The Brotherhood (chapter 1) [rough draft]

 The Brotherhood

One

IT WAS A HOT SUMMER DAY IN NUEVA KROY. People were practically walking by in their bathing suits. The brothers sat with their office door propped open. The AC had bust again! “Look at her!” Dravite hooted. He was the youngest and most immature of the three. “I mean, what’s the point in wearing shorts at all, if they’re going to be that short!?” His exclamation was followed by a whistle that the passerby couldn’t hear — thankfully.

“You know,” Nephrite grumbled, “Girls don’t like to be cat-called.”

“Come on! It’s a compliment,” Dravite said. 

Nephrite was sitting at the desk covered in papers and an unused scheduling book. He was desperately trying to stop himself from having a quarter-life crisis. <Where are we going to get the money for this damned AC unit!?> Nephrite rolled his eyes at his younger siblings, “You two look like a pair of drooling hyenas. Why don’t you come over here and help me figure out where we’re getting the money for this AC repair or start tinkering with that thing.”

“Look,” Dravite scooped himself gracefully out of the chair in a way that only a teenager could, “I fix cars, not AC units.”

“Well you better start learning, man. AC repair ain’t cheap.”

“How much are they asking?” Chambersite was sitting nimbly on a stack of hardback books. Just your typical fodder on how to slay demons, what to do if you think you’re a werewolf, and where to find unicorns. This stack of books tumbled as he stood. 

Nephrite just glared, “You’re going to pick those up.” He scrolled through another email with another estimate based on what he’d explained was happening to another AC repair company. The prices were daunting, “More than we can afford.”

Chambersite was re-stacking the books, which Nephrite thought it would have been better for him to just organize them into the bookshelf where they’d originally come from. But he deduced that that would have been too much work. He proceeded to watch Chambersite carefully stack the books, as they were, about twelve books high. “We need a job, an investigation.”

“You know,” Dravite began, “Maybe we should remove the fact that we are weremane from the ads. People really think we are crazy because of that.”

“Yea,” Chambersite chimed in, “People don’t take us seriously. The last six customers, at least, just came by to see if we’d shapeshift!”

As if on cue, their company computer flicked to the screensaver, which showcased their logo: THE BROTHERHOOD, then had a little blurb about how they were weremane with the knowledge and power to exterminate wraiths. The general public didn’t believe in wraiths or weremane. Folktales! But Nephrite knew that there were a few people who saw their ads and knew exactly what it was the brothers fought — because they were victims, prey. Despite the lunacy of it, Nephrite kept their weremane identity in all of their ads for those people. The people that were alone and afraid, fighting something they didn’t understand. For the people fighting the darkness alone. 

And also — it might help them get into contact with their missing sister. 

“Yo! Neph!”

“Huh.” He was pulled from his thoughts, “What?”

“Where’d you go, buddy?” Chambersite asked. “Looked like you were in la la land there.”

“Oh,” Nephrite shook his head. “Sorry. I was just thinking about Brezinaite.” All of the brothers grew silent and kind of averted their eyes from each other. 

There was a knock on the corridor, “I’m sorry. Excuse me?”

Nephrite shot to his feet and wiped the gloom from his face with a fake smile. “Hello! Welcome!” He moved his way around the giant desk and pushed Chambersite off the arm of the chair that was meant for clients to sit in. “Come in, have a seat. What can we help you with?”

The woman standing in the doorway was clearly a skinner. Weremane have a certain smell to them. Except maybe weremane with reptilian genetics. She had a blonde bob — and Nephrite immediately hated himself for knowing what the hair style was called. She was fair-skinned, lighter than all of the brothers’ skin tones. Her eyes were blue and piercing. “Um…” She clutched her purse nervously. She obviously wasn’t here to watch them shapeshift for shits and giggles.

“Welcome to The Brotherhood!” Dravite blurted with too much enthusiasm. Nephrite caught Chambersite rolling his eyes. 

“I’m Nephrite — and these are my brothers Chambersite and Dravite.” 

“You — slay wraiths right?” She appeared as if she was on the verge of crying. Nephrite prayed she wasn’t going to cry! He wasn’t good with people crying — especially women. She still hadn’t entered from the doorway. 

“Yea,” Chambersite said. He sort of led the woman into the brothers’ office and ushered her into a seat. 

“Thank you,” she said absently. 

The brothers all waited while the woman seemed to gather the strength to say whatever it was that she wanted to say. Nephrite assumed his rolly-chair on the other side of the desk from her. “It’s my brother.”

“What are his symptoms?” Dravite asked. His older brothers both glared at him. 

The woman looked in Dravite’s direction and seemed to recoil at his words. It took her another few minutes to say anything more. “This probably sounds so stupid.”

“Nothing is stupid in our line of work, miss.” Nephrite pulled a box of tissues out of a drawer and slid them across the desk to her. “Tell us what’s going on.”

“He never comes out of his room…” She began. Every word seemed so hard for her to say. Nephrite was starting to get the feeling that something drastic had already happened. That perhaps they were already too late. But he didn’t want to rush the woman, or he might not get any information. “He keeps calling out of work and skipping class.” The woman’s breath caught in her throat. 

She smelled like so much sadness, with just the slightest bit of fear dashed on top. Weremane senses weren’t any better in human-shift than a skinner, a non-weremane, but after spending so much time in beast-shift, they learned how to use their other senses. The dull scent of sadness was hard to discern in human-shift, but fear — now that sweet scent was easy to pick out. Weremane quickly learn how to read scent and hearing in ways that their human-shifts were never meant to. 

“Does he do anything to you or himself?” Nephrite asked, almost in a whisper. He started off slow. Something flashed over the woman’s eyes. Then her eyes glazed with unshed tears. 

It took a moment before she answered. Nephrite blatantly glanced down at the box of tissues. The woman took two. “This morning…I found him in the tub…” She began dabbing at her eyes with the clump of tissue. That was all it took for the tears to start flowing freely!

This was why Nephrite hated woman to cry in front of him. He was never sure if it was okay to consol them. If words were just enough — or if it was okay to put his arm around them. Would it be crossing some social anathema to hug her? His years as a weremane had blurred the societal norms where physical contact is concerned. Weremane were very physical. “I’m sorry miss…” Nephrite settled on just using some words. 

“Crystal. Sorry.” She wiped tears from her cheek and let out a little chuckle, “I should have told you sooner.”

“It’s okay — Crystal.” Nephrite was hyperaware of his brothers sitting or standing perfectly still where they were. In weremane culture they would have been rubbing their cheeks on hers, hands on her back in support, — there might even be some licking of her neck, but not in a sexual way. “Can you tell me anything else about how he’s acting? What makes you think it’s a wraith.” 

“You think it’s a wraith!” Crystal’s eyes went wide. 

“Why else would you be here?” Nephrite snapped. Both of his brothers perked at attention. 

Tears began to flow again, streaking down Crystal’s cheeks. Weremane would lick tears away to confort others in their clan. Nephrite tried to his beast-like urges in check. He could feel his red wolf inside him, stalking forward to sniff the air. The sadness on her smelled like mud or freshwater clay. 

Another figure walked up towards the wolf in Nephrite’s inner sanctuary. The red wolf smelled like pine trees and forest. This other figure smelled like jungle! Nephrite’s brothers both smelled it on the air. This beast stalked; slow and precise. He moved like liquid metal. The wolf released a low warning growl towards the jaguar. The two beasts forever warred inside Nephrite. 

“Well…We don’t actually know that.” Chambersite walked into the woman’s peripheral. “Why don’t you tell us more so that we might be able to get a proper diagnosis.” He pulled her attention towards her. Any wrong move could send Nephrite’s inner beasts into a battle. 

Nephrite felt the warm vibration of power warp the air between himself and Dravite. His wolf responded to Dravite’s. Nephrite’s jaguar sniffed the air and smelled the overwhelming conifer-scent of wolf — and began to stalk back towards the darkness. Chambersite was still distracting Crystal. Dravite was a beta, which made him better controlled over his wolf than Nephrite. It also made it easier for him to quell Nephrite’s wolf. Really, quelling Nephrite’s wolf wasn’t the goal. Dravite just needed Nephrite’s jaguar to know it was outnumbered. Feline beasts could be particularly wreckless — especially when they are backed into a corner — but Nephrite’s jaguar was smarter than that. It was patient. 

Dravite was behind Nephrite, with his hand on his brother’s back in comfort. Nephrite hadn’t even remembered his youngest brother moving. He’d been too lost in his inner sanctuary. Knowing that they were in the clear, Chambersite announced, “It sounds like a heavywraith.”

Crystal’s hands covered her mouth in shock and fear, “It is a wraith!?”

Nephrite had snapped out of his calamity. He reached across the desk and put his hand on Crystal’s shoulder. It was an awkward reach. Chambersite noticed and sort-of cringed at his brother. Nephrite just needed touch right now. “We’re going to take a look.” Nephrite assured her. And then took his hand away awkwardly. 

“Heavywraith-ass is easy to kick!” Dravite assured her. 

It wasn’t working. Crystal cried more, “I hope it’s not a wraith. Oh please!”

“It’s what we are here for.” Nephrite stood up. “We will take care of it. Let me get some information from you and we will be in touch.”

After filling out the application, Crystal exited The Brotherhood office. “What was that!?” Dravite blurted. 

Nephrite sunk into his high-backed office chair. “I don’t know. I think it was her fear.”

“I could smell it too,” Chambersite said. “But you’ve never lost it like that!” 

“Pops has been gone for too long,” Dravite suggested. It was true that the presence of an alpha was important in keeping beasts within the clan in check. The brothers spent most of their time together, and none of them were alphas. Pops was their alpha. 

“We should visit him before going on this slay.” Chambersite said.