Chapter Eight - The old lie

**Trigger warning: Volence/death. Reader discretion adviced.**

“That’s not possible – no one could survive that. And even so, she was dead on arrival, it says so on the papers.” Lilith pointed to the file, refusing to believe what Adam was saying. It was madness. The Alpha had lost it.

“Papers can easily be manipulated” Adam answered so casually it sounded like he was talking about the weather not faking someone’s death. “But there is no way anyone could survive that kind of damage. Her outside and inside were severely injured, she bled out, it was a slow and painful death” Lilith said steadfast, crossing her arms across her chest.

She hadn’t been there for the autopsy, but she had read about it. When she had first come across the file it made her sick, she had to steady herself not to throw up. This wasn’t what she had expected, and she had to know everything about it. Everything and anything. She had to know if the girl’s killer had been caught, that justice had been served. But nothing had led to any answers, not even when she got access to the police database. Living with a local cop was a perk on occasions.

“It was torture, retribution for being rejected” Adam said, his face once again focused on the view, his eyes locked on something far of in the distance. A long-forsaken memory of that day threatened to come into view, but he refused to let it start playing like a movie in his head. Not here, not now. But he had to tell Lilith, someone had to know, and who better than Lilith, who had a burning determination to find out what happened to people she didn’t even know?

“Was she someone’s mate?” Lilith asked. All, or most, werewolves had a mate. Most of them other wolves, some found love with other species. Humans and witches, both were accepted and frowned upon, depending on where in the world you lived.

“It’s complicated” Adam huffed. “I know all about complicated” Lilith said.

“My father came from a pack who believed strongly in wolves only mating with wolves, anything else was frowned upon, even though things were changing and more of the younger generations didn’t care. But the alpha was steadfast, so when my father found my mother, his true love and mate for life, he left the pack to live with her in the city. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but it was either that or reject his true love” Lilith told, picking up a framed photo of three smiling people.

“I thought you grew up with a pack” Adam said, and Lilith smiled. “When I was eight years old my father got a call from a member of his old pack, inviting him, mother, and me to come to a ceremony. The old alpha had passed, and his son was taking over the mantle. He was young, carefree, believed in love not war, and that love was love. A hippy amongst werewolves if you like. So, he invited my father back into the pack, and the rest is as they say – history” Lilith put the frame down, a small smile resting on her lips.

“My childhood as a human in a pack of wolves wasn’t easy – but I got by. I never shifted, which made the elder and more conservative wolves look down on my mother and me, we were humans, soft and vulnerable, couldn’t hold ourselves in a fight, you know the kind” She shook her head, she was derailing from topic and had to regain focus.

“Now, about Talia. Do you know what happened to her? Cause from what I can tell, this wasn’t just an angry wolf” Lilith closed the file and turned her chair around to face Adam, studying him. “I know. I was the one who found her mutilated like that, barely breathing”

***Flashback.***
It was the smell that caught his attention first. He had been on a run, letting his wolf get familiar with the new surroundings. They had lived there for a mere month, adjusting to the new life in the north. The winter was brutal, or so he had been told, but the summers gave him endless light. It was late august, the sun had set no more than an hour ago, making for the perfect running conditions. But his run was cut short with the scent of blood. It came towards him, running.

A mix of blood, anger and wolf burned in his nostrils as the wolf came closer, before it took a turn and disappeared in another direction. Adam was half a mind to follow the wolf but decided to follow the smell of blood back to the source. He ran all he could, soon finding himself in the backyard of one of the prettier houses in town. The scent of blood was stronger, alerting him. The house was dark, but the smell distinct. If this was where the wolf came from Adam was sure he wasn’t going to like what he found.

The backdoor glass was shattered into a million pieces, dripples of blood cling to them. Someone had been flung through the window, Adam’s bet was on the wolf. Shifting back into his human form, he started looking for something to cover himself with. If anyone found him walking around but naked in murder scene, they would assume he was the one behind it all.

*‘You should call the police’* Damir spoke in the back of his mind. Adam would have, but he left the phone back as the house. *‘Wolves don’t have pockets; I don’t have a phone*’ Adam replied with a huff.

The house was still silent, Adam tried to listen for any sign of life. A set of footsteps, breathing, a heartbeat – he’d settle for anything. But the once was and continued to stay silent as he moved closer, carefully avoiding the glass on the patio as he looked inside. The scene that met him was one this, a disarray of furniture and blood spatters, but the smell. He had to keep himself from gaging.

*‘Someone died here’* Damir shuddered in the back of his head. The wolf in the woods wasn’t running because it was hurt, it was running because it hurt someone. Grabbing one of the fallen curtains that had been spared of most of the blood spatter Adam wrapped it around himself like a skirt, covering up his private parts, before he followed the bloodstains to the hallway.

The scene before him was like taken straight out of the most horrendous crime shows. The girl was lying in a pool of blood, one hand twisted around, the palm of the hand facing backward, the other was hanging by a thread. She was molested beyond belief. He listened again, trying to find a heartbeat or breath as he moved closer, careful not to slip in any of the blood. There it was, a faint heartbeat, but she was still alive. For now.

“Hang in there” Adam scampered around, finding fabric of all kinds, trying to the best of his ability to stop the bleeding. Somehow the wolf hadn’t nicked any arteries, leaving her to slowly bleed out. *‘You must call the ambulance. And police. And everyone’* Damir urged him, making Adam look for a phone as his hands tied knots upon nots, his hands covering in more and more blood.

The girl was barely alive, her chest rose and fell but a millimeter every few seconds. He couldn’t stop now, he had to continue binding the fabric, making the bleeding slow, preferably stop all together. If he didn’t do that the girl wouldn’t live until the ambulance showed up. But he had to call, he had to alert everyone. And he had to find the wolf responsible for this.

“What the…” A man with blonde, almost white hair stood suddenly in the doorframe, his blue eyes wide, an expression of bewilderment and anger caressing his otherwise delicate features. “Call for help!” Adam shouted at the man, bringing him out of his trance as he continued to wrap the girl in anything and everything he could find.

The other male stood frozen for a second longer before springing into action, pushing Adam aside while thrusting his unlocked phone into his hands. “You call” He said before continuing the work on the girl, his hands working at an impossible speed.

*‘He’s not human. Now call!’* Damir shouted in his hade, making Adam quickly dial the number. **“113 – what can I do for you?”** A voice on the other side spoke. “There has been some sort of attack. A girl, she’s badly hurt. In her home, it’s…” Adam froze, he didn’t know what the address was. “The Bell family” The other male shouted, making sure the person on the other side heard him. **“We’re on our way”** There was a click, signaling the call had ended, but Adam stood frozen. He had been in town for a mere week, but he had already met several people. One of them being the Bell family.

“No no no!” The other man shouted, his hands no longer on the girl. Adam could still hear a faint heartbeat as the other man ran over to one of the bookshelves, his eyes darting back and forth, like he was looking for something.

“What can I do?” Adam’s mind started working again, eyes darting back and forth between the girl and the man. “Keep her from bleeding out” The other man demanded, and Adam did what was asked, his hands once again working on putting compressions on all the wounds, his ears focusing on the girl’s breath and heartbeat. It was there, faint and slowing. “Where is it where is it” The other man muttered under his breath, now throwing books over his shoulders. Whatever he was looking for it was of importance.

“There!” He smiled as he fished out a small bag from the inside of a book, quick to find a small vial within. “I’ll explain later” The man said as he sat down next to Adam, removing the wooden cap of the vial, and pouring the liquid down the girl’s throat. It didn’t take long before her breath stopped, and her heartbeat stilled. She was dead.

Adam sat frozen on the floor. He had done everything he could, but she still died. And the other man seemed so unfazed. Like he hadn’t just tried and failed at saving someone’s life. It felt like time stood still until he heard sirens in the distance, quickly approaching.

“You need to leave” The other man said, his eyes locked on Adams. They didn’t show any sadness or remorse. He knew the girl, but he didn’t mourn her. “Why?” Adam asked. There were many other questions he wanted to ask, like what was in that vial. But he didn’t get the chance.

“Trust me” The man pulled Adam to his feet, they were on equal footing, his blue eyes locked with Adam’s amber. There was something special about the man, Adam could tell. Even Damir didn’t refuse him. “And please, keep the curtain” There was a small smile that tugged on his lips before he turned his back towards Adam, setting down beside the girl, his touch lingering over her eyes.

Adam wanted to stay, wanted to know what the man was doing, but the sound of tires coming to a halt and the flashing of blue light made him turn his back on the scene. He went out the same way he had entered, careful not to nick himself on the glass. Once safely tucket away in the shadows of the trees he shifted into a wolf, keeping out of sight while watching as the paramedics tried and failed at reviving the girl. It didn’t take long before the police arrived, sealing of the place. A flashing light took over, bathing the area in the blue light from the many cars that scattered around the area. The scene drew people out of their homes, Adam could hear how they were talking just on the other side of the house. He had to leave, he knew, but he couldn’t. Not yet.

He stayed at the outskirts of the house until the police started to scour the area. They found the trail of blood and decided to follow it. The ambulance had left with the girl, and now the police had to find out who did what. Adam picked up the discarded curtain with his mouth, carried it with him back to his own house. He had taken the long way round, making sure to avoid anyone in the area.

The sky was lighting in the east when he finally arrived at his home, exhausted and troubled at the same time. He didn’t care to shift back into human form until he was standing by the backdoor to his house. It was dark and quiet, the one woman living with him had yet to wake from her sleep. Adam was careful when opening the door, slipping in quietly, and making his way to his office. There was a fireplace there, where he could burn the curtains.

Once the fire was burning Adam took a shower, washing away the lingering blood that hadn’t faded during the shift to his wolf. His eyes remained closed as he scrubbed, not wanting to look at the blood-colored water. He could still see the scene before him, the mauled girl, how she was still alive when he found her. It shouldn’t have been possible, yet she was fighting. Fighting for her life. Any ordinary mortal would have died, but she was anything but ordinary, that much Adam was sure of.

Once the water was clear Adam stepped out of the shower. The sun was now rising in the east, and he could hear the faint clutter from the kitchen downstairs. The world was coming to life to a new day, yet all Adam wanted to do was sleep. Sleep the day and night away, sleep himself back in time so he could stop the wolf from going ballistic in the first place.

It was impossible, not even the witches dared meddle with time. He was all but settled in bed when there was a knock on his window. There sat a small, white bird. It was unlike anything Adam had ever seen, and it kept knocking until he opened the door. Once inside it settled on the nightstand, holding out it’s left foot for Adam. There was a small roll of paper twirled around the bird’s foot. That puzzled Adam even more. Who used strange birds to send secret letters these days?

Once Adam had removed the paper the bird flew out of the window once more. Looking after it, he could see it disappear into the woods, probably heading back to whoever sent it. Twirling the paper around black handwritten letters came into sight. *‘Hospital. Noon. I’ll explain then’*