" She brushed stray hairs that had escaped her ponytail away from her face. When he told her she should have let him die she didn't even think she struck out aiming to give him a good smack across his ruggedly handsome face.
"Don't ever say that to me again Thorn, ever! You did not drag me kicking and screaming into this mess, you are as caught up in it as I am, I would be stuck in the middle of this regardless. Someone knows I run this path everyday, someone knows I would be here and would find that body. You said yourself no one knows about us, so how the hell could you even think you put me in this?"
Her anger was gone as quickly as it had come, "I won't do that, I won't. And you can't make me. I'll figure something out, but you are not going to take the fall for this, not if I have anything to say about it." She grabbed his shirt to emphasize her meaning, "It is my problem, as much as yours and don't you forget it."
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Post by thorn on Jan 22, 2009 17:36:53 GMT -6
He shook his head again. “They’re not baiting the police; they‘re thinking to use them. Whoever this is thinks they’re smarter than the cops.” And if it was Clay that was in any way behind this, maybe that was true. He had to learn more about the man, figure out what he was up to. By now, he’d probably figured Thorn wasn’t going to contact him or come work for him. Was this Clay’s work? To smoke Thorn out and make him see he had no choice? Maybe. And maybe he was so far off in his thinking that all that meant nothing.
When her hand flew toward his face, his hand shot up, blocking her blow without thought. He’d been fast before his infection and his reactions smoked now. “Don’t. You’ll get even more of my blood on you.” He glared at her. “Look, you can’t change, so you’ll just have to go with it, because I’m fresh out of bleach. You have to call them, because that cop saw you out here, and he’d wonder why you didn’t see the body. So just tough it out. My DNA’s not on file anywhere. As long as I can stay out of their hands, I’m fine. They can’t prove a thing.” He wished he believed that.
“I’m going to have to disappear until I can figure this thing out. I’m not running, but I can’t just stay out on the streets where I can be found. See if maybe you can get word to Ranthos about this. Tell her I won’t be back to the school until I can be sure I won’t endanger the wolves.” He had to have some way to contact someone to let them know anything he found out, but he wasn’t sure how. He had three cell phones now, but he was reluctant to use any of them. Sometimes the cops could activate the GPs that most phones had now, even if the customer turned it off. He couldn’t chance it.
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