Secrets and Lies

Saturday morning started off exactly according to plan, in that both Phoebe and I slept in.

I didn't get up until around nine, then took my time getting showered and dressed. My partner did the same, and it was easily half past ten before we were both ready to face the day. There was no conference call though, or if there was we hadn't been invited. Which was fine, we'd already got our marching orders from Dr. Bishop the night before.

Instead the two of us headed down to the hotel's restaurant and visited their weekend brunch buffet.

"This is alright," Phoebe commented after we'd loaded up our plates. She had a couple pancakes, a bunch of bacon, and some baked beans in front of her. Along with a glass of juice and a mug of coffee.

I nodded in agreement as I tried a forkful of my made-to-order cheese omelette. Along with that I had a pair of sausages and some toast on my plate. And I'd grabbed some juice and coffee as well.

As the two of us ate I asked quietly, "Is the job always like this? Rushing around the country, dealing with mysterious deaths and alien entities?"

Phoebe shrugged slightly, "We've only been at it two and a half months, remember? But aye, so far this is what we've been up to."

"We had a bit of a slow start," she added after munching on a forkful of pancake. "Our 'research department' took a while to get themselves sorted out. And Terry's still getting up to speed I think? We used to have a lot more money and resources, back in the old organization."

I nodded slowly as that sank in, and I enjoyed a bit more of my omelet. Then I asked, "What do you do in between cases? Do you get any down-time?"

The redhead shrugged again and repeated herself, "Two and a half months. It's too early for any of us to say what this job's going to be like."

"Personally though," she continued, "I used to spend my off-time training. Hit the gym a few times a week to keep on top of the physical fitness. And train with the uh, special skills to stay on top of those too."

I raised an eyebrow, "Used to? You mean with the old organization? What about now?"

She blushed and mumbled, "I mean before Yorkshire. Since then I've been using my down-time for um, you know. Shopping, new wardrobe and such. Getting used to my new situation."

"Ah," I responded. There was a small temptation to tease her a bit, but I decided to let it go.

Instead I lowered my voice a little further and asked, "So if we're able to apprehend this thing, are we going to have to drive it all the way back to Cardiff? Or how's that going to work?"

Phoebe shook her head, "I doubt it. Grace said to contact her, and she'll forward the information to the boss. Or we could contact the boss directly. Either way, what happens after that is way above both our pay grades."

"By boss you mean the mysterious Miss Talbot?" I asked. "If everything goes smoothly this afternoon then I'd rather we contact her directly, instead of Dr. Bishop. I'd like to meet our elusive benefactor."

The redhead grimaced as she mumbled, "No you don't. Believe me, you're better off avoiding her."

Before I could respond she added, "Look if you're so eager to meet Miss Talbot then you call her after we're done. I'll go wait in my Grandland while you hand the entity over to her."

"Actually that'd work out perfectly," she continued with a grin. "I'm certainly not looking forward to a long drive back to Wales with some angry monster ripping up the back of my SUV. Then maybe you and I can swing it so we get to stick around here another day or two?"

Before I could ask she elaborated, "For a bit of that 'down time' you were just asking about. Make it a full weekend, then head back in on Monday. It's a nice enough hotel after all, room service was a treat, and the brunch here's good. What do you think Tril?"

I raised an eyebrow at her shortening of my name, but otherwise managed to keep my expression somewhat impassive. I couldn't help wondering if she had any ulterior motives for suggesting the two of us continue sharing the luxury hotel suite, and found myself wishing I'd finished memorizing that truth spell last night.

After a second or two I finally replied, "I think you're getting ahead of yourself there, Feebs. Let's worry about actually finishing the job first, before we start making plans about what we do with ourselves afterwards."

"Fine," she pouted as her shoulders slumped.

Seeing that I smiled as I pointed out, "I didn't say no. Just that we have more important things to deal with right now."

The busty redhead's mood picked up a bit at that. As we continued enjoying our brunch the conversation shifted to another important topic, and the two of us ended up discussing the weather. Which was looking a lot like yesterday, according to the information on our phones. So we could expect it to be cold and damp, with a low overcast sky. The only good news was rain wasn't expected until evening.

It wasn't long before we'd both had enough to eat, then Phoebe and I returned to our suite for some final preparations. Including making sure we were both dressed appropriately for our planned encounter in the woods. Which for me was a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and my hoodie, along with my rugged hiking shoes and my autumn jacket. My partner's outfit was similar, except her shoes had a bit more heel to them and jeans were tighter, as was her blouse.

Once we were both ready the two of us left our suite and made our way out to Phoebe's Grandland. Then we spent most of the forty-five minute drive discussing our plans, along with our quarry.

"I was thinking they might have set up a den in that area," I commented at one point. "Assuming we're dealing with something related to a hyena, I mean? That location would have good access to water, with the river nearby. And between the woods and hiking trails they'd be able to move around without being observed. Plus that spot's fairly central to where all the attacks have taken place."

My partner nodded slowly, "Makes sense."

Then she frowned, "What doesn't make sense is how it's managing to survive on just one kill a month. Especially since it let Valerie Townsend go."

I shook my head, "I don't think they're killing people for food. Even though the victims all had bite and claw wounds, none of them were uh, missing any parts."

"They never found the first body," Phoebe reminded me. "It might have eaten him. Same with Corporal Radley, Grace said she vanished without a trace."

That made me grimace, "Right. But those two disappeared months ago. And based on the last three attacks, I don't think they've got anything to do with feeding."

"Then why attack people in the first place?" the redhead responded. "That's just calling attention to itself."

I shook my head again, "No idea. Hopefully we'll get the chance to find out."

"Assuming we find them again I'll do the talking," I decided. "I don't know how responsive they'll be, but we have to try. Like Dr. Bishop said, they might be sentient. We can't just kill them outright."

Phoebe grumbled a bit, "Yeah I know the new protocols. Not convinced yet they're any good, but I'll stick to the rules."

I glanced at her then suppressed a smirk as I commented, "Good girl."

As intended that got her blushing brightly, but I pretended not to notice.

Instead I continued, "When we find them, I want you to keep quiet and let me do the talking. I'll try and communicate with them, and who knows? Maybe it'll work. While I'm doing that I want you to stay focused and have your magic ready. Or however that works. If communications fails, I want you to be ready to bring them down. Stun them, knock them out, use whatever non-lethal spells you have to get the job done. But only if talking to them doesn't work. Ok?"

"Fine," she mumbled. "You do the talking, I'll stand around looking pretty until you need magical back-up."

I couldn't keep my smile hidden any longer so I flashed her a grin and said, "Shouldn't be too hard. When it comes to 'looking pretty' you seem to be a natural."

That left her flustered enough she didn't even try to respond. Instead she just huffed a bit then pouted loudly as she turned away to look out her window.

When we finally reached our destination I parked the SUV in almost exactly the same spot as the day before. Then the two of us set off together into the woods. We had a fairly good idea where we'd encountered the entity the first time around, so we didn't need to waste time hiking up and down all the various trails.

Instead Phoebe and I quickly located the correct path, then headed straight for where we'd had the earlier encounter. There we cautiously left the path and started moving deeper into the woods, towards where the terrain sloped a little steeper downhill.

Sure enough our mystery soldier made another appearance. Once my partner and I were about a half dozen meters away from the hiking trail the androgynous figure revealed themself, and basically repeated their previous performance word for word.

Their left hand was raised in another 'stop' gesture while their right hand rested on the grip of their side-arm as they ordered, "Halt! Restricted area. You must leave immediately."

Phoebe and I stopped, and despite having planned and prepared for this I still felt more than a little tense. After all, we were almost certainly facing some sort of nonhuman entity from another world.

"I'm afraid we can't do that," I replied in what I hoped sounded like a calm but firm tone. "We don't want to hurt you, but we do need to talk. We know you're not Corporal Radley, and we're pretty sure you're not from around here. Would you like to tell us your name?"

Their eyes narrowed slightly and they slowly lowered their left hand as they glanced back and forth between Phoebe and myself. Then their right hand moved away from the gun, leaving both just hanging relaxed to either side. Finally their gaze settled on me again, as though they'd decided I was the main threat. Their eyes slowly tracked up and down over me, like they were sizing me up.

After a few seconds of silence I started to wonder if maybe they just weren't going to talk at all. Then it crossed my mind that maybe they didn't know our language after all. They probably heard other soldiers using that 'halt' line, it was possible they'd just learned to mimic the sounds and gestures to scare people away.

I wasn't ready to give up on communications just yet though. I asked hesitantly, "Do you speak English?"

They watched me warily for a few moments before finally responding, "I do."

"Self-taught," they added in a thick accent I couldn't place, "By listening to your kind."

Their answer pretty much confirmed they were both intelligent and sentient, which gave me some hope that we might be able to reach a peaceful resolution. I knew it wasn't going to be easy though, especially as I asked them my next set of questions.

"Why are you here? Why are you attacking, killing people? You know we can't allow you to keep doing that."

The entity reacted to my words with an angry scowl, "You think I want to be here? In this cold soggy miserable land?! I'm brought here against my will! Stolen from my home, my harem, my tribe! There I was honoured, respected. I was matriarch, chief, mother to our strongest warriors!"

"Here I have nothing!" they spat angrily. Then they gestured at the name on their uniform, "Weak warriors like your 'Corporal Radley' would keep me inside a cage. I refuse! I have a right to survive, to be free, and to thrive! Today I live on stolen scraps and harmless prey, but I know tomorrow will be better."

I sighed, "I'm sorry you were brought here against your will. I've been told that was an accident. I can't make any promises, but maybe we can try and get you home again? But first I have to ask you to come with us. We can't allow you to keep attacking and killing people."

The entity sounded mocking as they responded, "You're sorry? I'm sorry your people are so pathetic and weak. Half of them seem utterly useless, even their flesh is tough and bitter."

"I was chief of a powerful tribe in my homeland!" they stated with pride. "I will be chief again someday, soon I will build a brand new tribe here. At last I finally found a suitable mate, after the first three proved incompatible."

"And now I believe I've found another," they added as they looked me up and down again. "Return to me when the moon is full, and I will bless you as I did the last one. Bring your little pet too. I'll permit you to keep her, if she survives our mating rites. Together we will raise a new generation of warriors, and in time we will rule this wet and miserable land."

I tried not to think too much about how Feebs' cheeks turned pink when the entity referred to her as my pet. Fortunately the rest of the entity's speech made it easy for me to stay on task.

"You know we can't allow that," I stated. "We can't let you hurt anyone else."

"Then we have a problem," they stated. "But I have the solution."

The attack came so fast neither Phoebe or I had a chance to react. One moment they were standing a couple meters away from us, the next they were on us. And somewhere in that instant their appearance shifted, from the pale-skinned androgynous blonde to something a lot less human. I just had time to catch a glimpse of beige fur along with large fearsome teeth set in a powerful jaw.

One clawed furry hand lashed out to the side, raking across my partner's chest and shoulder, knocking her sideways into a tree. Meanwhile the rest of the entity's momentum carried them directly into me. I was lifted off my feet, then landed on my back hard enough to knock the air from my lungs.

The entity came down ontop of me, and immediately tried to pin me to the ground while those powerful jaws and large deadly teeth snapped at me. The impact also knocked their helmet away, giving me a glimpse of the small furry rounded ears atop their very non-human head.

As I struggled I managed to get my right arm up in a defensive position, so they clamped down hard on that instead of my throat. I felt the immense pressure of their bite, but there was no pain yet. I chalked that up to adrenaline and shock, as I tried to put my few years of martial arts training to work.

My first priority was to get out from under them, and I was stronger than I looked so I hoped to use that to my advantage. Unfortunately they were even stronger, and despite my best efforts I couldn't get them off of me. Although things weren't all going their way. As near as I could tell they weren't used to fighting in clothes, they seemed to be struggling against the combat fatigues. Especially the boots, which probably saved my legs from some nasty lacerations from the claws on their feet.

Unable to twist out from under them I tried instead to punch them, driving my left fist into their side a couple times. It felt like they were made of solid muscle though, punching them was like striking a wall. I'd have tried using my right fist instead, but their jaws were still locked tight around my forearm.

Then I felt their claws rake across my abdomen, and I knew I was in real trouble. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered why Phoebe hadn't used her magic yet, before remembering what Martin said back in Yorkshire. With the entity literally ontop of me Feebs couldn't enspell it without getting me as well. That seemed like a glaring flaw, and if we survived this encounter I'd try and remember to address it later.

For now I tried punching the entity again, and this time my fist encountered something hard and metallic. I realized it was their side-arm, just as their powerful jaws finally released my right arm and moved for my throat instead.

At that point it was all survival instinct. I felt their jaws close across my neck and right shoulder as I yanked the handgun from its holster. I managed to disengage the safety catch, and just as I felt their fangs start clamping down the gun went off between us with a muffled pop. The pressure on my neck eased off, and the entity's body sagged ontop of me.

A moment later they slumped over to my right, where they ended up laying flat on their back beside me. My heart was pounding in my chest and I was panting hard from the ordeal. The entity was still breathing too, but theirs was coming in short shallow gasps.

"You defeat me," they whispered, although in this form their accent was even stronger.

Their breathing quickly become even more shallow and ragged, as they stared up at the low grey clouds just visible above the trees.

Then with their last breath they added softly, "Now you become chief."

~ End of Episode Two ~