Admitting to Too Much and Not Enough

            Yolanda returned to her room quickly after she left the others. She was cursing herself for the mess that she’d got herself into. Now she was sure they suspected her, and Ian still thought that mess was their fault.

            What she needed to know was probably not coming from these humans. She needed to find out details and quickly. Showing up again at the station to talk to her neighbour’s son would call him into question. So that was off-limits. A text to him was out. Several icons on a laptop in the hotel room were familiar to Yolanda. She knew were for monitoring local communications. They could very well be monitoring her phone. She may not understand how they work, but she knew what they were for.

            She tossed her jacket on a chair with an angry flourish. Her hair still wet from that suckie shower, she pulled it up and quickly braided its length. Nothing worse than sleeping on wet hair and gods know what the dampness might attract from the sheets and pillow. The room’s smell was a miasma of many humans and chemicals.

            Yolanda was still struggling with a pair of leggings and a t-shirt. When a knock came from the door. With a little jump, she got the waistband settled into place and her t-shirt firmly over her butt.

            Sighing heavily, and she peeked out the window to see Ian at the door. Wondering what he wanted, she opened the door for him. “Star Trek is coming on, so make it quick. If I can’t eat Yule Log cake tonight, then I am watching Star Trek.” She knew it wouldn’t make sense to him, but she was feeling petty right now.

            “Hi. Sorry to interrupt you. I wanted to see if you needed anything.” Ian opened his mouth and closed it again, saying nothing. He stood there confused, unsure how to say something. “Yolanda, do you think this could be locals doing this?”

            “No. This isn’t someone local or even recently settled here. Those types… Let’s say they don’t last long enough to cause problems to police.”

            “So, you don’t know their identity?”

            “You haven’t given me enough information to make that call or not. If it’s who I think it is. Then the people have received their punishment.”

            “Any survivors?” Ian closed the door behind him and sat in a chair by the window. He watched Yolanda as she paced through the tiny room.

            “Few in compared to those that died. We can’t even find evidence of who died. When I say evidence, I mean bodies, genetic material or personal items. It’s not just people either that this incident affected. We’re still trying to figure out how many of our fringe groups have experienced damage or collapsed. That group I was talking about. They have lost a lot of their people. Entire communities, and you know what? You don’t have a single law on your books to help or protect them. So, we are holding out an olive branch to them and helping them grow from this disaster. For the first time in our written history, we all came together to mourn for the losses. We can’t do this. Back off and give me the information I need before you actually go in there and destroy the evidence we could use.”

            “You’re talking like you are some type of cop.” He opened his jacket and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. Watching her every move.

            “I am in so much shit, and no, you can’t protect me from the backlash. So, I’ll tell you we’re called enforcers, not the police, but we are a cross between police and military. Each group has its own enforcers. But as of this year, the powers that be will be forming a joint force because they found they needed everyone’s specialties with this incident. We’re in upheaval, and everything is being questioned. Changes are happening fast and furious.”

            “Fine as an enforcer, what do you think it is?”

            “I was telling the truth. I don’t know those symbols or how our equipment got to be there. Now I can’t be sure, but there were many battles in many locations recently in this area. The leaders were captured and permanently dealt with. We’re working on dealing with the aftermath now. They gave you the remains of the crimes that started all the military actions, or we failed to get them all, and someone is trying to reverse what we did to end it. Either way, there’s nothing you can do but put yourself and your friends in mortal danger.” Yolanda sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her hands.

            “You seem very sure of yourself.”

            “I know you must be well-trained. But you lack the instincts, knowledge, and innate protections or skills needed to survive. You will literally walk in as a sacrifice for whoever this is if this is more recent.”

            “So, you’re saying because I don’t change into a werewolf or were-tiger or something, I am useless.”

            “Great, Do you really know about things like that? More crap to fix.” She fell back on the bed with her bare feet still on the floor.

            “Yeah, afraid so.”

            “Can I get you to go back and chase the yeti or bigfoot? Maybe a flying saucer?”

            Ian chuckled at that, “Not since I saw a man change into an eagle.”

            “Oh, crap, that takedown was legendary. You’re the one that got that nasty thing off the surface of this planet?”

            “What?”

            “Howard Killian. Eagle Shifter. Wanted on various crimes including kidnapping, theft, and substance manipulation.”

            “What is substance manipulation?”

            “They cursed the drugs he was selling to improve their addictive properties. He was also not following the rules to keep his existence quiet. He was trying to get the general population to recognize he wasn’t human and that there were many more—nasty piece of work. Can you imagine the panic and lynch mobs that would go on? The crimes against people because they could just because there was no law to fit that situation? I’d just taken on the position as Arms Master, or they probably would have tossed me into the team to hunt his ass down.”

            “Really? Arms Master?”

            “Well, I’m sure there’s someone that maintains your weapon stores too. Someone had to do it.”

            “Are you saying there is an arms deport on the Wolversen Estate?”

            “Not until I can get in there and get the damn thing fixed. It’s probably a horrible mess now. The rush to organize for the various battles has bound to have depleted it and left me with a list of repairs a mile long.”

            “You handle an arms depot for use against supernatural creatures by supernatural creatures?”

            “Hence, I told you I’m in shit for saying this much to you, and I never thought of it like that.”

            “So, what do you outfit a werewolf with?”

            “I don’t outfit werewolves. Werewolves, as you know them, only live-in movies. As their creation is very complicated, the rituals have a high failure rate, and they don’t live very long. Shifters are the correct wording, and we talk of our creature form. It’s part of us, like your fingernails or eyes. So no, I don’t talk to my wolf. That would mean I’m just talking to myself, and that’s just crazy.”

            “So, you call yourself a wolf shifter?”

            “Correct, but you can’t tell anyone that. I’d be killed if my superiors found out I was speaking of this.”

            “Killed why?”

            “Secret. If I’m dead, I can’t confirm anything you tell anyone. Remember, if one of us comes out publicly, then it means it will out everyone. Now you understand where I’m coming from? I’m not human. Do I have to follow human laws, and do those laws protect me? Am I an intelligent being or a pet? Think about it. Some families would suffer from public exposure.”

            “You realize that it’s my job to look into things like this? If I don’t learn about this, it’s going to be hell on Earth if it gets out another way.”

            “I don’t want excuses like they want to look at us medically. Or super-soldiers. It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened to our people.”

            “Do you really think that would happen?”

            “The American President wanted to make a space force and call them, The Guardians. Seriously, would it be a big stretch for him to go from Guardian’s of the Galaxy to super-soldiers?”

            “This is Canada.”

            “You think we are only in Canada?” Yolanda sat up suddenly with her arms wide and looked at Ian. “I get we’re different from them, but if it exposes one, then everyone is, and the witch-hunting begins again.”

            “It really is huge. I will have to get the guys involved in this. We have the clearance to keep this quiet and avoid all disclosure to the public.”

            “But who’s saying that your boss, when reading your report, won’t disclose it to someone else. Look at that politician that left confidential files on his mistress’ coffee table.”

            “Do you really think that everything I come across gets into my reports? Well, time for me to give you some honesty. My team keeps their own notes, and they are heavily edited before we create any reports. Because we’ve just found too many weird things that would change far too much if it got out and was believed. I don’t even think we would have a department if we reported half of what we’ve encountered.”

            “Then maybe we can agree to some sort.” Yolanda could tell he was telling the truth. She didn’t know why or how, but she did.