"So we can assume that he knows where we are staying then," Riley said. "He's been seen during the day and night, so it wouldn't appear that he was a weakness that way. What sense did you get from him?" Kendra thought a moment.
"It's hard to describe as power emanated from him, but it wasn't like he wasn't powerful like he was energy. Nor that he isn't extremely dangerous or doesn't have talents, it was confusing, hard to explain," she said and they just looked at her.
"So is he powerful or not?'
"Yes very much so, but I get the sense in more of physical than of the mind. Plus I think that he can manipulate the energy around him, that was the power I felt." Kendra honestly had no other way to describe it.
"We can't make a move until we know what he is, how we are to go about getting him."
"I don't think he's going to be caught," Kendra admitted. No, she didn't think there was a cage that could hold him. She didn't mention the draw to him she felt either, she thought that best left alone. The last time she said that there was a bit of a draw to something she'd been sectioned off and kept away from it. And that one had been nothing compared to this draw. It was exciting to her in her dull world. She had the urge to go out and find him, and not because they wanted her to. So keeping her mouth shut was best.
"For now," Riley continued. "Just keep a low profile here in the city, our post is still good. However, we do have a lead on a different species. The phoenix was spotted, we're moving in."
"Really where?" Derrick asked perking up and Riley looked at a paper.
"A short plane ride from here. It's already set up and we should be able to capture it. Kipper and Derrick, you will go and watch, getting ready to set up for capture. Make sure you take note, doctor. These animals are known for setting themselves a flame."
"Understood," Derrick said and Kendra smiled at him, he looked like a kid handed a Christmas present.
"As for the rest, we are going on a different sort of mission. We have intel that there is a pack of wolves roaming just to the north of us. We are sure that this is a group of werewolves, the pack has been known to kill humans. We will be aiming to capture a few and kill the others."
"When do we move out?" Bryce asked, he was bored with just watching things.
"One hour, look alive people," Riley said and they got up moving to be ready to depart, Kendra was lost again in her own thoughts, but she heard Derrick coming up to her.
"This is exciting, a phoenix. We know virtually nothing about them. We don't even know if they are truly an immortal race or if it is a different phoenix when they turn to ash. How do they reproduce, and what kind of blood work and care does it take?" Derrick was firing off the questions and was so excited.
"What if capturing it makes it sick, what if putting it in a cage changes it?" She asked him a bit angered for no reason.
"Well that does happen, but I wasn't really thinking about capture. I was thinking about studying, no better place to observe but in the wild." He had a notebook and was already writing things down as he spoke and this was one reason they picked Derrick.
Not just because he was an excellent doctor with these animals, but because he was overly thorough. Took so many notes and observations that it was ridiculous. "How many of those journals do you have?" She asked.
"A lot. I even have one of our mystery man as well. You'd be surprised what you can find even with a little information. Careful with the werewolves alright? Just one bite with them." He warned Kendra.
"I know, try not to get burned." He just gave a nod mumbling to himself what he wanted to figure out. He went down the stairs and she went into her room grabbed her bag and went downstairs to wait. It wasn't long at all and they were traveling again.
She was looking out the window, she got to see so much of the world, but never actually saw it. Now she was looking at it and the beauty of it as they passed out of the dingy city and into the wilderness. They went rather high into the mountains and then had to get out of the vehicles and hike a short way.
They found an outcropping and four of them set up shop with rifles that were specially designed tranquilizer guns for werewolves. The rest waited down below, they didn't know the number but if they were lucky the whole pack wouldn't be here at the moment. Or it was just a small group?
This was the boring part, sitting here and waiting. She looked off toward the mountain that they had been watching and wondered what was up there that drew the creature that had been spotted. It was so desolate and had to be frigidly cold as well. The cloud cover was starting to come in and small flakes were starting to come down.
It was looking like they might have to come back when there was a movement across the field. A large white wolf appeared and trotted out into the field and stopped. It looked around and its gaze paused in their direction. They knew that no one was giving off a scent with the special clothing and neutralizers they wore. Still, it seemed uneasy. It turned its head and seemed to make a chuffing sound.
Two more appeared and they looked across the field, toward the tree line was a group of local animals. They knew that these three were not normal wolves. There was too much intelligence there, too much sophistication in the way they moved.
Once the three were slowly moving across the field, the white one in front, and the two timber-looking wolves flanking him, Riley gave a signal. It couldn't have been more precise on their part. The three were hit at the same time, the white one turned and snapped at the other two, who turned and darted off fast.
"Trackers in." Came a voice over the coms and their group moved out into the field where the large white wolf was backing up. Its ears flat and its teeth bared, they always had to put the wolves down because they got so hostile with them. Could you blame them though? Werewolves were considered an eight on the scale most times.
"Kendra!" Riley shouted and she looked at him.
"Right here." Did he always have to shout?
"Get this one under control. You four go and track the others. The tranq will only work for ten minutes once it takes effect." Kendra moved forward, she could see that the white wolf was fighting it hard, but it would take her soon.
"If you want to live. It best to calm yourself and come with." Kendra said kindly.
"Fuck you." The werewolf shifted suddenly and a naked woman was kneeling there in the light snow, her hair to her hips and a white-blonde color. Her eyes were an eerie yellow, but Kendra didn't think that there was a more beautiful color for her.
"I want to help you live," Kendra said and she sneered at her, blinking as she tried to stay awake.
"I won't be caged, I won't be trained." She said looking at the group. Kendra tried to place her accent, it sounded Russian to her.
Kendra decided to try Russian, she knew the language and of the few left with her she didn't think that they understood it. "I know, I hate the cage that they give me. Sometimes to survive with the enemy you have to work with them."
"I will not, I have a family to look after." She responded in Russian and looked back toward the tree line. "They will kill them." Her eyes watered and she swayed. Kendra reached out and once she made contact with her she calmed and relaxed, the tranq taking immediate effect.
"I'll make sure they don't."
"They aren't the only ones." She said and her eyes closed and she became a wolf again.
"She's a type two," Linda said jogging up to them. "A wolf that is human, wow it's been a while. I wonder if the others are like her." Kendra sank her hands into the fur of the werewolf and felt the thick coat.
"Careful, mistreat them and you'll lose them." Kendra snapped at the one who was putting in the inhibitor to stop the werewolf from changing back to human once she woke. They put a muzzle on her and used a stretcher to carry her back to the waiting vehicles. The others appeared at the tree line with the other two, also on stretchers.
"Excellent, we'll take them back to holding for now until we can arrange transportation," Riley said and Kendra positioned herself near the wolves as they walked back. They were almost to the vehicles when the wolves were starting to become a bit more lively.
It was a bit taxing on Kendra to continually touch them and keep them calm. They were starting to panic and she was trying to stop that. A panicked animal was a dead one, and once they reached the vehicles they were tranquilized again and put into a truck. They would be fully awake once they were back.
It was a slow-going ride now that it was snowing, but they made it back in one piece and were at a different building than the one they were staying at. Though it was just in sight, this one was outfitted for holding what they caught. More men had arrived since they were gone. Just how many people did this agency have?
They got out of the vehicles, and now came the hard part. They had three fully awake and pissed werewolves in the back of this truck. They backed it up to the entrance and only a few were standing where the back would open.
"How do you want to do this?" Kendra asked Riley, there was growling and the back door was being slammed by something big.
"Let us out!" Came a muffled cry of one. Clearly, they had gotten the inhibitors out.
"How about we open the door and shoot," Kendel said and Kendra gave him a dirty look. He just shrugged. Kendra moved up to the door and climbed up on the bumper to open the sliding panel there.
"Bitch let us out!" Shouted a young man that was standing at the mesh screen and she gave a sigh.
"If I open this door and you run out, they are going to shoot you, more times than you can possibly heal." The young man slammed a hand into the screen.
"Vladimir, sit down." Said a very authoritative voice and the young boy moved away from the screen. He had amber eyes tinged with gold. The yellow-eyed woman came forward.
"What do these humans want? We have done nothing to them."
"They see that your group has attacked humans."
"Yes, hunters that take our food. We want nothing to do with human society, it is worthless and they kill our prey for sport and us."
"They want to study you, but for right now they will just be holding you."
"Mirage, I want to go home." Came a sad young voice, a female voice and Kendra saw Vladimir move and he must have sat down by the girl.
"First we must play this human game. We will get out." Mirage said in growling tones that Kendra couldn't decipher, to Kendra she looked at her silently for a moment.
"Alright, we will come out peacefully so long as you put us in the same cell. The same do you hear me? You try to separate us and I will kill as many as I can before they take us down." Kendra got down and moved over to Riley and the few others.
"They'll come out so long as they can be in the same holding area."
"Not happening," Riley said.
"Think about it, you can separate them later. Right now you need to get them out alive and whole." Linda said. "They're just scared animals, it'll be easy." Kendra felt angered on the werewolves' behalf, they were not just animals.
"Alright, Kendra Bryce, move. Get them out and into the holding area." Riley said moving out of the room and to the side. They had to get the werewolves out and into one of the holding areas made of cement and steel bars.
"We're going to open the doors, just go where we need you to, and none will be hurt." There was silence in the truck. "Mirage?" Kendra said in warning.
"Yes, yes, behave like good little doggie." Her voice was snide and Kendra took a deep breath and flipped the latch. Bryce shoved the door up and stepped back. The three were standing there at the door and looked around the place. The young man looked like he was going to attack someone but a warning sound from Mirage and he relaxed.
The young girl had to be his sister, just younger with the same hair and eye color. They hopped down and gravitated toward Kendra's side more than Bryce's. They eyed the weapons and walked with quite a bit of dignity to where they were told to go.
"Sorry," Kendra said quietly to them and Mirage gave her a silent snarl.
"Human lover." She said and Kendra sighed looking down at the floor.
"I am what I am." Kendra turned and moved off, leaving the three wolves who were pacing their makeshift cell now.
"Good work, Biegon will be happy to hear this. Werewolves make excellent test subjects." Kendra looked at him. Test subjects? No one said anything about them being test subjects. For the first time, Kendra really questioned the group she was with. They couldn't be serious? She looked back to where the werewolves were being held. She didn't want to be a part of that.
"For what?" Riley didn't answer her. Just moved off calling out to a few "Let's move people we have another to catch." Kendra stood there for a moment. In her heart, Kendra felt that she was no longer doing the right thing.