Snippet #2538499

It hadn't taken them long to reach the Phantom Quarter once they picked up Jesse out by Cornell's, and Baron's car bounced roughly along the decrepit streets and potholes of the Phantom Quarter.

It had rained again last night and the putrid stench of the Quarter was thick in the air.

"There," Jesse said as he pointed over Baron's shoulder at somewhere up ahead. "Pull over there."

Baron edged the car up to the side of the road and put it in park as he removed his seat belt and got out.

Jesse let himself out of the back seat and headed over to rusted out dumpster where he had left his clothes the night before. Crouching down he all but gagged. They smelled like a latrine, and were thoroughly saturated from the rains which had served to absorbed the rancid odors of the Phantom Quarter.

Worse yet, they had been disturbed from where he had left them behind the dumpster and a quick search of the pockets turned up that both his cellphone and his wallet where gone.

"Well, this is revving up to be a great day..." Jesse muttered as he stood up. "Alright, it's down this way," he added as he pointed them off in the direction he had first heard the woman's scream.

Ivan kept his hands at his belt, watching the two men for a moment. He wasn’t here to observe, or make pithy comments, so he kept his gaze straight ahead, ran his thumbs across leather, and refrained from asking why the hell Jesse’s clothes were out here.

Once they reached the site of the attack Jesse pointed out the refuse heap where he had found the woman.

“This is where she was attacked. I caught sight of it briefly, over that way. It was only a glimpse though, I couldn’t make much out. I probably should have gone after it, but the woman was in bad shape,” he explained. “The way she described the attack… we might be looking at sadist. It was almost like he was drawing it out to torture her more. And he could have killed her had he wanted to. Even if he heard or smelled me coming and took off, it wouldn’t have taken more than a second to finish the job.” He shook his head. “It looks deliberate, and like he wanted her to live.”

Baron crouched down where Jesse had indicated the woman had been attacked. Unfortunately the rain had washed the blood away, and he couldn’t get a scent over the rancid stench of the Quarter. Everything smelled of decay, and it overwhelmed any minute odors that might still remain.

Ivan took his time, glancing around them, looking for potential threats. When he didn’t see anything, he glanced towards where the attack took place, frowned down at it.

Crouched down near the pavement, put a finger to a crack. The paved stone was still fresh, still recently broken, far away from being worn down and smoothed out by weather and sun and heat.

“Hit her with force,” he grunted, rising and pointing at the crack with the toe of his shitkicker, “means it’s big or strong. It drew the attack out how?”

Wasn’t his place to ask, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

“She said it held her down, and taunted her. Said it was laughing. There were a lot of superficial wounds on her arms before it bit her,” Jesse explained. “She was pretty shaken up but she seemed to remember it pretty clearly.”

Baron frowned and stood.

“I can’t smell a thing through this shit,” he muttered. While he mulled the matter over he pulled a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his coat to light one up. Smoking wasn’t exactly helpful with the olfactory senses either, but he wasn’t going to be able to pick up a scent here anyways.

“What kind of… who hits someone this hard,” Ivan said, pointing to the crack again, “and takes the time to laugh or whatever? Looks more like a hit and run than torture to me.”

"This is the third one in four months that we know about..." Baron growled out. "I'm starting to think we're dealing with a rogue mongrel. It's too controlled for lunentia," he remarked with a frown. "If we have a rogue wolf loose intentionally inflicting people at the doorstep of our territory, it's going to have the police crawling all over Lupaix," he said. "Ivan, I want you to head a search of the Quarter. If there's any wolves out here, I want to know about them."

It was a peculiar move on Baron's part to request Ivan take point on this, as he normally would have given his brother, Ragenard, the job.

Ivan rose to his feet, brows lifting, the scar separating the white of his eyebrows shining in the light.

“Why?”

“Why what?” Baron answered.

Ivan gave Baron a pointed look. “You’ve got lieutenants who’re bound to be experienced.”

"Ragenard's gone, Elliot's dead, Jac's in the hospital," Baron answered. "Unless you think Bastien's the one for the job," he added pointedly. Ivan knew full well how accommodating Bastien could be to non-pack. "Or Julienne perhaps?" he added with an arch of his brow as he took a drag of his cigarette. The woman had a temper well renowned among the pack. "You're new, you know what it's like out there alone. You'll show restraint where they won't. Come on, let’s get out of here, we’re not going to find anything of use here." He discarded his cigarette into a puddle as he turned to head back towards the car.

Ivan watched as Baron left, then turned to look at Jesse, raising his eyebrows.

“Didn’t get a good look at it?”

“Nothing but a glimpse of shadow,” Jesse answered with a grimace before watching Baron make his way back to the car. “Did he say Ragenard’s gone?”

Apparently it was news to Jesse too.

Ivan didn’t respond, just watched Baron go. After a moment, he glanced towards the crack in the pavement, scuffed at it lightly with his boot.

“Let’s go,” Ivan said, following in Baron’s footsteps.

A few minutes later the car pulled away to head back towards Lupaix.