Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Henry was sitting, waiting for me at the table in my kitchen. He had helped himself to my fridge, pouring himself a glass of milk. Trust a doctor to pick the healthier choice, even when I still had some cold beer in there. Then again, it was extremely late.

“I put Max into your bed with his brother. Both are sleeping now, as comfortable as I can get them.” Henry took a long drink from his glass of milk, then wiped his short mustache with the back of his hand, “So what is this about a poison?”

While I knew Henry was likely champing at the bit to find out what had happened tonight, let alone what a mythical being was doing sleeping on my couch, I appreciated that his first question was the one that related to the care of his patients.

“The elf Max and Franz fought tonight used poison on his blades according to Natasha,” seeing Henry’s eyebrow arch in question, I explained further. “Natasha is the elven woman I brought in earlier. We’ve come to an arrangement where she will help us get access to a cure to save them. Apparently we have only a few days to do so before the poison runs its course.”

“I see, that is good at least,” the doctor said, letting out a breath in relief. While his patients weren’t out of the woods yet, it was clear that he was relieved that we all weren’t relying on him alone. “Alright, so you mind telling me what the hell happened tonight?”

As I launched into the conversation, he stepped over to inspect my wounds, going over each to make sure they were clean or to check if they needed stitches. I gave him the general overview of what had been happening with the Night Wolves, including how several of our members had turned up dead and how all the signs had pointed to a new gang in town trying to push us out. How Wilhelm had arranged a meeting to make peace with the group, and how the enemy gang had immediately tried to kill us all. I admitted to him that, in hindsight, they had likely agreed to the meeting to get the majority of us in one place to take us all out at once. After telling him about how we had only discovered they were dark elves after the fight was over, I concluded my story by sharing how I had knocked Natasha out after she had grabbed my ankle then brought us all back here. Oh, and if that was not enough, apparently the world was starting to go through a massive change and soon dark elves killing people would be the least of our worries. Other than that, he knew exactly as much as I did.

“So not only is Wilhelm and most of the Night Wolves dead, but you’re telling me the world is going to become like a videogame that my grandchildren play? Only a lot more threats and risks?”

You could tell by the look in his eyes that Henry was having a real hard time here adjusting to the new world we were apparently heading towards. The glass of milk was long empty, and he was nervously tapping his fingers on the table. The sound of his nails hitting the old, scuffed wood was like he was chipping away at the varnish of the old world to get at the new.

“Yes, though again, I don’t know much more than that at the moment,” I rubbed my hand over my face, pushing my hair up and away as I did so. So many thoughts were bouncing around my head that it felt like mush. I knew I wouldn’t be making any more progress tonight though. I was just too tired. “After I catch some sleep, I’m going to spend some time talking with Natasha tomorrow. Get a feel for this new world we are heading towards.”

“You’d think some government or another would already know whats going on though,” Henry interjected. “I mean, based on what you said Natasha told you, this isn’t limited to this city.”

“Yeah, that was my sense as well,” I shrugged in response, then raised two fingers. “That being said, it wouldn’t surprise me that there are some preparing for the change to occur, and others that are being paid in some way to look the other way as groups like these dark elves get to run rampant in the shadows. Honestly, that might explain why so many social services throughout the country have been so lackluster and inefficient the past few years.”

Henry lowered his head into his hands. I’d be the first to admit that I wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of the police department in the city, let alone the government of the state and country, but the logic I had just laid out to the doctor carried a bit too much potential truth for him to set aside without setting it down and looking it over. It was at that point I realized that laying all this on an old man so soon after his world was shaken to the core was not a productive way to end the night. From what Natasha said, I still thought we had some time to get ready, and I emphasized that to Henry.

“From what Natasha said, I get the sense that we have months, maybe even years yet before the change occurs. That gives us time to get ready for it,” making eye-contact with Henry, I put extra force into my next words, “and I don’t know about you, doctor, but I won’t be taking all this lying down.”

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“No, you’re right,” Henry said, taking his head out of his hands. He stood up from the table, put the empty glass in my sink, and turned back to me. “You’re right,” he repeated, “but it’s getting late. Might if we pick this conversation back up later? Maybe after you talk with the dark elf…Natasha a bit more?”

“Sure, Henry,” I got up from my seat and reached out to shake his hand. “Max and Franz would thank you for all your help tonight, but since they can’t, I’ll do it for them. Thank you, doctor, for all the help.”

“Of course, Jakob,” Henry smiled slightly, “after all the Night Wolves have done to keep the peace around here, it is the least I could do. You have a good night, and I’ll be back over tomorrow to check on Max and Franz. I look forward to learning anything else you can tell me then.”

So saying, I walked Henry to the door. His eyes were glued to the sleeping form of Natasha on my couch, but at least this time they were full of curiosity rather than concern or fear. In some ways it looked like he was already making an adjustment to the new world we were going into. Which was good. I would need his help figuring out what to do in the days ahead if things with the dark elves developed how I thought they would. In a word, badly.

Before I closed the door, he made me promise that I would come get him if there was any negative development with either Max or Franz. While he reminded me he couldn’t do much, as he had limited experience with poisons, he would still prefer to be here doing something for them if needed.

I promised several times, then closed the door as Henry went back down the hall to his own place. I turned and went down the hall, past the living room where Natasha slept on my couch, to my bedroom. A bit smaller than the living room, I’d always thought of my bedroom as comfortably cozy. The mattress was the one thing I had splurged extra money on, since I enjoyed sleeping so much.

Unfortunately I wouldn’t be enjoying it tonight.

Max was lying side by side with his brother, buried under a pile of my blankets to stay warm. Both were taking even breaths as they rested thankfully. While I was concerned about finding the cure still, I knew Henry had gotten them as comfortable as he was able to in the short term. I’d make sure to find out exactly what I needed to do from Natasha tomorrow. But for now I needed to sleep.

After I grabbed two light blankets that the brothers weren’t using, I gently closed the door behind me and made my way back to the living room. I quietly made my way over to the elven woman. I assumed she was asleep by now, so I gently laid one of the light blankets over her. As I did so, she rolled over slightly, turning her face away from the wall. Apart from the skin tone, the hair color, and of course her long ears, Natasha looked much like any other girl relaxed in sleep. Well, except the light snoring. But she wasn’t. She was a trained killer from another world and she was sleeping on my couch. I was struck by how strange my life had become so quickly. I wondered what she dreamed about.

Pushing the idle musing away, I stepped back and moved the chair she had been sitting in earlier to the other side of the room. While I was a bit grumpy at losing the couch to the elven woman, given how my night had started with Natasha, I was willing to let her keep the couch if it meant a better working relationship going forward.

Not comfortable by any means, I knew my back would still prefer it to the floor. I wrapped myself in the other blanket I had brought, not caring how dirty it got from the dried soot and blood from the fight earlier this evening. I’d clean up tomorrow.

The last exhausted thoughts I had were a blur of stats and the fanged smile of an elven woman looking at me from across my living room.

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