TERRANCE GARRETT: By Lori Titus
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010The Marradith Ryder Series, Part 70
“Excuse me,” Daria said to the man behind the counter. “I was told to ask for Terrance Garrett.”
The man wiped the counter with his towel and gave her a crooked smile. “Well, you’re standing next to him, lady.”
She blinked and looked to her left. One seat down the counter sat a man wearing a black parka and baggy jeans. He put down his cup of coffee and winked at her.
“You’re Miss Matthews, then,” he said.
“I’m sorry, I did not expect you’d be waiting for me, “ Daria replied. She’d been told that he was the cook at this place, and she’d expected to find him in the middle of work.
“Daria,” she said, and extended a hand to him. He shook it, but the touch was brief.
The man at the counter grinned. Daria noticed his nametag read: George.
“Miranda’s not coming in today, and it’s my day off. You need anything, you’ve got my cell, man.”
“Sure.”
George shot him a look. A nod that meant he approved of Terrance’s choice in women.
Once the diner’s door shut behind them, Daria paused. “Where are we going?”
“We’re going to see one of the places where they stay. Or used to. I do assume that’s why you came here?”
It was cold and growing darker with the movement of clouds above, but there was no mistaking the gleam in his eyes.
“Chicken, are you?” he said.
“No such thing. Anywhere you can go, I definitely can.”
They started walking. The smile on his face was sarcastic, but when he spoke there was no trace of it in his voice.
“It’s not that far. Only about eight blocks.”
She nodded. It was her impulse to tell him that she didn’t care, that the cold didn’t bite her skin, that her boots didn’t hurt, and that she ran five miles a day, walking was no problem. But that all sounded defensive. She had the feeling that would please him somehow.
Waiting at a stoplight, Terrance looked around before speaking.
He took in a quick breath, and Daria noticed how it came out as a cloud when he exhaled.
“You’re a newborn, aren’t you?”
That question surprised her, coming from a human. How on earth could he tell?
The light changed and she stepped off the curb. She walked so fast that he made a little sprint to catch up with her.
“I’m right, aren’t I?”
Daria put her hands in her pockets, and looked up into his face. “I guess that I can’t really blame you for not understanding. It’s a very rude question. Amongst my kind, you wouldn’t ask a woman you just met about how long she’s been a vampire. ”
His mouth formed a little “O” and embarrassment flashed across his face. And then he laughed. Loudly.
“If I were vampire, I’d probably know the answer.”
“It’s been about six years,” she said.
There were other questions in his eyes. She could see them sparkling there.
“I wonder why Rafael would send a newborn,” he said. “When we have obviously got a problem.”
Daria smiled. “Really? I could marvel at how Pablo Vega seemed to keep the Wolves in line, being only human.”
He nodded. “Okay. Even.”
They had reached their destination.
“Ladies first,” he said coldly.
****************
“What was this place?” Daria asked.
The inside was pitch black. Terrance made a way through a smashed in window around the back.
“Drug manufacturer,” he replied. “This factory has been closed for twenty years, you can imagine in that time people have found all kinds of uses for it.”
He took a flashlight from his pocket. A small circle of light cut into the darkness.
“Can you see alright?”
“Of course.”
She followed him up a dark stairwell into a large, open space. The second floor. She guessed that it had to be at least 5,000 square feet. The floor was covered with mattresses, assorted trash, and just plain filth.
Nothing prepared her for the wave of smells that assaulted her: blood, urine, excrement. Beneath those smells, the pungent, sandy odor of wolf fur.
Terrance wrapped a scarf around his nose and mouth casually. This was nothing new to him.
“They use this as their dining hall. They go round humans up from different spots in the city and bring them here to feast. None of them actually live here. Our men were able to track a few of them back to a house across town. We took three of them out. Unfortunately, the rest scattered.”
“It’s commendable, that you fought them,” Daria said. “There were many Wolves here. More than twenty, by all the different scents here. And many humans died in this place. The last time Sojourners checked, there were only four Wolves in this area. Does anyone knew how their population grew?”
“Pablo had ideas. He believed that a new group moved here from elsewhere.”
“What do you think?”
Terrance paused. “I believe an old Wolf, who has been living here for a long time, is making new Wolves. Someone who can blend in, and has the resources to house his new pups. Until recently we never caught more than one Wolf a night. We’ve now managed to kill four at once. The old school would never have allowed that. They would not have put themselves in jeopardy of being caught. They’d never have messed with Pablo.”
“How exactly did you manage to kill these Wolves?”
“I can’t tell you how we did it. Let’s just say, Pablo had a talent for rounding up the hardest men, and giving them something new to kill.”
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©2009 Lori Titus
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