The man took me to another African man. This one was sitting in a leather chair. The leader of the pack, I noticed from the behavior of the others and here I felt the alpha status, but it differed greatly from Adam's. This was not a caregiver, this was just a leader. I had no idea what made him different from Adam, but it was so obvious.
The man was at least six feet tall. Very much lifted weights, every muscle showed. This man carried himself with a confidence that said anyone did not easily beat him. But isn't it a saying that the bigger they are, the harder they fall? He looked at me for a moment. His head was shaved and a thick scar ran from under his left eye diagonally towards his ear. Probably made of silver because werewolves don't scar easily.
The first man backed away slightly, apparently speaking through the bonds of the pack, and the leader lazily waved his hand. He looked at me; he was not stupid. There was quite a lot of intelligence in this one.
The man looked at me from head to toe and said amusedly in good English, "I usually only work with those with whom I have measured my strength. Who are strong enough, but fine? I'm bored. And you, you little flea, are going to demand an audience with me. Fine, we can talk things over. Right now, as long as we fight first. I promise to be gentle, sweetheart."
I kept my expression neutral and didn't take the bait. I didn't get angry or try to act bigger than I was. I kept my expression unsure, biting my lower lip. Fine, he just gave me a good role to go with.
A good nickname for me, though, was "Oh, or the flea. Well, this flea will teach you a lesson. A flea doesn't feel nice when it bites and bites hard and this man should learn a life lesson not to be judged on appearance."
I calmly replied, "That's fine, then don't complain."
I kept my voice suitably meek and weak, not letting my power out, not at all. This was going to be fun.
And everyone burst out laughing. I knew I would get the respect of the entire pack, or at least the attention, if I won their alpha. This wasn't an official alpha fight, so there was no way I could have gotten the pack for myself. It would be fun to see Adam's expression, though, if I would accidentally snatch the pack for myself.
I took off my black leather jacket. I had on a cotton-pink t-shirt, faded blue jeans, and ankle-length boots. This was going to be fun. I was a woman clearly.
The man stood up and said, "Few dare fight me, Brutus, and be so arrogant, you flea, are too full of yourself. Little Barbie, you should be under your husband's arm, not playing with fire."
He had noticed my ring. It was much more modest than the one Damon had gotten me originally. This was more of a show ring and I didn't want to lose those lovely rings, so Damon had gotten me a less showy one. He had made this one to himself, too. In fact, he didn't always even wear his ring on his finger and I didn't wonder.
The men made way, and I said, "I can fight you, but don't be surprised when you're down."
Everyone started laughing as if I had told the joke of the century. Brutus stood in front of me, ready to counter what I would do. He looked at my hands, waiting for me to strike, and well, I did.
But as I am vicious and unpredictable, and fight as dirty as I can. I kicked and hit Brutus right in the balls. One kick taught by Magnum and my strength. I was not sparing too much. Brutus groaned in agony. Pressed his hands to his crotch and looked at me murderously.
I smiled sweetly back at him. A good kick had been the one when it hit its target directly. I grabbed dirt and many crumbs from the floor as the man charged towards me and with a snappy motion; I threw it at the man's eyes.
Brutus cursed, rubbing his eyes, so I took my chance and kicked his left knee out of play. He collapsed on his knee. I took a couple of steps back and with a powerful jumping kick; I hit the man right in the chest. I was a hybrid, with vampire speed, combined with a werewolf's strength.
Brutus staggered backwards. I hit him hard with my right fist, right in the man's diaphragm, and he fell on his back on the ground.
I was small and fast and had dodged the man's blows with my vampire reflexes. My punches had been quick, merciless, and precise. It was a good thing I had received such power training from Magnum. Now I saw the benefit of not being sloppy.
I jumped on his chest, spread-eagled, grabbed his throat with my left hand, and held on tight. I'm left-handed and my legs have strength.
I squeezed the man's chest with my thighs and said, "Have you had enough fighting or do you still want to continue?"
He could not speak. I squeezed his throat strong enough to leave bruises.
I loosened my grip on the man's chest a little. He patted the floor in surrender and I stood up. I walked over to sit on the barstool, and Brutus stood up.
He came up to me, now smiling for real, shook my hand, and said, "Damn flea, I never would have believed it. Well, I got a lesson. Let me introduce myself. I'm Brutus, local and the only alpha this side of Portugal, and this is my pack."
I shook his hand and said, " Mimi Salvatore, hybrid. Unique case. I'm from America. My pack leader is Adam Hauptmann."
Brutus grunted and poured himself a drink. I took a Coke when he asked what I was drinking. I was in no mood for alcohol. I needed my caffeine.
We talked. I told him about myself and my experiences, then I showed him the pictures and the files.
I told them my preliminary plan. Brutus found some flaws in my plan and his protective side showed now that he was very involved. He was not willing to let me go in there all by myself willy-nilly.
More men kept coming in to examine the files, and here and there were angry mutterings.
Brutus said, "It's not good to be a werewolf around these facilities, almost all of us know someone who has disappeared and never been found, rumors have always circulated and now that we have proof, we want to act, Flea, we want revenge and we want to be part of this."
I nodded and said, " Good job. We need some more information and then we'll figure out what, where, and when. We have to have a way to save everyone, transport everyone out, and I do not know how many fucking victims there might be. I have no idea how awful shape they are and it might be hard to transport them all out."
Brutus nodded and said, "We'll handle it. We've got cars and manpower. We will rescue everyone. I can have more men and quickly, too."
We planned for a while, and then they wanted to see my wolf form. Again, I said nothing about how big Mimosa is.
By the time I was changing into wolf form, the men were sold. Mimosa makes an impression, now that I'm in better shape, Mimosa doesn't really resemble a greyhound, but is a very impressive sight. They were flabbergasted at how magnificent she really was.
We went scouting with five men and made a plan. I didn't know everyone's name, and Brutus talked quite a lot through the pack bonds. We looked at and toured the entire facility. Two men were wolves, sniffing and investigating that way, while Brutus watched the entrance and all the security work that had been put into the facility.
One of Brutus's men was quite good with computers and he had investigated that this was, in fact, an illegal facility. This is not licensed to operate, but apparently, some officials have been bribed to overlook things. This was supposed to be an abandoned building, and no inspection was coming in this part of town.
They knew the authorities were honest, and they wanted to bring this to light, but only after everyone had been saved. I told them about the financiers and together we came up with a plan to destroy the facility and trap the financiers. It would do no good if our little thing would not send a message.
We would leave some very damning evidence that Brutus had found. One chemical that he had seen being transported in containers was actually under very strict regulations. What I knew about this was only hazy recollections from Sark's facility, and they used some kind of combination of this chemical and a few others to preserve tissue samples and enzymes.
The plan was to leave a few of the chemical containers intact with identification tags so that the authorities would investigate who had gotten the chemicals and obviously stored them improperly and had gotten them without a license. This might go all the way up to the manufacturer and maybe there was a bribe there, too. That should cause quite a problem.
We would attack at night, and there would be quite a few of us. Brutus and his men were good with guns and I then went to a warehouse in Reddington to get a truck full of explosives, guns, and bullet-proof vests. I was gearing up for my very first mission and it would not be the last.
The name of the game was to kill as many as you could and save all the victims. I felt myself getting tuned up in a whole new way for the job ahead, and this got my heart beating wildly. I calmed myself down and Mimosa was really excited, too. Mimosa hated these guys as well, too.
It was dark when we started moving. We got to our positions and first, the wolves, seven of them, went running and killed the guards outside. It didn't take long. We ran fast and went through the door after I had blasted it open with a small charge.
A few cars from the Brutus pack drove closer as the werewolves invaded the facility. They set out to find the victims and rescue them. Some men were in support, killing the enemies, and I went off to find all the drugs, data, and anything else I didn't want to leave available. It would be time to get over all of this data and see what they were doing, find always some other angle to stop them.
I had two men and they could understand English, but we spoke little as I always gave them full bags, which they sent forward. I heard the sounds of gunfire, some shouting, and running footsteps, but I was concentrating on my part in this and not distracted.
We had a schedule, and I had cleared all the rooms when Brutus was helping the very man I had seen being taken. The man was in terrible shape. He was breathing poorly; he was almost limp and weak.
I went to Brutus and said, " Let me give him some of my blood. It is very healing."
The man was almost unconscious, but I bit my wrist, put it in the man's mouth, and let my blood drain into his mouth. He recovered and bit my wrist himself, drinking my blood and healing some.
Brutus raised his eyebrows and said, "Damn girl, you surprise then and always. "
I laughed and left the facility. I put a few more bombs in. I saw a few oxygen tanks and left a few presents in there.
Brutus's men had arranged the rides and also staged the whole thing. They clearly left the chemical tanks out.
We got in the car, and I pressed the button. There was a series of explosions, flames appeared, and then there were a couple of bigger bangs as the oxygen tanks exploded.
We drove down our road and from somewhere in the distance; we heard the screeching sounds of emergency vehicles. We rescued twenty victims. I got a hell of a lot of drugs and kept them in a safe place in the car. I didn't even know who I was going to give them to yet.
We went to a Brutus place and had a good meat meal. They were werewolves and there was a game. I then retired to a hotel for the night. I had those drugs in my car still and all the data too.
It was the first blasting gig of my life, and it wouldn't be the last. Among those rescued were wolves from other packs and humans. I visited Brutus's place a couple more times before I had to leave for Spain. He was now my friend and a very dear one. Also, almost a mentor, as he taught me quite many things when he had planned the gig.
He was busy spreading the word about what we had seen and experienced. He wanted to continue in the same way. We worked together and my desire to save others so they wouldn't have to experience my fate spread. My cause spread.
When I told him about Bran, Brutus spat on the floor and said that they only worked through me. He said that Bran is a politician and they don't want to obey the Marrok law, which he said is written in a book and they have their own laws, their own ways of doing things.
They were fleas. And I was The Flea. They saw me as their leader and I tried to keep it again, even though it was more of a collaboration. We exchanged phone numbers. But I only kept Brutus's number on my secret work phone.
He promised to keep checking out the facilities and let me know if there was a need for a mission. They could, of course, do gigs without me. All the better.
I went on to Spain. Same thing. Find an institution, observe, and then look for helpers. From Brutus, I had gotten the idea of gangs. Often in Europe, werewolves had their own gangs, werewolves didn't have it easy near these facilities and there seemed to be a few everywhere.
There were tough people who weren't afraid to get their hands dirty and had a code. They would be reliable, as long as I always got their attention. The way it worked was, first I picked which gang. I'd usually walk the streets, sniff around, look for werewolves.
I started guessing what the gang was doing and pretty quickly; I learned to find the ones that had some use. I watched my time, including the boss. You had to have a good alpha in the pack.
A really powerful alpha and not just one who liked his status because of his appearance or was the boss because he threatened and humiliated others, not when the good alpha got the respect of his pack with no problems.
Once I had found a suitable pack, I approached them. Sometimes I had found similar evidence of werewolves in the facility but I didn't take it as automatic talk when I didn't know if their pack members were missing, then only when I had made contact was I able to take it up.
I usually insisted on going to the boss. Then I had to fight and, like Brutus, I was underestimated and badly. They had that bad habit of just looking at the appearance, but they learned. I always beat whoever I liked.
I learned at that point that my looks are a big fucking advantage when everyone always underestimates and can't prepare, so I always have surprise on my side, albeit only that one time, but that's all it took.
This 160 cm 50 kg little skinny flea wasn't a terribly street-credible fighter until I had my victim under me. They respected me quite fast and saw me as who I was, too. I made friends with the packs, and a lot of them didn't want to deal with Bran because of the Marrok laws.
They always had their own way of doing things and there was never one big leader who decided everything and who got paid for it. Werewolves were not the same saviors as in America, where fame was not earned by the press but by deeds.
I had a lot of respect for their way of doing things and I saw how fucking hard it was for them to live and when werewolves were being hunted and chased. They had to be hidden and even on a full moon, there were few places to run. My desire to help grew, and I wanted to have a life for them where they didn't have to hide and feel persecuted.
I was doing gigs with them, not alone because I wanted to show the power of group work and also that we could fight back, I got some secure storage space where they could put the drugs and the information if they didn't use it themselves.
I taught them a few things here and there, and I learned so much new stuff. They were always ready to teach, to talk, to plan, and my role got stronger. I had now a clearer part of my mind focused on this.
I also gave those who wanted the opportunity to contact Reddington. He had been willing to do it himself, and having contacts in Europe was a bonus for him. I made like a passing network for myself. I set up warehouses and agreed on what supplies would go where so that we had our warehouses, and that brought my pride back into the mix.
When we weren't so reliant on Reddington equipment. I could gain bulletproof vests and stuff, looted from facilities that we destroyed. There could be up to 50 of us and we would rescue, loot, and frame. We made a difference, and it spread. It gave others the idea to fight back, to rescue victims. Not just be in hiding and try to escape.
They had been in gangs as it had given them a fierce enough reputation from the past, but as these evil facilities had gotten more foothold, everyone was in their sights. My little idea woke them up, not letting them hide in shadows anymore, but starting to do something about things. It would not be easy, but so many of them were willing to die for the cause, more or less.
I put everyone's contacts in secret hiding places that Bran couldn't get into. Like my mind. Some of it was on a phone I'd gotten from Magnum and it had strong security. It wouldn't be easy to hack and I could get it to destroy just the contact information by tapping one code.
It was very important to them that Bran didn't get their data because Marrok's power was strong and it was known that Bran could use it to force the packs to work under him and then if anyone resisted too much, he would send Charles. They had no desire to have Bran's power extend into Europe, and I understood perfectly well. Even Bran had complained that he was busy enough. Power had corrupted him at some point.
Bran was a politician, and he didn't care so much about the pharmaceutical industry as he did about pack sizes and female heat. And for these, again, the heat was no big deal. They were what they were and didn't need to be watched or managed.
Spain, France, Italy and Germany. In each country, I made several blasts with the help of new friends. We learned to find medical facilities, even ones that weren't on Reddington's lists, and we could tell if a facility was rotten, pretty fucking quickly. We were getting pretty good at this.
Damon called me after he'd just finished Portugal and we chatted for a while, he said, " Baby, I went to get the phone and you weren't there, you'd gone to Europe for gigs, me too, baby I'm actually in Europe, text me where you're going so if I catch you myself in between we can have some free time and maybe buy a house and consecrate it again."
There were women's voices and music in the background, so I didn't think it was even realistic to expect.
I said, "Yeah, when your fuck party is over, maybe then. I'm at gigs and I don't mind what you're doing, so go fuck since you obviously miss it and I wasn't the object yet."
My voice was quite damn snappy. I was in no mood to listen to any lies.
Damon was silent and then said, " Fine, baby, I'm caught, I can't help it when it's like this cycle of trying to forget what I did to you and I didn't think you wanted me to even touch you."
Then he hung up the phone. Oh, that time. It's not my place to convince him that everything's fine when he clearly isn't. Besides, Damon had sounded so drunk that the booze was flowing.
The evil one was happy. The good one was in a clutch that was difficult to get out of, and he had manipulated it. He whispered how Mimi didn't want him to touch her. He reminded him of her photographic memory and what nightmares she must have had. He manipulated Good into thinking that Mimi was at the gigs just so she wouldn't have nightmares.
He got the good side to take out its self-hatred by fucking and drinking, and then he manipulated the good side to call the invincible, to reveal itself and felt the good side weakened again by Mimi's sentence, oh how he enjoyed it. It went exactly as planned, and now it was easier for him to come to the surface, to do his own thing. To be cruel to the women who came to the good side to be fucked. He pinched and squeezed, hurt them, and yet they still let him do his thing.
He called the invincible himself, was a manic hanger-on, and told her how much he loved her and how hard and thick his problem was, but he always made sure the women's voices were heard, the music was heard. He weakened them both.
Every time the good one fucked a stranger, he suffered as he knew he was doing wrong, but he just couldn't stop. And when the evil one called Mimi, let her see how the fucking party went on and on, the bond between them weakened considerably.
The manic version of the hanger-on was just on and called me all over Europe, making up excuses. I always heard women's voices.
I said when I was in Germany, "Damon. Now go fuck yourself and leave me the fuck alone. If you can't get out of the pussy sea, it's fine then. But I'm in the middle of a mission, and I don't want to hear what Adrianna is saying in your ear."
I hung up right away. I didn't understand that behavior at all, as if he wanted to tell me repeatedly how he was fucking strangers. I didn't understand the logic at all. And I didn't have to, as I was now interested in other things, and the idea of buying a house, and consecrating it, didn't even occur to me.
I was doing other things besides blowing up; I was earning money in safe deposit boxes and I was emptying them. But Damon was not part of this job, not to begin with. I was all the time growing up in my role of leader and there was no room for a fucking machine and his problems.
I was now in work mode, and that fucking drunken idiot was distracting me. Adam hadn't contacted me and Samuel was supposedly off in India again, helping with some wolf problem.
Charles met me by chance in Germany and he was very surprised at what I was doing. I had just gotten our plan ready, and I was on my way to get more supplies. He was off work and wanted to come along on the job as he knew the local wolves. Fine. it just so happened that Charles coldly sent me on a couple of sniper hunts and wouldn't let me go on that one. Overprotective much.
Then when Damon called again and heard how Charles had met me, jealousy reared its head again. He called me a whore and a lecherous bitch again, and he was even more inventive with his names.
Magnum said that when I come back to America, Colin wants to check me out. He said he would send the information to Samuel. I agreed. I had my network, my organization. It was still very few and only five countries, but it was a start. It would be good to continue from here. This was taking shape scarily fast almost but then again, I felt I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. And then it hit me. The prophecy about my army. Maybe I was just building just that.
You can do gigs on your own, but you can do a lot more if you have helping hands. When I told them and they themselves always saw all the experiments, the torture, the victims, the network was ready.
I was the flea, and I had fleas. I didn't declare myself the leader. Not in any way. I tried to cooperate, but everybody thought I was more or less the leader. So I tried to be more of an organizer than a boss when I did not know how to lead. I just went with the flow and shared my ideas, learned something new and we got something done.
I was happy but exhausted when I flew back to America. I went to a house in Chicago for a while to recuperate and eat. I would have liked to tell someone about my fleas, but when Magnum went to the women or something.
Mimosa was dryly amused by Damon's attempts to convince us he was really coming to see us. I went to the sauna by myself. I don't know where Adam was. He was off doing some Bran thing.
I was baking, cooking, resting, wondering what the fuck I had accomplished, and knowing that I had done something that would be useful for a long time. I so wanted to share my memories and my plans with Adam and Samuel, but it just wasn't the right time.
A week ago, I had finished this really long and challenging killing spree that had taken me all over Europe. It had had its benefits, but I could have done with some company at some point.
Damon was supposed to meet me in America then, when he called and said he'd probably be able to come, but half an hour later he called and said," There was always some obstacle sorry baby, I'm just not going to make it now."
They filled the call with giggles and women laughing. Damon's voice was slurred. He was drunk again. He didn't say a word about how he had called me names, and I knew he was nowhere to be found. It was obvious what Damon was doing. Maybe it was because our sex life was so intermittent.
Adam was at gigs and I wasn't sure if he wanted anything to do with me again. I'd been at gigs for months now. Damon was away. I hadn't even had my first rush yet.
My gigging streak, amazingly, had lasted six months. Damon had been fucking strangers for about six months, so the lack of lust did not surprise at all me. This was just my life. We weren't meant to be a storybook romance, apparently.
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