Chapter 13: Alexis

Chapter 13: Alexis

It didn’t take me any longer than three days to realize that besides the too-good-to-be-true job openings offered by Beckett Pharma, Fiddler’s Green didn’t have much in the way of prospective careers. It wasn’t for lack of effort on my part. I made accounts on all the job forums such as Indeed, LinkedIn, and Jobzilla, scouring through the dozens of low-paying jobs such as clerks, shopkeepers, hairdresser assistants, and departmental store attendants until I saw that there was only one option left for me.

I had to go back to the diner and get my shift as a waitress back.

The rapidly depleting funds in my checking account were a constant reminder that I could not just spend my days idly binge-watching Netflix series or doom-scrolling on Instagram. I needed money, and I needed it fast.

The hardest part about getting up in the morning and having no job to go to was convincing myself to get out of bed, take a shower, brush my teeth, tie my hair, get dressed, and head into town. A town that held virtually no promise.

Somehow, I made it through and got dressed, and gave myself a little pep talk in the fogged-up bathroom mirror, reminding myself that there was no harm in swallowing my ego and begging the shift manager to give me my job back.

I had only made it to the parking lot when I got the first surprise of the day.

Will was standing there next to my pickup truck. He had a crazy look in his eyes that made me fearful of what sort of mood he’d be in. And why was he here all of a sudden?

Right. I’d offered to help him.

“Hey there,” he said, waving at me from afar.

“You really should get a phone and let people know you’re coming. It’s freaking strange to be just standing there like that.”

“Vincent tried to show me how to use a smartphone, but my eyes started hurting a minute after staring at that screen,” Will said. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to them.”

“You’re supposed to turn down the brightness to match your comfort,” I said.

“Don’t tell me all that! I’m never going to understand computers and phones and all that electronic stuff,” Will said with frustration.

“All right, calm down, cranky,” I said, opening the door of my truck and getting in. I unlocked the side door and opened it for him.

“Sorry. That wasn’t me being angry or anything,” Will said.

“I know. That was you being a total boomer,” I said. “Well, technically, you were born way before any of the boomers, so I guess that makes you a dinosaur.”

“Is boomer yet another one of those Gen-Z slang terms?” Will asked, rolling his eyes.

“Yes. It means someone who’s frustrated by the simplest of things. Things like not figuring out a smartphone,” I said.

“Fine. I’ll learn it if you’ll teach me. Vincent…he’s just self-assuming, thinking I understand everything that comes out of his mouth. Half the terms he speaks are completely alien to me!” Will groaned. “Being alive in the twenty-first-century sucks.”

“Join the club,” I said, revving up my engine. “Now give it to me. You’re here for some reason. So, what’re the haps?”

“Huh?”

“What’s the sitch?”

“Are you deliberately screwing with me?” Will asked in a stony voice.

“Yes. I’m just trying to gauge how far I can take things before you…you know…go completely nuclear on my ass,” I said, grinning at him.

“I’m trying to keep it under control.”

“Good for you,” I said. “Now, tell me, what happened?”

Then Will filled me in on how he snooped in on the vampires and saw Maurice there. He mostly spoke while I drove to the diner. I listened intently and waited until he had finished his entire story. Then I turned to him and stared intensely at him and said, “You thought it was a good idea to go about snooping on vampires? Alone? Where hundreds of vampires live? All of whom are armed to the teeth?”

“I was feeling helpless,” Will said. “I didn’t know what to anticipate or how imminent the danger was. I just wanted to find out for myself.”

“Does putting your life in jeopardy seem like a fair trade to you for finding things out for yourself?” I asked.

“Ever since I first came across the vampires wandering so brazenly in the forest, and ever since they attacked the Grimm Abode, I have been on high alert. For me, at that time, it seemed like the only logical thing to do. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t have seen Maurice interact with Ralph if I hadn’t taken a bit of risk,” Will said.

“A little bit of risk? I’m sorry, but you were completely reckless. You went all by yourself, with no backup, and you went all the way down to the cove. If someone had found you out, what would have happened? If they kidnapped you, what would have happened then? If someone had opened fire on you, would you have stuck around to find out if you’re immune to bullets?” I asked.

“Which is why I didn’t do it again. I realized my error. That’s why I’m coming to you for help. Now please, what do you make of all of this? And why are you going in there?”

“I’m going to beg the manager to give me my old job back,” I said.

“Surely a woman of your skills and talents can find better-suited work than a waitress at a diner,” Will said.

“What do you even know about me? You don’t know me enough to say something like that,” I said defensively. In truth, what he had just said had shaken me to my core. It was a compliment, something that I rarely received.

Then Will came closer to me and looked me intently in the eyes, and said, “You are profound. I have yet to see anyone stronger in our pack. Quick on your feet and with a sharp wit to boot, you’ve got it all. Why do you undersell and underestimate yourself?”

There was an awkward pause filled with anticipatory silence during which the two of us just stared at each other. For the most part, I was confused, but I was also inexplicably drawn to him as he spoke those words of consolation.

This moment did not last longer than a second. I recoiled, stuttering and averting my gaze, and said, “So…what’s this job you speak of?”

Will reciprocated and took a step back, too, awkwardly twiddling his belt buckle and looking up at the diner’s awning. “The family business. The Grimms run the wharf. I can make sure that you get a managerial position that pays well.”

The bubble of hope he’d inflated burst with a loud pop when he mentioned the wharf. “I worked at the wharf. There’s no managerial position there. It’s all very physical work. Have you ever been to the wharf? Business is down in the dumps. They can’t even afford to stay afloat. Do you see the irony in that? Ever since the vampires started barricading the town exits and controlling who came and went, local shipping businesses took a massive hit. People use other city ports now. It’s only the local fishermen that use the wharves anymore, and even they’re dwindling.” I hated being this pessimistic with him right after he had said those kind words to me, but what I was telling him was the brutal truth.

“Well, can you hold off on begging your old manager for the job for just one more day?” Will asked impatiently, rubbing his brow with his fingers; one of the classic tells that shows a man is getting angry.

“Sure,” I said, not wanting to deal with his grumpy side. “I’ll do that. But don’t you go making a habit of disrupting my daily life.”

“I promise not to disrupt your life from this point forward,” Will said, releasing his pinched brow and forcing a smile on his face. “Do you want to hear my proposition?”

“Go ahead. What’s the big plan?” I looked at the diner one last time before getting back into my truck, making a mental note to return here later.

“Back in the Second World War, the Allied Forces used code breakers. People like Alan Turing developed specific machinery called computers for that very purpose. To decipher the encoded messages that the Axis were sending each other. One might even go so far as to say that Alan Turing’s magical machinery helped turn the war’s tide. Do you know that?” Will asked.

“Duh. They tell that story in every single intro to computer science class in community college,” I said, unsure of where he was leading.

We drove around aimlessly in my truck as Will explained his plan.

“I was thinking that maybe we can do something to decode the messages that Maurice receives on his cell phone. In theory, that can be done, right?”

“That’s awfully bright of you to think of something like that,” I said, genuinely impressed that Will could conceive the idea of hacking all by himself. “Did you really come up with that?”

“Why? Yes, as a matter of fact, I thought hard, and I concluded that this was the easiest way to track down Maurice and spy on him.”

“You know, you keep saying you’re not adjusting well to the twenty-first century, but I think you’re wrong. You’re taking to it quite well. Although your thinking worries me. What you just described is called hacking. It’s highly illegal and requires a level of skill that I don’t possess, but I know someone who does.” As I said this, I began regretting the notion of introducing Maliha to Will. Maliha was a woman without any sense of propriety. Who knew what she’d say that would set Will off and make him angry? It was like throwing kerosene on a dumpster fire.

“Will we be able to track him down using hacking?” Will asked. There was so much sincerity in his voice that it felt like a child was asking a grownup if they could buy ice cream once they were at the store or like a dog whimpering at its master’s feet to let it out for a walk. In so many ways, Will retained his innocence.

“We’ll be able to do more than track him down. We can eavesdrop on his calls, see what messages he’s sending, and who he’s talking to. But like I said, it’s very illegal. We get caught, we’re going to jail for messing with a government official,” I said, hoping he’d back down from this idea and see reason.

“Whom do you know who can hack?” Will asked. Maybe I imagined it, but there was a tinge of jealousy in his inquiry. As if he was being possessive about me. Yep, the deluded prima-donna in me was just imagining it.

“It’s just a girl. She’s sort of like my best friend,” I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him relax his tense body upon hearing the response. I thought it wrong to smile, but I did anyways. “So, how are things at the commune?”

“I’m training them harder every day, hoping they learn how to become better werewolves and stronger fighters, even the women and children. It’s a gradual process, but I’m starting to see some improvements,” Will said.

“Have you had any more outbursts of anger lately?” I asked, carefully adjusting my tone so that he wouldn’t misperceive it as me being condescending or snarky.

“Yes. I do get these violent fits of rage. But I have learned to anticipate them. Rather than take them out on a person, I’ve started practicing at the shooting gallery.”

“Uh-oh, I hope you don’t mean you’ve taken up shooting heroin in your veins.”

“What? No. Is this more of your Gen-Z slang?” Will asked, exasperated.

“Yeah. But it’s more like junkie code. They have these abandoned places where they gather to inject themselves with heroin and get high. They call those places shooting galleries,” I said.

“I will never go near a needle again for as long as I am alive,” Will said. “I have had enough of them injected in me to last me painful memories for a lifetime.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. It was like walking around a minefield, talking to him. I never knew what would upset him or trigger memories of his torture and imprisonment. Or worse, what would set him off.

“There’s something about the brute force of a bullet leaving the gun, the sheer recoil of the firearm, and the loud bang that is followed by a blinding flash of light that speaks to my baser nature and calms me down. Drowns out the anger, soothes me,” Will said. “Vincent and I repurposed a building as a shooting gallery. I go there once a day and release most of my pent-up anger and frustration.”

“I’m happy for you,” I said. “That you’re coping. As long as you don’t hurt anybody.”

***

If I had been hesitant about introducing Maliha to Will, that hesitation was gone the moment Will stepped inside Maliha’s apartment. The sheer bafflement that he was displaying at every single thing present in there was utterly hilarious.

I watched him with amusement as he carefully went from server rack to server rack, ogled at the different LED monitors, touched some of the keys on the RGB keyboards, and cautiously touched the computer mice as if they would bite him back. It was like reintroducing Tarzan to modern society.

Will tried to make sense of all the blinking lights on Maliha’s desktop towers, attempted to peek through the glass slats to the machinery underneath, and even endeavored to understand the gibberish of numbers and alphabets that were running across the screens.

“This place,” Will whispered in awe. “Is a testament to human advancement. It is truly a digital fortress.”

“Let’s not get highhanded. It’s a tech junkie’s hoarding place,” I said, taking off my jacket and opening up the buttons of my shirt. The sweltering heat emitting from the servers did not seem to bother Will at all. Nor, for that matter, did it bother Maliha, who was sitting there with chopsticks in her bun, wearing a crop top and orange shorts. She was ogling at Will with her mouth half open.

“Babe, who’s the himbo in the normcore drip?” Maliha asked.

“Are you talking about me?” Will wheeled around and shot a quizzical look at Maliha. “I will confess I don’t know any of those words.”

“Relax, Will. She’s just being herself. She thinks you’re a dumb but good-looking person dressed in vintage clothing,” I said, stifling my chuckles.

“Look, madam, I will inform you that I was top of my class at Bertrand Gesamtschule! I would have pursued literature in Munich if the war hadn’t broken out!” Will said vehemently.

“Ooh, you’re from Germany? Guten Tag Herr Will,” Maliha said in a melodious voice and did a curtsy bow.

Will’s face was overflowing with zeal and mirth, and his jowls stretched into a smile. “Herr fraulein, sprechen sie deutsch?”

Maliha threw her head back, causing the chopsticks in her bun to fall out, and started laughing while holding her stomach. “Nein, nein, ich spreche kein Deutsch.”

All the light disappeared from Will’s face, leaving a vestige in his eyes. “I really thought you spoke German.”

“Well, I just picked up a sentence or two from watching TV,” Maliha said. “And Schindler’s List.”

“Don’t mind Maliha here, Will. She’s eccentric,” I said, patting Will’s shoulder. I could see how discouraged he was feeling. “But she’s going to help us, isn’t she?”

“Yes. Any friend of Alexis is a friend of mine,” Maliha said, quickly getting behind a computer screen and racing her fingers across the neon-lit keyboard. “And just in case we get caught, the less I know, the better. I don’t want to know why you guys want to tap into the mayor’s phone.”

“Yes, the less you know, the better,” I nodded solemnly. I looked at Will. He had forgotten how disappointed he was a second ago in the wake of watching Maliha work on her computer. He watched her click and press and open up windows and write code with amazement.

“This woman’s speed is fascinating,” Will whispered to me.

“She pretty much runs exclusively on Monster and Red Bull. Don’t let it surprise you,” I said.

“What are those?” Will asked.

I shook my head, laughing a little. Sometimes dealing with Will was like teaching a toddler about the world. Instead of telling him what they were, I went to Maliha’s fridge and got a can of Monster out. I opened it and held it out to Will.

“It’s got a buttload of caffeine. Why don’t you drink it and sit down and let the hacker do her magic?”

Will politely took the energy drink can from me and sat down, taking cautious sips from the can.

“And I’m in,” Maliha said, cracking her knuckles.

“What? That fast?”

“He uses an Android phone. What do you think? You can pretty much remote hack them from any terminal if you know the phone number and the IP address,” she gleamed at me. “And now, I’m mirroring his device onto this emulator. It’s genius. It’ll be as if you have his phone in your hands.”

“Can we take it?” Will asked.

“Sure. All my devices are disposable in case I get burnt. You can take this emulator phone with you and use it to snoop on Maurice. Don’t worry; my code will hold. The connection is secure,” Maliha said as she massaged her neck.

“Love you, girl. I owe you big time,” I said, hugging Maliha.

“Your efforts are truly appreciated,” Will said, nodding at her.

“Anything for my girl and her weird friend from Germany,” Maliha winked.

Before we could exchange any more pleasantries, as if right on cue, the emulator phone’s screen shone bright with the words “Blair” written across it. The phone accepted the call.

I yanked Will out of Maliha’s apartment and strode over to mine so we could listen to the call in privacy. Once we were there, I pressed the speakerphone option. We listened carefully; our heads almost pressed together.

“So what do the vamps say?” Blair asked.

“It seems that we’re all seeing eye to eye on this particular issue,” Maurice said.

“That’s excellent,” Blair said. “You know, your previous intel checked out. The girl was dear to him. He came as you said he would, and honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting, but I certainly didn’t expect to get beaten to death.”

“That was your mistake, wasn’t it? You should have had your men kill him with guns rather than take on him yourself,” Maurice sneered.

“Relax. I’m still alive. And I’ve got the perfect thing up my sleeve. One last gift from daddy dearest, it would seem,” Blair said.

“Will it help us all?” Maurice asked.

“Well, it will kill Will Grimm, so that takes care of your problem, the vampire’s problem, and my problem. You get to do whatever it is that you do without checking. The vampires can control more of the town. I get my sweet, sweet revenge. Perfect synergy, that’s what I call it,” Blair said.

“Tell me more about this potion,” Maurice said. “Color me intrigued.”

“Dad was a man of contingencies. He wanted to make sure that in case his plan didn’t pan out, he’d have a way to kill the monster that he had created. It’s a shame he never got to use it. Well, in theory, it could kill any werewolf. I just took dad’s recipe and perfected it in my lab. I call it Wolf’s Bane,” Blair said, and then soon after burst into sinister laughter.

“And you give me your word that you’re not going to use it on anyone else other than Will?” Maurice asked.

“I thought you didn’t care about the werewolves. I thought that was the point of your collaboration with the vampires. Wasn’t that the deal? You get a cut from the vampire’s business, and in turn, they can use this town however they please. They get to kill the werewolves and overtake that shabby old commune. So what do you care?” Blair asked.

“I’m not worried about them. I’m asking about myself. In case you didn’t notice, un-fucking-fortunately, I’m a werewolf too,” Maurice said.

“Ah, you’re a snake. You’re a sleazy politician, and you’re a corrupt smuggler. That makes you okay in my book. Relax, I’m not going to kill you. Who’d help me and the vampires run this town otherwise?” Blair continued laughing maniacally.

“Fuck you,” Maurice said.

“Fuck you, too,” Blair said.

Then the call cut off abruptly.

I could feel my throat clogging up. My worst suspicion had just been confirmed. Maurice had been a rat all along, working with the vampires and Blair Beckett. Why were they planning on killing Will?

“It’s not fair!” I yelled. I was about to chuck the phone at the wall in frustration, but Will held my hand back and took the phone from me. “Why do they want to kill you? It’s not fair. You just got out after suffering for seventy-six years. You don’t deserve this. What the fuck is wrong with this town? With these people? And Maurice? I knew he was a spineless jag, but I didn’t know he was capable of conspiring at this level. It’s simply not fair!” I yelled again and tried to stomp my feet, but Will held my body in an embrace, limiting my movement.

“Calm down, Alexis. Calm down,” he whispered in my ear.

“Don’t you get it? Even after you’ve escaped from your prison, you’re still not free! It’s not just about the mutations and the alterations. These people are out there to hurt you! They want to kill you, Will.”

“Yes, but you have helped me today in a way no one has before. You’ve given me a chance to know who my enemy is. Now that I know who to look out for, I can prepare better, make sure the pack’s strong enough, and be ready to confront my enemy. You’ve tipped the battlefield in my favor. Thank you for that,” Will said, still holding me.

“Why aren’t you freaking out? Shouldn’t the news that there’s a potion out there that can kill you upset you? Aren’t you devastated?” I asked angrily. Though, I did stop squirming. There was something about the comforting hold he had on me that calmed me down more than his words did.

“I’m not devastated,” Will said. “Knowing is half the battle, and now that I know, I’ve won half the battle, all thanks to you.”

“Will, you don’t understand. They’re out to get you,” I said, breaking free from his hug and staring deeply into his eyes to let him know the gravity of the situation.

“During the Second World War, I was shot at more times than I can count. When I sailed with my pack across the ocean to America, our ship was caught in eight different storms, but we somehow made it safely to land. When I was imprisoned by Edward, the pain of the torture could have killed me, but I did not die. When I escaped, that horde of vampires could have decimated me. But you saved me. Do you know what that means?”

“That you’re impervious to death?” I couldn’t help but be sarcastic. In truth, I was feeling vulnerable for him. I did not know that I had the capacity to care for him as much as I was doing now. Why? There was no bond between us anymore. Why did I still care? Why did this news suddenly jolt my entire body?

Will laughed. It was the first time I was seeing him laugh from this up close. He had a very handsome smile that reached his eyes. “None of us are impervious to death. But I’ve lived somehow through all this because I’m destined for something. Fated to do something. At times it feels like fate has played a cruel trick on me, but I’ve recently started reminding myself that fate made sure I was alive all this time.”

His face was so close to mine. His eyes were gazing at me with a soft intenseness. As he spoke, his tone held such a lilt that it was hard to imagine that the very same man could be rude. Not this Will. This was the true Will.

I reached up and kissed him. I closed my eyes and let my lips feel the brush of his warm, soft lips. I expected him to recoil and retort, but that did not happen. He kissed me back, his lips nudging mine. I could feel succulence serenade my mouth as I, not knowing what I was doing, deepened the kiss and embraced his body.

The same powerful electricity that had lit up my body when we had bonded now bolted through my body, emerging from my lips and reaching to my extremities. I pressed harder, my mouth firmly against his, my tongue gently caressing his tongue.

This moment ended as fast as it had started, leaving us standing in front of each other, arms in arms, looking at each other with flushed faces, wet lips, and beaming eyes.

“Wow,” I whispered.

“That was…something,” Will said in a soft voice.

“I’m sorry; I don’t know why I did—” Will didn’t let me finish my sentence, putting his finger on my lips.

“Shh, it’s okay,” he said.

It had been a spontaneous impulse that had prompted me to kiss him. What was pleasantly surprising to me was that he had kissed me back.

“Err…I think I should go back to the commune,” Will stuttered. “Erm…thanks for the help. I’ll…I’ll see you later?”

“Yes, la-later,” I said.

He left me standing there in the purple evening light coming from my window, with the ghost of his kiss still lingering on my lips.