The Animal

"Okay...silver bullets...isn't that for werewolves?"

This was insane, like all the old horror films from her teen years were coming true. She half expected Bela Legosi to float into the room.

He asked for water. She got up and poured him a foam cup of water from the table on the other side of the room.

"Here. I have some aspirin if you think it would help?"

He shook his head. She sat back down.

"Alright ah...hum...well...if these reverants-things are...what if I said I had a case, with five girls missing, what could I do to...give the families peace--you know, if these are really the...undead?"

Wow, desperate much?

He couldn't drink the water with any dignity with how he was cuffed, but he wasn't complaining.

"Werewolves, Skin Walkers," he continued. "They're all the same when you get right down to it. It's like the New Yorkers and people from Massachusetts. They fight a lot and like to pretend their different, but when you get down to it, they're all rich Americans from the Northeast coast, right?"

"As for the Revenents, if you had a case, you'd need to do a lot of research, first of all. The five victims wouldn't really matter. What you'd have to do is search for the previous five victims: this is how they refresh their numbers every...however long their cycle is. If you find the previous victims, they'll be the ones controlling the process, and if you're able to salt and burn those bones, it should stop the cycle." He looked up.

"Why, what did you see?"

Danila nodded, standing as he began to speak.

"Yes, the sooner we can prepare the better. I weel meet you all there," he stated as he walked around the table to the side closest to the exit, then asked, "Where ees it?"

"Not far from here", Elenna replied, grabbing her documents while exchanging a quick glance with Raws. "Raws car is just outside the bar, so he's going to drive, and you'll just follow us in your car, okay?"
Danila nodded.
"And Barbie" Elenna turned around and watched Georgina struggling to find her cell phone in her huge Gucci purse. "Now is your first opportunity to prove that you can be helpful."

Georgina smiled coquettishly. "You won't be disappointed."

"Let's hope so..."

"By the way", Georgina said while walking out of the bar with the others. "It's Georgie. Not Barbie."

Elenna couldn't help but smile, even if it was just for a second. "Oh really? I had no idea..." She replied sarcastically.
Raws went to his car, followed by Elenna. Danila got into his car and waited impatiently until Georgina finally made up her mind whether she wanted to place her butt in his old rented car or in Raws' green wheels.

"I'm not going to die in this freaking old car", she said to herself, turned around and got into Raws' car. Raws was not even looking when she sat down on the back seat, and Elenna, who sat next to him on the passanger seat, focused on the documents in her hands. After they drove for a couple of minutes in akward silence, Georgina cleared her throat.
"Green."

At first, nobody reacted, but after she repeated the word a second time, Elenna turned her head towards her. "What?"

"Green."

"Yeah, I got that part! So, what do you try to tell us, Barbie?"

"Why is the car green?" Georgina caught Raws glimpse in the mirror.

Silence.

"Hey, are you dumb?" She still waited for a response. "What on earth made you choose green?"

Elenna rolled her eyes. "Are we seriously going to discuss the color of his car?"

Georgian shrugged her shoulders. "I was just wondering how someone could possibly choose the color green for his car."

"And I'm just wondering how someone could possibly choose the color pink for a car", Elenna replied cynically. "I mean, seriously, your shiny pink car can be seen by everyone, even by those whose eyes you just scratched out."

"We're here", Raws said flatly. Danila pulled his car next to his and got out.

"A motel?" Georgina couldn't avoid raising her eyebrows while the group were heading towards one of the doors.

Elenna opened the door and entered the dark room. "Oh, is our little Barbie girl only used to Hilton and Four Seasons?"
Georgina wanted to say something, but Elenna turned to the guys. "Okay, you two get started on the bullets while Barbie..."

"Georgie!"

"While Georgie and I do further research on that hell of a pink shiny laptop that she's carrying around in her humongous purse. We really need to find out the connection between the victims and the pattern that the skin walker is following."
The guys nodded, then walked out of the room and went to Raws' room next door. While Georgina sat next to the little table and opened her laptop, Elenna put the articles and documents on the table and headed towards her bag that lay on the bed.

"Since when are you working with Rome and Raws?"

"For a while now."

"Are you always so short on answers?"

"Yepp."

"I see." Georgina quickly fixed her eyes on the articles. "And you're the one who's doing all the research?"

"Mostly, yes."

"Okay, so we have at least seven murders and...Jesus Christ!" Georgina flinched when a flying twix bar landed right at the keyboard of her laptop. She looked at Elenna who unwrapped her own twix bar without showing the slightest emotion on her face.
"Did you just throw a chocolate bar at me?" Georgina raised one eyebrow in expectation.

"Yepp."

"Why?!"

"Because you need some serious food for the nerves if you want to spend the entire night with me."

"That sounds so wrong."

Elenna shrugged her shoulders. "I know." She sat next to her at the table, and although they didn't look at each other, they knew that they were both grinning.

Danila followed the green car in his own, enjoying the time alone to think.

This was certainly a... different group of people. But then again, they hunted demons and ghosts and shapeshifters. They had a rather good excuse.

But those girls... well, he hoped they could work out their differences without the use of weapons.

The two cars were to the motel quickly enough. Danila chuckled - same motel he'd stopped at. Then again, there was probably only one motel in this whole town, so that really wasn't surprising.

He grabbed the two large duffel bags again, following the other three up to the doors. He and Rawson then bid the girls a quick farewell and the two duos entered separate rooms.

Danila sat the two large bags on the bed and unzipped them, also taking off his own unusually heavy trenchcoat. as he opened that and the bags, it became apparent he brought more than enough firepower.

Then again, no two guns were the same. Not to mention he had several different varieties of scopes, silencers, ammunition, and other useful things.

He turned to Raws after he had rid himself of his burdens, smiling. "Zo, where weel we start, Mr. Rawson?"

The sound of hard-soled shoes cut through the silence of the local police station as Smith stepped calmly into the Interrogation Room, moving like a predator whose interest had just been aroused. He glanced from Wesson to Remington, frowning and leaning on the table.

"Why is it that you, the suspect, are asking questions when you're under interrogation?" Smith demanded.

Rome sensed it immediately: he was dealing with a major douche-silo here.

He still felt like crap. But now he had someone to take it out on: "Who the hell are you?"

Apparently, the douchebaggery was catching, as Allison suddenly slammed her hand down on the table, upsetting the now-empty cup of water, and making him jump: "I ask the questions here, Remington!"

Whoa! When had things gone from politely probing to angry anal rape?

"I've already told you everything you want to know, and you won't believe me!" Rome shouted, beginning to get defensive and angry where before he knew better. He balled his mother's rosary up in a tight fist. "I'm not gonna change my story, so I don't what the hell else we have to talk about!"

"Um..."

Sh*t, Rome thought as his worst nightmares came true. Being brought down by the law sucked, sure, but getting your only friends nabbed for aiding-and-abetting, too? Not happening. Not on his watch. He only had to withstand...oh, 8 hours of interrogation before Raws and the others got the idea that something was wrong.

This should be fun.

Rome fixed the new agent with a defiant glare. So much for being helpful. Not for this asshole.

"I traveled through the sewers, actually. Like a teenage mutant f*cking ninja turtle. And there's four of us. The other ones are Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello. If you let me get my turtle-communicator I can call them up for you."

"What? They're not gonna arrive and try to bail you out to assemble a team of pro-turtle lawyers? Are you that low in the pecking order that they won't even look for you? Or are you a maverick and they're not even going to know something's wrong?" Smith continued, turning to Wesson and nodding at the hickey growing on her neck with a raised eyebrow Remington couldn't see, before continuing, "Either way, you're out in the cold, aren't you? Are they going to move on when you don't come back?"

Allison's blood rushed to her cheeks briefly as she felt his eyes on her...burning her with a glare that conveyed the contempt he held her in. She felt like a first year recruit as he started to actually interrogate her prisoner.

She couldn't even get a word in. He just took over. It didn't even seem to matter that she'd finally caught their fugitive. He just steamrolled her like she wasn't even there.

Rome suddenly felt cold. The back of his t-shirt was soaked in sweat and he was really tired. He didn't want to play this game any more. As quickly as he flashed through defiance, anger, and sarcasm, he now switched to apathy, his shoulders drooping forward. The guy was trying to brow-beat him, make him hate his companions, and Rome knew it. He also knew that Rawson wouldn't leave him, even if it was the infinitely smarter thing to do. No, Raws would try and rescue him, like a moron, and get his own ass in the slammer for his efforts, no matter how badass he was.

Rome hung his head, stared at his hands: "Look...I don't. Yeah. Yeah. They don't even know me. They'll leave. And that's it. I've got nothing more to say."

"I know the man at the bar with you was your twin brother--Rawson--but who where the others? The brunette girl with the accent, the blonde Paris Hilton, and the KGB?"

She paused.

"We will find them eventually. I'll be better for you and them if you tell us now."

Rome tried to still the flinch at Rawson's name, but he couldn't really help it, managing only to turn it into a pathetic shiver instead.

"I...I don't know..." Was this fear or fever messing with him? He could hardly form a coherent sentence! "I don't know who you thought you saw, but that wasn't my brother. Rawson's dead. I-I killed him. How do you know those people in the bar weren't my next victims, anyway?"

Yeah, smooth. Changing your story half-way through. Nice. Because that'll go over well. Rome paused, licked his lips.

Well, all I gotta do is buy them time, anyway.

Well, that was easy.

"I know who I saw, Remington, and I have his picture on my phone, unless you forgot."

He squirmed.

"Why are you protecting him? Oh I see--we do have the wrong man--the wrong twin. You've been traveling with him for a while now, but we only ever find traces of you--like he wants you to be found. How did it start, Rome? How did he get you to cover his ass? Did he just come home one night and mom and dad had figured out he was a bad seed? Did he blow them away then, or did he wait for you to get home? Why would you go along with him--ah--brothers help each other out, brothers stick together, brothers protect each other? Where is he now, Rome?"

"What?! No you've got it all wrong! I did it all. It was me."

"And yet five minutes ago you were innocent--hunting werewolves with silver bullets."

She shoot her partner look--mocking the suspect.

"Sounds to me like he's going for an insanity plea," Smith commented, stepping away from where he was leaning on the wall.

He moved around behind Remington and leaned down so he could speak right in his ear.

"Well let me let you in on a little secret about Insanity Pleas, piss-ant," Smith barked, "You won't get out of that not home until we clear you. And for the crimes you've committed? You're gonna die tied to a board that keeps your feet elevated over your head so you can't hurt anyone ever again."

Alright...not so much. He was really going for the good-cop/bad-cop thing today.

"What did he do to you, Romulus? We can protect you from him if you tell us where he is."

She felt like she was playing a shell game, with her belief in his story the little bead under the cups. She was acting to please her partner. Aly knew exactly what she would talk to the suspect about the moment David's back was turned. She knew in her gut she had the wrong man...and his brother didn't feel right as the target either. Meanwhile someone else could die because she was too close minded.

I don't care what you think you saw...it wasn't her, Aly--she's dead...get over it.

Okay, that man leaning down and whispering in his ear was the single creepiest thing he had ever had to experience in a long line of creepy things. And his breath smelled funny. Something familiar, something like...

"No, sh*t, no! Look, you've seriously got this wrong." Rome took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. He wasn't going to...do anything right if he couldn't be clear-headed about this. But something was pressing on his brain, and it wasn't just the fever, and it wasn't just the pants-wetting terror of it all. "I'm not going for an insanity plea. I'm just..."

"...We can protect you from him if you tell us where he is."

Getting very angry.

"Look, you don't know crap about my brother! He's--"

And he bit his lip. Can't say that, either. Better not to say anything. Let them think what they want about Raws, just so long as they never find him... Rawson was the idiot obsessed with family honor, right? Rome didn't care. People could talk all they wanted, right? It didn't matter...

So Rome shut his mouth and kept it closed, pointedly, in a way that said he was done talking. Why wouldn't this whole thing turn out to be a nightmare he could wake up from?

Smith was stalking around the table now, predatory, as Rome's anger fizzled out once again. Aly was off to the side, letting Smith have the floor once again. And that scared the crap out of him. He really really didn't like this guy.

Until the light hit Smith's eyes juuuuust right, and then Rome really really really needed his gun back right now. He glanced away, pretending not to have seen the animal-like, yellow glow, the flash of inhumanness that said this, this motherfrakking SOB was the Skin Walker! He tried not to let it know he knew, but their eyes met anyway, and then Smith smiled.

The flash of fear triggered something else intense in Rome's brain.

Oh, no, not this. Not again, not now!

A bright white flash, blinding pain, and he couldn't the police station anymore. His eyes flickered gray. But this didn't feel like a normal vision--haha, "normal" vision--it felt more extroverted, if that meant anything. He wasn't receiving information. He was broadcasting it.

Exactly how he was doing this, or why, or to whom, was anyone's guess. The wolf-bracelet encircling his left wrist burned, glowing white-hot. Romulus submitted to his increasingly likely to be very very bad fate, and focused on the only person in the world who could possibly save him: Rawson.

And now she believed him.

The bracelet on his arm went white hot searing into his flesh like it was suddenly stuck into a furnace, and his eyes...oh my god, his eyes. He started to shake in his seat. Her partner didn't seem to care, he was smiling and approaching her suspect like he was prey of some kind.

"David, get a doctor in here!"

She ran over to Rome and tried to get him to look at her. He clutched the silver rosary until it drew blood but he didn't seem to notice.

"Rome--listen to me. What's happening? How can we help you? We're calling a doctor now."

And that was when she noticed that David hadn't moved.

"Damnit Agent, I'm watching him--call a damn ambulance!"

He adopted a feral grin.

Her voice cracked.

"David?"

Danila dropped his things and turned to Rawson with a smile. "Zo, where weel we start, Mr. Rawson?"

Rawson looked at him for a moment. "Food." He said seriously, reaching over the bed to the side table and grabbing a leather folder and the room phone.

"Hello? Yes, this is 221. Yes, can you have two plates brought up- mixed hors d'œuvres. I'm entertaining a few friends. A twelve pack of whatever microbrew you carry for a few friends. And a bottle of-" he paused, scanning the menu from his desk, "your 2006 Starry Night Zinfandel."

For me- the wine, that is. Stuck in a room full of insane 'hunter' types, gods know I'm gonna need it. Rome you and Lenna so owe me for playing hostess.

"And a plate of chips and cheese- can't go wrong with something a little British. Ten minutes? Yes, thank you. Just charge it to the room."

Do these people seriously live out of motels? This is ridiculous. They look like they've never heard of room service.

"Problem people?" Alright, perhaps he was growling a little. But who could blame him? He was giving them food- that was playing nice. Elenna was giving him a Look. "Not one word." It was said half-jokingly, and he tossed a bar of Godiva chocolate at her and opening a bottle of spring water for himself.

"Alright, I figure if we have start we can go around the room with current info and weapons stats. Europe guy, me, Lenna, then Barbie..." He still wasn't over her complaining about his car color. There was nothing wrong with his car. And he had cars of many colors- having one of them that was green was not a problem. And in LA at night... that thing shimmered in the neon lights like a machine god cruising the streets. So she could just wait to talk and wouldn't be getting any chocolate or special snackage from him.

Rawson lost his train of thought as his head started pounding, harder than he could imagine possible. If he wasn't in so much pain, he would have imagined this must be what Rome felt like sometimes when he had a particularly painful vision.

Agh!

His hands came up to grab his head, as he saw flashes of broken images. A fist clenching his mother's rosary in a white knuckled grip. A handcuff, and bright lights. Rome's reflection as he opened his mouth in fury. A man in a suit leaning down above him. And a flash of inhuman eyes coupled with a cruel smile. Then it all stopped- the images, the pain, and he was on the floor and realized he had been on the floor. His face slowly unfroze from its tense grimace. Rawson looked up at the others.

"The skin walker's at the police station." He paused, and turned to Elenna. "And they have Rome." He was immediately on his feet turning to grab a bag, shoving guns into it from under his pillow and on the shelf in his closet, sticking a knife in his boot and a silver pen and two paperclips into his pocket. "I'm going. Anyone else in?"

There was a wooshing, and suddenly bam! he was back in the interrogation room. Still sitting, still handcuffed to the table, staring into the ugly mug of Agent Smith...who wasn't Agent Smith any more.

Skin peeled back from him in patches, and he seemed to have grown five inches and gained about fifty pounds of muscle.

Allison stood in shocked horror at her former partner. She wasn't trying to add this up and make rational sense out of it, lying to themselves the way most people did when they saw these things, and for that he had to give her credit. But this sonofabitch was still scary as all get out, and neither of them moved for a long moment.

"Allison--my gun! Get the gun!" he shouted, just as the creature lunged at him. Rome ducked beneath the table as far as would be allowed, and then yanked down hard with all his might as the Skin Walker slid across the top. Luckily, the table wasn't nailed to the floor, and he spun it over and down, not quite crushing but certainly slamming the creature with the table.

Which was now trapping him in a very precarious position. Oh, God, he thought, stuck in a crouch, his face not inches from the Skin Walker's. Please don't eat me. Where was Allison with his gun? If those silver bullets didn't help them now, nothing would.

"David what is wrong with you?! He needs help! Are you seriously going let your ass--and mine get kicked out of the Bureau for police brutality?!"

Did he just snarl at me?!

Okay...now she really believed him. The skin around David's neck began to pull away. This was not happening.

Before she could react her...David...it had attacked Rome and was now under the interrogation room desk. Rome screamed at her. This was all happening so fast and it was so totally insane.

Snap out of it!

She grabbed her purse and took out Remington's crazy big gun. Then she aimed it at her partner and after a second of wondering if McDonald’s hired ex-FBI agents, she fired.

"What?"

Elenna stared in shock at Raws.

No, no, no, no, no this is not happening. They can't have Rome. He, I mean, we are talking about Rome. They can't catch him, he is better than Frank Abagnale Jr. Rome can smell if someone is a Fed. He, he.... Maybe I fall asleep at the bar and... damn it Raws doesn't look like as Raws in my dreams normally does.

"I am coming with you. Um Raws shouldn't we kill the skinwalker this time really, so that he can't try to kill Rome a forth time? Don't we need for that bullets dipped in white ash? I mean, shouldn't we have a plan before we attack the police station?"

Elenna asked all those question while she draw a tiny symbole on her left hand.

Just in case.

When she suddenly stopped and looked curious at Raws.

"How do you know that they skinwalker is in the police station and that Rome is there anyway? I thought that is not your kind of MO?"

"Don't know. I guess it's become some sort of a twin thing." He made a wide gesture, flashing his bracelet at Elenna. "You know." A pointed look.

Come on, get it... It's not something I want public information right now. Wait- white ash? Fine, fine. Any potential weapon's good. Ooh, that's nice. Any weapon.

Rawson smiled. He could have fun with this, actually. He dumped his favorite guns and Rome's, grabbing boxes and loading. "Silver worked damn well for Rome 'n me. If anyone wants to wait a little to join the fight, I'd say alternate your bullets- silver and white ash. We don't know how effective a white ash shot that isn't directly on target will be, so we might as well play halvsies. I'll do a revolver with all ash for precision shooting, but with larger guns I'm up for the numbers game."

He looked around. "I know silver has a pretty strong effect- I'm not waiting for new bullets. If you're coming frackin' hurry. Bullets are up for grabs if anyone needs some. Come on Lenna. I don't think that thing's gonna wait long. It looked particularly nasty."

Hang on Romey. Just a few minutes.

And you call me a freak, because I can do some magic tricks? Right.

"Fine, so as always the plan is we don't plan which means you guys, well this time just you will shoot everyone who is not a friend I am try not to get shot. Okay let’s get our stupid Rome back. Gosh does he always cause trouble we have to fix. I wish for once his girls would turn out nice. Um Raws was Rome um... okay still one piece, I mean? We get him back, right?"

Elenna looked worried and slightly shivering at Raws, before she quickly turned around to see if their new "friends" would help.

Georgie looked friendly at Lenna, but she kind of seemed to figure out what is just happening here.

If her weapons are pink too? What the hell am I thinking who cares.

"I’m ready Raws."

"The f***." Said perfectly calmly.

We never plan? Calling Rome stupid? And in front of strangers, when he could be dying? Over my dead body.

"Clearly you could care less about Rome. Well frack you! Rome doesn't need you and I sure as Hell don't. Go play with the other kids or build your ash weapons or whatever you want to do with your time. Though how you'll use one when you can't stand the sight of a gun is anyone's guess. Just stay out of my way."

He swept out the room and slammed the door, noting the lady approaching with his food. Dammit. He could have used a second shooter. Or a third. This wasn't necessarily his smartest move. But that girl could drive him to murder.

Alright, assets. This could be better with just the two of us- I reckon I can tell if someone's trying to impersonate Rome. I wouldn't trust myself to recognize if one of the others turned skin walker. Plus there's less chance of collateral damage when you're working solo ops or with a partner you work well with.