Tares City

32. The Things That Define Us

JENSEN CARTER

"Dalton, we have to go. Now!" Jensen calls out to his friend as he rushes out of the restaurant they'd just entered.

"What's going on? What's the panic?" Dalton calls out as he catches up to him with a jog.

"Naomi and her friend, I'm pretty sure they're in trouble" Jensen replies as they reach the car.

"What do you mean?" Dalton asks as he hands Jensen the key seeing as he went straight to the driver's seat. The tires of the car screech against the asphalt of the parking lot as Jensen sped onto the main road.

"I was on the phone with Naomi, she and Avery are at T.C. Memorial, their friend, the detective, had been in some kind of accident," Jensen begins.

"Yeah, I remember them from the firehouse thing. Get to the danger part," Dalton interrupts.

"I heard Avery tell her to call Sean and tell him there's Lycan trouble. She whispered it, but of course, I heard," Jensen informs Dalton, making his eyes go wide.

"She knows about the Lycans. I thought you haven't told her?" Dalton asks in confusion.

"I haven't. Maybe Avery did, I don't know. I know for sure neither of them is, nor their friend or her brother," Jensen answers.

"If they aren't one, doesn't that mean they're the other, Dalton says in a softer tone, treading lightly.

"Guess I'll find out. Naomi hardly got out another word before she hung up the phone but things sounded serious. Tonight is a full moon. No matter what she is, what they are, I'm not going to leave anything to chance. We could deal with the fallout once everyone's alive."

"Well T.C. is less than a block away from here, I'm sure we'd get there before the real trouble starts," Dalton comments to his friend.

"Let's hope so."

~

DEAN STRAKEN

Dean cried out in pain as his already injured body was lifted roughly off the floor and slammed into the nearest wall. He found himself at the side of a slumped-over Avery who was slowly sitting upright. She was the body he heard being thrown.

He looked up just in time to see Naomi drive a scalpel into the neck of the Lycan who had her cornered. Blood spurted from the wound, the woman looking at her in enraged shock. "Little bitch!" The bleeding Lycan gasped, stumbling back.

'She aimed for an artery' Dean realized, watching the Lycan hold her neck.
Possibly the only shot she would ever get on the creature with that tiny blade. "At least one of us got a hit in," He thought bitterly as the Lycan grabbed him up off the floor. He saw the hands of the other Lycan wrap around Naomi's neck as he was dragged outside the room.

He briefly wondered of the story they told to clear the floor without raising any suspicions. No doctors or nurses were in sight. The other rooms appeared empty and they'd somehow managed to keep civilians off the floor as well.

"Was it worth it detective?" The Lycan asked. "Having those two girls die for you and your friend?"

He didn't answer her, too weak to come up with any of his usual snide remarks. They all knew it would be a losing battle, they wanted to stay - He told himself as he was hauled to the stairwell.

"Nothing here concerns you, walk away pal!" He hears the Lycan threaten. He couldn't see who she was talking to but soon she shoved Dean to the floor with a growl.

Dean stayed down, the sound of fighting reaching his ears before a sickening crunch sounded near him.

He stilled, not knowing what to expect as two sets of footsteps approached him.
"In there," One of them said to the other as they ran past him.
Too weak to move, Dean stayed on the floor trying to figure out who came to his aid. It wasn't his captain, he knew that for sure. Perhaps it was that Sean person Avery told Naomi to call.