Leaders of the Pack Ch. 05

Just FYI: No sex in this one. Lots of information and tying up of loose ends. Had to get back on the wagon, I've been away from writing for too long. And my one warning... if you're crying at the end... well that was intentional.

*

Mira tapped her pen on her desk as she glared at Luther and Tor. "Tell me something helpful."

Luther shifted in his seat. "We believe that the weres that escaped may have something to do with Nora's death."

"How exactly is that helpful?"

"At least we know where they went when they left here." Luther looked away from Mira. He always had trouble making eye contact with her when he knew that he had disappointed her. "I have several men on it. I believe that the NSA has a tab on them as well though. It's going to be a bit of a race to get to them first."

"Do we know why they killed Nora?" Mira couldn't help the hurt and frustration. It had been a very long time since she had seen Nora. Still that didn't make her death any less upsetting. It never failed to get to her when someone she knew died and she was unable to be part of the grieving.

"It seems they're looking for a cure. They got together with some of the dires that survived the fiasco between the Arnauk and the Tairneach. We think that they found the Circle and expected Nora to be able to fix them. When she couldn't, she suffered for it."

"How the hell did they find the Circle? No one finds the Circle. I want them all in custody. Without further incident. We have never had this much trouble handling a situation."

"Mira," Luther responded, and finally looked up at her. "You have a majority of our men out looking for those damned tapes. If you want me to handle the quantity of weres that we are talking here, then I need more backup. This time, you're asking for more than we're capable of. This organization was made to handle things covertly. Right now we are talking direct confrontation. We aren't equipped."

"You're exaggerating," Mira exclaimed. She was obviously bothered and both men knew that it took a great deal to push her that far. She stood from her chair and paced to the window. For the first time in centuries, she was concerned for the security of her home.

"No he isn't," Tor added carefully. "We aren't setup for this. It's too big. It's one thing to handle the random lone wolf problem or blood thirsty vamp gone rogue. It's something else entirely to take on a relatively organized group. We need to consider other options."

"I know." Her voice was low. "I've thought about it off and on over the years. The druid's circle, the lycan's council, or maybe one of the vampire's families. I can't help but remember all the reasons that I've avoided that though." She turned toward them. "They all believe they have the best intentions. For the most part each of us do what we believe is best. I would be lying if I tried to claim that our function in the overall scheme of things was entirely altruistic. I started this organization because I didn't want to deal with the aftermath of being found by the human population or anyone else for that matter. I've spent time with each of the various groups and found that in the end it's always about personal agenda. Mine does not mesh with theirs."

Tor growled quietly in frustration. "I'm not saying we have to be permanent best buddies. If you let me handle it, I may be able to set up something to keep cooperative involvement and contact to a minimum without much trouble. I agree with Luther. We need help. You have our opinion."

Mira knew they were right. She couldn't help the concern. The druids at several points in history thought that the best solution to Rillan would be to put him out of his misery. The vampires had wanted to make use of him for their own agenda and the weres had been so indifferent to the situation that she gave up on any kind of help from them long ago. Now he was missing. There were tapes somewhere out in the big wide world that could not only prove the existence of weres but also remind the various factions of Rillan's existence. A group of mix match monster weres was wandering about possibly killing druids. Mira was out of answers. "I honestly don't know when things got so out of hand. I suppose that the weres are the least dangerous of the options."

"I thought you might say that," Tor nodded. "I'll get in contact with them. In the mean time, I did get Natalie to agree to reveal the location of the tapes, so I suppose that should be dealt with as well."

Mira's eyes narrowed on Tor. "When exactly did you manage that?"

Tor shrugged and tried to sound offhand. "When I dropped her back at her room. It seemed mostly a residual reaction to all the questioning she'd already been through. I didn't really do much," he smiled.

"I'll sit and twiddle my thumbs then," Luther groused.

"Actually I have a new assignment for you, my friend. Rillan has yet to return this time. I know that his bloodlust will begin to impair his judgement in fairly short order. Please be as covert as possible, but find out if the families have had to clean up any messes recently and are unsure of how it happened. Hopefully you'll find out nothing, we'll get the tapes back, and discover that he went to ground somewhere inconspicuous and just bring him home."

Luther nodded gravely. They all knew the urgency of getting Rillan back. That was the chance they took when they let him out in an attempt to stealthily retrieve the books from the Tairneach manor.

Mira sighed heavily and looked out the window in the futile hope that he would appear. "It would be so much simpler if he would show up with those damn notes and then we could all disappear again. Until we find Rillan there is too much at stake. Do whatever needs to be done. I'll deal with the consequences as they come."

The night was wearing on as Jenna watched out the window waiting for a non-descriptor car to arrive to take her to whatever safe house the mysterious voice on the phone had promised. Brennus and Jenna were still arguing right up to the point when the black car with tinted windows pulled into the parking lot of the hotel.

"Too late now," Jenna growled at Brennus as she strode out the car. She figured that if was Cadifor and she fell for a trap then the hell with it. She was tired of running and she was at least going to go with her head held high. Brennus repeatedly cursed her stupidity as she went.

A man in a dark suit got out of the front passenger side and opened the back door for Jenna to get in as she approached. She silently slid into the seat and he closed the door behind her. A quick appraisal of the driver and the other passenger made it clear that Cadifor had nothing to do with this. Jenna was dying to ask them who they were but didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing that she was so clueless as to what was happening.

Your desperation is going to get us killed, was the last thing Brennus said before retreating to the back of Jenna's mind.

The ride was silent. Jenna watched out the window, trying to determine at least the direction they were traveling. After several hours of driving all she was able to determine was that they were headed north.

"Too many bodies on the pyres of late," an elderly voice responded quietly to the debate passing across the large rune carved table.

"I believe it may be time to walk away from this. Nora was well meaning in her attempts to forge friendships however it is not working out as she foresaw. The Fates must have changed."

Malik was torn as was the rest of the Circle. There was the half that believed Nora's death and the destruction of her home was due to breaking their tradition of noninvolvement. That group was already in the process of packing up to disappear as so many of their ancestors did in difficult times. Then there was the group that was starting to believe the noninvolvement was what lead to all the deaths.

"If we had controlled Rafe instead of ignoring his actions and indiscretions in the beginning," Malik responded, "then most of the difficulties we currently face would not have come to pass. I remember Nora standing against our passivity with him and being out voted."

An older man sighed heavily and sat back in his chair. "We aren't equipped for fighting Malik. We watch and learn and pass on knowledge."

"To what end? We share none of it save with our own. What good is hidden knowledge?"

"I believe most of us have debated that point with ourselves at various times. It serves little purpose other than to cause frustration. Malik, we have tried to fight the Fates. First the vampires, then the lycans and various other weres in an attempt to stave off our own end. After each attempt our numbers dwindled more and we still found ourselves hiding. In the end we persevere. Fighting back is not the answer. Better to trust the Fates than to cause more destruction by opposing them."

A rumble of agreement filled the small room where the meeting was taking place.

"So we vanish," Malik responded with a rare vehemence in his voice," leave no word to the lycans as to what happened or why, trust that the Fates will resolve the conflict, hope that in the process the human population does not discover and route us out. Am I missing anything?"

No one answered.

"I believe we owe it to Nora and to the lycans, who just started to trust us, to see this through. I don't think it's right to leave them now to clean up what is ultimately something one of our own started."

Concerned faces and shaking heads faced Malik. "You are young yet. Most of us are far past the age when fighting would be feasible. Your path is your own Malik. If you wish to join with the lycans and attempt to aid them, that is your choice."

Frustration coursed through him. Malik was usually calm and placid as any of the druids. Seeing the bodies of the people close to him dismembered by Rafe's creations was tearing him apart. He found himself wanting not only resolution but revenge. As much as he told himself that it was an unproductive path and would lead to no good he could not let it go. Each time he closed his eyes he saw Nora. He saw the bubbles of blood on her lips as she died and he heard her words echoing in his ears. "See this through."

"I believe I will not be the only one who wishes to stay and aid the lycans," Malik finally responded.

"All of you who stay behind and go to their aid will be cut off. We cannot have our new location known to anyone who may become a liability at some point."

"I understand," Malik looked around at the other druids present. It seemed that none of them were willing to make eye contact with him. "I'll wait until you have all gone before contacting the lycans."

Cullen was awake before dawn. Aislinn's concern in the back of his mind was enough to keep him from any reasonable sleep. He dressed and left his room hoping that Cadifor would be up and ready so that he could let him know the new information about Jacob and whoever Mira was. He stopped at Keith's room and knocked loudly before turning the handle and walking in.

"What? Is it morning already," Keith grumbled and pulled his pillow over his head.

"Come on. Time to move," Cullen responded unenthusiastically.

"The sun isn't even up," Keith moaned. "You work me till all hours of the night discussing things that have no resolution and now you want me to wake up before the roosters. Go away."

"Keith, Aislinn had another vision. I have new information for Cadifor. You're lucky I didn't decide to deal with this last night. You're not the only one sick of this place."

Noting the frustration in Cullen's voice, Keith got up and started getting dressed without any further complaints. He was well aware of the stress that Cullen must be feeling. Not only to be away from Aislinn at the moment but to be stuck here with no real knowledge of when they would be done had to be killing him.

The pair walked down the hall toward Cadifor's rooms. They weren't the only ones out and about that morning. No one was resting. They Council was getting stonewalled trying to reach the Circle and they're government contacts. It was a rare occasion when the Pack Council was at a loss for what action to take. That alone was enough to put everyone on edge.

Cullen rapped on Cadifor's door and the quick response told him that the man had not been asleep either.

"I expected you'd be up already," Cullen said when he saw that Cadifor was already dressed. Makeda was still in the shower, but would probably be done shortly. Even she had been relatively sedate during the proceedings of the last couple days.

"I take it that you have something important?"

Sitting down in a chair at the small breakfast table Cullen got straight to the point. "I don't know if this will help, but Aislinn had another vision. She said that she saw Jacob, the druid that Jenna kidnapped to lead the dire experiments, dying. He told her to convey the message that the lycans didn't do it and to find a woman named Mira. Mean anything to you?"

Cadifor sat down at the table with Cullen. His brow furrowed as he tried to think. "That's it?"

"Aislinn said when she asked Jacob who Mira was he said he didn't know."

Cadifor sat back in his chair. "I don't know anyone named Mira. We may have to concede to asking some of the others. I suppose it's only right to involve the rest of the Council. Though I think it more likely that they will be of the same mind as Rollo and not wish to act on something as tenuous as one of Aislinn's visions."

Makeda appeared from the bathroom drying her dark hair with a towel. Her chocolate skin gleaming with specks of water from her shower. "What has happened?" Curiosity tinting her voice.

Cadifor and the other two men took a brief moment to admire the exotic woman's body, before he responded. "Aislinn says that a druid appeared in a vision and told us to locate a woman named Mira."

Cadifor could tell by the look on her face that the information struck a cord with her. "I knew a Mira once. A very long time ago. I would have thought her to be dead long ago, but seeing as I survived this long I suppose it's not inconceivable that she might. Although there is no guarantee that she would be the Mira the druid meant."

"That's better than anything else we have at the moment. Who was she and how did you know her?"

The naked woman walked over to the men and set the towel down. "She was the last sacrifice to the first vampire. But I met her quite some time after that."

A rare surprised look crossed Cadifor's face. "I take it if she lived then the vampire did not?"

"Not exactly. Mira was the only one to survive him. I believe they both lived. If you can call a vampire's life living. And I think that the first one was not the same as the ones that followed. It's been a very long time though."

"A druid girl can't have survived this long," Cullen responded.

"Hard to say who survives and for what reasons. The druids were more free with the types of games they played with the Fates back then. Who knows. That is the only Mira I know who stands out in my memory. As I said she may not be the one."

Tor decided that he needed to deal with Natalie first, considering he knew that the weres would be a much more complex situation. He walked down the hall wondering if the girl would scream and run or if she'd be fine when she saw him. She's quite the spitfire, he chuckled to himself.

When he knocked on the door there was no answer. So he let himself in. He figured it was a good sign that she had not locked the door.

Natalie was sitting at the small table in the corner of the room. She had finished breakfast and was staring out the window. She barely looked up when Tor walked in. "I guess I expected you'd be back."

"Well you did make me a promise. I fulfilled my end of the bargain," he smiled. She was willing to talk to him, she sounded lucid, and she wasn't running and screaming. That was a good start. "It's your turn. Where are the tapes?"

"Okay, so I get that they have you guys on film. But what's so damned important about them? I mean no one would take them seriously if they hit the papers. Especially in a tabloid. There isn't a single human being alive, save a few crazies who already believe in you guys who wouldn't think I faked the whole thing. Hell I was starting to think I faked the whole thing. Why torture me for six month and then someone breaks me out of an asylum to get them?"

Tor was impressed. It was an intelligent question. "Can't tell you that."

"Beautiful." Natalie went over to the night stand and fished out a tablet and pen she had found there when she was looking around the night before. She started drawing a map on the page. "Look, I don't know the address. When things started getting crazy I decided I needed to get rid of those tapes. Could't bring myself to burn them. In part cuz I figured if I ever really thought I was crazy then I could go look at them and remind myself that I hand't lost it."

Tor watched her draw some lines on the paper that criss crossed. She drew some circles and some triangles. He stared in confusion at the page as she drew some squiggly lines and then a little house.

"So I was driving. Just driving. It was night and I was convinced I was being followed. I turned down a bunch of streets and then hit a gas station, scared out of my mind. When I filled the tank I headed out of the city. No idea where I was going I just wanted to get away. I kept driving until I didn't see any lights in front or behind me and then I started driving down these dirt country roads. I was even watching the sky for helicopters. I kept telling myself I was getting paranoid and there was no reason for it.

"When the tank was down half way and I figured that there was no way I'd be able to get back to civilization if I kept going like I was I stopped the car, turned off the lights and started crying. I stood there terrified in the dark for I don't even know how long.

"At some point the moon came out from behind the clouds and I spotted this old abandoned looking farm house way back off the dirt road. Scared out of mind I started walking toward it. When I got closer I saw that the roof was caving in and the doors and windows were kinda missing. That's when it occurred to me that I could hide the evidence. I could come back for it if I could find my way back to it.

"The floor in the main room was rotted and there were holes in it. I managed to find some steps down to the basement. I stuck the bag containing all the film and tapes I had, there are no copies, in a kinda hole behind an ancient looking wood or coal burning furnace thing.

"Okay," Tor said skeptically. "Do you think you can find it again? Are you sure no one saw you go out there?"

"Well I assume that if the last group of loonies were spending so much time and effort to torture me for information that they don't know where it is. I didn't see anyone following me. Maybe I was just lucky. And no... I'm not positive I can get back there. It was dark, I was scared, and there were no street signs."

"Great," Tor grumbled. "You were supposed to be my easy job."

Jenna's car finally pulled into a deserted parking lot outside an enormous warehouse. They had to be near an airport because Jenna could hear planes taking off or landing. The building looked as though it could house airplanes or blimps. The outside of the building was nondescript enough that most people could drive past it and never think twice about what might be going on inside. She still wasn't certain where she was, but so far no one was handcuffing her or pushing her around so she wasn't worried yet.

The men in suits didn't waste any time. One opened the door for her and they led her across the parking lot and into the building. She had to admit that the way they were pushing her along led her to believe that they we less friendly than first appearances. She wondered what they would do if she tried to change and run right now. Brennus attempted to push that thought, but Jenna was far to curious at this point.