Three Mistakes

A story I submitted to my school's literary zine. It shows the second step in the evolution to my werewolves.

 

Ever since Lindsey Pathos had released the list containing the names of those around the world who could only be considered abnormal, life had gone ballistic. That was well over one thousand years ago, yet life was still criticizing her idea. The wolves of Germany had been hunted to extinction and deep sea fishing had taken on a new meaning. Even though I was born eight centuries after the list had been made public, I had met one of those individuals who had been on the list. Jakub Roman Wrobel- Werewolf. He was well over a century old, yet a single bullet from my brother’s gun had taken him down.

            That is how it is now. At first, werewolves, mermaids, psychics, vampires, aliens, fill in the blank-paths, and others with the genetic abnormality were considered amazing creatures to be revered and cherished. Whole new religions were formed in a way of worship for the Abnormals. Werewolves were hired out as body guards and vampire blood was discovered to have a healing power like no other. People who had feared the ideas put into their heads by science fiction stories and myths and legends about the Abnormals had their fears put at rest while the Abnormals played fair. As usual, humanity had to dominate and isolated incidents began popping up. One vampire would be staked, a werewolf mutilated into something that had it’s skin reversed, and mermaids even being eaten as a delicacy. Nature stepped in and the Abnormals began to show that they weren’t as cute and cuddly as they had first appeared to be.  Then the vampires started making their feedings of humans public. The werewolves started hunting family pets left out during the night. Mermaids sent sharks to attack ships and people. It was a bloodbath. For two hundred years the Abnormals were hunted down until they were nearly extinct. It’s been centuries since the hunts, yet humans still set up agencies against the Abnormals.

My twin brother, Ty, and I are a part of Chicago’s agency. The strange thing is that my brother is an Empath, an Abnormal. Though, Pathos’s list stated that Empaths are not dangerous. Pathos list had given level of danger to all of the Abnormals that had made them known. Vampires and werewolves were on the top of the list while mermaids and Empaths were towards the bottom. Ty is an exceptionally strong Empath. He walks into a room and knows exactly what is going on and a blink later, the odds will be pointed in his favor. I have lost count of how many times he has looked at me while we were fighting and I would just give up and leave the room. I love my brother very much, but that is my biggest pet peeve against him. Genetics have shown that our great-great grandmother was an Empath, yet I show no signs of any abnormality. We have never gotten into arguments or have hated each other over the fact that I’m normal and he is an Abnormal; we learned at an early age that our parents didn’t like it and even now we carry our parent’s silence. Ty had a hard time getting a job at the agency with his ability. It puts him at an unfair advantage amongst many people there, yet Fritz keeps him around since he gets detainees talking in a matter of seconds.

 

The first mistake I made in bringing in Callan was that I had strong feelings for him. I pushed him through the door to the station, nodded at Fritz, who was talking to Eric at the front desk, and shoved him through the door to the chamber where Ty normally just waited for detainees to start talking. Of course, Ty was sound asleep at the time back at home, so I thrust Callan into a chair and pulled out my gun and leveled it at his head. Eyes the color of slowly tarnishing silver scrutinized me for a second. “Oya, I would almost think that you care for me.” His voice was a French wind chime in my ears, something that had always disarmed me in the past. This time I did my best not to let my emotions show themselves. Callan must have noticed something since he snorted and looked around in a bored manner. I tried not to let my finger touch the hammer in that moment. 

“You’re not German. Tell me how you turned out to be a mutt.” I hissed through my teeth.

His eyes snapped to my face. “Beautiful Oya, do you not know the history of Ireland? Romans attacked Germany and then moved up to attack the British Isles. My blood runs deep and just recently, in me, did the gene appear. It has been dormant for a very long time.”

I felt my finger spaz and try to touch the hammer. “Jakub Wrobel lived well over ten centuries. How long have you been alive?”

Callan muttered under his breath for a moment before looking up at me. He leaned forward before licking his lips and said “Jakub Wrobel had connections to some creatures we are not allowed to mention. There were many spells around him keeping him alive. Your brother was able to break the spells. It wasn’t the bullet that killed Jake; it was your brother’s power. First time he ever used it. It’s something the Empaths like to keep hidden from the rest of the world.” He leaned back and seemed to relax. “Normal humans have nightmares about werewolves and vampires coming to kill them. What they really need to worry about is the society of the paths. Empaths can stop your emotions from reaching your soul, which makes your soul think you’re dead, so it leaves and you die. I will not reveal what the others can do since you do not have a family member that fits into that category, but I just thought you ought to know that your brother could kill you just by looking at you.” He stretched back and slowly smiled. My finger itched to kill him, yet I knew that I would have to wait for Ty to get there. Ty would get more out of him than a history lesson.

“My brother would never kill me.” I whispered shocked, at how hoarse my voice sounded. Callan just snorted and leaned back again. My breath inhaled sharply without me noticing. Damn him. He knew how much I enjoyed it when he stretched while wearing a button down shirt. Damn him for having a body of a swimmer god. Damn him for wearing a button down shirt today. Damn him especially for having a cousin who worked in a strip joint and had taught him a few tricks. My hand started shaking and I knew how much it wanted to shoot him. Alright, I would let it. Instantly my finger clicked the hammer back and I shot two shots, one on each side of his head.

“WHAT THE HELL, WOMAN?” Fritz burst through the door and bellowed at me. I turned my head to him, a frown keeping my emotions in check. We both turned our heads back to Callan when he started laughing. He pointed to the wall behind him where the bullets had imbedded themselves and let out a string of laughter.

“Silver bullets? Honestly! You think you could kill me with silver bullets? It’s like trying to stake a vampire with a pencil!” He couldn’t stop laughing and it just made me madder. I started to raise the gun again, but Fritz grabbed me.

“No. No. Oya? No.” He grabbed the gun out of my hand and stared at it. “I’m taking this with me. No more DNA encoded weapons for you while he is still here.” He shut the door tightly behind him as he walked out with my only line of defense between me and Callan.

The pigheaded male was still laughing. If I still had a gun, I would have shot him for real.

The door opened again to reveal Ty. He threw me a gun, a causal use one, not DNA encoded one, and walked around to be behind Callan for a moment. Callan tipped his head back and gave Ty a big smile. “Howdy, Ty! How’s it hanging this week?”

Ty’s blank face was a perfect mirror image of mine. He looked up at me and I nodded. I suddenly felt very calm and relaxed. I knew it was Ty working his magic, yet Callan waved his hand as if to chase away a fly. “It is not going to work on me. I know what you’re trying to do and I won’t let it affect me.”

Ty’s gun was pressed into Callan’s neck before I could blink. “Listen, mutt, you put my sister through a lot. Don’t think for a second I’ll not repay the favor tenfold.”

Callan’s eyes sought me out. “I think she already knows what you can do. I told her about your emotional shock. Go ahead and show her what you’re fully capable of. I think you might be in the same position I’m in if you’re suave enough.”

 

The second mistake I made became apparent as Callan leaped out of the chair. He picked up the chair before either Ty or I could blink and slammed it against Ty hard enough that he went flying into the wall and collapsed. Before Fritz could come charging through the door, Callan had placed the chair underneath the door handle so the door couldn’t open. He sat back down in the chair and I leveled my gun at him. “He’s still alive, if you’re wondering.” Callan’s voice was so calm that I felt myself start shaking. Damn myself for not following protocol when handling werewolves; we were supposed to tie them down to the chairs.

“Look, Oya. I agreed to come down here to talk. Now you’re trying to kill me and use your brother to get into my mind. It’s not what I wanted.” He leaned forward in the chair and the door wobbled in its frame. Good man, Fritz.

Callan looked behind himself with a sigh. “I didn’t like lying to you, Oya. When we met that day in the café, I was amazed at how kind you were. And then we started seeing each other more often and I was scared that you would find out about what I was. Yet, I still hoped that you would decide to let me live out the rest of my life if you ever found out.” He shook his head and I thought I saw something glittering in his eye. My grip on the gun tightened. Either he was crying or about to change into the monster that he was and kill me.

He looked up at me, as if he had read my mind. “I would never kill you, Oya. I would never hurt you. Haven’t I proven that to you many times this past year? Look,” He stopped and started unbuttoning his shirt, “I’ll show you how much I care for you now. I’ll let you kill me and I won’t stop you.” He slipped out of his shirt, stood up and pressed his chest against the gun in my hand. “Shoot me, Oya.” He said it softly and slowly.

“I…I…Callan…” My thoughts muddled. Callan had a body to rival Adonis and I had never seen it before. I wanted to drop the gun and jump on him. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to go back in time to yesterday and tell myself not to go over to his house where I found him in his wolf form. I wanted to have never walked into that café and seen his face. I wanted to have never become a wolf hunter. I thought about the day I met him.

 

“Normally, I wouldn’t come up and talk to a guy after have only seen him in one place, but since you have constantly been staring at me today, I just had to come over.” I had babbled like a perky teenager. Things had been so different back then. It was before Ty had killed Wrobel and put our sibling relationship to the test.

Callan had looked up at me and pointed to his cheek. “I was mostly curious about that cut on your face that doesn’t look like you tripped over anything.” He paused for a split second and in that moment, a grin spread lazily across his face. “Unless you have a three pronged utensil that is illegal in five states.”

“No, I work down at the Abnormal Hunting Agency just down the block. I was supposed to take down a psychotic mermaid and he tried to take my face off. I got him in the end.” I smiled back at him, wondering what his name was.

Leaning forward, almost has if he was mantling the leftovers of a sausage bagel, he whispered, “What’s your name, AHA girl that has a problem with sea creatures?” The way he said it should have alerted me to something at the time, but I was too struck by his deep blood red hair that was just shy of a buzz cut and his silver eyes that seemed to melt whenever he talked.

“Oya. Oya Merck. And who may you be Mr. I watch girls with cuts on their faces before and after the cut happens?”

“Callan. Callan Heidikamp.”

 

Callan was so much taller than me. Yet, I had always been so short, never having made it past five feet. Somehow, Ty had made it to six feet. People always questioned us on that. At six foot four inches, Callan put us to shame when it came to height. He was actually kneeling so I wouldn’t have to stand on anything to reach his chest with my gun. Part of me thought that that was too noble of him. My mind became less muddled. I looked into Callan’s eyes and saw my image reflected back at me. That was when my third mistake was made obvious.

 

The door burst open and faster than I could comprehend, Callan had removed the gun from my hand and had it stuck under my neck. Fritz had his own gun out and pointed at Callan, who shook me to show that I had become a hostage. Incredibly, all I could think about was how strong Callan’s arms were and how warm his body was behind me.

“Damn…” Fritz let out in a breath. His eyes traveled from my face, to the gun, to Callan. I licked my lips and tried to lurch away from Callan, but he held on tighter than steel.

“Little Oya, you made two critical mistakes today.” Callan was whispering in my ear. “You didn’t follow protocol and you didn’t ask Ty to get back your DNA encoded weapon. Doing that, you have put yourself into mortal danger.” He yanked me to my feet and started dragging me towards the door. Fritz’s eyes bugged out, but one kick from Callan straight to the head had him on the floor. Callan followed that procedure whenever someone came running at him. We were soon out of the station and he let me go. I spun on him and stared down the barrel of the gun.

I jerked my neck way up to stare into Callan’s eyes. “You’re wrong, you b*****d! I made three mistakes! I cared for you, you messed up werewolf!”

Callan tipped his head. “Really? Well, not anymore.” His finger pulled back the trigger.