Page 78 of Wolf Bane
Garrow’s brow twitched, his expression hard to read.“Cleverly was many things.Burdened by grief and shame being the highest on the list.She made choices, very early in our association, that made some things easier but weighed on her terribly.”He sighed, rapping his fingers tunelessly on the desk in front of him as he stared at something only he could see.“But Cleverly isn’t why we’re here.You, Landry, are why we’re here.Rather, you and I are the reason.My work.Thanks to you, I’ve been able to advance research by leaps and bounds even while… detained.”
“You were in prison.”I met Daniel’s eye.“And you’re okay with that, huh?Letting a guy who kills children and commits mass murder use your clan for his experiments?You’re fine letting him literally give poison to other weres and shifters just because their families don’t look like yours?”
Vinnie’s the one who spoke up.“You don’t understand, Doctor Babin.We’re dying out.There’s few pure weres left in the world.”
“Bullshit.Absolute fucking bullshit.And Garrow knows it.”
Garrow was watching with a small, tired smirk when I swung back around to face him.
“Which is it, Garrow?You started torturing people—kids—because you wanted to create stronger were lines, or you want to kill off the were lines that don’t fit your idea of strength, ofreal?”
He spread his hands, his smile growing once more.The asshole was amused by me, mocking me, but all I could feel was disgust.Anger that would usually drive me when someone got shitty with me was gone, replaced entirely by a nauseating ulcer of knowledge that this man had not only killed dozens of innocent people, he had convinced others to help him.
“You enjoy it,” I seethed.“You enjoy the killing, don’t you?Having people get their hands dirty for you.Do you make them tell you all about it, or is just knowing enough?Sending these mobile clinics out, betraying the trust of people who need the help, who need support…” Saliva flooded my mouth, the urge to be sick so close to the surface it was almost impossible to fight.
“I don’tenjoydeaths, not the way you’re implying.”Garrow sighed.“Ienjoyknowing my work is progressing.That mistakes I made previously are being corrected, that we are making progress towards our goal.”He leaned in, bringing his face close to the camera before adding, “And it’s thanks to you, Landry.Using your blood, your tissue samples, we’ve been able to create the Wolf Bane compound.It’s not perfect, but we’re close.So close.”
He sat back, motioning at whoever was off screen on his side.The painted nails appeared again, handing him a cup of something hot.He took a sip and made a pleased sound before setting the cup aside and refocusing on me, casual as you please.As if he wasn’t just discussing gleefully committing genocide and instead telling me all about his new pool or a trip out of town.Proud but self-satisfied.
“As you know yourself, with any experimental treatment, there will be stumbling blocks.Delays.Theories that don’t pan out and need to be readdressed.We cannot enable mongrels such as yourself to fully transform into a were, so we must cut out the diseased tissue.Let the healthy thrive.”
“Holy mixed metaphor, Batman,” I muttered, leaning away when Vinnie shifted closer.“So, what are you going to do with me, then?Chop me up into little pieces to make your poison?Hold me at gunpoint and force me to watch you commit mass murder?”
Garrow made a face at that, a truly disgusted one.“Eliza had a grand idea that you’d see the error of your ways and assist.Use your medical and personal expertise to smooth the transition for the families who are reluctant to participate in our movement.But I know you, Landry, and I knew from the start you’d never be helpful like that.All we need is your blood and a small tissue sample.”
“You’ve got enough of me to make an entire army of Landry Babins,” I pointed out, that vomiting idea getting more unavoidable by the second.“There’s nothing I’ll give you, Garrow.Not a cell.”
“Iownyou, Landry.I made you.You would have died as a child without me.Your parents gave you up so willingly.Didn’t Cleverly ever tell you?An addict father, a desperate mother.And you were so good for me, Landry.Cleverly was so proud.She couldn’t be one of us, not as a dud, but she could see to it that she was the mother of a new line.One perfected through our work, our insight.We refuse to be complacent, to wait for nature to strangle us out with the human weeds.Cut away the sapping vines, letting the strong flourish.Eliza, bless her heart, had a wild notion she could help her father.But Celestine had to show her how wrong she was.Out of all of the original cohort, only two of you survived.And only one of you has any meaningful change.You’re so close to perfect, Landry.Mal, though…” He clicked his tongue sadly.“A waste.Justin is a failed experiment as well, and he knows it, bless him.”
“What the fuck?”I looked at Daniel again.He was still giving me that dead-eyed thousand-yard stare, but something in his expression had shifted just a fraction.Disgust, maybe?Anger?Something radiated off him, putting me on alert.Vinnie, though… He was quiet.Too still.“What will you do when the next generation is born with nulls?Or if one of your precious full-blooded weres marries a human?”
He shook his head, confused.“I’ve told you.We cut away the cancer.We leave the healthy tissue to heal.”
Vinnie shifted uncomfortably beside and behind me, just at the edge of my peripheral vision.
“Why are you hiding, Garrow?”I growled.“If you’re so sure you’re right, why are you hiding from us?Are you afraid Vinnie here’s going to realize you’ll happily kill off his kids if they don’t meet your standards?That Celestine—his own mother—would throw them in a sack into the river to drown like kittens if it made you happy?Or are you more worried about Daniel, your faithful lapdog here?Maybe he’ll realize this isn’t some courageous quest but actual mass murder, and right now, people he grew up with, people he loves and who love him, are slowly dying because of you?”
“It’s necessary,” Daniel parroted.“It’s what keeps us safe.”
“And what about Eliza?She’s a null.You think he’ll let her live, after this?He’s just using her to get what he wants.Once he’s done with her, she’s dead too.Hell, she might already be.Have you checked?”
Daniel’s eyes flared and he held himself with that sort of stillness that bespoke a deep urge to bolt.Maybe I got him… “Where is she, Daniel?Did Garrow order you to leave her with her father?Is Eustace dead, too?Oops.I didn’t meanto.We don’t know if Eliza is, after all.Probably fine, right?Not like she went off the rails and absolutely ruined Garrow’s big villain reveal by kidnapping me and, oh yeah, Justin and Tyler too.They escaped, you know.Probably already alerted Ethan and the council.Do you think the council will be cool with this?I know you don’t give two shits about them, but they do have the metaphorical firepower to make your life hell, you know?”
Daniel clenched his fists, jaw creaking with the pressure between his teeth.“The council failed us.They made us weak.They’remakingus weak.”
“Sounds like you’re repeating someone else’s ideas there, Danny.Do you have any of your own?Astrongperson would have their own thoughts and ideas.But I mean, I get it.It’s easier to let someone else lead, right?You just have to do their dirty work instead of focusing on the hard parts.Like keeping your community safe.Like meeting people where they are and acknowledging you’re not perfect.”I paused, letting a sneer curl my lip as I leaned towards him.“You’re not an apex predator, Danny.You’re a lapdog.”
The blow was expected, and I turned away just enough to avoid getting a solid cosh to my head, just a clip to my jaw.Vinnie lurched into motion, pushing Daniel back across the desk, sending the monitor crashing to the floor as they tangled.Daniel roared his anger, Vinnie trying to restrain him as Garrow shouted at both of them to stop.
“Hard to control your minions when you’re too scared to show yourself,” I laughed, manic.The chair clattered back as I stood, grabbing it to swing hard at Daniel, who had risen to his knees.
I don’t care how big and strong of a werewolf you are.A chair to the head will always put you down, at least for a few minutes.
And who says watching wrestling isn’t educational?
That left Vinnie, though.Huge, lumberjack looking Vinnie.He rose slowly to his feet, staring down at Daniel’s slumped form.Garrow’s orders to whoever was on his side of the screen rattled between us.Go,south wing, bring him, take this, now.
“They’re going to kill your kids one day,” I said flatly.“We both know it.”
