Three Hearts One Soul

Chapter 7: Reckless

The Saturday after the failed meeting, Vincent was getting ready to go to Kingston. He was dressed in a nondescript hoodie and jeans, both a light blue. It wasn't the most inconspicuous of colors but it was his favorite. Given what he was doing today, he wanted to have as much comfort as he possibly could. That way, at least he wouldn't panic being around people that weren't his pack.

Making sure that he only grabbed his driver's license and gas money, along with his keys, he headed for the door. Locking it behind him, he acted as if he was just going on a drive during his day off. After all, if you acted like you were doing something of import instead of looking shifty, no one questioned you. So he was easily able to get to his car and drive south without incident from his own pack.

The drive there was long and boring, and with him as wound up as he was, he wasn't able to distract himself with shanties that day. At the very least, though, he had made it out of Catskill during traffic down time. There was nothing worse than a long road trip during rush hour, and he was sure he'd be missed if he took too long on this little mission of his.

He finally arrived and as he pulled into one of the few free parking areas near an actual park, he went over the list of everything he needed to get done that day. First thing was to grab some de-scenting perfume to hide the fact that he was a rival shifter. He needed the local pack to think he was just another human; thankfully, he had brought enough along to buy a cheap bottle, which was honestly the better choice for dissuading shifters from looking too closely at someone.

He started walking around, heading downtown looking for a thrift shop or someplace that would sell such things. It was about five minutes later when he noticed that he was being trailed however and they had masked their scent. He growled under his breath, knowing that there was only one reason someone would trail him right now: he had already been discovered by rival shifters; and with how crowded it was, there was no chance for him to slip into wolf form and run off.

He carefully started weaving his way towards a store, any store. As long as he kept himself in a public area, he should be safe from the ones following him. After all, they couldn't break the law about humans learning of shifters any more than he could; not, and keep their status as an established pack anyways. It just wasn't done and the ones that did usually ended up in heaps of trouble from other packs.

Vincent spent a little too much time, however, trying to both avoid the ones following him as well as get into a store, that he didn't realize he had been herded into a dead end. He had subconsciously been moving away from the suppressed scents and now he was trapped against an alley wall. The laughter behind him let him know that his trailers had arrived and blocked the only way out.

Growling under his breath, he hunched his shoulders, getting ready to shift. Better to risk the law than to die, in his opinion. At least in wolf form he'd have a fighting chance. Unfortunately for him, the shifting stance was very easily telegraphed to any other shifter…and the tall, lithe one was on top of him before he had a chance to even squeak. Vincent would later remember that the tall one had jumped twice and tackled him.

The next few moments for Vincent was one of pain as the lithe one worked on knocking him out. It didn't take very long, as he had very little endurance…Jesters tended not to need it. The world started getting dark for him, and he struggled to stay awake. He had to fight back, he had to! Still, as the other one barked at the lithe one to stop, he found himself failing. He could no longer keep consciousness and escaped into the void.

***

He woke up to what could only be considered a spartan bedroom. Small, enclosed walls with no windows and a single small door. A small futon mattress, currently rolled up in the corner and a chair were the only decorations. Well, not entirely true…there was a sign on the opposite wall from the door that said 'Rival is as rival does, the Vultures pick up the pieces.' He was lost in thought on the sign when he heard a chuckle behind him and turned around to face his captives.

The tall, lithe one that had beaten him up was there but the one with them was not the same person as before. This one was very fair, his skin so white it put snow to shame. In fact, from description, this person looked like Snow White had she been a guy. However, unlike the fabled princess, this one bore an ugly sneer and there was no kindness in his eyes. Vincent knew then that he was in a lot of trouble and wondered how the hell he was going to get out of it.