Chapter 9: Alexis

Chapter 9: Alexis

How incandescent were the lies that men told, so full of light from afar yet hollow when I saw them from up close?

The lies that Lawrence had told me to gain my confidence…

The lies that Maurice was telling the pack to lead them to their doom…

Were the things that Will said to me lies?

I hadn’t decided upon that.

All I knew was I needed to see for myself what Maurice was doing. I turned on the phone that had Maurice’s phone emulated inside it, hoping to God that it would still be working.

When the phone came to life, I breathed a sigh of relief and quickly accessed the recorded call sessions on Maurice’s phone. Maliha was an excellent hacker and ensured that her scripts were foolproof. Even after my immense failure at Beckett Pharma, the phone worked, and it seemed that Maurice was none the wiser. Or perhaps he had forgotten that his phone was tapped. In either case, I could use this to my advantage.

I played the latest recording.

“That Lawrence is no good,” Maurice said.

“Calm down. The biggest thing was whether he could find her or not. He found her, didn’t he? He’s one of the best hitmen in the country. I should think he’s equipped to handle our runaway wolf,” Blair said.

“Still, I can’t help but wonder…” Maurice said.

“Will you just do as you’re told, please?” Ralph chimed in. I didn’t realize this was a conference call.

“I’m taking them to the culling fields, as we agreed. Ralph’s men will take it from there. With no more wolves, the town’s going to be all yours. Hopefully, that’s going to help you two gentlemen expand your operations. Grimm Abode has acres of land. All of that can go toward expansion. The vampires won’t have to use the cove now that they’ll have all that land available,” Maurice said.

“And as for me, let’s just say that I’m all too happy with Will’s death that I’m not going to pester either of you while you work your criminal empire of drugs, blood, and smuggling,” Blair said.

Maurice and Ralph laughed loudly in unison.

“My vampires are craving wolf blood after the events at Blair’s building. They feel some revenge is in order,” Ralph said. “The culling fields are going to be like Christmas Eve for the guys.”

“I’m worried still,” Maurice said. “Alexis ran off. That bitch is fucking crafty. Who knows what she’s capable of?”

“We drove her out of town without so much as a single backpack on her. She couldn’t have gone far. Without phone, money, and clothes, even the most resilient survivors succumb to their surroundings,” Blair said. “Besides, isn’t it like some werewolf law that a wolf can’t survive without her mate? Will’s dead. Alexis might as well be dead without her mate.”

“Well. I can’t help but think that something’s off,” Maurice said.

“That’s just your paranoia,” Ralph replied.

“I’ll rest easy after tonight. Just remember, Ralph. I’ll be on that field too. Don’t order your men to take me down. This only works if I am the sole survivor,” Maurice said.

“Of course, Mr. Mayor. How can we function in a town where the mayor is dead? You’re vital to our cause,” Blair said. “Trust me. It’s just the wolves.”

I couldn’t hear any more of it. They were talking so callously about fates that were not theirs to control. I wasn’t a big fan of the pack, not after how they had treated me for years, but I did not want any of them to die. They were the closest thing I had to a family. They did not deserve the same fate as my parents. It made things worse that Will was headed down there. Wherever things were between us, I did not have the heart to lose him a second time.

It had all to do with me, somehow. These were my issues. My incapability to deal with the neurological mess going on in my brain. If only I could resolve it through the flick of some magic wand or the click of a button, I’d know what I had to do.

Weakened from my battle with Lawrence and from the fight that I had in Beckett Tower, I knew that I was in no position to go back to Fiddler’s Green and aid Will. Such a feat of uncanny strength was out of the question. It required courage that I did not possess.

Going back to the horrors of the town that I had just escaped for the first time in my life—fuck!

I needed a drink in me.

Or four.

***

“Aren’t you going to cover the night shift for me?” Izzie asked.

It felt terrible lying to her after all that she had done to me. But given the compromised position I was in, lying was my only recourse.

“I’m going to take the entire night shift and then the next morning’s shift too. Do you mind if I get an advance on this month’s payment?” I asked meekly, averting my gaze.

“Ain’t no shame in asking for an advance. You’re supposed to look after yourself. It makes sense. I can give you fifteen hundred now and then fifteen hundred at the end of the month. Whatever tips you generate can be yours tonight and for every day that you work here. Does that sound fair?” Izzie asked.

It broke my heart even more in the face of this new kindness.

“That sounds fair,” I said, downing my whiskey, letting it wash away my conscience. “I’m going to do exactly that.”

Izzie fished out her wallet from her jacket and took out a roll of bills. She counted the money, then slid it across the bar. “That’s it for now. Hope that’s enough.”

“No waitressing job ever paid me this much money back where I came from,” I said.

“Well, this is Bangor, and here we have to abide by the minimum wage law,” Izzie said.

I thanked her and took the money from her hand. As I poured myself another shot, the bar began buzzing with a new kind of life. I had gotten used to this liveliness in just two to three days of staying here. I would miss it terribly if I decided to leave.

Here was the first crossroad.

I could take the money, hold true to my word, stay here, and forget that anything was happening in Fiddler’s Green. On the other hand, I could use the money to travel back to Fiddler’s Green and fight by Will’s side. Doing the latter would result in me getting stuck in that town again.

Could I afford that?

Right here was cozy, comfortable, and had all the luxuries I had ever imagined. A new life, a new place to call home, and a new job that paid well over three thousand dollars a month. Wasn’t that worth fighting for?

“I can see you’re awfully troubled. What’s on your mind?” Izzie asked. “I don’t ask this as an employer but as a friend. You can tell me.”

“Shit’s been happening back in town. Shit that I tried so hard to run away from. It feels like it’s my obligation to go back there and sort out all that trouble,” I said, drinking my third shot.

“See, that’s always the trouble with leaving your past behind. It catches up with you. What you’ve got to decide is, are you going to let that past drag you down, or are you going to stop looking into the rearview mirror and start moving forward in your life? That’s the only thing that you have to think about. If you go back, they’re going to find a way to keep you back. I don’t think a girl like you is going to like that. I think that you’re a fighter. It’s about time to start fighting for the right cause. The right cause being your right to your entire existence. You don’t owe anybody anything. Why run back to the same people who made you run away in the first place?” Izzie said, taking the bottle of whiskey away from me. “And you’re cut off. No more drinks for you the rest of the night.”

All I knew was I had to do something quickly. I had already wasted half an hour here, trying to drown the screaming sounds coming from my mind. In that while, what might have happened?

“Do you think I can leave just for tonight?” I asked.

Izzie pursed her lips and scowled at me. “You’ve already stretched the very limits of my hospitality. You’ve stayed in my apartment. You’re working at my bar. You’ve taken half your first month’s pay from me. I can’t be more lenient. If you go away tonight, don’t think of coming back.”

“Why are you saying it like that?” I asked, shocked.

“Because this ain’t a fucking halfway house for runaway women. I ain’t running a charity here. You shouldn’t have made all those promises if you didn’t intend on staying here,” Izzie said sternly.

I briefly nodded, then left the bar and headed upstairs. At the very least, this could be considered a small win. I had come to this bar empty-handed. I was leaving with more than a thousand dollars. This was not an intended hustle, but it was good that it happened.

Besides, I had bigger fish to fry than worry about my allegiance to Izzie.

I packed some spare clothes in a bag, took an extra pair of sneakers from the kleptomaniac’s collection, and packed everything else that I had come to own in the last few days.

Once that was done, I decided to give Izzie the Irish goodbye and leave without saying anything. It was better this way. Whenever I had a spare thousand and five hundred dollars, I’d wire them to her with a little on the top for her troubles.

Now that I was out in Bangor, standing near the turn signal with Uber opened on my phone, I had to answer the question: Would I go to Fiddler’s Green, or would I leave Bangor so that more assassins and vampires won’t come my way?

“Where to?” The driver in the minivan pulled up to me and asked.

“I haven’t decided yet,” I said. “You came earlier than I anticipated.”

“Well, then. Let’s cruise while we decide where we have to go, shall we?” the driver asked.

This was it, the second crossroad.

Was my journey going to take me out of Bangor and further West, far away from Fiddler’s Green? Or was I finally going to give in and go back to Fiddler’s Green and face the hell that I had so desperately escaped?

It all depended on Will.

What was my dilemma with Will? Did I not love him? Of course, over the past few months, I had fallen in love with him. I had sought a life with him, a life which we would spend together, far from the maddening crowd.

If we had succeeded that day in killing Ralph, Maurice, and Blair, we could have left Fiddler’s Green to Vincent’s care and journeyed somewhere where we could have started our new lives.

But we failed, and in doing so, we faced the worst parts of each other. I saw Will die and take Ariana’s name. He…well, he saw me in this defensive mode, rejecting him, becoming so uncharacteristically cold towards him.

Could I come to forgive him? Believe his version of things and accept that he did love me?

It was hard. And harder was the thought of going back to the graveyard of all my worst memories.

There was a great hidden joy in the prospect of running away. I could pay the driver a bit more to drop me off at the bus station, take a Greyhound to Colorado, stay there for a while, and maybe do some part-time gig for a month before moving westward. I could see Ohio, Chicago, Boulder, San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles. Change my name, reinvent myself, kill Alexis Richards, and leave the werewolf life behind.

Oh, what sweet promise, what redemptive freedom therein lies in the promise of escape.

“So…have we decided where we want to go?”

“Yes,” I said, having made up my mind. “The bus station, please.”