-13- Lily

When Lily got home, she grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels and threw herself on the couch, pushing her thoughts about the fight she just had with her father away. Andrew had embarrassed her in front of everyone, dragging her out of the house like that. Lily opened the bottle and took a long drink. There was nothing that a good bottle of Jack Daniels couldn’t fix; she thought as she took another drink and she was in need of some serious JD therapy. “Damn werewolves! Who needs them?” she grumbled loudly and took yet another drink.

The next morning Lily woke to feel as if someone had jack hammered her head the whole night. She let out a long groan as she forced herself up off the couch. She wobbled to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet to grab her strongest pain killer. Once she had swallowed the two large white pills, she brushed her teeth, hoping to rid her mouth of its horrible ashtray taste.

Lily surveyed her pale face in the mirror. She had an enormous blackish-purple bruise where the thief of the lab, or Fluffy as she had nicknamed him, had hit her in the temple and another lighter bruise on her cheek where he’d slapped her. She had to admit the bruises mixed in with the bloodshot eyes and the dark bags under them made her look kind of pathetic.

“But I am not pathetic,” she told her reflection. She stripped off the clothing from the previous day and got into the shower, hoping the hot water would help relieve her pounding head. She let the warm water wash over her until it had run cold. The tension in her body had slowly eased, and her head felt a little better. Lily shut off the water with a loud sigh and wrapped herself in a towel. She winced as her phone started ringing, sending daggers of pain shooting through her temple. She walked into her bedroom and laid down on her bed, reaching for the phone on the nightstand.

“This is Lily,” she answered with little enthusiasm.

“Poor girl, you sound awful. I hope you are not suffering too badly from that hangover,” a mechanical sounding voice stated. What the hell? She thought, with her face scrunched in confusion.

“Who is this, and why do you give a flying flip about my hangover?” she asked, wondering how the hell he even knew she had a hangover.

The mechanical voice laughed, “I’m afraid I will not tell you who I am... yet, and I don’t give... a flying flip, was it?” He stated, and nervousness grew in her, wondering who this person was. “I have to say I am impressed, Lily. You are braver than I’d figure a human to be. I was sure the incident at the lab would have put you off from helping with that sad excuse of an alpha,” he continued. His voice was steady until he mentioned the alpha. Then Lily could pick up the aggravated tone of anger in his voice.

“Well, I don’t like being pushed around, especially when you destroyed the lab, jerk!” She snapped, feeling furious again. A moment later, Lily realized that this man wasn’t the same man that had broken into the lab. If he was, then he wouldn’t have wasted his time masking his voice. This man was someone else.

“I had to get my pills back Lily,” the caller replied, as if what he said was the most logical thing in the world.

“You should never have given them to those poor kids in the first place,” Lily argued, and she could hear him chuckle. The sound sent shivers down her spine. “You could have done it after hours as well, dumbass, or at least without destroying the equipment!” She shot, not able to stop what was coming out of her mouth.

“Oh Lily, you are full of surprises, but you ought to be careful what you say. You already are on the outs with your father. It’s best not to be on the outs with me. Unlike the alpha, I can have you killed before you even have the chance to scream for help.” He told her. The cold amusement in his voice made her nervous, and she swallowed hard. How did this man know so much about her?

“How do you know if I am on the outs with him or not?” she asked, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.

“Everyone in the pack knows a certain werewolf who can’t keep her mouth shut.” The caller answered and Lily cringed, knowing he was referring to Lacy; she was a horrible sucker for gossip.

“I am not afraid of you, so if you’re going to do something, then come on and try it,” she snapped back, then cursed herself. Why she could never keep her mouth shut!

“Don’t tempt me, my dear, don’t tempt me,” he answered in a tone that almost sounded like a tease. “Lily, I have a proposal for you,” he told her and she scrunched her brow, wondering what he could want from her.

“I thought you were only another stupid human and wannabe werewolf, but I have to say these last couple of days I see you are so much more... interesting. You know, an artist always likes to hear what others think of his work. Since you are the forensic chemist after all, I would love to hear your opinion about my work. I realize you still have tests you want to perform, so I will give you until tomorrow to finish,” he told her.

“As much as I would love to talk about your work, I’m afraid I can’t play along since you took away the pills I had in hand,” she said with a bittersweet voice.

“Now Lily, do you think I would have gotten this far if I wasn’t more astute than that? I know you were smart enough not to store all the pills in one place so you can, and will, continue.”

“No, I don’t want to play this sick game with you, Dr. Frankenstein,” she told him, hanging up. She stared at the silent phone with an unpleasant taste in her mouth. Lily jumped as the phone rang again. She debated whether to pick it up. When it kept ringing, she answered.

“Now that was rude Lily,” he stated with irritation.

“I don’t care,” she shot back.

“Well then, that’s bad news for your friend Lacy,” he replied with cool, cold calm.

Lily rolled her eyes with a sarcastic nod. “You can’t do anything to her; she’s the alpha’s daughter and always has some enforcer around her!”

“Lily, I don’t care whose daughter she is. I am not afraid of the alpha. If I want to use her as my little plaything, I can, and no one could stop me. If you don’t play along, I will use her for the next phase of my experiment, but she isn’t James and I don’t think she would survive the process,” he explained, keeping his calm tone.

Lily balled her fist in anger. Why was this freak dragging her into this game of cat and mouse? “Fine, you win... this round,” she relented, not willing to risk the life of her friend. She swore she could feel him gloating.

“Now that’s a good girl. All you have to do is continue with what you were doing already. I will call tomorrow evening to see what you have learned,” he stated, and Lily wanted nothing more than to strangle him.

“Why do you even care what I think?” She asked, feeling like she was missing pieces in this jigsaw puzzle.

“Don’t flatter yourself, my dear. It’s more curiosity than caring. You are showing promising signs. If you please me, then I will reward you if not... Well, let’s not make that an option, shall we? Now get yourself cleaned up and to work. The clock is ticking!” He finished and hung up.