Survival

25. The Enemy You Know

Alexei was doing homework at the dining table in the kitchen when Mama Lorenzo walked in. The young girl looked up for a moment when she heard the quiet humming, pausing in swinging her feet and writing. Whenever Mama Lorenzo hummed, she was troubled, and sometimes it was better to just let her bustle around until she calmed down. Outside, dusk had fallen, casting grey light through the windows and shadows around every corner. It had taken a long time, but Alexei was no longer afraid of the dark. Mama Lorenzo had seen to that.

Her humming was stilted, tight, as if she was stopping to say something, but then decided against it. The older woman didn't quite seem to know what to do with herself, busying herself with half-done chores. Alexei bit the tip of her thumbnail, unable to concentrate on her homework with questions stewing between them. She dropped her pen to the notebook, homework forgotten.

"What's wrong, Mama?" she asked.

Ms. Lorenzo stiffened, stopping immediately in her busy-work. With a sigh, she sagged against the counter with her back still carefully toward Alexei. "Do you remember what brought you to me, Lexi?"

Alexei frowned. Yes, she remembered. How could she forget? The details were fuzzy and incomplete, but Mama Lorenzo had always said to live in the present, or you'd get lost in the past and never get out. "Yes," she answered slowly, her hands curling into fists in her lap.

Mama Lorenzo wrung her hands, shaking her head. "Well, the police are looking for the people who did it, and they need to talk to everyone who was involved."

Alexei frowned. "So they need to talk to me?"

She may have been young through the years that she'd lived in Vermont, but she knew how important it was that she didn't talk about what her family had been. It had never been strange, to her, what her family was. After all, that's the only way she knew. So in this society, it had taken getting used to, being able to sense werewolves but not being able to say anything. No, Alexei was smarter than that. Her best weapon was her anonymity, and her parents would have urged her to lay low if she ever got the chance to just be human.

The curiosity had faded as time went on, and Alexei had begun to get used to living without the obvious presence of werewolves. And now she had to talk about it? They'd think she was certifiable if she told the truth, which she couldn't. But if she lied, and other survivors came forward- if there were any, the difference in stories would be unavoidable.

"Yes, they need you to tell them everything you can remember, baby."

Alexei bit the inside of her cheek, drawing blood. "When?" She needed to know how much time she had. Maybe she wouldn't even have to craft a believable lie. The truth exaggerated could be exactly what she needed.

"I've already called them; we will go first thing in the morning."

Alexei nodded. It wasn't much time, not really, but Stephanie and Liam had gotten all three of them out of a tight situation under more pressing time constraints.

"They're looking for your friend too, Lexi. And your sister."

When Mama didn't mention her parents, Alexei clenched her hands tighter. Just because there was no reason to believe they were still out there, didn't mean they weren't. The fact that Stephanie was still alive kindled a pit of hope in Alexei's stomach. Everyone underestimated the Armstrong family, but just because they were weak in body did not mean they were weak at heart. There had never been a time where someone wasn't putting Alexei first, keeping her safe. This time would be different. This time, it was Alexei's turn to save them all.

***

Liam had grown tired of being confined to the small house off in the center of nowhere. In the past month, he'd regained some of the strength and muscle mass he'd lost in his time as a homeless teen. Nevertheless, he was still taller than he was strong, giving him a more delicate litheness than he was really comfortable with. No one would take him seriously if he looked like they could snap him in two. And living in a compound full of very powerful, practiced werewolves, that wasn't a far cry from the truth.

He was just itching to go out and run under the stars, re-connect with instinct and power, but his body still wasn't yet strong enough to endure the rigors of the change. There wasn't sufficient energy supply in him to sustain the higher level of being that was werewolf. For a long time, he hadn't missed the change. By and large he had forgotten about it, sometimes even wondered if that life had been real and not a fanciful hallucination to take him away from his miserable existence for just a moment or two. But last night, when the pack had all gone out for the full moon, he'd been strong enough to begin to feel the pull of the silver stained night, pushing outward from within him.

More than anything, he was frustrated and stir crazy and fed up of being out of the loop. Left at home like a child to watch TV while the adults when out into the real world. He couldn't push it though, because he was outnumbered and sorely outsized. Ana made up for her size in quickness, ruthlessness and lethality- Liam could sense something broken within her, and he wasn't sure he wanted to confront that quite yet.

As exasperated as he was, he knew when to pick his battles. This was one to sit out.

The pack had been sleeping most of the day, after having had a difficult full moon night. Liam had so much energy crawling under his skin that he'd nearly taken the chance and slipped out, but he wasn't sure what they would do if he pulled it off. So he'd played it safe, as was so customary for him these days. What had happened to the days where he'd been in charge? When he'd been able to do whatever he wanted without being questioned?

It was this that he was thinking about, sprawled across the threadbare couch in front of the boxy old TV when Ana had strode in, that all-knowing, dangerous smirk tugging at the left side of her face.

Liam glanced up for a moment, and then turned back to the screen.

"Is that any way to greet your fearless leader, Liam?"

He'd just ignored her, beyond talking to anyone. Here, he was as good as prisoner.

"Aw don't be like that-" She had begun, but then her eyes had swung and narrowed at the screen.

Taken aback, Liam too focused on the screen. The words splashed against him with the force of a bucket of icy water. The words fell into the background as he studied the scrolling faces for surviving pack members. A steely resolution had set into his bones as he acknowledged each one of his people. There was still hope for the pack. Stephanie was out there and so were his parents, among a small handful of others.

Butterflies had taken up residence in his stomach- practically his whole body. Alexei was living with a human. She wouldn't know any better, wouldn't know that she couldn't go to the police. The thought of it, for unknown reasons, set his teeth on edge. He was supposed to take care of her, but he was not in control of this situation anymore. Hunters were human. They were everywhere. In the police, the FBI, hospitals- everywhere. There was no place that they wouldn't be. How could he be certain she'd be safe in going there?

Ana looked down at him suddenly, connecting his thin, recovering appearance to the younger, smiling version that had been last to slide across the display. Her shock resolved into one of those terrible grins, like she was sharing a private joke with herself.

"Well then, looks like I've underestimated you. Getting out of a slaughterhouse like that mustn't have been very easy, hey?"

But something else was glinting in those green eyes of hers, Liam just couldn't place it, or didn't care to. He needed to get out of here. He needed to get to Alexei.