The Wolf -Chapter IX: A Quiet Conversation; Part 2

17.
Adrian opened his eyes.
The floor was very well swept.
He stood up and looked around -no one. He had no idea how much time had passed since he had fallen over, but he didn’t want to risk it. First thing was first, however.
He needed to call Katy.
Adrian took out the cell phone from the package and dialed her number.
“Hi, it’s Katy, leave a message after the beep.”
Adrian cursed himself, and then said, “Hey, Katy. Listen, I’m sorry about last night. I have had a…ridiculous couple of days. I need to talk to you. Please.”
He hung up the phone and sighed.
“Adrian?”
He turned around to find Abraham standing next to the bar, looking freshly out of the shower.
“You’re up early,” he said.
Adrian rubbed his head, “Yeah, I uh… I wanted to get out for a while. You know, get some fresh air.”
Abraham nodded. “I can certainly understand that. It gets stuffy down here sometimes. Would you mind if I came along?”
“Actually, I think I want to be alone for a while. You know, just… to get my head together, a bit?”
Abraham’s eyes narrowed. “I…see. Well I do have something that I wanted to tell you, Adrian. I’ve spoken to a few of my colleagues, and none of us see any reason why you shouldn’t be able to take up the rite of reunification today.”
“Oh, wow, really?” Adrian said. “That’s great.”
“Yes, it’s amazing how these things work out, isn’t it?”
“Well, actually, Abraham… I was thinking maybe I’d wait for a few more days on that.”
Abraham rubbed his chin and took a few steps forward. “Why is that?”
“Well, I… I don’t really feel comfortable with it yet. I want to…prepare. You know?”
“But Adrian, my friend, the sooner it happens, the sooner you’ll be relieved of-”
“Of my wolf’s burden, yeah, I know, I really… I’m looking forward to that, but I want to do a few things first. Much as I hate the bastard, I’d be dead if it wasn’t for him.”
Too much?
“What is that supposed to mean?” Abraham asked.
“I just mean that, a couple of times he gave me advice. You know, to help me out of tight spots. He always had a good intuition.”
“The wolf always does. Adrian, are you feeling alright?”
“Actually I’m feeling pretty okay. I’m going to go ahead and go, I’ll be back, uh…sometime tonight. Okay?”
Adrian walked towards the exit, and then Abraham said, “Adrian. I should warn you that making no decision is just the same as making the wrong decision. We’ve welcomed you into our home without any questions or requirements. It would not be well for you to betray that trust.”
Adrian felt a chill run down his spine, but said nothing.

18.
Outside, Dade was on his way into the building. He saw Adrian, however, and turned around.
Adrian went out of the diner and followed him, calling his name.
“We need to talk!”
“I don’t want to talk to you!” Dade shouted over his shoulder.
Adrian jogged up to him across the asphalt and said, “I’ve been an idiot,” putting a hand on his shoulder.
Dade spun around, throwing off Adrian’s hand. “No!” he screamed, near tears, “I won’t help you! I won’t help you kill them!”
He turned around and put his face into his hands, and Adrian just stared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know!” he said, sobbing. “But it’s what you’re thinking! I know what he’s done to me and I know even though he doesn’t want me to and doesn’t think that I do, but he’s still my friend and I won’t help you kill him!”
“Dade, please-”
“If you weren’t here then none of this would be happening! If-”
Adrian grabbed Dade by the shoulders and shook him.
“I have had enough of the craziness around here, you hear me? I’m not planning on doing anything to anyone until I understand what the fuck is going on. I haven’t even been here a week and I feel like I’ve been here for years. I look back at the things that have happened to me and I don’t even know if it was me! You are the only person in this madhouse who acts like something isn’t right, and that makes me think I can trust you.”
Dade whimpered, “It doesn’t matter if you can trust me. That question has no depth whatsoever. I don’t know if I can trust you, Adrian.”
“Why wouldn’t you be able to?”
“Because you ate several full helpings of Abe’s shit without a blink,” Dade said with a childish smile. “Did you know that glass is made of sand?”
Adrian continued to stare.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.
Dade shrugged. “I dunno. I like your shirt. It’d do better without the pin, but tha’s just me. What were we talking about a-”
And the Dade’s face contorted into pain, his eyes wrenched shut, and he fell to his knees, holding his skull between his arms and baring his teeth. He made no sound for a moment, then slowly gave out an almost imperceptible whimper as he slumped onto his side in the street. Adrian grabbed him and said, “Dade? Dade, what’s wrong?!”
Then Dade’s body loosened up, and he opened his eyes. He looked out across the street and pushed himself up with shaky arms, stood on quivering legs, leaned on Adrian’s shoulder and said slowly, “We don’t have much time.” His voice was deeper, raspy, and sounded exhausted. “We need to get away from the Midnight before anyone sees us. Your car is out of sight, so there.”
“How do you know-”
“Adrian, by now I thought you’d have learned to just take this stuff as it comes.”
Adrian shrugged.
And so he shouldered Dade to his car, checking back behind them for any potential witnesses. There were none.
Dade leaned on the car’s trunk and exhaled. “Adrian,” he said, “I’m glad you finally talked to him, but Jesus H, you’ve been an idiot.”
“Yeah, I figured that much out. What the hell was that back there?” He motioned towards the street.
Dade didn’t speak for a moment. “It’s complicated. I’m straight for now, which is why we need to get this conversation over and done with as quick as possible. I don’t know how long it’ll take.”
“How long-”
“Adrian, I need you to do me a favor and please not ask questions about me right now. We don’t have enough time for that. Bad things are coming down the line, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I hope you realize what kind of a wrench you’ve thrown into the Machine to turn the entire future into a blur. Not just a few shades of difference, an entire bloody spectrum of outcomes.”
“So you can see the future?”
“In a nutshell.”
“Okay, well, now that that’s settled. Why does Abraham want to keep me so close?”
“Because everything has been going too well for him. He doesn’t want you to change your mind at the last second which, thank god, you have.”
“I mean, why does he want me in the first place?”
Dade said, “He doesn’t want you.”
Adrian stared at Dade for a moment, then said, “Oh. Shit.”
“And that’s just the beginning. The Circle has had Abe on you for years, and before the goons at South Peak grabbed me I was helping them figure out how things were going to play out. Of course it was futile, you can’t plan on anything happening a certain way more than a few weeks out, unless you’ve really rigged the situation.”
“What is this ‘Circle of Friends’ anyway?”
“I don’t know for sure. The few bits of knowledge I do have I only have because I was around a member at South Peak, and what gets me is this guy was pretty high up in the chain of command from what I can tell, and even he didn’t really know what was going on with the group. He had a theory that the whole thing was organized around a supercomputer, but he was an idiot. What I can say is that before you came along, they never took werewolves seriously. They called us the periphery, and only paid us attention because we’re an undeniable supernatural aspect of society. Whatever it is your wolf knows, I can guarantee that if you don’t follow through on the acting-on-free-will approach, they will definitely move to more aggressive tactics.”
“Like what?”
“Torture? Or even, hell, they can force the rite on you if they think your wolf is too hard to break. Then they can just break you, and that’d be much easier.”
“So what do I do?” Adrian asked.
Dade stared at the ground for a few moments, blinked, then said, “What you do.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“What is what supposed to mean?” Dade asked, looking at Adrian. He could swear his eyes were brighter. “I have a headache.”
“Oh. Well.”
Adrian rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m going to go home, I think.”
Dade nodded. “Good idea. Can I have a hug?”
Adrian blinked. “Uh… sure?”
Dade wrapped his arms around Adrian’s midsection. Adrian patted him on the back.
“I know he’s mean, but he’s just doing what he does best. Please don’t hurt him. He’s my only friend.”
For a moment, Adrian felt like crying.

19.
Dade walked into the Midnight, and Adrian got into his car and drove away.
The further he got, the more confused he became. So much had happened in so short a time, it was all blurring together.
He thought about his mother, and her warning, and how it could not have come at worse time.
He thought about the box, which Dade may or may not have sent him, and how it could not have been sent at a worse time.
He thought about Katy, who had presented him with the perfect life not a day before another life had come knocking at the door. If it hadn’t been for her acceptance, Adrian would never have given a second thought to sleeping with Evita, to taking up the rite and joining Abraham’s clan. If it even was his.
He thought about the many colliding circles of circumstance, the ripples sent out by decisions, the echoes of time against the walls of eternity. He thought about the differences between genesis and apocalypse, and the many ways he had betrayed himself.
The phone that Dade gave him rang, but Adrian did not answer.
And then he pulled up to his house, and looked at it for the first time as a true home -as a place to return to after a hard day’s work.
Or being worked.
Adrian stepped inside and smiled, closed his eyes and said to himself, “Welcome home.”
“Welcome home,” a voice echoed back to him.
Adrian opened his eyes.
Evita lay on the couch in the living room, and she jumped up and ran to Adrian, throwing her arms around him and laying a blanket of kisses on his face.
He could not help but to kiss her back for a moment, but he pushed her away soon enough, and she turned her head. “What’s wrong, my love?”
“I’m sorry,” he said. He rubbed his forehead and walked into the kitchen. Evita trailed behind him. “I’ve got a lot on my mind and I still really want to be alone.”
“I don’t want to be alone,” she said quietly. “I’ve been alone all my life. I don’t want to be alone.”
Adrian looked at her and said, “I’m sorry. I really am.”
“Do you care about me?”
Adrian could not muster the heart to tell the truth. “I do, I really do, but so many things have happened to me over the past few days, I just need some time to work it out.”
“Oh,” she said.
“Yeah. So could you give me some space? Go back to the Midnight or wherever it is you live, hang out with your brother for a while, have some family time. You know?”
“I don’t want to spend time with my brother. Or Dade. Or anyone but you. I-”
“Evita, I can only apologize so many times! Please, I need to be alone right now.”
She stepped in front of him and put her arms around him, and he sighed. He put his arms on her head and said, “We can spend time together later, I promise.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
Evita smiled and kissed him on the cheek, and walked towards the door. Adrian sighed silently, and thought about packing his bags and leaving.
Then Evita turned around and said, “Adrian?”
“Yes?”
“Do you love me?”
He stared at her for a few moments and bit his lower lip. Then he turned away. “I don’t know.”
“Will you not love me?” she asked, a little more desperate.
“I can’t right now,” he said. “I don’t even know-”
And as Adrian turned around, he felt a shrill surprise to find that Evita was only a few inches away from him, and for some reason her face was contorted with rage.
And then he felt a searing explosion of pain in his gut, and he let out a scream as Evita twisted the silver knife she held between her clenched fists.
She yanked it out and held it trembling in front of her eyes, and she screamed, “What have I done so wrong to you?! Have I not shown you love?!”
She stabbed him again.
“Have I not made you feel?! I am the one you’re supposed to be with,” she stabbed him in beat with her words, “NOT HER!”
Adrian stumbled backwards into a side table, pushing its contents onto the floor. There was a shattering of glass, and his vision dimmed.
“Not that horrible-” stab “-wretch-” stab “-of a woman!”
She pushed him onto the floor and then straddled his mid section. She set the knife by his head, and put her hands around his neck.
Evita leaned in close to his face, her mouth in a snarl, and said, “That’s what Dade told us, that’s what he said he saw! I won’t let it happen any other way!” She began to squeeze, though Adrian was already choking on his own blood.
“If I can’t love you then it won’t be anyone else,” she said, crying. “You’re too wonderful to be with anyone but me.”
Her grip softened, and she kissed Adrian on the lips.
His blood stained her mouth.
And then Adrian’s body went entirely limp. Evita set her head on his chest and sobbed, running her hands along his arms. Her throat hurt from the strength of the cries she gave out, and she could already feel the warmth leaving his body. She kissed him again, wishing he would come back to life, apologizing for what she had to do.
But she knew he was dead. His muscles were unmoving, his blood had ceased pumping (and had mostly drained from his body to the floor and to her shirt and pants by now), and his eyes-
Moved?

20.
And then with a speed she couldn’t comprehend, Adrian’s hand grabbed the knife and stabbed it into the soft place beneath Evita’s chin, and while she tried to scream, her mouth was nailed shut -and then he gave it another push, and there was a sudden gush of red onto his hand, and there was a horrendous crack, and Evita fell over on the floor.