Preview - Dangerous Games: Chapter 10

Ethan couldn’t believe what he was seeing, the boy’s mother had turned into a giant wolf right before his very eyes. The murderous look in the mother wolf’s eyes left no doubt in Ethan’s mind that she was going to kill the man that hurt her son. He watched as not a single person dared to move, they all just seemed to be waiting for the death they all could feel was coming. As Ethan’s gaze slid moved to the trembling man on the floor, something next to the man caught his eye.

‘The necklace!’

It had fallen out when the boy’s father had knocked the other man down.

‘Damn it, how does Sera expect me to steal this necklace from a bunch of werewolves?’

Ethan froze for a moment as the word werewolves crossed through his mind.

“Werewolves.” Ethan whispers to himself.

Just saying the word seemed to help Ethan realize that that’s exactly what these people were, they were all werewolves, except for the boy. Focusing his gaze back to the situation below Ethan watches as the little boy gets up and grabs his mother’s tail. The boy was saying something to her, but his voice was too low for Ethan to hear. He leans in closer to the glass hoping to hear what the boy was saying only for the window pan to let out a small creak. Ethan immediately ducks out of site, cursing his stupidity. After a few seconds Ethan peeks up, praying nobody heard or saw him. To his relief everyone attention still seemed to be focused on the situation with the boy and his family. Ethan watches carefully as the father picks up his son and places him on top of his mother back.

“We are leaving, I suggest no one try to stop us!” The boy’s father calls out.

“You’re finished Silverblood, you hear me, finished!” The man on the floor yells out pathetically.

Ethan gaze moves back to the man called Silverblood, that was the person Sera had told him to contact if things sideways. As Silverblood turns to leave his eyes lock onto Ethan for a brief second, the look in his eyes letting Ethan know that he had known he was there the whole time. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like he was going to expose him, as Silverblood said nothing as he walked out with his family.

Ethan let’s out a sigh of relief, his gaze shifting back to the necklace on the floor, he watches as the man gets up and picks it up off the floor, stuffing it into his inner breast pocket.

‘Ok, now that I know where it is, the question becomes how do I get it.’

Now that he knew these people were werewolves, he couldn’t risk a direct approach even with the tear gas and flash bangs in his bag. As the music and chatter start up again, Ethan lets out a small laugh as he watches the man who was knocked down try to play off his embarrassing display from earlier.

“What a dick.” Ethan whispers to himself.

“I agree.”

Startled, Ethan turns to the voice that just spoke; it was Silverblood.

“I don’t have long, I need to get back to my family, so tell me, why are you here?”

His voice was commanding and calm, but there was more to it, there was a pressure in his words that made it hard to breath. This man, no, this wolf was not something Ethan could hope to face normally.

“I was hired to steal a necklace, that belongs to the man you punched earlier.” Ethan explains, deciding to just go with the truth for now.

“A necklace?”

“Yep.”

“For what reason?”

“Not my business.” Ethan responded out of reflex, even though he himself was wondering that very thing.

“Who hired you?”

Ethan hesitates, he couldn’t be too sure that naming Sera would do or explain anything. Remembering the note she had left for him, Ethan takes out the card and with a flick of his wrist tosses over to Silverbood, who catches it. Looking over the card, Silverblood seems to be taken aback by it.

“The Witches Council, no one’s heard from them in ages, but that would explain why I can’t smell you even from this distance.” Silverblood muses to himself.

‘Witches?’ Ethan thinks to himself. ‘Is that what Sera is, a witch?’

“From my understanding occuluvis is extremely hard to make and is not something to be used for something as simple as stealing.” Silverblood states in a suspicious tone.

“Trust me when I say nothing about this job is simple.” Ethan retorts.

Silverblood stares at him, Ethan could tell from the look in his eye that Silverblood was trying to make sense of his presence. Once again Ethan was glad for mask covering his face, after a moment the pressure surrounding Ethan disappears.

“Trying to steal the necklace here would-be suicide.” Silverblood notes.

“I know, the person who sent me left out quite a few details that would have been helpful, like the fact that I would be crashing a party for werewolves.” Ethan states to his own chagrin.

Silverblood smiles before quickly schooling his features, “For you to show me this card so quickly must mean you know of my friendly relation with the witch’s council.”

In reality Ethan had no idea what any of this meant, but he couldn’t afford to show Silverblood his ignorance.

“I was told you could help me.”

“Perhaps, for now I suggest you head back, I’ll contact you when I can.”

Ethan was in no position to argue, and there were too many unknown variables for him to try and steal the necklace now anyway.

“Ok, I’m staying at the Northview Hotel room 8.”

As Silverblood turns to leave; Ethan calls out to him.

“About your son.”

Silverblood stops but doesn’t turn around.

“He’s a tough kid, and…you’re a good father.” Ethan stated, unsure of why he felt so compelled to say that to him.

Without responding or turning Silverblood performs an inhuman leap into the darkness of the woods.