Chapter 16 – The Day After

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  Arms were odd devices in Kurt’s opinion. It seemed they operated more on faith and a sort of culturally assumed fate more than actual electrical or mechanical means. Thinking back, he always awoke before his arms, regardless of time, so long as he set them. If he didn’t set it, then he would oversleep every time.

  And so it was that Kurt found himself lying in bed, spooning a beautiful kitsune and contempting his poor life choices. He was in his bed, somewhat near the middle, his phone was in his pants pocket, somewhere on the floor. The clock on the wall told him that the cursed device would be bring its daily greeting within the next few minutes.

  His dilemma wasn’t so much that he should turn the phone off. Instead, he was wondering if he should wake Val or not. It was technically a workday, but she could also sleep for a little longer…. Kurt just bit the bullet and got up.

  Sliding backward out of the bed, he was able to break from Val without too much disturbance, though she did groan a little as the cool air repced Kurt against her skin. He walked around the bed, searching for his shorts in the predawn darkness. He finally found them, sticking out from under the bed and reached for them.

  Kurt pulled the shorts on, covering him, though doing a poor job of hiding his morning wood. As he patted the pockets, he noticed that the device that forced him from his bed was not in them. He felt along the floor, looking for the phone but not finding it. Finally, he looked under the bed and saw the faint outline of his phone in the faint light coming through the window.

  Reaching out while ying prone, Kurt’s fingers brushed the phone, bumping it close enough for him to grab onto. He wrapped his fingers around it and turned it to face him, still halfway under the bed. As the screen finally came into view, it lit up, dispying the title of his morning arm. Acting quickly, Kurt swiped the dismiss icon and silenced the arm before it could even make a noise.

  For a few moments, Kurt id where he was, contempting the ridiculous situation before he remembered what he was doing. He extracted himself, used the bathroom and grabbed a hoodie before making his way into the kitchen to start making breakfast.

  Now that he had his phone, Kurt stopped and sat at the kitchen isnd to check his messages, the weather and the news headlines. His email, how he normally communicated since he made a habit of using burner phones, had several messages. Some were the normal spam that he somehow got despite never using this for anything besides personal communication.

  The other ones were a check-in from his parents, asking if he would call them some time. Then there was a message from a shop over in Traverse City saying his order had come in and asked if he could come pick it up. Finally, there was one from John.

  The message from John wasn’t long, it was actually rather short and to the point. It simply said he had information, that was it. They both knew that Kurt could put it together and figure out he had info about strange happenings in the area.

  Kurt hadn’t quite realized how much time had passed and heard a door open followed by footsteps in the bathroom. A moment ter, quiet footsteps made their way down the hall and Val wrapped her arms around him from behind.

  “Hmm, morning.” She said as she leaned against him.

  “Morning.” Kurt said as he broke loose and turned to give her a hug and good morning kiss.

  Val smiled and pressed against him. “Last night was… fantastic.”

  Kurt almost ughed out loud at her choice of words. “Gd you agree…” He was cut off by their phones going off. They both looked down to see a message from Penny. It read that because of the sudden situation with the rift, they would have the next 2 days off. She also said that she would follow up ter that day with details about their compensation.

  Staring at the message, Kurt got an idea. “Hey, want to go on a little day trip?” He asked.

  Val’s eyes locked on him, nearly sparkling with their interest. “Where do you want to go?”

  “I have some things to pick up over in another town and since we have some time off…”

  “Let’s do it.” Val said with a smile.

  Kurt smirked. “The day trip or sex?”

  Val froze in her tracks, going as still as a statue. She then looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Py your cards right and it could be both.”

  Kurt ughed as he followed after her, he quickly got dressed and loaded his pockets with his essentials. He then walked over to Val’s room and found her dressed but staring at her stuff.

  “Something wrong?” he asked.

  “Hmm?” Val asked, startled out of her moment. “Oh, just realized that all this was kind of a waste.” She then looked over to him. “Unless I can’t move in with you?”

  Snorting, Kurt eased her worries. “You pretty much bought the same furniture set except for the bed frame. Honestly if you wanted to move your dresser over, you can have the other half of my closet since I don’t have enough to fill it.”

  She kissed him as she walked past, grabbing his hand as they headed out the door. “Sounds great but you might want to consider a rger bed. A king size would be nice for some extra activities.” She bounced her eyebrows at him.

  Kurt ughed again, saying he would consider it while they hopped in the car and headed for The Caffeinated Captain. He wanted to get breakfast on the road so they could make the most of their time that day.

  They arrived right at the tail end of the breakfast rush, having to wait in line but nobody coming in after them. When they got to the counter, they saw Jamie running the till and ready to go items with Leslie handling the more specialty drinks. Steam was hissing from some sort of machine while the older woman poured what looked like milk into another cup.

  “Hey Jamie.” Kurt said in way of greeting.

  “Oh, hey. Um…” He tapped his finger on the counter. Kurt gave him a chance before stepping in before it became awkward.

  “Kurt and Val. We met the other day, well, you were busy in the kitchen for most of it.”

  Jamie snapped his fingers. "That’s it. Good to see you again. What can we get going for you?” he asked.

  They ordered a variety of breakfast sandwiches and some lemon poppyseed bread that Val wanted to try. She had actually studied the board for a while but chickened out at the st minute and went with her standby’s. They sipped their coffee for a few minutes before getting their food and taking off.

  Back on the road, they ate in retive silence, enjoying their breakfast as the sun began to burn away the fog coming off the water. They took highway 31 toward Traverse City, following it along the keshore for much of the trip. Val was spending a lot of her breakfast just staring out the window, taking in the sights.

  “So where are we going?” Val asked as they started to see evidence of a more poputed area.

  “Traverse City or TC as the locals call it. It’s an interesting pce since it’s a mix of tourists, hippies and farmers. There is actually a decent paranormal presence too, not that we will see much of them.”

  “What did you have pnned then? There has to be more than just going to see a pce.”

  Nodding and finishing a sip of coffee, Kurt eborated. “Well, I had some stuff on order from a gun shop and they just told me its ready. Also, after that I figured we could have ourselves a little tourist day date.”

  “Us? Act like tourists?” she sounded confused.

  “Well, you will be, but I thought you would like to get out and see more. We can go to Sleeping Bear dunes, hit up some wineries maybe grab lunch somewhere in the city and stay for dinner? We can head back right after that and be home before sunset.”

  Val reached over and put her hand on his arm where it rested on the center consol. “That sounds great.” She said with a smile.

  “I also heard from John. He has some information for us.” Kurt said. “We can stop and see him tomorrow, maybe go out for lunch. I would also like to do some casting for the nanobots to memorize.”

  Having no other input, Val agreed, and they finished their drive into TC. As usual, she was looking at everything that came into view, asking questions about some things like what was growing in the fields, how many wineries could possibly fit in one city and why there were cherries on so many signs.

  “Heads up, Alec knows but nobody else does. He is actually a dwarf but retively tall for his race.” Kurt said as they pulled into the back side of a small industrial building. The sign above the door read ‘Hamlets Guns and Locksmith’ in red letters over a yellowing background.

  Val was skeptical about the pce, since it looked more than a little run down, but Kurt hadn’t steered her wrong yet. It also seemed that he had some sort of working retionship with the pce. Walking in was a little of a shock to the senses.

  The inside of the building was incredibly well lit, with white walls and floors that made the already rge space feel even more open. Open space aside, there was a counter right next to the door that almost made you want to step to the left as you entered. Problem was there were tables in that direction.

  The floor was divided by the counter made of gss dispy cases with 2 rows of racks running the length of 2 walls. On the other side of the counter was a mess of tables and shelves that seemed organized in no particur order. The shelves had the normal bibs and bobs of accessories, but the tables were covered in boxes.

  Some of the boxes were wood, some cardboard and even some pstic. Inside Val could see parts, lots of parts. There were boxes of springs, totes of stocks, small bins of triggers and what looked like a card catalogue of sights in small zip lock bags. While the back side of the counter was tidy, the customer side was organized chaos, one stumble away from a box of random springs being scattered across the floor.

  “Kurt, good morning.” Said a shorter slim man with a neatly trimmed goatee and impressive sideburns. The man was doing his best impression of a paperweight on the countertop behind a computer.

  “Sup, Alec.” Kurt said, walking over and shaking his hand. “How ya been?”

  Alec shook hands back, finally looking a little more excited about being there. “Ah, you know, same shit, different pile.” He ughed. “Come on back, we can talk, and you can inspect the order.” He began walking, waving his hand and gesturing to a hallway at the back that said ‘employees only’ in a barely visible sign.

  They walked quickly to keep up with the not very dwarven looking man as he wove his way through the staff behind the counter. He led the way down the hall, past a door that said ‘office’, 2 that said ‘bathroom’ and a third that was just open to what looked like a break room with a couch, table and kitchenette.

  They reached the end of the hall and Alec pushed the door open to a sort of stock room. The walls had shelves with boxes that likely held guns and ammunition but many of them had sheets of paper taped to the ends.

  In the corner was a desk, computer and a few chairs, one of which Alec plopped into. “That pile is yours, big man. I tried to write the contents discreetly on the carton but feel free to inspect while I get my paperwork.” He then looked Val up and down, like he only just acknowledged her being there. “Who is this?”

  Kurt pulled out a chair and offered it to Val. “Alec, this Val, my…” He paused for a moment and looked at Val. They tried to have a very personal conversation in silence, very quickly, but failed.

  “Oh, one of those. Say no more, say no more.” Alec ughed.

  Val nodded to Kurt and gave him a soft smile. “Val is my girlfriend. Val, this shitbag is Alec. He’s an old friend from the army.” Kurt said after getting the confirmation he wanted.

  Alec held out his hand to Val. “Good to meet you, no hard feelings and all.” He said with a genuine smile. “Don’t want to pile on when you have to put up with his nonsense.” They shook and he seemed to go still for a fraction of a second. “Half elf, eh? I see why you like Kurt then. Don’t worry, this is a camera free room.”

  “Half elf and a little more.” Val said with a teasing smile, noticing the ring on his hand that looked very familiar. “Nice ring.” She commented.

  “Oh this?” Alec held up his hand with the dark metal band around the middle finger. “I thought it was a nice little gift from the big guy over there.” He hooked his thumb at Kurt who was opening boxes and sorting them into piles.

  Val smiled. “He is rather talented, isn’t he?” she was wondering why he referred to Kurt as big. Kurt looked to be of average height for an American man and perhaps a little too skinny at first gnce.

  “You have no idea.” Answered the dwarf as he leaned back in his seat and looked over at Kurt who was opening and inspecting every box. “Can I get ya anything? Water, coffee or a pop?”

  “Pop?” Val asked, not familiar with the word.

  “What some of us in the north call ‘soda’”

  “Ah, well, a water and cup of coffee wouldn’t go amiss.” Val said. Alec told her to follow him and led her back to the break room. He cursed upon seeing the empty coffee pot and set to making another. They sat and waited for the machine to run its course.

  “Alec, why do you call Kurt big?” She asked, the curiosity bubbling over. She was curious and the silence was uncomfortable with the stranger.

  “Oh, on account of him being the biggest damn wol… ah…” He looked around quickly before lowering his voice. “Ya haven’t seen him change, have you?” Val shook her head; she had only seen him partly shift his forearm.

  “I saw it, back when he first came looking for a pce to stay after getting out of the army.” Alec said in a low tone. “He came up for a visit, couple year back. Wanted to hang out for a while, you know how it is. Anyway, some local, another wolf but just some cocksure twat-waffle of a college kid tried to rough him up. No reason other than turf bullshit.”

  “Anyway, we were out, went to a local bar to have a few drinks and this kid and his buddies try to jump Kurt as we left. Little shit shifted and dragged Kurt into an alley to rough him up. I’m not ashamed to say that his 3 cronies did their job of holding me. Well, sir twat-waffle wasn’t expecting Kurt to shift apparently. You ever seen a werewolf up close?”

  Val nodded. “I’m familiar with a number of the lycan types.”

  “Right, so your average wolf stands about what 6 and a half feet, a bit more with ears? Ole Kurt there is close to 9, well over if you count the ears, which I don’t.” Alec said and quickly fetched some disposable cups as the pot was halfway done brewing.

  Val was surprised, the only wolves that tall were the old alpha wolves from back when they still had packs. Something that hadn’t been seen for a very long time. Apparently, her surprise was clear on her face.

  Alec continued after coming back with waters. “Yeah, surprised the hell outta me too. Anyway, those 2 went at it, well, Kurt did.” He paused, mid pour and looked at her. “You ever hear a werewolf scream?”

  “I didn’t think they could, something about the vocal cords not being able to constrict enough.” Val admitted.

  “Yeah, don’t know about the science but Kurt figured out a way to make one do it.” He shivered slightly. “I didn’t see it in a blow by blow, just the outlines of them and the… noises. He ripped that boy up something fierce, pretty sure he literally tore him a new asshole.” Alec chuckled at his joke.

  “Anyway, fight sted less than a minute, mostly it was Kurt ying down the w. Suddenly, out of nowhere, lights and sirens show up and out steps Chief Henry. Normally not a big deal but apparently, he’s the kid’s dad. I’m not sure how he did it, I was still face down in the concrete, but Henry got the two off each other and managed to get Kurt shifted back. Your boy ends up in jail for the night while deputy dad takes his son to get healed up by some dude out on the peninsu.”

  “And that’s it?” Val asked, she was leaning forward, drinking in the story like a man dying of thirst. “What happened after?”

  Alec snorted and picked up the coffee while Val grabbed waters. “The kids tried to say Kurt started it, but Henry wasn’t buying that line again. He beat seven shades of shit out of him and his friends till they told the truth. Given it was self-defense and with the ws being what they were at the time, he let Kurt out. With an apology even! I had to go pick him up and bring a change of clothes for him since his were… a mess. Honestly, it’s almost a blessing he hates shifting, couldn’t bear the thought of him running around like that on a moonless night.”

  They crossed back into the storeroom and found Kurt inspecting a few parts id out on the desk. All the boxes had been taped back up except for one that he had in front of him. Val recognized the parts as barrels and springs but couldn’t pinpoint what gun they went to.

  “Hey guys.” Kurt said. “Thanks for the coffee. This all looks good, so I’ll take it.” He pulled out a very thick envelop from his pocket. “Cash still best? There’s a little extra in there for your troubles. I know convincing the old man about some things is a pain in the ass.”

  He noticed Val looking at him in a slightly odd way. Like she was trying to see through him or was trying to focus on one spot. “Do I have something on my face?”

  “Hmm? Oh, no.” Val said looking away suddenly.

  Kurt looked back and forth from Val to Alec. “Ah, he told you about ‘the incident’.” Alec shrugged and Val nodded, looking back at him. He sighed heavily. “How tall was I this time? 12 feet? 13? It changes with every iteration.”

  “About 9.” Val answered.

  Looking back to Alec, Kurt smirked. “Oh, come on, I figured you would tell it like one of your fisherman’s tales about the 6-foot muskey you almost nded. Now I find out you are back to some realism.” Kurt tried to deflect the conversation away from his other form.

  “Hey, I did almost nd a 6-footer.” Alec said finally getting defensive.

  Kurt pcated the man and they got to chitchatting while Alec finished the paperwork and pushed the change back to Kurt. Eventually he had Kurt pull the car around to the side door, so they didn’t have to drag boxes through the shop floor. They said their goodbyes and Alec shut the door as they pulled away.

  They drove back around the right side of the building but didn’t make it far. A police SUV was parked alongside the drive with an officer standing outside, leaning against the trunk, waiting. As Kurt pulled around, the man looked up and started walking over as Kurt swore several times and put the car back in park.