Chapter Three - Obsidian Gate

*Hope everyone enjoys this. Will blog more inspiration stuff later*

Chapter Three:
When it Rains...

Alexandra Lee sat patiently at the bedside of the young lycanthrope and brushed a stray lock of the silver hair out of the young man’s face. Her sister and Marissa had both gone home for the night, leaving Al to sit with Landen and O’Brian by the lycan’s side. The officers were entertaining themselves with playing a card game as they waited, using the dresser for a table, silently dealing and shuffling, filling the room with that slight noise.
Alex allowed herself to simply enjoy looking at Charlie’s newest inhabitant, memorizing his fair features. He was covered in clean, white cotton sheets, dressed only in his black leather pants and skivvies. The white sheets made his skin look all the more pale. By all that was holy, it should be illegal for someone to look that good! Idly, she wondered what color his eyes were and then forced herself to try and analyze his situation objectively. True, he peeked Al’s curiosity in many ways, (not to mention he was absolutely yummy), but she knew she could not afford to let herself get too involved with him. She had to make herself see him as a potential client and nothing more. The private detective agency she ran with her friends was going through a bit of a slow spell and the additional revenue would be sorely needed.
“You stare at ‘em any harder an’ he’s gonna have a hole burned right through ‘is skull,” Landen drawled suddenly, shattering the silence.
“Ah wasn’t starin’!” Alex shot indignantly.
“Yeah right,” Landen snorted, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were gettin’ a thing fer that fella.”
“As if!” Al retorted, “Ah don’ hardly know ‘em. I just feel sorry for ‘em layin’ there helpless's all!”
Landen merely sniffed and went back to his card game, leaving Alex to heave a sigh of relief. While she felt a little guilty for hiding the man's armor and weapons from the police, something inside Alex told her that there was no possible way this lycan's case could go well for him if it were discovered that he was armed to the teeth and Alexandra and Marissa had pulled enough weapons off of him to arm a small country. The weapons were now hidden safely in a space hallowed out under the floorboards of the guest room closet, ready and waiting for when their owner was well enough to retrieve them. The rest of the young man's things had gone into his haversack, which now lay at Al's side.
Suddenly sirens, loud and insistent, rang out in the starry night and Alexandra bolted upright. Landen and O’Brian followed suit, faces tight with concern.
“Oh no,” Alex thought, distressed, “The one time New Yorkers actually decide t’give a damn!”
Before she could say anything, the door was thrown open and two men in suits aimed large caliber guns directly at her. Alexandra simply eased her hands into the air and regarded the officers stoicly.
“Welcome t’Charlie’s officers,” she drawled, smiling a little, “How can Ah help y’all?”
“Step away from the bed, please,” one of the men said, a gruff forty-something that looked like an old-fashioned Mafia hit man with eyes like two pieces of dark brown steel, cold and unyielding.
O’Brian and Landen saw how quickly the situation was deteriorating and moved to try and alleviate it before it got any worse.
“Ease down, Ewald,” O’Brian said, “This young man’s a key witness in a case an’ Miss Lee here’s givin’ us assistance in gettin’ him around.”
“Save it, O’Brian,” Ewald replied, “You can explain yerself t’the Captain, after I get this lycan down t’the hospital.”
“Has anyone ever told you what an asshole you are, Ewald?” Landen said brightly, hands stuffed into his pockets. He didn’t appear the least bit concerned with the guns pointed at him and Alex had to give him points for keeping his cool.
“You can shove it, too, Landen,” Ewald said, acidly, “You an’ yer partner’ll be lucky not t’be up on charges!”
“Pleasant as always, I see,” Landen replied, still keeping his cocky grin.
Alexandra took her cue from Landen and tried to copy his confident, nonchalant pose, while still being as reasonable and even in tone as possible.
“Look, Officer,” she said, “This man’s hurt. Ah found ‘em -.”
“I don’t care if he’s yer brother!” Ewald shouted, “Move away from the bed. Now!”
“Do it, Miss,” the second officer, this one slightly darker and younger, said, “Step over t’the wall, please.”
Alexandra complied reluctantly, knowing she would have no chance of arguing with two guns. No sooner had she moved than a team of white coated paramedics rushed into the room, all making a beeline right for the bed where the young lycan lay. They wasted no time in checking his vitals and sedating him. Unconscious though he was, Alex couldn’t help but notice that they had wasted no time in making sure he was safe and that not one of them looked very thrilled about having a lycan to look after.
“We need that kid!” O’Brian was raging at Ewald.
“He’s a potentially dangerous, unregistered lycan,” the second officer spoke up, “We’re gonna make sure he’s physically sound but then we’re haulin’ him down t’the station.”
“On what charges, Russell?” O’Brian demanded.
“Assault. Couple o’kids got jacked earlier an’ their description matches his almost exactly.”
“So as soon as he’s awake y’all’re haulin’ ‘em t’jail?” Alex demanded, incredulously.
“That’s right, M’am,” Russell replied, earning him a dirty look.
“He got shot, Russell!” Landen said, “I mean, look at ‘em! Ain’t no way he hurt anyone, ‘condition he’s in.”
“We’ll get t’the bottom of it when we read ‘em his rights,” Ewald shot, nastily, “Now, I’d appreciate it if the two o’ you an’ Miss Cornpone over there stayed outta our investigation.”
Alexandra glared daggers at Ewald, eyes blazing. Miss Cornpone, indeed! O’Brian and Landen screamed and shouted some more but it didn’t do any good. The paramedics finished loading the young lycanthrope up onto a gurney and strapped him in tight for good measure. As they retreated out the door and down the stairs towards the ambulance with their charge, Alex couldn’t help but spare a hateful glare for them, too. Spineless cowards! As if that poor little hottie could even move with the severity of his wounds! Peevishly, she hoped Charlie heckled the crap out of them as they were going out the door.
“You haven’t heard the end o’this,” O’Brian said coldly.
“Do what you gotta do,” Ewald snapped, “In the meantime, I gotta case t’deal with.”
The surly man turned on his heels and simply stalked out of the room, Russell in tow, shooting dirty looks as he left. As soon as they were gone, Alex turned to O‘Brian, concern on her face.
“What’re we gon’ do?”
“‘til that boy wakes up, there’s not a lot we can do, ‘cept talk t’the witnesses an’ see what we find out.”
“D’y’all think we’re gonna get in trouble fer tryin’ t’keep ‘em away from the cops an’ the hospital?”
“Probably,” O’Brian replied, stoicly.
“What hospital y’all think they took ‘em to?”
“Saint Michael’s, most likely. They’re the only ones with lycan safe rooms available.”
“Then why don’t we all go down there an’ pay that boy a visit?” Al suggested, “Worst come t’worst, we can be there when he wakes up.”
O’Brian seemed to think about that hard for a few moments, weighing the options, then nodded.
“Maybe we can shake somethin’ loose from those other kids,” he agreed.
“Let me call Sarah an’ Marissa,” Alex replied, grabbing the lycan's haversack, “They might be able t’help us. Charlie should come, too.”
Neither Landen or O’Brian put up any objections and the calls were quickly made. Both women agreed to meet Alex at the hospital and Charlie was only to happy to accompany them. Luckily, it would be a short drive. That didn’t, however, stop Alex from musing about the last time she had been in the back of a police vehicle.
“Never thought I’d get int’ one o’ these things willingly,” she thought, idly.
Over and over again, Alex kept playing in her head the image of that poor, young lycan lying there on the street, a silver bullet embedded deep into his perfect flesh. It was travesty enough that a good looking thing like that had been assaulted but, worse yet, it stank of a hate crime. While Alexandra would have liked to believe that life was good and the law just, she knew in her heart of hearts that that just wasn’t the case. The law was supposed to protect everyone alike and make all people equal but, sometimes, justice was quite blind, especially for those down on their luck to begin with. All Alex could do was pray that she would not fail this man, that this time things would be different. She hoped fervently that she could find a solution before it was too late but, as the police car sped through the darkened streets, a small surge of doubt welled up deep within her. Yes, sometimes justice could be blind and the innocent were rarely spared. Sometimes, they were the first to be hurt.